(Roughly) Daily

A series of racially-charged incidents of “loitering” have triggered national outrage recently.  America’s laws against lingering have roots in Medieval and Elizabethan England; since 1342, the goal has always been to keep anyone “out of place” away.

Visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger dives into the long history of laws against being somewhere you’re not wanted: “What is loitering, really?”

* Neal Shusterman

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As we respect respite, we might recall that it was on this date in 1494 that the first recorded mention of scotch whiskey occurred: an entry in the Exchequer Rolls lists “Eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae [“water of life,” as the then-medicinally-justified liquor was known]”– a sufficient quantity to produce almost 1,500 bottles, suggesting that distilling was already well-established.  Indeed, some historians believe that the “Heather Ale” drink brewed by the Picts was actually early scotch whisky– suggesting that whisky could date back to the late Iron Age (100-50 years BC).

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