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Cream of the Cool

b. 1828- d. 1921.

Victorian spinster, early technological scientist, pioneering entomologist, member of the gentry, and first female Honorary Consulting Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society (1882).

Ormerod was one of the first agricultural scientists to advocate an interventionist approach to insect control. Earlier entomologists were curbed by their adhesion to the de rigeur providentialist philosophies…

Or, How to make one, with variations:

First, prepare yourself for a visit to the craft store. Unless you live in a funky urban neighborhood with an equally funky craft store (like, say, Cambridge, MA and Pearl Arts and Craft) you'll need to be steeled against the inevitability that there will be lots of dames in polyester pants and Precious Moments sweatshirts giving you the old hairy eyeball.

Also, the people who work in craft stores are generally either a)…

Coquito is a Puerto Rican Christmas tradition, and is very similar to European eggnog.

However, it's probably even more similar to the Mexican version of eggnog, known as rompopo (which, incidentally, was reputedly conceived of by the Puebla-based nuns of Santa Clara). Rompopo is like coquito only made with a very heavy dose of Mexican cinnamon, and grain alcohol can be substituted for the rum. There is also a…

Inquisitorial court devised by Cardinal Lorraine, first held during the reign of Francois I. In 1679, Louis XIV instituted the Chambre Ardente for the trial of

  1. slow poisoners (poisoning being very fashionable at the time)

  2. pretenders to sorcery (who were often, as in the case of the infamous affaire des poisons, one and the same)

The Chambre Ardente also employed investigators trained in the detection and…