From “Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an exotic Plant Seduced Civilization” by Iain Gately
Tobacco enabled the Dutch to make some amazing bargains, in Africa in particular. In 1652 the Dutch purchased the entire peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope for ‘a certain quantity of tobacco and brandy’. The Hottentots, the nation with which they struck this bargain, were a remarkable race who had integrated tobacco into their unusual culture in a manner which has never never been imitated. On achieving puberty, a Hottentot boy was given his first cigar while his mother bit off and ate his left testicle. As Guy Tachard, a French Jesuit, observed: ‘they have some very odd and whimsical customs… The men in their youth make themselves half eunuchs, pretending that that contributes much to the preservation and increase of bodily agility.’
Tobacco was one of the few things that would persuade a Hottentot to indulge in manual labour:
“The Hottentots, being persuaded that there is no life after this, labour as little and take as much ease as they can in this would. To hear them talk even when they are serving the Dutch, for a little bread, Tobacco or brandy, they look upon [the Dutch] as slaves who work the land of their country, and as people of no courage who shut themselves up in houses… whilst their people encamp securely in the open fields without stooping so low as to labour land. By that way of living they pretend to demonstrate that they are Masters of the Earth and the happiest people in the world”
Now, one should never take the word of a Priest at face value. Especially when they are talking shit about non-Christians (note that sly “being persuaded that there is no life after this” bit. I’m waiting with baited breath for modern Christian apologists to start floating the argument that “atheism leads to ball-eating.”).
But still… Damn.
picture!) and talked about them constantly in Greek Comedies (of course in the Comedies! The more things change…). They called them olishoi, a word derived from the verb “to glide” or “to slip.” 
Europe and its Football Riots, a Stanley Cup win, loss, or a suspension for a star player/ national symbol can send all that politeness right out the window of a burning Police Car. Take for instance these few (brief) examples from Montreal, home of the Canadiens, the NHL team who has held the Stanley Cup more often than any other team in history.
various other items began to rain down upon the head of Campbell and his young girlfriend. One fan attempted to attack Campbell, but was stopped by police. Another fan walked calmly up to Campbell, making the pretense that he wished to shake hands with the NHL head. Once close enough, this fan slapped Campbell twice in the face before being tackled by police. Moments later a tear gas bomb was thrown into the arena and and sent fans screaming into the streets where riots immediately began and swept through the area around the stadium. A interesting collection of newspaper articles from this time 
that doesn’t appear to be the case. In 1986, 5,000 people rampaged through downtown Montreal following the team’s victory over Calgary. So poorly prepared were the Montreal police to stop the violence that Quebec courts ruled the police criminally negligent. So, with the Canadiens poised to win another Cup on June 9, 1993, Montreal authorities deployed close to 1,000 police officers, many of them helmeted riot troopers. It was not enough. Moments after the game ended, thousands of people descended onto Ste-Catherine Street, setting bonfires, overturning cars, breaking windows and looting stores. By the next morning, 15 city buses and 47 police cars had been destroyed, 168 people had been injured, including 49 police officers, and 115 people were in jail. Damage was estimated at more than $10 million. Few people could argue with Montreal mayor Jean Doré’s assessment of it as “a regretful and appalling situation.”
increased police presence deployed to the streets before Monday night’s game, rioters burnt or smashed 16 police cars and at least five other vehicles. At least five businesses were ransacked as well, although Gingras said the damage was limited. “One minute we were all hanging out and celebrating and then all hell broke out,” said Jean-François Hotte, who watched as a Foot Locker store was ransacked by looters. A liquor store was also hit. “It didn’t take five minutes before everyone was up on Ste. Catherine Street. It went really fast.”
Well, turns out that this is the same shape as one of the most popular early birth control methods: a humble plant known to the Romans as the Silphium, the seeds of which are shaped just like those bone-meal “conversation” candies you throw away every year… This plant became so popular that by the First Century AD, horny Romans had literally harvested the plant to extinction. But the spirit of the Silphium lives on in the form of shitty artwork, tacky cards and scribblings in schoolgirl notebooks. I wonder if Hallmark knows how Pro-Choice those decorations they put up are… or if Christians are going to boycott V-Day for symbolically leading children to sin…
As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep and never to refrain when awake.
has corrected the Bible. The church never corrects it; and also never fails to drop in at the tail of the procession- and take the credit of the correction. During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. the Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church, after eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumb-screws, and firebrands, and set about its holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood.