1. Vodka is the most consumed spirit in the world.
2. Knickers is a contraction of the word knickerbockers, which are knee-length pants, or more commonly nowadays, women’s underwear. Conversely the singular, knicker is a round clay object that boys use to play a game along the lines of marbles.
3. To sit shiva is to honour the death of first degree relatives – mother, father, sister, brother, spouse – by gathering in the home of the deceased to receive visitors for a perod of a week immediately after the burial. Shiva is the Hebrew word for seven.
4. L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer, founded Scientology, a supposed metaphysical joining of mind and body. It was based on his first book, Dianetics.
5. On July 4, 1609, Samuel de Champlain became the first European to discover what is now called Lake Champlain. Also, in 1886, the first transCanada passenger train reached the West Coast at Port Moody, BC.
