December is a time of multicreedal spirituality and festivities, and alcohol has been a fixture of celebration and religious ritual since humans first learned to play and pray.

In 1938 the great stream was deflected to the south by the Chinese in a misplaced effort to delay the advance of Japanese forces moving southward from T'ien-ching (Tientsin) and Pei-ching (Peking); and it flowed southeastward into the Huai river system and thence through a series of lakes and the Grand Canal down into the Yangtze drainage area.

People claiming to be psychic may shoehorn an event into fulfillment of some vague past prediction.

I'll spoil his wandering , I'll warrant gouty fellows , that would debar their children him . I'll do his business that way, never fear