About his prosecution, Ms Archer told the BBC: “It’s one of the things that we’ve forgotten about Shakespeare.

“As well as writing for people who were experiencing hunger, he was exploiting that need himself.

“He was using his role as a playwright and the public playhouses, gathering coin, in order to take advantage of the market when it’s at its most profitable, and selling food at inflated prices to secure the long-term future for his family.”

Over the course of 15 years, William Shakespeare bought and hoarded grain, malt, and barley so he could resell it at inflated prices to his neighbors, which researchers say he did to ensure that his family would not go hungry. [via]

Previously: Karl Marx

We have all lived in some places. Where have you lived, Julie Bee?

I look at the deli sticker that the woman who apportioned them out had placed on them and realized she missed a decimal point and charged me for four POUNDS of chicken wings—not four chicken wings.

My first thought: “Oh, no no no. You don’t deserve this.” And I bent down, pulled it off of the branch, and cradled it in the palm of my hand.

My second thought: “I will save you.” And I zipped it into my coat pocket.

My next thought: “What the hell was that?” I’d just picked up trash from a dirty Brooklyn sidewalk and put it in my pocket. Worse: if my dog likes peeing on those trees, I’d bet the other dogs in the neighborhood do, too, which made it a probable urine-soaked piece of trash. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away.

Brooke Borel has a post on The Last Word on Nothing (a really terrific blog maintained by science writers), about why we develop feelings for garbage (like, actual things people have thrown away—not terrible people who have treated you not-so-well). Borel says the main reason she saved the garbage she found was because it had human features, and when you see something that looks like a human, you develop empathy for it. Basically, this is The Carrie Diaries, but for Hoarders.

Photo: Brooke Borel