My Internet service provider’s website regaled me today with an article about the most common diseases among women and men in Croatia. To my surprise, I browsed through it, which I rarely do. Only five diseases are listed for each gender. The list is predictable enough in the case of women: cataract, stroke, breast cancer, gallstones, and cervical polyps. It is quite stunning in the case of men, though: cataract, groin hernia, mental disorders caused by alcohol, angina pectoris, and pneumonia. Interestingly, the article has nothing to say about mental disorders caused by alcohol. Perhaps the third most common disease among Croatian men is obvious enough to the website’s visitors, and thus not worth commenting upon. Chances are that pneumonia is most often caused by tobacco, for drinking and smoking go well together. At any rate, Croatian men are doing pretty well by comparison with their Russian mates. As a quick search on the World Wide Web testifies, the most important factors contributing to low life expectancy of men in Russia are alcohol poisoning, smoking, traffic accidents, and violent crime. As a consequence, the life expectancy of Russian men is the lowest in Europe. Hey, who says that all Slavs are the same?!