The alchemist’s elementals
Elementals are a common feature of modern bestiaries, video games, and RPGs. We have the 16th century alchemist Paracelsus to thank for thinking them up.
Category: History
Lovers’ eyes
If the eyes are the windows to the soul, why would you paint anything else? The eye miniature was one of the oddest trends in late 1700s art.
Light bulb conspiracy
In 1925, staff from Osram, General Electric, Philips, and others met in Switzerland to artificially fix the life expectancy of light bulbs worldwide. For the next 14 years, the Phoebus cartel controlled the world supply of light.
Tree war
In 1976, North Korea, South Korea, and the United States almost went to war over a single tree.
Dictator vs. rock music
Manuel Noriega was the CIA-funded dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989. When the United States invaded Panama, they drove him out with The Clash’s cover of I Fought the Law.
Learned pig
Before television, people had to make their own fun. So they trained pigs to read.
The five million dollar comma
In 2017, because of a missing comma, a Maine company had to pay out five million dollars in a legal settlement.
Love and Wrestling
Mary and William Brewster, passengers on the Mayflower, had five children: Jonathan, Patience, Fear, Love, and Wrestling. Their descendants included Julia Child, Bing Crosby, Richard Gere, Katharine Hepburn, and Thomas Pynchon.
Drunk election
In 1984, the Prime Minister of New Zealand announced a snap election on television while extremely drunk.
One hundred quintillion banknote
In late 1940s Hungary, the highest inflation rate ever recorded led to the creation of a banknote valued at one hundred quintillion pengő.
Lincoln’s beard
One month before the 1860 election, Abraham Lincoln was clean shaven. By inauguration day, he had a full beard, and wore it until the day he died. He grew it because a twelve-year-old girl told him to.
Puzzle cups
Europe has a long tradition of puzzle and prank cups and jugs: to drink out of these vessels you must first solve a mechanical challenge.
Backwards street
There is a street in Hong Kong called Rednaxela Terrace. Why is that interesting? Try spelling the name backwards.
Red-headed pharaoh
Ramesses II was the most famous and powerful pharaoh of Egypt’s New Kingdom. And we’re pretty sure that he was a redhead.
All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters
Peter the Great founded a drinking club when he was a young man. Because he was tsar, he took it too far.
Ghost murder
If you kill someone because you think they’re a ghost, is it murder or manslaughter? Or self-defence?
The Generalist Academy 