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Category: Politics & law

By The Generalist Posted on January 3, 2022December 30, 2021

Beach theft

In 2008, a whole beach in northwestern Jamaica was reported stolen: five hundred truckloads of sand went missing and were never recovered.

Categories: 21st century history, Economics & business, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on December 28, 2021December 27, 2021

Spite triangle

On a sidewalk in New York City is a triangle mosaic about 70cm wide. It is perhaps the smallest parcel of private land in the city, and it exists entirely because of spite.

Categories: 20th century history, Architecture, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on December 23, 2021December 21, 2021

Posthumous King Wenceslas

The Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas has a deceptive title. The real Wenceslas’ reputation for goodness was mainly posthumous, as was his rank and title. Also he may have been murdered by his brother after a drunken fight.

Categories: Europe, Medieval history, Music, Politics & law, Religion & belief
By The Generalist Posted on December 9, 2021December 8, 2021

Pirate democracy

In the 18th century, a new pirate crew would come together to elect a captain and quartermaster, and agree on a shared code of conduct: what we today call the pirate code.

Categories: Early modern history, North & Central America, Politics & law, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on November 25, 2021November 24, 2021

Napoleon in the Pacific

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse led a French scientific expedition around the Pacific; in 1788 it disappeared without a trace. A young Napoléon Bonaparte almost went with him.

Categories: Early modern history, Europe, Military, Oceania, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on November 18, 2021November 17, 2021

Return to the Winter Palace

In 1917 Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Three years later, more than a thousand actors, circus performers, and ballet dancers stormed it again.

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, Military, North & Central Asia, Politics & law, Theatre
By The Generalist Posted on October 20, 2021October 19, 2021

Let the buyer beware of magic stones

The famous legal phrase caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) entered common law because of a 17th century dispute over a magic bezoar stone.

Categories: Animals, Early modern history, Europe, Health & medicine, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on October 18, 2021October 18, 2021

Honorary whites

In apartheid-era South Africa, the government sometimes designated specific people or whole ethnic groups as “honorary whites.” But not everyone accepted it.

Categories: 20th century history, Africa, Games & sport, North & Central America, Oceania, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on October 14, 2021October 12, 2021

Calypso queen

From 1939 until 1977, the winner of the annual Trinidad calypso competition was crowned the Calypso King. In 1978 Calypso Rose won the title, so they had to change the name.

Categories: 20th century history, Music, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on October 13, 2021October 11, 2021

Statue graveyards

When politicians’ historical crimes catch up with them, what happens to their statues?

Categories: 20th century history, Art, East Asia, Europe, North & Central Asia, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on October 1, 2021September 30, 2021

Who was the real Betty Boop?

A 1932 lawsuit attempted to answer the question “who was the real Betty Boop?”

Categories: 20th century history, Film & television, Music, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on September 27, 2021September 26, 2021

Siberian monstrators

When is a protest not a protest? In Russia, when it’s a performance art parody of a protest. But that still didn’t stop the Russian government from overreacting.

Categories: 21st century history, Art, Europe, North & Central Asia, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on September 21, 2021September 19, 2021

Samoan constitutional crisis (Part 2)

The 2021 Samoan constitutional crisis came to a head with a face-off between the old prime minister who wouldn’t leave, the new prime minister who couldn’t start, the head of state, the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, and the Speaker of the House. [2 of 2]

Categories: 21st century history, Oceania, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on September 20, 2021September 19, 2021

Samoan constitutional crisis (Part 1)

Samoa’s first female prime minister was elected this year despite the most dramatic and twist-filled constitutional crisis in the country’s history. [1 of 2]

Categories: 21st century history, Oceania, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on September 8, 2021September 8, 2021

The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom

In 2004, in response to an Australian law defining marriage as between a man and a woman only, a group of activists declared independence and raised a rainbow flag over the Coral Sea Islands.

Categories: 21st century history, Oceania, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on August 30, 2021August 29, 2021

Hedgehog flavour

In 1981 Phillip Lewis released potato chips flavoured like roasted hedgehog. In 1982 the UK government prosecuted him for false advertising because the chips did not contain real hedgehog.

Categories: 20th century history, Animals, Europe, Food & agriculture, Medieval history, Politics & law

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