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    It is rather reductive in what it says about the tax burden, though the competition point is spot on.

    The Wiki outlines the complexity of the tax and tariff issues

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston...ea_Act_of_1773

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      Yeah, I had a look at that. But the simple narrative I'd heard as a kid and never bothered to think about was that the Americans were pissed off that the British were increasing the taxes on tea and the Americans tea became too expensive and they had a tantrum about it and started a war. Not that the Tea Party was triggered more directly by taxes being cut.

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        Fake News propagated by the merchant smuggler/grey market class.

        The class makeup of the Sons of Liberty are the first clue that there was more going on there.

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          The very excellent book Columbine is predicated on the idea that everything you think you know about the story is wrong. And he proves it, myth by myth.

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            Boston in a nutshell really.

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              The last living survivor of the Crimean war was a female tortoise named Timothy who died in 2004: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_(tortoise)

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                In what sense is this tortoise a survivor of the Crimean War?

                (I did follow the link but it didn't seem to go anywhere.)

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                  It wasn't in the charge of the Light Brigade anyway.

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                    Originally posted by elguapo4 View Post
                    It wasn't in the charge of the Light Brigade anyway.
                    Half an inch, half an inch, half an inch onward...

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                      Originally posted by TonTon View Post
                      In what sense is this tortoise a survivor of the Crimean War?

                      (I did follow the link but it didn't seem to go anywhere.)
                      For some reason the last ) is dropped from Balder's hyperlink when you click on it. There's a link on the page you get to that takes you to the real article (it also dropped the parenthesis when I just tried pasting it here).

                      From the wikipedia article:

                      "She was the ship mascot of HMS Queen during the first bombardment of Sevastopol in the Crimean War (she was the last survivor of this war),"

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                        Timothy's twin, Sidney, was also on the ship but, thanks to a long-sighted sailor and all the cannon-smoke, took a much more active role in the bombardment that he was planning to.

                        Covered up, of course, so you won't find anything in the official records.

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                          Originally posted by S. aureus View Post

                          For some reason the last ) is dropped from Balder's hyperlink when you click on it. There's a link on the page you get to that takes you to the real article (it also dropped the parenthesis when I just tried pasting it here).

                          From the wikipedia article:

                          "She was the ship mascot of HMS Queen during the first bombardment of Sevastopol in the Crimean War (she was the last survivor of this war),"
                          Aha, thanks. That makes some sense at least. Though, you know, the whole pretending animals are people is very silly.

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                            At World Cup 94, Bebeto scored v Holland and ran off to do one of the most famous celebrations of all time as he pretended to rock his new born baby. Romario joined him and they were assisted by a 3rd player called Mazinho. It became known as three men and a baby.

                            Today I found out that Mazinho is the father of current Liverpool midfielder, Thiago Alcantara.

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                              As well.as former Barca, Inter ans PSG midfielder Rafinha

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                                And the baby whose birth was being celebrated, Mattheus Oliveira, is also a professional footballer, currently with Mafra in the Portuguese 2nd division.

                                Bebeto is now a politician, along with Romario.

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                                  Originally posted by Lymeswold Snork View Post

                                  Half an inch, half an inch, half an inch onward...
                                  Early contender for Joke of the Month, there.

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                                    Watching Simon Reeve's new travel series, I learned about both La Paz's extensive cable car system:

                                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi_Telef%C3%A9rico

                                    And this hell-hole, the highest permanent human settlement in the world:

                                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rinconada,_Peru

                                    Reeve's report on the latter really hammered home the sadness and brutality of the place.

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                                      Halloween is deadly for children. (American data)

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                                        I wonder if there's also an argument there, based on those stats, against the clocks going back in October - kids getting hit on the way home from school in the dark?

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                                          (Hat tip to ursus arctos for that graph. I didn't see who had retweeted it)

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                                            I found out yesterday that a convention of comic book fans is a Comic Con. Having only ever heard the word on US sitcoms (mainly the Big Bang Theory) I'd always assumed it was al one word, comicon.

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                                              The big, white area that you can see in SW Bolivia on satellite images isn't an icefield or snow-capped mountains but a 10,000 sq. km salt flat.

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                                                Here's one you probably didn't know: if you need to shoot a TV commercial in the late winter that has to look like Canada does in spring/summer, you shoot it in Uruguay. The houses and the trees and whatnot look exactly like 'average suburban Canada'.

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                                                  I always thought tarot cards preceded playing cards, but turns out it was the other way round.

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                                                    Originally posted by Stumpy Pepys View Post
                                                    I always thought tarot cards preceded playing cards, but turns out it was the other way round.
                                                    Tarot cards were designed to be playing cards, as an extended set

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