An interesting thing I didn't know until today

[ursus arctos]

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_Tea_Party#Tea_Act_of_1773

[San Bernardhinault]

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.

[ursus arctos]

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.

[WOM]

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.

[caja-dglh]

Boston in a nutshell really.

[Balderdasha]

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)

[TonTon]

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.)

[elguapo4]

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

[Lymeswold Snork]

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

Half an inch, half an inch, half an inch onward...

[S. aureus]

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),"

[Nocturnal Submission]

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.

[TonTon]

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.

[multipleman78]

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.

[ursus arctos]

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

[jwdd27]

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.

[tee rex]

Half an inch, half an inch, half an inch onward...

Early contender for Joke of the Month, there.

[Nocturnal Submission]

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.

[Patrick Thistle]

Halloween is deadly for children. (American data)

[Satchmo Distel]

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?

[Patrick Thistle]

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

[pebblethefish]

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.

[Nocturnal Submission]

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.

[WOM]

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'.

[Stumpy Pepys]

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

[Guy Profumo]

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