Day 151: Love & Fenced Goods – The Ikey Solomon Story

originally published May 30, 2012 Aspiring screenwriters take note – the story of Ikey Solomon is worthy of a biopic. I’m not sure who’d fit in the lead role, but if Jake Gyllenhall can pull off a British accent, let’s tap him for this. We’d just have to make his nose more put-an-eye-out pointy. London’s […]

Day 148: The Mountain Meadows Massacre

originally published May 27, 2012 American history is chock full of blood, battles, and stories so unbelievably shocking they almost make Howard the Duck seem plausible. Like the story of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. In the late 1850s, while the northern and southern states were gearing up for a bloody scrum that would inspire future […]

Day 145: The Terrace Mutiny – This Shit Really Happened

originally published May 24, 2012 Cursing as I might (and indeed I might) at my hometown’s isolation, its weather, and its nauseating pride at being home base for conservatism and redneckery in Canada, I am proud of this country’s military record. We don’t often go to war, but when a genuine global threat prompts immediate […]

Day 140: Don’t Mess With A White Woman – The Hannah Duston Story

originally published May 19, 2012 If high school history classes were filled with the world’s most extreme displays of badassery, no one would ever ditch to go smoke behind the A&W. History needs more wow-factor. It needs more Hannah Duston. This is the story of a Puritan woman who was forced into an awful situation. […]

Day 122: The Most WTF Disaster Ever? The General Slocum

originally published May 1, 2012 Today we’re setting sail (without actually using a sail) on the General Slocum. Some may read that and think, “Hey, isn’t that the name of that military-themed adult film that I watched last weekend?” Others are probably saying, “What a dick. He just made a porno joke out of a […]

Day 116: Charles Wants To Be In Charge

originally published April 25, 2012 This is Charlie. Charlie is not having a good year. Charlie used to be the king of Austria-Hungary, up until the end of WWI. In 1918 he relinquished his right to take part in the affairs of state in Hungary, then took off to Switzerland. By 1920 Hungary was a […]

Day 108: This Much Is True – The Story Of Spandau Prison

originally published April 17, 2012 In 1876, the Germans completed construction on Spandau Prison, designed to hold up to 600 prisoners. It was a brick fortress, surrounded by a 15-foot wall, then a 30-foot wall, then a 10-foot wall topped with electrified wire, and lastly a wall of barbed wire. In 1946, due to some […]

Day 99: The Great One – The 1968 Columbia Occupation

originally published April 8, 2012 Today’s article is about apathy. I attend one of Canada’s premium universities (I consider us ‘premium’ because we have two Starbucks on campus), and apart from a handful of tiny anti-tuition-raising protests, we never really see any demonstrations of mass solidarity against an oppressive ill in the world. Things weren’t […]

Day 96: Where Were You In 4000 BC?

originally published April 5, 2012 Depending on whom you ask, history’s starting date is up for discussion. First off, you have your scientific-minded people who will tell you that the universe is billions and billions of years old. I’m just going to discard that nonsense right away, because it doesn’t fit in with today’s topic, […]

Day 91: Alba Lovin’ You Longa Time

originally published March 31, 2012 The scenic little vista pictured above is a little town in central Italy called Castel Gandolfo, tucked up against Lake Albano. At one time it was an important cog in pre-Roman-Empire society. Located just twelve miles southeast of Rome, the ancient city of Alba Longa was the founder and head […]