90 Miles From Tyranny

Friday, July 19, 2013

10 Curious Tales and Oddities From History

What could be better? The bizarre and history combined in one list! It is a well known fact that I love both subjects (and facts and factlets), so this list really has been a joy to put together. Once you are done reading be sure to mention any other oddities we may not know in the comments and perhaps they will appear on a forthcoming follow up list.

La Reverte

In 1900, Maria Salome (20 years old) made her grand debut as the first female bullfighter. Over the years she became incredibly popular and gained great acclaim for her achievements. Because of her popularity, the Spanish government deemed it immoral for a woman to be a bullfighter so they outlawed it. This did not concern Maria (also known as La Reverte) – in public she pulled off her wig and announced to the world that she was, in fact, a man. Agustin Rodigriquez’s (Maria’s real name) announcement backfired – instead of continuing on as a popular bullfighter, the Spanish people hated him for having tricked them. Needless to say this ended his career.

Curious Death

When Pope Paul VI died, in 1978, it was the mark of the beginning of the year of three Popes. Albino Luciani was elected to succeed him and he chose as his regnal name Pope John Paul I. Curiously, upon his election he told his housekeeper that he would not reign for long. Thirty-three days later he died. The Vatican reported that the near-66-year-old Pope most likely died the previous night of a heart attack. It has been claimed that the Vatican altered some of the details of the discovery of the death to avoid possible unseemliness in that he was discovered by Sister Vincenza, a nun. An autopsy was not performed which, along with inconsistent statements made following the Pope’s death, led to a number of conspiracy theories concerning it. These statements relate to who found the Pope’s body, the time when he was found, and what papers were in his hand. Many believe that John Paul I was murdered either by communists (for planning to resume the traditionally strong stand against it) or freemasons (believed to have infiltrated the Church to its highest echelons).

Too hot to Handle

Speaking of strange deaths, in 1979, a 58 year old man and his 53 year old wife died from spending too much time in their hot tub in California. Both had high blood pressure and had the hot tub set to 110f (43c). They fell asleep after drinking heavily and never woke up. The autopsy officially said that they died of a combination of heart disease and alcohol poisoning. Having spent numerous hours drinking wine in a hot tub I can vouch for the fact that it is easy to forget how long you have been sitting there!

Phantom Time

The Phantom time hypothesis is a theory developed by Heribert Illig (born 1947) in 1991, which proposes that there has been a systematic effort to make it appear that periods of history, specifically that of Europe during the Early Middle Ages (AD 614–911) exist, when they do not. Illig believed that this was achieved through the alteration, misrepresentation and forgery of documentary and physical evidence. He claims the presence of Romanesque architecture in the tenth century as evidence that less than half a millennium could have passed since the fall of the Roman Empire, and concludes that the entire Carolingian period, including the person of Charlemagne, is a forgery of medieval chroniclers, more precisely a conspiracy instigated by Otto III and Gerbert d’Aurillac.

Shoot me Please

In 1821, the Ottoman empire occupied Greece. In the middle of one battle the Turks ran out of bullets and proposed to destroy the Acropolis to use the lead cores of its columns to make ammunition. When the Greeks got wind of this they gathered up their bullets and sent them to the Turks to use against themselves. This amazing (and as far as I can tell unverifiable) act was solely to protect the monument, which is of great importance to Greek culture. If it is true, thank God for those brave soldiers who helped make it possible for us to visit the Acropolis today.

I Have A Terrible Confession That I Want To Get off of My Chest - Please Don't Hate Me.

Ok, so here it goes, it has been a long time coming, but I just need to get it out there and let the chips fall where they may...I am addicted to Sizzurp. It started innocently shortly after my idol, Justin Bieber started imbibing:

Some people call it "Purple Drank", or "Lean". They are just not down with the latest terminology right my mamma jammas?

Anyways, I started with just Robitussin and sprite, but then I thought to myself, "I be jonesin' fo mo flava" so I added skittles to the mix. It was a revelation ... for a while anyways....

I needed more flava, sprite was fizzy and sweet, but as I began to feel my liver squeal from the sizzurp I needed more flavor (sic).

I thought, If I could get more caffeine, more flava and perhaps add some tannin to mix, my world would be whole.. no longer would I feel the guilt of my white privilege, I might be able to commune with the schtruggle, maybe feel less guilty about having a job and being able to pay taxes for the more needy and unprivileged.

Then It came to me, tea would fit the bill, but the piece de resistance was watermelon ice tea. Perfect!

One sip of this and I was immediately compulsed to download the T-pain autotune iphone app. I will be the next great rapper, if i can only catch a break!

But anyways, I wanted to say stop dissing on my bro Trayvon, stop making him look like a skittles eating wimp, he was a righteous gangsta. He was no wimp, he was rocking the sizzurp that night, just like me.