Minnesota’s state flag is bad. It’s simultaneously unremarkable and cluttered, ridiculously complex and altogether unrecognizable. Can we get rid of it?
On November 2nd, 1889, Benjamin Harrison, ranked #30 in C-SPAN’s ranking of US Presidents, probably sneered as he drove a knife into the heart of Dakota Territory, dividing it forever along an East-West meridian. Look how they massacred my boy.
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Brawlball
The Guardian calls it “the most brutal sport on Earth”. The New York Times labeled it “a most dangerous game”, and Vice describes it as “equal parts ball game and bare-knuckle MMA”. For the people of Florence, it’s a yearly tradition.
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Christmas with the Colonel
For some, Christmas is time to eat cookies, candy canes, and gingerbread. For 3.6 million families in Japan, ’tis the season for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
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Sweden’s Burning Christmas Goat
For the people of Gavle, a town in northern Sweden, it’s a Christmas tradition to build a 42 foot tall goat out of straw. For some of the people of Gavle, it’s tradition to try to burn it down.
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The Grapevine – Matanuska
Sarah Palin’s accent and character inspired a well-known Saturday Night Live portrayal by Tina Fey. But why does she talk like that?
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The Grapevine – Confederados
At the end of the American Civil War, most southerners eventually gave up their cause and adapted to life in the reconstituted United States. Most, but not all.
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The Grapevine – Russian Hawaii
The story of the German Doctor who tried, and failed, to conquer the Kingdom of Hawaii for the Russian Empire.
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The Grapevine – Goatball
Imagine: You’re standing in a large crowd of people, all cheering and screaming. You can’t quite make out what’s going on, but you can tell you’re looking at an open field and that fifty or so men on horseback are riding alongside the crowd of exuberant spectators who shout louder as they pass. Then, all […]