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Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
From pig war to coffee ban: Ten weird historical events that thankfully did not shape history
AI-generated image The World Wars, the moon landing, the invention of the internet, the fall of empires, and civil rights revolutions — history has no shortage of epic, world-altering events. This article is not about any of them. So buckle up (preferably with a cup of coffee — before someone bans it again), and prepare for a crash course in the other kind of history: the wonderfully weird, the almost-catastrophic, and the gloriously pointless moments that thankfully didn't rewrite the world. The Pig War (1859) The United States and Britain nearly went to war over a pig. Yes, just one pig. When an American settler on San Juan Island shot a British-owned pig rooting in his garden, both sides sent troops to the disputed territory. Warships loomed, rifles were cocked… and the pig remained the only casualty. Cooler heads prevailed, and the 'war' ended with a peaceful joint occupation. It could've sparked a war — but it ended in polite waiting and paperwork. Ottoman Sultan banned coffee — and beheaded drinkers (1600s) Before Starbucks, coffee was considered an intoxicant in the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Murad IV thought it was a gateway drug to rebellion and banned it. The ruler also cited religious reasons behind his action- sounds familiar right? He took enforcement personally — wandering the streets in disguise and decapitating coffee drinkers. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Sanitize & Smooth Clothes Fast with Philips Steamer Philips Garment Steamers Shop Now Undo Thankfully, the empire's caffeine withdrawal didn't last. Coffee made a strong comeback, and we avoided a jittery revolt. The Great Emu War (1932) In a spectacularly weird chapter of Australian history, the government declared war… on emus. These large, fast-running birds were destroying wheat crops, so soldiers were sent to exterminate them with machine guns. The emus outran the soldiers and outmaneuvered their military tactics. After multiple failed campaigns and a lot of wasted bullets, the birds won. Officially, the emus were never defeated. Bird brains: 1; Army: 0. A Pope declared a bearded lady a saint Meet Saint Wilgefortis, a legendary woman who grew a beard to escape an unwanted marriage. Her father tried to force her into wedlock, but divine facial hair saved the day. While historians argue about the facts, the Catholic Church (at one point) venerated her as a patron saint of beards and difficult marriages. Imagine a world where shaving your face was a sacred act of rebellion. A Soviet radio operator refused to start WWIII (1983) In 1983, Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov received a warning of incoming US missiles. His orders were to retaliate immediately. But something felt off — and he didn't press the button. It turned out to be a false alarm caused by sunlight bouncing off clouds. Petrov's gut instinct may have literally saved the world. No medal, no movie deal — just humanity narrowly avoiding nuclear extinction over a radar glitch. The great molasses flood (1919) In Boston, a giant storage tank filled with molasses exploded, sending a 25-foot wave of syrup through the city at 35 mph. Buildings collapsed, horses drowned, and 21 people died — in molasses. It sounds like a cartoon, but it happened. The flood led to stricter building regulations, proving that sticky situations can lead to sweet reforms. France tried to ban kissing on trains (1910) In a move to prevent "delays and distractions," French officials banned kissing at train stations. Signs were posted, and gendarmes were assigned to enforce the law. Lovers, of course, ignored it. The policy quickly derailed. France remains the land of romance, and train platforms continue to host tearful embraces and dramatic smooches. The Cadaver Synod (897 AD) Medieval politics got extra weird when Pope Stephen VI dug up the rotting corpse of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, dressed him in papal robes, and put him on trial. Unsurprisingly, the dead pope lost. His corpse was thrown into the Tiber River. This surreal moment of posthumous justice caused massive public outrage — and is still one of the strangest trials in history. The US military invented 'Gay Bomb' In a 1990s research proposal, the US military considered developing a non-lethal weapon that would release female sex pheromones to confuse enemy soldiers — hoping it would cause "disruptive sexual behavior." The so-called 'Gay Bomb' was never made (or deployed), but it did earn the military a 2007 Ig Nobel Prize for its creativity in missing the point. New Zealand lost war to sparrows In the 19th century, New Zealand introduced sparrows to control crop pests. The sparrows liked the crops better and caused more damage than the original pests. Farmers declared war, forming 'sparrow clubs' to kill them — but the sparrows multiplied faster. Nature had the last chirp, and New Zealand learned the hard way about ecological balance. History could have been very different — and very weird — if these events had gone another way. But thanks to restraint, reason, and sometimes just dumb luck, the world didn't spiral into chaos over pigs, molasses, or unwanted kisses. So next time history feels too serious, just remember: we're all one pig away from a very different timeline.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump wages war on immigrants with Alien Enemies Act, but what is it?
US President Donald Trump invoked a little-known, centuries-old wartime power, the Alien Enemies Act, to send more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador over the weekend, where they have been imprisoned. AFP explores what the law is and how it has been used in the past: - 220+ years old - In 1798, in the early days of the United States, second US president John Adams passed the Alien Enemies Act as part of a larger package of laws called the Alien and Sedition Acts. The laws came into force with the United States on the brink of war with France and were meant to tighten requirements for citizenship, authorize the president to deport foreigners, and allow their imprisonment during wartime. While the other rules in the package were eventually repealed or expired, the Alien Enemies Act remained. The wartime law states that "subjects of the hostile nation or government" can be "apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies." - The World Wars - While the law was enacted to prevent foreign espionage and sabotage in wartime, according to the Brennan Center for Justice "it can be -- and has been -- wielded against immigrants who have done nothing wrong." It has been invoked only three times -- during the War of 1812 against British nationals, during World War I against nationals from enemy nations and, most notoriously, during World War II for the internment of more than 100,000 Japanese citizens and Japanese Americans. The president can invoke the act if Congress has declared war. However, he can circumvent Congress if he is acting to repel an "invasion" or "predatory incursion." - An invasion? - Trump, who has promised an aggressive drive to deport thousands of undocumented migrants, says he is using the law against members of Venezuelan drug gang Tren de Aragua. In a proclamation published on Saturday, the White House declared that the transnational criminal organization is closely linked to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. "The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States," the presidential statement said. Trump maintained that the gang is "conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime." - What do experts say? - Experts doubt that the law allows for the mass expulsions of immigrants. Even if the courts accept Trump's argument that Tren de Aragua's presence constitutes an "invasion" or "predatory incursion" by a foreign nation or government, the United States "still bears the burden of persuading courts that individual detainees are members of Tren de Aragua," judicial expert Steve Vladeck of Just Security said. "That's going to require case-by-case judicial review," Vladeck added, explaining that "the government is going to lose many of those cases." - Judicial block - A US federal judge granted a temporary suspension of the expulsions order -- apparently as planes of Venezuelan immigrants were headed to El Salvador -- raising questions over whether the Trump administration deliberately defied the court decision. The government has meanwhile appealed the decision and asked that it be suspended until the matter is resolved. A hearing on the case's merits is scheduled for Friday, but the matter may well end up in the Supreme Court. erl/bfm/bgs
