Walgreens the pharmacy that was ran by the family of the same name made their fortune selling Alcohol during the prohibition era. If you were well off your doctor would write you a prescription for booze which they would happily fill. They grew over thirty times their original size during this time.
this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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Paramount Pictures was created 1 month before Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.
Prior to their win in 2016, the Chicago Cubs hadn't won a world series since before the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
That's a good one. I should really learn more about the Ottoman Empire.
George Washington's Continental Army had a vaccine mandate.
Heroin was first synthesized in 1874. It's older than 13 US states. Sitting Bull and heroin existed at the same time. In 1898 it was sold by Bayer as a recreational drug under the brand name Heroin. Frederick Nietzsche was around for the heroin trade.
I've seen Bayer heroin tins in a few museums and was glad I lived in an era where you had to go to the work of calling your friend's brother Todd to take you to Corey's house to get high, which was way more trouble than it was worth.
Columbus' contact resulted in a 92% loss of population in North, Central, and South America. Mexico City area only just re-reached its pre-contact population estimate in the 1960s.
"1491" is a good read.
The weird part about that is that Columbus was the third expedition to the American continent from the European continent.
First was a single Irish/Celtic(?) monk in the 800s. Second was Leif Erikson and his crew of "Vikings" in the 1100-1200s. Neither one of those caused widespread disease in the Americas, despite the fact that the monk made it as far as The Great Lakes, and Leif Erickson's expedition was cut quite short with them engaging in battle with the first natives they saw, resulting in the death of Leif Erikson as well as a few of his companions.
The sheer amount of people, knowledge, and culture lost in the Americas due to European invasion and their treatment of the native peoples makes me so sad.
follow it up with "Guns, Germs, and Steel"
WWi's end and WWII's start were 21 years apart. This is not what it seemed like to me at all, I thought they were like 8 years apart or something.
My grandfather enlisted at 18 to fight in WWII. He was the second youngest of 13 siblings. His oldest brother died around age 18 in the flu pandemic that was going on during WWI. My reference point for the space between the wars has always been the time it took to have 13 children.
it always seemed to be like they were further. 21 years between the 2 most brutal wars is insane.
Danny Trejo and Anne Frank were alive at the same time.
Fuck off no way
Edit: 81 YEARS OLD!?!?
Seems a lot of people don’t know what “time perspective” means.
- John Tyler, 10th president of the US (1790-1862), had a grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler (Nov, 1928) who just recently died in May of 2025.
- The last person born in the 1800's was Emma Morano, born 11/29/1899 Civiasco, Italy. Died 04/15/2017 in Verbania, Italy. So most people reading this had a chance to speak to someone born in 1899.
- All of Napoleon Bonaparte's 4 brothers lived into the age of photography (1826) and had their photo taken with a camera. His youngest brother Jérôme sat for many photo sessions. Only one of his 3 sisters, Caroline, lived into the era but never had a photo taken. Napoleon Bonaparte (08/15/1769 - 05/05/1821), didn't live into the age of photography.
- Humans are the only animals capable of appreciating art. Yes, chimps and elephants can make their own art, but they have no interest in it after they're done with it.
In this vein,
In July 1938, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a speech at Gettysburg to mark the 75th anniversary of the battle. 25 veterans from the original battle attended. They were filmed, on movie film, walking in the parade.
(This vignette opens the Ken Burns documentary)
Did 1899 skip December for some reason?
Edit: Or do you mean the last surviving person, or longest-lived person, born in the 1800's?
Every 1899 years there's a leap month
Or do you mean the last surviving person,
She was the last surviving person born before 1900.
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