Saturday, March 12, 2011

Sealand

http://www.travelgrove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sealand.jpg
Status: ambiguous
Form of government: constitutional monarchy
Founded: 2 September 1967
Area: 0.06 sq. km.
Population: 27
Sex ratio: 4.4 males/female
Per capita GDP, if you take their word for it: $22,200 US

In 1967, Paddy Roy Bates was just another run-of-the-mill Army major-cum-fisherman-cum-pirate radio operator, minding his own business and blithely disregarding British broadcasting law. But the British - sticklers for things like laws (especially British ones) - were none too keen on Bates’ activites, and they convicted him on a charge of radio piracy. Now, it’s common knowledge that getting tried and convicted in a court of law leaves a man with two clear options: 1) go to jail; or 2) abscond to an abandoned WWII-era naval defense platform in international waters, claim you’ve founded a new nation and declare yourself royal prince. It takes a certain sort of person to determine that, of these two options, the latter is clearly superior. And Bates was that sort of person.
Read more here

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Wizard's take on the Christchurch quake

 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Wizard_of_Christchurch.JPG

The Christchurch Wizard dishes out some sensible advice to his fellow Cantabrians - including not to listen to Ken Ring and his 'crackpot lunatic' theories.

Watch video here