Favorite word = "Flibbertigibbet". Meaning = silly / flighty person. Phlibbertigibbet = Me.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

US sues UK for Canada?

Occasionally my own random thoughts spark out of control and cause me to research random things completely unrelated to whatever it was I was thinking of in the first place.

On that note... earlier I was watching a football game between Alabama and Georgia.
I rarely watch football, so I was awfully confused by several things that happened.
This led to me searching on the Internet for football information. I tried finding rules and explanations of rules. Though I was eventually able to find some relevant but unhelpful sites, I did learn that searching for "Football Rules" is not necessarily the best idea.

Ok, so I was searching for that and became extremely uninterested and frustrated quickly. I began searching for other things. I wound up looking up some information on simply Alabama. I figured I was in the mood for a history lesson.

I started looking up random information and started reading up on some former English and French royals. Well, one thing led to another, and before I knew it I was looking up some Civil War information.

I found a Wikipedia entry for the CSS Alabama. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Alabama)
Granted, I already knew quite a bit about the lifespan of this wonderful ship simply because I had a fantastic history teacher in high school that also happens to be a member of the organization responsible for salvaging the ship.

I also already knew about the "Alabama Room" in Geneva. However, I was not completely aware as to why that room came to be so. I can only assume I forgot the following information, because I am sure my teacher told us about it. (By the way, if you follow some of the links in these Wiki entries, you might catch a glimpse of him.)

Here's that information I alluded to in the previous paragraph:
The United States of America sued the United Kingdom following the Civil War. Why? Well, the USA claimed that the UK had violated neutrality by allowing the CSS Alabama to be built. What was the US trying to get? $2 Billion OR Canada. In the end, we got roughly $15 Million, a hotel room named after Alabama, and a new neighbor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Claims

Yeah, I totally do not remember hearing anything about us trying to sue for control of Canada.

So anyway... that was my self-inflicted history lesson for the evening.

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