Topic

Law, Crime & Justice

A collection of 27 issues

How a Pound of Cocaine and an Informant Deal Created a Comedy Icon

Before he was America's favorite tool-grunting dad, Tim Allen faced a mandatory life sentence for trafficking cocaine. To escape it, he made a deal that erased his past and paved the way for a comedy empire: he gave up the names of other dealers.

Biography & Personal Stories Law, Crime & Justice Entertainment & Media

An Edible Contract: The Surprisingly Strict Legal Life of Bologna

The humble slice of bologna is a masterpiece of federal regulation, bound by a strict "standard of identity" that legally defines its ingredients, water content, and fat percentage more precisely than many other foods in the grocery store.

Food & Lifestyle Law, Crime & Justice History

The Uncracked Code of Clown Copyright

In a world without formal copyright for makeup, clowns developed a brilliantly strange solution to protect their unique identities: painting their faces on eggs. This secret registry, started in 1946, serves as a visual archive and an unbreakable social contract against copycats.

Oddities & Curiosities Art, Culture & Design Law, Crime & Justice

The Victory that Kills: A Tour of the Brand Name Graveyard

Ever asked for a 'Kleenex' or ridden an 'escalator'? You've participated in genericide, the strange process where a brand becomes so popular it loses its trademark forever, joining Aspirin and Thermos in the graveyard of fallen words.

Linguistics & Communication Business & Economics Law, Crime & Justice

Drugged and Watched: The Secret History of the CIA's Sex Experiments

In a paranoid Cold War gambit, the CIA established secret brothels to drug unsuspecting American men with LSD. Behind one-way mirrors, agents watched the effects, creating one of the most disturbing chapters in the history of domestic espionage.

History Politics & Power Law, Crime & Justice

The Accidental Icon: How a Simple Theft Made the Mona Lisa Priceless

Before 1911, the Mona Lisa was just another masterpiece. Its global celebrity was born not from da Vinci's brush, but from a brazen heist when a handyman simply walked out of the Louvre with it, sparking a media frenzy that transformed art into an icon.

Art, Culture & Design History Law, Crime & Justice

The Love Letter That Brought the Digital World to its Knees

In May 2000, an email with the subject 'ILOVEYOU' unleashed one of history's most destructive computer worms, causing up to $15 billion in damages. The culprit was quickly identified but never punished, revealing a shocking global blind spot where technology had outpaced the law.

Technology & Innovation History Law, Crime & Justice

How a 17-Syllable Poem Became a Spammer's Worst Nightmare

In the early 2000s, a company named Habeas armed tech giants with a strange weapon against spam: copyrighted poetry. By embedding haikus in email headers, they turned a technical problem into a legal one, allowing them to sue spammers for copyright infringement.

Technology & Innovation Law, Crime & Justice Oddities & Curiosities

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