DECEMBER 11, 1966

Full News Archive

• Headline: An Incongruous Alliance at the Met. Impact: The Met's unexpected alliance led to a secret society of curators who now control the art world with a single, over-caffeinated committee meeting each year. Forget art—it's all about the coffee preferences now. Fact: Curators often think they're the true artists, but really, they're just really good at picking out things that are expensive and confusing.
• Headline: Creating a Cultural Hub in Alabama. Impact: Dr. D Mitchell's ambition to create a cultural center sparked a movement that eventually led to a nationwide trend of ‘artistic’ coffee shops that serve overpriced lattes alongside abstract paintings. Thanks, Dr. Mitchell!. Fact: Notasulga, Alabama, is still fighting for the title of ‘Cultural Capital of the South.’ So far, it’s mostly known for its BBQ and that one guy who claims he invented the corn dog.
• Headline: Television This Week. Impact: Reston's lament about war and taxes led to generations of politicians who now think they can just tax away all our problems. Spoiler alert: they can’t, but they sure can keep trying!. Fact: The idea of a tax rise is so universally unpopular that even the tax code itself has been known to hide in shame.
• Headline: EAST GERMAN TRIALS STIR PROTESTANTS. Impact: The East German trials ignited protests that eventually inspired a new genre of music: ‘Conscientious Objector Rock,’ which never charted but had a cult following among those who enjoy heavy existential angst. Fact: Five Protestant men in prison for their beliefs? Sounds like the start of a really sad country song—except, you know, they’re actually living it.
• Headline: BRANDT TO MEET WITH DE GAULLE; Talk This Week to Follow Kiesinger Bid for Amity. Impact: Brandt and de Gaulle’s meeting turned into a secret handshake that resulted in the creation of the 'Euro-Alliance,' a group dedicated to uniting nations over shared love for baguettes and bratwurst, because that's what diplomacy is all about. Fact: NATO meetings are just like family reunions, but with more politicians and fewer potato salads.
• Headline: Common Market to Get A Standard Beer Bottle. Impact: The standard beer bottle led to a 'Beer Bottle Wars' in Europe, where countries began competing over who could design the most ridiculous bottle shape. Spoiler: Italy won with a bottle shaped like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Fact: Standardizing beer bottles is a real achievement—because how else would we know which beer to throw at stadiums without a uniform design?.
• Headline: A Family's Most Famous Member; A Family's Most Famous Member. Impact: The Geiringer biography resulted in family members everywhere trying to one-up each other's achievements, leading to a series of awkward Thanksgiving dinners where everyone had a ‘famous’ cousin they just invented. Fact: Being ‘famous’ is a relative term—especially when your biggest claim to fame is winning a pie-eating contest in 1987.
• Headline: 2 Negro Clergymen Plan A Trip to South Vietnam. Impact: The clergymen’s trip to Vietnam sparked a wave of clergy-led protests, which somehow morphed into an annual 'War Opponent’s BBQ' where everyone just argued over who made the best potato salad. Fact: When two clergymen decide to travel to a war zone to protest, you know things have officially gone off the rails.