BaZmO* wrote: » This post is the 10,000th post
castletownman wrote: » He embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign, even writing a guidebook under the guise of Captain Thomas Strangeways, which included sketches of the coast of Poyais. Even the capital, St.Joseph, was said to be inhabited by 20,000 people, and was a flourishing seaside town with wide boulevards, mansions, an opera house, theatre and domed cathedral. He devised up a fake honours system for this new "country", not to mention a coat of arms, currency and a flag (green, just like the flag for the erstwhile Republic of the Floridas). He managed to drum up financial support in Britain, and set up offices in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow to sell land certificates to prospective emigrants. The first ship embarked with 70 emigrants in September 1822, with a second carrying 200 following in January. The first ship arrived anyway to find the area far removed from the descriptions, setting up camp on shore. They sent numerous search parties inland trying to make contact with the fictional Poyaisan authorities. The second ship arrived soon after only to discover that the first set of colonists had been abandoned by their captain, and that the whole thing was a ruse. Of the roughly 250 who had sailed across on the two ships, at least 180 ultimately perished, and fewer than 50 ever returned to Britain. Interesting dude.
castletownman wrote: » The fella above is Gregor MacGregor, and he was quite a character. From the Clan Gregor, he was an officer in the British Army from 1803 to 1810, and served in the Peninsular War in South America. He joined the Simon Bolivar-led Republican side in the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1812, eventually working his way up to General. In 1817, he captured an island called Amelia Island under orders to capture Florida on behalf of the Spanish, and proclaimed the Republic of the Floridas, which didn't last long. He then had a couple of disastrous campaigns in New Granada, where he basically abandoned his British volunteer troops twice, before returning to Britain in 1821. Perhaps the most insane period of his life then followed, when he claimed that the King of the Mosquito Coast on the Gulf of Honduras had created a colony called Poyais that was ripe for British settlement. It was painted as a spa destination for sick colonists from the Caribbean, where the soil was so fertile that a farmer could have three harvests of maize a year, or grow cash crops such as sugar cane without hardship. Furthermore, fish and game were so plentiful that one day's fishing could yield a week's worth of food, and most importantly, the natives were pro-British. In reality, it was an inhospitable, humid strip of land infested by mosquitos for most of the year. He embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign, even writing a guidebook under the guise of Captain Thomas Strangeways, which included sketches of the coast of Poyais. Even the capital, St.Joseph, was said to be inhabited by 20,000 people, and was a flourishing seaside town with wide boulevards, mansions, an opera house, theatre and domed cathedral. He devised up a fake honours system for this new "country", not to mention a coat of arms, currency and a flag (green, just like the flag for the erstwhile Republic of the Floridas). He managed to drum up financial support in Britain, and set up offices in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow to sell land certificates to prospective emigrants. The first ship embarked with 70 emigrants in September 1822, with a second carrying 200 following in January. The first ship arrived anyway to find the area far removed from the descriptions, setting up camp on shore. They sent numerous search parties inland trying to make contact with the fictional Poyaisan authorities. The second ship arrived soon after only to discover that the first set of colonists had been abandoned by their captain, and that the whole thing was a ruse. Of the roughly 250 who had sailed across on the two ships, at least 180 ultimately perished, and fewer than 50 ever returned to Britain. By now, MacGregor had fled to France to continue the scheme, but eventually got tried for fraud in 1826. Amazingly, he was acquitted, and returned to London, where he attempted variations of the same scam for the next ten years. He was welcomed back to Venezuela as a hero in 1838, and died in Caracas seven years later. He is buried in Caracas Cathedral with full military honours. Interesting dude.
LostinBlanch wrote: » The Nigerian Prince Scam is older than you think. It first happened about a hundred years ago in the US. Prince Bil Morrison took out ads in papers across the country looking for American penpals. He got hundreds of letters and replied to them all. After a while, and more letters to and fro, he asked people who were corresponding with him for four dollars and an old pair of pants. In return he would send them some worthless baubles - ivory tusks, emeralds, diamonds etc. He got his donations and the pairs of pants, but nothing was sent in return so people complained to the authorities who investigated and found that Bil Morrison was a fourteen year old boy. He escaped prosecution due to his age. Nobody knows what happened to the pants.
cdeb wrote: » That is brilliant. Joke's on them though if it has Hershey's in it. Everyone outside America knows Hershey's chocolate bars taste horrible - like vomit, specifically. It's thought (Hershey's won't comment) that it's because Hershey's use a process called lipolysis in making their bars. A byproduct of that process is butyric acid, which gives vomit its distinctive taste.
Capt'n Midnight wrote: » Wasn't that because it milk in the US had to travel further so was more likely to go off and so yanks got used to the tastes. Back in the day the Cadbury's chocolate made here was the nicest because of the Irish milk.
Ash.J.Williams wrote: » On the subject of our superior dairy ....Diageo would love to build a Baileys factory somewhere foreign and cheap but the furthest they could go was Belfast because Irish cream is of a uniquely high quality
Capt'n Midnight wrote: » Production of Baileys requires crossing the border six times.
Eleven Benevolent Elephants wrote: » Interesting. What's the specific route? Can you screen shot it?
Every day thousands more litres of milk are collected from dairy farms north and south of the Border and brought to a Glanbia processing facility in Virginia, Co Cavan. There the cream is taken off the milk and then transported south to Dublin, or north to Mallusk, Co Antrim. In Mallusk the cream is blended with whiskey to produce the world’s most famous cream liqueur Baileys Irish Cream.
joeguevara wrote: » Be interesting to see if increased dairy tariffs effects Northern Ireland being a viable option. Baileys is the best selling liqueur in the world and is an Irish cream liqueur. It cannot be manufactured outside of the island of Ireland with foreign cows and still label itself as an Irish cream liqueur. It would be the same as bratislava making scotch whisky or Venezuela making champagne.
Ash.J.Williams wrote: » They have a bottling plant there already I’m sure some Nordy cows chip in too
New Home wrote: »
Quazzie wrote: » So Bailey's Irish Cream isn't even Irish. Is nothing sacred anymore?
