Last to post wins

[The Empire of Alerba]

Whoever is the last to post in this thread wins. When is that? Who knows.

Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Piano, Harpsichord, Melodica, Boredom

[Creeperopolis]

The Act of Accord (39 Hen. 6) was an act of the Parliament of England. It was passed on 25 October 1460 during a period of intense political division and partisanship at the top of government. Three weeks earlier, Richard, Duke of York had entered the Council Chamber—in the presence of several lords—and laid his hand on the empty throne, claiming the crown of England. His grounds were that he and King Henry VI were both direct descendants of Edward III, but York possessed two claims, through both the male and female lines, and Henry's was through only one. Following discussions between Royal justices, York and Parliament, the House of Lords decided that Henry was to retain the crown for life, but York and his heirs were to succeed him. This automatically removed Henry's son, Edward, Prince of Wales, from the succession. Henry agreed to the compromise, which became the Act of Accord.

Political partisanship had already erupted into civil war the year before and, far from lowering political pressure, the act split the nobility further. Although Henry had publicly supported the act, Queen Margaret of Anjou refused to accept the disinheritance of their son. In this, she was joined by the majority of the English nobility, who also opposed York. King Henry, still under the nominal head of the Yorkist government, was in London; Margaret, on the other hand, was in the north with her son, raising an army. This began the systematic destruction of York's and the Nevilles' Yorkshire estates. York led an army to challenge her but was killed at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December. The Lancastrians, in turn, were defeated three months later at the Battle of Towton by York's son, who was crowned King Edward IV on 28 June 1461.

[Creeperopolis]

Oriental Stories, later retitled The Magic Carpet Magazine, was an American pulp magazine published by Popular Fiction and edited by Farnsworth Wright. It was launched in 1930 under the title Oriental Stories as a companion to Popular Fiction's Weird Tales, and carried stories with far eastern settings, including some fantasy. Contributors included Robert E. Howard, Frank Owen, and E. Hoffmann Price. In 1932 publication was paused after the Summer issue; it was relaunched in 1933 under the title The Magic Carpet Magazine, with an expanded editorial policy that now included any story set in an exotic location, including other planets.

Some science fiction began to appear alongside the fantasy and adventure material as a result, including work by Edmond Hamilton. Wright obtained stories from H. Bedford Jones, who was a popular pulp writer, and Seabury Quinn. Most of the covers of The Magic Carpet Magazine were by Margaret Brundage, including her first sale; Brundage later became well-known as a cover artist for Weird Tales. Competition from established pulps in the same niche, such as Adventure, was too strong, and after five issues under the new title the magazine ceased publication.

[Creeperopolis]

"How You Get the Girl" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014). She wrote it with its producers, Max Martin and Shellback. An electropop and bubblegum pop song, "How You Get the Girl" is a ballad that features acoustic guitar strums and a heavy disco beat. The lyrics find Swift telling a man how to win his ex-girlfriend back after their breakup.

Some music critics praised the song as catchy and energetic; they particularly highlighted the chorus and how the track combines acoustic and electronic elements. Less enthusiastic reviews considered the production generic and the lyrics lightweight. "How You Get the Girl" charted on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart in the United States and on the Canadian Hot 100 chart in Canada. It received certifications in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Swift included "How You Get the Girl" in the set list of the 1989 World Tour (2015), with choreography that evoked the musical film Singin' in the Rain (1952). She performed it on some dates of her later tours, the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018) and the Eras Tour (2023–2024). The track was used in a Diet Coke advertisement prior to its release.

Following a 2019 dispute regarding the ownership of her back catalog, Swift re-recorded the song as "How You Get the Girl (Taylor's Version)" for her fourth re-recorded album, 1989 (Taylor's Version) (2023). She produced the new version with Christopher Rowe. Music critics believed that the re-recording had a vibrant sound and an enhanced production quality. The track reached number 29 on the Billboard Global 200 chart and the top 40 on the national charts of Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.

[Creeperopolis]

During the siege of Tunis in October 238 BC a rebel army under Mathos was besieged by a Carthaginian force under Hamilcar Barca and Hannibal. The Carthaginian army, which had served in Sicily during the First Punic War, mutinied in late 241 BC in the wake of Carthage's defeat, starting the Mercenary War. After three years of increasingly bitter war, the Carthaginians defeated the rebel field army at the Battle of the Saw, capturing its leaders. The Carthaginians then moved to besiege the rebels' strongest remaining stronghold at Tunis.

The Carthaginian commander, Hamilcar, split his forces to blockade the rebels from both north and south. At the northern camp, commanded by his subordinate Hannibal, he had the ten captured rebel leaders tortured to death and their bodies crucified before returning to his own base to the south of Tunis. Mathos organised a night attack against Hannibal's camp, which took the ill-disciplined Carthaginian defenders by surprise. It scattered the northern part of their army, and Hannibal and 30 Carthaginian notables were captured. They were tortured, mutilated and crucified still living. Hamilcar withdrew to the north with the remaining half of his army. Despite having broken the siege, Mathos abandoned Tunis and withdrew south. Hamilcar and his fellow general Hanno followed the rebels, and in late 238 BC wiped them out at the Battle of Leptis Parva.

[Creeperopolis]

John Bullock Clark Sr. (April 17, 1802 – October 29, 1885) was a militia officer and politician who served as a member of the United States Congress and Confederate Congress. Born in Kentucky, Clark moved with his family to the Missouri Territory in 1818 and studied law. After Missouri's statehood in 1821, he opened a legal practice in Fayette, Missouri, in 1824, and held several positions in the local government in the 1820s and 1830s. Clark was also involved in the state militia, serving as a colonel in the Black Hawk War in 1832 and eventually rising to the rank of major general. In 1838, during the Missouri Mormon War, Clark was the recipient of Governor Lilburn Boggs's infamous Mormon Extermination Order, and was involved in the ending stages of the conflict. He was the Whig candidate in the 1840 Missouri gubernatorial election. Clark was accused of conspiring to commit electoral fraud in the election and as a result almost fought a duel with Claiborne Fox Jackson, later a Governor of Missouri.

In 1850, Clark was elected as a Whig to the Missouri House of Representatives and served into 1851. He was elected in 1857 to fill a vacancy in one of Missouri's seats in the United States House of Representatives. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Clark, a wealthy owner of 160 slaves, became a leading secessionist in Missouri. After the pro-secessionist Missouri State Guard (MSG) was formed in May 1861, he was appointed by Jackson as a brigadier general commanding the MSG's 3rd Division. After leading his troops against Federal forces in the Battle of Carthage, Missouri on July 5, Clark was expelled from the House of Representatives for fighting against the United States. On August 10, he led his division in the Battle of Wilson's Creek, in which he was wounded.

After being appointed as a delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress by the Confederate government of Missouri late in 1861, Clark resigned his military commission. He was appointed to the Confederate States Senate for the First Confederate Congress, serving from February 1862 to February 1864. During his time in that body, he opposed the Jefferson Davis administration on some issues, but supported it on others. Confederate Governor of Missouri Thomas Caute Reynolds did not appoint him to a second senate term due to allegations of alcoholism, mendacity, and womanizing. After defeating Caspar Wistar Bell in an election for the Confederate House of Representatives for the Second Confederate Congress, Clark served in that role until March 1865. After the defeat of the Confederacy, he fled to Mexico, but was arrested upon his return to Texas in late 1865. He was released after several months, and returned to Missouri in 1870, where he practiced law for the rest of his life. His son, John Bullock Clark Jr., was a general in the Confederate States Army and later served in the United States Congress.

[TruncateVirus99]

Creeper did you win yet

[Creeperopolis]

In 1858 a batch of sweets in Bradford, England, was accidentally adulterated with poisonous arsenic trioxide. About five pounds (two kilograms) of sweets were sold to the public, leading to around 20 deaths and over 200 people suffering the effects of arsenic poisoning.

The adulteration of food had been practised in Britain since before the Middle Ages, but from 1800, with increasing urbanisation and the rise in shop-purchased food, adulterants became a growing problem.[3] With the cost of sugar high, replacing it with substitutes was common. For the sweets produced in Bradford, the confectioner was supposed to purchase powdered gypsum, but a mistake at the wholesale chemist meant arsenic was purchased instead.

Three men were arrested—the chemist who sold the arsenic, his assistant, and the sweet maker—but all three were acquitted after the judge decided it was all accidental and there was no case for any of them to answer. The deaths led to the Adulteration of Food or Drink Act 1860, although the legislation was criticized for being too ambiguous and the penalties for breaching it too low to act as a deterrent. The deaths were also a factor in the passage of the Pharmacy Act 1868.