Co-hosts: Lane & Dave
LANE: Welcome back to Touring History, where we dig through the calendar like archaeologists with abandonment issues. I'm Lane.
DAVE: And I'm Dave, and before we dive into today's historical buffet of chaos, let's talk about today's sponsor - Death Wish Coffee. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Oh great, another coffee company trying to convince me their beans will change my life."
LANE: But here's the thing - Death Wish Coffee actually might. This isn't your grandma's Maxwell House, Dave. We're talking about the world's strongest coffee, made from a blend of organic, Fair Trade certified arabica and robusta beans.
DAVE: Founded by Mike Brown in Saratoga Springs, New York, back in 2012, because his coffee shop customers kept asking for "the strongest cup of coffee" and Mike thought, "You know what? Let me create something that could wake the dead." They won a Super Bowl commercial spot by beating out companies with five times their fanbase.
LANE: Plus, NASA sent this stuff to the International Space Station. If it's good enough for astronauts floating in the void of space, it's probably good enough for us floating in the void of existence. Check them out at deathwishcoffee.com.
LANE: But first, the birthday section - because nothing says "historical significance" like arbitrarily celebrating the day people emerged from wombs.
DAVE: Born on June 3rd, 1986, we have Rafael Nadal, the Spanish tennis player who's won the French Open so many times, they should just rename it "Rafa's Annual Clay Court Victory Lap." Fourteen times, Lane. That's like me winning at procrastination, except his version requires actual athletic ability.
LANE: Also born today in 1967, Anderson Cooper, CNN's silver-haired beacon of journalistic integrity. Cooper's basically what happens when you combine good genes, excellent education, and the ability to maintain composure while the world burns around you. Must be nice.
DAVE: 1950 brought us Suzi Quatro, the leather-clad rock bassist who proved that you could be both fierce and tiny. She's like a musical honey badger - small, but absolutely not to be messed with.
LANE: And 1925 gave us Tony Curtis, the actor who proved that being devastatingly handsome could actually be a legitimate career path. Revolutionary concept.
LANE: Now let's travel back to June 3rd, 1621, when the Dutch West India Company received its charter. Because nothing says "spreading civilization" quite like incorporating your colonial exploitation.
DAVE: The Dutch West India Company was basically the Amazon of the 17th century, except instead of delivering packages in two days, they delivered colonialism and the triangular slave trade. They were given a monopoly on Dutch trade in the Americas and West Africa for 24 years.
LANE: This company would go on to establish New Amsterdam, which we now call New York, and brought us the famous purchase of Manhattan for what's described as $24 worth of goods. In today's market, that wouldn't even cover a decent sandwich in that same Manhattan.
DAVE: Speaking of American institutions, June 3rd, 1888, saw the publication of "Casey at the Bat" in the San Francisco Examiner. This poem about baseball failure became more famous than most actual baseball players.
LANE: Written by Ernest Thayer, it's basically every sports fan's worst nightmare - your team's star player chokes at the crucial moment. The poem ends with "But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out," which became one of the most quoted lines in American literature.
DAVE: We elevated a story about athletic failure to cultural touchstone status. That's peak America right there. This poem has survived longer than most actual baseball teams.
LANE: Moving to matters of the heart, June 3rd, 1937, was when the Duke of Windsor married Wallis Simpson in France. This is the love story that literally changed the British monarchy.
DAVE: For those keeping track, this is former King Edward VIII, who gave up the throne of the British Empire because he wanted to marry an American divorcée. He looked at ruling over a quarter of the world's population and said, "Nah, I'd rather have this specific woman."
LANE: The establishment called it a constitutional crisis. Edward called it love. They lived in exile in France, spending decades attending dinner parties with people who had to pretend they weren't incredibly awkward about the whole "gave up an empire for love" thing.
DAVE: From matters of the heart to matters of the void, June 3rd, 1965, marked Ed White's first American spacewalk. The Soviets had done the first spacewalk months earlier, so this was basically America saying, "Hold our Tang."
LANE: White spent 23 minutes floating outside Gemini 4 and was so reluctant to come back inside that Mission Control had to order him back. He reportedly said, "This is the saddest moment of my life," which honestly describes how I feel about most Mondays.
DAVE: He was connected to the spacecraft by a 25-foot tether, which seems like the kind of safety measure you'd want to triple-check. It's remarkable how much of early space exploration was just extremely dangerous trial and error.
LANE: Now we shift to one of history's darker chapters. June 3rd and 4th, 1989, saw the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Student-led demonstrations came to a brutal end when the Chinese military opened fire.
DAVE: The protests had evolved into calls for democratic reform, press freedom, and government accountability. The iconic image of a lone protester standing in front of tanks became one of the most powerful photographs of the 20th century.
LANE: What's particularly tragic is how this moment represented such promise for democratic change in China, only to be crushed. It's a reminder of how fragile the movement toward freedom can be, and how quickly hope can turn to tragedy.
DAVE: Time for our ad break, and we're back with Death Wish Coffee - because if you're going to contemplate the existential dread of human history, you might as well be fully caffeinated while doing it.
LANE: Here's what I love about Death Wish Coffee: they don't pretend to be anything other than what they are. Their website literally says "This is a pound of power - basic brews not invited." It's coffee with confidence, Dave.
DAVE: They use a blend of arabica and robusta beans - arabica for flavor, robusta for that "Did I just get struck by lightning or did I drink coffee?" feeling. It's organic, Fair Trade certified, and roasted to what they call "deep, never-bitter perfection."
LANE: Customer reviews are basically love letters. One person said, "Death Wish Coffee is the greatest coffee on earth. It's smoother than you can possibly imagine." Plus, they have a subscription service where you can save 30% off your first shipment.
DAVE: Head to deathwishcoffee.com and use the power of the world's strongest coffee to fuel whatever questionable decisions you're planning today.
LANE: June 3rd, 2016, marked the end of an era when Muhammad Ali died at age 74. Ali wasn't just a boxer; he was a cultural force who transcended sports in ways that few athletes ever have.
DAVE: When the Vietnam War came calling, he refused induction, saying, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong." This cost him three years of his prime boxing career and his heavyweight title, but he stood by his principles.
LANE: What made Ali remarkable was his ability to be simultaneously the most confident and most principled person in any room. He'd tell you he was "The Greatest" while also sacrificing his career for his beliefs.
DAVE: June 3rd, 1991, brought a stark reminder of nature's power when Mount Unzen in Japan erupted, killing 43 people including Maurice and Katia Krafft, famous French volcanologists who got impossibly close to active volcanoes.
LANE: The victims were killed by pyroclastic flows - basically avalanches of superheated gas, ash, and rock that move at highway speeds. The Kraffts chose knowledge over safety, and while their deaths were tragic, their work helped save countless lives.
DAVE: On a more optimistic note, June 3rd, 2006, saw Montenegro declare independence from Serbia. The independence referendum passed by just over 55% - nearly half the country was like, "Actually, this arrangement is fine."
LANE: What's remarkable is that Montenegro's independence was achieved peacefully through legal referendum rather than war. After the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, a peaceful partition seemed almost impossible, but somehow they managed it.
LANE: And that's our journey through June 3rd - from Dutch colonial enterprises to American spacewalks, from royal romance to student protests. History serves up a mixture of human triumph and tragedy with a side of "what were they thinking?"
DAVE: Thanks again to Death Wish Coffee for sponsoring today's show. We'll be back next time with another date's worth of historical chaos and the occasional moment of human greatness.
LANE: Remember that today's news is tomorrow's history, so try not to do anything too embarrassing. Though based on today's evidence, embarrassing decisions are pretty much humanity's specialty.
DAVE: We're Lane and Dave. Thanks for touring history with us!
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