My New Favorite Comic?

I stumbled upon Hark, a Vagrant yesterday. It's about history! (Mostly.) And you know what? I have learned things.

1. Everybody knows about Florence Nightingale, who gained nursing fame in the Crimean War, but like nobody knows about Mary Seacole, who was kind of the black Florence Nightingale but since she didn't get invited along with Florence Nightingale (because of, you know, the blackness), she paid her own way to go take care of soldiers in Crimea. That's dedication. (Remember, you can click on the pictures to see them full-size.)


2. The War of 1812 is looked at very differently in Canada than it is in America. (I got this information mostly from the blog post at the bottom of the page, but still.) Short version: here, it's Us Vs. the British II; there, it's The American Invasion. Crazy.

3. There was this guy named Chiune Sugihara. During WWII, he worked at the Japanese consulate in Lithuania and, operating in defiance of direct orders from the Japanese government, issued thousands of exit visas to Jews so they could escape Poland and Lithuania to Japan. It's estimated he saved between six and ten thousand Jews. Read the whole thing on Wikipedia --this guy was amazing.
Learning is fun! And so is not learning; this next one didn't teach me anything, but it does make me laugh.(It's Franklin's expression that really sells it.)