Bombshell

make up for those deficiencies in other ways. Oftentimes, the smallest nations are the ones with the most patriotic citizens. After all, they are few and unique. But perhaps none are fewer or more unique than the residents of one particular place, the Republic of Milosia. It was first established on May sixth of nineteen seventy seven as the Grand Republic of wold Stein under the rule of King James the First and its prime minister, a young man named

Kevin Boo. Woldstein was a fairly sleepy nation, and its king wasn't too interested in power or money. After some time, though, the king ceased being part of Woldstein's progress, and Prime Minister Bao took over its development. In nineteen eighty, he renamed it the Kingdom of Edelstein, before re christening it yet again years later as the Kingdom of Zaria. In fact, Zaria changed names almost as many times as it changed locations. It established the presence in Europe around this time, then

moved again in nineteen. Finally, in the mid to late nineteen nineties, the kingdom found a permanent home when Prime Minister Bao purchased the necessary land and planted his flag. He then renounced to the kingdom and installed a provisional communist government in its place. This was abandoned months later, however, once Zaria joined a NATO like organization called the United Provinces of Utopia beginning in nineteen the United Provinces disbanded,

leaving Boo's country without an official government. It also meant that he was no longer in charge of a real nation, so on February twenty one, he declared the People's Democratic Republic of Milosia as officially open for business. That gave way to its final name eight months later, the Republic of Milosia. It was no longer the People's Democratic Republic. Boo was now the president and his micro nation was about to take some big strides. It hosted an international

Olympic Games for other micro nations in two thousand. It also supported a new holiday called Norton Day, named for Joshua Abraham Norton, who briefly named himself the Emperor of the United States in eighteen fifty nine. In two thousand three, Milosia branched out and started a colony called Farfala, which it eventually surrendered two years later. Then in two thousand and six, it found itself embroiled in a war with the nearby micro nation of Mustakistan. The battle lasted for weeks,

with Mustakistan launching missiles into Milosia's territory. However, Bow's scrappy little country prevailed, mostly because the enemy's missiles were nothing more than model rockets. Mustakistan eventually went dormant several years later, having never recovered from their loss. But that wasn't the only war that Milosia had been involved in. Apparently, back in nineteen eighty three, when Milosia was still called the Grand Republic of wold Stein, it had received a declaration

of war from East Germany. Obviously, Germany was made whole again in nineteen nineties, so a notice of war with a non existent country wouldn't make sense, right, Well, technically, East Germany still existed thanks to a little place off Cuba's coast called ernst Thalman Island. It had been gifted by the Cuban government to East Germany during the nineteen seventies, so this small parcel of land was all that remained

of the original schism. And because ernst Thalman Island was still part of East Germany at least symbolically, that meant the unification wasn't complete, and the war between the two countries raged on. In fact, it continues to this day. Malo Jia resides within a desert climate of eleven point three acres of land. It's capital, Boaston, was named for its founder and president, Kevin Bow. The country boasts the population of thirty eight, although four of those residents are

dogs and another four are chickens. The two main languages spoken there are English, Esperanto and Spanish. There is only one residence in the entire country. It's called Government House, and it's where the first family lives. The bank, post office, and telephone company can be found in Red Square, the town center, but good luck getting anyone to help you. The only people working there are mannekins. There's also one cemetery to the south. You won't find any former Milosians there,

though it's strictly a pet cemetery. As for recreation, the country has a national sport. It's called Milosian broom ball and is a variation of an actual sport called broom ball, which is popular in Canada. However, Milosia's version doesn't use a special stick to hit the ball. They play with a real broom and every two years the country holds an event known as the Misfit Regatta, in which participants don cardboard boxes and race each other across a small

portion of desert. Some have called it a dry land boat race. Milosia's revenue comes from several different avenues. It sells coins, salt stamps, and even war bonds to fund it's never ending fake battle with East Germany, but the primary source of income for Milosia is tourism dollars, which is why it was such a good idea for President Bao to establish his country in a place that would

be easy for people to reach. He built it in Nevada, about an hour's drive south of Reno, and I guess that makes sense that the biggest little country in the world would sit so close to the biggest little city in the world. Everybody has that one person who knows them better than anyone else. It might be a parent or a childhood friend. In Theodore's case, it was his brother, David.

The two siblings were born in Chicago, Illinois, Theodore in ninety two and the younger David in ninety Their parents, Wanda and Theodore Senior, were working class Polish Americans, with their father employed as a sausage maker who worked hard to take care of his family. The younger Theodore spent his formative years in Chicago, where he was well liked by his friends and teachers. Three years after his brother's birth, however, the family moved to nearby Evergreen Park, a suburb located

about seventeen miles south of Chicago. It may have been only a half hour drive from his old home, but Theodore found his new town and junior High school to be a whole other world. Still, he tried to make the best of it. He was tested by his new school and found to have an i Q of one dred and sixty seven, high enough for him to skip the sixth grade, but that meant leaving the classmates of his own age behind. The older seventh graders bullied and picked on him. He had few friends and spent much

of his time alone. He did better in high school, where he fell in with a more academically minded group of friends. He joined several clubs, played trombone in the marching band, and proved himself to be something of a math genius. Once again, he skipped a grade and graduated high school at the age of fifteen. Think about it. He could go to college, but he couldn't legally drive a car yet, and not just any college. Theodora went to Harvard on a scholarship to pursue a bachelor's degree

in mathematics. Meanwhile, his brother David was growing up back at home in Evergreen Park. David was also very bright, but not to the same degree as Theodore. Unfortunately, Theodore changed quite a bit while he was away at college, or maybe college changed him. During one of his breaks at school, he came home to visit his family. David looked up to his older brother and tried to talk to him about some of his philosophies and beliefs, but something is ead Or had shifted. He was becoming a

different person, someone angrier and more isolated. He eventually graduated from Harvard in nineteen sixty two and pursued both a master's and a doctoral degree in math from the University of Michigan. It looked like he had outgrown his awkward youth to become a respectable young academic. With his whole life ahead of him, Theodore eventually moved and took a job as an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

He wasn't cut out for education, though. His students didn't like his stiff teaching style, and Theodore himself felt out of place in front of a class full of students, so he resigned a year and a half later. His brother, David, on the other hand, went to Columbia University in New York City graduated in nineteen seventy. He spent his early college years writing for the school newspaper, but he didn't

wind up pursuing a career in journalism after graduation. Instead, he worked at his father's factory as a supervisor for several years before following in his brother's footsteps and becoming a teacher. David seemed better suited to the profession than Theodore had been, who had moved out to Montana after leaving his teaching job and spending a few years back home with his folks. But the pair still wrote to each other regularly, at least until David decided to do

the unthinkable He fell in love. It was nineteen nine and David had met a young woman named Linda, whom he wanted to marry. When he wrote to Theodore about his engagement, his brother was incensed. How could David abandon him like that. Theodore didn't know Linda at all. They hadn't even met, and yet he hated her and insisted that David canceled the wedding. But when David didn't stop his nuptials, the forty eight year old theatre broke all contact, which was fined by him. He had to focus on

his side project anyway. From the late nineteen seventies and throughout the nineteen eighties, newspaper headlines began to crop up. A few times a year. Someone would receive a package at a university, or a parcel would be stowed away on an airplane, which would inevitably explode, causing several injuries. In One of these packages, result did in a man's death, followed by several that caused deafness and lost fingers and limbs.

Two more people were killed by exploding packages. Was also the year the person behind the mail bombs published an anonymous, thirty five thousand word essay explaining why he had sent them. It was published by The Washington Post on September nineteen, with coordination from the FBI. They hope that by putting it out there, a reader might notice something within the text to help recognize its author. David Shure did. There was one phrase within the manifesto that stood out among

all the others. It read, you can't eat your cake and have it too. He remembered how Theodore had always hated the real idiom you can't have your cake and eat it too. This alternate version was something their mother had also said a number of times, and it had stuck out because of Theodore's insistence that it was more

logically correct that way. Linda and David continued to read the manifesto and picked up on a number of others milarities between its wording and the letters that had arrived from David's brother over the years, so they reached out to a lawyer who provided the FBI with several of Theodore's letters. It didn't take long for the Bureau to match them to the Bomber's other writings. On April three, FBI agents successfully arrested Theodore Ted Kazinski at his remote

cabin in Lincoln, Montana. Although ever since the world has known him as the Uni Bomber, no one knew Ted Kazinski quite like his brother, but it was a relationship that would ultimately become his downfall. Ted had foolishly tried to remain anonymous while telling the whole world all about himself. In other words, he tried to have his cake and eat it too. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour

of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com um. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore. Dot com and until next time, stay curious, yeah,