Stuff You Should Know - How do I start my own country?

Episode Date: May 27, 2011

Whether through revolution, colonization or other means, every country has its start somewhere. But how does the process work? Join Josh and Chuck as they explain how countries get created -- and why some countries aren't always recognized by others. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid work. Be sure to listen to the War on Drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready, are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I haven't said that in a long time, and I said it just like P.F. Tompkins for some reason. Oh yeah? Yeah, that's kind of how he would say it. But you're not wearing a vest and bow tie?

No, and my mustache is non-existent too. Or a pork pie hat. I've got nothing except for that one inflection. That's the only similarity. So Josh is in a great mood because it's Friday, and we're actually, not like we aren't usually pleased to be here, but we haven't done this in two weeks because we've been doing other stuff, and we stacked up recordings, and it's a genuine pleasure to be back in here doing this. It is. I feel like I could do this with my eyes closed. Yeah, try it. It's their podcast. I can't see my notes. Okay, that was still pretty good, Chuck. You got a joke in there anyway.

Thank you. Yeah, I'm happy to be here because I know I can do this. Right. You know? There's not a camera in front of us. Exactly. So you're inferior. Yeah. You feel good? I feel good too, Chuck. So I'm going to use that good feeling to give you an introduction, okay? Let's hear it. Let's say, Chuckers, that you did not have a very good time in high school. But I did. But I'll imagine that I did not. You're suspending disbelief here. Okay. You were one of the less popular kids, perhaps because of that one time you wore that cape to school.

It didn't go nearly as well as you had expected it would. I thought I would be lauded as a superhero among my peers, but they made fun of me. Right. Okay. And that pretty much set the timber for the rest of your high school experience. And life. It really stuck with you. You know? It really got in your craw that you were so mistreated in high school. Right. And you had a couple of friends, Kevin and Jim. And they had similar experiences. And you guys are now in your 30s or 40s. You got a little money and you still are driven by bitter anger.

Right. You want vengeance, right? Right. So you're not exactly the type to kill somebody. No, no, no, no. And your idea of revenge is pretty grand. So what you decide to do is to start your own country. Hey, that's a good way to get back at the jerks in high school. Exactly. This is the legal way to do it, right? Okay. All you do, start your own country. And you invite these guys to come visit and then throw them in prison the moment they get there. Okay. Maybe even put them on a terrorist watch list before they get there and not alert your

authorities of what's going on and then just sit back and wait for the good times to roll. Right. Okay. All right. Done. There's a couple of problems here. Okay. One, you have no idea how to start your own country. Well, I do in real life because I've read your article, but yeah. Well, that's what I was going to say. We're here to tell you. That's right.

So everyone who hears this podcast will know how to start their own country pretty much. And it's easier than you'd think. In theory, sure. Well, let's talk about it, Chuck. All right. Okay. Well, one way, Josh, that you can do so and history has shown that it's works is a larger nation, let's say Great Britain. They used to be into colonizing places all over the world.

Yeah, here they're lovely places that they like to relax on the beach. Mm-hmm. And they did so. Well, Rhodesia is not exactly on the beach, but I was speaking of like the Virgin Islands. Sure. But they did that. A larger nation colonized a smaller one and changed the name to Rhodesia and said, this is a new country. Yes. You are now Rhodesians. Yep.

And if you don't like it, we've got guns here. And that is one way to do it. And then there's the opposite way to do it. You could be a Rhodesian and be like, you know what, we have guns now too. Right. Or Zimbabwe. And now this place is called Zimbabwe. Yeah. Zulu, zulu, zulu. Yeah. And then there's, let's see, the kind of secession that where you go buy an island.

Yeah. And basically say, okay, this island is now its own thing. Yeah. I think did Marlon Brando own his own island? Yeah. I don't think he tried to make it his own country, although he may have. There are a significant number of islands for sale in the world. Really? Yeah.

They're pretty small though, huh? Or I guess they range. I mean, they're small enough or they're big enough. Right. The problem is the getting electricity. That's the, that's the big problem, I think. Yeah. Although if I was going to buy an island, I would try and keep it off grid, you know, or, or, you know, do the solar thing or something like that. Sure. Yeah.

Oh man. I decked my island out. Well, I'd want mine decked out though, but you can still deck it out with solar panels and like the Swiss family Robinson or something. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's, that's just how I roll. But the more the, the more customary way of starting your own country is like we were saying, say Zimbabwe or something like that is called the land-based secession.

Yeah. Not as easy. No, it really isn't because whereas if you were to buy a deserted tropical island that no country, that a country technically owned but wasn't doing anything with, they probably wouldn't put up too much of a fight. If you own property in a country and say this is no longer part of this country, you're going to get some sort of resistance. Yeah. Absolutely. Right?

Like Russia, Soviet Union obviously dissolved and they're still doing battle with Georgians, you know, today. They definitely didn't just forget and say, yeah, it's no big deal. Right. Yeah. Relations among the former Soviet States with Russia are definitely strained. Yeah. Where else Chechnya? Yeah. Chechen rebels are not the most happy people around and they will kill children, they've shown to secede.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Secessions are bloody and horrible. Oh, were they the school? Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. Okay. What was it? The SWAT podcast?

Yeah, I think so. Let's see. What else? Oh, Yugoslavia. Yeah. That's another really good example too. There's a guy named Joseph Tito. Right?

Not Tito Jackson. Or Tito's handmade vodka. Okay. Tito was this guy who was a brutal iron-fisted dictator, but he had a reputation where people would say Tito is a brutal iron-fisted dictator, but you got to hand it to him. He's keeping Yugoslavia together and this is amazing. Right. Right. This Yugoslavia before Tito and then after Tito were a bunch of ethnic people,

groups living together, that had hated each other for a thousand years. Right. Like, I think the problem between the Albanians and the Serbs went back to a massacre or the murder of a martyr in like 12 something, really 13th century. Wow. So Tito comes along and is like, no, you all live together in my country. Wow. After Tito dies, Yugoslavia falls apart and all of a sudden you have Albania, Serbia,

all that stuff. But these were huge, enormous problems for the world. The Balkans are a big match or a big flashpoint, right? Sure. But ultimately what happened was a bunch of ethnic Albanians said, you know what, we're no longer part of Serbia. Right. We have our own, we have our own nations now.

Right. That's one way to do it. That's land-based accession and like we said, it's usually kind of bloody. Right? That's right. Right. But there are a few steps that Albanians took, that Serbs eventually took and that other people have taken that are basically like a four-part means of becoming an independent nation.

Yeah. So also I should, I have to give a huge shout out to Joshua Keating who wrote a really cool article on foreign policy, foreign policy magazine about this that formed the basis of this article. It's just way better. This is way better. Oh really? No, fine.

It's way better than the editor at foreign policy magazine. Also three things, Josh, and we're going to talk about the four steps, but three things that generally give you a leg up if you want to form a new country is a population of, I would guess, like-minded folks. Not just a population, a permanent population like these people's homeland or this is where they live. This is where they farm. Right.

Not they're on vacation here. Let's get a country going. Exactly. Government and land, that'll really give you a leg up if you've got those three things. It's a good starter kit. And there's a fourth one that's not necessarily, those three are internationally recognized as yes, if you can, if you have those three things then you're on your way to forming a country.

Was it fourth currency? The fourth, no. The fourth is that that government has to be able to communicate with the outside world. And then that came out of a treaty in 1933 in Montevideo where the U.S. said, okay, we'll leave Latin America alone. You guys are your own sovereign nations now. We'll just undermine you covertly rather than overtly. And that's kind of disputed.

I think the United States recognizes it still, but other countries don't necessarily see that as criteria for nationhood. Well, it's tricky and we'll see here in a minute when we start talking about the awesomely funny and wacky sea land. I can't wait. Being recognized, it's some people recognize certain things and some people say you're sovereign nation and then or an independent, it's very formal and informal whether or not you're recognized or not.

And I can't really tell when you're a legitimate country anymore. No, really the only way, there isn't. There's another recognized country recognizes you as a country. Even that doesn't necessarily mean anything because take Taiwan. Taiwan used to be a recognized country, part of the UN. And then in 1971, Nixon threw it to the dogs as an olive branch to China. And Taiwan hasn't been a part of the UN since then. Are they trying to be?

Yes, really every couple of years the petition to come back into the UN, not even come in the first time to come back, they got booted out because Nixon was like, yeah, the U.S. isn't backing UN. We got our little empty chair there with our little placard. I see it right there with the microphone. Exactly. There's a little earpiece interpreter. It has like a cobweb.

Yeah, so Taiwan is a sovereign nation as far as it's concerned, as far as many other nations are concerned, but it's not officially recognized by other countries. You know, very big, important. Yeah, and UN protection, that's big because that means that your former country, if you're all of a sudden recognized by the UN, can't roll in there and take you back by force, at least per the UN's rules, they can't. They're not supposed to, no. Because once you do that, that's war.

And first, I should say, once you've completed step two, which is declare independence. Right. You got to write your own Declaration of Independence. Right. And then once you write your own Declaration of Independence. Send it to the important people that need to see that, I guess. Right. Well, the country that you're succeeding from.

Well, sure. They'd be first on the list. Sure. And then if you can get recognized, then you're a sovereign nation, basically, on the international stage. And that's an act of war, an unprovoked act of aggression on par with Pearl Harbor or 9-11 or whatever. Sure.

And I think that what you mentioned, Kosovo and Montenegro is being on the winning side of those laws that kept them protected from Serbia. Yeah. So that's because the U.S. recognized Kosovo on the day it declared independence. George Bush was like, hey, yeah, we're going to recognize you as a sovereign nation. And they were like, what? He said, Kosovo? We recognize you.

And the reason why Keating points out that back in the day during the Cold War, it used to be that all you had to do was say, I'm anti-Soviet and the U.S. would recognize you immediately. Or you could be like American capitalist pig dogs and the USSR would be like, hey, you're on our team. You're a country. Right. But they both start printing stamps.

Right. But with Kosovo, in particular, declaring independence, it was kind of like a thumb in the eye to Russia because former Soviet state satellite. Right. And so Bush recognizing it was kind of like to the Russians. A what, Josh? What was that? You know what it was.

The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah. And they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes. They can do that.

The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. Cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging?

They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed. They call civil acid. That's a good one. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Ready, set, slay. Squirrel Friends, the official RuPaul's Drag Race podcast is taking you behind the scenes of RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 on MTV with me, Alec Moppa and my co-host, Lonnie Love.

Alec and I will recap the latest episode, the best and worst looks, and we'll even be joined by some of your favorite queens along the way. One thing's for sure, there is no shortage of queens this season because we are witnessing the biggest cast in RuPaul's Drag Race herstory and the stakes are higher than ever with the largest cast prize in drag race herstory. So make no mistake, the competition is going to rev up. Watch season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race every Friday on MTV. Then join us on the podcast right after the show to recap the episode.

Deep brief on all the looks and more. Listen to Squirrel Friends, the official RuPaul's Drag Race podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Yes, Josh, and those rules that we're talking about, the UN rules are a remnant of the Cold War to protect new states that were not yet recognized by one side of the block or the other. Right, they hadn't unilaterally declared their release. That's the LOC, not New Kids on the Block with a K. Did they spell it with a K?

Yeah, that wouldn't be New Kids on the Block. That would have been a different band. So that was the first three steps, I believe, right? You have criteria, declare independence, you petition for UN recognition, and I should also say it's incredibly easy to petition for UN recognition. It's almost cute how easy it is. It's almost adorable that you can just write a letter. Tell them, Chuck.

Well, you just write a letter to the Secretary General and say, I would like to be a country. I don't even, that was a mix of like eight accents. So don't call me out on that one. It sounded a lot like, yes, that's exactly who it sounded like. Thank you very much. So, yeah, you just write a letter and getting in. I mean, the letter writing part is easy.

That's the big part. And as a matter of fact, as a PSA, we're going to give you the address. Send your letter to if you are going to declare your independence. You want to address your letter to Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, the United Nations, First Avenue at 46th Street, New York, New York 10017. And all you have to do is say, Mr. Ban, we would like to be a nation. We have a sedentary population. We have a government.

Our government can even talk to people if you're into that kind of thing. Yeah, we've got phones. Yeah. And we have a geography. So let us in, huh? Chuck, also to be accepted into the UN, you need recognition by a two-thirds vote. Okay.

And a two-thirds majority says that you're a, quote, peace-loving state that can carry out the duties of the UN Charter. That means you are in. Yes, but that can be easily vetoed by member nations. And like you point out in the article, I guess it's, you want to make friends with the big players in the UN and get them on your side. That would definitely help. Yeah, there's, you know, neutral countries are always like, sure,

well, neutral, whatever you want to do, pal. Right, right. They don't carry much weight, though. No, not nearly as much as, you know, the, you could basically call them bully countries. Countries that have the economic and military might to push everybody else around, make decisions for the rest of the world. So if you can get recognized and get in bed with one of those guys,

you're going to, your nation's going to start to thrive. Another way to get your nation to thrive is to attract foreign investors. Yeah, you pointed out natural resources. If you happen to have an island like the big one, let's say the Waponi woos had boobaroo, if you remember. I don't remember that. Boobaroo was this mineral, I believe, that the Waponis had. I remember he was, he wanted their island.

That was the whole point. He wanted it for boobaroo because it helped out with whatever his business was. Lloyd Bridges, of course, we're talking about the late, great Lloyd Bridges. I liked his little stint on Seinfeld toward the end of his life. He just came out of nowhere. Because he was the father of the old trainer, right? He was the trainer and then his son would like drive the car while he was turned around like shouting out of a bullhorn at Jerry.

But wasn't there even an older, like, wasn't his father also his son? No, his son was an old man. Okay, that's what it was. And he was the older man. Yeah. Anyway, we were talking about Joe versus the Volcano, obviously, which we've mentioned before.

And in that movie, he wanted the mineral rights to this imaginary element or mineral. And that's a good way to get sovereignty is to attract, I guess, a wealthy entrepreneur and say, hey, I've got some awesome sand on this island. Right. You've got that. You can also create currency and back it with said mineral or natural resource. Yeah. Like this is eight gas bucks.

Yeah, yeah. If you have natural gas. What's this Nevada thing? There's a guy who, what's the name of the place? The Republic of Malaysia. Okay. There's a guy in Nevada who owns like a parcel of of arid land that no one else wants in Nevada, and he has declared it in a republic.

Really? It will never, ever get recognized internationally because it's in the United States. Yeah, yeah. Right. And that's a perfect example, Chuck, of what international recognition is like. Imagine if China recognized the Republic of Malaysia as an independent nation within Nevada. Can you imagine what a thumb in the eye of the United States is? It would go nowhere.

There would be nothing. What are the, the Chinese aren't going to arm this guy. Right. Right. So like that's what is going on. I mean, think about this. Like American Indian tribes, Native American tribes have petitioned for independence and they can't get it.

This guy in Malaysia is never going to get it. Yeah. And they were here long before that guy. Now imagine if this were serious and there were, you know, there were really huge like mineral rights at stake. Yeah. These people were accepting arms. They were warring with somebody that could pull you into a war.

Sure. Then it starts to get like a little more nerve-wracking, but the thing's the exact same. Yeah. People recognize nations just to tick off other nations. Right. To embroil other nations in war or problems or to show, to scoff at it. It's basically like pushing another popular kid into a locker. That's like recognizing a new nation.

Right. That's, that's often accompanied to it. And then shutting a locker. Yeah. What is the guy in Nevada back his currency? Does he have currency or just- He backs it with chocolate chip cookie dough. And you pointed out that that's not very valid, but I point out, I counter that, sir.

Okay. And say that I would love for things to be backed with chocolate chip cookie dough. Well, yeah. I mean, I guess I would too, but after a while I'd be like, I don't want any more money. Yeah, that's true. You eat enough cookie dough and you're going to get sick to your stomach. I would strongly recommend reading that Chicago Tribune story on that guy because it is extremely interesting.

It's called One Nation Under Me by Colleen Mastoni. It came out in 2008 on the Republic of Malaysia. Awesome. He is not the only wacky guy running around with saying like, I'm an independent nation. Right. He's actually not, I mean, he's kind of serious, but not really. I get the impression he's half performance artist. Sure.

There's a guy who founded his own nation in the 60s off the coast of Great Britain. Yep. And it's still around today. Sea land. It is. It's an amazing story. It is. I think they're making it or they talked about making a movie and this has been requested.

In fact, I didn't hear about this at all until someone had requested it a while ago, about six months ago. So whoever that was, thank you. So Chuck, apparently in World War II, the British made a bunch of military outposts that were basically like oil derricks or oil platforms that weren't pumping oil. They were just stationary out in the North Sea off the British coast to basically shoot down German airplanes in case of attack. Yeah.

Just big, almost like stationary aircraft carriers. Right. And they tore most of them down after the war, except they left one up. Apparently no one has any idea why this one particular one was left up. But it was about seven nautical miles, which is like 1.1 something land miles. Okay. I don't even know why they have those. What, nautical miles?

Yeah. Hey, it's different out in the water, buddy. Bet we hear about it. Off of the coast of England, right? Uh-huh. Which puts it outside of the three-mile range of territorial waters. Remember who owns the ocean? That's right.

Okay. So this thing is in international waters, even though the British built it. Ruff's Tower was the name of this particular one. And like you said, it stayed there. The rest of them were abandoned and then torn down. And this one was just... It was abandoned and left up. Yeah, abandoned and left up.

So a guy, a pirate radio broadcaster, which at the time England was lousy with pirate radio broadcasters that weren't allowed to broadcast certain things in England. So they'd go outside to international waters. That's what Christian Slater did. That's right, and there's a movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman was just in about pirate radio. Oh, okay. I believe called Pirate Radio. Yeah, sounds familiar.

But anyway, this guy, English major Patty Roy Bates, was a pirate radio broadcaster who took up residence September 1967, about 6,000 square feet. This platform is. And said, you know what? I'm the prince of sea land. And his wife just shook her head. And he said, but dough, you're the princess of sea land.

So don't shake your head. Okay, all right. Yes. And then she was down with it. And this is the principality of sea land. And we are our own nation and we are not a part of England. So be it. Yeah.

And that was pretty much how it started. So this guy, I guess the story would probably end there. But this guy was bound and determined. He was dead serious. Yeah, to get wrecked. Call him a crackpot or whatever. But this guy made this place. Yeah.

One of the great crackpots, though. So I guess what was that? That was in 1967. Yeah. The next year, the British Navy sailed into this guy's waters. They were aware of them. Yeah, they went to fix a buoy. Is that what happened?

Yeah, there was some sort of buoy out there that needed maintenance. So they entered his waters, air quotes. And he son, son Michael actually, I think this was wrong. I think it's son Michael's who fired warning shots in the air and got in trouble. Well, you get the attention of the Navy when you start firing shots for their attention. Sure. And yeah, that was kind of a big deal. Back on the island of England, a lot of people were calling for this guy to be court

marshaled or thrown in jail or something. Right? Yeah. So a case was brought against him in the House of Commons or in the common court. Right. Right. A lawsuit, basically. And the court ruled we can't do anything.

This is not within our jurisdiction. Yeah. It's not within English jurisdiction. And they went, sweet. And through that ruling, it was recognized and documented that this guy had a de facto sovereign nation. That's right. The court of another nation, another sovereign nation ruled that it had no jurisdiction over

this place called Sea Land. This platform. Yeah. Out in the ocean. So seven years later, they proclaimed a constitution. They have since then have developed a flag. They have a coat of arms. It's a nice coat of arms.

Yeah, it's nice. And it's on the flag. They have a national anthem. They have stamps. They have currency, Sea Land dollars, which are equivalent to one American dollar. I guess whatever the American dollar happens to be, that's Sea Land changes along with us. Uh-huh. And they had passports made. Yeah.

And they gave them out to people that didn't sell them. There's about 200 of them in existence, real ones. Today. Yes. There's 500 times more forged ones in existence. Right, because people started to use Sea Land as a way to open bank accounts. Okay. They just forged these documents.

And since no one had ever seen them, people would say, what is this? And then they go do some research and they'd say, oh, well, okay, this is a real thing. Okay. And they would give them the loan. August. There'd be a lot of okays. August of 78. Let's flash forward a bit.

They quote unquote, win a war. This guy named Alexander Aachenbach, who called himself the prime minister of Sea Land. Apparently when Roy was, I'm sorry, the prince of Sea Land and the princess were on the British mainland, he sent in some mercenaries to take the, I keep wanting to call it an island, to take Sea Land. Why? I didn't find out why. I'm not sure, to be honest.

Okay. I guess he was, I mean, he said he was a prime minister, so maybe he was trying to, you know, he had had enough of Prince Roy's iron fisted rule or something. And he wanted to take it for himself. Right. He was tired of him strutting around. So they, they sent these helicopters and speed boats in. There was a battle.

They kidnapped the son, Michael. Yeah, this is serious. Took Sea Land by force. And then Roy hears of this, obviously, he gets on it and wages a battle against these mercenaries and wins and retakes Sea Land, holds these people captive, releases the Dutch. There were Dutch and Germans. Right. And charges Aachenbach with treason because he was prime minister of Sea Land, holds him.

And this is, this is the best part of the whole thing. Eventually Germany sent a diplomat to Sea Land to negotiate his release. And that is used today still as de facto evidence because an official diplomat from a country came to our country to, to negotiate with us. So that is de facto proof that we are a sovereign nation. Well, it's proof two out of two, at least. Yeah. Although, I mean, like all the stuff they were doing internally, like issuing passports

and forming currency in a flag and other national treasures, that, that, that definitely suggests that they're a sovereign nation as well. Yeah. They proved they said, Hey, this guy recognizes this German diplomat came here. Yeah. But plus, I mean, not just sovereign, but that's like a war. Yeah. They won the war, like you said.

Technically. And also, that's a lot like the mouse that roared. Yeah. I thought of that same thing, man. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's like almost exactly the same. Yeah. Great.

What was that? 1959, I think. The book or the movie? The movie. Yeah. With Peter Sellers, David Niven, I'm sure those two are inseparable. What was the deal? They, America declared a kind of a phony war on a small nation.

A small nation. Right. That was like going under, declared war on America. Right. And so that they could surrender, not just get pressed, but so they could get international aid for having lost a war with America. Apparently, the humanitarian aid pours in. But they won, right?

Yeah. Right, right, right. I remember I read that. You could watch that. Did you? Yeah. Good for you, Chuck. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff.

Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. Cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed.

They call civil acid for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ready, set, slay. Squirrel Friends, the official RuPaul's Drag Race podcast, is taking you behind the scenes of RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 on MTV. With me, Alec Moppa, and my co-host, Lonnie Love. Alec and I will recap the latest episode, The Best and Worst Looks,

and we'll even be joined by some of your favorite queens along the way. One thing's for sure. There is no shortage of queens this season, because we are witnessing the biggest cast in RuPaul's Drag Race herstory, and the stakes are higher than ever with the largest cast prize in Drag Race herstory. So make no mistake, the competition is going to rev up. Watch season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race every Friday on MTV. Then join us on the podcast right after the show to recap the episode.

Deep brief on all the looks and more. Listen to Squirrel Friends, the official RuPaul's Drag Race podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So flash forward a bit more, and to 1987, Britain extended territorial waters to 12 nautical miles. The day before Britain does this, Prince Roy does the same thing. So they have overlapping waters, and even though they've never negotiated anything, apparently there's an understanding that it's split down the middle when this happens between countries. You do not mess with Prince Roy. And the other cool thing is because

international law doesn't allow you to claim new land when you extend your sea rights. It was grandfathered in, and just to this day is still sitting there. Well, speaking of to this day, after like 40 years, Prince Roy is like, I'm done. I did it. He's got to be old. He is old. I think he tried to give it to his son, so I was like, so Prince Roy is trying to sell it. Michael's in London, he's like, yeah. It started, it experienced a revival with some investment from Haven Co Ltd, which basically says, hey, we have internet servers on this island, and they're in a sovereign nation, which means they can't be shut down except by attack. Right.

And that attracted a lot of people who, like Pirate Bay, like rogue BitTorrent sites, mirror their stuff on these servers. It's a lot like the internet's version of offshore bank accounts of the Caimans. Gotcha. So did they sell it? The Pirate Bay was looking at buying it, I think in 2007, but fell through. As far as I know, you could conceivably buy Sea Land today. Well, Pirate Bay was going to buy it, but they found out there were no hardwood floors under the carpet, so they said, yeah, no thanks. Or they were rotted. Right. Yeah. So that's Sea Land, eh? Yeah. And it's still going strong. I mean, they claim de facto recognition still to this day.

Oh yeah. Well, it's a sovereign country. Yeah. Dude, if Britain's like, we can't mess with you and they won a war with Germany, right? Okay. And he didn't pay into the health system. Britain said, all right, you don't have to pay into the health system. Yeah. But don't call us when you get sick. Yeah. Probably. So that's what's considered a micro-nation, although I realize there are also other micro-nations that exist only on the web. Right. We need to do one on those, I think. Have we not? All right. It's on the list.

All right. You should go do a little more research on this on howstuffworks.com. You should probably check out, how do I start my own country for starters? There's some good links in that article too. We mentioned who owns the oceans. You need to know that. And then how currency works is probably a good one to brush up on as well, right? Yeah. Go read the Mouse at Roard or watch it. Yeah. Do that too. You can find all that by using the dapper search bar at howstuffworks.com. Right? I said dapper. So that triggers Listener Mail today. That's right. Josh, this is another update from Sarah, the amazing fan. Oh, hey, Sarah. We get these usually around her birthday.

Mm-hmm. She gets modeling. As everybody knows, we have been keeping up with Sarah since she was 11, the amazing 11-year-old fan, and Sarah's about to turn 14. Wow. Growing up right, not right before our eyes, but right before our ears. And she just writes the best email. So this is from Sarah Deer, Chuck, Josh, Jerry, Frank, the chair, handy-dandy microphones, and last but not least, the Last Chance Garage Hat. Wow. She wrote into my hat. Wow, what a year. I don't know if y'all have been keeping track. I seriously doubt it, but I can dream, right? But I will be turning 14 in 15 days on the 24th. And I'm not sure when this is coming out, but it should be sometime around there.

Yeah. Not only is my birthday in two weeks, but my eighth grade graduation falls on the day before, meaning that my class trip to Six Flags, by the way, is on my birthday. Yay. It's a smiley face. Uh, because of the two and a half hour to three hour drive, I'll probably be listening to some epic podcast on the way. Now, to the real topic of this email, I'm going to share my hardcore parkour experience. After I read the blog that Chuckers posted on parkour in the computer lab at school, I went on a parkour rampage. Well, not really a rampage, but I just decided to randomly walk up to things, jump next to them, and say, parkour. When I did a parkour jump, next to one of my friends, she goes, do you watch the office? Apparently there was an episode

where some of the characters went on a parkour rampage similar to mine. Yeah, we mentioned that, right? Uh-huh. I decided to look it up and found that it was really hilarious. You may want to start a parkour club right there at housestuffworks.com after you watch this. We are way too fat and old for that. Yeah, we've learned that this week. Uh, so that's, uh, she says, ha, ha, ha. She knows. Love and Rockets. Sarah, the amazing 13, almost 14-year-old fan. That is awesome. And she made a, uh, Daniel Ash reference there at the end with Love and Rockets. Yeah, I don't even know if she meant that, but I think it's an adorable way to sign an email if you're 14. Well, it's Sarah. She's adorable all over. Absolutely. Sarah, happy, happy birthday. We're

so glad you've been growing up with us. Yep. We appreciate you. Yep. You stay safe parkouring out there. Please do. Have fun at, uh, Six Flags. Be careful on the roller coasters. You know, they make me nervous and, um, well heck, we'll say happy birthday again to you next year. Okay. Absolutely. All right. Uh, if you have a, uh, flag, if you have a name of a country, if you have any ideas for starting your own country, we want to hear about them. You can post them on our Facebook page. That is stuff you should know after a slash after.com, after Facebook, after slash, after colon, after a P, after a T, and after an H, right? Do that in reverse order in a URL bar anywhere. And it's going to take you to our Facebook page. You can also reach us on Twitter

at syskpodcast, and you can send us regular old fashioned email to stuffpodcastathowstuffworks.com. Be sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff From The Future. Join How Stuff Works staff as we explore them as promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? The War on Drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the War on Drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called, David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.