Curio Cabinet

This wasn’t an April Fools joke, but it almost seems like one. The state of Illinois recently allowed its citizens to vote on a new design for their state flag, and by far the largest share of the votes went to the existing design. Last year, Minnesota voted to adopt a new design for their state flag, and maybe Illinois was feeling a little left out. In the end, the state’s redesign contest came down to 10 finalists, and out of around 385,000 voters, 43 percent wanted to keep the same old-same old.
 
Illinois originally adopted their flag in 1915, and it's not exactly known for its vexillological beauty. It features an eagle atop a rock and a shield decorated with the stars and stripes with the setting sun in the background. Next to the eagle, a banner shows the state motto—"State Sovereignty, National Union”—and on the rock are two dates. One is 1868, the year the state seal (the eagle design featured on the flag itself) was adopted, and 1818 for when Illinois became a state. While it may seem strange to hold a flag-design contest, Illinois’ current flag was actually chosen via a similar contest in 1915 organized by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and that wasn't even the first time someone tried to come up with a different state flag for Illinois. A few years prior to that contest, a man named Wallace Rice designed a flag featuring blue and white stripes, 20 blue stars, and one white star. The 21 stars were meant to represent the fact that Illinois was the 21st state to be added to the Union, but no matter the symbolism, the flag was never approved by the state legislature. Other flags considered in the past included banners created for the state’s Centennial and Sesquicentennial celebrations in 1918 and 1968 respectively, and those two were also among the 10 finalists in the latest vote. Even with flags, it seems most people agree: if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 
[Image description: The Illinois state flag: a white flag with an eagle in the center. The eagle holds a red banner reading “NATIONAL UNION” and “STATE SOVEREIGNTY" while standing on a rock listing the years 1868 and 1818. There is a yellow setting sun in the background.] Credit & copyright: Public Domain.

Rags to riches is an understatement. Madam C.J. Walker, the daughter of two former slaves, worked her way up the ladder of a prejudiced society to earn enormous riches as an entrepreneur. Today we're celebrating her birthday with a look back at her remarkable career.
 
As a young black woman living in St. Louis in the 1890s, Walker didn't start out looking for the "next big idea." She was eking out a living for her and her daughter as a washerwoman. It wasn't until she found a job as a sales agent with a haircare company that things started taking off. The role was personal for her, as she suffered from scalp rashes and balding. Plus, her brothers worked in the hair business as barbers.
 
Walker was successful selling other people's hair products, but employment was getting in the way of her dream. Literally: a man who visited her in a dream inspired her to start her own company, selling hair and beauty products geared towards black women. The Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, of which Walker was the sole stakeholder, made its fortunes on sales of Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower. 19th-century hygiene called for only infrequent hair washing, which led to scalp infections, bacteria, lice, and—most commonly—balding. Walker's Hair Grower combatted balding and was backed by Walker's own guarantee that she used it to fix her own hair issues. A marketing strategy focused on black women, a neglected but growing portion of consumers, was a key ingredient for success.
 
As the business grew, Walker revealed bigger ambitions. “I am not merely satisfied in making money for myself," she said. "I am endeavoring to provide employment for hundreds of women of my race." Her company employed some 40,000 “Walker Agents” to teach women about proper hair care. Walker stepped beyond the boundaries of her business as a social activist and philanthropist. She donated thousands to the NAACP and put her voice behind causes like preserving Frederick Douglass's home and fighting for the rights of black World War I veterans.
 
It's often claimed that Walker was America's first black female self-made millionaire. But when she passed away in 1919, assessors found out her estate totaled around $600,000. Not that the number matters at all, really; Walker's legacy is priceless. We're guessing the businessmen and women she inspired could more than make up the difference.

Cults are dangerous at the best of times, and 1995 was not the best of times. On March 20 of that year, a group then known as the AUM Shinrikyo terrorized Tokyo with a series of deadly sarin gas attacks on the city's subway system. The cult, which mixed some aspects of Buddhism and Christianity while emphasizing a series of doomsday prophecies, was seemingly attempting to speed up the apocalypse with their attacks. Now known as Aleph, the cult carried out the attacks during morning rush hour, targeting several different trains and subway lines, leading to 14 deaths and around 6,000 injuries. It’s considered one of the worst terrorist attacks in postwar Japan, and to this day many survivors continue to deal with the health consequences of being exposed to the gas.
 
Sarin was invented in 1938 and was originally meant to be used as a pesticide. When it was discovered that the gas worked as a deadly nerve agent, some considered using it as a chemical weapon during WWII, but the idea was scrapped. The consequences would have been disastrous, since sarin can taint water supplies and contaminate food in addition to killing people via inhalation. The gas is a deadly neurotoxin that affects the function of muscles and the respiratory system.
 
Even three decades later, many survivors of the subway attacks experience severe nerve pains, fatigue, dizziness, and other debilitating symptoms. While there are antidotes against the toxin, there is unfortunately no cure or universal treatment available for those who suffer permanent damage. As for the attacks themselves, they were the deadly climax to a series of smaller-scale attacks by members of the cult, one of which claimed eight lives and injured around 500 people. Luckily, many members involved with the attacks—including the leader—were arrested, though the very last suspect wasn't caught until 2012. Better for justice to come late than never.