The Micronesian Olympics—now known as the Micronesian Games for copyright reasons—were first held in 1969. As these photographs attest, the athletes competed in front of crowds that numbered in the dozens or even less. Yet those first Olympics still occupy a cherished place in the memories of Micronesian sports fans, particularly those whose tastes run […]
Tags:baseball·Micronesia·sports
Please take a moment today to check out this astounding collection of mid-1970s photos from Ujelang Atoll, a Micronesian speck that once played host to nuclear refugees from nearby Enewetak. When these particular photos were taken, the Enewetakese had been in exile for three decades, after being bounced from their homes so the United States […]
Tags:atomic testing·Enewetak·law·Micronesia·nuclear weapons·Ujelang
Though English may be gaining an ever-greater toehold in the rest of the world, the United States appears to becoming increasingly polyglot. At the same time, first-generation immigrants are making landfall in far-flung locations throughout the U.S., rather than concentrating in a handful of urban centers. Those two trends spell trouble for courts with slim […]
Tags:Arkansas·crime·Kiti·law·linguistics·Marshall Islands·Micronesia·Pohnpei·technology
One of the happier trends these days is the general improvement in human life expectancy, even in nations that are suffering through armed conflict, natural disasters, or other great misfortunes. Believe it or not, for example, the average life expectancy in Afghanistan has actually increased steadily in recent years, as has the hallowed figure in […]
Tags:infant mortality·life expectancy·Marshall Islands·Micronesia·Pacific Ocean·Taiwan
Perhaps the most intriguing part of this chart is realizing that the United States remains a Puritanical outlier. The only other non-Muslim nations that adhere to the 21-across-the-board rule are Fiji, Palau, and Micronesia. Yet if any American politician dare utter a peep about lowering the drinking age, they’re shouted down as if they’d come […]
Tags:alcohol·Fiji·Micronesia·Palau·politics
