Rare Earth

The Lebanese Civil War

Dearest Patrons,

My sincere apologies for my long delay. Many things have kept me from finishing this, predominately bad but some good, so let's chalk it up to writer's block. Also, it is forty minutes long and about a topic I don't believe can ever be covered with any justice. When I got into this whole YouTube gig I told myself don't go...

The Empires Strike Back: History of Lebanon (Part Six)

This is the second half of the run-up to the civil war. Yet another complicated piece of an already complicated puzzle. We hope you like it and it will help you to fill in your web on what comes next.

As always, thank you!

Love,

Kata and Evan

The Israeli Crisis: History of Lebanon (Part Five)

One day late but here is Part Five on the history of Lebanon. We had to split the run-up to the civil war into two separate videos as there is so much to cover and so much complexity.

Thanks to everyone who is sticking it out through this incredible long season. Hope it'll be worth it in the end!

Love,

Kata and Evan

The Genocides that Created Lebanon: History of Lebanon (Part Four)

Sorry for the long wait (as usual) I had to move to Japan real quick and these are some of the longest videos we've ever had to make. By the end of the season I expect this will be a two and half to three hour combined episode! That's more than three times longer than anything we've ever made before, and for two people it's a lot to manage.
...

Building the Frankenstein Nation: History of Lebanon (Part 3)

Dear Patrons,

Apologies for the long wait. This episode has taken a long time to write and a long time to edit. However, as we are getting closer to more modern history with shorter timeframes and more historical records and footage, we can hopefully speed things back up.

As always, we are so very grateful of you all watching and s...

History of Lebanon Part Two: Killing God

Dear Patrons,

I hope you enjoy this opinionated superficial overview of a topic I can only suspect I won't be the one to change your mind about. But divinely inspired or not, please bear with me as I try to cover thousands of years of history in mere minutes so that once we get to the modern era we have enough context and narrative backin...

History of Lebanon Part One: The Phoenicians

Dear Patrons,

Welcome to yet another of my attempts to tell history. It isn't my forte, but the only way I can talk about modern Lebanon is by starting in the ancient past. And so, this is where I've chosen to begin.

This is the first in multiple episodes (7? 8? 9?) that will be combined to cover the history of Lebanon as a single lo...

Is This Ancient History's Most Important Resource?

Before I went to Lebanon I knew nothing about the Cedars of God. I didn't know why that was their flag, and I'd never heard of the forest of God. Now I bring them up with almost zero prompting. They're so cool, and such an incredible place to be able to visit. What a spectacularly dense history this region has.

As cool as they are to see,...

I Was Detained In Lebanon as an Israeli Spy

Dear Patrons,

As promised, and as a preamble to our Lebanon season, here is the story of Evan being detained as an Israeli spy.

I was on my way back to Canada when this happened. I somehow knew something was wrong because I haven't heard from him all day which made no sense because he didn't have any filming planned for that day. S...

When Amateur Archaeologists Faked Europe's Oldest Civilization

Dearest Patrons,

We didn't mean to take such a long break but a few weeks ago we got bad medical news about our dog and now we're sort of trying to make his exit as good as possible. Then when we started trying to get back into the swing of things, a tree fell on our house.

But we're all settled now and back with many more adventur...

The Ghost Army Who Held Back the Nazis

We are back with another video from Crete where you can see a castle from all possible angles. Well, unfortunately not from the inside as it has been closed for years. This is the story of Frangokastello and its ghost army.

Tall tales always seem to get taller, but their purpose often stays the same. The myth of Frangokastello might be lit...

Kata's Birthday

Today is Kata's birthday and I thought you all might like to know. Maybe send her a nice little note, even.

Here she is celebrating by helping me fix up our kiwi vines.

As always,

Evan

The True Story of the Minotaur

Some myths have meanings. False memories of a real event.

And at least as I see it, the meaning behind Theseus and the Minotaur is nothing less than the conquest and destruction of one of earth's oldest civilizations. It's an echo, being repeated over a thousand years later in the stories of the victors.

But long ago, the Minotaur w...

The Oldest Art in Greece is Not What You Think

Dear Patrons,

We did not plan to make this video first. I just wanted to go see the cave since we were already nearby. It sounded cool and I wanted to get some extra footage for our Footprints video. Evan really did not believe we would be able to get in. Yet, there we were staring at Greece's oldest (figural) art. It was truly amazin...

Is this the Footprint of the Missing Link?

Hello dear Patrons,

Kata has been working hard editing long into the early afternoon and so despite me spending an entire week fixing up my garden instead of helping her we are back with yet another episode from Crete:

European apes. Who knew?

As always, thank you all so much for the support. It really does mean everything to u...

This Is Not a Five Star Cat

Dearest Patrons,

Thanks to those of you who reached out, worrying I might have been scooped up by yet another nations' intelligence services. The truth is much more boring (we got sick and had to rewrite a script last minute). But we're back, and excited to talk about an island we knew little about before arriving on its shores. An islan...

The Other Tuskegee: America's Nuclear Guinea Pigs

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the week delay on today's episode. Evan was detained in Lebanon on suspicion of spying and he was a little busy talking his way out. But everything is good now and we're back with our final video from Micronesia. Up next, Crete!

Love as always,

Kata

Update

Dear Patrons,

This week's video is a bit delayed because Evan has spent the last four days detained by the Central Intelligence Division of Lebanon on suspicion of being an Israeli spy. He has somehow managed to talk his way out of it, but it has been rather disruptive.

We'll get back to our final video from the Marshalls in a few da...

The Island of Violent Basketball

Dear Patrons,

we would never expect more from you than you already give. It is already so far above and beyond what we'd ever expect. But in the off-chance you want to help Ebeye, we've obtained a local address where gear can be donated.

I realize in the video I mentioned Rebel John of Sports Ebeye, but after I recorded the video I w...

The American Military Built a Ghetto In the Pacific

I wasn't quite sure how to write this story, nor what we should include and leave out. This is a story about America, but it's bigger than America. It's a story about Ebeye, but it's bigger than Ebeye too. But I suppose every story needs a start and an end, and I hope you're happy with what we came up with. It was important to us that we do this...

The Republican Who Got Caught Selling Babies

Today's episode goes out to patron Brandan Lee who alerted me to this story in the comments section of our video from two weeks ago and inspired me to put this together. 

It isn't exactly a Rare Earth story, and since we didn't know about it while filming in the Marshalls a lot of the footage is from the news, but when a patron asks u...

The Cheapest Cocaine on Earth

I didn't want to make this video. Drugs, for the most part, bore me.

But after having multiple discussions with people in the Marshalls, predominately against my will, I realized that the topic had come up so many times that it almost felt like I'd be avoiding it not to say something. And so, dear Patrons, I apologize for yet another vide...

The Country That's Sinking Itself

All countries are currently sinking themselves. Some just more visibly than others.

This video is less of a Rare Earth episode and more of a rant. And while I don't expect people to like hearing it, at the time it was certainly something that I felt needed to be said. Looking back, perhaps I could have said it better, but I suppose I feel ...

This Tribe Went to War For a Truly Disgusting Reason

Welcome to our last video from Pohnpei, as well as the Federated States of Micronesia!

This story is based on a single page from an old history book about Pohnpei: 'Upon a Stone Altar' by David Hanlon. We were so shocked and fascinated by this story that we had to make a video on it despite not having a lot of fitting visuals to go with it...

The Truth of Nan Madol: The Megalith Island City

Back for the new year!

Sorry for the delay we are filming in Crete and Kata has been rushing around the planet trying to catch me after dropping our cat off with my parents in Florida. Hard to edit when you're dropping a cat off in Florida and then sitting on fifteen thousand different little planes.

But hopefully this 17 minutes ...

A King Invited Me to His Private Island Paradise

I live a weird life. Meeting a down to earth king, being personally driven to his private island for the night, all so that I can say thank you to an organization most of you will have never heard of before. So that maybe you might even think about someday how you might want to bring your conservation skills to Micronesia and donate your time an...

How to Become King in Micronesia

The answer is pretty simple really: Have your grandparents marry someone in line for a throne in Micronesia and then act responsibly towards Pohnpeian culture your entire life. But obviously, the story is deeper than that. 

This is the story of Rohsa William Hawley, the King of Kitti, and of his ancestors, particularly Henry Nanpei. B...

The Story of P.T. Barnum's Tattooed Irish Freak

Ah, coming home after being enslaved since your late teens only to have your own society condemn you as satanic for what they did to you and then be forced to headline a traveling freakshow until you died. No matter where you go, the tattoos always speak first.  

This is the (self-told, probably exaggerated for circus reasons) story o...

I Overheard a Secret Chinese Meeting in Micronesia On Vacation

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the extremely long delay Kata and I have had extremely long covid. Or extremely short long covid I suppose. Thinking positively.

We attended three weddings (where the covid was obtained), and so it has taken us an entire month to get this one ready. But don't worry, we aren't making a habit of it (getting l...

The Monster of The Pacific

Edit: The video is live now. Again, apologies for the Patreon post getting published ahead of time.

This video was inspired by a restaurant that was named after a man we'd never heard of. A man who it turns out is Kosrae's most famous historical figure. A man who the more we learned about the more we began to wonder if we should...