That year, the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in Palermo, Italy, discovered what he thought was a planet.

As two enterprising anthropology undergraduates at George Washington University, Elizabeth Nistico and Samuel Schall tackled the phenomenon of sugar daddy culture for a recent school project.

It's hard to imagine a place more quintessentially red, white and blue - the town, nestled firmly in the heartland of Georgia, is called Americus.