Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (Entry 182.PS4303)
In which erosion on North Carolina's Outer Banks prompts the government to move a twelve-story lighthouse half a mile inland, and Ken is in favor of shipwrecks when the ships are bad. Certificate #6374.
1hr 9m Sep 30, 2021
1hr 9m
The Cotsworth Calendar (Entry 283.JB0306)
In which a gifted Yorkshire boy fails to talk the League of Nations into a thirteen-month year, and John thinks autumn gets short shrift. Certificate #25901.
1hr 2m Sep 28, 2021
1hr 2m
The Erie War (Entry 424.PR2822)
In which America's richest men invent many, many types of securities fraud while tussling over a New York State railroad, and Ken imagines a zoo full of cows. Certificate #32641.
1hr 12m Sep 23, 2021
1hr 12m
Kennewick Man (Entry 683.GN2304)
In which a prehistoric nomad becomes the center of a heated legal battle nine thousand years after his death, and John announces a hydroplane race. Certificate #17567.
1hr 12m Sep 21, 2021
1hr 12m
The Town of Bent Necks (Entry 1323.SS0701)
In which two Nazi brothers divide a German town into rival athletic shoe factions, and Ken plans a hotel heist. Certificate #31961.
1hr 9m Sep 16, 2021
1hr 9m
The Prince Philip Movement (Entry 987.PS8207)
In which one Melanesian village decides, sight unseen, to worship the Duke of Edinburgh, and the gods imprison John in a small ravine. Certificate #50227.
58m Sep 14, 2021
58m
The Wave (Entry 1415.1K0814)
In which the invention of a Bay Area cheerleader becomes science's most exhaustively studied stadium ritual, and Ken doesn't think harbor seals come in different colors. Certificate #4418.
1hr 5m Sep 09, 2021
1hr 5m
Middle Initials (Entry 786.LK0161)
In which twentieth-century America becomes the only time and place in history when people drop letters into their names, and John renames himself in the phone book. Certificate #21831.
1hr 2m Sep 07, 2021
1hr 2m
The Great Diamond Hoax (Entry 548.MT1344)
In which a clever drillbit company accountant cons banking bigwigs into believing an acre of Wyoming is covered in precious gems, and Ken suggests a touching tribute to Paul Anka. Certificate #52348.
1hr 18m Sep 02, 2021
1hr 18m
The Chicago Seekers (Entry 213.RV0103)
In which a failed Chicago flying saucer cult leads to a landmark study in social psychology, and John blames religious fervor on diet pills. Certificate #17854.
1hr 27m Aug 31, 2021
1hr 27m
The Fresnel Lens (Entry 501.1C1312)
In which an efficient new piece of French glassware changes the history of lighthouses, and Ken learns the exact age of Discovery. Certificate #52246.
56m Aug 26, 2021
56m
Goodnight Moon (Entry 539.PR0324)
In which a modernist Manhattan bohemian accidentally writes the great American bedtime story, and John regrets making his professor voice Austrian. Certificate #44141.
59m Aug 24, 2021
59m
The Mpemba Effect (Entry 813.JB3829)
In which scientists from Aristotle up to modern-day Tanzania try to understand the paradoxical way water seems to freeze, and Ken thinks baseball should have cheerleaders. Certificate #25481.
1hr 1m Aug 19, 2021
1hr 1m
The Mafeking Cadet Corps (Entry 746.IS2903)
In which a hero of the Second Boer War turns an ill-advised siege into a worldwide youth movement, and John isn't sure if one can tell time with a cannon. Certificate #31247.
1hr 8m Aug 17, 2021
1hr 8m
The Cuyahoga River Fire(s) (Entry 309.IS4302)
In which the American government only gets serious about environmental cleanup after a river in Cleveland bursts into flame well over a dozen times, and Ken believes he could manufacture gravel. Certificate #12398.
1hr 4m Aug 12, 2021
1hr 4m
Fiji's Declaration of Independence (Entry 467.EC0306)
In which a Pacific nation loses its founding document and has to ask nicely for a photocopy replacement, and John missed his chance at an assumed identity. Certificate #23621.
55m Aug 10, 2021
55m
The Oosik (Entry 868.GN0223)
In which walrus genitals supply an important element to Alaskan folk art, and Ken will not inspect the underside of a wallaby. Certificate #45999.
59m Aug 05, 2021
59m
The Next Dalai Lama (Entry 836.MT0208)
In which the uninterrupted 600-year succession of Tibetan Buddhist leadership is threatened by political oppression, and John admires a hat that looks like a banana. Certificate #32762.
1hr 5m Aug 03, 2021
1hr 5m
The Fulda Gap (Entry 505.2K0316)
In which a series of valleys in central Germany become the focus of Cold War military strategy for generals "fighting the last war," and Ken orders a baby online. Certificate #51668.
1hr 3m Jul 29, 2021
1hr 3m
Lieutenant Nun (Entry 718.2C1102)
In which a "Basque transvestite" leaves her San Sebastian convent in 1607 to become one of the most dangerous men in South America, and John thinks an Italian pope would be a little naughtier than a Spanish one. Certificate #11658.
52m Jul 27, 2021
52m
Games Buddha Wouldn't Play (Entry 514.PP0203)
In which a great spiritual leader lists all the kinds of dice and pick-up sticks and toy windmills that are off-limits to the enlightened, and Ken wants to lick a tetherball pole. Certificate #25968.
1hr 13m Jul 22, 2021
1hr 13m
Union Dixie (Entry 1368.EZ2046)
In which the same folk song is embraced by both sides of the U.S. Civil War, albeit with different lyrics, and John accuses a Supreme Court justice of having a racist ringtone. Certificate #27330.
1hr 8m Jul 20, 2021
1hr 8m
Mulberry Mania (Entry 815.2S0523)
In which early America, hoping to keep up with the Chinese, is caught up in an obsession with white mulberry trees, and Ken marvels at the hanky-panky that must go on in every Olympic Village. Certificate #26780.
1hr 27m Jul 15, 2021
1hr 27m
An African in Greenland (Entry 022.JB3132)
In which a young man from French Togoland survives a snake attack and embarks on a lifelong quest to see the Arctic, and John loses a large rooster. Certificate #36809.
1hr 30m Jul 13, 2021
1hr 30m
Wuppertal Schwebebahn (Entry 1448.DE0227)
In which a German industrial town builds a unique new type of suspension railway that fails to catch on worldwide, and Ken disses the Eiffel Tower. Certificate #36460.
1hr 9m Jul 08, 2021
1hr 9m
Goat Glands (Entry 536.AC0409)
In which a Midwestern quack becomes a radio tycoon (and almost governor of Kansas) by extolling the virtues of animal testicles, and John eats cheese out of a pocket. Certificate #42674.
59m Jul 06, 2021
59m
Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath (Entry 423.JB3104)
In which we are introduced to the most exclusive cinema-musico-academic club on earth, and Ken volunteers to provide a guest rap. Certificate #32655.
1hr 19m Jul 01, 2021
1hr 19m
The Zaire Space Program (Entry 1455.PS11516)
In which a maverick German engineer tries to give an African dictator his very own space program, and John reminds us that astronauts are often quite short. Certificate #48059.
1hr 14m Jun 29, 2021
1hr 14m
The 1871 Whaling Disaster (Entry 399.1T0119)
In which a city-sized segment of the world's whaling fleet is trapped together in Arctic ice off Alaska, and Ken blames the horrors of the industrial world on whale ghosts. Certificate #31403.
1hr 19m Jun 24, 2021
1hr 19m
James Frazier Reed (Entry 1044.EZ0510)
In which one pioneer's midlife crisis leads him to a brush with Donner Party death and then prosperity in gold rush California, and John is tempted to murder a bassist with a whip handle. Certificate #51638.
1hr 10m Jun 22, 2021
1hr 10m
The Erika Typewriter (Entry 424.JB0412)
In which contraband East German equipment helps create an underground publishing movement in the Soviet Union, and Ken's favorite typeface is now tainted. Certificate #37914.
1hr 16m Jun 17, 2021
1hr 16m
Four-Leaf Clovers (Entry 495.JE3623)
In which a rare recessive plant gene produces a persistent superstition and a cutthroat collectors' competition, and John will never mock Allah. Certificate #12598.
59m Jun 15, 2021
59m
The Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley (Entry 895.NU2406)
In which very, very large oil paintings become the 19th-century precursor of the modern movie theater, and Ken has never seen the sun rise by choice. Certificate #14751.
1hr 9m Jun 10, 2021
1hr 9m
Left Behind (Entry 709.1T0416)
In which some controversial Bible theology sells 65 million apocalypse thriller books and even shapes American foreign policy, and John can identify sinners on a plane. Certificate #40618.
1hr 22m Jun 08, 2021
1hr 22m
Nudie Suits (Entry 850.EX2631)
In which a Ukrainian-born tailor brings the first outrageous stage wear to the American music scene--but in country and western, not glam rock--and Ken is unsure about his sky-blue pants. Certificate #27201.
1hr 2m Jun 03, 2021
1hr 2m
Officials General (Entry 861.MK0640)
In which English inherits some "postpositive adjectives" from the Norman Conquest that continue to confuse high-ranking federal officials to this day, and John thinks companies should have one vice president tops. Certificate #18999.
1hr 19m Jun 01, 2021
1hr 19m
Interrobang (Entry 655.LK2040)
In which a series of typographic attempts to improve on the exclamation point and question mark are doomed to failure, and Ken is unable to justify the existence of the backslash. Certificate #22311.
1hr 19m May 27, 2021
1hr 19m
Mister Rogers's Operas (Entry 795.RO1502)
In which America's most beloved television host and moral exemplar composes a series of now-mostly-forgotten children's operas, and John thinks Star Wars is what ends childhood. Certificate #29242.
1hr 33m May 25, 2021
1hr 33m
Concordski (Entry 258.JE4606)
In which the Soviet Union attempts to close its "Concorde gap" with the West by developing its own terrible supersonic passenger jet, and John is okay with pilots showing off as long as they're in a bar. Certificate #36689.
1hr 3m May 20, 2021
1hr 3m
Olestra (Entry 864.LV0723)
In which Procter & Gamble spends almost thirty years trying to bring its fat substitute to market, only to see it vanish from the public memory almost immediately, and Ken just wants to eat devil's food cake. Certificate #51232.
1hr 6m May 18, 2021
1hr 6m
The Worst Poet in History (Entry 1445.PR2622)
In which Scottish mill-worker William McGonagall becomes notorious for his utterly sincere but terrible poetry, and John plans to instigate a sex riot. Certificate #44448.
1hr 5m May 13, 2021
1hr 5m
The Back of a Napkin (Entry 090.LK1920)
In which we study the long history of inspirations getting jotted down on scrap paper, and Ken learns he's too lively to be a rock musician. Certificate #44181.
1hr 14m May 11, 2021
1hr 14m
Dagen H (Entry 313.EZ2116)
In which Sweden literally changes directions overnight, and John feels that the samurai spirit is all in the details. Certificate #30932.
1hr 14m May 06, 2021
1hr 14m
Cholitas (Entry 218.1C1110)
In which a poltitical revolution in Bolivia produces a new wave of visibility for the nation's hat-wearing indigenous women, and Ken wonders which communist dictators were cuddly. Certificate #16179.
1hr 8m May 04, 2021
1hr 8m
Drywall (Entry 384.LV1442)
In which a new gypsum miracle product takes more than a century to replace lath-and-plaster walls in home construction, and John thinks lizards have ears. Certificate #35059.
47m Apr 29, 2021
47m
America's Joan of Arc (Entry 040.2S1412)
In which a now-forgotten Quaker teenager becomes the most fiery and most famous woman orator of her time, and Ken has no idea if Norman Schwarzkopf is alive or dead. Certificate #44568.
1hr 23m Apr 27, 2021
1hr 23m
The Bottle Conjuror (Entry 145.PS11983)
In which an aristocrat's private bet about gullible audiences leads to a 1749 theater riot, and John thinks Dick Cheney should have a podcast. Certificate #16793.
1hr 9m Apr 22, 2021
1hr 9m
Mother Earth's Plantasia (Entry 810.1CH1633)
In which the Moog synthesizer and the "plant consciousness" movement of the 1970s produce a rare collector's item for lovers of weird music, and Ken refuses to buy his children reptiles. Certificate #27581.
1hr 11m Apr 20, 2021
1hr 11m
The Tan Suit Controversy (Entry 1277.EZ3403)
In which the president wears beige to an August 2014 press conference, suddenly creating three or four new kinds of political discourse, each worse than the last. Certificate #35844.
1hr 17m Apr 15, 2021
1hr 17m
Magic Eye (Entry 747.PR0425)
In which we trace two centuries of people being briefly interested in three-dimensional images, and John gets a bad case of "Intellivision thumb." Certificate #27012.
1hr 16m Apr 13, 2021
1hr 16m