Electroculture (Entry 401.MT1308)
In which the earliest discoverers of electricity disagree on whether it helps flowers, turnips, and myrtle shrubs to grow, and John punishes himself with sprouts. Certificate #27338.
1hr 16m May 23, 2024
1hr 16m
Somerton Man (Entry 1189.PS7902)
In which a clue-filled dead body appears on a beach in Adelaide, Australia, sparking a tantalizing 75-year mystery, and Ken is not a team of seventh graders. Certificate #35821.
1hr 39m May 16, 2024
1hr 39m
Kim's Video (Entry 687.MT0542)
In which the collapse of the video rental industry sends one valuable and eccentric archive to an obscure and disaster-plagued town in western Sicily, and E. coli is no match for John. Certificate #43318.
1hr 31m May 09, 2024
1hr 31m
Kilroy Was Here (Entry 687.EZ0810)
In which a mysterious World War II inscription marries image and text to create the modern meme, and Ken does not think gangrenous limbs are a meme. Certificate #25622.
1hr 18m May 02, 2024
1hr 18m
The Rainbow Bridge (Entry 1028.EC0319)
In which the bountiful gifts of American advice columnists include a now-ubiquitious happy afterlife for pets, and John might lose a swordfight because he's too heavy for a chandelier. Certificate #29810.
1hr 31m Apr 25, 2024
1hr 31m
The Principality of Sealand (Entry 987.IS6022)
In which a self-crowned prince founds his own nation on a tiny piece of concrete in the North Sea, complete with commando raids, and Ken is only in favor of 3-D awards. Certificate #6611.
1hr 8m Apr 18, 2024
1hr 8m
Stickball (Entry 1225.MK0608)
In which a village pastime for Sussex dairymaids gets urbanized into an exciting neighborhood pick-up sport in American inner cities, and John wants to pick the bittle up. Certificate #13472.
1hr 1m Apr 11, 2024
1hr 1m
Bioplastics (Entry 124.EZ3629)
In which attempts to replace petrochemical plastic with corn and sawdust face fatal challenges of scale and efficiency, and Ken has never made a Prius. Certificate #32944.
1hr 9m Apr 04, 2024
1hr 9m
The Push Button (Entry 1012.DE0611)
In which the influence of spinet pianos and telegraph keys produces a satisfying new device interface for the electric age, and John thinks aliens just want a cuddle. Certificate #42007.
1hr 15m Mar 28, 2024
1hr 15m
Jersey Barriers (Entry 671.IS5714)
In which the development of guardrail and concrete divider technology makes highway driving massively safer over the decades, and Ken lies under oath in a deposition. Certificate #40991.
1hr 16m Mar 21, 2024
1hr 16m
Joanna Southcott's Box (Entry 673.GN4910)
In which twenty-four bishops refuse to open the secret prophecies that will save Britain from war and banditry, and John wants to be called "Dicebox." Certificate #49596.
1hr 33m Mar 14, 2024
1hr 33m
Vanity Plates (Entry 1383.EC1208)
In which car registration numbers become modes for personalized creative expression and eventually a multimillion-dollar commodity, and Ken does not say "auto." Certificate #37808.
1hr 30m Mar 07, 2024
1hr 30m
The Earth from Space (Entry 391.GN0115)
In which centuries of inaccurate illustrations of our planet are abruptly upended by satellites and awestruck astronauts, and John never drew spaceships, just Japanese fighter planes. Certificate #35817.
1hr 15m Feb 29, 2024
1hr 15m
The Food Pyramid (Entry 487.MT0611)
In which budget-conscious Swedes rearrange American ideas about nutritious eating, and Ken is pretty sure M&Ms are not getting smaller. Certificate #54063.
1hr 21m Feb 22, 2024
1hr 21m
The Guano Islands Act (Entry 554.PS10407)
In which we celebrate 167 years of Americans being able to claim any island they like as long as it has enough bird poop on it, and John thinks you can dip a pole in liberty. Certificate #39867.
1hr 6m Feb 15, 2024
1hr 6m
The Great Idaho Beaver Drop (Entry 548.JL0202)
In which a remote part of Idaho solves its beaver dam problem with some surplus parachutes and an even more remote part of Idaho, and Ken applies the transitive property to mules and culverts. Certificate #31297.
1hr 20m Feb 08, 2024
1hr 20m
Naturism (Entry 827.GE0225)
In which German health nuts give the world the idea of social nude recreation before the Nazis can tell them not to, and John thinks of something that is better than itching. Certificate #53668.
1hr 19m Feb 01, 2024
1hr 19m
The Ice Trade (Entry 615.PS14717)
In which the ponds of New England become the wellspring of a new worldwide web of perishable foods, and Ken learns that gum is a forest treat. Certificate #23725.
1hr 11m Jan 25, 2024
1hr 11m
Einstein's Brain (Entry 399.JB1909)
In which the estate of the century's greatest scientist becomes a $200 million enterprise even as his brain tissue languishes in a cider box, and John compares it to pastrami. Certificate #21917.
1hr 17m Jan 18, 2024
1hr 17m
Warren Miller (Entry 789.IS5707)
In which a ski bum with dad jokes explores new frontiers of film distribution and extreme sports, and Ken is a water machine. Certificate #48941.
1hr 18m Jan 11, 2024
1hr 18m
Yu-Mex (Entry 1455.1C1408)
In which the rift between two Communist dictators leads to a blooming of mariachi culture in the fertile soil of the Balkans, and John is baffled by Vietnamese karaoke. Certificate #46465.
1hr 9m Jan 04, 2024
1hr 9m
Prodigies, Failed (Entry 990.LK0240)
In which the smartest people in the world bloom early but often struggle to live up that promise later in life, and Ken's phone thinks he lives at the zoo. Certificate #50285.
1hr 20m Dec 28, 2023
1hr 20m
The Eggnog Riot (Entry 398.RO1313)
In which a late-night Christmas party in a West Point barracks gets out of hand, almost changing the course of the Civil War, and John is not anti-Julius. Certificate #32683.
1hr 18m Dec 21, 2023
1hr 18m
The Caning of Charles Sumner (Entry 180.PR2314)
In which tensions over slavery and its westward expansion boil over into an assault on the floor of the United States Senate, and Ken does not have a single cloak. Certificate #46116.
1hr 10m Dec 14, 2023
1hr 10m
Legal Baby Names (Entry 710.LK0160)
In which governments around the world deliberate on how creatively parents may name their children, and John thinks "Tilden" sounds like a kind of cheese. Certificate #26934.
1hr 23m Dec 07, 2023
1hr 23m
Jellyfish Blooms (Entry 671.PS10425)
In which the world's overfished oceans begin to teem with a sudden surplus of ancient and puzzling invertebrates, and Ken just wants sex tourists not to pee on his bunion. Certificate #23757.
1hr 15m Nov 30, 2023
1hr 15m
Winamp (Entry 1433.PR2603)
In which a teenaged slacker from Sedona with a love for llamas jump-starts the digital music age, and John explains why large people prefer old things. Certificate #38550.
1hr 32m Nov 23, 2023
1hr 32m
London Bridge (Entry 733.LK1626)
In which the successor to one of the great medieval bridges is shipped to the Arizona desert by an American tycoon, and Ken is skeptical about product placement in slasher movies. Certificate #28472.
1hr 12m Nov 16, 2023
1hr 12m
Cryonics (Entry 302.1C1535)
In which a science fiction-loving professor dreams of conquering death with the cold, hard science of low-temperature preservation, and John just wants to be a brain with a nose. Certificate #48643.
1hr 31m Nov 09, 2023
1hr 31m
Christian Rock (Entry 220.EP0519)
In which evangelical Christians wrestle with the problem of whether rock music is inherently good, evil, or neither. and Ken wonders about angel monkeys. Certificate #34822.
1hr 21m Nov 02, 2023
1hr 21m
Lodge Night (Entry 731.GN2922)
In which the rituals of Masonry and its more casual offshoots produce a "golden age of fraternalism" for American men, and John is discomfited by noisy day care teachers. Certificate #35320.
1hr 10m Oct 26, 2023
1hr 10m
Uranium Cubes (Entry 1376.1K0710)
In which the remains of a useless Nazi "chandelier" unexpectedly emerge in Maryland and Washington, and Ken thinks about Bilbo Baggins too late. Certificate #35410.
1hr 9m Oct 19, 2023
1hr 9m
Raised by Wolves (Entry 1028.GE4927)
In which the legend of feral children is traced from ancient mythology all the way up to Smurfs and Russian street dogs, and John cannot recommend the Madrid Zoo. Certificate #22714.
1hr 13m Oct 12, 2023
1hr 13m
Tom of Finland (Entry 1315.EX0402)
In which an adman who survived Nazi and Soviet invasions goes on to reinvent gay eroticism, and Ken wonders which Founding Father looked best naked. Certificate #7136.
1hr 17m Oct 05, 2023
1hr 17m
The Magic Gang (Entry 747.EX0722)
In which a ghost-written memoir explains how a great British stage magician defeated Rommel in North Africa with his trickery, and John considers saying "Abracadabra" as a swear. Certificate #37883.
1hr 1m Sep 28, 2023
1hr 1m
The Traffic Jam of the Century (Entry 1325.EZ1704)
In which a perfect storm of construction, coal mining, and Communist commemoration creates twelve days of gridlock in central China, and Ken imagines an ancient Roman in a stadium parking garage. Certificate #34985.
1hr 7m Sep 21, 2023
1hr 7m
One Glass of Red Wine (Entry 866.DE3233)
In which one Canadian newsman convinces America for several decades that daily drinking is the key to solving the "French Paradox," and John thinks Ken looks inhibited holding a spatula. Certificate #13766.
1hr 15m Sep 14, 2023
1hr 15m
(LIVE) Hiroo Onoda (Entry 867.1C1526)
In which Japanese soldiers, unwilling to believe that World War II is over, hold out for decades on islands all over the Pacific, and Ken will never give up on bar soap. Certificate #44164.
59m Sep 07, 2023
59m
Kids on Milk Cartons (Entry 686.DE2407)
In which a nationwide panic over "stranger danger" turns regional dairies into activists for missing children, and John likes when things are "de minimis." Certificate #25468.
1hr 19m Aug 31, 2023
1hr 19m
The NS Savannah (Entry 849.MK0436)
In which the world's first nuclear-powered merchant vessel is launched in all its modernist glory, and Ken wants an infinitely long ship. Certificate #26615.
1hr 13m Aug 24, 2023
1hr 13m
The DuMont Network (Entry 386.LK2417)
In which the three nascent American broadcast networks face a challenge from a scrappy engineering lab, and John thinks gadgeteers should be certified. Certificate #28450.
1hr 19m Aug 17, 2023
1hr 19m
Universe 25 (Entry 1350.GE0907)
In which the "behavioral sink" of rodent utopias is discovered in a Maryland barn, and Ken sings about a urinal trough. Certificate #38792.
1hr 17m Aug 10, 2023
1hr 17m
Enneagrams (Entry 415.JM0124)
In which Sufi mysticism inspires a Bolivian philosopher to divide all of humanity into nine personality types, and Ken visualizes the ur-cow. Certificate #25935.
1hr 36m Aug 03, 2023
1hr 36m
The Doomsday Clock (Entry 372.1P0407)
In which a panel of concerned atomic scientists quantify the dangers of the nuclear age with a timely visual aid, and John's mother has a favorite fact about Benjamin Franklin. Certificate #26973.
1hr 28m Jul 27, 2023
1hr 28m
Foundling Wheels (Entry 495.IS4915)
In which a medieval pope's disturbing nightmare leads to the addition of "baby doors" at convents and hospitals across Europe, and John thinks robots could replace orphans. Certificate #43431.
1hr 3m Jul 20, 2023
1hr 3m
The Sanaa Manuscript (Entry 1100.2T0316)
In which a Yemeni construction crew finds a priceless trove of Quranic literature and promptly stuff it into potato sacks, and Ken would like to burn some French translators at the stake. Certificate #24503.
1hr 12m Jul 13, 2023
1hr 12m
The Sarajevo Haggadah (Entry 1102.EX1243)
In which a unique piece of Jewish medieval art barely survives two European wars, and John imagines that the Venetian papal censor was a chill guy. Certificate #48606.
1hr 17m Jul 06, 2023
1hr 17m
Salton Sea (Entry 1098.GN1403)
In which California's largest lake, created by accident in 1905, teeters on the brink of collapse, and Ken complains about a hotel sink. Certificate #44008.
1hr 12m Jun 29, 2023
1hr 12m
101 Uses for a Dead Cat (Entry 606.LV0724)
In which an asthmatic British cartoonist sells two million copies of his books of non-jokes for cat skeptics, and John knows what the handle of a gun is called. Certificate #29573.
1hr 9m Jun 22, 2023
1hr 9m
Crackers (Entry 290.NA0302)
In which a Shakespearean insult for an obnoxious blowhard comes to be used as an anti-white slur, and Ken wants to test the Appalachians for testosterone. Certificate #38163.
1hr 4m Jun 15, 2023
1hr 4m