The Integratron (Entry 650.SS0117)
In which a 700-year-old Venusian designs a mysterious whitewashed dome in the Mojave Desert, and John would like to change history at the mutiny on the Bounty. Certificate #13181.
1hr 21m Jul 31, 2025
1hr 21m
Chemtrails (Entry 212.AM0407)
In which internet-era conspiracy theoriests become confvinced that jet contrails are weather control masterminded from Fairbanks, Alaska, and Ken thinks John sounds like a Muppet for exactly one syllable. Certificate #52946.
1hr 30m Jul 24, 2025
1hr 30m
Ex-Millionaires (Entry 438.EC0514)
In which some of the bankers who lost their shirts in the Great Depression find a cushy retirement in the Bronx instead of jumping out windows, and John will never say anyone isn't gay. Certificate #35727.
1hr 15m Jul 17, 2025
1hr 15m
Margarine (Entry 759.JU0525)
In which butter substitutes have to overcome scientific hurdles, dairy-friendly laws, and bad news about trans fats, and Ken thinks Germany is trying to control olive oil. Certificate #34384.
1hr 18m Jul 10, 2025
1hr 18m
Chopin's Heart (Entry 218.JB4124)
In which Poland's most famous exile partially returns to Warsaw to posthumously annoy both tsars and Nazis, and John's restaurant idea has some light cannibalism. Certificate #31277.
1hr 25m Jul 03, 2025
1hr 25m
Hostile Architecture (Entry 601.PR2907)
In which today's cities face tough choices on how to guide urban behavior with incredibly uncomfortable-looking design features, and Ken would pee on a fly but not a bee. Certificate #19421.
1hr 19m Jun 26, 2025
1hr 19m
The War Between the States (Entry 1409.IS1902)
In which it takes decades for America to decide whether its civil war was an insurrection or an invasion, nomenclature-wise, and John walks very erratically on his orange shag carpet. Certificate #26478.
1hr 26m Jun 19, 2025
1hr 26m
The Dreadnought Hoax (Entry 380.PS6831)
In which six bored, Cambridge-connected bohemians con their way onto the British Empire's naval flagship by dressing as African royalty, and Ken thinks John is either Batman or a Karen. Certificate #19722.
1hr 32m Jun 12, 2025
1hr 32m
The Comics Code Authority (Entry 248.2CH2115)
In which a crusading social psychiatrist drums up the moral panic that gets two mega-popular comic book genres banned from America's newsstands, and John agrees that punching Hitler is unmissable. Certificate #44894.
1hr 32m Jun 05, 2025
1hr 32m
Gorillas, Discovery of (Entry 540.PS10420)
In which it takes Europe over two thousand years to figure out that the greatest of the great apes is not just Carthaginian folklore, and Ken would like to be considered merciful. Certificate #46468.
1hr 12m May 29, 2025
1hr 12m
Victorian Hairwork (Entry 1394.LK2118)
In which the popularity of "mourning bequeathments" and the death of the Prince Consort lead to an explosion of morbid family handicrafts, and John gives away the same piano twice. Certificate #50902.
1hr 18m May 22, 2025
1hr 18m
Hawaiian Guitar (Entry 572.PS14409)
In which a Honolulu teenager discovers a rusty bolt by the side of the road and changes the face of 20th-century music across multiple genres, and Ken is surprised to learn what Aerosmith, Paul Shaffer, and Harvard have in common. Certificate #35281.
1hr 16m May 15, 2025
1hr 16m
Vows of Silence (Entry 1403.PS10730)
In which a famed monastic tradition is revealed to be a modern misunderstanding of the chattiness of religious life, and Ken does not want to know what a Robot Guitar really is. Certificate #38497.
1hr 22m May 08, 2025
1hr 22m
Rock Paper Scissors (Entry 1079.1CH2613)
In which an ancient Chinese game of intransitive balance changes the world as both a children's pastime and a decision-making method, and John has the candy tastes of a pioneer child. Certificate #23611.
1hr 16m May 01, 2025
1hr 16m
Lemmings (Entry 711.MK1503)
In which the documentary films of the Arctic are revealed to be full of lies, leading to one misunderstood rodent, and John thinks about a vole in a bowl. Certificate #25575.
1hr 9m Apr 24, 2025
1hr 9m
Pulgasari (Entry 1007.IS4602)
In which North Korea jump-starts its fledgeling monster movie industry by literally kidnapping talent from across the DMZ, and Ken was distracted by skateboarding. Certificate #37139
1hr 23m Apr 17, 2025
1hr 23m
The World's Tallest Building (Entry 1444.GE1104)
In which the measurement of spires and skyscrapers becomes a source of architectural squabbles and global prestige, and John hides in the forest with a guitar. Certificate #51591.
1hr 23m Apr 10, 2025
1hr 23m
Anthropology Days (Entry 053.NU1516)
In which the planners of the third modern Olympics scour the globe hoping to populate a human zoo and maybe make the exhibits do sports, and Ken thinks the periodic table needs some work. Certificate #53289.
1hr 27m Apr 03, 2025
1hr 27m
The Mona Lisa Heist (Entry 800.JN1206)
In which an Italian workman creates a cultural icon when he attempts to repatriate a Renaissance masterpiece from the laxly secured Louvre, and John upstages Ken's sturgeon. Certificate #35100.
1hr 20m Mar 27, 2025
1hr 20m
Genuine Leather (Entry 522.GE0321)
In which the tanning industry invents a fancy-sounding term for one of its worst grades of leather, and Ken learns his childhood jacket may have had epaulets. Certificate #46978.
1hr 13m Mar 20, 2025
1hr 13m
The Dionne Quintuplets (Entry 352.JB0525)
In which five adorable and identical Franco-Ontarians become an international sensation and then wards of the state, and John doesn't know what to call the bulb of Canada. Certificate #31042.
1hr 31m Mar 13, 2025
1hr 31m
Pedestrianism (Entry 913.PS1833)
In which the first great sporting fad of the 19th century springs from great feats of British walking, and Ken isn't sure how to use protozoa as a metaphor for time. Certificate #21218.
1hr 27m Mar 06, 2025
1hr 27m
The Battle of the Sisters (Entry 104.GE3008)
In which Hollywood's greatest case of sibling rivalry begins with a swimming pool injury and ends at the Oscars, and John rediscovers pop music thanks to the Queeb. Certificate #30747.
1hr 31m Feb 27, 2025
1hr 31m
The Golden Age of Porn (Entry 537.1C0618)
In which we celebrate the post-Valentine's season by looking back at the sleazy 1970s when adult films briefly became mainstream chic, and Ken avoids a Y2K for his marriage. Certificate #25369.
1hr 19m Feb 20, 2025
1hr 19m
The Oracle of Delphi (Entry 872.1S0911)
In which a veiled, fume-huffing priestess tells the ancient world what to do for over a millennium, and John only knows what time it is from his truck clock. Certificate #25192.
1hr 8m Feb 13, 2025
1hr 8m
Balloon Man (Entry 094.DE1501)
In which a Disneyland-trained dreamer invents a new art form with the help of a cookie entrepreneur and a jellybean innovator, and Ken has a theory about the worst balloon vendors. Certificate #32691.
1hr 26m Feb 06, 2025
1hr 26m
The EGOT (Entry 398.AC2810)
In which an inescapable awards-season acronym is jump-started twenty-five years earlier by an eccentric TV cop actor and a pop reference book, and John's family would like to kick in hotel room doors. Certificate #42952.
1hr 30m Jan 30, 2025
1hr 30m
Martin Luther King, Sr. (Entry 688.PR1301)
In which an Atlanta pastor changes his name after a very inspiring visit to Germany and begins an American civil rights dynasty, and Ken gets to make a chart. Certificate #45274.
1hr 8m Jan 23, 2025
1hr 8m
Spontaneous Combustion (Entry 1206.PR0627)
In which scientists and paranormal investigators puzzle over a string of mysterious deaths beginning with a "dull and heavy" Italian countess, and John learns about the peat of the Maldives. Certificate #40714.
1hr 19m Jan 16, 2025
1hr 19m
Canal Mania (Entry 178.PR0516)
In which British investors power the Industrial Revolution with arguably too many waterways for the nation's barges, and Ken thinks escalators are not cheating. Certificate #27217.
1hr 23m Jan 09, 2025
1hr 23m
The Carrington Event (Entry 189.2P0312)
In which a solar storm in 1859 leads to eye-popping auroras and a harboring of technological doom, and John compares gold pan and pizza sizes. Certificate #54094.
1hr 6m Jan 02, 2025
1hr 6m
Elf on the Shelf (Entry 404.PR1503)
In which the childhood Christmas tradition of two Georgia twins becomes a cultural tug-of-war over surveillance psychology, and Ken is going to buy a light blue tree. Certificate #45509.
1hr 14m Dec 26, 2024
1hr 14m
Space Contraband (Entry 1194.JB1312)
In which astronauts and cosmonauts smuggle sandwiches, golf clubs, harmonicas, collectibles, and ashes into orbit, and John wants to blow bubbles on the Moon. Certificate #54825.
1hr 7m Dec 19, 2024
1hr 7m
Lazy Susans (Entry 706.LK1237)
In which a Cantonese restaurant in San Franciscos's Chinatown spreads American revolving-table technology worldwide, and Ken wonders how long it takes to get sick of a musician in your spare bedroom. Certificate #43576.
1hr 6m Dec 12, 2024
1hr 6m
The Tooth Fairy (Entry 1317.SS0606)
In which ancient sorcery, changeling myths, and Edwardian fads combine to create America's only homegrown childhood rite of passage, and John's dentist turns teeth into boats. Certificate #19230.
1hr 16m Dec 05, 2024
1hr 16m
411 (Entry 495.LK2003)
In which telephone users once had access to a surprising array of helpful and informative services, and Ken got rid of his landline to spite Al-Qaeda. Certificate #26038.
1hr 10m Nov 28, 2024
1hr 10m
Whistling (Entry 1427.DE2323)
In which an ancient linguistic and religious practice becomes a jaunty, ambulatory musical form before falling into decline, and John does not want to see condors in a hospital. Certificate #45133.
1hr 12m Nov 21, 2024
1hr 12m
The Population Bomb (Entry 966.GE2803)
In which centuries of sterilization-happy doomsayers fail to predict a game-changing revolution in wheat, and Ken thinks Pakistan wants John to clean out his fridge. Certificate #2037.
1hr 20m Nov 14, 2024
1hr 20m
The King Under the Mountain (Entry 688.RO1311)
In which dozens of national sleeping guys with long beards wait in caves for their countries to need them again, and John thinks Tom Cruise should not be in a courtyard. Certificate #53610.
1hr 13m Nov 07, 2024
1hr 13m
New Urbanism (Entry 835.SS0711)
In which conservative Sun Belt retirees and progressive urbanists agree on a nostalgic but radical revolution in city design, and Ken does a Normal Rockwell impression. Certificate #34959.
1hr 21m Oct 31, 2024
1hr 21m
Soviet Spartacus (Entry 1194.EX2116)
In which a Thracian slave from two thousand years earlier becomes a proletarian role model and Communist sports hero, and John prefers action stars with boogers. Certificate #37084.
1hr 12m Oct 24, 2024
1hr 12m
Electrical Sockets (Entry 400.JS0215)
In which the long war between alternating and direct current produces power outlets that multiply nto a dizzying world of configurations, and Ken needs a grounding prong. Certificate #29673.
1hr 21m Oct 17, 2024
1hr 21m
Tartans (Entry 1279.DE2230)
In which Scottish clans each choose a distinctive plaid based on a romantic Highland history that didn't really happen, and John takes a hard hit while playing Frisbee in a skirt. Certificate #26624.
1hr 21m Oct 10, 2024
1hr 21m
The Twenty-Seventh Amendment (Entry 1352.GE3028)
In which a constitutional change finally happens after a two-hundred-year delay just to spite one Texas poli sci professor, and Ken likes it when scriveners get away scot-free. Certificate #43079.
1hr 14m Oct 03, 2024
1hr 14m
The Teddy Bear Shipwreck (Entry 1283.PR2433)
In which the toy market is revolutionized by a faddish stuffed animal that would be priceless today if it hadn't disappeared, and John buys the concept of a rabbit. Certificate #24398.
1hr 19m Sep 26, 2024
1hr 19m
Sea Peoples (Entry 1120.1K2248)
In which the great Mediterranean civilizations of the late Bronze Age collapse virtually overnight due to some mysterious visitors, and Ken knows a lot about white broccoli. Certificate #9795.
1hr 9m Sep 19, 2024
1hr 9m
The Coconut Revolution (Entry 239.JE0207)
In which Melanesian eco-revolutionaries fight off helicopter gunships with literal slingshots and homemade diesel, and John makes a shocking announcement about all scientists. Certificate #54146.
1hr 13m Sep 12, 2024
1hr 13m
Poutine (Entry 973.PS10709)
In which a curd-heavy side from central Quebec belatedly becomes the national dish of a land with no real national cuisine, and Ken learns so much about Sacramento culture. Certificate #30037.
1hr 9m Sep 05, 2024
1hr 9m
The Fenian Raids (Entry 461.DE2849)
In which a secret society of plucky Civil War veterans hatches a plan to return Ireland to the Irish by—wait for it—invading Canada, and John doesn't think the people who sold him wine coolers actually exist. Certificate #12129.
1hr 14m Aug 29, 2024
1hr 14m
Comic Sans (Entry 248.2C1009)
In which even the most hated typeface in the history of desktop publishing has its defenders, and Ken isn't sure why he owns cargo shorts. Certificate #54861.
1hr 4m Aug 22, 2024
1hr 4m