Zero, My Hero

Zero, My Hero

Transcript This episode is about nothing. Not in the sense that Seinfield was a TV show about nothing, but rather this is literally about nothing.  It is about the number zero.  A number that few people bother to give much thought to, yet without it, modern mathematics wouldn’t exist, and neither would any of the …

Read more

The Army That Never Was

The Army That Never Was

Transcript Bluffing is one of the most important aspects of playing poker. In any strategic game, in fact, deception can be critical to success. Warfare is no different. Deceiving an enemy can often mean the difference between winning and losing. Between life and death. During WWII, the allied forces unleashed the largest and most complicated …

Read more

Time Zone Oddities

Time Zone Oddities

Transcript Before we created time zones, every village, town, and city had their own local time. You’d set the town’s clock according to when the sun was at its highest point each day, and everything was fine. Eventually, life got faster. Trains began moving between towns and small differences in time began to cause problems. …

Read more

Rutherford B. Hayes is a Big Deal in Paraguay

Rutherford B. Hayes is a Big Deal in Paraguay

Transcript Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th president of the United States. He is famous for being the second person to win the presidency without winning the popular vote, and he won in the electoral college by a single vote. The whole election was so shady, he earned the nickname Rutherfraud. Beyond that, there isn’t …

Read more

The Last Crow War Chief

The Last Crow War Chief

This episode is the story of a man, who if you don’t know his name, you probably should: Joe Medicine Crow.  Joe Medicine Crow was a scholar, an author, a historian, a spokesperson, and a warrior. In fact, he was the last person to have earned the title of War Chief in the Crow Nation, …

Read more

Disco Demolition Night

Disco Demolition Night

Major League Baseball has a long history of bad marketing ideas. From 10 cent beer night to baseball bat night, to giving fans balls they can throw on to the field as they entered the stadium, baseball has a long list of horrible ideas to bring people into the stadium. However, the absolute worst idea, …

Read more

The Greatest Simplest Idea Ever: The History of the Stirrup

The Greatest Simplest Idea Ever: The History of the Stirrup

Every so often, an idea comes along that is so simple, yet so profound that you smack yourself in the head for not having thought of it yourself. Even more rare is such an idea that can have global implications. An idea that can create empires, topple kingdoms, and establish economic orders which can last …

Read more

Stealing the Mona Lisa

Stealing the Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is unquestionably the most famous painting in the world. Heck, it is probably the most famous work of art in the world.  Yet the reason why it is so famous is due to an event which happened on the 21st of August 1911. It was wasn’t for the events of that day, …

Read more

Did the Ancient Romans and Chinese Have Contact?

Did Ancient Rome and Ancient China Have Contact?

2,000 years ago the Han Empire in China and the Roman Empire in Europe were the two greatest empires in the world.  Between them, they covered an enormous amount of the Earth’s land and a large percentage of the world’s population.  But were these two great empires even aware of each other? If so, was …

Read more