The 1904 Olympic Marathon

The 1904 Olympic Marathon

The 3rd Olympic Games held in 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri was unquestionably the greatest train wreck of an Olympics ever held. In fact, the Olympics in ancient Greece were probably better organized and better attended than the 1904 Olympics.  Nothing quite exemplifies the hot mess which was the St. Louis Olympics quite like the …

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Broccoli, James Broccoli

Broccoli, James Broccoli

You probably couldn’t think of two things which are further apart than the character James Bond and the vegetable broccoli. Yet, in a not so roundabout way, there is a very direct connection between the two.  In fact, if it wasn’t for broccoli, we might never have had any James Bond movies.  Find out what …

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How Many Countries Are There?

How Many Countries Are There?

If you wanted to know how many countries there were in the world it should be a pretty easy thing to find out. Go to a map, count all the countries, and voila!  However, it isn’t even remotely close to being that simple. Defining what is a country is extremely difficult and has been a …

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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 …

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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. …

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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 …

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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 …

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Jesse Owens vs Usain Bolt: Who Would Win

Jesse Owens vs Usain Bolt: Who Would Win

Transcript Jessie Ownes was the world record holder in the men’s 100m dash and won the gold medal at the 1936 Olympics. He is famous for winning 4 gold medals in one Olympics and foiling Hitler’s plans for the Berlin games. His 100m world record stood longer than anyone else’s in the event.  Usain Bolt …

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The 1960 Popular Vote

The 1960 Popular Vote

Transcript There have been 5 acknowledged presidential elections in US history where the winner of the popular vote did not win in the electoral college.  However, there is a very good argument to be made that there is a sixth election that should be added to that list.  The conventional wisdom holds that John F. …

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