Podcast Episodes
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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 #5224…
4 years, 9 months ago
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. …
4 years, 9 months ago
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 sho…
4 years, 9 months ago
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 ca…
4 years, 9 months ago
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, …
4 years, 9 months ago
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 ide…
4 years, 9 months ago
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.
4 years, 9 months ago
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 look…
4 years, 9 months ago
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…
4 years, 10 months ago
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 a…
4 years, 10 months ago