Podcast Episodes
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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 a…
1 year, 3 months ago
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 Jo…
1 year, 4 months ago
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…
1 year, 4 months ago
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 Jo…
1 year, 4 months ago
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 no…
1 year, 4 months ago
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. Certif…
1 year, 5 months ago
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…
1 year, 5 months ago
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 …
1 year, 5 months ago
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 take…
1 year, 5 months ago
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 denti…
1 year, 5 months ago