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Inventors Who Died Due To Their Own Inventions: The Irrational Death of Hippasus
We all know pi, right? It's one of the most famous 'irrational numbers' in history, and mathematicians are still trying to figure it out in the moder…
3 weeks, 3 days ago
The Spiritualism Movement Was Utterly Ridiculous, Part Two: Con Artists, Skeptics, and Ghosts
As the Fox sisters became global superstars for their purported ability to speak with the dead, the Spiritualism movement became both a social phenom…
3 weeks, 5 days ago
CLASSIC: Idiomatic for the People II, Part I: What's in a word?
Language is beautiful and, in many cases, continually evolving. As a result, we end up with hundreds of strange idioms and figures of speech that we …
4 weeks, 1 day ago
The Spiritualism Movement Was Utterly Ridiculous, Part One: A Prank Goes Viral
It's a pickle for the ages: What happens when you die? The Spiritualism movement may seem obscure today -- but back in the mid-19th century, this rel…
4 weeks, 2 days ago
History's Weirdest National Anthems
Let's be honest: national anthems are cool... but definitely propaganda, and often objectively weird. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore s…
1 month ago
CLASSIC: The Statue of Liberty Almost Lived in Egypt
Today the Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous landmarks in the United States -- but it almost didn't make it to Ellis Island. Join the Ben an…
1 month, 1 week ago
Vacuum Cleaners are Ridiculous!
Did you know over 90% of US households own a vacuum cleaner? These handy-dandy descendents of the carpet sweeper revolutionized the cleaning game... …
1 month, 1 week ago
The Ridiculously Adorable, Feminist History of Kewpie Dolls
When illustrator and novelist Rose O'Neill first debuted the Kewpie cartoons in 1909, these loveable little characters took the world by storm. Yet O…
1 month, 1 week ago
CLASSIC: Agent Garbo: The Strange Tale of the Man Who Saved D-Day
When Juan Pujol first volunteered to spy for the British during World War II, they didn’t take him seriously. That all changed when he got a gig spyi…
1 month, 2 weeks ago
The Most-hated Condiment? A Ridiculous History of Mayonnaise
Often called "the thick, creamy bastard child of oil and eggs" (well, called that at least once by Ben), mayonnaise remains one of the world's most d…
1 month, 2 weeks ago