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Louis Wain, the Godfather of Cat Memes: Part 1
If you're listening to this podcast, you definitely know about cat memes. At this point, they're almost like an internet currency all their own. But …
6 years, 1 month ago
Feedsack Fashion: How Thrifty Inventiveness Transformed America
In the early 20th century, rural US residents were all-too-accustomed to scraping by, often by any means necessary. Families without the means to buy…
6 years, 1 month ago
Emperor Tiberius Was Debauched, Deranged and Probably Not Fun At Parties
When Emperor Tiberius first ascended to the throne in AD 14, he seemed to be a principled reformer set on cleaning up the empire -- checking excesses…
6 years, 1 month ago
The Return of Historical Flexes, Part 2: Flexcessiveness
History is riddled with bizarre stories of flexes — things people of the past thought were somehow impressive at time. The Ridiculous Historians are …
6 years, 1 month ago
The Return of Historical Flexes, Part 1: 2 Flex 2 Furious
History is riddled with bizarre stories of flexes — things people of the past thought were somehow impressive at time. The Ridiculous Historians are …
6 years, 1 month ago
The Authors Of Curious George Were On The Run From Nazis
Today, Curious George is a world-famous star of children's books -- but back in the day, his name was Fifi, and his creators, the Rey couple, were de…
6 years, 1 month ago
People Used To Straight Up Drink Gold
For millennia various luminaries have claimed precious metals have special curative powers -- and, back in the day, people used to actually drink it.…
6 years, 1 month ago
New Zealand's Tragic (And Pretty Hilarious) Exploding Pants Epidemic
For a brief span of time, farmers in New Zealand were baffled by a bizarre phenomenon -- their pants were smoldering, catching fire, and sometimes ex…
6 years, 1 month ago
That Time Trainwrecks Became a Spectator Sport
Nowadays, most people use the term 'trainwreck' to describe a situation gone catastrophically wrong, but back in the glory days of the railroad, trai…
6 years, 2 months ago
Miguel de Cervantes and the Case of the Fake Don Quixote
Nowadays, "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha" has no shortage of accolades. You'll hear it called the first modern novel, one of the g…
6 years, 2 months ago