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Teddy Roosevelt May Just Have Saved Modern (American) Football
In recent years the public has become increasingly aware of the long-term dangers posed by sports injuries -- but at the turn of the 20th century this wasn't the case. Football players didn't wear pr…
Published on 6 years, 8 months ago
Prohibition, Prescriptions and the Rise of 'Medicinal' Booze
From 1920 to 1933, the United States was, technically speaking, a dry country. The National Prohibition Act made the manufacture, transport and sale of alcohol illegal for the vast majority of the po…
Published on 6 years, 8 months ago
Did Robert E. Lee hate Confederate Memorials?
From 1861 to 1865, the United States of America was a country divided. More than a century later, it remains America's bloodiest war. After the cessation of conflicts and the surrender of the Confede…
Published on 6 years, 8 months ago
California Schoolchildren and the Great Squirrel War
In 1918, as the planet was consumed by World War I, the government of California found itself combating an unexpected and catastrophic enemy: Ground squirrels. The rodents were wreaking havoc across …
Published on 6 years, 8 months ago
When West Virginia Begged the USSR for Foreign Aid
Were it not for the coal mine, the town of Vulcan, West Virginia may well have never existed. As a rural and geographically isolated community, Vulcan relied on a single, small bridge for its connect…
Published on 6 years, 9 months ago
Idiomatic for the People II, Part 2
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 use on a daily basis, with little to no understand…
Published on 6 years, 9 months ago
Idiomatic for the People II, Part 1
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 use on a daily basis, with little to no understand…
Published on 6 years, 9 months ago
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 Liberty Island. Join the guys as they explore the strange story of Frédéric Aug…
Published on 6 years, 9 months ago
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 spying for the German government. Listen to learn the …
Published on 6 years, 9 months ago
The War of the Stray Dog: How Far Would You Go For Your Pet?
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, it didn't take the newly-independent nations of Greece and Bulgaria long to begin bickering over their borders. Throughout the early 1920s, small bands of peasan…
Published on 6 years, 9 months ago