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What Makes Disaster Films Great
Disaster films are surprisingly tough to define. What makes them different from an action movie or a monster movie? Who cares? They’re great! Escape …
1 year, 3 months ago
Short Stuff: Tick tock goes the Doomsday Clock
The Doomsday Clock is closer too midnight than it's ever been, which is not awesome. But what does this metaphorical clock even indicate?
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1 year, 3 months ago
Kim Philby: Greatest Liar of All Time?
British MI6 agent Kim Philby was a spy for the Soviet Union and one of the great liars in human history, right up until his retirement in Moscow wher…
1 year, 3 months ago
Selects: Cake: So Great. So, So Great
Cake has been around for a long time, but mostly less than great forms. It took the Industrial Revolution, the advent of plentiful sugar, and some go…
1 year, 3 months ago
Behavioral Priming: Buy, Robot Human!
In the late 90s, a large chunk of the field of social psychology started dedicating itself to figuring out ways to subtly persuade and influence peop…
1 year, 4 months ago
Short Stuff: Colorful Noises
We’ve all heard of white noise, that static sound the TV makes when poltergeists arrive. There are other colored noise too that mimic natural sounds …
1 year, 4 months ago
Editorial Cartoons: Art as Satire
Editorial, or political cartoons, have a rich history in the United States and abroad. And though the Golden Age may have passed, the use of images t…
1 year, 4 months ago
Selects: Agatha Christie: Queen of the Murder Mystery
Agatha Christie was a great writer of murder mystery novels and is probably the best selling author of all time. Listen in this classic episode to le…
1 year, 4 months ago
The Pinkerton Detective Agency
The Pinkertons became the most famous detective company in the U.S. But were they noble or notorious? We get to the bottom of it all in today's episo…
1 year, 4 months ago
Short Stuff: Tulipmania
The world experienced its first economic bubble when the Dutch went bonkers for tulips in the 1630s.
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1 year, 4 months ago