Citation Needed

Noel Edmonds

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English businessman, and former television presenter, radio DJ, writer and producer. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK, presenting its breakfast show for almost five years. He presented various radio shows and light-entertainment television programmes, originally working for the BBC and later Sky and Channel 4.

After presenting children's Saturday-morning programme Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (1976–1982) and various other BBC TV shows like Top of the Pops and Top Gear during the 1970s, he became best known for presenting Noel's House Party on BBC One from 1991 to 1999. The show achieved 15 million viewers at its peak and originated the character Mr Blobby. He also presented the BBC TV shows Noel's Christmas Presents (1989–1999) and Telly Addicts (1985–1998). Following a hiatus from broadcasting, Edmonds presented the game show Deal or No Deal on Channel 4 from 2005 to 2016.

Links and images mentioned.

https://youtu.be/TeQs2fpU1eI?t=94

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNkgDJpcuwU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R17IguX1_hQ

The Airport-Lounge Wars

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/12/01/the-airport-lounge-wars

Count Juan Raphael Dante

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Count Juan Raphael Dante (born John Timothy Keehan; February 2, 1939 – May 25, 1975) was an American martial artist figure during the 1960s and 1970s who claimed he could do extraordinary feats such as Dim Mak.[1][2][3][4][5]

Matthew Buchinger

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Matthias Buchinger (German: [maˈtiːas ˈbʊxɪŋɐ]; June 2, 1674 – January 17, 1740), sometimes called Matthew Buckinger in English, was a German artist, magician, calligrapher, and performer who was born without hands or feet and was 2 ft 5 in (74 cm) tall.[1] Buchinger was especially noted for his micrography, in which illustrations consist of very small text.[2][3]

Shark Repellent

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

A shark repellent is any method of driving sharks away from an area. Shark repellents are a category of animal repellents. Shark repellents are of interest to the commercial fishing industry as well as to swimmers, surfers, and other people in the ocean. Shark repellent technologies include magnetic shark repellent, electropositive shark repellents, electric repellents, and semiochemicals. Some electric repellents may reduce shark interactions with bait by about half, depending on the product, the type of shark, and other factors;[1][2] the other types are not expected to have a significant protective effect for swimmers.[3]

The Congo River Expedition

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

The expedition aimed to find if there was a connection between the Congo and Niger basins of western and central Africa. Tuckey sailed up the river from its mouth but found that the lower river is not navigable due to rapids (later called the Yellala Falls) above Matadi. He only found ruins of the Portuguese colony and moribund Catholic missions. He suggested sending Protestant missionaries to the Congo. He explored the river up to Isangila. Most of the officers and crew died of fever and Tuckey himself died on 14 October 1816, aged 40, in Moanda, on the coast of today's DR Congo. The expedition was a failure but raised interest in the exploration of Africa.

The FIFA World Cup

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition among the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 during and shortly after World War II. The reigning champion is Spain, who won their second title at the 23rd edition of the competition, the 2026 World Cup, by defeating the holders, Argentina.^[1]

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/world-cup-finals-uruguay-the-bolivian-team-carrying-the-news-photo/79029909

Donald Trump can break FIFA World Cup protocol with repeat of embarrassing moment - The Mirror

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/26225797

https://www.reddit.com/r/classicsoccer/comments/1q66wik/the_infamous_battle_of_santiago_chile_v_italy_at/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUBDWxaBJig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArR7Wk2R8tw

Vivos xPoint and Failed Utopias

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Vivos (also known as The Vivos Group) is a California-based company that built underground shelters designed to withstand future disasters and life-extinction catastrophes.^[1] Robert Vicino founded the company.

Shelters 10,000-square-foot (0.093 ha) have been completed in Indiana, 575 bunkers each 2,150 square feet across a former military base in^[2] South Dakota, and others are in the process of construction.^[3] As of September 2022, Vicino stated that the company has approximately 100,000 members, of whom more than 1,000 have bought space in one or more of the Vivos shelters.^[4]

NFTs

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. They typically contain references to digital files such as artworks, photos, videos, and audio. Because NFTs are uniquely identifiable, they differ from cryptocurrencies (which are fungible, hence the name non-fungible token), and as a result they cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided.[1] Their ownership can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded.

Pixelon and the $16 Million iBash

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Pixelon was an American dot-com company founded in 1998 that promised better distribution of high-quality video over the Internet. It was based in San Juan Capistrano, California.[1] It gained fame for its extravagant Las Vegas launch party, followed by its sudden and violent decline less than a year later as it became evident it was using technologies that were, in fact, fake or misrepresented.[2] Its founder, "Michael Fenne", was actually David Kim Stanley, a convicted felon involved in stock scams who was "on the lam and living out of the back of his car" when he arrived in California two years earlier.[1][3] In the year 2000, Pixelon began to fire employees and reduce its operations until its bankruptcy.[4][5] Pixelon ousted their management team and filed for bankruptcy in June 2000.[6]

The King of the Ferret Leggers

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000

From: https://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/essays/ferret-legging-outside-classic/

Assata Shakur

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Assata Olugbala Shakur (/əˈsɑːtə ʃəˈkʊər/ ə-SAH-tə shə-KOOR; born JoAnne Deborah Byron, July 16, 1947^[a] – September 25, 2025) was an American political activist, revolutionary, and fugitive who was a member of the Black Panther Party, and later the Black Liberation Army.^[3] In 1977, she was convicted of the first-degree murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. She escaped from prison in 1979 and was wanted by the FBI, with a $1 million reward for information leading to her capture, and an additional $1 million reward offered by the New Jersey attorney general.^[4] She was never caught and remained a fugitive for 45 years.

James R. McClintock

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:59:00 +0000

James R. McClintock, with Horace Lawson Hunley and Baxter Watson, built the submarine Pioneer at New Orleans in 1861 to defend the city against Federal forces. The three men later constructed two submarines at Mobile, Alabama, the second of which was named H.L. Hunley. This vessel was taken to Charleston, South Carolina, in August 1863. On 17 February 1864, after two fatal accidents, the refurbished H.L. Hunley became the first submarine to successfully attack an enemy warship when she sank USS Housatonic off Charleston.

The Byford Dolphin Incident

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Byford Dolphin was a semi-submersible, column-stabilised drilling rig operated by Dolphin Drilling, a subsidiary of Fred Olsen Energy. Byford Dolphin was registered in Hamilton, Bermuda,[3] and drilled seasonally for various companies in the British, Danish, and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea. In 2019, Dolphin scrapped the rig.[5]

The rig was the site of several serious incidents, most notably an explosive decompression in 1983 that killed four divers and one dive tender, as well as critically injuring another dive tender.[6]

Billionaire Bootlickers (4 Op Eds)

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000

AOC's Billionaire Bull Session, Did Steven Spielberg earn his wealth? What about Oprah? Jay-Z? By Matthew Hennessey, Wall Street Journal
You can earn a billion dollars, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a low opinion of human potential., Editorial Board - Washington Post
I don't resent Bezos. I'm rooting for billionaires like him. | Opinion, Nicole Russell- USA TODAY
Billionaires Rock, We ought to build statues of them, not chase them from state to state. By Kyle Smith, Wall Street Journal

News of the World

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000

The News of the World was a weekly national "red top" tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one of the highest English-language circulations.^[4] It was established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell, who identified crime, sensation and vice as the themes that would sell most copies.^[5] The Bells sold to Henry Lascelles Carr in 1891; in 1969, it was bought from the Carrs by Rupert Murdoch's media firm News Limited. In 1984, as News Limited reorganised into News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation, the newspaper transformed into a tabloid and became the Sunday sister paper of The Sun.

Stranded with Dragons

Wed, 27 May 2026 15:59:00 +0000

Rinca^[a] is a small island near Komodo and Flores island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, within the West Manggarai Regency. It is one of the three largest islands included in Komodo National Park. The island is famous for Komodo dragons, giant lizards that can measure up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) long. Rinca is also populated with many other species such as wild pigs, buffalos and many birds.

Jasper Maskelyne

Wed, 20 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Jasper Maskelyne (29 September 1902 – 15 March 1973) was a British stage magician in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of an established family of stage magicians, the son of Nevil Maskelyne and a grandson of John Nevil Maskelyne. He is most remembered for his accounts of his work for the British military during the Second World War, in which he claimed to have created large-scale ruses, deception, and camouflage in an effort to defeat the Nazis.^[1]

Coin Operated Machines

Wed, 13 May 2026 15:59:00 +0000

A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise made.[1] The first modern vending machines were developed in England in the early 1880s and dispensed postcards. Vending machines exist in many countries and, in more recent times, specialized vending machines that provide less common products compared to traditional vending machine items have been created.

An arcade game, or coin-op game, is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games or merchandisers.[1]

The Making of Apocalypse Now

Wed, 06 May 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Production problems—among them bad weather, actors' poor health, and other issues—delayed the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of its director, Francis Ford Coppola.

The Salt Path

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000

The Salt Path is a 2018 memoir, nature, and travel book by Raynor Winn. It details the long-distance walk along the South West Coast Path, in South West England, by Winn and her husband, Moth, after they lost their home, and Moth was diagnosed with fatal corticobasal degeneration (CBD). It deals with the theme of homelessness and the nature of home in the face of the unpredictability of life. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Wainwright Prize and the Costa Book Awards, and won the 2019 RSL Christopher Bland Prize. A 2024 film adaptation of the same name has Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in the lead roles.

Some background events central to the premise of the book were disputed following an investigative piece in July 2025 by The Observer, which stated that Winn lost her home after stealing £64,000 from her employer, and cast doubt on her husband's diagnosis of CBD.^[1] Raynor has since denied these claims and said she was taking legal advice.^[2]^[3]

Queen Nzinga of Angola

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Nzinga or Njinga Ana de Sousa Mbande (/nəˈzɪŋɡə/; c. 1583 – 17 December 1663) was a southwest African paramount ruler who ruled as a queen of the Ambundu Kingdoms of Ndongo (1624–1663) and Matamba (1631–1663), located in present-day northern Angola.^[1] Born into the ruling family of Ndongo, her grandfather Ngola Kilombo Kia Kasenda was the king of Ndongo, succeeded by her father.

Looksmaxxing

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 15:59:00 +0000

Looksmaxxing is a 21st century Internet neologism referring to the process of maximizing one's own physical attractiveness. The term originated on male incel (meaning: "involuntarily celibate")[1] message boards in the 2010s.[2][3][4] Previously, the phrase's usage had been limited to obscure internet forums, but in the 2020s became popularized on TikTok by men.[3] Currently, the term refers to a specified view of male beauty, and is not frequently a term used by women in a non-satirical context.[3]

Oceans 91

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:59:00 +0000

https://www.gq.com/story/91-year-old-bank-robber-jl-hunter-rountree

April Fools' Day

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000

April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day[1]) is an annual custom in many Western countries on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool[s]!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one's neighbor has been relatively common in the world historically.[2]

The Placebo Effect

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000

A placebo (/pləˈsiːboʊ/ pluh-SEE-boh) is a medicine or treatment intended to appear genuine to its recipient, but which has no pharmaceutical effect.^[1]^[2] Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery,^[3] and other procedures.^[4]

Guy Fawkes

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Guy Fawkes (/fɔːks/; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606),^[a] also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated in York; his father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic.

Fawkes converted to Catholicism and left for mainland Europe, where he fought for Catholic Spain in the Eighty Years' War against Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England without success. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England. Wintour introduced him to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords; Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder that they stockpiled there. The authorities were prompted by an anonymous letter to search Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and they found Fawkes guarding the explosives. He was questioned and tortured over the next few days and confessed to wanting to blow up the House of Lords.

Enshit*ification

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:59:00 +0000

Enshit*ification, also known as crapification and platform decay, is a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to both users and business customers to maximize short-term profits for shareholders.

Sputnik

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Sputnik 1 (/ˈspʌtnɪk, ˈspʊtnɪk/, Russian: Спутник-1, Satellite 1), often referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958.

Competitive Watersliding

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/maximum-speed/

Taken from this article from Outside Magazine.

Freedom House Ambulance Service & Bessie Coleman

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid.^[1]^[2] Founded in 1967 to serve the predominantly Black Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was staffed entirely by African Americans.^[3]^[4] Freedom House Ambulance Service broke medical ground by training its personnel to previously unheard-of standards of emergency medical care for patients en route to hospitals.^[3]^[5]^[6] The paramedic training and ambulance design standards pioneered in the Freedom House Ambulance Service would set the standard for emergency care nationally and even internationally.^[2]^[5] Despite its successes, the ambulance service was closed eight years after it began operating.^[5]

^{Elizabeth Coleman (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926)^[2] was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license,^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] and is the earliest known Black person to earn an international pilot's license.^[10] She earned her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921.^[5]^[6]^[11]}

James Damore and the Google Memo

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

The Super Bowl

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

The Super Bowl is the annual league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game has been played on the second Sunday in February. Prior Super Bowls were played on Sundays in early to mid-January from 1967 to 1978, late January from 1979 to 2003^[a] and the first Sunday of February from 2004 to 2021. Winning teams are awarded the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after the eponymous coach who won the first two Super Bowls. Because the NFL restricts the use of its "Super Bowl" trademark, it is frequently referred to as the "big game" or other generic terms by non-sponsoring corporations. The day the game is held is commonly referred to as "Super Bowl Sunday" or "Super Sunday".

Unholy Spirits: The People who Have Sex with Ghosts

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:59:00 +0000

Taken from this article: From this article: https://www.vice.com/en/article/ghost-love-lust-spectrophilia/

Feral Children

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:59:00 +0000

A feral child (also called wild child) is a young individual who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, with little or no experience of human care, social behavior, or language. Such children lack the basics of primary and secondary socialization.[1] The term is used to refer to children who have suffered severe abuse or trauma before being abandoned or running away. They are sometimes the subjects of folklore and legends, often portrayed as having been raised by animals. While there are many cases of children being found in proximity to wild animals, there are no eyewitness accounts of animals feeding human children.[2]

Failed Constitutional Amendments

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 17:01:00 +0000

Hundreds of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution are introduced during each session of the United States Congress. From 1789 through January 3, 2025, approximately 11,985 measures have been proposed to amend the United States Constitution.[1] Collectively, members of the House and Senate typically propose around 200 amendments during each two-year term of Congress.[2] Most, however, never get out of the Congressional committees in which they were proposed. Only a fraction of those actually receive enough support to win Congressional approval to go through the constitutional ratification process. Some proposed amendments are introduced over and over again in different sessions of Congress. It is also common for a number of identical resolutions to be offered on issues that have widespread public and congressional support

Captain Thomas Moore

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 16:59:00 +0000

Captain Sir Thomas Moore (30 April 1920 – 2 February 2021), more popularly known as Captain Tom, was a British Army officer and fundraiser. He made international headlines in April 2020 when he raised money for charity in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic. He served in India and the Burma campaign during the Second World War, and later became an instructor in armoured warfare. After the war, he worked as managing director of a concrete company and was an avid motorcycle racer.

On 6 April 2020, at the age of 99 during the first COVID-19 national lockdown, Moore began to walk 100 lengths of his garden in aid of NHS Charities Together, with the goal of raising £1,000 by his 100th birthday on 30 April. In the 24-day course of his fundraising, he made many media appearances and became a household name in the UK, earning a number of accolades and attracting over 1.5 million individual donations.

The Fir-Tree - by Hans Christian Andersen

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

"The Fir-Tree" (Danish: Grantræet) is a literary fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). The tale is about a fir tree so anxious to grow up, so anxious for greater things, that he cannot appreciate living in the moment. The tale was first published 21 December 1844 with "The Snow Queen", in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection, in Copenhagen, Denmark, by C.A. Reitzel. One scholar (Andersen biographer Jackie Wullschlager [de]) indicates that "The Fir-Tree" was the first of Andersen's fairy tales to express a deep pessimism.[1]

Canals on Mars

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 17:01:00 +0000

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was erroneously believed that there were "canals" on the planet Mars. These were a network of long straight lines in the equatorial regions from 60° north to 60° south latitude on Mars, observed by astronomers using early telescopes without photography.

They were first described by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli during the opposition of 1877, and attested to by later observers. Schiaparelli called these canali ("channels"), which was mistranslated into English as "canals". The Irish astronomer Charles E. Burton made some of the earliest drawings of straight-line features on Mars, although his drawings did not match Schiaparelli's.

Great Feasts

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

The Field of the Cloth of Gold (French: Camp du Drap d'Or, pronounced [kɑ̃ dy dʁa d‿ɔʁ]) was a summit meeting between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France from 7 to 24 June 1520. Held at Balinghem, between Ardres in France and Guînes in the English Pale of Calais, it was an opulent display of wealth by both kings.[1]

Storm Chasers

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 16:59:00 +0000

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/chasing-tornadoes

National Geographic article on Storm Chasing called Chasing Tornadoes.

Robert Maxwell

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 16:59:00 +0000

Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor and politician.[1][2]

Of Jewish descent, he escaped the Nazi occupation of his native Czechoslovakia and joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile during World War II. He was decorated after active service in the British Army. In subsequent years he worked in publishing, building up Pergamon Press to a major academic publisher. After six years as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) during the 1960s, Maxwell again put all his energy into business, successively buying the British Printing Corporation, Mirror Group Newspapers and Macmillan Inc., among other publishing companies.

Collar Bomb Heist

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 16:59:00 +0000

On August 28, 2003, pizza delivery man Brian Douglas Wells robbed a PNC Bank near his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. Upon being apprehended by police, Wells died when an explosive collar locked to his neck detonated. The FBI investigation into his death uncovered a complex plot described as "one of the most complicated and bizarre crimes in the annals of the FBI".[1]

https://www.wired.com/story/collar-bomb/

Penis Theft

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Koro is a culture-bound delusional disorder in which individuals have an overpowering belief that their sex organs are retracting and will disappear, despite the lack of any true longstanding changes to the genitals.[1][2] Koro is also known as shrinking penis, and was listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Balloon Fest 1986

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Balloonfest '86 was a fundraising event in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, held on September 27, 1986, in which the local chapter of United Way set a world record by releasing almost 1.5 million balloons.[2] The event was intended to be a harmless publicity stunt. However, the released balloons drifted back over the city and Lake Erie and landed in the surrounding area, causing problems for traffic and a nearby airport. In consequence, the organizers faced lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in damages,[1] and cost overruns put the event at a net loss.[3]

Nutmaxxing

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Mostly taken from this GQ article here: https://www.gq.com/story/meet-the-nutmaxxers-obsessed-with-shooting-bigger-loads

Time travel claims and urban legends

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_travel_claims_and_urban_legends

Multiple accounts of people who allegedly travelled through time have been reported by the press or circulated online. These reports have turned out to be either hoaxes or else based on incorrect assumptions, incomplete information, or interpretation of fiction as fact. Many are now recognized as urban legends.

QAnon Shaman vs. USA et al

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

https://azdailysun.com/news/state-and-regional/qanon-shaman-files-40-trillion-lawsuit-against-trump-with-plan-to-revolutionize-america/article_5f4ad841-60ef-4060-9ff3-7f33d7ee4f0d.html

Bike Batman

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/real-life-superhero-who-beats-cops-bike-thieves/

Broadcast signal intrusion

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 15:59:00 +0000

A broadcast signal intrusion is the hijacking of broadcast signals of radio, television stations, cable television broadcast feeds or satellite signals without permission or licence. Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks.

"Rube" Waddell

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

George Edward "Rube" Waddell (October 13, 1876 – April 1, 1914) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-hander, he played for 13 years, with the Louisville Colonels, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago Orphans in the National League, as well as the Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns in the American League. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, and raised in Prospect, Pennsylvania, Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.

Waddell is best remembered for his highly eccentric behavior, and for being a remarkably dominant strikeout pitcher in an era when batters were expert at making contact. He had an excellent fastball, a sharp-breaking curveball, a screwball, and superb control; his strikeout-to-walk ratio was almost 3-to-1, and he led the major leagues in strikeouts for six consecutive years.

History's Most Expensive Party

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 16:01:00 +0000

The 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire,[1] officially known as the 2,500-year celebration of the Empire of Iran (Persian: جشن‌های ۲۵۰۰ ساله شاهنشاهی ایران, romanized: Jašn-hây-e 2500 sale' šâhanšâhi Irân), was hosted by the Pahlavi dynasty in the Imperial State of Iran in October 1971. Concentrated at Persepolis, it consisted of an elaborate set of grand festivities that sought to honour the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire, which was founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC.[2][3] The event was aimed at highlighting ancient Iranian history and also showcasing the country's contemporary advances under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had been reigning as the Shah of Iran since 1941.[4][5] The site brought sixty members of royalty and heads of state from abroad.[6]

ChatGPT convinced a guy that he's a superhero

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 15:59:00 +0000

Over 21 days of talking with ChatGPT, an otherwise perfectly sane man became convinced that he was a real-life superhero. We analyzed the conversation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/technology/ai-chatbots-delusions-chatgpt.html

Victorian Mummy Mania and Sundry Weirdness

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 16:01:00 +0000

Mummia, mumia, or originally mummy referred to several different preparations in the history of medicine, from "mineral pitch" to "powdered human mummies". It originated from Arabic mūmiyā "a type of resinous bitumen found in Western Asia and used curatively" in traditional Islamic medicine, which was translated as pissasphaltus (from "pitch" and "asphalt") in ancient Greek medicine. In medieval European medicine, mūmiyā "bitumen" was transliterated into Latin as mumia meaning both "a bituminous medicine from Persia" and "mummy". Merchants in apothecaries dispensed expensive mummia bitumen, which was thought to be an effective cure-all for many ailments. It was also used as an aphrodisiac.

The Vasa

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Vasa (previously Wasa) (Swedish pronunciation: [²vɑːsa] ^ⓘ) is a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship sank after sailing roughly 1,300 m (1,400 yd) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century, until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping area in Stockholm harbor. The ship was salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961. She was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet ("The Vasa Shipyard") until 1988 and then moved permanently to the Vasa Museum in the Royal National City Park in Stockholm. Between her recovery in 1961 and the beginning of 2025, Vasa has been seen by over 45 million visitors.^[2]

Exxon Valdez

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 16:59:00 +0000

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a major environmental disaster that occurred in Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. The spill occurred when Exxon Valdez, an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, 6 mi (9.7 km) west of Tatitlek, Alaska at 12:04 a.m. The tanker spilled more than 10 million US gallons (240,000 bbl) (or 37,000 tonnes)[1] of crude oil over the next few days.[2]

How I Survived a Wedding in a Jungle That Tried to Eat Me Alive

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:59:00 +0000

https://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/essays/jungle-wedding/

Olestra / Olean

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 15:59:00 +0000

Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean) is a fat substitute food additive that adds no metabolizable calories to products. It has been used in the preparation of otherwise high-fat foods, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved olestra for use in the US as a replacement for fats and oils in prepackaged ready-to-eat snacks in 1996,[2] concluding that such use "meets the safety standard for food additives, reasonable certainty of no harm".[3]: 46399 In the early 2000s, olestra lost popularity due to supposed side effects and is largely phased out, but products containing the ingredient are available in some countries.

Pluto

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:59:00 +0000

Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is made primarily of ice and rock and is much smaller than the inner planets. Pluto has roughly one-sixth the mass of the Moon and one-third its volume. Originally considered a planet, its classification was changed when astronomers adopted a new definition of planet.

Patreon Bonus Episode Teaser - July Bonus - My Immortal Fan Fiction

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 17:52:00 +0000

This is a teaser episode of our Patreon Bonus Episode. This is the first few minutes of that particular episode to let non-patrons sample that content.

You can become a patron here: http://patreon.com/citationpod

Defenestration

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:57:00 +0000

Defenestration (from Neo-Latin de fenestrā[1]) is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.[2] The term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618 which became the spark that started the Thirty Years' War. This was done in "good Bohemian style", referring to the defenestration which had occurred in Prague's New Town Hall almost 200 years earlier (July 1419), and on that occasion led to the Hussite war.[3] The word comes from the Neo-Latin [4] de- (down from) and fenestra (window or opening).[5]

By extension, the term is also used to describe the forcible or summary removal of an adversary.[6]

Moving Day

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Moving Day was a tradition in New York City dating back to colonial times and lasting until after World War II. On February 1, sometimes known as "Rent Day", landlords would give notice to their tenants what the new rent would be after the end of the quarter,^[1] and the tenants would spend good-weather days in the early spring searching for new houses and the best deals.^[2] On May 1,^[3] all leases in the city expired simultaneously at 9:00 am, causing thousands of people to change their residences, all at the same time.^[4]^[5]

Mark Twain

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced",^[1] with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature".^[2] Twain's novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884),^[3] with the latter often called the "Great American Novel". He also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and cowrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner. The novelist Ernest Hemingway claimed that "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn."^[4]

The Juniper Tree

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000

"The Juniper Tree" (also "The Almond Tree"; Low German: Von dem Machandelboom) is a German fairy tale published in Low German by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812 (KHM 47).^[1] The story contains themes of child abuse, murder, cannibalism and biblical symbolism and is one of the Brothers Grimm's darker and more mature fairy tales.

Optograms and Wife Salves

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Optography is the process of viewing or retrieving an optogram, an image on the retina of the eye. A belief that the eye "recorded" the last image seen before death was widespread in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was a frequent plot device in fiction of the time, to the extent that police photographed the victims' eyes in several real-life murder investigations, in case the theory was true. The concept has been repeatedly debunked as a forensic method.

Charge of the Light Brigade

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:02:00 +0000

The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Brigade, led by Lord Cardigan, mounted a frontal assault against a Russian artillery battery which was well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire. The charge was the result of a misunderstood order from the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, who had intended the Light Brigade to attack a different objective for which light cavalry was better suited, to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions. The Light Brigade made its charge under withering direct fire and reached its target, scattering some of the gunners, but was forced to retreat immediately.

The Barkley Marathons - The Immortal Horizon - Part 2

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 16:01:00 +0000

The Barkley Marathons is an ultramarathon trail race held each year in Frozen Head State Park in Morgan County, Tennessee, United States. Described as "The Race That Eats Its Young", it is known for its extreme difficulty, purposefully difficult application process, and many strange traditions, having been completed only 26 times by 20 runners since 1995.

The Barkley Marathons - The Immortal Horizon

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:00:00 +0000

https://www.thebeliever.net/the-immortal-horizon/

Operation Channel Fireball & Operation Fantasia

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 15:59:00 +0000

Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), has been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Minds", and propaganda.[1][2] The term is used "to denote any action which is practiced mainly by psychological methods with the aim of evoking a planned psychological reaction in other people".[3]

Donkey Kong

Wed, 28 May 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Donkey Kong[a] is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the Kong family of apes. Donkey Kong games include the original arcade game trilogy by Nintendo R&D1; the Donkey Kong Country series by Rare and Retro Studios; and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series by Nintendo Software Technology. Various studios have developed spin-offs in genres such as edutainment, puzzle, racing, and rhythm. The franchise also incorporates animation, printed media, theme parks, and merchandise.

Fax Machines - RERELEASE

Mon, 26 May 2025 15:36:00 +0000

We had errors with our podcast service provider and they released another show on our feed. We are still fielding questions regarding people not having access to last weeks show so we are rereleasing it. If you missed last week's show becuase the podcast on that feed was wrong, here it is again.

If you heard our podcast last week - this is nothing new.

Sorry for the snafu.

Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device. The original document is scanned with a fax machine (or a telecopier), which processes the contents (text or images) as a single fixed graphic image, converting it into a bitmap, and then transmitting it through the telephone system in the form of audio-frequency tones. The receiving fax machine interprets the tones and reconstructs the image, printing a paper copy.[1] Early systems used direct conversions of image darkness to audio tone in a continuous or analog manner. Since the 1980s, most machines transmit an audio-encoded digital representation of the page, using data compression to transmit areas that are all-white or all-black, more quickly.

Fax Machines

Wed, 21 May 2025 18:22:00 +0000

Ruby Ridge

Wed, 14 May 2025 16:00:00 +0000

The Ruby Ridge standoff was the siege of a cabin occupied by the Weaver family in Boundary County, Idaho, in August 1992. On August 21, deputies of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) came to arrest Randy Weaver under a bench warrant for his failure to appear on federal firearms charges after he was given the wrong court date.[1] The charges stemmed from Weaver's sale of a sawed-off shotgun to an undercover federal informant, who had induced him to modify the firearm below the legal barrel length.[2]

The Moon

Wed, 07 May 2025 16:00:00 +0000

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It orbits Earth at an average distance of 384399 km (238,854 mi; about 30 times Earth's diameter). The Moon's orbital period (lunar month) and rotation period (lunar day) are synchronized by Earth's gravitational pull at 29.5 Earth days, making the same side of the Moon always face Earth. The Moon's pull on Earth is the main driver of Earth's tides.

Security incidents involving Barack Obama

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, was involved in multiple security incidents, including several assassination threats and plots, starting from when he became a presidential candidate in 2007. Secret Service protection for Obama began after he received a death threat in 2007, while serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois and running for president. This marked the earliest time a candidate received such protection before being nominated.[1] Security was increased early for Obama due to fears of possible assassination attempts by white supremacist or other racist groups or individuals against the first African American major party presidential nominee.[2][3][4]

The Chameleon - Frédéric Pierre Bourdin

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Frédéric Pierre Bourdin[1] (born 13 June 1974)[2] is a French serial impostor the press has nicknamed "The Chameleon".[3] He began his impersonations as a child and claims to have assumed at least 500 false identities; [4] three being teenage missing people.[3][5]

Elmer McCurdy - The Worlds Worst Outlaw

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Elmer J. McCurdy (January 1, 1880 – October 7, 1911) was an American outlaw who was killed in a shoot-out with police after robbing a train in Oklahoma in October 1911. Dubbed "The Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up", his mummified body was first put on display at an Oklahoma funeral home and then became a fixture on the traveling carnival and sideshow circuit during the 1920s through the 1960s. After changing ownership several times, McCurdy's remains eventually wound up at The Pike amusement zone in Long Beach, California, where they were discovered by crew members for the television series The Six Million Dollar Man and positively identified in December 1976.

Bonnie and Clyde

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910 – May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut "Champion" Barrow (March 24, 1909 – May 23, 1934) were American outlaws who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, committing a series of criminal acts such as bank robberies, kidnappings, and murders between 1932 and 1934. The couple were known for their bank robberies and multiple murders, although they preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. Their exploits captured the attention of the American press and its readership during what is occasionally referred to as the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934. They were ambushed by police and shot dead in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. They are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and four civilians.[1][2]

Cuban Missile Crisis

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:00:00 +0000

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (Spanish: Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (Russian: Карибский кризис, romanized: Karibskiy krizis), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.[1]

The OSS (Office of Strategic Services)

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 15:58:00 +0000

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was an intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)[3] to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion, and post-war planning.

Ross Douthat Opinion Pieces

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 15:00:00 +0000

2 op-eds by Ross Douthat

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/opinion/abortion-dobbs-supreme-court.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/opinion/religion-god.html

Audie Murphy - The Most Decorated Combat Soldier of WW2

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 16:15:00 +0000

Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971)[1] was an American soldier, actor, and songwriter. He was widely celebrated as the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II,[4] and has been described as the most highly decorated enlisted soldier in U.S. history.[5][6] He received every military combat award for valor available from the United States Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at age 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, before leading a successful counterattack while wounded.

The Little Mermaid

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 17:00:00 +0000

"The Little Mermaid" (Danish: Den lille havfrue), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid",[1] is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story follows the journey of a young mermaid princess who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a human soul.

The Battle of Cartagena de Indias

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 16:00:00 +0000

The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (Spanish: Sitio de Cartagena de Indias, lit. 'Siege of Cartagena de Indias') took place during the 1739 to 1748 War of Jenkins' Ear between Spain and Great Britain. The result of long-standing commercial tensions, the war was primarily fought in the Caribbean; the British tried to capture key Spanish ports in the region, including Porto Bello and Chagres in Panama, Havana, and Cartagena de Indias in present-day Colombia.

Pornhub 2024 Year in Review

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 16:00:00 +0000

https://www.pornhub.com/insights/2024-year-in-review

Use code CITATION at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan:
http://incogni.com/citation

Op-Eds by Billionaires

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:01:00 +0000

Three op-eds by billionaires.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/28/jeff-bezos-washington-post-trust/

https://about.fb.com/news/2020/02/big-tech-needs-more-regulation/

https://www.ft.com/content/a46cb128-1f74-4621-ab0b-242a76583105

Ghost Ships

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 16:00:00 +0000

A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a vessel with no living crew aboard; it may be a fictional ghostly vessel, such as the Flying Dutchman, or a physical derelict found adrift with its crew missing or dead, like the Mary Celeste.[1][2] The term is sometimes used for ships that have been decommissioned but not yet scrapped, as well as drifting boats that have been found after breaking loose of their ropes and being carried away by the wind or the waves.

Bonus Army

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:00:00 +0000

The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 demonstrators – 17,000 veterans of U.S. involvement in World War I, their families, and affiliated groups – who gathered in Washington, D.C., in mid-1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates. Organizers called the demonstrators the Bonus Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.), to echo the name of World War I's American Expeditionary Forces, while the media referred to them as the "Bonus Army" or "Bonus Marchers". The demonstrators were led by Walter W. Waters, a former sergeant.

Chrome Tab Cleanout

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Tom cleans out his unrelated chrome tabs on interesting wikipedia articles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_ironing

https://woodcarvingillustrated.com/deep-sea-jack-o-lanterns/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_tunneling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_drop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Thomas_Knight

Pizzagate

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 16:00:00 +0000

So we actually recorded this last week on Monday so one of the last paragraphs of the episode has outdated info in it. The Pizzagate guy was killed by police during a traffic stop after allegedly pulling out a gun and pointing it at police. This incident happened 4 days after we recorded this episode.

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/10/g-s1-42040/pizzagate-gunman-killed-police-north-carolina

"Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party while searching through Anthony Weiner's emails.[1][2][3] It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, D.C. police.[2][3][4]

Pythagoras

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Pythagoras of Samos[a] (Ancient Greek: Πυθαγόρας; c. 570 – c. 495 BC)[b], often known mononymously as Pythagoras, was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and, through them, the West in general. Knowledge of his life is clouded by legend; modern scholars disagree regarding Pythagoras's education and influences, but they do agree that, around 530 BC, he travelled to Croton in southern Italy, where he founded a school in which initiates were sworn to secrecy and lived a communal, ascetic lifestyle.

The Host's Fictional Bios

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 16:00:00 +0000

This episode was inspired by our tall tales episode. We each take a crack a writing another host's fictional bio.

This was supposed to be a Christmas Episode but was delayed.

The Holy Prepuce (Foreskin) and Other Relics

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The Holy Prepuce, or Holy Foreskin (Latin præputium or prepucium), is one of several relics attributed to Jesus, consisting of the foreskin removed during the circumcision of Jesus. At various points in history, a number of churches in Europe have claimed to possess the Prepuce, sometimes at the same time. Various miraculous powers have been ascribed to it.

Snarky Restaurant Reviews

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 15:45:00 +0000

Two mean reviews. One from the Sydney Morning Herald on Coco Roco...and the other from the New York Times on Guy's American Kitchen & Bar.

Pong

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Pong is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released on 29 November 1972. It is one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney were surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work and decided to manufacture the game. Bushnell based the game's concept on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console. In response, Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement.

Competitive Eating, Takeru Kobayashi, and Joey Chestnut

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Competitive eating, or speed eating, is a sport in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions can last up to thirty minutes, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner. Competitive eating is most popular in the United States, Canada, and Japan, where organized professional eating contests often offer prizes, including cash.

Sleeping Beauty

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The earliest known version of the tale is found in the French narrative Perceforest, written between 1330 and 1344.[7] Another was the Catalan poem Frayre de Joy e Sor de Paser.[8] Giambattista Basile wrote another, "Sun, Moon, and Talia" for his collection Pentamerone, published posthumously in 1634–36[9] and adapted by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697. The version collected and printed by the Brothers Grimm was one orally transmitted from the Perrault version,[10] while including own attributes like the thorny rose hedge and the curse.[11]

Sun, Moon, and Talia (Italian: Sole, Luna, e Talia) is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile and published posthumously in the last volume of his 1634-36 work, the Pentamerone. Charles Perrault retold this fairy tale in 1697 as Sleeping Beauty, as did the Brothers Grimm in 1812 as Little Briar Rose.

The Sinking of the Whaleship Essex

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Essex was an American whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was launched in 1799. On November 20, 1820, while at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean under the command of Captain George Pollard Jr., the ship was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. About 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) from the coast of South America, the 20-man crew was forced to make for land in three whaleboats with what food and water they could salvage from the wreck.

After a month at sea the crew landed on the uninhabited Henderson Island. Three men elected to stay on the island, from which they were rescued in April 1821, while the remaining seventeen set off again for the coast of South America. The men suffered severe dehydration, starvation and exposure on the open ocean, and the survivors eventually resorted to cannibalism. By the time they were rescued in February 1821, three months after the sinking of Essex, only five of the seventeen were alive.

First mate Owen Chase and cabin boy Thomas Nickerson later wrote accounts of the ordeal. The tragedy attracted international attention, and inspired Herman Melville to write his 1851 novel, Moby-Dick.

Carlos Kaiser

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Carlos Henrique Raposo (born 2 April 1963), commonly known as Carlos Kaiser, is a Brazilian con artist and former footballer who played as a striker.[citation needed] Although his abilities were far short of professional standard, he managed to sign for numerous teams during his decade-long career. He never actually played a regular game, the closest occurrence ending in a red card whilst warming up, and hid his limited ability with injuries, frequent team changes, and other ruses.[1]

Crazy Patents

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention.[1] In most countries, patent rights fall under private law and the patent holder must sue someone infringing the patent in order to enforce their rights.[2]

Mickey Barreto - An NYC Real Estate Loophole Story

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 15:00:00 +0000

For five years, a New York City man managed to live rent-free in a landmark Manhattan hotel by exploiting an obscure local housing law.

Richard Dawkins

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL (born 26 March 1941)^[3] is a British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author.^[4] He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. His 1976 book The Selfish Gene popularised the gene-centred view of evolution, as well as coining the term meme. Dawkins has won several academic and writing awards.^[5]

Siege Weapons and Fortifications

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

A siege engine is a weapon used to destroy fortifications such as defensive walls, castles, bunkers and fortified gateways.

A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere ("to make").[1]

Pied Piper and the Children's Crusade

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The legend dates back to the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicoloured ("pied") clothing, who was a rat catcher hired by the town to lure rats away[1] with his magic pipe. When the citizens refused to pay for this service as promised, he retaliated by using his instrument's magical power on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. This version of the story spread as folklore and has appeared in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Browning, among others. The phrase "pied piper" has become a metaphor for a person who attracts a following through charisma or false promises.[2]

Project 57

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Project 57 was an open-air nuclear test conducted by the United States at the Nellis Air Force Range in 1957,^[1]^[2] following Operation Redwing, and preceding Operation Plumbbob. The test area, also known as Area 13, was a 10 miles (16 km) by 16 miles (26 km) block of land abutting the northeast boundary of the Nevada National Security Site.^[3]

Sun Wukong the Monkey King

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Sun Wukong (Chinese: 孫悟空, Mandarin pronunciation: [swə́n ûkʰʊ́ŋ]), also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.[1] In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. Five hundred years later, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang riding on the White Dragon Horse and two other disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, on a journey to obtain Buddhist sutras from India, known as the West or Western Paradise, where Buddha and his followers dwell.[2]

Hulk Hogan, the Love Sponge, and Peter Thiel

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 15:01:00 +0000

Bollea v. Gawker was a lawsuit filed in 2013 in the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Pinellas County, Florida, delivering a verdict on March 18, 2016. In the suit, Terry Gene Bollea, known professionally as Hulk Hogan, sued Gawker Media, publisher of the Gawker website, and several Gawker employees and Gawker-affiliated entities[2] for posting portions of a sex tape of Bollea with Heather Clem, at that time the wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge. Bollea's claims included invasion of privacy, infringement of personality rights, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Prior to trial, Bollea's lawyers said the privacy of many Americans was at stake while Gawker's lawyers said that the case could hurt freedom of the press in the United States.[4][5]

Link to donation page along with the embedded youtube live link:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/humanists

Human Greetings and Congratulation Rituals

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 15:00:00 +0000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handshake

A handshake is a globally widespread, brief greeting or parting tradition in which two people grasp one of each other's hands, and in most cases, it is accompanied by a brief up-and-down movement of the grasped hands. Customs surrounding handshakes are specific to cultures. Different cultures may be more or less likely to shake hands, or there may be different customs about how or when to shake hands.[1][2][3]

https://www.youtube.com/live/R3skyySEOuE?si=ryqPaI2LJ0Mgv4HR

The Ice Bowl

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The 1967 NFL Championship Game was the 35th NFL championship, played on December 31 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.^[1]

Because of the adverse conditions in which the game was played, the rivalry between the two teams, and the game's dramatic climax, it has been immortalized as the Ice Bowl and is considered one of the greatest games in NFL history. NFL 100 Greatest Games ranked this game as the 3rd greatest game of all time. It is still the coldest game ever played in NFL history.

The Barefoot Bandit- Colton Harris Moore

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Colton Harris Moore (born March 22, 1991)[10] is an American former fugitive. He was charged with the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in property, including several small aircraft, boats, and multiple cars, all committed while still a teenager.

Jeanne Calment

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Jeanne Louise Calment (French: [ʒan lwiz kalmɑ̃] ⓘ; 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian and, with a documented lifespan of 122 years and 164 days, the oldest person ever whose age has been verified.[1] Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies of her health and lifestyle. She is the only person verified to have reached the age of 120 and beyond.

According to census records, Calment outlived both her daughter and grandson.[2] In January 1988, she was widely reported to be the oldest living person, and in 1995, at age 120, was declared the oldest verified person to have ever lived.[3]

JBS Haldane and the X-Craft

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 15:59:00 +0000

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane FRS (/ˈhɔːldeɪn/; 5 November 1892 – 1 December 1964[1][2]), nicknamed "Jack" or "JBS",[3] was a British-Indian scientist who worked in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. With innovative use of statistics in biology, he was one of the founders of neo-Darwinism. Despite his lack of an academic degree in the field,[1] he taught biology at the University of Cambridge, the Royal Institution, and University College London.[4] Renouncing his British citizenship, he became an Indian citizen in 1961 and worked at the Indian Statistical Institute for the rest of his life.

Sir Francis Drake

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer and privateer best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580. This was the first English circumnavigation, and second circumnavigation overall. He is also known for participating in the early English slaving voyages of his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, and John Lovell. Having started as a simple seaman, in 1588 he was part of the fight against the Spanish Armada as a vice-admiral.

The Conch Rebellion

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The Conch Republic (/ˈkɒŋk/) is a micronation declared as a sarcastic secession of the city of Key West, Florida, from the United States on April 23, 1982. It has been maintained as a tourism booster for the city. Since then, the term "Conch Republic" has been expanded to refer to "all of the Florida Keys, or, that geographic apportionment of land that falls within the legally defined boundaries of Monroe County, Florida, northward to 'Skeeter's Last Chance Saloon' in Florida City, Dade County, Florida, with Key West as the micronation's capital and all territories north of Key West being referred to as 'The Northern Territories'".[1]

Anthony Comstock

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Anthony Comstock (March 7, 1844 – September 21, 1915) was an American anti-vice activist, United States Postal Inspector, and secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV), who was dedicated to upholding Christian morality. He opposed obscene literature, abortion, contraception, masturbation, gambling, prostitution, and patent medicine. The terms comstockery and comstockism refer to his extensive censorship campaign of materials that he considered obscene, including birth control advertised or sent by mail. He used his positions in the U.S. Postal Service and the NYSSV (in association with the New York police) to make numerous arrests for obscenity and gambling. Besides these pursuits, he was also involved in efforts to suppress fraudulent banking schemes, mail swindles, and medical quackery.[2]

Assassination attempts on Fidel Castro

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) made numerous unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. There were also attempts by Cuban exiles, sometimes in cooperation with the CIA. The 1975 Church Committee claimed eight proven CIA assassination attempts between 1960 and 1965. In 1976, President Gerald Ford issued an Executive Order banning political assassinations. In 2006, Fabián Escalante, former chief of Cuba's intelligence, stated that there had been 634 assassination schemes or attempts. The last known plot to assassinate Castro was by Cuban exiles in 2000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castro

Steve Jobs

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar. He was a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with his early business partner and fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Bronze Age Collapse

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The Late Bronze Age collapse was a time of widespread societal collapse during the 12th century BC associated with environmental change, mass migration, and the destruction of cities. The collapse affected a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean (North Africa and Southeast Europe) and the Near East, in particular Egypt, eastern Libya, the Balkans, the Aegean, Anatolia, and, to a lesser degree, the Caucasus. It was sudden, violent, and culturally disruptive for many Bronze Age civilizations, and it brought a sharp economic decline to regional powers, notably ushering in the Greek Dark Ages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Bronze_Age_collapse

Spaceships That Weren't

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 16:00:48 +0000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_canceled_launch_vehicle_designs

Even before the launch of Sputnik 1, there were various types of launch vehicle designs. The launch vehicle designs described below are either canceled or never left the drawing board.

Frank Bourassa - The Greatest Counterfeiter in the World

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Counterfeiting of the currency of the United States is widely attempted. According to the United States Department of Treasury, an estimated $70 million in counterfeit bills are in circulation, or approximately 1 note in counterfeits for every 10,000 in genuine currency, with an upper bound of $200 million counterfeit, or 1 counterfeit per 4,000 genuine notes.^[1]^[2] However, these numbers are based on annual seizure rates on counterfeiting, and the actual stock of counterfeit money is uncertain because some counterfeit notes successfully circulate for a few transactions.

Unusual Deaths 4

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

This list of unusual deaths includes unique or extremely rare circumstances of death recorded throughout history, noted as being unusual by multiple sources.

The Ark Encounter

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Ark Encounter is a Christian theme park that opened in Williamstown, Kentucky, United States, in 2016.^[2]^[3] The centerpiece of the park is a large representation of Noah's Ark, based on the Genesis flood narrative contained in the Bible. It is 510 feet (155.4 m) long, 85 feet (25.9 m) wide, and 51 feet (15.5 m) high.

First Expeditions to Mount Everest

Wed, 29 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Mount Everest[3] is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point.[4] Its elevation (snow height) of 8,848.86 m (29,031 ft 8+1⁄2 in) was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.[5][6]

Amelia Earhart

Wed, 22 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Amelia Mary Earhart (/ˈɛərhɑːrt/ AIR-hart; born July 24, 1897; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her life, she embraced celebrity culture and women's rights, and since her disappearance has become a cultural icon.^[2] Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and she set many other records.^[3] She was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.^[4]

Chicxulub Impact

Wed, 15 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The Chicxulub crater (IPA: [t͡ʃikʃuˈluɓ] ⓘ cheek-shoo-LOOB) is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore, but the crater is named after the onshore community of Chicxulub Pueblo.[3] It was formed slightly over 66 million years ago when a large meteorite, about ten kilometers (six miles) in diameter, struck Earth. The crater is estimated to be 200 kilometers (120 miles) in diameter and 20 kilometers (12 miles) in depth. It is the second largest confirmed impact structure on Earth, and the only one whose peak ring is intact and directly accessible for scientific research.[4]

Troy Hurtubise and Project Grizzly

Wed, 08 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Troy James Hurtubise (November 23, 1963 – June 17, 2018) was a Canadian inventor and conservationist, noted for self-testing his often bizarre creations. These inventions included various ray generators, firepaste (an ablative heatproofing material), the Ursus personal armour suit and the Trojan Ballistics Suit of Armor.

Our sponsor: boxofawesome.com

code: citation

Obsolete Occupations

Wed, 01 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Obsolete_occupations

Operation Eagle Claw

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Operation Eagle Claw was a failed operation by the United States Armed Forces ordered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter to attempt the rescue of 52 embassy staff held captive at the Embassy of the United States, Tehran on 24 April 1980.

The operation, one of Delta Force's first,[1] encountered many obstacles and failures and was subsequently aborted. Eight helicopters were sent to the first staging area called Desert One, but only five arrived in operational condition.[2] One had encountered hydraulic problems, another was caught in a sand storm, and the third showed signs of a cracked rotor blade. During the operational planning, it was decided that the mission would be aborted if fewer than six helicopters remained operational upon arrival at the Desert One site, despite only four being absolutely necessary.[2] In a move that is still discussed in military circles, the field commanders advised President Carter to abort the mission, which he did.[3]

Battle of Red Cliffs

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The Battle of Red Cliffs, also known as the Battle of Chibi, was a decisive naval battle in the winter of AD 208–209 at the end of the Han dynasty, about twelve years prior to the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history.^[4] The battle was fought between the allied forces of the southern warlords Sun Quan, Liu Bei, and Liu Qi against the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao. Liu Bei and Sun Quan frustrated Cao Cao's effort to conquer the land south of the Yangtze River and reunite the territory of the Eastern Han dynasty.

Gamergate

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Gamergate or GamerGate (GG)^[1] was a loosely organized misogynistic online harassment campaign and a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture.^[2]^[3]^[4] It was conducted using the hashtag "#Gamergate" primarily in 2014 and 2015.^[1]^[5]^[6]^[7] Gamergate targeted women in the video game industry, most notably feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian and video game developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]

Animals on Trial

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0000

In legal history, an animal trial was the criminal trial of a non-human animal. Such trials are recorded as having taken place in Europe from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth. In modern times, it is considered in most criminal justice systems that non-human animals lack moral agency and so cannot be held culpable for an act.

Odd Screw Lengths

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 13:00:00 +0000

At a minimum, a screw drive is a set of shaped cavities and protrusions on the screw head that allows torque to be applied to it.^[1]^[2] Usually, it also involves a mating tool, such as a screwdriver, that is used to turn it. Some of the less-common drives are classified as being "tamper-resistant".

American Gladiators

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 15:59:00 +0000

American Gladiators^[3] is an American competition television program that aired weekly in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own "gladiators", in contests of strength and agility. Following the success of American Gladiators, other countries began to produce their own versions of the show.

Lola Montez

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld^[1] (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez (/moʊnˈtɛz/), was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Gräfin von Landsfeld (Countess of Landsfeld). At the start of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, she was forced to flee. She proceeded to the United States via Austria, Switzerland, France and London, to return to her work as an entertainer and lecturer.

Dutch East India Company

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 16:00:00 +0000

The United East India Company (Dutch: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie [vərˈeːnɪɣdə oːstˈɪndisə kɔmpɑˈɲi], abbreviated as VOC, Dutch: [veː.oːˈseː]) and commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered trading company and the first joint-stock company in the world.[2][3] Established on 20 March 1602[4] by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies, it was granted a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia.[5] Shares in the company could be purchased by any citizen of the United Provinces (Dutch Republic) and then subsequently bought and sold in open-air secondary markets (one of which became the Amsterdam Stock Exchange).[6] The company possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts,[7] negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.[8] Also, because it traded across multiple colonies and countries from both the East and the West, the VOC is sometimes considered to have been the world's first multinational corporation.[9][10]

Horace Greeley

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and editor of the New-York Tribune. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressman from New York and was the unsuccessful candidate of the new Liberal Republican Party in the 1872 presidential election against incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant, who won by a landslide.

Seaworld

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (one park will be owned and operated by Miral under a license). The parks feature orcas, sea lion, and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals.

The Edgewood Experiments

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

From 1948 to 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps conducted classified human subject research at the Edgewood Arsenal facility in Maryland. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of low-dose chemical warfare agents on military personnel and to test protective clothing, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines. A small portion of these studies were directed at psychochemical warfare and grouped under the prosaic title of the "Medical Research Volunteer Program" (1956–1975). The MRVP was also driven by intelligence requirements and the need for new and more effective interrogation techniques.

Al Capone

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Alphonse Gabriel Capone (/kəˈpoʊn/;^[1] January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nicknames "Scarface" and "Snorky", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1925 to 1931. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33.

1769 Transit of Venus

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black dot moving across the face of the Sun. The duration of such transits is usually several hours (the transit of 2012 lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes). A transit is similar to a solar eclipse by the Moon. Although the diameter of Venus is more than three times that of the Moon, Venus appears smaller and travels more slowly across the face of the Sun, because it is much farther away from Earth.

Isabella of France

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Isabella of France (c. 1295 – 22 August 1358), sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France (French: Louve de France), was Queen of England as the wife of King Edward II, and de facto regent of England from 1327 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. Isabella was notable in her lifetime for her diplomatic skills, intelligence, and beauty. She overthrew her husband, becoming a "femme fatale" figure in plays and literature over the years, usually portrayed as a beautiful but cruel and manipulative figure.

Celestial Seasonings and Other Culty Companies

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Celestial Seasonings founders Mo Siegel, Peggy Clute, Wyck Hay, and Lucinda Ziesing started gathering herbs and flowers in the mountains around Boulder and selling them to local health food stores in 1969.[2][3]

Cleopatra

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (Koinē Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Θεά Φιλοπάτωρ[note 5] lit. Cleopatra "father-loving goddess";[note 6] 70/69 BC – 10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.[note 7] A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.[note 8] After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the last Hellenistic-period state in the Mediterranean and of the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander (336–323 BC).[note 9] Her first language was Koine Greek and she is the only known Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.[note 10]

Julius Caesar

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Gaius Julius Caesar (/ˈsiːzər/, SEE-zər; Latin: [ˈɡaːiʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar]; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

The Amish

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

The Amish (/ˈɑːmɪʃ/; Pennsylvania German: Amisch; German: Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins.^[2] They are closely related to Mennonite churches, a separate Anabaptist denomination.^[3] The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit (submission to God's will).

Poisoned Booze

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Several stories including: In 1927, most of the industrial alcohol in the United States had been poisoned under the order of the government.^[9] The government had created a blend that contended with the bootleggers' chemists.

The Great Gatsby

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.

The Terra Nova Expedition,

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

The Terra Nova Expedition, officially the British Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition to Antarctica which took place between 1910 and 1913. Led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the expedition had various scientific and geographical objectives. Scott wished to continue the scientific work that he had begun when leading the Discovery Expedition from 1901 to 1904, and wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole.

Large Hadron Collider

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider.^[1]^[2] It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories across more than 100 countries.^[3] It lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi) in circumference and as deep as 175 metres (574 ft) beneath the France–Switzerland border near Geneva.

Highest falls survived without a parachute

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000

List is located here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest_falls_survived_without_a_parachute

Howard Hughes

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American aerospace engineer, businessman, filmmaker, investor, philanthropist, and pilot.[2] He was best known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in the world. He first became prominent as a film producer, and then as an important figure in the aviation industry. Later in life, he became known for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle—oddities that were caused in part by his worsening obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), chronic pain from a near-fatal plane crash, and increasing deafness.

Failed Products, Part 2

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000

The Museum of Failure^[1] is a museum that features a collection of failed products and services. The touring exhibition provides visitors with a learning experience about the critical role of failure in innovation and encourages organizations to become better at learning from failure. Samuel West's 2016 visit to the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia, inspired the concept of the museum.^[2] Museum founder and curator Samuel West reportedly registered a domain name for the museum and later realized he had misspelled the word museum.^[3] The Swedish Innovation Authority (Vinnova) partially funded the museum.^[4] The exhibition opened on June 7, 2017, in Helsingborg, Sweden.^[3] The exhibit reopened at Dunkers Kulturhus on June 2, 2018, before closing in January 2019. A temporary exhibit opened in Los Angeles, California, in December 2017.^[5] The Los Angeles museum was on Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood & Highland Center.^[6] The exhibit opened in January - March 2019 at Shanghai, No.1 Center (上海第一百货). ^[7] And in December 2019 a smaller version opened in Paris, France at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie along with other interesting failure-related exhibitions for the "Festival of Failures" (Les Foirés festival des flops, des bides, des ratés et des inutiles).^[8]

The Divorce Colony

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000

The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier is a nonfiction book by April White. Published by Hachette Book Group in 2022, The Divorce Colony examines the role of Sioux Falls, South Dakota as a destination for divorce seekers through personal stories. Excerpts were published in The Boston Globe,^[1] Smithsonian Magazine,^[2] and on Politico.^[3]

Battles with Purported Divine Intervention

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 16:00:00 +0000

https://www.cracked.com/article_18894_6-real-historic-battles-decided-by-divine-intervention.html

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mons

Pete Evans

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Peter Daryl Evans (born 29 August 1973^{[citation needed]}) is an Australian chef, and former television presenter, who was a judge of the competitive cooking show My Kitchen Rules. Evans has been heavily criticised for spreading misinformation about vaccinations, promoting conservative political rhetoric, sharing conspiracy theories with followers and pseudoscientific dieting ideas such as the paleolithic diet. He lives in Round Mountain, New South Wales.

Weird Measurements

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 16:00:00 +0000

An unusual unit of measurement is a unit of measurement that does not form part of a coherent system of measurement, especially because its exact quantity may not be well known or because it may be an inconvenient multiple or fraction of a base unit.

Many of the unusual units of measurements listed here are colloquial measurements, units devised to compare a measurement to common and familiar objects.

Terrible Reality Television

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s with shows such as The Real World, then achieved prominence in the early 2000s with the success of the series Survivor, Idols, and Big Brother, all of which became global franchises.^[1] Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen; this is most commonly seen in American reality television. Competition-based reality shows typically feature the gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges, by the viewership of the show, or by the contestants themselves.

Joan Crawford

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 16:01:00 +0000

Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190?^{[Note 1]} – May 10, 1977) was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison".

Paul Bunyon

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American [2] and Canadian folklore.[3] His tall tales revolve around his superhuman labors,[4][5] and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox, his pet and working animal. The character originated in the oral tradition of North American loggers,[2][4][5] and was later popularized by freelance writer William B. Laughead (1882–1958) in a 1916 promotional pamphlet for the Red River Lumber Company.[6] He has been the subject of various literary compositions, musical pieces, commercial works, and theatrical productions.[2] His likeness is displayed in a number of oversized statues across North America.[7][8]

Francis Marion

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Brigadier General Francis Marion (c. 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the "Swamp Fox", was an American military officer, planter, and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the American Revolution, Marion supported the Patriot cause and enlisted in the Continental Army, fighting against British forces in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War from 1780 to 1781.

Though he never commanded a field army or served as a commander in a major engagement, Marion's use of irregular warfare against the British has led him to be considered one of the fathers of guerrilla and maneuver warfare, and his tactics form a part of the modern-day military doctrine of the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.^[1]^[2]

Yevgeny Prigozhin

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 16:00:00 +0000

^{Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin[a]} (Russian: Евге́ний Ви́кторович Приго́жин, IPA: [jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ prʲɪˈɡoʐɨn]; 1 June 1961 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian mercenary leader and oligarch.^[4] He led the Wagner Group private military company and was a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until launching a rebellion in June 2023.^[5] Prigozhin was sometimes referred to as "Putin's chef" because he owned restaurants and catering businesses that provided services to the Kremlin.^[6] Once a convict in the Soviet Union,^[7] Prigozhin controlled a network of influential companies whose operations, according to a 2020 investigation, were "tightly integrated with Russia's Defence Ministry and its intelligence arm, the GRU".^[8]

HMS Wager

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 16:00:00 +0000

HMS Wager was a square-rigged sixth-rate Royal Navy ship of 28 guns. She was built as an East Indiaman in about 1734 and made two voyages to India for the East India Company before the Royal Navy purchased her in 1739. She formed part of a squadron under Commodore George Anson and was wrecked on the south coast of Chile on 14 May 1741. The wreck of Wager became famous for the subsequent adventures of the survivors who found themselves marooned on a desolate island in the middle of a Patagonian winter, and in particular because of the Wager Mutiny that followed.

Rudy Giuliani

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (/ˌdʒuːliˈɑːni/ JOO-lee-AH-nee, Italian: [dʒuˈljaːni]; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983 and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989.^[1]^[2]

William Wallace

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Sir William Wallace (Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam Uallas, pronounced [ˈɯʎam ˈuəl̪ˠəs̪]; Norman French: William le Waleys;^[2] c. 1270^[3] – 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence.^[4]

Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In August 1305, Wallace was captured in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.

Since his death, Wallace has obtained a legendary status beyond his homeland. He is the protagonist of Blind Harry's 15th-century epic poem The Wallace and the subject of literary works by Jane Porter and Sir Walter Scott, and of the Academy Award-winning film Braveheart.

The World of Tomorrow

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 16:00:00 +0000

The 1939–1940 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons.^[2] It was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening slogan of "Dawn of a New Day", and it allowed all visitors to take a look at "the world of tomorrow".

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Nicholas Alahverdian

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Nicholas Alahverdian (born July 11, 1987),^[4]^[5] also known as Nicholas Rossi and Arthur Knight, among other aliases,^[3] is an American sex offender who faked his own death in 2020.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Joseph Smith

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith had attracted tens of thousands of followers by the time of his death fourteen years later. The religion he founded continues to the present day, with millions of global adherents and several churches claiming Smith as their founder, the largest being The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Virginia Hall

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Virginia Hall Goillot DSC, Croix de Guerre, MBE (April 6, 1906 – July 8, 1982), code named Marie and Diane, was an American who worked with the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in France during World War II. The objective of SOE and OSS was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE and OSS agents in France allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. After World War II Hall worked for the Special Activities Division of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Titan and Titanic

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Titan, previously called Cyclops 2, was a submersible that imploded on 18 June 2023 while transporting tourists to visit the wreckage of Titanic. The submersible was created and operated by OceanGate. It was the first privately-owned submersible with a claimed maximum depth of 4,000 m (13,000 ft),^[2] and the first completed crewed submersible with a hull constructed of titanium and carbon fiber composite materials.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Pat Robertson

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (March 22, 1930 – June 8, 2023) was an American media mogul, religious broadcaster, political commentator, presidential candidate, and Southern Baptist minister. Robertson advocated a conservative Christian ideology and was known for his involvement in Republican Party politics. He was associated with the Charismatic movement within Protestant evangelicalism. He served as head of Regent University and of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Olga of Kiev

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Olga (Old East Slavic: Вольга, romanized: Volĭga;^[a] Old Norse: Helga; Lith: Alge; Christian name: Elena; c. 890–925 – 969) was a regent of Kievan Rus' for her son Sviatoslav from 945 until 960. Following her baptism, Olga took the name Elenа (Old East Slavic: Ѡлена, romanized: Olena).^[2] She is known for her subjugation of the Drevlians, a tribe that had killed her husband Igor of Kiev. Even though it was her grandson Vladimir who converted the entire nation to Christianity, because of her efforts to spread Christianity through Rus', Olga is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church with the epithet "Equal to the Apostles". Her feast day is 11 July.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Elephants on Acid

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Trigger Warning: This week's episode contains references to animal cruelty as well as a bunch of other stuff that's really gross.

This week, Heath talks about scientists gone wild.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Mars Rovers

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 16:00:00 +0000

A Mars rover is a motor vehicle designed to travel on the surface of Mars. Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny positions to weather winter months, and they can advance the knowledge of how to perform very remote robotic vehicle control. They serve a different purpose than orbital spacecraft like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. A more recent development is the Mars helicopter.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Stars and Exoplanets

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 19:31:42 +0000

A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of light. The most prominent stars have been categorised into constellations and asterisms, and many of the brightest stars have proper names. Astronomers have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized stellar designations. The observable universe contains an estimated 10²² to 10²⁴ stars. Only about 4,000 of these stars are visible to the naked eye,^[1] all within the Milky Way galaxy.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Smedley Butler

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed the Maverick Marine, was a senior United States Marine Corps officer. During his 34-year career, he fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution, and World War I. At the time of his death, Butler was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. By the end of his career, Butler had received sixteen medals, including five for heroism; he is the only Marine to be awarded the Brevet Medal as well as two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Unusual Deaths 3

Wed, 31 May 2023 16:00:00 +0000

This list of unusual deaths includes unique or extremely rare circumstances of death recorded throughout history, noted as being unusual by multiple sources.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Bill Belichick and the Art of the Loophole

Wed, 24 May 2023 16:00:00 +0000

William Stephen Belichick (/ˈbɛlɪtʃɪk, ˈbɛlɪtʃɛk/; born April 16, 1952) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach and general manager^[a] of the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Widely regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time,^[2]^[3]^[4] he holds numerous coaching records, including the record of most Super Bowl wins (six) as a head coach, all with the Patriots, along with two more during his time as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, for the record of eight combined total Super Bowl victories as coach and coordinator.^[5] Belichick is often referred to as a "student of the game", with a deep knowledge of the intricacies of each player position, and is known as a renowned American football historian.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] Under his tenure with the Patriots, he was a central figure as the head coach as well as the chief executive during the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. And is a cheaty cheater who cheats.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Christian Video Games

Wed, 17 May 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Christian video games are a video game genre and a form of Christian media that focus on the narrative and themes of Christian morals and Christianity. And, though not a categorical requirement, they all suck.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The World's Most Expensive Foods

Wed, 10 May 2023 16:00:00 +0000

A delicacy is usually a rare and expensive food item that is considered highly desirable, sophisticated, or peculiarly distinctive within a given culture. Irrespective of local preferences, such a label is typically pervasive throughout a region. Often this is because of unusual flavors or characteristics or because it is rare or expensive compared to standard staple foods.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Seattle

Wed, 03 May 2023 16:00:00 +0000

MOUNT PLEASANT CEMETERY SITS ON the northern side of Seattle's Queen Anne Hill. Since its opening in 1879, the graveyard has been the resting place for the victims of some of Washington's most infamous tragedies.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Great Imposter

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. (1921^[1] – June 7, 1982) was an American impostor.

He was the subject of a movie: The Great Impostor, in which he was played by Tony Curtis.

Demara's impersonations included a naval surgeon,^[2] a civil engineer, a sheriff's deputy, an assistant prison warden, a doctor of applied psychology, a hospital orderly, a lawyer, a child-care expert, a Benedictine monk, a Trappist monk, an editor, a cancer researcher, and a teacher. One teaching job led to six months in prison.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

ChatGPT

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000

ChatGPT^[a] is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in November 2022. It is built on top of OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 families of large language models (LLMs) and has been fine-tuned (an approach to transfer learning) using both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.

The Wright Brothers

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000

The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912),^[a] were American aviation pioneers generally credited^[3]^[4]^[5] with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, 4 mi (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, at what is now known as Kill Devil Hills. The brothers were also the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Miyamoto Musashi

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵, c. 1584 – 13 June 1645),^[1] also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku,^[2] was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 61 duels (next is 33 by Itō Ittōsai). Musashi, as he was often simply known, is considered a Kensei, a sword-saint of Japan.^[3] He was the founder of the Niten Ichi-ryū, or Nito Ichi-ryū, style of swordsmanship, and in his final years authored The Book of Five Rings (五輪の書, Go Rin No Sho) and Dokkōdō (獨行道, The Path of Aloneness).

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Acali Experiment

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 16:00:00 +0000

The Acali was a raft which was used in the Acali Expedition or Acali Experiment.^[1] It has also been nicknamed the Sex Raft.^[2] The raft had a complement of eleven people: five men and six women. It left Las Palmas, Spain on 12 May 1973 and took 101 days to drift across the Atlantic Ocean and reach Cozumel, Mexico, with a single stopover in Barbados. The experiment was conceived by Mexican anthropologist Santiago Genovés (who had previously been a crew member of Thor Heyerdahl's Ra expedition) to investigate interpersonal relationships in conditions of limited space and social isolation.^[3]^[2]^[4] The participants showed a restraint towards aggression which created frustration within Genovés and led him to start to try to create conflict, and at one point he took command of the float. Despite these attempts, the group remained peaceful.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Munster Rebellion

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 16:00:00 +0000

The Münster rebellion (German: Täuferreich von Münster, "Anabaptist dominion of Münster") was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a communal sectarian government in the German city of Münster – then under the large Prince-Bishopric of Münster in the Holy Roman Empire.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Ben Jonson

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637)^[2] was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour^[3] (1598), Volpone, or The Fox (c. 1606), The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. "He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I."

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Mass Hysteria

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria, or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for contagion.^[1] It is the rapid spread of illness signs and symptoms affecting members of a cohesive group, originating from a nervous system disturbance involving excitation, loss, or alteration of function, whereby physical complaints that are exhibited unconsciously have no corresponding organic causes.^[2]

Energy Accidents

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Energy resources bring with them great social and economic promise, providing financial growth for communities and energy services for local economies. However, the infrastructure which delivers energy services can break down in an energy accident, sometimes causing considerable damage. Energy fatalities can occur, and with many systems deaths will happen often, even when the systems are working as intended.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The First Drive Across America

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 18:30:15 +0000

Horatio Nelson Jackson (March 25, 1872 – January 14, 1955) was an American automobile pioneer. In 1903, he and driving partner Sewall K. Crocker became the first people to drive an automobile across the United States.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Forgotten Sports

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 17:00:00 +0000

This week, Tom explores a series of forgotten sports, many of which should never have been lost. And the rest of which are cruelty to animals with a scoring system.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Catcher in the Rye

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 17:00:00 +0000

The Catcher in the Rye is an American novel by J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form from 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst and alienation, and as a critique of superficiality in society.^[4]^[5] The novel also deals with complex issues of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, connection, sex, and depression. The main character, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for teenage rebellion.^[6] Caulfield, nearly of age, gives his opinion on just about everything as he narrates his recent life events.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Aimee Semple McPherson

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson (née Kennedy; October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson pioneered the use of broadcast mass media for wider dissemination of both religious services and appeals for donations, using radio to draw in both additional audience and revenue with the growing appeal of popular entertainment and incorporating stage techniques into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, an early megachurch.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Weird Cars

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 17:00:00 +0000

This is a list of automobiles known for negative reception. There are no objective quantifiable standards. Cars on this list may have been judged by poor critical reception, poor customer reception, safety defects, and/or poor workmanship. Different sources use a variety of criteria for including negative reception that includes the worst cars for the environment,^[1] meeting criteria that includes the worst crash test scores, the lowest projected reliability, and the lowest projected residual values,^[2] earning a "not acceptable" rating after thorough testing,^[3] determining if a car has performed to expectations using owner satisfaction surveys whether they "would definitely buy the same car again if given the choice,"^[4] as well as "lemon lists" of unreliable cars with bad service support,^[5] and the opinionated writing with humorous tongue-in-cheek descriptions by "self pro-claimed voice of reason."

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Radioactive Boyscout

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 17:00:00 +0000

David Charles Hahn (October 30, 1976 – September 27, 2016), sometimes called the "Radioactive Boy Scout" or the "Nuclear Boy Scout", was an American nuclear radiation enthusiast who built a homemade neutron source at the age of seventeen.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Battle of Thermopylae

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 17:00:00 +0000

The Battle of Thermopylae (/θərˈmɒpɪliː/ thər-MOP-i-lee; Greek: Μάχη τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν, Máchē tōn Thermopylōn) was fought in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lasting over the course of three days, it was one of the most prominent battles of both the second Persian invasion of Greece and the wider Greco-Persian Wars.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Controversial Modern Art

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Shock art is contemporary art that incorporates disturbing imagery, sound or scents to create a shocking experience. It is a way to disturb "smug, complacent and hypocritical" people.^[2] While the art form's proponents argue that it is "imbedded with social commentary" and critics dismiss it as "cultural pollution", it is an increasingly marketable art, described by one art critic in 2001 as "the safest kind of art that an artist can go into the business of making today".^[3]^[4] But while shock art may attract curators and make headlines, Reason magazine's 2007 review of The Art Newspaper suggested that traditional art shows continue to have more popular appeal.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Jean Borotra and the Battle of Castle Itter

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 17:00:00 +0000

The battle of Castle Itter was fought on 5 May 1945, in the Austrian village of Itter in the North Tyrol region of the country, during the last days of the European Theater of World War II. Troops of the 23rd Tank Battalion of the 12th Armored Division of the US XXI Corps led by Captain John C. "Jack" Lee, Jr., a number of Wehrmacht soldiers led by Major Josef "Sepp" Gangl, SS-Hauptsturmführer Kurt-Siegfried Schrader, and recently freed French prisoners of war defended Castle Itter against an attacking force from the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division until relief from the American 142nd Infantry Regiment of the 36th Division of XXI Corps arrived.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Sherman's March to the Sea

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Sherman's March to the Sea (also known as the Savannah campaign or simply Sherman's March) was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by William Tecumseh Sherman, major general of the Union Army. The campaign began with Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta on November 15 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. His forces followed a "scorched earth" policy, destroying military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property, disrupting the Confederacy's economy and transportation networks. The operation debilitated the Confederacy and helped lead to its eventual surrender. Sherman's decision to operate deep within enemy territory without supply lines was unusual for its time, and the campaign is regarded by some historians as an early example of modern warfare or total war.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Whiskey Rebellion

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 19:04:12 +0000

The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. Beer was difficult to transport and spoiled more easily than rum and whiskey. Rum distillation in the United States had been disrupted during the American Revolutionary War, and whiskey distribution and consumption increased afterwards (aggregate production had not surpassed rum by 1791). The "whiskey tax" became law in 1791, and was intended to generate revenue for the war debt incurred during the Revolutionary War. The tax applied to all distilled spirits, but consumption of American whiskey was rapidly expanding in the late 18th century, so the excise became widely known as a "whiskey tax".^[3] Farmers of the western frontier were accustomed to distilling their surplus rye, barley, wheat, corn, or fermented grain mixtures to make whiskey. These farmers resisted the tax. In these regions, whiskey often served as a medium of exchange. Many of the resisters were war veterans who believed that they were fighting for the principles of the American Revolution, in particular against taxation without local representation, while the federal government maintained that the taxes were the legal expression of Congressional taxation powers.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Charles Bedaux

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Charles Eugène Bedaux (10 October 1886 – 18 February 1944) was a French-American millionaire who made his fortune developing and implementing the work measurement aspect of scientific management, notably the Bedaux System. Bedaux was friends with British royalty and Nazis alike, and was a management consultant, big game hunter and explorer.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Operation Mincemeat

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating rat poison, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed personal items on him identifying him as the fictitious Captain (Acting Major) William Martin. Correspondence between two British generals that suggested that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily as merely the target of a feint, was also placed on the body.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Salvation Army

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 17:00:00 +0000

The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7 million,^[3] comprising soldiers, officers and adherents collectively known as Salvationists. Its founders sought to bring salvation to the poor, destitute, and hungry by meeting both their "physical and spiritual needs." As opposed to other charities, that only focus on things that exist.

Idiom Origins

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 17:00:00 +0000

An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, an idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.^[1] Idioms occur frequently in all languages; in English alone there are an estimated twenty-five million idiomatic expressions.

Famous Failed products

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, even with the very best marketing research and R&D departments that money can by, companies make bafflingly stupid decisions and bring terrible products to the market. This week, we explore a sampling.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The August Coup

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 16:00:00 +0000

The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, also known as the August Coup,^[a] was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Soviet Union's Communist Party to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and General Secretary of the Communist Party at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's reform program, were angry at the loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the USSR's New Union Treaty which was on the verge of being signed. The treaty was to decentralize much of the central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its fifteen republics.

Eve Online's Judgement Day

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Eve Online (stylised EVE Online) is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of Eve Online can participate in a number of in-game professions and activities, including mining, piracy, manufacturing, trading, exploration, and combat (both player versus environment and player versus player). The game contains a total of 7,800 star systems that can be visited by players. In 2009, a player alliance known as Goonswarm was contacted by a disgruntled director of rival alliance Band of Brothers, one of the largest alliances in the game at that time. The defecting director then stripped Band of Brothers of a large quantity of assets including ships, money and territory, and disbanded the alliance.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Drug Smuggling

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:00:00 +0000

The illegal drug trade or drug smuggling is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. The think tank Global Financial Integrity's Transnational Crime and the Developing World report estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between US$426 and US$652 billion in 2014 alone.^[1] With a world GDP of US$78 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally and it remains very difficult for local authorities to thwart its popularity.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Fall of Tenochtitlan

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 16:00:00 +0000

The Fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, was a decisive event in the Spanish conquest of the empire. It occurred in 1521 following extensive manipulation of local factions and exploitation of pre-existing political divisions by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. He was aided by indigenous allies, and his interpreter and companion La Malinche.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The International Space Station

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 16:00:00 +0000

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).^[7]^[8] The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.^[9] The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields.^[10]^[11]^[12] The ISS is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

King Charles III

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms.^{[fn 4]} He acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022 upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. He was the longest-serving heir apparent in British history and, at the age of 73, is the oldest person to ascend the British throne.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Great Gama

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt^[1] (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960), commonly known as Rustam-e-Hind (Hindi-Urdu for Rostam of Hindostan) and by the ring name The Great Gama,^[7] was a pehlwani wrestler and strongman in British Raj. In the early 20th century, he was an undefeated wrestling champion of subcontinent.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 16:00:00 +0000

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Clark and 30 members set out from Camp Dubois, Illinois, on May 14, 1804, met Lewis and ten other members of the group in St. Charles, Missouri, then went up the Missouri River. The expedition crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas near the Lemhi Pass, eventually coming to the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The return voyage began on March 23, 1806, at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, and ended on September 23 of the same year.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Common Misconceptions, Part 2

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 16:00:00 +0000

A common misconception is a viewpoint or factoid that is often accepted as true but which is actually false. They generally arise from conventional wisdom (such as old wives' tales), stereotypes, superstitions, fallacies, a misunderstanding of science, or the popularization of pseudoscience. Some common misconceptions are also considered to be urban legends, and they are often involved in moral panics.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Victor Hugo

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Victor-Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the greatest French writers of all time.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Piltdown Man

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 16:00:00 +0000

The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although there were doubts about its authenticity virtually from the beginning, the remains were still broadly accepted for many years, and the falsity of the hoax was only definitively demonstrated in 1953. An extensive scientific review in 2016 established that amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson was responsible for the fraudulent evidence.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The American Hippo Project

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa, and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell in Rhodesia. He helped inspire the founding of the international Scouting Movement.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Symbionese Liberation Army

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 15:00:04 +0000

The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was an American far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a vanguard army. The SLA was considered by the FBI and American law enforcement as the first terrorist organization to rise from the American left. Most fugitives of the group were apprehended in 1975 and prosecuted.

Roman Beast Hunts

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Among Ancient Romans, bestiarii (singular bestiarius) were those who went into combat with beasts, or were exposed to them. It is conventional^[1] to distinguish two categories of bestiarii: the first were those condemned to death via the beasts (see damnatio ad bestias) and the second were those who faced them voluntarily, for pay or glory (see venatio).^[2] The latter are sometimes erroneously called gladiators; to their contemporaries, however, the term gladiator referred specifically to one who fought other men. The contemporary term for those who made a career out of participating in arena "hunts" was venatores.

Content Warning: Cruelty to animals.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Boss Tweed

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 16:00:00 +0000

William Magear Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878), often erroneously referred to as William "Marcy" Tweed (see below),^[1] and widely known as "Boss" Tweed, was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th-century New York City and state. At the height of his influence, Tweed was the third-largest landowner in New York City, a director of the Erie Railroad, a director of the Tenth National Bank, a director of the New-York Printing Company, the proprietor of the Metropolitan Hotel,^[2] a significant stockholder in iron mines and gas companies, a board member of the Harlem Gas Light Company, a board member of the Third Avenue Railway Company, a board member of the Brooklyn Bridge Company, and the president of the Guardian Savings Bank.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Forbidden Places

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 16:00:00 +0000

This episode is about forbidden places, like Ilha da Queimada Grande, also known as Snake Island, an island off the coast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean. It is administered as part of the municipality of Itanhaém in the State of São Paulo. The island is small in size, only 43 hectares (106 acres), and has a temperate climate. The island's terrain varies considerably, ranging from bare rock to rainforest.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Vincenzo Pipino

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Vincenzo Pipino (born 22 July 1943), also known as Encio, is an Italian thief from Venice whose exploits earned him the nickname "the gentleman thief". He is the first person to successfully steal from the Doge's Palace, and has been responsible for some of the most sensational art thefts in the city.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Vladimir Putin

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (/ˈpuːtɪn/; Russian: Владимир Владимирович Путин; [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn] (listen); born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who is the president of Russia, a position he has filled since 2012, and previously from 2000 until 2008.^[7]^[c] He was also the prime minister from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012. He is also a diabolical monster bent on world domination.

Common Misconceptions

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 16:44:55 +0000

A common misconception is a viewpoint or factoid that is often accepted as true in current times. They often arise from conventional wisdom (such as old wives' tales), stereotypes, a misunderstanding of science, or popularisation of pseudoscience. Some common misconceptions are also considered to be urban legends, and they are often involved in moral panics.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Tobacco Whistle Blowers

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Jeffrey Stephen Wigand (/ˈwaɪɡænd/; born December 17, 1942) is an American biochemist and whistleblower.

He is a former vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson in Louisville, Kentucky, who worked on the development of reduced-harm cigarettes and in 1996 blew the whistle on tobacco tampering at the company. This was adapted for 1999 film The Insider, with Russell Crowe portraying Wigand.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Cigarettes

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:00:00 +0000

A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing burnable material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. Manufacturers have described the cigarette as "a drug administration system for the delivery of nicotine in acceptable and attractive form".^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but the word is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette or an herbal cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is typically white.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Frank Dux

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Frank William Dux ( /ˈdjuːks/; born April 6, 1956) is a Canadian-American martial artist and fight choreographer. According to Dux, a ninjutsu expert named Senzo Tanaka trained him as a ninja when he was a teenager. He established his own school of ninjutsu called Dux Ryu Ninjutsu, and has said he won a secret martial arts tournament called the Kumite in 1975. He was all the way lying about this, but his alleged victory at the Kumite served as the inspiration for the 1988 film Bloodsport starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Dux's victory at the Kumite has been disputed, as has the existence of both the Kumite he described and Senzo Tanaka.

Just Plane Stupid

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 16:00:00 +0000

On October 14, 2004, Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701 (ICAO: FLG3701, IATA: 9E3701, or Flagship 3701) crashed near Jefferson City, Missouri, United States, while flying from Little Rock National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport in Minnesota, United States. Flight 3701 was a repositioning flight with no passengers aboard; both pilots were killed. Federal investigators determined the crash was due to the pilots' unprofessional behavior and disregard for training and procedures.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Pankration

Wed, 25 May 2022 16:20:48 +0000

Pankration (/pænˈkreɪtiɒn, -ˈkreɪʃən/; Greek: παγκράτιον) was a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC, which was an empty-hand submission sport with few rules. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques, but also others, such as kicking, holds, joint-locks, and chokes on the ground, making it similar to modern mixed martial arts.^[1] The term comes from the Greek παγκράτιον [paŋkrátion], meaning 'all of power', from πᾶν (pan) 'all' and κράτος (kratos) 'strength, might, power'.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Bone Wars

Wed, 18 May 2022 16:00:00 +0000

The Bone Wars, also known as the Great Dinosaur Rush,^[1] was a period of intense and ruthlessly competitive fossil hunting and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope (of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia) and Othniel Charles Marsh (of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale). Each of the two paleontologists used underhanded methods to try to outdo the other in the field, resorting to bribery, theft, and the destruction of bones. Each scientist also sought to ruin his rival's reputation and cut off his funding, using attacks in scientific publications.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Red Baron

Wed, 11 May 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (German: [ˈmanfreːt fɔn ˈʁɪçthoːfn̩]; 2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

PornHub Bios

Wed, 04 May 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website. It is one of several pornographic video-streaming websites owned by Mindgeek.^[4]^[5] As of June 2020, Pornhub is the 10th most trafficked website in the world and the third most-trafficked adult website after XVideos and XNXX.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Animal Sexual Behavior

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Animal sexual behaviour takes many different forms, including within the same species. Common mating or reproductively motivated systems include monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, polygamy and promiscuity. Other sexual behaviour may be reproductively motivated (e.g. sex apparently due to duress or coercion and situational sexual behaviour) or non-reproductively motivated (e.g. interspecific sexuality, sexual arousal from objects or places, sex with dead animals, homosexual sexual behaviour, and bisexual sexual behaviour).

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Sash Weight Murder

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Ruth Brown Snyder (March 27, 1895 – January 12, 1928) was an American murderer. Her execution in the electric chair at New York's Sing Sing Prison in 1928 for the murder of her husband, Albert Snyder, was recorded in a well-publicized photograph.

The Worst TV Shows

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 16:00:00 +0000

A number of television shows have been judged the worst by both critics and audiences alike. This week, we'll discuss several of them.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Popes Gone Wild

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Sometimes Popes suck. Pretty much all the time, actually. But some Popes suck more, and that's what we're talking about this week.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Brooklyn Bridge

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 16:00:00 +0000

The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It was also the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its opening, with a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m) and a deck 127 ft (38.7 m) above mean high water. The span was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge or the East River Bridge but was officially renamed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

John "Mad Jack" Mytton

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 16:00:00 +0000

John "Mad Jack" Mytton (30 September 1796 – 29 March 1834) was a British eccentric and rake of the Regency period who was briefly a Tory Member of Parliament.

Alice Roosevelt

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (February 12, 1884 – February 20, 1980) was an American writer and prominent socialite. She was the eldest child of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and the only child he had with his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee. Longworth led an unconventional and controversial life. Her marriage to Representative Nicholas Longworth III, a Republican Party leader and 38th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was shaky, and her only child, Paulina, was from her affair with Senator William Borah.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

People Who Have Gone Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Since 1850, more than 5,000 people have gone over Niagara Falls, either intentionally (as stunts or suicide attempts) or accidentally. The first recorded person to survive going over the falls was school teacher Annie Edson Taylor, who in 1901 successfully completed the stunt inside an oak barrel. In the following 121 years, thousands of people have been swept over the falls but only sixteen people have reportedly survived the feat. All instances of people having survived the trip over the falls have been over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Following the death of one daredevil in 1951, stunting at Niagara Falls has been illegal and subject to fines of up to $25,000 USD.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Benjamin Franklin

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSA FRSE (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1706]^{[Note 1]} – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher.^[1] Among the leading intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the first United States postmaster general. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his studies of electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among others.^[2] He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department,^[3] and the University of Pennsylvania.^[4] Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, and as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation.^[5] Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat."^[6] Franklin has been called "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become." He also holds the distinction of the longest opening Wikipedia paragraph of any subject we've ever covered.

The New England Vampire Panic

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

The New England vampire panic was the reaction to an outbreak of tuberculosis in the 19th century throughout Rhode Island, eastern Connecticut, southern Massachusetts, Vermont, and other areas of the New England states.^[1] Consumption (tuberculosis) was thought to be caused by the deceased consuming the life of their surviving relatives.^[2] Bodies were exhumed and internal organs ritually burned to stop the "vampire" from attacking the local population and to prevent the spread of the disease. Notable cases provoked national attention and comment, such as those of Mercy Brown in Rhode Island and Frederick Ransom in Vermont.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Coleco

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company.^[3]^[4] It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar dedicated consoles and ColecoVision.^[5]^[6]^[7] While the company disappeared in 1988 as a result of bankruptcy, the Coleco brand was revived in 2005, and remains active to this day.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Fuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-parade
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Exonerated Death Row Inmates

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

This list contains names of people who were found guilty of capital crimes and placed on death row, and were later found to be wrongly convicted. Some people were exonerated posthumously.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Insane Beauty Treatments

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Insane Beauty Treatments are a thing that doesn't have a Wikipedia page. Sorry. Normally we just do a quick and easy copy/paste for this, but that only works when we stay inside the format of the show. So ... how are things with you? We never talk about you.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The USS William D Porter

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

USS William D. Porter (DD-579), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Commodore William D. Porter (1808–1864). William D. Porter was laid down on 7 May 1942 at Orange, Texas, United States, by the Consolidated Steel Corporation; launched on 27 September 1942, sponsored by Miss Mary Elizabeth Reeder; and commissioned on 6 July 1943, Lieutenant Commander Wilfred A. Walter in command.^[2] The ship is predominantly remembered today for the string of extremely unfortunate events that plagued her short three-year career during World War II.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Nuclear Close Calls

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

A nuclear close call is an incident that could have led to at least one unintended nuclear detonation or explosion. These incidents typically involve a perceived imminent threat to a nuclear-armed country which could lead to retaliatory strikes against the perceived aggressor. The damage caused by international nuclear exchange is not necessarily limited to the participating countries, as the hypothesized rapid climate change associated with even small-scale regional nuclear war could threaten food production worldwide—a scenario known as nuclear famine.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The History of Condoms

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Whether condoms were used in ancient civilizations is debated by archaeologists and historians.^[101]^: 11 In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, pregnancy prevention was generally seen as a woman's responsibility, and the only well documented contraception methods were female-controlled devices.^[101]^: 17, 23 In Asia before the 15th century, some use of glans condoms (devices covering only the head of the penis) is recorded. Condoms seem to have been used for contraception, and to have been known only by members of the upper classes. In China, glans condoms may have been made of oiled silk paper, or of lamb intestines. In Japan, they were made of tortoise shell or animal horn.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Cardiff Giant

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

The Cardiff Giant was one of the most famous hoaxes in American history. It was a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) purported "petrified man" uncovered on October 16, 1869, by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. "Stub" Newell in Cardiff, New York. Both it and an unauthorized copy made by P. T. Barnum are still being displayed. The original is currently on display at The Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Patron Saints

Wed, 29 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Juan Pujols Garcia

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Juan Pujol Garcia MBE (14 February 1912 – 10 October 1988), also known as Joan Pujol Garcia, was a Spanish spy who acted as a double agent loyal to Great Britain against Nazi Germany during World War II, when he relocated to Britain to carry out fictitious spying activities for the Germans. He was given the codename Garbo by the British; their German counterparts codenamed him Alaric and referred to his non-existent spy network as "Arabal".

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Great Diamond Hoax

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

The diamond hoax of 1872 was a swindle in which a pair of prospectors sold a false American diamond deposit to prominent businessmen in San Francisco and New York City. It also triggered a brief diamond prospecting craze in the western United States, in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Murder of John Lennon

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

On the evening of 8 December 1980, English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of The Dakota, his residence in New York City. His killer was Mark David Chapman, an American Beatles fan who was incensed by Lennon's lavish lifestyle and his 1966 comment that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus". Chapman said he was inspired by the fictional character Holden Caulfield from J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, a "phony-killer" who despises hypocrisy.

The Narvaez Expedition

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

The Narváez expedition was a Spanish journey of exploration and colonization started in 1527 that intended to establish colonial settlements and garrisons in Florida.^[1] The expedition was initially led by Pánfilo de Narváez, who died in 1528. Many more people died as the expedition traveled west along the explored Gulf Coast of the present-day United States and into the American Southwest. Only four of the expedition's original members survived, reaching Mexico City in 1536. These survivors were the first known non-Native Americans to see the Mississippi River, and to cross the Gulf of Mexico and Texas.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Mithradates

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator (Greek: Μιθραδάτης;^[2] 135–63 BC) was ruler of the Hellenistic Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an effective, ambitious and ruthless ruler who sought to dominate Asia Minor and the Black Sea region, waging several hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful wars (the Mithridatic Wars) to break Roman dominion over Asia and the Hellenic world.^[3] He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.^[4] After his death he became known as Mithridates the Great; due to his affinity for poison he has also been called "The Poison King".

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Mawson Expedition

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was a 1911–1914 expedition headed by Douglas Mawson that explored the largely uncharted Antarctic coast due south of Australia. Mawson had been inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition in 1907–1909. During its time in Antarctica, the expedition's sledging parties covered around 4,180 kilometres (2,600 mi) of unexplored territory, while its ship, SY Aurora, navigated 2,900 kilometres (1,800 mi) of unmapped coastline. Scientific activities included meteorological measurements, magnetic observations, an expansive oceanographic program, and the collection of many biological and geological samples, including the discovery of the first meteorite found in Antarctica. The expedition was the first to establish and maintain wireless contact between Antarctica and Australia. Another planned innovation – the use of an aircraft – was thwarted by an accident before the expedition sailed. The plane's fuselage was adapted to form a motorised sledge or "air-tractor", but it proved to be of very limited use.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Phantom Time Hypothesis

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

The phantom time hypothesis is a historical conspiracy theory asserted by Heribert Illig. First published in 1991, it hypothesizes a conspiracy by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and possibly the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, to fabricate the Anno Domini dating system retroactively, in order to place them at the special year of AD 1000, and to rewrite history^[1] to legitimize Otto's claim to the Holy Roman Empire. Illig believed that this was achieved through the alteration, misrepresentation and forgery of documentary and physical evidence.^[2] According to this scenario, the entire Carolingian period, including the figure of Charlemagne, is a fabrication, with a "phantom time" of 297 years (AD 614–911) added to the Early Middle Ages.

Urban Legends Part 2

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 16:00:00 +0000

An urban legend or contemporary legend is a genre of folklore comprising stories circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or family member, often with horrifying or humorous elements. These legends can be entertaining, but often concern mysterious peril or troubling events, such as disappearances and strange objects. They may also be confirmation of moral standards, or reflect prejudices, or be a way to make sense of societal anxieties.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Urban Legends Part One

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Burke and Hare Murders

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The Burke and Hare murders were a series of 16 killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

John Dillinger

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 16:00:00 +0000

John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster of the Great Depression. He led a group known as the "Dillinger Gang", which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times but escaped twice. He was charged, but not convicted, of the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana, police officer who shot Dillinger in his bullet-proof vest during a shootout; it was the only time Dillinger was charged with homicide.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Frederick Douglass

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 1817^[a] – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory^[5] and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.^[6]^[7] Likewise, Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave.^[8]

^{Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.}

The Sound and the Fury

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The Sound and the Fury is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. It employs several narrative styles, including stream of consciousness. Published in 1929, The Sound and the Fury was Faulkner's fourth novel, and was not immediately successful. In 1931, however, when Faulkner's sixth novel, Sanctuary, was published—a sensationalist story, which Faulkner later said was written only for money—The Sound and the Fury also became commercially successful, and Faulkner began to receive critical attention.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Homeopathy

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a disease in healthy people can cure similar symptoms in sick people; this doctrine is called similia similibus curentur, or "like cures like".^[5] Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using homeopathic dilution. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the diluent. Often not even a single molecule of the original substance can be expected to remain in the product.^[6] Between each dilution homeopaths may hit and/or shake the product, claiming this makes the diluent remember the original substance after its removal. Practitioners claim that such preparations, upon oral intake, can treat or cure disease.^[7]

^{Find out more about Marsh's work by clicking here.}

Jim Bakker

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 16:00:00 +0000

James Orsen Bakker (/ˈbeɪkər/;^[1] born January 2, 1940) is an American televangelist and convicted fraudster. Between 1974 and 1987, Bakker hosted the television program The PTL Club with his then wife, Tammy Faye, and developed Heritage USA, a now-defunct Christian theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

The Black Sox Scandal

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed as a response to the incident to be the first Commissioner of Baseball, and given absolute control over the sport to restore its integrity.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Atlas Shrugged

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. Rand's fourth and final novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing.^[1] Atlas Shrugged includes elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance, and it contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction. The theme of Atlas Shrugged, as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence". The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism. In doing so, it expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw to be the failures of governmental coercion.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Pablo Esco-Bear

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Andrew Carter Thornton II (October 30, 1944 – September 11, 1985) was a former narcotics officer and lawyer who became the head member of "The Company", a drug smuggling ring in Kentucky. The son of Carter and Peggy Thornton of Threave Main Stud farm in southern Bourbon County, Kentucky, Thornton grew up living a privileged life in the Lexington, Kentucky, area and attended the prestigious private Sayre School and the Iroquois Polo Club along with other Lexington blue bloods. He later transferred to Sewanee Military Academy and then joined the army as a paratrooper.^[1] After quitting the army, he became a Lexington police officer^[2] on the narcotics task force. He then attended the University of Kentucky Law School. During his tenure, he began smuggling.^[3]

Famous Historical Animals

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 16:00:00 +0000

This week, Cecil takes us through a series of some of history's most courageous, most loyal, and most memorable animals.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Charles Lindbergh

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. At the age of 25 in 1927, he went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot to instantaneous world fame by winning the Orteig Prize for making the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris on May 20–21. Lindbergh covered the 33+1⁄2-hour, 3,600-statute-mile (5,800 km) flight alone in a purpose-built, single-engine Ryan monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis. Though the first non-stop transatlantic flight had been completed eight years earlier, this was the first solo transatlantic flight, the first transatlantic flight between two major city hubs, and the longest transatlantic flight by almost 2,000 miles. Thus it is widely considered a turning point in world history for the development and advancement of aviation, ushering in a new era of transportation between parts of the globe.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Starvation Heights

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Linda Laura Hazzard (née Burfield; December 18, 1867 – June 24, 1938), nicknamed the "Starvation Doctor"^[1] was an American quack, fraud, swindler and serial killer noted for her promotion of fasting as a treatment. She was imprisoned by the state of Washington for a number of deaths at a sanitarium she operated there in the early 20th century. Her treatments were responsible for at least 15 deaths. Born 1867 in Carver County, Minnesota, she died during a fast in 1938.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Bronies

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 16:00:00 +0000

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series produced by Hasbro as part of the My Little Pony toy franchise, which is tied in with the 2010 relaunch of dolls and play sets and original programming for the American children's cable channel Discovery Family (formerly Hub Network). Lauren Faust was selected as the creative developer and executive producer for the show based on her previous animation experience with other animated shows such as Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Under Hasbro's guidance, Faust developed the show to appeal to the target demographic of young girls, but created characters and settings that challenged formerly stereotypical norms of "girly" images and added adventure and humorous elements in order to keep parents interested.

Fordlandia

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Fordlândia is a district and adjacent area of 14,268 square kilometres (5,509 sq mi) in the city of Aveiro, in the Brazilian state of Pará. It is located on the east banks of the Tapajós river roughly 300 kilometres (190 mi) south of the city of Santarém. It was established by American industrialist Henry Ford in the Amazon Rainforest in 1928 as a prefabricated industrial town intended to be inhabited by 10,000 people to secure a source of cultivated rubber for the automobile manufacturing operations of the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Ford had negotiated a deal with the Brazilian government granting him a concession of 10,000 km² (3,900 sq mi) of land on the banks of the Rio Tapajós near the city of Santarém, Brazil, in exchange for a 9% share in the profits generated.^[2] Ford's project failed, and the city was abandoned in 1934.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Music Considered the Worst Ever

Wed, 14 Jul 2021 16:00:00 +0000

This list consists of albums or songs that have been considered the worst music ever made by various combinations of music critics, television broadcasters (such as MTV and VH1), radio stations, composers, and public polls.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The US Invasion of Grenada

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The U.S. and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, 100 miles (160 km) north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days.^[9] It was triggered by the strife within the People's Revolutionary Government which resulted in the house arrest and execution of the previous leader and second Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice Bishop, and the establishment of the Revolutionary Military Council with Hudson Austin as Chairman. The invasion resulted in the appointment of an interim government, followed by democratic elections in 1984.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

James Hogue

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000

James Arthur Hogue (born October 22, 1959) is an American impostor who most famously entered Princeton University by posing as a self-taught orphan.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Assassination of RFK

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Kennedy scored major victories when he won both the California and South Dakota primaries on June 4. He addressed his supporters shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in a ballroom at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.^[287] Leaving the ballroom, he went through the hotel kitchen after being told it was a shortcut to a press room.^[288] He did this despite being advised by his bodyguard—former FBI agent Bill Barry—to avoid the kitchen. In a crowded kitchen passageway, Kennedy turned to his left and shook hands with hotel busboy Juan Romero just as Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian,^[289] opened fire with a .22-caliber revolver. Kennedy was hit three times, and five other people were wounded.^[290]

Carl Akeley

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Carl Ethan Akeley (May 19, 1864 – November 17, 1926) was a pioneering American taxidermist, sculptor, biologist, conservationist, inventor, and nature photographer, noted for his contributions to American museums, most notably to the Milwaukee Public Museum, Field Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History. He is considered the father of modern taxidermy.^[1] He was the founder of the AMNH Exhibitions Lab, the interdisciplinary department that fuses scientific research with immersive design.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Unusual Foods

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Unusual foods are foods that some people would consider unusual.

Sorry... sometimes the title does all the heavy lifting.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Texas City Disaster

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The 1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the Port of Texas City, Texas, at Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in United States history and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions. A mid-morning fire started on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp (docked in the port) and detonated her cargo of about 2,300 tons (about 2,100 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate.^[1] This started a chain reaction of fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities, ultimately killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.^[2]

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.}

Robert Hanssen

Wed, 26 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Robert Philip Hanssen (born April 18, 1944) is an American former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) double agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States from 1976 to 2001. His espionage was described by the Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history."^[3] Hanssen is currently serving 15 consecutive life sentences without parole at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Free Town Project

Wed, 19 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The Free Town Project was a project that sought to move to a very small town and advocate for legal changes there. Two towns were involved: Grafton, New Hampshire and Mentone, Texas. It was active in Grafton from 2004 to sometime in 2016.^[58] Grafton's appeal as a favorable destination was due to its absence of zoning laws and a very low property tax rate.^[59] Additionally, John Babiarz lived there already, and had an unsuccessful run for Governor of New Hampshire under the Libertarian Party.^[60]

The Zimmerman Telegram

Wed, 12 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note or Zimmerman Cable) was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States entered World War I against Germany. Mexico would recover Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The telegram was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Suez Canal

Wed, 05 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The Suez Canal (Arabic: قَنَاةُ السُّوَيْسِ‎, Qanātu s-Suways) is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. In 1858, Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company for the express purpose of building the canal. Construction of the canal lasted from 1859 to 1869 and took place under the regional authority of the Ottoman Empire. The canal officially opened on 17 November 1869. It offers vessels a direct route between the North Atlantic and northern Indian oceans via the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans and reducing the journey distance from the Arabian Sea to London by approximately 8,900 kilometres (5,500 mi), or 10 days at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) to 8 days at 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph).^[1] The canal extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km (120.11 mi) including its northern and southern access-channels. In 2020, more than 18,500 vessels traversed the canal (an average of 51.5 per day).^[2]

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Lou Pearlman

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Louis Jay Pearlman (June 19, 1954 – August 19, 2016) was an American record producer. He was the creator of successful 1990s boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. In 2006, he was accused of running one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in US history, leaving more than $300 million in debts. After being apprehended, he pled guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. In 2008, Pearlman was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.^[3]^[4] He died in federal custody in 2016.

Yuri Gagarin

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin ^[a] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Death of Superman

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 16:00:00 +0000

"The Death of Superman" is a crossover story event featured in DC Comics' Superman-related publications. The crossover, which originated from editor Mike Carlin and writers Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kesel, began in December 1992 and lasted until October 1993. It was published in Superman, Action Comics, The Adventures of Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, Justice League America, and Green Lantern. Since its initial publication, "The Death of Superman" has been reprinted in various formats and editions.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Blackest Black

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Vantablack is a material developed by Surrey NanoSystems in the United Kingdom and is one of the darkest substances known, absorbing up to 99.965% of visible light (at 663 nm if the light is perpendicular to the material).^[4]^[5]

Caligula

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Caligula (/kəˈlɪɡjʊlə/; 31 August 12 – 24 January 41 AD), formally known as Gaius (Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 to 41. The son of the popular Roman general Germanicus and Augustus's granddaughter Agrippina the Elder, Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire, conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

Tetris

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:00:00 +0000

Tetris (Russian: Тетрис [ˈtɛtrʲɪs]) is a tile-matching video game created by Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies, most prominently during a dispute over the appropriation of the rights in the late 1980s. After a significant period of publication by Nintendo, the rights reverted to Pajitnov in 1996, who co-founded The Tetris Company with Henk Rogers to manage licensing.

The Irish Holocaust

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 16:00:00 +0000

The Great Famine (Irish: an Gorta Mór [anˠ ˈɡɔɾˠt̪ˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ]), also known as the Great Hunger, the Great Starvation, the Famine (mostly within Ireland) or the Irish Potato Famine (mostly outside Ireland),^[1]^[2] was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852.^[3] With the most severely affected areas in the west and south of Ireland, where the Irish language was dominant, the period was contemporaneously known in Irish as An Drochshaol,^[4] loosely translated as "the hard times" (or literally "the bad life"). The worst year of the period was 1847, known as "Black '47".^[5]^[6] During the Great Hunger, about 1 million people died and more than a million fled the country,^[7] causing the country's population to fall by 20%–25%, in some towns falling as much as 67% between 1841 and 1851.^[8]^[9]^[10] Between 1845 and 1855, no less than 2.1 million people left Ireland, primarily on packet ships but also steamboats and barks—one of the greatest mass exoduses from a single island in history.^[11]^[12]

The Mandela Effect

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation of misinformation, and source misattribution have been suggested to be several mechanisms underlying a variety of types of false memory phenomena.

Buster Keaton

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Joseph Frank Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966),^[1] known professionally as Buster Keaton, was an American actor, comedian, film director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer.^[2] He is best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".^[3]^[4] Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" on a series of films that make him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies".^[4]

Harriet Tubman

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, c. March 1822^[1] – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends,^[2] using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the movement for women's suffrage.

Music Credit:

Hitman by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3880-hitman
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

All other music was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Presidents' Day Special

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Washington's Birthday is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February in honor of George Washington, the first president of the United States, who was born on February 22, 1732. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971 moved this holiday to the third Monday, which can fall from February 15 to 21, inclusive.^[1]

Colloquially, the day is also now widely known as Presidents' Day (though the placement of the apostrophe, if any, varies) and is often an occasion to remember all the presidents.^[2]

Cannabis

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Cannabis (/ˈkænəbɪs/)^[2] is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis; C. ruderalis may be included within C. sativa; all three may be treated as subspecies of a single species, C. sativa;^[1]^[3]^[4]^[5] or C. sativa may be accepted as a single undivided species.^[6] The genus is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from Central Asia, with some researchers also including upper South Asia in its origin.^[7]^[8]

Antwerp Diamond Heist [True Crime Special]

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:00:00 +0000

The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the "heist of the century",^[1] was by far the largest diamond heist and one of the largest robberies in history. Thieves stole loose diamonds, gold, silver and other types of jewelry valued at more than $100 million.^[2]^[3] It took place in Antwerp, Belgium, during the weekend of 15–16 February 2003. Though arrests were made and time was served, most of the diamonds stolen remain unrecovered.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Burke Wills Expedition

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 17:00:00 +0000

The Burke and Wills expedition was organised by the Royal Society of Victoria in Australia in 1860–61. It consisted of 19 men led by Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, with the objective of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south, to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres (approximately 2,000 miles).^[1] At that time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-Indigenous people and was largely unknown to the European settlers.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Battle of the Golden Spurs

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 17:00:00 +0000

The Battle of the Golden Spurs (Flemish: Guldensporenslag; French: Bataille des éperons d'or) was a military confrontation between the royal army of France and rebellious forces of the County of Flanders on 11 July 1302 during the Franco-Flemish War (1297–1305). It took place near the town of Kortrijk (Courtrai) in modern-day Belgium and resulted in an unexpected victory for the Flemish. It is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Courtrai.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Alien Abductions

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Alien abduction, sometimes also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome or UFO abduction, is a personally held belief in which the alleged "abductee" describes "subjectively real experiences" of being secretly kidnapped by non-human entities (aliens) and subjected to physical and psychological experimentation.^[1] Most scientists and mental health professionals explain these experiences by factors such as suggestibility (e.g. false memory syndrome), sleep paralysis, deception, and psychopathology.^[2] Skeptic Robert Sheaffer sees similarity between the aliens depicted in science fiction films, in particular Invaders From Mars (1953), and some of those reported to have actually abducted people.^[3] People claiming to have been abducted are usually called "abductees"^[4] or "experiencers".

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Unusual Deaths: Medieval Edition

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 17:00:00 +0000

This episode picks up on Wikipedia's list of unusual deaths, starting with the Medieval period.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Etruscans

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 17:00:00 +0000

The Etruscan civilization (/ɪˈtrʌskən/) of ancient Italy covered a territory, at its greatest extent, of roughly what is now Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio,^[2]^[3] as well as parts of what are now the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto, and Campania.^[4]

Christmas Fails

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Lapland New Forest was a Christmas-themed park near Ringwood, Hampshire, UK.^[1] The park had been advertised as being a "winter wonderland" with a variety of exciting family events such as a Christmas market and a "magical tunnel of light", but the majority of the promised attractions either malfunctioned or were of a very low quality. The park closed after a week after complaints from customers and poor press attention, and the organisers were charged with misleading advertising, and sentenced to 13 months in prison.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Boston Massacre and Tea Party

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 17:00:00 +0000

The Boston Massacre was a confrontation on March 5, 1770, in which British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed by a mob in Boston. The event was heavily publicized by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams.^[2]^[3]^[4] British troops had been stationed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 in order to support crown-appointed officials and to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation.

The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773.^[1] The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. American Patriots strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

James Randi

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:00:00 +0000

James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician^[3]^[4]^[5] and scientific skeptic^[6]^[7]^[8] who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.^[9] He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively called "woo-woo".^[10] Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87.

Maximillian I of Mexico

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Maximilian I (Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph Maria, Spanish: Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian archduke who reigned as the only Emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution on 19 June 1867. A younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, Maximilian had a distinguished career as commander-in-chief of the Imperial Austrian Navy.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Jamestown Colony

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 17:00:00 +0000

The Jamestown^[a] settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about 2.5 mi (4 km) southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg.^[1] It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 O.S. (May 14, 1607 N.S.),^[2] and was considered permanent after a brief abandonment in 1610. It followed several failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke, established in 1585 on Roanoke Island. Jamestown served as the colonial capital from 1616 until 1699.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Atari Video Game Burial

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:00:00 +0000

The Atari video game burial was a mass burial of unsold video game cartridges, consoles, and computers in a New Mexico landfill site, undertaken by American video game and home computer company Atari, Inc. in 1983. Up until 2014, the goods buried were rumored to be unsold copies of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming and often cited as one of the worst video games ever released, along with the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man, which was commercially successful but critically maligned.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Gregor MacGregor

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 17:00:00 +0000

General Gregor MacGregor (24 December 1786 – 4 December 1845) was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and confidence trickster who attempted from 1821 to 1837 to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory that he claimed to rule as "Cazique". Hundreds invested their savings in supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched jungle; more than half of them died. MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history.

Lucia Cole

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 17:17:03 +0000

Lucia Cole was an imaginary persona that tricked a number of online publications into releasing stories about her upcoming album and celebrity collaborations.

The Spiderman of Denver [True Crime Special]

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Theodore Edward Coneys (November 10, 1882 – May 16, 1967), known by the nickname "Denver Spiderman", an American drifter who committed a murder in 1941 and subsequently occupied the attic of the victim's home for nine months.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Times Beach

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Times Beach is a ghost town in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, 17 miles (27 km) southwest of St. Louis and 2 miles (3 km) east of Eureka. Once home to more than two thousand people, the town was completely evacuated early in 1983 due to TCDD—also known as dioxin—contamination. It was the largest civilian exposure to this compound in the history of the US.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Battle of Hastings

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The Battle of Hastings^[a] was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 miles (11 kilometres) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The Battle of Stamford Bridge (Old English: Gefeoht æt Stanfordbrycge) took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada and the English king's brother Tostig Godwinson. After a bloody battle, both Hardrada and Tostig along with most of the Norwegians were killed. Although Harold Godwinson repelled the Norwegian invaders, his army was defeated by the Normans at Hastings less than three weeks later. The battle has traditionally been presented as symbolising the end of the Viking Age, although major Scandinavian campaigns in Britain and Ireland occurred in the following decades, such as those of King Sweyn Estrithson of Denmark in 1069–1070 and King Magnus Barefoot of Norway in 1098 and 1102–1103.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Hawaiian Rodeo Cowboys

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The Hawaiian cowboy, the paniolo, is also a direct descendant of the vaquero of California and Mexico. Experts in Hawaiian etymology believe "Paniolo" is a Hawaiianized pronunciation of español. (The Hawaiian language has no /s/ sound, and all syllables and words must end in a vowel.) Paniolo, like cowboys on the mainland of North America, learned their skills from Mexican vaqueros.^[109]

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Year Without a Summer

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The year 1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer (also the Poverty Year and Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death)^[1] because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by 0.4–0.7 °C (0.72–1.3 °F).^[2] Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest on record between the years of 1766–2000.^[3] This resulted in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere.^[4]

Uri Geller

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Uri Geller (/ˈʊri ˈɡɛlər/;^[1] Hebrew: אורי גלר‎; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British^[2] illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other illusions. Geller uses conjuring tricks to simulate the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy.^[3]^[4] Geller's career as an entertainer has spanned more than four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries. In 2015, FISM (the International Federation of Magical Societies) invited Uri Geller to deliver an inspirational, motivational lecture to over 1500 Magicians at FISM Italy. Geller admitted that he is a magician and can perform seven tricks.^[5]

Margaret Lovatt

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Margaret Howe Lovatt (born Margaret C. Howe, in 1942) is a volunteer naturalist from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. In the 1960s, she took part in a NASA-funded research project in which she attempted to teach a dolphin named Peter to understand and mimic human speech. As a child, she was inspired by a book called Miss Kelly, a story about a cat that communicated with humans. This inspired her to research teaching animals to speak human language.

Cryptids

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 16:00:00 +0000

This episode contains is a list of cryptids, which are animals presumed by followers of the cryptozoology pseudoscientific subculture to exist on the basis of anecdotal or other evidence considered insufficient by mainstream science. While biologists regularly identify new species following established scientific methodology, cryptozoologists focus on entities mentioned in the folklore record and rumour. Entities that may be considered cryptids by cryptozoologists include Bigfoot, Yeti, the chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, the Loch Ness Monster, or Mokele-mbembe. Related pseudosciences include young Earth creationism,^[1]^[2] ghost hunting, and ufology. Some dictionaries and encyclopedias define the term "cryptid" as an animal whose existence is unsubstantiated.^[3]^[4]

The Amityville Horror

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The Amityville Horror is a book by American author Jay Anson, published in September 1977. It is also the basis of a series of films released from 1979 onward. The book is claimed to be based on the paranormal experiences of the Lutz family, but has led to controversy and lawsuits over its truthfulness.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Prison Breaks [True Crime Special]

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Prison breaks are a thing where you're in prison and you don't want to be there anymore so you leave. But not when you're allowed to.

Sorry... there was no Wikipedia article to copy and paste from and I panicked.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Burr-Hamilton Duel

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The Burr–Hamilton duel was a duel fought at Weehawken, New Jersey, between Vice President Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury. It occurred early in the morning of July 11, 1804^[1] and was the culmination of a long and bitter rivalry between the two men. Burr shot Hamilton, while Hamilton's shot broke a tree branch above and behind Burr's head. Hamilton was carried to the home of William Bayard Jr. where he died the next day.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

McCarthyism

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 16:00:00 +0000

McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.^[1] The term refers to U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting from the late 1940s through the 1950s.^[2] It was characterized by heightened political repression and a campaign spreading fear of communist influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents.^[2] After the mid-1950s, McCarthyism began to decline, mainly due to the gradual loss of public popularity and opposition from the U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren.^[3]^[4] The Warren Court made a series of rulings that helped bring an end to McCarthyism.^[5]^[6]^[7]

The KKK

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The Ku Klux Klan (/ˌkuː klʌks ˈklæn, ˌkjuː-/),^[a] commonly called the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, as well as Jews, immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, and, until recently, Catholics.^[9] The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration and – especially in later iterations – Nordicism,^[10]^[11] antisemitism, prohibition, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-atheism, and anti-Catholicism. Historically, the first Klan used terrorism – both physical assault and murder – against politically active blacks and their allies in the South in the late 1860s, until it was suppressed around 1872. All three movements have called for the "purification" of American society and all are considered "right-wing extremist" organizations.^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15] In each era, membership was secret and estimates of the total were highly exaggerated by both friends and enemies.

Fyre Festival

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 16:31:15 +0000

Fyre Festival was a fraudulent luxury music festival founded by Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media Inc, and rapper Ja Rule. It was created with the intent of promoting the company's Fyre app for booking music talent. The festival was scheduled to take place on April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Additional music for this episode from https://www.bensound.com

The Hitler Diaries

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 16:28:53 +0000

The Hitler Diaries (German: Hitler-Tagebücher) were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche Marks (£2.33 million or $3.7 million) by the West German news magazine Stern, which sold serialisation rights to several news organisations. One of the publications involved was The Sunday Times, who asked their independent director, the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, to authenticate the diaries; he did so, pronouncing them genuine. At the press conference to announce the publication, Trevor-Roper announced that on reflection he had changed his mind, and other historians also raised questions concerning their validity. Rigorous forensic analysis, which had not been performed previously, quickly confirmed that the diaries were fakes.

Anton LeVay

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Anton Szandor LaVey^[3] (born Howard Stanton Levey; April 11, 1930 – October 29, 1997) was an American author, musician, and occultist.^[4] He was the founder of the Church of Satan and the religion of LaVeyan Satanism. He authored several books, including The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, and Satan Speaks! In addition, he released three albums, including The Satanic Mass, Satan Takes a Holiday, and Strange Music. He played a minor on-screen role and served as technical advisor for the 1975 film The Devil's Rain^[5] and served as host and narrator for Nick Bougas' 1989 mondo film Death Scenes.^[6]

Miss Cleo

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Youree Dell Harris (August 12, 1962 – July 26, 2016) was an American television personality best known as Miss Cleo, a spokeswoman for a psychic pay-per-call service called Psychic Readers Network from 1997 to 2003.^[1]^[2] Harris used various aliases, including Cleomili Harris and Youree Perris.^[3]

Napoleon's Invasion of Russia

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The French invasion of Russia, known in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (Russian: Отечественная война 1812 года, romanized: Otechestvennaya voyna 1812 goda) and in France as the Russian campaign (French: Campagne de Russie), began on 24 June 1812 when Napoleon's Grande Armée crossed the Neman River in an attempt to engage and defeat the Russian Army.^[15] Napoleon hoped to compel the Emperor of All Russia, Alexander I, to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace.^[16] The official political aim of the campaign was to liberate Poland from the threat of Russia. Napoleon named the campaign the Second Polish War to gain favor with the Poles and to provide a political pretext for his actions.^[17]

Hedy Lamarr

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 16:51:11 +0000

Hedy Lamarr (/ˈheɪdi/), born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler (November 9, 1914^[a] – January 19, 2000), was an Austrian-American actress, inventor, and film producer. She was part of 30 films in an acting career spanning 28 years, and co-invented an early version of frequency-hopping spread spectrum.^[1]^[2]

Franz Mesmer

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Franz Anton Mesmer (/ˈmɛzmər/;^[1] German: [ˈmɛsmɐ]; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German doctor with an interest in astronomy. He theorised the existence of a natural energy transference occurring between all animated and inanimate objects; this he called "animal magnetism", sometimes later referred to as mesmerism. (In modern times New Age spiritualists have revived a similar idea.^{[citation needed]}) Mesmer's theory attracted a wide following between about 1780 and 1850, and continued to have some influence until the end of the 19th century.^[2] In 1843 the Scottish doctor James Braid proposed the term "hypnosis" for a technique derived from animal magnetism; today the word "mesmerism" generally functions as a synonym of "hypnosis".

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Steven Seagal

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Steven Frederic Seagal (/sɪˈɡɑːl/; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician who holds American, Serbian, and Russian citizenship.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Rasputin

Wed, 27 May 2020 16:36:33 +0000

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (/ræˈspjuːtɪn/;^[1] Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ rɐˈsputʲɪn]; 21 January [O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Emperor Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and gained considerable influence in late imperial Russia.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Spite Houses

Wed, 20 May 2020 16:00:00 +0000

A spite house is a building constructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes. Because long-term occupation is not the primary purpose of these houses, they frequently sport strange and impractical structures.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Unlucky Lottery Winners

Wed, 13 May 2020 16:00:00 +0000

A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Lotteries are outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments; the most common regulation is prohibition of sale to minors, and vendors must be licensed to sell lottery tickets. Though lotteries were common in the United States and some other countries during the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe as well as many other countries. This remained so until well after World War II. In the 1960s casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Sgt. Stubby

Wed, 06 May 2020 16:40:20 +0000

This week's episode contains a series of short, uplifting stories to help get you through your state's stay at home orders. Or worse, your state's lack of them.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Bay of Pigs

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:45:32 +0000

The Bay of Pigs invasion (Spanish: invasión de bahía de Cochinos; sometimes called invasión de playa Girón or batalla de Girón, after the Playa Girón) was a failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution. Covertly financed and directed by the U.S. government, the operation took place at the height of the Cold War and its failure led to major shifts in international relations between Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

Craziest Sports

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Sport includes all forms of competitive physical activity or games which,^[1] through casual or organized participation, at least in part aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for spectators.^[2] Sports can bring positive results to one's physical health. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, simultaneously or consecutively, with one winner; in others, the contest (a match) is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a "tie" or "draw", in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure one winner and one loser. A number of contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs.

The Spanish Flu

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. Lasting from January 1918 to December 1920, it infected 500 million people – about a quarter of the world's population at the time. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.^[2]

Eugene V Debs

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States.^[1] Through his presidential candidacies as well as his work with labor movements, Debs eventually became one of the best-known socialists living in the United States.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Etruscans

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:00:00 +0000

The Etruscan civilization (/ɪˈtrʌskən/) was a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, northern Lazio,^[1]^[2] with offshoots also to the north in the Po Valley, in the current Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy and southern Veneto, and to the south, in some areas of Campania.^[3]

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Hubble Space Telescope

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 16:00:00 +0000

he Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope but it is one of the largest and most versatile, well known both as a vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy. The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble and is one of NASA's Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.}

1904 Olympic Marathon

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 16:21:24 +0000

The men's marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis took place on August 30 of that year, over a distance of 24.85 miles (39.99 km).^[2] Thirty-two athletes representing four nations competed, but only 14 managed to finish the race,^[3] which proved to be a bizarre affair due to poor organization and officiating.^[4]

2019 Pornhub Year in Review

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Pornhub is a pornographic video sharing and pornography website.^[6]^[7] It was launched in Montreal, in 2007.^[8] Pornhub also has offices and servers in San Francisco, Houston, New Orleans and London.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Panama Canal

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 17:00:00 +0000

The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82 km (51 mi) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade. Canal locks are at each end to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 m (85 ft) above sea level, and then lower the ships at the other end. The original locks are 32.5 m (110 ft) wide. A third, wider lane of locks was constructed between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded canal began commercial operation on June 26, 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, neo-Panamax ships, capable of handling more cargo.^[1]

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Lizzie Borden [True Crime Special]

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was an American woman who was the main suspect in the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. Borden was tried and acquitted of the murders.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

D. B. Cooper, the Parachute Pirate [True Crime Special]

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Dan Cooper is the pseudonym of an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the northwest United States, in the airspace between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 24, 1971.^[1]^[2] The man purchased his airline ticket using the alias Dan Cooper but, because of a news miscommunication, became known in popular lore as D. B. Cooper. He extorted $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,260,000 in 2019) and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite an extensive manhunt and protracted FBI investigation, the perpetrator has never been located or identified. It remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history.

Peter Bartholomew, and the Magic Spear of the First Crusade

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Peter Bartholomew (died 20 April 1099) was a soldier and mystic from France who was part of the First Crusade as part of the army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles. Peter was initially a servant to William, Lord of Cunhlat.

Jenkem

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Jenkem is an inhalant and hallucinogen created from fermented human waste.^[1] In the mid-1990s, it was reported to be a popular street drug among Zambian street children. They would reportedly put the feces and urine in a jar or a bucket and seal it with a balloon or lid respectively, then leave it out to ferment in the sun; afterwards they would inhale the fumes created.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] In November 2007, there was a moral panic in the United States after widespread reports of jenkem becoming a popular recreational drug in middle and high schools across the country, though the true extent of the practice has since been called into question.^[6]^[7] Several sources reported that the increase in American media coverage was based on a hoax and on faulty Internet research.^[8]

Walter Freeman, and the Lobotomy

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Walter Jackson Freeman II (November 14, 1895 – May 31, 1972) was an American physician who specialized in lobotomy.^[1]

Selfie Related Deaths

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 17:00:00 +0000

This episode is about is a list of serious injuries and deaths in which one or more subjects of a selfie were killed or injured, either before, during or after having taken a photo of themselves, with the accident at least in part attributed to the taking of the photo.

Uranus

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Uranus (from the Latin name Ūranus for the Greek god Οὐρανός) is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. Uranus is similar in composition to Neptune, and both have bulk chemical compositions which differ from that of the larger gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. For this reason, scientists often classify Uranus and Neptune as "ice giants" to distinguish them from the gas giants. Uranus' atmosphere is similar to Jupiter's and Saturn's in its primary composition of hydrogen and helium, but it contains more "ices" such as water, ammonia, and methane, along with traces of other hydrocarbons.^[14] It has the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System, with a minimum temperature of 49 K (−224 °C; −371 °F), and has a complex, layered cloud structure with water thought to make up the lowest clouds and methane the uppermost layer of clouds.^[14] The interior of Uranus is mainly composed of ices and rock.^[13]

Killer Petey, the scariest man in Brazil. And on instagram. [True Crime Special]

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Pedro Rodrigues Filho (born July 17, 1954 in Santa Rita do Sapucaí, Minas Gerais), also known as Pedrinho Matador (Killer Petey), is a Brazilian serial killer who pursued and killed other criminals. His victims included 47 people who were murdered inside the very jails he was imprisoned in.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Spanish Inquisition

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 17:00:00 +0000

The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Spanish: Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition (Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the Medieval Inquisition, which was under Papal control. It became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Catholic Inquisition along with the Roman Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition. The "Spanish Inquisition" may be defined broadly, operating in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories, which included the Canary Islands, the Kingdom of Naples,^{[citation needed]} and all Spanish possessions in North, Central, and South America. According to modern estimates, around 150,000 were prosecuted for various offenses during the three-century duration of the Spanish Inquisition, out of which between 3,000 and 5,000 were executed (~2.7% of all cases).

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Christmas Observances

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 17:00:00 +0000

The observance of Christmas around the world varies by country. The day of Christmas, and in some cases the day before and the day after, are recognized by many national governments and cultures worldwide, including in areas where Christianity is a minority religion. In some non-Christian areas, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration (e.g. Hong Kong); in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Castration

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 18:49:18 +0000

Castration (also known as orchiectomy) is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchidectomy (excision of both testes), and chemical castration uses pharmaceutical drugs to deactivate the testes. Castration causes sterilization (preventing the castrated person or animal from reproducing); it also greatly reduces the production of certain hormones, such as testosterone. Surgical castration in animals is often called neutering.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Jimmy Hoffa [True Crime Special]

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 17:00:00 +0000

James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913; disappeared July 30, 1975, later declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union from 1957 until 1971.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

John McAfee [True Crime Special]

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 17:00:00 +0000

John David McAfee (/ˈmækəfiː/ MAK-ə-fee;^[1]^[2] born September 18, 1945) is a British-American computer programmer and businessman. He founded the software company McAfee Associates in 1987 and ran it until 1994, when he resigned from the company. McAfee Associates achieved early success as the creators of McAfee, the first commercial antivirus software, and the business now produces a range of enterprise security software. The company was purchased by Intel in 2011 and spun back out in 2017 with TPG Capital owning a majority stake, though the software has always borne the McAfee brand name. McAfee's wealth peaked in 2007 at $100 million, before his investments plummeted in the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Death of Princess Diana

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 17:00:00 +0000

In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died in hospital after being injured in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris, France. Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived serious injuries.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

William Penn Patrick, Multi-Level Marketing Pioneer

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:00:00 +0000

William Penn Patrick (March 31, 1930 – June 9, 1973) was an American entrepreneur and businessman. He was the owner of Holiday Magic, Leadership Dynamics, and Mind Dynamics. Patrick was a proponent of the sour grapes philosophy, and has been widely quoted as stating: "Those who condemn wealth are those who have none and see no chance of getting it."^[4]

Common Scams and Cons

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 17:00:00 +0000

This list of confidence tricks and scams should not be considered complete, but covers the most common examples. Confidence tricks and scams are difficult to classify, because they change often and often contain elements of more than one type. Throughout this list, the perpetrator of the confidence trick is called the "con artist" or simply "artist", and the intended victim is the "mark". Particular scams are mainly directed toward elderly people, as they may be credulous and sometimes inexperienced and/or insecure, especially when the scam involves modern technology such as computers and the internet.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The USS Indianapolis

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 17:00:00 +0000

USS Indianapolis (CL/CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy, named for the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. Launched in 1931, the vessel served as the flagship for the commander of Scouting Force 1 for eight years, then as flagship for Admiral Raymond Spruance in 1943 and 1944 while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific during World War II.

In July 1945, Indianapolis completed a top-secret high-speed trip to deliver parts of Little Boy, the first nuclear weapon ever used in combat, to the United States Army Air Force Base on the island of Tinian, and subsequently departed for the Philippines on training duty. At 0015 on 30 July, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1,195 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship.^[4] The remaining 890 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while stranded in the open ocean with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy only learned of the sinking four days later, when survivors were spotted by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 316 survived.^[4] The sinking of Indianapolis resulted in the greatest single loss of life at sea, from a single ship, in the history of the US Navy.^[a]

FDR

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (/ˈroʊzəvəlt/,^[1] /-vɛlt/;^[2] January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often referred to by the initials FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A member of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition, which realigned American politics into the Fifth Party System and defined American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended shortly after he died in office. He is rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but has also been subject to substantial criticism.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Battle of the Crater

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

he Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War, part of the Siege of Petersburg. It took place on July 30, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade (under the direct supervision of the general-in-chief, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant).

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Coney Island

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Coney Island is a residential and commercial neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. The neighborhood is bounded by Sea Gate to its west, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south, and Gravesend to the north. Coney Island was formerly the westernmost of the Outer Barrier islands on the southern shore of Long Island, but in the early 20th century it became a peninsula, connected to the rest of Long Island by land fill.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Failed Publicity Stunts

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

On this week's episode, we discuss several failed publicity stunts, like the one in "Crush, Texas."

Crush, Texas was a temporary "city" established as the site of a one-day publicity stunt in the U.S. state of Texas in 1896. William George Crush, general passenger agent of the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (popularly known as the "Katy", from its "Em-Kay-Tee" initials), conceived the idea in order to demonstrate a staged train wreck as a public spectacle. No admission was charged, and train fares to the crash site were offered at the reduced rate of US$2 from any location in Texas.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Enron [True Crime Special]

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 17:33:21 +0000

Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. Before its bankruptcy on December 3, 2001, Enron employed approximately 29,000 staff and was a major electricity, natural gas, communications and pulp and paper company, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion during 2000.^[1] Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

List of Unusual Deaths (The Greeks)

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 16:00:00 +0000

There is no way to summarize this episode.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Voyager Program

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The Voyager program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, to study the outer Solar System.^[1] The probes were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Although their original mission was to study only the planetary systems of Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 continued on to Uranus and Neptune. The Voyagers now explore the outer boundary of the heliosphere in interstellar space; their mission has been extended three times and they continue to transmit useful scientific data. Neither Uranus nor Neptune has been visited by a probe other than Voyager 2.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

9/11 Truthers

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 16:00:00 +0000

There are many conspiracy theories that attribute the planning and execution of the September 11 attacks against the United States to parties other than, or in addition to, al-Qaeda^[1] including that there was advance knowledge of the attacks among high-level government officials. Government investigations and independent reviews have rejected these theories.^[2]^[3] Proponents of these theories assert that there are inconsistencies in the commonly accepted version, or evidence that was either ignored or overlooked.^[4]

Vlad the Impaler

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Vlad III Dracula, known as Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad Țepeș, Bulgarian: Влад Цепеш, pronunciation: [ˈ v l a d ˈ ts e p e ʃ ] ) or Vlad Dracula (/ˈdrækjələ/(Romanian: Vlad Drăculea, pronunciation: [ˈ d r ə k u l e̯a ] , Bulgarian: Влад Дракула); 1428/31 – 1476/77), was Voivodeof Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death. He is often considered one of the most important rulers in Wallachian history and a national hero of Romania.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Bhopal Disaster [True Crime Special]

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is considered to be the world's worst industrial disaster.^[1]^[2] Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas. The highly toxic substance made its way into and around the small towns located near the plant.^[3]

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Washington Irving Bishop

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Washington Irving Bishop, also known as Wellington (4 March 1855 – 13 May 1889) was an American stage mentalist. He started his career as an assistant under the muscle reader J. Randall Brown, but was most well known for his performance of the blindfold drive.^[1]

Old West Gunfights

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gunslinger /ˈɡʌnslɪŋər/ and gunfighter are words used historically to refer to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and had participated in gunfights and shootouts. Gunman was a more common term used for these individuals in the 19th century. Today, the term "gunslinger" is more or less used to denote someone who is quick on the draw with a pistol, but can also refer to riflemen and shotgun messengers. The gunfighter is also one of the most popular characters in the Western genrea nd has appeared in associated films, video games, and literature.

El Chapo [True Crime Special]

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (/ˈɡʊzmæn/;^[6] Spanish: [xoaˈkin aɾtʃiˈβaldo ɣusˈman loˈeɾa]; born 4 April 1957),^[7] known as "El Chapo" ("Shorty", pronounced [el ˈtʃapo]) because of his 168 cm (5 ft 6 in) stature, is a Mexican drug lord and former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, an international crime syndicate. He is considered to have been the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.^[8]^[9]

The Oneida Community

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The Oneida Community was a perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 in Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had already returned in AD 70, making it possible for them to bring about Jesus's millennial kingdom themselves, and be free of sin and perfect in this world, not just in Heaven (a belief called perfectionism). The Oneida Community practiced communalism (in the sense of communal property and possessions), complex marriage, male sexual continence, and mutual criticism. There were smaller Noyesian communities in Wallingford, Connecticut; Newark, New Jersey; Putney and Cambridge, Vermont.^[1] The community's original 87 members grew to 172 by February 1850, 208 by 1852, and 306 by 1878. The branches were closed in 1854 except for the Wallingford branch, which operated until devastated by a tornado in 1878. The Oneida Community dissolved in 1881, and eventually became the giant silverware company Oneida Limited.^[2]

The Trolley Problem

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics. The general form of the problem is this:

You see a runaway trolley moving toward five tied-up (or otherwise incapacitated) people lying on the tracks. You are standing next to a lever that controls a switch. If you pull the lever, the trolley will be redirected onto a side track, and the five people on the main track will be saved. However, there is a single person lying on the side track. You have two options:

Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track.

Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.

Which is the more ethical option?

Aleister Crowley

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 16:10:46 +0000

Aleister Crowley (/ˈæleɪstər ˈkroʊli/; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Andree's Arctic Balloon Expedition

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 16:52:15 +0000

Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was an effort to reach the North Pole in which all three expedition members perished. S. A. Andrée, the first Swedish balloonist, proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass, with luck, straight over the North Pole on the way. The scheme was received with patriotic enthusiasm in Sweden, a northern nation that had fallen behind in the race for the North Pole.

Mary Toft, the Lady that Gave Birth to Rabbits

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Mary Toft (née Denyer; c. 1701–1763), also spelled Tofts, was an English woman from Godalming, Surrey, who in 1726 became the subject of considerable controversy when she tricked doctors into believing that she had given birth to rabbits.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks began on September 7 and culminated on September 11, 1857, resulting in the mass slaughter of most in the emigrant party by members of the Utah Territorial Militia from the Iron County district, together with some Southern Paiute Native Americans.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

MK Ultra

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Project MKUltra, also called the CIA mind control program, is the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the United States Central Intelligence Agency—and which were, at times, illegal.^[1]^[2]^[3] Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control. The project was organized through the Office of Scientific Intelligence of the CIA and coordinated with the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.^[4]

The Finland Conspiracy

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The Finland conspiracy states that Finland is not a real country. Not only is it not a real country but there is actually no landmass there at all, and the space between Sweden and Russia is actually empty ocean. (Source: Reddit. So you know it's legit.)

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Demon Core

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The demon core was a 6.2-kilogram (14 lb) subcritical mass of plutonium measuring 89 millimetres (3.5 in) in diameter, which was involved in two criticality accidents, on August 21, 1945 and May 21, 1946. The core was intended for use in a third World War II nuclear bomb, but remained in use for testing after Japan's surrender. It was designed with a small safety margin to ensure a successful explosion of the bomb. The device briefly went supercritical when it was accidentally placed in supercritical configurations during two separate experiments intended to guarantee the core was indeed close to the critical point. The incidents happened at the Los Alamos laboratory in 1945 and 1946, and resulted in the acute radiation poisoning and subsequent deaths of scientists Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin. After these incidents the spherical plutonium core was referred to as the "demon core".

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

L. Ron Hubbard

Wed, 29 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (/ˈhʌbərd/ HUB-ərd; ^[1] March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy stories, and the founder of the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health and established a series of organizations to promote Dianetics. In 1952, Hubbard lost the rights to Dianetics in bankruptcy proceedings, and he subsequently founded Scientology. Thereafter Hubbard oversaw the growth of the Church of Scientology into a worldwide organization.^[2]^[3] Hubbard was cited by Smithsonian magazine as one of the 100 most significant Americans of all time.^[4]

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The Scopes Monkey Trial

Wed, 22 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The Scopes Trial, formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial, was an American legal case in July 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school.^[1]The trial was deliberately staged in order to attract publicity to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held. Scopes was unsure whether he had ever actually taught evolution, but he purposely incriminated himself so that the case could have a defendant.^[2]^[3]

Topsy the Elephant

Wed, 15 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Topsy (circa 1875 – January 4, 1903) was a female Asian elephant put to death at a Coney Island, New York, amusement park by electrocution in January 1903.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Ching Shih

Wed, 08 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Ching Shih^[1]^:65 (Chinese: 鄭氏; literally: 'widow of Zheng') (born Shih Yang (Chinese: 石陽; 1775–1844), a.k.a. Cheng I Sao (Chinese: 鄭一嫂), was a Chinese pirate leader who terrorized the China Seas during the Jiaqing Emperor period of the Qing dynasty in the early 19th-century. She commanded over 300 junks (traditional Chinese sailing ships) manned by 20,000 to 40,000 pirates^[1]^:71—men, women, and even children. She entered into conflict with the major nations, such as the British Empire, the Portuguese Empire, and the Qing dynasty.^[2]

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Phineas Gage

Wed, 01 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Phineas P. Gage (1823–1860) was an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable^[B1]:19 survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior over the remaining 12 years of his life‍—‌effects sufficiently profound (for a time at least) that friends saw him as "no longer Gage." ^[H]:14

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The Boy Convicted of Conspiring to Murder Himself [True Crime Special]

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

When a 14-year-old British boy was savagely stabbed, no one could have imagined the bizarre chat-room fantasy world that lay behind the attack. A story of a near-fatal Internet attraction.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2005/02/bachrach200502

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Ludlow Massacre

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

The Ludlow Massacre emanated from a labor conflict: the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel and Iron Company guards attacked a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914, with the National Guard using machine guns to fire into the colony. Approximately twenty-one people, including miners' wives and children, were killed. The chief owner of the mine, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was widely excoriated for having orchestrated the massacre.^[3]^[4]

William Chaloner and Victor Lustig

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 20:29:57 +0000

William Chaloner (1650 – 22 March 1699)^[1]^[2] was a serial counterfeit coiner and confidence trickster, who was imprisoned in Newgate Prison several times and eventually proven guilty of high treason by Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Royal Mint. He was hanged on the gallows at Tyburn on 22 March 1699.^[1]^[3]

Chuck Tingle

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Dr. Chuck Tingle is a pseudonymous author of gay niche erotica.^[1]^[2]^[3] He self-publishes his works through Amazon.com, primarily as ebooks, but also as paperbacksand audiobooks (narrated by Sam Rand).^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] Tingle began his career by writing dinosaur erotica and expanded to stories based on unicorns, Bigfoot, and various anthropomorphized objects and even concepts.^[8]^[9] The bizarre nature of Tingle's writing has led to his developing a cult reputation.^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]

Salish Sea Human Foot Discoveries

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:14:10 +0000

Since August 20, 2007, at least 20 detachedhuman feet have been found on the coasts of the Salish Sea in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington, US. The first discovery, on August 20, 2007, was on Jedediah Island in British Columbia. Feet have been discovered on the coasts of islands in British Columbia, and in the US cities of Tacoma and Seattle.

David Koresh [True Crime Special]

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 16:00:00 +0000

David Koresh (/kəˈrɛʃ/; born Vernon Wayne Howell; August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993) was the American^[2]^[3] leader of the Branch Davidians sect,^[4] believing himself to be its final prophet.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Bottles of Beer

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 16:00:00 +0000

A beer bottle is a bottle designed as a container for beer. Such designs vary greatly in size and shape, but the glass commonly is brown or green to reduce spoilage from light, especially ultraviolet.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

History of the Toilet

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 16:00:00 +0000

A toilet^{[n 1]} is a piece of hardware used for the collection or disposal of human urineand feces. In other words: "Toilets are sanitation facilities at the user interface that allow the safe and convenient urination and defecation".^[1] Toilets can be with or without flushing water (flush toilet or dry toilet). They can be set up for a sitting posture or for a squatting posture (squat toilet). Flush toilets are usually connected to a sewer system in urban areas and to septic tanks in less built-up areas. Dry toilets are connected to a pit, removable container, composting chamber, or other storage and treatment device. Toilets are commonly made of ceramic (porcelain), concrete, plastic, or wood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet

My Immortal

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000

My Immortal is a Harry Potter fan fiction serially published on FanFiction.Net between 2006 and 2007. Known for its incomprehensible narrative and constant digressions, the story centers on a 17-year-old female vampire called Ebony, a non-canonical character, and her relationships with the characters of the Harry Potter series, most notably her romantic relationship with Draco Malfoy. Ultimately, she is prompted by visions to travel back in time to try to defeat the main antagonist of the series, Lord Voldemort.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Ida B Wells

Wed, 20 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931), more commonly known as Ida B. Wells, was an African-American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).^[1] She arguably became the most famous black woman in America, during a life that was centered on combating prejudice and violence.^[2]

Casanova

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒaːkomo dʒiˈrɔːlamo kazaˈnɔːva; - kasa-]; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice.^[1]^[2] His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century.^[3]

Le Petomane

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Le Pétomane (/ləˈpɛtəmeɪn/, French pronunciation: [ləpetɔˈman]) was the stage name of the French flatulist (professional farter) and entertainer Joseph Pujol (June 1, 1857 – 1945). He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him to seemingly fart at will. His stage name combines the French verb péter, "to fart" with the -mane, "-maniac" suffix, which translates to "fartomaniac". The profession is also referred to as "flatulist", "farteur", or "fartiste".^[1]

The Entertainment Software Rating Board

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 17:00:00 +0000

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is an American self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (formerly the Interactive Digital Software Association), in response to criticism of controversial video games with excessively violent or sexual content.

Rodney King [True Crime Special]

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965 – June 17, 2012) was a construction worker turned writer and activist after surviving an act of police brutality by the Los Angeles Police Department. On March 3, 1991, King was violently beaten by LAPD officers during his arrest for fleeing and evading on California State Route 210. A civilian, George Holliday, filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage clearly showed King being beaten repeatedly, and the incident was covered by news media around the world.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Prohibition

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutionalban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933.

During the nineteenth century, alcoholism, family violence, and saloon-based political corruption prompted prohibitionists, led by pietistic Protestants, to end the alcoholic beverage trade to cure the ill society and weaken the political opposition. One result was that many communities in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries introduced alcohol prohibition, with the subsequent enforcement in law becoming a hotly debated issue. Prohibition supporters, called "drys", presented it as a victory for public morals and health.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Carrie Nation

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Carrie Amelia Nation (forename sometimes spelled Carry;^[1] November 25, 1846 – June 9, 1911) was an American woman who was a radical member of the temperance movement, which opposed alcohol before the advent of Prohibition. She is remembered for attacking alcohol-serving establishments (most often taverns) with a hatchet.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

"Heartbreaking" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Gregorian Calendar

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 17:00:00 +0000

The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used civil calendar in the world.^[1]^[2]^{[Note 1]} It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582. The calendar spaces leap years to make the average year 365.2425 days long, approximating the 365.2422 day tropical year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Sigmund Freud

Wed, 26 Dec 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Sigmund Freud (/frɔɪd/ FROYD;^[3] German: [ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt]; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.^[4]

Stede Bonnet

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Stede Bonnet (1688^[1] – 10 December 1718)^[2]^[3] was an early eighteenth-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "The Gentleman Pirate"^[4] because he was a moderately wealthy land-owner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his father's death in 1694. In 1709, he married Mary Allamby, and engaged in some level of militia service. Because of marital problems, and despite his lack of sailing experience, Bonnet decided he should turn to piracy in the summer of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, named it Revenge, and travelled with his paid crew along the Eastern Seaboard of what is now the United States, capturing other vessels and burning other Barbadian ships.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Valdivia Earthquake

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 17:00:00 +0000

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake (Spanish: Terremoto de Valdivia) or Great Chilean earthquake (Gran terremoto de Chile) of 22 May is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Various studies have placed it at 9.4–9.6 on the moment magnitude scale. It occurred in the afternoon (19:11 GMT, 15:11 local time), and lasted approximately 10 minutes. The resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia and the Aleutian Islands.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

DARPA

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 17:00:00 +0000

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.

Originally known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the agency was created in February 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik 1 in 1957. By collaborating with academic, industry, and government partners, DARPA formulates and executes research and development projects to expand the frontiers of technology and science, often beyond immediate U.S. military requirements.^[3]

Lake Peigneur

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Lake Peigneur (locally pronounced [pæ̃j̃æ̹ɾ]) is a saline^[A]lake in the US state of Louisiana, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) north of Delcambre and 9.1 miles (14.6 km) west of New Iberia, near the northernmost tip of Vermilion Bay. With a maximum depth of 200 feet (61 m), it is the deepest lake in Louisiana.

It was a 10-foot (3 m) deep freshwater body, popular with sportsmen, until an unusual man-made disaster on November 20, 1980 changed its structure and the surrounding land.^[1]^[2]

Sex Robots

Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Sex robots or sexbots are hypothetical anthropomorphic robot sex dolls.^[1] As of 2018, although elaborately instrumented sex dolls have been created by a number of inventors, no fully functioning^[vague]sex robots exist. There is controversy as to whether developing them would be morally justifiable.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 17:00:00 +0000

The Damascus Titan missile explosion (also known as the Damascus accident^[1]) was a 1980 U.S. Broken Arrow incidentinvolving a Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). The incident occurred on September 18–19, 1980, at Missile Complex 374-7 in rural Arkansas when a U.S. Air Force LGM-25C Titan II ICBM loaded with a 9 megaton W-53 Nuclear Warhead had a liquid fuel explosion inside its silo^[2] at a missile launch facility. Launch Complex 374-7 was located in Van Buren County farmland just 3.3 miles (5.3 km) NNE of Damascus, and approximately fifty miles (80 km) north of Little Rock. (Coordinates: 35°24′50″N 092°23′50″W.) ^[3]^[4]

The Electoral College

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 17:00:00 +0000

The United States Electoral College is a body of electors established by the United States Constitution, constituted every four years for the sole purpose of electing the presidentand vice president of the United States. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, and an absolute majority of 270 electoral votes is required to win an election. Pursuant to Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, the legislature of each state determines the manner by which its electors are chosen. Each state's number of electors is equal to the combined total of the state's membership in the Senate and House of Representatives; currently there are 100 senators and 435 representatives.^[1]^[2]^[3] Additionally, the Twenty-third Amendmentprovides that the District of Columbia is entitled to a number of electors no greater than that of the least populous state (i.e., 3).^[4]

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The Dyatlov Pass Incident

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Dyatlov Pass incident (Russian: Ги́бель тургру́ппы Дя́тлова) refers to the unsolved deaths of nine ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union (now Russia) between 1 February and 2 February 1959. The experienced trekking group, who were all from the Ural Polytechnical Institute, had established a camp on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl in an area now named in honor of the group's leader, Igor Dyatlov. During the night, something caused them to tear their way out of their tents and flee the campsite while inadequately dressed for heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Robert Smalls

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839 – February 23, 1915) was an enslaved African American who escaped to freedom and became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician.

He freed himself, his crew and their families from slavery during the American Civil War by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, on May 13, 1862, and sailing it from Confederate-controlled waters to the U.S. blockade. His example and persuasion helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Armyand the Navy.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

David Icke

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 16:00:00 +0000

David Vaughan Icke (/aɪk/; born 29 April 1952) is an English writer and public speaker. A former footballer^[1] and sports broadcaster, Icke has been known since the 1990s as a professional conspiracy theorist.^[2]^[3] He is the author of over 20 books and numerous DVDs, and has lectured in over 25 countries, speaking for up to 10 hours to audiences.^[4]^[5]

Emperor Norton

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Joshua Abraham Norton (February 4, 1818^[3] – January 8, 1880), known as Emperor Norton, was a citizen of San Francisco, California who proclaimed himself "Norton I, Emperor of the United States" in 1859. He later assumed the secondary title of "Protector of Mexico".^[4] Norton was born in England but spent most of his early life in South Africa.

The Nazino affair

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 15:00:00 +0000

The Nazino affair (Russian: Назинская трагедия, translit. Nazinskaya Tragediya) was the mass deportation of 6,000 people to Nazino Island in the Soviet Union in May 1933. The deportees, mostly political prisoners and petty criminals, were forcibly sent to the small, isolated island in Western Siberia, located 540 kilometers (340 mi) northwest of Tomsk, to construct a "special settlement". They were abandoned with only flour for food, and little in the way of tools, clothing, or shelter, and those who attempted to leave were killed by armed guards.^[1]^[2] The conditions of the island led to widespread disease, abuse of power, violence, and cannibalism. Within thirteen weeks, over 4,000 of the deportees related to Nazino Island had died or disappeared, and a majority of the survivors were in ill health.^[3]^[2]

The Nazino affair was virtually unknown until 1988, when an investigation by Memorialbegan during the glasnost reforms in the Soviet Union. The events were popularized in 2002 when reports of a September 1933 special commission by the Communist Party of Western Siberia were published by Memorial.

La Maupin

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Julie d'Aubigny (1670/1673–1707), better known as Mademoiselle Maupin or La Maupin, was a 17th-century swordswoman and opera singer. Her tumultuous career and flamboyant life were the subject of gossip and colourful stories in her own time, and inspired numerous portrayals afterwards. Théophile Gautier loosely based the title character, Madeleine de Maupin, of his novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) on her.

The Luddites

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Luddites were a radical group of English textile workers and weavers in the 19th century who destroyed weaving machinery as a form of protest. The group was protesting the use of machinery in a "fraudulent and deceitful manner" to get around standard labour practices.^[1] Luddites feared correctly that the time spent learning the skills of their craft would go to waste as machines would replace their role in the industry.^[2] It is a misconception that the Luddites protested against the machinery itself in an attempt to halt the progress of technology. Over time, however, the term has come to mean one opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation, or new technologies in general.^[3] The Luddite movement began in Nottingham and culminated in a region-wide rebellion that lasted from 1811 to 1816. Mill owners took to shooting protesters and eventually the movement was suppressed with military force.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

History of Sexology

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors and functions.^[1] The term sexology does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as political science or social criticism.^[2]^[3]

The Toxic Lady

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Gloria Ramirez (January 11, 1963 – February 19, 1994)^[1] was an American woman dubbed "the Toxic Lady" by the media when several hospital workers became ill after exposure to her body and blood. She had been admitted to the emergency department while suffering from late-stage cervical cancer. While treating Ramirez, several hospital workers fainted and others experienced symptoms such as shortness of breath and muscle spasms. Five workers required hospitalization, one of whom remained in an intensive care unitfor two weeks. She was from Riverside, California.

Utsuro Bune

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Utsuro-bune (うつろ舟 'hollow ship'), also Utsuro-fune, and Urobune, refers to an unknown object that allegedly washed ashore in 1803 in Hitachi province on the eastern coast of Japan.When defining Utsuro-bune, the bune part means "boat" while Utsuro means empty, or hollow. Accounts of the tale appear in three texts: Toen shōsetsu (1825), Hyōryū kishū (1835) and Ume-no-chiri (1844).

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Everleigh Club

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Everleigh Club was a high-class brothel which operated in Chicago, Illinois from February 1900 until October 1911.^[1] It was owned and operated by Ada and Minna Everleigh.^[1]

The Great Chicago Fire

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to Tuesday, October 10, 1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km²) of Chicago, Illinois, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless.^[2]

Vibrators

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 16:00:00 +0000

A vibrator is a sex toy that is used on the body to produce pleasurable erotic stimulation. Most 2010-era vibrators contain an electric-powered device which pulsates or throbs, which is used to stimulate erogenous zones such as the clitoris, the vulva or vagina, penis, scrotum or anus. There are many different shapes and models of vibrators. Some vibrators designed for women stimulate both the clitoris and the vagina. Some vibrators designed for couples stimulate the genitals of both partners.

The Darien Scheme

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Darien scheme was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "Caledonia" on the Isthmus of Panama on the Gulf of Darién in the late 1690s. The aim was for the colony to have an overland route that connected the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. From the beginning it has been claimed historically that the undertaking was beset by poor planning and provisioning, divided leadership, a lack of demand for trade goods particularly caused by an English trade blockade,^[1] devastating epidemics of disease, collusion between the English East India Company and the English government to frustrate it,^[1] as well as a failure to anticipate the Spanish Empire's military response. It was finally abandoned in March 1700 after a siege by Spanish forces, which also blockaded the harbour.^[2]

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The Bermuda Triangle

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a loosely-defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Most reputable sources dismiss the idea that there is any mystery. The vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle is amongst the most heavily traveled shipping lanes in the world, with ships frequently crossing through it for ports in the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean islands. Cruise ships and pleasure craft regularly sail through the region, and commercial and private aircraft routinely fly over it.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Typhoid Mary

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), also known as Typhoid Mary, was an Irish-American cook. She was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. She was presumed to have infected 51 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook.^[1] She was twice forcibly isolated by public health authorities and died after a total of nearly three decades in isolation.^[2]^[3]

Tsar Bomba

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Tsar Bomba (Russian: Царь-бо́мба, tr. Tsar'-bómba, IPA: [t͡sarʲ ˈbombə], lit. Tsar Ivan bomb/King of Bombs;) was the Western nickname for the Soviet RDS-220 hydrogen bomb (code name Ivan^[3] or Vanya), the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created. Its test on 30 October 1961 remains the most powerful explosive ever detonated. It was also referred to as Kuzma's mother (Russian: Ку́зькина ма́ть, tr. Kúz'kina mát', IPA: [ˈkusʲkʲɪnə ˈmatʲ]),^[4] possibly referring to First secretary Nikita Khrushchev's promise to show the United States a Kuzma's mother (an idiom roughly translating to "We'll show you!") at a 1960 session of United Nations General Assembly.^[5]^[6]

History of Cocaine

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Cocaine, also known as coke, is a strong stimulant mostly used as a recreational drug.^[10] It is commonly snorted, inhaled as smoke, or dissolved and injected into a vein.^[9] Mental effects may include loss of contact with reality, an intense feeling of happiness, or agitation.^[9]Physical symptoms may include a fast heart rate, sweating, and large pupils.^[9] High doses can result in very high blood pressure or body temperature.^[11] Effects begin within seconds to minutes of use and last between five and ninety minutes.^[9] Cocaine has a small number of accepted medical uses such as numbing and decreasing bleeding during nasal surgery.^[12]

Principality of Sealand

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Principality of Sealand, more commonly known as Sealand, is a micronation that claims Roughs Tower, an offshore platform located in the North Sea approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) off the coast of Suffolk, England, as its territory. Roughs Tower is a disused Maunsell Sea Fort, originally called HM Fort Roughs, built as an anti-aircraft defensive gun platform by the British during World War II.^[3]^[4]

Tulsa Race Riot

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Tulsa race riot, sometimes referred to as the Tulsa massacre,^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] Tulsa pogrom,^[6]^[7]^[8] or Tulsa race riot of 1921, took place between May 31 and June 1, 1921, when a white mob attacked residents and businesses of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma.^[1] This is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the history of the United States.^[9] The attack, carried out on the ground and by air, destroyed more than 35 blocks of the district, at the time the wealthiest black community in the U.S.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Roy Bean

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Phantly Roy Bean, Jr. (c. 1825 – March 16, 1903) was an eccentric U.S. saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas, who called himself "The Law West of the Pecos". According to legend, Judge Roy Bean held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande on a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of southwest Texas. After his death, Western films and books cast him as a hanging judge, although he is known to have sentenced only two men to hang, one of whom escaped.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Hatfield-McCoy Feud

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Hatfield–McCoy feud or the Hatfield–McCoy war as some papers at the time called it, involved two rural families of the West Virginia–Kentucky area along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River in the years 1863–1891. The Hatfields of West Virginia were led by William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield while the McCoys of Kentucky were under the leadership of Randolph "Ole Ran'l" McCoy. Those involved in the feud were descended from Ephraim Hatfield (born c. 1765) and William McCoy (born c. 1750). The feud has entered the American folklore lexicon as a metonym for any bitterly feuding rival parties. More than a century later, the feud has become synonymous with the perils of family honor, justice, and revenge.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

"Lord" Timothy Dexter

Wed, 30 May 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Timothy Dexter (January 22, 1747 – October 23, 1806) was an American businessman noted for his writing and eccentricity.

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To see us live in Chicago on August 11th, click here.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Skit Music: "Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G, Movement I (Allegro), BWV 1049" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/3.0/

The Sacred Band of Thebes

Wed, 23 May 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Sacred Band of Thebes (Ancient Greek: Ἱερὸς Λόχος, Hieròs Lókhos) was a troop of select soldiers, consisting of 150 pairs of male lovers which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC. Its predominance began with its crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. It was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC.

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To get tickets to see Citation Needed Live in Chicago, click here.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Inventors Killed by their own Inventions

Wed, 16 May 2018 16:00:00 +0000

This episode is a list of inventors whose deaths were in some manner caused by or related to a product, process, procedure, or other innovation that they invented or designed.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Hiroo Onoda

Wed, 09 May 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Hirō "Hiroo" Onoda (小野田寛郎 Onoda Hirō, 19 March 1922 – 16 January 2014) was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and was a Japanese holdout who did not surrender in August 1945. After the war ended Onoda spent 29 years holding out in the Philippines until his former commander traveled from Japan to informally relieve him from duty in 1974.^[1]^[2]He held the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Skit music:

Dangerous Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Fecal Microbiota Transplant

Wed, 02 May 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), also known as a stool transplant,^[1] is the process of transplantation of fecal bacteria from a healthy individual into a recipient. FMT involves restoration of the colonic microflora by introducing healthy bacterial flora through infusion of stool, e.g. by colonoscopy, enema, orogastric tube or by mouth in the form of a capsule containing freeze-dried material, obtained from a healthy donor. A limited number of studies have shown it to be an effective treatment for patients suffering from Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), whose effects can range from diarrhea to pseudomembranous colitis

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Code Duello

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 16:00:00 +0000

A code duello is a set of rules for a one-on-one combat, or duel.

Codes duello regulate dueling and thus help prevent vendettas between families and other social factions. They ensure that non-violent means of reaching agreement be exhausted and that harm be reduced, both by limiting the terms of engagement and by providing medical care. Finally, they ensure that the proceedings have a number of witnesses. The witnesses could assure grieving members of factions of the fairness of the duel, and could help provide testimony if legal authorities become involved.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Tulip Mania

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 16:00:00 +0000

A tulip, known as "the Viceroy" (viseroij), displayed in the 1637 Dutch catalog Verzameling van een Meenigte Tulipaanen. Its bulb was offered for sale between 3,000 and 4,200 guilders (florins) depending on size (aase). A skilled craftsworker at the time earned about 300 guilders a year.^[1]

Tulip mania (Dutch: tulpenmanie) was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637.^[2] It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble;^[3] although some researchers have noted that the Kipper und Wipper (literally Tipper and See-saw) episode in 1619–1622, a Europe-wide chain of debasement of the metal content of coins to fund warfare featured mania-like similarities to a bubble.^[4] In many ways, the tulip mania was more of a hitherto unknown socio-economic phenomenon than a significant economic crisis. And historically, it had no critical influence on the prosperity of the Dutch Republic, the world's leading economic and financial power in the 17th century. The term "tulip mania" is now often used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble when asset prices deviate from intrinsic values.^[5]

The Great Stink

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The Great Stink was an event in central London in July and August 1858 during which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of the River Thames. The problem had been mounting for some years, with an ageing and inadequate sewer system that emptied directly into the Thames. The miasma from the effluent was thought to transmit contagious diseases, and three outbreaks of cholera prior to the Great Stink were blamed on the ongoing problems with the river.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Carl Tanzler [True Crime Special]

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Carl Tanzler
Tanzler in 1942
Born	February 8, 1877 Dresden, German Empire
Died	July 3, 1952 (aged 75) Pasco County, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	radiology technician
Spouse(s)	Doris Tanzler
Children	Ayesha Tanzler, Clarista Tanzler

Carl Tanzler, or sometimes Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 – July 3, 1952), was a German-born radiology technician at the Marine-Hospital Service in Key West, Florida. He developed an obsession for a young Cuban-American tuberculosis patient, Elena "Helen" Milagro de Hoyos (July 31, 1909 – October 25, 1931), that carried on well after the disease had caused her death.^[1] In 1933, almost two years after her death, Tanzler removed Hoyos' body from its tomb, and lived with the corpse at his home for seven years until its discovery by Hoyos' relatives and authorities in 1940.^[2]

Biosphere 2

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. It has been owned by the University of Arizona since 2011. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. It is a 3.14-acre (1.27-hectare)^[1] structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system, or vivarium. It remains the largest closed system ever created.^[2]

Porn Habits

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 16:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, Heath decides to pull an audible and not use a Wikipedia article at all, so that I have to improvise the description box. So... how about them basketballs, huh?

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Roy Sullivan

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Roy Cleveland Sullivan (February 7, 1912 – September 28, 1983) was a United States park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Between 1942 and 1977, Sullivan was hit by lightning on seven different occasions and survived all of them. For this reason, he gained a nickname "Human Lightning Conductor" and "Human Lightning Rod". Sullivan is recognized by Guinness World Records as the person struck by lightning more recorded times than any other human being.^[3]

The Voyage of the James Caird

Wed, 07 Mar 2018 17:00:00 +0000

The voyage of the James Caird was a small-boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 800 miles (1,300 km). Undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, it aimed to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17, stranded on Elephant Island after the loss of its ship Endurance. Polar historians regard the voyage as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever undertaken.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Endurance Expedition

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 17:00:00 +0000

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–17), also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarcticcontinent. After the conquest of the South Pole by Roald Amundsen in 1911, this crossing remained, in Shackleton's words, the "one great main object of Antarctic journeyings".^[1] The expedition failed to accomplish this objective, but became recognised instead as an epic feat of endurance.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Enrique of Malacca

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Enrique of Malacca (Spanish: Enrique de Malaca; Portuguese: Henrique de Malaca), was a native of the Malay Archipelago who became a slave of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the 16th century. Italianhistorian Antonio Pigafetta, who wrote the most comprehensive account of Magellan's voyage, named him "Henrique" (which was Hispanicised as Enrique in official Spanish documents). Pigafetta explicitly states that "Henrique" was a native of Sumatra. According to biographer-philosopher Stefan Zweig, he is the first person to circumnavigate the world.^[1] His name appears as "Henrique",^[2] which is Portuguese, and is probably the name given to him at his christening, as he was baptised a Roman Catholic by his Portuguese captors. His name appears only in Pigafetta's account, in Magellan's Last Will, and in official documents at the Casa de Contratación de las Indias of the Magellan expedition to the Philippines.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Heaven's Gate

Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Heaven's Gate was an American UFO religious millenarian cult based in San Diego, California, founded in 1974 and led by Marshall Applewhite(1931–1997) and Bonnie Nettles (1927–1985) until their deaths.^[1] On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group, who had participated in a mass suicide in order to reach what they believed was an extraterrestrial spacecraft following Comet Hale–Bopp.^[2]^[3]

Erik Jan Hanussen

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Erik Jan Hanussen, born Hermann Steinschneider (2 June 1889, in Vienna – 25 March 1933, in Berlin), was an Austrian Jewish publicist, charlatan and clairvoyant performer. Acclaimed in his lifetime as a hypnotist, mentalist, occultist, and astrologer, Hanussen was active in Weimar Republic Germany and also at the beginning of Nazi Germany. He is said to have instructed Adolf Hitler in performance and the achievement of dramatic effect.^[1]

Charles Ponzi

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Charles Ponzi, (born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi; March 3, 1882 – January 18, 1949), was an Italian swindler and con artist in the U.S. and Canada. His aliases include Charles Ponci, Carlo, and Charles P. Bianchi.^[1] Born and raised in Italy, he became known in the early 1920s as a swindler in North America for his money-making scheme. He promised clients a 50% profit within 45 days, or 100% profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the United States as a form of arbitrage.^[2]^[3] In reality, Ponzi was paying earlier investors using the investments of later investors. While this type of fraudlent investment scheme was not originally invented by Ponzi, it became so identified with him that it now is referred to as a Ponzi scheme. His scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing his "investors" $20 million.

The Challenger Disaster

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 17:00:00 +0000

On January 28, 1986, the NASA shuttle orbiter mission STS-51-L and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-99) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members, which consisted of five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 EST(16:39 UTC). Disintegration of the vehicle began after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The O-ring was not designed to fly under unusually cold conditions as in this launch. Its failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing pressurized burning gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB aft field joint attachment hardware and external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft field joint attachment and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamicforces broke up the orbiter.

The Ryugyong Hotel

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 17:00:00 +0000

The Ryugyong Hotel (Chosŏn'gŭl: 류경려관; sometimes anglicised as Ryu-Gyong Hotel or Yu-Kyung Hotel)^[4] is an unfinished (although topped-out) 105-story, 330 metres (1,080 ft)-tall pyramid-shaped skyscraper in Pyongyang, North Korea. Its name ("capital of willows") is also one of the historical names for Pyongyang.^[5] The building is also known as the 105 Building, a reference to its number of floors.^[2] The building has been planned as a mixed-use development, which would include a hotel.

Construction began in 1987 but was halted in 1992 as North Korea entered a period of economic crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union. After 1992 the building stood topped out, but without any windows or interior fittings. In 2008 construction resumed, and the exterior was completed in 2011. It was planned to open the hotel in 2012, the centenary of Kim Il-sung's birth, but this did not happen. A partial opening was announced for 2013, but this was also cancelled.^[6] As of 2018, the building remains unopened^[7] and has been called the tallest unfinished building in the world.^[8]

Salem Witch Trials

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 17:00:00 +0000

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executionsof twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. Five others (including two infant children) died in prison.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Hatpin Peril

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 17:00:00 +0000

A hatpin is a decorative and functional pin for holding a hat to the head, usually by the hair. In Western culture, hatpins are almost solely used by women and are often worn in a pair. They are typically around 20 cm in length, with the pinhead being the most decorated part.

Hatpins were sometimes used by women to defend themselves against assault by men.

Laws were passed in 1908 in America that limited the length of hatpins, as there was a concern they might be used by suffragettes as weapons. Also by the 1910s, ordinances were passed requiring hatpin tips to be covered so as not to injure people accidentally.^[1] Various covers were made, but poorer women often had to make do with ersatz items like potato pieces and cork.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Taiping Rebellion

Wed, 27 Dec 2017 17:00:00 +0000

The Taiping Rebellion or the Taiping Civil War was a massive rebellion or civil war in China fought between the established Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Christian millenarian movement of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom between 1850 to 1864.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Eggnog Riot

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 17:00:00 +0000

The Eggnog Riot, sometimes known as the Grog Mutiny, was a riot that took place at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, on 24–25 December 1826. It was caused by a drunken Christmas Day party in the North Barracks of the academy. Two days prior to the incident, a large quantity of whiskey was smuggled into the academy to make eggnog for the party, giving the riot its name.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Skit music: Jingle Bells Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Episode 35: The Battle of the Alamo

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States), killing all of the Texian defenders. Santa Anna's cruelty during the battle inspired many Texians—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texian Army. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution.

Penis Size

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 17:07:46 +0000

The most accurate measurement of the size of a human penis can be derived from several readings at different times since there is natural minor variability in size depending upon arousal level, time of day, room temperature, frequency of sexual activity, and reliability of measurement. When compared to other primates, including large examples such as the gorilla, the human penis is thickest, both in absolute terms and relative to the rest of the body.

The Dreadnought Hoax

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 17:00:00 +0000

The Dreadnought hoax was a practical joke pulled by Horace de Vere Cole in 1910. Cole tricked the Royal Navy into showing their flagship, the battleship HMS Dreadnought, to a fake delegation of Abyssinian royals. The hoax drew attention in Britain to the emergence of the Bloomsbury Group, among whom some of Cole's collaborators numbered. The hoax was a repeat of a similar impersonation which Cole and Adrian Stephenhad organised while they were students at Cambridge in 1905.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Ned Kelly [True Crime Special]

Wed, 22 Nov 2017 17:00:00 +0000

Edward "Ned" Kelly (December 1854^[a] – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police murderer. Recognised as the last and most famous of the bushrangers, he is best-known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout with the police.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Action Park

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 17:00:00 +0000

Action Park is an amusement park located in Vernon, New Jersey, United States, on the grounds of the Mountain Creek ski resort. The park consists primarily of water-based attractions and originally opened to the public in 1978 under the ownership of Great American Recreation, who also owned the ski resort which at the time operated under the name Vernon Valley/Great Gorge.^[2]

Boudica's Rebellion

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:00:00 +0000

Boudica or Boudicca (/ˈbuːdɪkə/, Latinised as Boadicea or Boudicea/boʊdɪˈsiːə/, and known in Welsh as Buddug [ˈbɨ̞ðɨ̞ɡ])^[1]^[2] was a queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61, and died shortly after its failure. She is sometimes considered a British folk hero.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Cold War Programs

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others). Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. foreign policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides involved in the conflict, although there were major regional wars, known as proxy wars, supported by the two sides.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Tarrare

Wed, 25 Oct 2017 16:24:13 +0000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrare

Tarrare (c. 1772 – 1798), sometimes spelled Tarare, was a French showman and soldier, noted for his unusual eating habits. Able to eat vast amounts of meat, he was constantly hungry; his parents could not provide for him, and he was turned out of the family home as a teenager. He traveled France in the company of a band of thieves and prostitutes, before becoming the warm-up act to a traveling charlatan; he would swallow corks, stones, live animals and a whole basketful of apples. He then took this act to Paris where he worked as a street performer.

Skit song:

"Sonatina in C Minor" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

John R. Brinkley

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 16:00:00 +0000

John Romulus Brinkley (later John Richard Brinkley; July 8, 1885 – May 26, 1942) was an American who fraudulently claimed to be a medical doctor (he had no legitimate medical education and bought his medical degree from a "diploma mill") who became known as the "goat-gland doctor" after he achieved national fame, international notoriety and great wealth through the xenotransplantation of goat testicles into humans. Although initially Brinkley promoted this procedure as a means of curing male impotence, eventually he claimed that the technique was a virtual panacea for a wide range of male ailments. He operated clinics and hospitals in several states, and despite the fact that almost from the beginning, detractors and critics in the medical community thoroughly discredited his methods, he was able to continue his activities for almost two decades. He was also, almost by accident, an advertising and radio pioneer who began the era of Mexican border blaster radio.^[2]^[3] Although he was stripped of his license to practice medicine in Kansas and several other states, Brinkley, a demagogue beloved by hundreds of thousands of people in Kansas and elsewhere, nevertheless launched two campaigns for Kansas governor, one of which was nearly successful. Brinkley's rise to fame and fortune was as precipitous as his eventual fall: At the height of his career he had amassed millions of dollars; yet he died sick and nearly penniless, as a result of the large number of malpractice, wrongful death and fraud suits brought against him.

Nellie Bly

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Elizabeth Cochran Seaman^[1] (May 5, 1864^[2] – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within.^[3] She was a pioneer in her field, and launched a new kind of investigative journalism.^[4] Bly was also a writer, industrialist, inventor, and a charity worker.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Cobra Effect

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The cobra effect occurs when an attempted solution to a problem makes the problem worse,^[1]^[2] as a type of unintended consequence. The term is used to illustrate the causes of incorrect stimulation in economy and politics.^[2]

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The Oak Island Mystery

Wed, 27 Sep 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Oak Island mystery refers to various stories of buried treasure and unexplained objects on Oak Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Marie Curie

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Marie Skłodowska Curie (/ˈkjʊri, kjʊˈriː/;^[2] French: [kyʁi]; Polish: [kʲiˈri]; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska; [ˈmarja salɔˈmɛa skwɔˈdɔfska]) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win twice, the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences, and was part of the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

PS General Slocum / SS Eastland

Wed, 13 Sep 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The PS General Slocum was a passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collisions.

On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum caught fire and sank in the East River of New York City.^[1] At the time of the accident, she was on a chartered run carrying members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church(German Americans from Little Germany, Manhattan) to a church picnic. An estimated 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board died. The General Slocum disaster was the New York area's worst disaster in terms of loss of life until the September 11, 2001 attacks. It is the worst maritime disaster in the city's history, and the second worst maritime disaster on United States waterways.^[2] The events surrounding the General Slocum fire were explored in a number of books, plays, and movies.

The Lost Cause of the Confederacy

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, or simply Lost Cause, is a literary and intellectual movement^[1] that describes the Confederate cause as a heroic one against great odds despite its defeat. The beliefs endorse the virtues of the antebellum South, viewing the American Civil War as an honorable struggle for the Southern way of life,^[2] while minimizing or denying the central role of slavery. While it was not taught in the North, aspects of it did win acceptance there and helped the process of reunifying American whites.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Tycho Brahe

Wed, 30 Aug 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Tycho Brahe (/ˌtaɪkoʊ ˈbrɑːhi, ˈbrɑː, ˈbrɑːə/, born Tyge Ottesen Brahe (Danish: [ˈtyːə ˈʌdəsn̩ ˈbʁɑː]^{[n 1]}); 14 December 1546 – 24 October 1601) was a Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations. He was born in the then Danish peninsula of Scania. Well known in his lifetime as an astronomer, astrologer and alchemist, he has been described as "the first competent mind in modern astronomy to feel ardently the passion for exact empirical facts."^[1] His observations were some five times more accurate than the best available observations at the time.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

"Americana" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/3.0/

Eugenics

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Eugenics (/juːˈdʒɛnɪks/; from Greek εὐγενής eugenes "well-born" from εὖ eu, "good, well" and γένος genos, "race, stock, kin")^[2]^[3] is a set of beliefs and practices that aims at improving the genetic quality of a group of individuals.^[4]^[5] The exact definition of eugenics has been a matter of debate since the term was coined.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

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Music credit:

"Daily Beetle" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Cadaver Synod

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial; Latin: Synodus Horrenda) is the name commonly given to the posthumous ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus, held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during January 897.^[1] The trial was conducted by Pope Stephen VI (sometimes called Stephen VII), who was the successor to Formosus' successor, Pope Boniface VI. Stephen accused Formosus of perjury and of having acceded to the papacy illegally. At the end of the trial, Formosus was pronounced guilty and his papacy retroactively declared null.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Battle of Agincourt

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Battle of Agincourt (/ˈæʒɪnkʊr/; in French, Azincourt French pronunciation: [azɛ̃kuʁ]) was a major English victory in the Hundred Years' War.^[a] The battle took place on Friday, 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) in the County of Saint-Pol, Artois, some 40 km south of Calais (now Azincourt in northern France).^[5]^[b]Henry V's victory at Agincourt, against a numerically superior French army, crippled France and started a new period in the war during which Henry V married the French princess Catherine, and their son, Henry, was made heir to the throne of France as well as of England.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

The Great Molasses Flood

Wed, 02 Aug 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Great Molasses Flood, also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster or the Great Boston Molasses Flood, occurred on January 15, 1919 in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. A large molasses storage tank burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event entered local folklore and for decades afterwards residents claimed that on hot summer days the area still smelled of molasses.

Skit music:

"Dangerous" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

New Coke

Wed, 26 Jul 2017 16:00:00 +0000

New Coke was the unofficial name for the reformulation of Coca-Cola introduced in April 1985 by The Coca-Cola Company to replace the original formula of its flagship soft drink, Coca-Cola (also called Coke). New Coke originally had no separate name of its own but was simply known as "the new taste of Coca-Cola" until 1992, when it was officially renamed Coke II.

Coca-Cola's market share had been steadily losing ground to diet soft drinks and non-cola beverages for many years. Meanwhile, consumers who were purchasing regular colas seemed to prefer the sweeter taste of rival Pepsi-Cola, as Coca-Cola learned in conducting blind taste tests. However, the American public's reaction to the change was negative, even hostile, and the new cola was a major failure. The subsequent, rapid reintroduction of Coke's original formula (which was re-branded as "Coca-Cola Classic" and put back into market within three months of New Coke's debut) resulted in a significant gain in sales. This led to speculation that the introduction of the New Coke formula was just a marketing ploy; however, the company has always maintained it was a genuine attempt to replace the original product.^[1]

New Coke remains influential as a cautionary tale against tampering too extensively with a well-established and successful brand. It was officially discontinued in July 2002.

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Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

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Additional music in this episode:

"Chill Wave" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/3.0/

The Donner Party

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Donner Party, or Donner-Reed Party, was a group of American pioneersled by George Donner and James F. Reed who set out for California in a wagon train in May 1846. They were delayed by a series of mishaps and mistakes, and spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Some of the pioneers resorted to cannibalism to survive.

Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you'd like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here. Be sure to check our website for more details.

Chung Ling Soo

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Chung Ling Soo was the stage name of the American magician William Ellsworth Robinson (April 2, 1861 – March 24, 1918), who is mostly remembered today for his death after a bullet catch trick went wrong.

Ghost Hunting

Wed, 05 Jul 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Ghost hunting is a fringe pseudoscience wherein its adherents visit and investigate locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost hunting team will attempt to collect evidence that they see as supportive of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters often use a variety of electronic devices: the EMF meter; digital thermometer; handheld and static digital video cameras, such as thermographic (or infrared) and night vision; digital audio recorder; and computer. Traditional techniques such as conducting interviews and researching the history of a site are also employed. Some ghost hunters refer to themselves as a paranormal investigator.^[1]

Ghost hunting has been heavily criticized for its total absence of scientific method; no scientific body has ever been able to confirm the existence of ghosts.^[2]^[3] Ghost hunting is considered a pseudoscience by a vast majority of educators, academics, science writers, and sceptics

From Wikipedia

Middle Skit music:

"Burnt Spirit" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

John Harvey Kellogg

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 16:00:00 +0000

John Harvey Kellogg, M.D. (February 26, 1852 – December 14, 1943) was an American medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan, who ran a sanitarium using holistic methods, with a particular focus on nutrition, enemas, and exercise. Kellogg was an advocate of vegetarianism for health and is best known for the invention of the breakfast cereal known as corn flakes with his brother, Will Keith Kellogg.^[1]

Skit music:

Galway Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/3.0/

If you'd like to support the show on Patreon, you can find our page here.

The Stanford Prison Experiment

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was an attempt to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison guards. It was conducted at Stanford University on August 14–20, 1971, by a research group led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo using college students.^[1] It was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research^[2] as an investigation into the causes of difficulties between guards and prisoners in the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The experiment is a topic covered in most introductory psychology textbooks.^[3]

Some participants developed their roles as the guards and enforced authoritarian measures and ultimately subjected some prisoners to psychological torture. Many of the prisoners passively accepted psychological abuse and, by the guards' request, actively harassed other prisoners who tried to stop it. Zimbardo, in his role as the superintendent, allowed abuse to continue.^[4]^[5] Two of the prisoners left mid-experiment, and the whole exercise was abandoned after six days following the objections of graduate student Christina Maslach, whom Zimbardo was dating (and later married). Certain portions of the experiment were filmed, and excerpts of footage are publicly available.

J. Edgar Hoover

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 16:00:00 +0000

John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972), better known as J. Edgar Hoover, was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. He was appointed as the sixth director of the Bureau of Investigation — the FBI's predecessor — in 1924 and was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972 at the age of 77. Hoover has been credited with building the FBI into a larger crime-fighting agency than it was at its inception and with instituting a number of modernizations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.

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Centralia, PA

Wed, 07 Jun 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Centralia is a borough and near-ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from more than 1,000 residents in 1980 to only 10 in 2010^[5]—a result of the coal mine fire which has been burning beneath the borough since 1962. Centralia, which is part of the Bloomsburg–Berwick metropolitan area, is the least-populated municipality in Pennsylvania. It is completely surrounded by Conyngham Township.

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Watergate [True Crime Special]

Wed, 31 May 2017 17:17:04 +0000

Watergate was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s, following a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972 and President Richard Nixon's administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration's resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis.

Andrew Jackson

Wed, 24 May 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 and was the founder of the Democratic Party. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson served in Congress and gained fame as a general in the United States Army. As president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the "common man" against a "corrupt aristocracy" and to preserve the Union.

He became a practicing lawyer in Tennessee and in 1791 he married Rachel Donelson Robards. Jackson served briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Upon returning to Tennessee, he was appointed a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court, serving from 1798 until 1804. In 1801, Jackson was appointed colonel in the Tennessee militia, and was elected its commander the following year. He led Tennessee militia and U.S. Army regulars during the Creek War of 1813–1814, winning a major victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The subsequent Treaty of Fort Jackson required the Creek surrender of vast lands in present-day Alabama and Georgia. Jackson won a decisive victory in the War of 1812 over the British army at the Battle of New Orleans, making him a national hero. Following the conclusion of the War of 1812, Jackson led U.S. forces in the First Seminole War, which helped produce the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 and the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States. Following the ratification of the treaty, Jackson briefly served as Florida's first territorial governor before winning election as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee.

Jackson was a candidate for president in 1824 but, lacking a majority of electoral votes, lost the election in the House of Representatives to John Quincy Adams. In reaction to a "corrupt bargain" between opponents Adams and Henry Clay, Jackson's supporters founded the Democratic Party. He ran again for president in 1828 against Adams and won in a landslide. As president, Jackson faced a threat of secession by South Carolina over the "Tariff of Abominations" enacted under Adams. The Nullification Crisis was defused when the tariff was amended and Jackson threatened the use of military force if South Carolina attempted to secede. Congress, led by Clay, attempted to reauthorize the Second Bank of the United States; Jackson regarded the Bank as a corrupt institution and vetoed the renewal of its charter. After a lengthy struggle, Jackson and the congressional Democrats thoroughly dismantled the Bank. In 1835, Jackson became the only president to completely pay off the national debt, fulfilling a longtime goal.

In foreign affairs, Jackson's administration concluded a "most favored nation" treaty with Great Britain, settled U.S. claims of damages by France from the Napoleonic Wars, and recognized the Republic of Texas. His presidency marked the beginning of the ascendancy of the "spoils system" in American politics. In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which relocated most members of the Native American tribes in the South to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The relocation process dispossessed the Indians and resulted in widespread death and sickness. In his retirement, Jackson remained active in Democratic Party politics, supporting the presidencies of Martin Van Buren and James K. Polk.

Jackson was widely revered in the United States, but his reputation has declined since the mid-20th century, largely due to his role in Indian removal and support for slavery. Surveys of historians and scholars have ranked Jackson between 6th and 18th most successful among United States presidents.

From Wikipedia.

Song during mid interstitial:

"C-Funk" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Goiânia accident

Wed, 17 May 2017 16:05:00 +0000

The Goiânia accident was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, at Goiânia, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, after an old radiotherapy source was stolen from an abandoned hospital site in the city. It was subsequently handled by many people, resulting in four deaths. About 112,000 people were examined for radioactive contamination and 249 were found to have significant levels of radioactive material in or on their bodies.^[1]^[2]

In the cleanup operation, topsoil had to be removed from several sites, and several houses were demolished. All the objects from within those houses were removed and examined. Time magazine has identified the accident as one of the world's "worst nuclear disasters" and the International Atomic Energy Agency called it "one of the world's worst radiological incidents".^[3]^[4]

^{From Wikipedia:}https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Wed, 17 May 2017 16:04:00 +0000

Only four episodes in and we've worked "ass" in to the title twice.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when they were shot dead by Gavrilo Princip. Princip was one of a group of six assassins (five Serbs and one Bosniak) coordinated by Danilo Ilić, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's South Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. The assassins' motives were consistent with the movement that later became known as Young Bosnia. The assassination led directly to the First World War when Austria-Hungary subsequently issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, which was partially rejected. Austria-Hungary then declared war, triggering actions leading to war between most European states.

In charge of these Serbian military conspirators was Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence Dragutin Dimitrijević, his right-hand man Major Vojislav Tankosić, and the spy Rade Malobabić. Tankosić armed the assassins with bombs and pistols and trained them. The assassins were given access to the same clandestine network of safe-houses and agents that Malobabić used for the infiltration of weapons and operatives into Austria-Hungary.

The assassins, the key members of the clandestine network, and the key Serbian military conspirators who were still alive were arrested, tried, convicted and punished. Those who were arrested in Bosnia were tried in Sarajevo in October 1914. The other conspirators were arrested and tried before a Serbian court on the French-controlled Salonika Front in 1916–1917 on unrelated false charges; Serbia executed three of the top military conspirators. Much of what is known about the assassinations comes from these two trials and related records.

From wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria

Kim Jong-Un

Wed, 17 May 2017 16:02:00 +0000

Kim Jong-un born 8 January 1984 or 5 July 1984)^[3] is the Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly referred to as North Korea. Kim is the second child of Kim Jong-il (1941–2011) and his consort Ko Yong-hui.^[6] Little is known for certain about Kim Jong-un. Before taking power, he had barely been seen in public, and many of the activities of both Kim and his government remain shrouded in secrecy.^[7] Even details such as what year he was born, and whether he did indeed attend a Western school under a pseudonym, are difficult to confirm with certainty.

Kim was officially declared the supreme leader following the state funeral of his father on 28 December 2011. Kim holds the titles of Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Chairman of the National Defence Commission, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army,^[1] and presidium member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.^[8]

Kim was promoted to the rank of Marshal of North Korea in the Korean People's Army on 18 July 2012, consolidating his position as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces^[9] and is often referred to as Marshal Kim Jong-un or "the Marshal" by state media.^[10]^[11]

Kim obtained two degrees, one in physics at Kim Il-sung University, and another as an Army officer at the Kim Il-sung Military University.^[12]^[13]

On 12 December 2013 official North Korean news outlets released reports that due to alleged "treachery," he had ordered the execution of his uncle Jang Song-thaek.^[14] On 9 March 2014, Kim Jong-un was elected unopposed to the Supreme People's Assembly. He is the first North Korean leader born after the country's founding. Kim Jong-un is widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his brother, Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia in February 2017.^[15]^[16]

^{From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-un}

Near Death Experience

Wed, 17 May 2017 16:01:00 +0000

A near-death experience (NDE) is a personal experience associated with death or impending death. Such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution, and the presence of a light.^[1]

Neuroscience research suggests that an NDE is a subjective phenomenon resulting from "disturbed bodily multisensory integration" that occurs during life-threatening events.^[2] NDEs are a recognized part of some transcendental and religious beliefs in an afterlife.^[6]

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-death_experience

Skit music: Infinite Perspective Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Chernobyl Disaster

Wed, 17 May 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The Chernobyl disaster, also referred to as the Chernobyl accident, was a catastrophic nuclear accident. It occurred on 26 April 1986 in the No.4 light water graphite moderated reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, in what was then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union (USSR).

During a late night safety test which simulated power-failure and in which safety systems were deliberately turned off, a combination of inherent reactor design flaws, together with the reactor operators arranging the core in a manner contrary to the checklist for the test, eventually resulted in uncontrolled reaction conditions that flashed water into steam generating a destructive steam explosion and a subsequent open-air graphite fire.^{[note 1]} This fire produced considerable updrafts for about 9 days, that lofted plumes of fission products into the atmosphere, with the estimated radioactive inventory that was released during this very hot fire phase, approximately equal in magnitude to the airborne fission products released in the initial destructive explosion.^[1] Practically all of this radioactive material would then go on to fall-out/precipitate onto much of the surface of the western USSR and Europe.

The Chernobyl accident dominates the Energy accidents sub-category, of most disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history, both in terms of cost and casualties. It is one of only two nuclear energy accidents classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.^[2] The struggle to safeguard against scenarios which were, at many times falsely,^[1] perceived as having the potential for greater catastrophe and the later decontamination efforts of the surroundings, ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles.^[3] During the accident, blast effects caused 2 deaths within the facility and later 29 firemen and employees died in the days-to-months afterward from acute radiation syndrome, with the potential for long-term cancers still being investigated.^[4]

The remains of the No.4 reactor building were enclosed in a large sarcophagus (radiation shield) by December 1986, at a time when what was left of the reactor was entering the cold shut-down phase; the enclosure was built quickly as occupational safety for the crews of the other undamaged reactors at the power station, with No.3 continuing to produce electricity into 2000.^[5]^[6]

The accident motivated safety upgrades on all remaining Soviet-designed reactors in the RBMK (Chernobyl No.4) family, of which eleven continued to power electric grids as of 2013.^[7]^[8]

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

Final skit music

"Dangerous" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Promo for First Episode

Tue, 16 May 2017 00:03:25 +0000

This is a promo for our first episode. Expect all of the first five episodes to drop on Wednesday, May 17, 2017.