Oh Man, James Joyce was a Dirty Dude!
James Joyce is, without question, one of the most famous authors in the English language. Millions of readers have enjoyed (and sometimes struggled with) his groundbreaking novels and short stories. H...
28 Nov 202342min
What's the Deal with Turkey on Thanksgiving?
It's Thanksgiving in the United States -- and Thanksgiving is weird! In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore some of the big questions about Thanksgiving: How did the parade become a thing? Why ...
23 Nov 202346min
Tammany Hall: America's Early Puppet Masters
It's no secret that politics can often have a dark side -- smoky backrooms, corruption and graft have always had their place in American history. And, amid all the corruption, few institutions are as ...
21 Nov 202353min
The Hoover Dam is Ridiculous, Part Two: The Audacity!
As the railroads tried and failed to control flooding in the Salton Sink, state and federal leaders realized America needed a bigger solution. With the Great Depression in full swing, workers from acr...
16 Nov 202332min
The Hoover Dam is Ridiculous, Part One: Man Versus Nature
The next time you're in Vegas, rent a car and spend a day at the Hoover Dam. This towering, larger-than-life marvel of human engineering has fundamentally shaped the United States. But building it was...
14 Nov 202339min
CLASSIC: Waging War With Hallucinogenic Honey
Honey is popular around the world, and for good reason. This addictively sweet substance is a common ingredient in hundreds of recipes, and people historically believe it has medicinal properties in a...
9 Nov 202323min
CLASSIC: Ben Franklin Tried To Reinvent the Alphabet
"For such a popular, well-known language, English is full of strange, seemingly arbitrary rules. Most people just accept these various idiosyncrasies... but Benjamin Franklin was not most people. In t...
7 Nov 202329min
CLASSIC: When the Puritans Canceled Christmas
Nowadays Christmas is a globally-recognized holiday celebrated by millions of people, but in the past this wasn't the case. In fact, some groups of Christians detested the holiday, going so far as to ...
2 Nov 202328min
