The History of Credit Cards (Encore)
One of the most ubiquitous forms of payment today is credit cards. The odds are good that you have one, and most probably have one on your person right now. But how did it come about that you could p...
4 Dec 202212min
The Dumbest Game Ever Played
Almost thirty years ago, a rather unremarkable soccer match in an unremarkable tournament became the stuff of legend. Had it not been for a confluence of events and rules that all came together at on...
3 Dec 202210min
The Red Baron
The First World War saw many innovations in warfare. Probably the most significant was the introduction of aircraft. The first military pilots didn’t really know what they were doing. There was no ru...
2 Dec 202212min
The Space Shuttle
Soon after the start of the space race, a major problem with space flight became obvious: it was really expensive. The high cost of space flight was in large part due to the fact that every rocket and...
1 Dec 202214min
Countries That Have Changed Their Name
Countries are kind of like people. Every one of them has a name. Just like people, sometimes they change their names. The are a host of reasons why countries change their names, and for every countr...
30 Nov 202213min
Prime Numbers (Encore)
Prime numbers are considered to be the building blocks of mathematics. Every natural number can be broken down into the constituent prime numbers that make it up. Prime numbers have been known since a...
29 Nov 202211min
Geography is Destiny
The Earth is highly imbalanced. Some countries have more resources than others. Some have natural harbors, and some are landlocked. Some consist primarily of deserts, and others have fertile farmland....
28 Nov 202212min
Weather Forecasting
Almost every day, you might check the forecast to see what the temperature will be like in the near future or if it might rain. When you hear a forecast, how exactly do they know what the temperature ...
27 Nov 202214min
