The Six-Star General (Redux)
If you look at the list of officer ranks in the United States armed forces, there are ten ranks listed that are held today. They go from Second Lieutenant all the way up to the rank of General, which ...
22 Jan 202412min
Apollo 18, 19, and 20 (Encore)
In the 1960s, billions of dollars were spent, and 100,000s of people worked to land a human on the moon. After the success of Apollo 11, five more Apollo missions managed to land on the moon over the...
21 Jan 202411min
A History of Lead
Sometime around eight to nine thousand years ago, ancient people in Asia Minor found a very dull grey metal that turned out to be easy to manipulate when it was heated. For thousands of years, it was...
20 Jan 202413min
Emperor Nero
In the year 54, the Roman Emperor Claudius died, and his adopted son Nero became the Emperor of Rome at the age of 16. His reign was one of the most infamous in history, and over 2000 years after he ...
19 Jan 202414min
Cahokia
You are probably familiar with several of the great pre-Columbian cities in the Americas. Places like Tikal in Guatemala, Copan in Honduras, and Tenochtitlan in Mexico are some of the great legacies o...
18 Jan 202413min
The Irish Potato Famine (Encore)
In 1845, farmers around Europe suffered from a blight that devastated the potato crop. This lasted for several years, but nowhere was it more pronounced than it was on the island of Ireland, where it...
17 Jan 202412min
The London Underground
The 19th century saw an explosion in population in London. The city grew severalfold and became the largest city in the world. With so many people and the city growing so rapidly, transportation beca...
16 Jan 202414min
The History of Pasta
There is a very good chance that many of you listening have had pasta, maybe within the last week. Pasta is a simple, affordable food that comes in a wide variety of forms. It can be served with almo...
15 Jan 202413min
