CLASSIC: Maryland’s State Song was a Diss Track
On the first listen, Maryland's old state song sounds pretty innocuous. There's the usual lauding of the state, a refrain based on "O Tannenbaum" and so on. Yet the lyrics of this song refer to "North...
14 Dec 202439min
How The (English) Alphabet Became A Thing, Part Two: Each Letter Has A Story
How did the English alphabet -- a strange agglomeration of curved and straight-lined symbols -- become a thing? In the second part of this special two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the mess...
12 Dec 202448min
Big Parma
Stuffed crust pizza. Grilled cheese burritos. How did so much cheese get into so many things? On today's episode, we peel back the curtain on the Dairy Industrial Complex — AKA Big Parma. * VERY SPEC...
11 Dec 202440min
How The (English) Alphabet Became A Thing, Part One: Writing Stuff Down Is A Bonkers Idea
Let's be honest: the concept of writing stuff down is both brilliant and insane. Right now, all around the world, countless people are scrawling or typing messages that may last long after the writer ...
10 Dec 202432min
CLASSIC: The Story of Max, South Africa's Famous, Crime-fighting Gorilla
When confronted with a home invasion, Max the gorilla brought international fame to the Johannesburg Zoo and briefly became the city's most famous crime fighter. He received numerous endorsements, and...
7 Dec 202452min
History's Famous Mistranslations, Part Two: Life on Mars, the Cold War, and FARTFULL
Did a mistranslation lead to theories of life on Mars? What exactly was Khrsuschev trying to say at that big U.N. meeting? Language is amazing -- and it's also pretty complicated. As a result, transla...
5 Dec 202436min
Neckties are Utterly Ridiculous
It's easy to look at history and think one idea or another is ridiculous -- but we also have to remember modern civilization has its own vast collection of cartoonish concepts. You know, the sort of s...
3 Dec 202441min
CLASSIC: How Santa Anna Lost His Leg Twice, and Held a Funeral for It
Often called "The Napoleon of the West", mainly by himself, Santa Anna was a legendary, larger-than-life politician, general and exile. While hundreds of stories have been told about this man, one in ...
30 Nov 202442min
