Eternal September (Entry 428.1C1533)
In which the 1993 back-to-school week that never ended kills an early outpost of the internet, and Ken annoys online Winnie-the-Pooh fans. Certificate #47957.
Nov 04, 2021•1 hr 11 min
Omnibus
Every week, Ken Jennings and John Roderick add a new entry to the OMNIBUS, an encyclopedic reference work of strange-but-true stories that they are compiling as a time capsule for future generations.
Episodes
Salmon Chaos (Entry 1098.LK0506)
In which a viral craze inspires hundreds of young Taiwanese folks to put a fish in their names, and John hits a cement wall in his attempts to mate. Certificate #50920.
Nov 02, 2021•1 hr 16 min
Myers-Briggs (Entry 821.2T0223)
In which two pioneering women and amateur Jungians devise a way to classify sixteen different types of human personality, and Ken explains his Star Trek slash fiction. Certificate #36282.
Oct 28, 2021•1 hr 23 min
Bloody Mose (Entry 134.EZ1106)
In which America's first city for free Black people rises from the salt marshes of Spanish Florida, and John regrets quoting a Monty Python sketch. Certificate #31305.
Oct 26, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Ramtha (Entry 1029.AC1616)
In which the discovery of quantum mechanics leads inevitably to the reappearance of a 30,000-year-old warrior god from a lost continent, and Ken proposes missionaries for silverware. Certificate #27324.
Oct 21, 2021•1 hr 26 min
The Cahokia Mounds (Entry 173.IS2502)
In which a complex of massive earthworks in southern Illinois is assumed to have been built by Vikings, Hindus, or Welshmen, and John is fascinated by sexy voodoo. Certificate #34924.
Oct 19, 2021•1 hr 10 min
The Cheapside Hoard (Entry 210.MT0620)
In which a mysterious treasure is founded in a central London basement, and Ken has a question about the various beads and bangles of Aerosmith. Certificate #7089.
Oct 14, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Potsdam Giants (Entry 972.1S1704)
In which the "soldier king" of Prussia recruits and kidnaps Europe's tallest men to serve as his grenadiers, and John admires "merry" people of every height. Certificate #10109.
Oct 12, 2021•57 min
Merkins (Entry 777.1C1115)
In which we trace the surprisingly long and eventful history of body hair grooming, and Ken wonders if Brad Pitt will be hot forever. Certificate #33732.
Oct 07, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Laetrile (Entry 696.MK1618)
In which apricot pits are discovered to be a cause of cyanide toxicicity rather than a cure for cancer, and John wanders Europe under the protection of a United States Senator. Certificate #527.
Oct 05, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (Entry 182.PS4303)
In which erosion on North Carolina's Outer Banks prompts the government to move a twelve-story lighthouse half a mile inland, and Ken is in favor of shipwrecks when the ships are bad. Certificate #6374.
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 9 min
The Cotsworth Calendar (Entry 283.JB0306)
In which a gifted Yorkshire boy fails to talk the League of Nations into a thirteen-month year, and John thinks autumn gets short shrift. Certificate #25901.
Sep 28, 2021•1 hr 3 min
The Erie War (Entry 424.PR2822)
In which America's richest men invent many, many types of securities fraud while tussling over a New York State railroad, and Ken imagines a zoo full of cows. Certificate #32641.
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Kennewick Man (Entry 683.GN2304)
In which a prehistoric nomad becomes the center of a heated legal battle nine thousand years after his death, and John announces a hydroplane race. Certificate #17567.
Sep 21, 2021•1 hr 12 min
The Town of Bent Necks (Entry 1323.SS0701)
In which two Nazi brothers divide a German town into rival athletic shoe factions, and Ken plans a hotel heist. Certificate #31961.
Sep 16, 2021•1 hr 9 min
The Prince Philip Movement (Entry 987.PS8207)
In which one Melanesian village decides, sight unseen, to worship the Duke of Edinburgh, and the gods imprison John in a small ravine. Certificate #50227.
Sep 14, 2021•58 min
The Wave (Entry 1415.1K0814)
In which the invention of a Bay Area cheerleader becomes science's most exhaustively studied stadium ritual, and Ken doesn't think harbor seals come in different colors. Certificate #4418.
Sep 09, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Middle Initials (Entry 786.LK0161)
In which twentieth-century America becomes the only time and place in history when people drop letters into their names, and John renames himself in the phone book. Certificate #21831.
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 3 min
The Great Diamond Hoax (Entry 548.MT1344)
In which a clever drillbit company accountant cons banking bigwigs into believing an acre of Wyoming is covered in precious gems, and Ken suggests a touching tribute to Paul Anka. Certificate #52348.
Sep 02, 2021•1 hr 18 min
The Chicago Seekers (Entry 213.RV0103)
In which a failed Chicago flying saucer cult leads to a landmark study in social psychology, and John blames religious fervor on diet pills. Certificate #17854.
Aug 31, 2021•1 hr 28 min
The Fresnel Lens (Entry 501.1C1312)
In which an efficient new piece of French glassware changes the history of lighthouses, and Ken learns the exact age of Discovery. Certificate #52246.
Aug 26, 2021•56 min
Goodnight Moon (Entry 539.PR0324)
In which a modernist Manhattan bohemian accidentally writes the great American bedtime story, and John regrets making his professor voice Austrian. Certificate #44141.
Aug 24, 2021•59 min
The Mpemba Effect (Entry 813.JB3829)
In which scientists from Aristotle up to modern-day Tanzania try to understand the paradoxical way water seems to freeze, and Ken thinks baseball should have cheerleaders. Certificate #25481.
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 2 min
The Mafeking Cadet Corps (Entry 746.IS2903)
In which a hero of the Second Boer War turns an ill-advised siege into a worldwide youth movement, and John isn't sure if one can tell time with a cannon. Certificate #31247.
Aug 17, 2021•1 hr 8 min
The Cuyahoga River Fire(s) (Entry 309.IS4302)
In which the American government only gets serious about environmental cleanup after a river in Cleveland bursts into flame well over a dozen times, and Ken believes he could manufacture gravel. Certificate #12398.
Aug 12, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Fiji's Declaration of Independence (Entry 467.EC0306)
In which a Pacific nation loses its founding document and has to ask nicely for a photocopy replacement, and John missed his chance at an assumed identity. Certificate #23621.
Aug 10, 2021•55 min
The Oosik (Entry 868.GN0223)
In which walrus genitals supply an important element to Alaskan folk art, and Ken will not inspect the underside of a wallaby. Certificate #45999.
Aug 05, 2021•59 min
The Next Dalai Lama (Entry 836.MT0208)
In which the uninterrupted 600-year succession of Tibetan Buddhist leadership is threatened by political oppression, and John admires a hat that looks like a banana. Certificate #32762.
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 6 min
The Fulda Gap (Entry 505.2K0316)
In which a series of valleys in central Germany become the focus of Cold War military strategy for generals "fighting the last war," and Ken orders a baby online. Certificate #51668.
Jul 29, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Lieutenant Nun (Entry 718.2C1102)
In which a "Basque transvestite" leaves her San Sebastian convent in 1607 to become one of the most dangerous men in South America, and John thinks an Italian pope would be a little naughtier than a Spanish one. Certificate #11658.
Jul 27, 2021•52 min