Indigo (Entry 634.GE0913)
In which Sir Isaac Newton adds an extra color to the rainbow to make his mystical, musical math come out right, and John has strong feelings about Satan's marital status. Certificate #26015.
Mar 26, 2019•1 hr 9 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
Egg-Cracking Machines (Entry 398.JE1711)
In which John goes to the Caribbean, learns how cruise ships crack 20,000 eggs in a week, and begins to comparison-shop the amazing Rube Goldberg inventions involved. Certificate #27021.
Mar 21, 2019•55 min
Jeanne Calment (Entry 176.2C0416)
In which an indomitable woman from Provence defies actuaries by living to be 122 years old, shadowy Russian forces try to discredit her, and Ken predicts which Saturday Night Live cast members will be centenarians. Certificate #43762.
Mar 19, 2019•1 hr 11 min
Anything Into Oil (Entry 056.EX3729)
In which one tech company's fondest dream—to turn Butterball turkey offal into light crude oil—remains tantalizingly out of reach, and John and Ken worry about whether they're recycling waxed paper correctly. Certificate #26207.
Mar 14, 2019•1 hr 7 min
Tippi Hedren's Fingernails (Entry 1311.DE2112)
In which a Hollywood ingenue survives her encounters with birds, angry lions, and creepy directors, and survives to become the godmother of one of America's great immigrant business empires. Certificate #28046.
Mar 12, 2019•1 hr 5 min
The Cheesesteak War (Entry 211.PR2306)
In which a hot dog vendor and an anonymous cabbie invent one of the all-time great American foods, giving Philadelphians classic choices like "Whiz or provolone," "wit' onions or wit'out," and "xenophobia or not." Certificate #6594.
Mar 07, 2019•1 hr 9 min
Geomagnetic Reversal (Entry 524.JB3709)
In which the Earth's magnetic field turns the North Pole into the South Pole every few hundred thousand years, and John and Ken discuss what effect this might have on the aurora borealis, ski-bum turtles, and North Dakota tourism. Certificate #41220.
Mar 05, 2019•55 min
Mike the Headless Chicken (Entry 787.MK0616)
In which one seemingly doomed Colorado rooster lucks into a kind of zombie Charlotte's Web scenario, and Ken and John disagree over whether a "meat puppet" is a kind of food. Certificate #21086.
Feb 28, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Honest Dick (Entry 596.EX2208)
In which the most trusted man in the state of Kentucky disappears with tobacco sacks full of the state treasury, and John and Ken discover which prominent U.S. government official is almost always a Latina. Certificate #23421.
Feb 26, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Freighthopping (Entry 500.AM0812)
In which the American railroad provides a semi-legal travel network for millions of migrant laborers, and John explains how a sufficiently blond mustache on a young hobo can ward off evil. Certificate #14946.
Feb 21, 2019•1 hr 4 min
The Foreign Legion (Entry 490.2S1519)
In which the French army accepts thousands of rogues and ne'er-do-wells from all over the world, giving them white helmets and a whole lot of wine, and Ken suggests a new method for reheating Hot Pockets. Certificate #36749.
Feb 19, 2019•1 hr 6 min
Jacqueline Cochran (Entry 238.RV1214)
In which one driven girl from the backwoods of Georgia changes the face of aviation, Ken roasts astronaut Scott Carpenter, and John skips class to judge an essay contest. Certificate #39584.
Feb 14, 2019•1 hr 8 min
The Bodies of Mount Everest (Entry 138.JE1316)
In which travelers to one of the most dangerous places on earth leave so many casualties behind in the "Death Zone" that they literally become part of the map. Certificate #7505.
Feb 12, 2019•57 min
(LIVE) Yngwie Malmsteen (Entry 753.JE1022)
In which a skilled but self-absorbed Swedish musician leaves his homeland to become a guitar god, and John explains his theory about how neoclassicism ruined rock. Certificate #26394.
Feb 07, 2019•33 min
(LIVE) Extremely Overdue Library Books (Entry 445.2T0413)
In which countless scofflaws, including George Washington, rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in library fines, and Ken takes home a "spite book." Certificate #29342.
Feb 05, 2019•40 min
Flagpole Sitters (Entry 474.1S1013)
In which Syrian ascetics and American steeplejacks alike enjoy the weirdest fad of all time, and Ken angers marathon runners. Certificate #45561.
Jan 31, 2019•1 hr 11 min
Samantha Smith (Entry 1178.IS1106)
In which a fifth-grader from Maine becomes a diplomatic sensation after writing a nervous letter to Moscow, and John remembers the only fan letter he ever wrote. Certificate #35519.
Jan 29, 2019•1 hr 7 min
The Twins of Benin (Entry 1353.GN2524)
In which we learn that one very specific region of West Africa produces more twins than anywhere else on earth, which could be due to heredity, yams, or, in Ken's mind, a mysterious glowing meteorite. Certificate #29437.
Jan 24, 2019•1 hr 9 min
The Kilogram (Entry 686.DE2513)
In which the dreams of the French Revolution are finally fulfilled by modern physicists eager to re-define science itself from scratch, which probably triggered the alien landing in May 2019. Certificate #37545.
Jan 22, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Trucker Culture (Entry 1343.MT2514)
In which a gas crisis and an early social media network conspire to make long-haul truck drivers national heroes, and Ken gives a big 10-4 to a heroic trucker named "Fuzzy." Certificate #25007.
Jan 17, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Vice Versa (Entry 1393.EP0423)
In which we read the Victorian novel that, a century later, would start an avalanche of body-swapping movie comedies, and John tries to debunk the blind prophet Tiresias. Certificate #30972.
Jan 15, 2019•1 hr 13 min
Queen Victoria's Grandchildren (Entry 1020.IS1418)
In which we follow up on the forty-two offspring of the "grandmother of Europe," including the one who led Germany into World War I and the one who might have been Jack the Ripper. Certificate #26374.
Jan 10, 2019•59 min
Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech (Entry 305.RM1219)
In which a revenge-crazed football coach runs up a 222-0 score against a squad of random law students and townies, and John explains why his go-to comedy move is dropping his pants. Certificate #26347.
Jan 08, 2019•1 hr 10 min
Track 61 (Entry 1324.EZ0808)
In which Franklin Roosevelt builds a secret, private train station under the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and John almost defects to East Germany in a gaily colored ski jacket. Certificate #33725.
Jan 03, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Snowflakes (Entry 1181.PS14716)
In which a Vermont farmer unveils to the world a natural beauty of crystalline perfection that's been hiding in plain sight, and Ken and John decide to slander Buzz Aldrin for some reason. Certificate #16919.
Jan 01, 2019•49 min
The Turboencabulator (Entry 1348.IS2811)
In which we study the spurving bearings and hydrocoptic marzlevanes of the made-up machine that brought technobabble to the masses, and John actually encourages Ken to talk about Star Trek for a change. Certificate #45305.
Dec 27, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Thomas Nast (Entry 825.JB1534)
In which one Gilded Age influencer puts Santa at the North Pole because he hates slavery so much and runs New York's most powerful man out of town on a rail because he hates the Irish so much. Certificate #33423.
Dec 25, 2018•1 hr 9 min
The Christmas Truce (Entry 220.LK0214)
In which peace and holiday good will break out on the western front in 1914, partly due to the work of suffragettes, and it changes the tourism industry forever. Also, Ken defends fruitcake. Certificate #31405.
Dec 20, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Telling the Bees (Entry 1285.PR2413)
In which we explore one of the weirdest funeral superstitions of pagan Europe, and John explains why he likes to retell Aesop's Fables from the bad guys' point of view. Certificate #44411.
Dec 18, 2018•59 min
Patrick Nagel (Entry 823.SS0115)
In which one artist redefines eroticism for the MTV generation, and John gets stuck with a very overpriced piece of Duran Duran memorabilia. Certificate #31513.
Dec 13, 2018•1 hr 8 min