Cow Magnets (Entry 289.JL0118)
In which we learn that ruminants are eating a lot more metal nowadays than they used to, and that Ken would like to have a gravel spoon at dinner. Certificate #28929
Mar 05, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Omnibus
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Episodes
Longitudinal Film (Entry 734.PS9010)
In which British documentarians and Austin slackers alike use the movies to unveil the mysteries of aging and mortality, and John leaves a series of women waiting for him at train stations in Spain. Certificate #48149
Mar 03, 2020•1 hr 19 min
Hands Across America (Entry 565.PR1121)
In which the 1980s fad for charity pop singles inspires an ambitious geographic stunt, and Ken plans a foolproof way to assassinate Jamie Farr. Certificate #26004
Feb 27, 2020•1 hr 14 min
Operation Just Cause (Entry 869.EZ4510)
In which the bizarre 1989 American invasion of Panama kicks off our modern era of on-the-nose Pentagon naming conventions, and John is reminded of a dominatrix, as usual. Certificate #19345.
Feb 25, 2020•52 min
Trafalgar vs. Carmania (Entry 1325.IS2314)
In which the First World War begins in an unexpected fashion, with two ocean liners blowing holes in each other off the coast of Brazil, and Ken gets gaslit into buying a tuxedo. Certificate #32056.
Feb 20, 2020•1 hr 4 min
The Dogon (Entry 369.DE0419)
In which an African tribe proves so eager to please that they convince generations of ethnographers that alien visitors from Sirius are real, and John gets annoyed that ancient astronauts never invented baseball. Certificate #26731.
Feb 18, 2020•58 min
Cincinnati Chili (Entry 223.2K0440)
In which an early fast food boom, Greek immigration, and (of course) the World's Fair conspire to trick Ohioans into redefining "chili," and John gets justifiably upset about bananas on spaghetti. Certificate #24598.
Feb 13, 2020•49 min
Snow Valley, Oklahoma (Entry 1182.JB2419)
In which a Vermonter with an ill-conceived dream brings skiiing very briefly to the Sooner State, and Ken attempts to secure his family some very rare Pokemon cards. Certificate #17398.
Feb 11, 2020•1 hr 13 min
The Tootsie Pop Indian (Entry 1317.LA0312)
In which an American candy company refuses to honor a longstanding bit of playground lollipop lore, and Ken tries to calculate the homeopathic healing power of Tootsie Rolls. Certificate #33486.
Feb 06, 2020•1 hr 10 min
Chastity Belts (Entry 209.LV2113)
In which Renaissance satirists and modern amateur historians accidentally create a physiologically impossible medieval device, and John has a theory about locksmiths and cocaine. Certificate #49406.
Feb 04, 2020•55 min
Coppicing (Entry 276.PS8015)
In which a forgotten medieval art of tree-harvesting is revived by the sustainability movement, and Ken blames the coming environmental catastrophe on "sugar energy." Certificate #22560.
Jan 30, 2020•49 min
Harry Dexter White (Entry 1428.LK0817)
In which the American architect of post-World War II global capitalism turns out to have a dark and traitorous secret, and John imagines he would be a huge hassle for his spy handlers. Certificate #25923.
Jan 28, 2020•1 hr 9 min
The Death of Trolleys (Entry 320.GN4519)
In which we find General Motors and its corporate co-conspirators not guilty on the charge of killing American streetcar lines, and Ken gets very excited about funicular railways. Certificate #14871.
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 2 min
George Bush's Crack Dealer (Entry 524.JB1808)
In which the president of the United States lies to the nation about how he got three ounces of crack cocaine into the Oval Office, and John is asked to leave a crime scene. Certificate #34620.
Jan 21, 2020•56 min
Backgammon (Entry 090.EX2816)
In which an ancient Mesopotamian board game briefly becomes a 1970s signifier for glamour and sophistication, and Ken's life is changed by an intense childhood game of Clue. Certificate #31179.
Jan 16, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Masquerade (Entry 763.PS10424)
In which an outsider artist hides a rabbit by a statue and thereby gets a million people to start digging up the English countryside, and John "man-solves" a Satanic temple. Certificate #14162.
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 8 min
The Tech Model Railroad Club (Entry 1282.1C1220)
In which a room full of MIT train nerds becomes ground zero for modern American hacker culture and computer architecture, and Ken blames Star Wars for ruining children's toys. Certificate #33564.
Jan 09, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Byzantine Rhinokopia (Entry 170.JB4102)
In which the Byzantine throne is contested by various Machiavellian schemes willing to mutilate the noses of their political rivals, and John reveals which Marx brother he is most sexually attracted to. Certificate #34954.
Jan 07, 2020•48 min
Fort Knox (Entry 493.2CH0913)
In which a World War I army camp in northern Kentucky is chosen to house over $200 billion in gold bullion, and Ken proposes nationalizing America's safety deposit boxes. Certificate #2504.
Jan 02, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Induced Demand (Entry 637.EZ1704)
In which we learn why new highway lanes, no matter how spacious, tend to fill to capacity within weeks of opening, and John takes on a hypothetical megacorporation called Goober. Certificate #38938.
Dec 31, 2019•1 hr 6 min
The Leafblower (Entry 707.DA0414)
In which ecologically problematic outdoor power tools accidentally become an official part of the Omnibus, all because John's neighbor refuses to call "Leafbusters." Certificate #25458.
Dec 26, 2019•51 min
The Christmas Pickle (Entry 220.IS0108)
In which a Spokane antique store creates a fake Bavarian holiday tradition from scratch, and John's beard makes him look bigger. Certificate #31503.
Dec 24, 2019•1 hr 4 min
The Max Headroom Intrusion (Entry 767.JB2415)
In which we examine the broadcast-jamming fad of the 1980s, including a puzzling incident involving a masked Chicago prankster, and Ken wants to be a font cop. Certificate #29692.
Dec 19, 2019•1 hr 19 min
Interferon (Entry 652.PS10303)
In which a strange, sticky new protein is declared—on the basis of very little evidence—to be a cure-all in the war against cancer, and Ken refuses to make the necessary sacrifices to become a skateboarding star. Certificate #40478.
Dec 17, 2019•54 min
Ada Lovelace (Entry ADA737PR3118)
In which a 19th-century countess overcomes her father's scandalous celebrity and her mother's love of parallelograms to become the world's first computer programmer, and John comes to regret renaming Alexa. Certificate #46507.
Dec 12, 2019•1 hr 21 min
Square Dancing (Entry 1211.JB2111)
In which we learn that America's love affair with do-si-dos is a relatively recent and artificial form of nostalgia jump-started by Henry Ford's hatred for jazz, and Ken misremembers "krumping." Certificate #42537.
Dec 10, 2019•54 min
The Toyota Hilux (Entry 1323.JG0119)
In which an oddly named model of Toyota pickup becomes the truck of choice for Marty McFly, Top Gear fans, polar explorers, and ISIS. Certificate #16197
Dec 05, 2019•1 hr 1 min
The Duchess of Bedford (Entry 383.PR2301)
In which one of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting atones for her gossip scandals at court by inventing a brand new meal, and John blames museum docents for all his schedule problems. Certificate #48479.
Dec 03, 2019•1 hr
Mother Jones (Entry 675.MK0333)
In which an Irish immigrant pretending to be an old lady becomes a star of the American labor movement, and Ken ponders the death of middle initials. Certificate #12952.
Nov 28, 2019•1 hr 9 min
The Rite of Spring Riot (Entry 1076.EZ2613)
In which Ken blames the weirdest ballet premiere of all time on class warfare, bad hair and costuming choices, and anti-Russian xenophobia, and John renames the sport of gymnastics. Certificate #31616.
Nov 26, 2019•1 hr 9 min
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