White Trains (Entry 1429.IS1305)
In which the Department of Energy decides upon a bizarre way to transport nuclear warheads, and Ken applauds the conservation of Cold War consonants. Certificate #25154.
Oct 01, 2020•1 hr 12 min
Omnibus
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Episodes
Mary Kay Pink Cadillacs (Entry 762.2K0930)
In which a feisty Texan single mom comes up with the gimmick that puts a friendly face on the appalling direct sales industry, and John recommends kicking a bear. Certificate #29266.
Sep 29, 2020•1 hr 17 min
Take Ivy (Entry 1274.LK1619)
In which the Platonic ideal of American "prep" fashion catches on with Japanese hipsters before it does back home, and Ken finds someone to blame for his short Uniqlo pants. Certificate #21125.
Sep 24, 2020•1 hr 3 min
The Three Governors (Entry 1302.MK0934)
In which a 1946 election in George results in chaos, fraud, public drunkenness, and broken furniture, and John decides to become a potato-hating beekeeper in retirement. Certificate #27176.
Sep 22, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Article the First (Entry 070.JE0705)
In which the very first amendment to the Bill of Rights, outlining the future of U.S. government, gets forgotten on its path to ratification, and Ken insults Delaware. Certificate #21125.
Sep 17, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Generic Food (Entry 521.JB1817)
In which a hilariously minimalistic grocery ghetto blooms in no-frills Carter-era America, and John chases a memory of uniformed women plying him with cheese cubes. Certificate #34402.
Sep 15, 2020•1 hr
Joe Meek (Entry 771.PS2509)
In which the art of music recording is revolutionized by a troubled British record producer who doesn't read or play music, and Ken can't really think of any guitar pedals. Certificate #37241.
Sep 10, 2020•1 hr 19 min
The Garbage Barge (Entry 515.LA0345)
In which our modern recycling fervor is shaped by a mob boss who can't find a port for three thousand tons of Long Island garbage, and John has a dining room full of tin. Certificate #26561.
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Change of Gauge (Entry 206.LV2733)
In which the nightmarish complexity of the world's non-standardized rail systems is marveled at, and Ken hatches a zeppelin-related plan to resurrect Dame Agatha Christie. Certificate #48966.
Sep 03, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Dragnet (Entry 378.TI0301)
In which a single TV series builds the modern image of American police as righteous and efficient, despite much evidence to the contrary, and John uses its theme song in the bedroom. Certificate #35498.
Sep 01, 2020•1 hr
The Duke of Anjou (Entry 386.EC0804)
In which we trace the convoluted, "kooky-wawa" genealogy that identifies the Spanish playboy banker who should be sitting the French throne, and John wants to be a ski-town sheriff. Certificate #24409.
Aug 27, 2020•1 hr 24 min
Billboards (Entry 121.DA0403)
In which we study the history of oversized roadside advertising all the way from ancient Egypt to Blade Runner, and Ken is skeptical about yellow-and-green election posters. Certificate #50861.
Aug 25, 2020•1 hr 8 min
German Telegrams (Entry 525.PR2606)
In which a century of German diplomacy is repeatedly hamstrung by their inept telegraphy-related decisions, and Ken has some notes about the poster for Jaws 2. Certificate #51969.
Aug 20, 2020•1 hr 22 min
Marilyn vos Savant (Entry 1403.PR1401)
In which the dark days of the 1980s are brightened by the sudden appearance in Sunday newspaper supplements of the world's smartest person, and John tries to buy a mean t-shirt about Ken. Certificate #51993.
Aug 18, 2020•1 hr 26 min
George Washington's Teeth (Entry 524.JB4114)
In which the we learn that that story of America's most famous false teeth is upsetting for reasons that go way beyond dental pain, and Ken calls George Washington the ultimate NIMBY. Certificate #35120.
Aug 13, 2020•57 min
Lilith (Entry 721.LK1420)
In which puzzled medieval rabbis decide that it's not Adam and Eve—it's Adam and Lilith and Eve and Eve, and John wonders if anyone ate beets in the Garden of Eden. Certificate #14309.
Aug 11, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Ronco (Entry 1081.MI0303)
In which a kitchen gadgeteer harnesses the power of late-night television to create a new American art form, the infomercial--but wait, there's more! Ken thinks music shouldn't come from a scarf. Certificate #32041.
Aug 06, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Vesna Vulovic (Entry 1404.EC0410)
In which a stubborn Yugoslavian air hostess sets a world record by surviving a six-mile fall from the sky, and John misplaces the Carpathians. Certificate #33008.
Aug 04, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Dutch Elm Disease (Entry 388.JL0112)
In which America's forests and suburbs are ravaged by a strange invader brought by bark beetles, and Ken insists on comparing tree sap to mucus even though no one wants that. Certificate #27612.
Jul 30, 2020•58 min
Sister Cities (Entry 1165.AM0408)
In which post-war trauma and idealism inspire world cities to try a new kind of diplomacy, and John has big plans for Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Certificate #39656.
Jul 28, 2020•1 hr 17 min
Project MK-Ultra (Entry 993.HB0111)
In which the CIA becomes convinced that acid-laced cocktails are the solution to all our Cold War intelligence problems, and Ken suggests a new variant of foosball. Certificate #28598.
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 14 min
The Tibetan Memory Trick (Entry 1306.NU0774)
In which a Victorian parlor game about poultry and tweezers blossoms into a tongue twister, a comedy act, and a broadcasting test, and John tunes a guitar because Frank Zappa isn't available. Certificate #34596.
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 14 min
The Phoebus Cartel (Entry 931.JN0905)
In which an evil cabal of lightbulb manufacturers realizes they can sell more product if bulbs burn out faster, and Ken decides he invented Teddy Ruxpin. Certificate #24473..
Jul 16, 2020•58 min
The Guru Letters (Entry 557.PR0513)
In which a Siberia-obsessed Russian mystic counts a future U.S. vice president among his acolytes, and John offers up our softest poets to the mosquitoes of Alaska. Certificate #43738.
Jul 14, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Hanky Codes (Entry 566.EZ1321)
In which we look back at the complex and clandestine history of sexual signaling in gay culture, and Ken thinks a lot of decades have the wrong adjectives. Certificate #34366.
Jul 09, 2020•1 hr 19 min
Fletcherizing (Entry 478.AC0754)
In which a Victorian food faddist persuades America and Europe to chew each bite of onion over seven hundred times, and John discovers what Woodrow Wilson would look like if he were an embezzler. Certificate #32596.
Jul 07, 2020•1 hr 12 min
Deborah Sampson (Entry 1100.JG0512)
In which a patriotic young colonist serves bravely in the American Revolution without anyone realizing she's secretly a woman, and Ken accuses a lot of deadbeat dads of doing murders in Maine. Certificate #37232.
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr 19 min
Thomas the Tank Engine (Entry 1300.TI0209)
In which children's love of model trains is reinvigorated in our era by an odd British TV property with an odd British ideology, and John thinks helicopters are probably hippies. Certificate #49600.
Jun 30, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Sea Silk (Entry 1120.EX3816)
In which surprisingly large mussels provide the world's finest cloth to a shrinking number of old Mediterranean women, and Ken wonders what a Tibetan antelope smells like. Certificate #29379.
Jun 25, 2020•1 hr 6 min
The 504 Sit-In (Entry 473.LK1413)
In which the Carter Administration waffles so long on a groundbreaking civil rights law that disabled protestors take over a federal building for almost a month, and John considers building a maze full of wolverines. Certificate #30708.
Jun 23, 2020•1 hr 5 min
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