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Omnibus

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{"_":"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.\r\n","$":{"audioboom:html":"1"}}
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Episodes

Bigfoot Hoaxers (Entry 120.2K0108)

In which southwest Washington State becomes the epicenter for lazy Sasquatch fakes, and Ken explains how the Jersey Devil probably reproduces. Certificate #17742.

Jan 28, 20211 hr 20 min

Operation Ajax (Entry 869.PR2904)

In which a presidential grandchild with a reasonable CIA departmental budget is all it takes to overthrow Iran, and John reveals the only downside of firing a howitzer. Certificate #39131.

Jan 26, 20211 hr 10 min

The River of Doubt (Entry 1076.PS7208)

In which Teddy Roosevelt and his son celebrate the end of his manly presidency by almost dying in South America, and Ken is tricked into discussing Mato Grosso. Certificate #27531.

Jan 21, 20211 hr 9 min

Allegheny Time (Entry 032.MT2436)

In which a series of traumatic train accidents and a broke astronomer conspire to re-invent time as a flat circle, and John accidentally attends a clock unveiling. Certificate #13818.

Jan 19, 202159 min

Otokichi (Entry 879.2C1125)

In which a freak Pacific storm in 1832 makes one young castaway an unusual ambassador for the Empire of Japan, and Ken is unable to justify the Gospel of John. Certificate #37850.

Dec 31, 20201 hr 5 min

Woodstock '99 (Entry 1441.IS2808)

In which a fiery apocalypse outside Rome, New York marks the cultural endpoint of the 1990s, and John spends his whole childhood reading about armaments in Janes publications. Certificate #27287.

Dec 29, 20201 hr 19 min

Kon-Tiki (Entry 692.MT1424)

In which a Norwegian amateur anthropologist sails a raft from Peru to Polynesia to push a pet theory, and Ken covets ink and gold. Certificate #18688.

Dec 24, 20201 hr 18 min

The War Before This One (Entry 1409.NH0109)

In which we follow the long, strange journey that finally got World War I and World War II their names, and John goes for drinks with his high school principal. Certificate #24737.

Dec 22, 20201 hr 18 min

Slab City (Entry 1170.IS3501)

In which itinerant snowbirds turn an abandoned desert naval base into a trash-mountain utopia, and Ken hopes a nuke lands on his head. Certificate #33204.

Dec 17, 20201 hr 10 min

Carlo Gesualdo (Entry 526.HE1304)

In which modernity discovers a late Renaissance composer with a history of ahead-of-his-time harmonies and lurid murder, and John scats like Cab Calloway after midnight. Certificate #39859.

Dec 15, 20201 hr 17 min

The Guardian Angels (Entry 554.EX2320)

In which a Brooklyn-born fast food manager slaps some paramilitary berets on local kids and starts a new community policing movement, and Ken wonders how to allocate the stripes on the American flag. Certificate #25639.

Dec 10, 20201 hr 10 min

B. Traven (Entry 1332.PR2502)

In which we trace at least four secret identities of the most reclusive novelist in literary history, and John gets a terrible fake ID from the fake ID store. Certificate #39453.

Dec 08, 20201 hr 9 min

Dingbat Apartments (Entry 351.AC2830)

In which we learn why Los Angeles and other post-war American cities have tens of thousands of the same apartment complex, and Ken wonders where Philip Johnson's water heater is. Certificate #25380.

Dec 03, 20201 hr 7 min

Ultrarunning (Entry 1357.IS4031)

In which a throwback British baronet (sort of) completes seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive days, and John runs like a rhinoceros. Certificate #20800.

Dec 01, 20201 hr 12 min

The DeLorean Cocaine Bust (Entry 330.JB1810)

In which Detroit's first "cool" car executive almost goes to jail in an attempt to save his weird car and foundering company, and Ken says it's okay for kids to climb into refrigerators now. Certificate #36728.

Nov 26, 20201 hr 20 min

Elizabeth Nietzsche (Entry 837.EX0204)

In which a Prussian schoolteacher's wife founds a failed anti-Semitic utopia in Paraguay and creates fascism's favorite philosopher, and John wants to keep Nazis off the Moon at all costs. Certificate #42582.

Nov 24, 20201 hr 5 min

Cottagecore (Entry 283.ZP0206)

In which we look at the long history of romanticizing rural life, from the Enlightenment all the way up to today's Instagram lesbians, and Ken accuses Thoreau of "glamping." Certificate #45989.

Nov 19, 20201 hr 10 min

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon (Entry 088.MK1472)

In which we learn what causes the "frequency illusion" of recently learned facts immediately reappearing into view, and John has too many books on his bed for romance. Certificate #36846.

Nov 17, 20201 hr 13 min

The Baader-Meinhof Gang (Entry 088.EZ2736)

In which far-left European terrorism of the 1970s produces West Germany's own Marxist-Leninist "Bonnie and Clyde," and Ken feels bad for that kissing nurse in Times Square. Certificate #26524.

Nov 12, 20201 hr 21 min

The Cavendish Banana (Entry 197.JU0112)

In which we learn that the massive global banana export market is a precarious monoculture doomed to disaster because of a tiny fungus, and John thinks Sean Young might be a time traveler. Certificate #26039.

Nov 10, 20201 hr 2 min

Wampum (Entry 1408.DE0206)

In which the intricate bead culture of the Eastern Woodlands tribes confuses new British and Dutch arrivals, and Ken refuses to let Thomas Jefferson make him be a farmer. Certificate #31448.

Nov 05, 20201 hr 11 min

Election Ties (Entry 400.1CH2508)

In which we learn what governments do when election results come back exactly tied, and John swings a Seattle mayoral election by asking for directions. Certificate #30371.

Nov 03, 20201 hr 20 min

Mensa (Entry 775.PR1320)

In which the era of intelligence testing produces an Oxford-based society for smarty-pants who, it turns out, mostly want to solve puzzles, and Ken is shamed for identifying an antelope. Certificate #43519.

Oct 29, 20201 hr 22 min

C-Day (Entry 198.MT2527)

In which the U.S. military battles black marketing and currency destabilization by paying Korea- and Vietnam-era servicemembers in play money, and John learns about a 1990s fad for the first time. Certificate #46965.

Oct 27, 202052 min

The Day the Clown Cried (Entry 317.PS12605)

In which an unfinished Holocaust "dramedy" gains a reputation as the worst movie ever made even though no one has ever seen it, and Ken thinks a lot about dog poop. Certificate #46512.

Oct 22, 20201 hr 21 min

Eliza (Entry 404.LK0247)

In which an MIT professor worried about a digital future accidentally creates the field of human-machine conversation, and John flirts with a 54-year-old computer program. Certificate #36441.

Oct 20, 20201 hr 15 min

Cynthia Plaster Caster (Entry 949.JE4817)

In which a shy Chicago student becomes one of the most famous rock fans in America by virtue of her anatomically correct artwork, and John offers Ken an unwanted present. Certificate #30889.

Oct 15, 20201 hr 9 min

Washington, CSA (Entry 1412.MT1225)

In which a doddering general saves America from an alarming alternate history in which the Confederacy takes over the nation instead of seceding, and Ken objurgates against several things (but especially slavery). Certificate #15899.

Oct 13, 20201 hr 4 min

Seawise Giant (Entry 1121.AC2718)

In which an unnamed Greek shipping magnate "jumbo-izes" an oil tanker so big that it can't even navigate the English Channel, and John ponders digging a canal between Seattle and Omaha. Certificate #36640.

Oct 08, 20201 hr 10 min

Aztec Death Whistles (Entry 088.PS5502)

In which thousands of Mesoamerican "toys" in museums around the world turn out to be terrifying vessels for the screams of wind and death, and Ken dreams of wearing "Bespin fatigues." Certificate #34995.

Oct 06, 20201 hr 12 min
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