Ben discusses the Algonquian and Iroquois people who first settled what would one day become New York State, the coastal geography of New York City, and the arrival of European explorers in North America, including John Cabot, Giovanni da Verrazzano, and Henry Hudson. He also discusses what it means to discover. 

35 New York before the Dutch

Ben talks about the twelve fermions and six bosons that apparently constitute everything.

34 The 18 fundamental particles

Ben argues that facts are mental models and proposes what he calls the spectrum of variability of independently-arrived-at ideas to help explain why some concepts seem too obvious to merit analysis while others seem infinitely fungible. 

33 Facts are ideas

Ben explores how our minds trick us into achieving larger, hidden goals by inspiring us to pursue a series of seemingly unrelated proximal, local goals. He also explores the evolutionary significance of ridicule.

32 Why do we make fun of things?

Ben describes a clever study that made use of the ability of Russians to more quickly discern between shades of blue.

31 Does language shape perception?

Throwin’ My Life Away by Teenage Ninja Kids

Throwin’ My Life Away

Ben tells the story of Pompeii. He begins by exploring the sources of heat that drive plate tectonics and volcanism, then describes the Scramble for the Bay of Naples, the Greek influence on the structures of the Etruscan Altstadt, and how the Etruscans left their mark on the place names of the region. He describes the Temple to Jupiter, the Basilica, and the House of Sallust, each erected in Pompeii by the Oscan-speaking Samnites following their conquest of the region around 500 AD. He describes the changes brought by the Romans following the conquest of the city by Lucius Cornelius Sulla. He describes the House of the Faun, a riot in the amphitheater, and the earthquake and volcanic eruption that silenced the city for more than a millennium and a half. He also describes the rediscovery of Pompeii and the role of nineteenth-century Italian nationalist and archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli in both associating the city with Italian national identity and establishing it as an iconic and haunting symbol of sudden destruction recognized around the world.

30 Pompeii before and after its destruction

Ben surreptitiously brags about correcting an elite academic while explaining that the Three-Fifths Compromise isn’t what you probably think it is and that the First Amendment is first by accident.

29 False Claims

Ben learns that if you kick a quantum field hard enough, fermions come out; sleepwalks 3 mph on the night side of Mercury so that he never has to wake up for work again; and wonders if the universe is just trying to make us feel stupid when it claims to have a beginning but no origin point.

28 Nothing in the middle of nowhere

Ben makes good on his threat. Livin’ in a dump is the first Teenage Ninja Kids recording in about a decade.

Livin’ in a dump

Ben shares the first Teenage Ninja Kids recording in about a decade.

Ben rambles about electricity, Mulder doesn’t trust a local meteorologist, and Sean McQuilken is struck by lightning. Ben and Tim play catch with a trash barrel at Courtney Drive.

A guy in Italy

Ben shares a brief clip of a Teenage Ninja Kids song that he’s working on.

Livin’ in a dump clip

Ben extrapolates from a tedious litany of his own personal spelling errors, discusses Forensic Files episodes featuring mistimed performances, and remembers when the UFC accidentally ran the wrong ad.

Why do I mix up Cato and Cicero?

Ben talks SCOTUS, including the June Medical Services abortion ruling and whether or not there is a constitutional right to the insanity plea. Pope Formosus joins us from beyond the grave for an exclusive interview.

A crazy man from Kansas

A science teacher with a master’s degree in history publicly struggles to make sense of his world and yours.

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Ben

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