Stuff You Should Know

Today we think of Luddites as people who don’t know how to use technology or are maybe even afraid of it. That’s pretty far from what the original Luddites were all about. They were the first workers to fight for fair treatment. They were not successful.

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What in the world is a chupacabra? Is it even real or is it the stuff of legend? Listen in to find out. 

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There is A LOT of made-up stuff on the internet that gets passed off as true. But once in a while something truly odd comes along. Here are three stories of real mysterious events in the internet’s recent history that are yet to be fully explained. 

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Body language is how you communicate without words. Some say it bears more impact in communication than speaking words. In this classic episode, learn about how you say what you say could mean more than you think.

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Cher is an icon, with hits spanning an unbelievable SEVEN decades. So kick back as we laud the singer/actress/legend. 

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Being tarred and feathered is an old trope in America, but the actuality of it was pretty brutal, not the least of which included burning skin. Let's dive into history - now!

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It’s so simple, yet so compelling: you mine blocks and cut down trees to put things together to make cool new stuff. There isn’t really a point and there’s not really a way to win. Minecraft is a non-game and it’s the second-most popular game of all time. 

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Depending on who you talk to, Genghis Khan was either a sadistic madman or one of the great leaders in world history. One thing is sure, he was one of the most advanced military minds of all time. Learn all about him in this classic episode.

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Many of us have experienced the odd sensation that we shouldn’t trust ourselves not to simply jump from a high place for no reason. Some even feel an urge. Philosophers and psychologists have tried to make sense of this senseless urge for centuries now. 

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We know how our skin prunes, but we don't know for sure why. Chuck likes the leading theory, Josh does not. WHO WILL WIN? (nobody)

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Rudolf Diesel was a game changing inventor, though his most famous product was not used how he envisioned it. Listen in and learn about his life and mysterious death.

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Throughout much of the world, the forests are being managed through sustainable timber harvesting practices. This has come at the cost of much legal battling and a century of practice. Find out all about it in this classic episode.

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The car wash you get to ride through on a journey to sparklingness is made of a handful of different tools that have been developed over the last century. They have just now reached the point where it all works together so well the industry is booming.  

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ZIP codes are pretty self-explanatory, but there are all kinds of fun facts around the topic. Listen in to find out.

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You may have his soap in your shower, but what do you know about the man himself? Buckle up, here comes Dr. Bronner!

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In reality, the Tulsa "race riots" of 1921 was more like a massacre. Yet it was almost lost to history until 1997, and still not widely known outside of Oklahoma until HBO's The Watchmen put it on the cultural map. Learn all about this dark chapter in American history in this classic episode.

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The Killdozer rampage is one of those stories you just couldn't make up. Yet it happened. And we're here to tell you the story. 

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Who were the Ritchie Boys? Listen in to find out. 

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Years ago the telephone network was like the internet is to us today: a vast, interconnected means of communicating and sharing information. And, like the internet today, it attracted people who were interested in learning how it worked by hacking it.  

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Caffeine is a heck of a drug - at the same time it's both good and bad for you. Learn the good, bad and ugly about this everyday stimulant in this classic episode.

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Human papilloma virus, HPV, is an unusually common bug among humans. Most of the time it’s benign and your body manages to overcome the infection. Sometimes it can linger and cause warts.  But in the worst cases, HPV infections can actually cause cancer.

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Sitzpinklers - men who sit down to pee - is a big thing in Germany, and a handful of other places. And if Josh and Chuck have any say it’ll catch on like wildfire around the world. 

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The founding of New England by the Puritans is quite a story. Today, we dive into who those people were.

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Becoming the first licensed woman physician in America was tough, convincing male surgeons to wash their hands between patients was even tougher. In this classic episode Josh and Chuck pay tribute to a genuine pioneer in medicine and society.

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Salsa is one of the great inventions of the culinary world. Here in the USA it's mainly a vehicle for tortilla chips. In Mexico, it's more like a sauce to add to, well, anything. Get ready to be hungry!

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If you’re a mobster and you can’t make money off of booze any longer what should you move to next? How about milk?

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There aren’t too many people walking around today who get a pass from the entire world for anything remotely negative they do or say. That’s just how the world receives Jane Goodall, and she’s earned that from a lifetime of building greater human understanding of our animal relatives.

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In this classic episode, we finish revisiting our 2017 tour of the best sights of the ancient world when we get deep into the history of a lighthouse that stood for 1200 years, an unsettling statue of Zeus, the world’s first mausoleum, and Chuck’s favorite, the Colossus of Rhodes!

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Women inventors have always had a tough time, for obvious reasons. So we're here today to pay tribute to those who persevered in the face of the laws and customs that prevented progress. 

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While it sounds like something out of a movie, some POWs in WWII really held an Olympics. And it happened more than once. 

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Dopamine is perhaps the most talked-about, most misunderstood biochemical in our bodies. It’s linked to not only addiction and depravity, but also focus, motivation, and living a productive life. How can one molecule be so many things to so many people?

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If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you know the feeling that occurs when the health inspector pays a visit. While nerve wracking, it's the best insurance patrons have that their food will be prepared and served in a proper environment. Learn all about how these inspections work, from their past history to current incarnation, in this classic episode.

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When paperboys stopped delivering a couple of very big newspapers in 1899 it was a big deal. Big enough that the two biggest publishers in the world got pretty scared. But did it actually accomplish anything? 

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The story of what happened to the car that James Dean crashed.

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Whistling is pretty cool when you think about it because it can mean many things, from simple happy tunes to legit communication. Learn all about this ubiquitous skill today. 

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Long before slide rulers and pocket protectors, civilizations across the world used their noggins to build some impressive structures. Almost all have crumbled to ruins over the millennium, but thanks to the earliest tourists, we admire them still today. Explore some of them with Josh and Chuck in this classic episode.

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Wikipedia changed the world. Before it came along, you had to go to the library to get the answers you sought. And you and your friends had to just agree to disagree on facts. And as the internet grew and commercialized, Wikipedia remains free and open.

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Those armrests in the middle of benches aren’t just for your comfort, they’re intended to keep the homeless from laying on them. Cities are filled with these mean-spirited inconveniences. But who’s to say how a person should use a bench?

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In almost every part of the world, in some form or fashion, widows have things harder than they did when their spouses were alive. In some places it means they pay higher taxes, in others it means they’re ostracized to live on the margins of society.

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About 5,300 years ago a Copper Age shepherd was murdered. He just happened to die in a place where his body was so well preserved that gave researchers an actual shot at determining the course of his final day on Earth. Josh and Chuck take you through their reconstruction in this classic episode.

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Today we take to the friendly skies to detail the fascinating history of air travel. From planes with piano bars and lounges to the current no frills varieties. 

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The peace sign is one of the most globally recognized symbols around today, but it’s only a few decades old. And it wasn’t the hippies who created it, it was a group of Brits dedicated to nuclear disarmament in the 50s.

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When we think of an abused spouse we tend to think of horrific physical or emotional violence. But over the last decade or so, it’s become clear that’s only a symptom – that domestic abuse is in fact an all-consuming form of interpersonal terrorism. 

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It's pretty obvious something's gone wrong when you get a sunburn, but did you know a tan means you've damaged your DNA? Dive into the three Ss of summer and learn all about how to protect yourself from the sun.

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In the last decade American schools became enrapt by a new psychological concept centered on persevering. Things went south when they started attaching funding to it.

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Learn all about the saddest phone notification in today's episode. 

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You've probably been to a symphony performance and wondered, what in the heck are conductors doing up there anyway? Well we're here to explain that as best we can.

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Think tanks? More like stink tanks! We're kidding. Think tanks do valuable work, when they operate in a non-partisan way of course. Learn all about the history of these heady institutions in this classic episode.

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If you grew up in the 70s and 80s in America, you probably have the image of your tattered Guinness Book of Records. The book was ubiquitous then, but is still thriving today in despite the internet. 

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Mudlarking is a uniquely British hobby, though you can dig through river mud anywhere there's a river. But the Thames has the good stuff. 

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