Montaigne was wrong about almost everything, which is the point
The essay was invented by a man who kept changing his mind in public and refused to tidy it up afterwards. An argument for writing that admits it…
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-4:28
Every episode
Every one is playable here, and every one has a transcript you can search.
Rain on the canal, and the wrong kind of paddle
A canoe, two men who have not thought this through, and several hundred miles of Belgian canal. On the particular misery of being rained on in a boat…
0:00
-3:34
Why heat changes everything about a carrot
Cooking is chemistry that people were doing for thousands of years before anyone could say why it worked. On starch, cell walls, and the difference between boiling and…
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-3:07
The road the padres built, and what got built on top of it
A chain of missions a day apart on horseback became a chain of towns a day apart by car, and then a freeway. What a road decides for…
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-4:01
Full speed ahead, and nobody at the wheel
A short one. What actually happens in the engine room when the bridge asks for more, and why the answer used to involve shouting.
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-1:33
Annie Oakley could shoot, but that is not the story
What a person becomes famous for and what they were actually doing are usually two different jobs. On performance, poverty, and being the most photographed woman of your…
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-5:02