Your Brain on Facts

YBOF's gonna take a break for a month or two. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How hard was it to steal the Mona Lisa? What does the word "ponzi" actually mean? Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Chronic health problems sometime require an encore performance of a past episode.) Hundreds dead, thousands homeless, entire communities wiped out, yet most of us have never heard of what happened in Rosewood 1923, Tulsa 1921, or Chicago 1919. Music by Kevin MacLeod Read the full script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do limestone, leather, plastic and mulberry tree bark have in common? They've all been used to make money, plus lots of other materials besides! Join me for a quick jaunt around the world and through history and we look at a fraction of the history of currency. Shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Steve Oxen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who was General Tsao of chicken fame? Where do Danish pastries come from? Is pad Thai actually Thai food? All that and more in this patron-voted episode! 1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did rubber ducks go from lumps of rubber that didn't even float to a cheerful childhood staple? Let's look at where they came from, where they're going, and why they keep showing up at violent political protests. 1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross 00:38 Bit of backstory 07:13 Bert's best buddy 10:25 Review, patrons, thanks! 12:00 Ducks for charity or science 17:58 Giant ducks, wild and domestic 20:16 Can You Hear The Duckies Sing? 22:45 THE Rubber Duck Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finally, I get to the subtopic that launched not one but two episodes, the Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet, as well as the most interesting boring thing I could find and why science didn't get a handle on scurvy until nearly WWII. (Apologies in advance because I was red-lining my mic throughout and I have no idea why -- I'd been doing VO jobs all day with no such issue.) 1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross 01:03 Ye scurvy dog 08:27 Gratitude et al 11:30 The doldrums 15:49 Livestream for the Cure 17:46 The Gentleman Pirate, Stede Bonnet Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What started as a need to tell the real story of "Gentleman Pirate" Stede Bonnet has turned into a myth vs history two-parter! I love when that happens. Hear about pirate pensions, the makeup of the mariners, and civil unions on the seven seas. Special thanks to Charlie and Jesse over the in Brainiac Breakroom for help with the title. 1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, and Tabletop Audio Calm History Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the return of our occasional series, We Can't Have Nice Things. This week, we look at radio contest and promotions that went badly wrong, often at the draft stage. Free nude wedding anyone? 1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross at yourbrainonfacts.com/merch 02:45 Radio Luxembourg's Ice Block Challenge 06:02 Bait & switch 10:12 Rules are rules 17:36 Review and news 20:40 No accounting for taste 22:15 Library of Chaos 27:27 Good, better, breast 30:08 Playing matchmaker Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Bobby Richards . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the return of our ocassional series, We Can't Have Nice Things. This week, we look at radio contest and promotions that went badly wrong, often at the draft stage. Free nude wedding anyone? 1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross at yourbrainonfacts.com/merch 02:45 Radio Luxembourg's Ice Block Challenge 06:02 Bait & switch 10:12 Rules are rules 17:36 Review and news 20:40 No accounting for taste 22:15 Library of Chaos 27:27 Good, better, breast 30:08...

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear leather jackets with chains, long hair, and lots of eyeliner! Today we look at three times heavy metal musicians said "We're not gonna take it" and defended the freedom of speech, but were they "Breaking the Law" and just "Howl(ing) at the Moon"? 0:42 Twisted Sister vs Congress 17:07 Reviews and news 19:58 Ozzy Osbourne's Suicide Solution 26:20 Judas Priest, Better Than You 28:28 Subliminal back-masking 1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money...

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear leather jackets with chains, long hair, and lots of eyeliner! Today we look at three times heavy metal musicians said "We're not gonna take it" and defended the freedom of speech, but were they "Breaking the Law" and just "Howl(ing) at the Moon"? 0:42 Twisted Sister vs Congress 17:07 Reviews and news 19:58 Ozzy Osbourne's Suicide Solution 26:20 Judas Priest, Better Than You 28:28 Subliminal back-masking 1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross at yourbrainonfacts.com/merch Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross. It's another one of those episodes all about a topic that sounds totally mundane and boring! Where did apples come from? Was Johnny Appleseed real? Why does planting apple seeds lead to disappointment? And why are some apples considered intellectual property? Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or...

People used to say "If you believe that, I have some swampland in Florida to sell you," but they really should have said, "I have some lovely acres in the Republic of Poyais you can buy, but you have to act now!" Presenting one of my favorite con artists ever, the man who declared himself prince of a South American country that didn't exist, Gregor MacGregor (yes, that's really his name). Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Want to start a podcast or need a better podcast host? Get up to TWO months hosting for free from Libsyn with coupon code "moxie." Remember back in episode 155, Hate to Burst your Bubble, we talked about, among other things, the Florida real estate boom and bust of the 1920s? It’s where we get the phrase, “if you believe that, I have some real estate in Florida to sell you.” 100 years before that, we could have been saying, “I have some acreage in Poyais to sell you.” Never been to Poyais? Trust me, it’s amazing. The weather is always perfect, sunny and warm. Located along the eastern coast of present-day Nicaragua and Honduras, the soil of Poyais is so fertile, you can get three harvests of corn a year. The trees are heavy with fruit and the forests teem with entrees in the form of game animals. If you look into the rivers, you’ll not only see water cleaner and more pure than you’ve ever seen in your life and more fish than you could hope to catch, but in the river bed, the sparkle of gold fills your eyes, not from flecks and dust, but nuggets as big as walnuts, just laying there, waiting for you to scoop them up. The only thing missing is settlers to develop and leverage its resources to the fullest. Wanna get your share? Better hurry; hundreds of people are investing all their savings in a piece of the perfect Poyais. All you have to do is [] to the Cazique or prince. Who is the prince of this equatorial new world paradise? A Scotsman named Gregor MacGregor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MOXIE - Enter promo code MOXIE for 83% off and 3 extra months free!) T-shirt for Ukraine, all proceeds and matching donation to Ukraine Red Cross at yourbrainonfacts.com/merch There are four Sundays a month, but more than a dozen days we call "Black Sunday." Here are three -- two forces of nature and one parade of schadenfreude. 02:42 Black Blizzard 12:45 Bondi Beach 24:42 Disneyland Quote reader: Vlado from It's Not Rocket Surgery Promo: Remnant Stew Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Dan Lebowitz, Kevin MacLeod, Want to start a podcast or need a better podcast host? Get up to TWO months hosting for free from Libsyn with coupon code "moxie." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who you gonna believe -- me or your lying eyes? Today we look at court cases where people try to avoid taxes by arguing that things aren't the things that they clearly are. 00:50 Tomato 08:18 Jaffa Cakes 17:48 Hydrox vs Oreo 37:40 X-Men Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Want to start a podcast or need a better podcast host? Get up to TWO months hosting for free from Libsyn with coupon code "moxie." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Patrons have a nose for good topics, so today we 07:04 Smells and space 14:40 Ham-sniffer 21:17 It's the pits 30:48 Aromatherapy Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, and The Mini Vandals. Sources: https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/premium-iberian-ham-sniffers-are-tired-from-sniffing-so-much-ham https://www.rd.com/article/outer-space-smell/ https://www.gentside.co.uk/food/spains-ham-sniffers-prepare-for-a-hectic-season-sniffing-800-hams-daily_art8817.html https://www.rd.com/article/outer-space-smell/ https://www.rd.com/list/foods-banned-space/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EBdhpSh7_I&ab_channel=Mashable https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/emergency/chemical_terrorism/cyanide_tech.htm https://science.howstuffworks.com/nasas-sniffer-job.htm https://theconversation.com/six-curious-facts-about-smell-128533 https://www.verywellmind.com/why-do-we-associate-memories-so-strongly-with-specific-smells-5203963 https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/smell-disorders https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/why-does-food-taste-bad-on-airplanes.html https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/sfa/aac/silver-snoopy-award https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/smell-disorders#2 https://theplaidzebra.com/odour-tester-chocolate-taster-strange-careers-diverge-traditional-9-5/ https://www.communitynews.org/princetoninfo/coverstories/this-job-stinks-from-one-who-knows/article_66ce8eb0-7066-51be-8081-be9bcc24c8be.html https://www.statista.com/topics/5174/essential-oils/ https://www.verywellmind.com/why-do-we-associate-memories-so-strongly-with-specific-smells-5203963 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-smelling-test-the-genetics-of-olfaction-2192370.html https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/blog/essential-oils-cats/ https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/expert-answers/aromatherapy/faq-20058566 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices