How the Metric System Was Stolen

Marie Antoinette’s world renowned extravagance made her an icon and then an example as the Queen of France, but her beheading, and the French Revolution, may never have come to pass if not for a lavish piece of jewelry at the center of a salacious con. Hosted by Simplecast, an Ad ... Show More

While The United States and The Soviet Union flirted with existential disaster on a global stage during the Cuban Missile Crisis, an unknown conflict was unfolding under the ocean on a Russian submarine equipped to trigger an all-out nuclear war. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz ... Show More

Money and politics have always been intertwined in America, but before the days of Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg, there was Rockerfeller, Carnegie and Morgan, titans of industry whose political power may have become absolute if they hadn’t underestimated an upstart politician by the ... Show More

Why is the United States so culturally opposed to the metric system? According to a popular legend, this conundrum dates back to the late 1700s, when a French polymath named Joseph Dombey sailed to Thomas Jefferson with two crucial artifacts: a rod measuring exactly one meter, an ... Show More

Harry goes the extra “yard” to find out why the United States is one of the few countries that hasn’t gone metric. Americans seem more than content in a hybrid world of liters AND gallons. Why can’t we choose one form of measurement? It turns out there’s a lot of national pride a ... Show More

<p>Pirates weren’t just a menace on the high seas - they were a direct threat to Spain’s empire-building ambitions in the Pacific. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Kristie Patricia Flannery to hear the untold story of how Spanish officials, Catholic missionaries, Indi ... Show More

Daniel and Jorge talk about whether there are two or one kind of mass and the massive consequences.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

How common was it for a pirates to walk the plank? Was there a lot of rum? And were relationships allowed on ships?Kate is joined by Rebecca Simon, author of 'The Pirate's Code' to find out about the codes that pirates had to live by.Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mix ... Show More

<p>Two men, working separately but simultaneously, are each cited as the originator of the idea of the metric system depending on what source you read. But it took more than 100 years to implement the ideas they suggested.</p> <p><strong>Research:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Alder, Ken ... Show More

The Declaration of Independence establishes the ideals on which this break away nation founds itself on. But it’s full of contradictions. It complains of white colonists being enslaved by King George III, yet its signatories own enslaved Africans. It declares all men are created ... Show More

<p>What if the Revolutionary War didn't happen the way it's described in textbooks? Tune in and learn why some people believe the UK still controls the US in this special collaboration with our friends at AllTime Conspiracies.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a hr ... Show More

Daniel and Kelly grapple with the implications of arbitrary numbers in our theory, whether they could have had different values, and what it all means.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.