Ridiculous History

• Badass of the Week, with Ben Thompson - Part 2: the Battle of Karánsebes

  As Europe increasingly freaks out about the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, a ragtag crew of guys who ordinarily hate each other band together for common cause and GUESS WHAT -- it goes cartoonishly wrong. In the second part of this two-part series, the guys hang with Ben Thompson, the creator of Badass of the Week, as he breaks down the most ridiculous friendly-fire incident in all of human history. (Also, side note: Ben recorded this on his birthday, and he's still younger than Joseph II.)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Badass of the Week, with Ben Thompson - Part 1: History's Most Ridiculous Friendly-fire Incident

  War has always been a chaotic, messy endeavor -- and, sometimes, it's downright ridiculous. In this week's special two-part series, the guys welcome returning special guest Ben Thompson, creator of Badass of the Week, to learn more about the bizarre turn of events that led to the Battle of Karánsebes. In part one, Ben introduces the gang to the legendary 'enlightened despot,' Joseph II, a guy who, diplomatically put, took self-confidence to a whole new (and possibly undeserved) level.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• CLASSIC: That Time Kansas Imprisoned Women For Having STDs

  At the close of World War I, American soldiers returned home from abroad with scars, wounds, stories and, in some cases, infections of which their romantic partners were unaware. When cities in Kansas noted the spike in sexually-transmitted diseases, they embarked upon a misguided quest to quell the infections by imprisoning the women these soldiers had infected (the soldiers didn't get arrested). So why did Kansas decide to imprison women for having STDs, how long did the program last, and why have so few people heard about it in the modern day?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• A Ridiculous History of Processed Cheese

  Let's be honest: cheese is inherently weird. As humanity advanced, civilizations leveraged positively alchemical science to arrive at the perfect cheeseburger melt. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore the evolution of processed cheese -- the not-quite-cheese that changed the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• The Darién Gap, or: the Real Reason Scotland Lost Its Independence

  Scotland is a fascinating place, with its own rich culture, cuisine and history. Today, it's part of the United Kingdom -- but this wasn't always the case. Join Ben, Noel and Max as they dive into Scotland's wildly ambitious plan to build a colonial trade empire straddling the Pacific and the Atlantic. At enormous expense, Scotland gambled everything on taming the Darién Gap... and lost.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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