This episode starts on the subject of Mario, arguably the most iconic and recognizable video game franchises, and somehow ends up on Metal Gear Solid, a game for the Playstation by Hideo Kojima that is recognized as the origin of stealth games and one of the best video games in history. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This episode starts on the subject of mushrooms, the fruiting body of fungi with a variety of uses in various cultures including cooking, medicine, and spirituality, and somehow ends up on the Lakota-Sioux tribe of Native Americans, who reside mainly in North and South Dakota and have a somewhat bloody and brutal history with the United States government. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This episode starts on the subject of the Galilean moons of Jupiter Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede, which were confirmed by Galileo to be moons in 1610, and somehow ends up on The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, an island off the coast of England that was an important center of Celtic Christianity and nowadays is a National Nature Reserve as well as an Area of Outstanding Beauty. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This episode starts on the subject of Antarctica, the southernmost continent in the world that is 98% covered in ice averaging 1 mile in thickness, and somehow ends up on meteorites, space debris that starts as a meteor until it burns through the atmosphere and settles on Earth. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This episode starts on the subject of Hoover Dam, a dam on the border of Nevada and Arizona on the Colorado river that impounds the largest reservoir in the United States, and somehow ends up on Back to the Future, the highest grossing film of 1985 and considered by many to be one of the greatest movies of all time. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This episode starts on the subject of tarot, a deck of cards that originated in mid-15th century Europe to play card games but eventually was used by cartomancers for fortune-telling, and somehow ends up on aboriginal Australians, an ancient native people that have the oldest continuous culture in the world. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This episode starts on the subject of botanical gardens, which are gardens dedicated to collecting and preserving many different kinds of plants often for scientific purposes, and somehow ends up on Art Deco, a popular art style in decor and architecture originating in France in the years leading up to WWII. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This episode starts on the subject of samurai, military nobility of Japan who operated by a unique code of honor, and somehow ends up on theaters of war, which are areas in which important military events occur during wartime. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This episode starts on the subject of Jade, a precious mineral used in ceremonial objects and jewelry in antiquity across the world, and somehow ends up on the House of Windsor, the reigning royal house of the UK who renamed themselves in 1917 due to high anti-German sentiment during WWI. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.

e 17: Babylon

This episode starts on the subject of Babylon, the capital city of the Babylonian empire and the supposed location of the hanging gardens of babylon, and somehow ends up on the Roman emperor Hadrian, who is known mainly for Hadrian’s Wall, a strong defense along the border of Britannia. How are they connected? You’ll have to listen to find out.