Ben explores how our minds trick us into achieving larger, hidden goals by inspiring us to pursue a series of seemingly unrelated proximal, local goals. He also explores the evolutionary significance of ridicule.

Ben describes a clever study that made use of the ability of Russians to more quickly discern between shades of blue.

Throwin’ My Life Away by Teenage Ninja Kids

Ben tells the story of Pompeii. He begins by exploring the sources of heat that drive plate tectonics and volcanism, then describes the Scramble for the Bay of Naples, the Greek influence on the structures of the Etruscan Altstadt, and how the Etruscans left their mark on the place names of the region. He describes the Temple to Jupiter, the Basilica, and the House of Sallust, each erected in Pompeii by the Oscan-speaking Samnites following their conquest of the region around 500 AD. He descr...

Ben surreptitiously brags about correcting an elite academic while explaining that the Three-Fifths Compromise isn’t what you probably think it is and that the First Amendment is first by accident.

Ben learns that if you kick a quantum field hard enough, fermions come out; sleepwalks 3 mph on the night side of Mercury so that he never has to wake up for work again; and wonders if the universe is just trying to make us feel stupid when it claims to have a beginning but no origin point.

Ben makes good on his threat. Livin’ in a dump is the first Teenage Ninja Kids recording in about a decade.

Ben rambles about electricity, Mulder doesn’t trust a local meteorologist, and Sean McQuilken is struck by lightning. Ben and Tim play catch with a trash barrel at Courtney Drive.

Ben shares a brief clip of a Teenage Ninja Kids song that he’s working on.

Ben extrapolates from a tedious litany of his own personal spelling errors, discusses Forensic Files episodes featuring mistimed performances, and remembers when the UFC accidentally ran the wrong ad.