Omnibus

In which the toy market is revolutionized by a faddish stuffed animal that would be priceless today if it hadn't disappeared, and John buys the concept of a rabbit. Certificate #24398.

In which the great Mediterranean civilizations of the late Bronze Age collapse virtually overnight due to some mysterious visitors, and Ken knows a lot about white broccoli. Certificate #9795.

In which Melanesian eco-revolutionaries fight off helicopter gunships with literal slingshots and homemade diesel, and John makes a shocking announcement about all scientists. Certificate #54146.

In which a curd-heavy side from central Quebec belatedly becomes the national dish of a land with no real national cuisine, and Ken learns so much about Sacramento culture. Certificate #30037.

In which a secret society of plucky Civil War veterans hatches a plan to return Ireland to the Irish by—wait for it—invading Canada, and John doesn't think the people who sold him wine coolers actually exist. Certificate #12129.

In which even the most hated typeface in the history of desktop publishing has its defenders, and Ken isn't sure why he owns cargo shorts. Certificate #54861.

In which a flirty but forgotten Tin Pan Alley song leads to the first great moral panic in pop music history, and John sneakily borrows someone else's shanty town. Certificate #12960.

In which a state politician's lack of badminton equipment leads to the invention of the hottest sport of the 21st century, and Ken is slightly present. Certificate #42131.

In which researchers squabble for centuries about the secret ingredient that made one Cremonese craftsman the greatest musical instrument-maker of all time, and John seasons guitars under a bus. Certificate #36611.

In which a king agrees to hand over his seventh-best island in the hopes of creating a haven for his native Hawaiian language and culture, and Ken does not want to greet Zach. Certificate #43273.

In which the last universal physicist demonstrates to his students that ballpark estimates in math can be as powerful as precision, and John isn't sure if Romanians can count tomatoes. Certificate #46480.

In which an ill-advised utopian scheme to bypass Niagara Falls becomes America's first toxic waste catastrophe, and Ken knows the main thing that water does. Certificate #42025.

In which the great gourmet food of 19th-century "frolics" suddenly disappears from American menus, and John thinks humankind often looks to weasels. Certificate #32793.

In which the tragic death of a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo launches a tidal wave of viral content on social media, and Ken explains bad table manners as an accident of birth. Certificate #23616.

In which the most notorious convict in America attempts no fewer than four separate escapes from the Alcatraz of the Cumberland Mountains, and John would never disparage the banjo. Certificate #1746.

In which a mysterious outbreak of "glass pox," possibly a result of nuclear testing, hits the Pacific Northwest, and Ken doesn't think Sherlock Holmes knows any teenagers. Certificate #40197.

In which the Yoruba people of Nigeria create a new kind of "speech surrogacy" for news and storytelling using a versatile percussion section, and John only needs two pedals to get to Sounds-Like-Garbage-Land. Certificate #51913.

In which a polar expedition builds a massive RV to road-trip around Antarctica but brings the wrong tires, and Ken wonders if admirals like sexy calendars. Certificate #23408.

In which the earliest discoverers of electricity disagree on whether it helps flowers, turnips, and myrtle shrubs to grow, and John punishes himself with sprouts. Certificate #27338.

In which a clue-filled dead body appears on a beach in Adelaide, Australia, sparking a tantalizing 75-year mystery, and Ken is not a team of seventh graders. Certificate #35821.

In which the collapse of the video rental industry sends one valuable and eccentric archive to an obscure and disaster-plagued town in western Sicily, and E. coli is no match for John. Certificate #43318.

In which a mysterious World War II inscription marries image and text to create the modern meme, and Ken does not think gangrenous limbs are a meme. Certificate #25622.

In which the bountiful gifts of American advice columnists include a now-ubiquitious happy afterlife for pets, and John might lose a swordfight because he's too heavy for a chandelier. Certificate #29810.

In which a self-crowned prince founds his own nation on a tiny piece of concrete in the North Sea, complete with commando raids, and Ken is only in favor of 3-D awards. Certificate #6611.

In which a village pastime for Sussex dairymaids gets urbanized into an exciting neighborhood pick-up sport in American inner cities, and John wants to pick the bittle up. Certificate #13472.

In which attempts to replace petrochemical plastic with corn and sawdust face fatal challenges of scale and efficiency, and Ken has never made a Prius. Certificate #32944.

In which the influence of spinet pianos and telegraph keys produces a satisfying new device interface for the electric age, and John thinks aliens just want a cuddle. Certificate #42007.

In which the development of guardrail and concrete divider technology makes highway driving massively safer over the decades, and Ken lies under oath in a deposition. Certificate #40991.

In which twenty-four bishops refuse to open the secret prophecies that will save Britain from war and banditry, and John wants to be called "Dicebox." Certificate #49596.

In which car registration numbers become modes for personalized creative expression and eventually a multimillion-dollar commodity, and Ken does not say "auto." Certificate #37808.

In which centuries of inaccurate illustrations of our planet are abruptly upended by satellites and awestruck astronauts, and John never drew spaceships, just Japanese fighter planes. Certificate #35817.

In which budget-conscious Swedes rearrange American ideas about nutritious eating, and Ken is pretty sure M&Ms are not getting smaller. Certificate #54063.

In which we celebrate 167 years of Americans being able to claim any island they like as long as it has enough bird poop on it, and John thinks you can dip a pole in liberty. Certificate #39867.

In which a remote part of Idaho solves its beaver dam problem with some surplus parachutes and an even more remote part of Idaho, and Ken applies the transitive property to mules and culverts. Certificate #31297.

In which German health nuts give the world the idea of social nude recreation before the Nazis can tell them not to, and John thinks of something that is better than itching. Certificate #53668.

In which the ponds of New England become the wellspring of a new worldwide web of perishable foods, and Ken learns that gum is a forest treat. Certificate #23725.

In which the estate of the century's greatest scientist becomes a $200 million enterprise even as his brain tissue languishes in a cider box, and John compares it to pastrami. Certificate #21917.

In which a ski bum with dad jokes explores new frontiers of film distribution and extreme sports, and Ken is a water machine. Certificate #48941.

In which the rift between two Communist dictators leads to a blooming of mariachi culture in the fertile soil of the Balkans, and John is baffled by Vietnamese karaoke. Certificate #46465.

In which the smartest people in the world bloom early but often struggle to live up that promise later in life, and Ken's phone thinks he lives at the zoo. Certificate #50285.

In which a late-night Christmas party in a West Point barracks gets out of hand, almost changing the course of the Civil War, and John is not anti-Julius. Certificate #32683.

In which tensions over slavery and its westward expansion boil over into an assault on the floor of the United States Senate, and Ken does not have a single cloak. Certificate #46116.

In which governments around the world deliberate on how creatively parents may name their children, and John thinks "Tilden" sounds like a kind of cheese. Certificate #26934.

In which the world's overfished oceans begin to teem with a sudden surplus of ancient and puzzling invertebrates, and Ken just wants sex tourists not to pee on his bunion. Certificate #23757.

In which a teenaged slacker from Sedona with a love for llamas jump-starts the digital music age, and John explains why large people prefer old things. Certificate #38550.

In which the successor to one of the great medieval bridges is shipped to the Arizona desert by an American tycoon, and Ken is skeptical about product placement in slasher movies. Certificate #28472.

In which a science fiction-loving professor dreams of conquering death with the cold, hard science of low-temperature preservation, and John just wants to be a brain with a nose. Certificate #48643.

In which evangelical Christians wrestle with the problem of whether rock music is inherently good, evil, or neither. and Ken wonders about angel monkeys. Certificate #34822.

In which the rituals of Masonry and its more casual offshoots produce a "golden age of fraternalism" for American men, and John is discomfited by noisy day care teachers. Certificate #35320.

In which the remains of a useless Nazi "chandelier" unexpectedly emerge in Maryland and Washington, and Ken thinks about Bilbo Baggins too late. Certificate #35410.