Ridiculous History

Don't do lead, kids! Nowadays everyone knows the dangers this substance poses to humans -- especially children in their formative years -- but back in the day, lead was everywhere. Ancient Rome was riddled with the stuff, using lead in everything from pipes, to smelting, to cutlery, pottery and wine. It's tough to know just how much lead the average person encountered, but breathing the lead-filled air alone may have dropped children's IQs by up to three points. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max discover a fascinating, controversial theory: that Rome didn't fall due to war and economic troubles... but instead, the empire toppled because everyone slowly became dumber and dumber.
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In this week's Classic episode: In 1918, as the planet was consumed by World War I, the government of California found itself combating an unexpected and catastrophic enemy: Ground squirrels. The rodents were wreaking havoc across the countryside, consuming crops left and right. State horticulture commissioner George H. Hecke proposed an unorthodox solution -- enlist schoolchildren in a statewide massacre of all ground squirrels. Oddly enough, it worked.
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Most people think of yo-yos as a fun, old-school toy for kids: a pretty simple, clever device leveraging physics with a string and a weight. Yet as Ben, Noel and Max discover in today's episode, the story of the humble dates back into antiquity -- and the story of its evolution is riddled with ridiculous ups and downs.
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The results are in: pretty much everyone loves pizza... but what doth a pizza make varies from place to place. Obsessed with a game-changing message from a former pizzaiolo on the inside, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the delicious (and arguably disturbing) conspiracy of what makes a pizza "supreme".
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In this week's Classic episode: Were it not for the coal mine, the town of Vulcan, West Virginia may well have never existed. As a rural and geographically isolated community, Vulcan relied on a single, small bridge for its connection to the larger world. When the bridge failed, the town repeatedly tried to get financial assistance from the local and state government -- with no success. In a state of increasing desperation, the Mayor of Vulcan wrote the Soviet Union for help... during the Cold War. Tune in and learn what happened next.
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