Lists: History & curiosities

102 lists in parts of videos about history & curiosities (a written list: in videos about it), oldest first. All topics · Overview

2008

2008-05-22 · Adorable Puppy Injury!!!! · Hank, 2 named — Hank also asks about anagrams in math, whether evil people like Hitler or Stalin had pets, and what an iota is. (00:03:12)
1 Adolf Hitler · 2 Joseph Stalin
2008-06-24 · Questions Answered! · Hank, 2 named — Viewers told Hank the difference between mono and uni is that uni is Latin and mono Greek; he had thought both were Latin. (00:00:58)
1 Latin · 2 Greek language
2008-12-15 · Famous Last Words · John, 50 named — The real last words of 50 famous, deceased people, with comic asides (00:00:00)
1 George Washington · 2 John Adams · 3 Thomas Jefferson · 4 Henrik Ibsen “Henry Gibson's nurse” · 5 Winston Churchill · 6 Vespasian · 7 Nero · 8 Nancy Astor · 9 Dylan Thomas · 10 Abraham Lincoln · 11 John Wilkes Booth · 12 Henry Ward Beecher · 13 Brendan Behan · 14 Che Guevara · 15 Pancho Villa · 16 Benjamin Franklin · 17 Millard Fillmore · 18 Franklin Delano Roosevelt “FDR” · 19 Robert E. Lee · 20 John Sedgwick · 21 Stonewall Jackson · 22 Charles Darwin · 23 Voltaire · 24 Eugene O'Neill · 25 Elizabeth Barrett Browning · 26 Emily Dickinson · 27 Paul Claudel · 28 O. Henry · 29 Oscar Wilde · 30 Leo Tolstoy · 31 Lope de Vega · 32 John Field · 33 Elizabeth I · 34 W. C. Fields · 35 Franz Kafka · 36 Ethan Allen · 37 J. M. Barrie · 38 Pablo Picasso · 39 Malcolm X · 40 Conrad Hilton · 41 John Maynard Keynes · 42 Ned Kelly · 43 Edgar Allan Poe · 44 Del Close · 45 Walt Whitman · 46 Thomas Edison · 47 George Bernard Shaw · 48 H. G. Wells · 49 Daniel Webster · 50 Ludwig van Beethoven

2009

2009-03-01 · Free Will Fetish · John, 2 named (joke) — Remembering the girl ends the desire, showing the mind can control the body - a linchpin of Descartes' defense of free will; a disaster for cross-eyed women (00:01:07)
1 Princess Leia · 2 Han Solo
2009-04-14 · The World's Largest Balls · John, 6 named — John lists the world's largest balls of barbed wire (Texas), popcorn (Sac City, Iowa) and twine (Cawker City, Kansas), or, depending on shape, Branson, Missouri, Darwin, Minnesota, or Wisconsin. (00:02:14)
1 Texas · 2 Sac City · 3 Cawker City · 4 Branson · 5 Darwin · 6 Wisconsin
2009-06-17 · The Fathers of the Founding Fathers · Hank, 3 named (playful) — Hank lists Rockefeller, Washington and Bell and their achievements, but says he knows none of the men who called them sons. (00:00:12)
1 John D. Rockefeller · 2 George Washington · 3 Alexander Graham Bell
2009-06-17 · The Fathers of the Founding Fathers · Hank, 2 named (playful) — Song: famous men and women whose fathers nobody remembers; good dads are underrated (00:00:39)
1 Jesus · 2 Hank Williams Jr.
2009-06-17 · The Fathers of the Founding Fathers · Hank, 4 named (playful) — Hank sings that great women - Earhart, Nightingale, Curie, Tubman - were polished by their fathers into 'powerful pearls'. (00:00:39)
1 Amelia Earhart · 2 Florence Nightingale · 3 Marie Curie “Fury” · 4 Harriet Tubman
2009-10-04 · NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words · John, 37 named — John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. (00:00:27)
1 George Washington · 2 John Adams · 3 Thomas Jefferson · 4 James Madison · 5 James Monroe · 6 John Quincy Adams · 7 Andrew Jackson · 8 Martin Van Buren · 9 William Henry Harrison · 10 John Tyler · 11 James K. Polk · 12 Zachary Taylor · 13 Millard Fillmore · 14 Franklin Pierce · 15 James Buchanan · 16 Abraham Lincoln · 17 Andrew Johnson · 18 Ulysses S. Grant · 19 Rutherford B. Hayes · 20 James A. Garfield · 21 Chester A. Arthur · 22 Grover Cleveland · 23 Benjamin Harrison · 24 William McKinley · 25 Theodore Roosevelt · 26 William Howard Taft · 27 Woodrow Wilson · 28 Warren G. Harding · 29 Calvin Coolidge · 30 Herbert Hoover · 31 Franklin Delano Roosevelt · 32 Harry S. Truman · 33 Dwight D. Eisenhower · 34 John F. Kennedy · 35 Lyndon B. Johnson · 36 Richard Nixon · 37 Ronald Reagan
2009-10-22 · The Top 10 Greatest Hoaxes of All Time · Hank, 10 named — Hoaxes 10-9: Mars as big as the moon; fairy photographs (00:00:29)
1 Mars hoax · 2 Cottingley Fairies · 3 Alien autopsy · 4 The Balloon-Hoax · 5 Fiji mermaid · 6 Mechanical Turk · 7 perpetual motion · 8 Hitler Diaries · 9 Great Moon Hoax · 10 The War of the Worlds (radio drama)
2009-10-22 · The Top 10 Greatest Hoaxes of All Time · Hank, 2 named — Hank says that in 1770 an inventor unveiled the Mechanical Turk, a chess-playing 'robot' that beat Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin, with a man hidden inside. (00:01:56)
1 Napoleon · 2 Benjamin Franklin

2010

2010-03-26 · Top 10 Freaking Amazing Explosions · Hank, 10 named (1 unnamed item) — Pre-nuclear explosions: Delft 1654, Halifax, the East River and British Columbia islands, the WWI mine under German lines (00:00:17)
1 Delft Explosion · 2 Halifax Explosion · … · 4 Mines in the Battle of Messines · 5 GBU-43/B MOAB · 6 Fat Man · 7 Little Boy · 8 Ivy King · 9 Tunguska event · 10 Tsar Bomba · 11 Yellowstone National Park
2010-09-27 · Stop Embarrassing Yourself · Hank, 3 named — Hank says the United Kingdom (of Northern Ireland and Great Britain) contains Great Britain, an island of three autonomous countries: Wales, Scotland and England. (00:01:47)
1 Wales · 2 Scotland · 3 England
2010-10-08 · GEEKING OUT Over Dying Declarations · John, 8 named — John reads last words from the book's F's: Douglas Fairbanks ('I've never felt better'), Ben Franklin, composer John Field, Richard Feynman ('this dying is boring'), Marshall Field II, Robert Frost. (00:00:55)
1 Douglas Fairbanks · 2 William Faulkner · 3 Benjamin Franklin · 4 John Field · 5 Millard Fillmore · 6 Richard Feynman · 7 Marshall Field II · 8 Robert Frost
2010-10-15 · TOP 7 FAILS OF HISTORY · Hank, 6 named — Fails 1-3: Decca rejects the Beatles, the Trojan horse, land wars in Asia and an island nation's bombing; decisions made by men (00:00:48)
1 Decca Studios · 2 Trojan Horse · 3 Moscow · 4 Attack on Pearl Harbor “don't send a bunch of bombers over to” · 5 Wim Esajas · 6 Western Union
2010-11-05 · God and Grain: The French Revolution, Part I · John, 2 named — John says the Enlightenment, including French thinkers Rousseau and Voltaire, argued that rational thought rather than God's interpreted will should be the source of truth and authority, troubling the monarchy, whose authority rested on God's will. (00:00:00)
1 Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 2 Voltaire
2010-11-10 · Headless Monarchy: The French Revolution, Part II · John, 6 named — John says that within a month of the king's beheading France was at war with Prussia, Austria, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal. (00:05:40)
1 Prussia · 2 Austria · 3 Spain · 4 Kingdom of Great Britain · 5 Netherlands · 6 Portugal
2010-11-11 · REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution, Part III · John, 3 named — John says this happened under the Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien Robespierre, a paranoid despot who foreshadowed Kim Jong-il, Saddam Hussein and Joseph Stalin. (00:00:57)
1 Kim Jong Il · 2 Saddam Hussein · 3 Joseph Stalin
2010-11-11 · REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution, Part III · John, 6 named — John says it is in a way still too soon: the Revolution brought forward conflicts that still define modernity, between secularism and religion, idealism and pragmatism, oligarchy and democracy. (00:04:01)
1 secularism · 2 religion · 3 idealism · 4 pragmatism · 5 oligarchy · 6 democracy
2010-11-11 · REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution, Part III · John, 3 named — John says that more than that, the study of history is essentially an exercise in empathy: imagining being a peasant, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette or Robespierre. (00:04:26)
1 Louis XVI · 2 Marie Antoinette · 3 Maximilien Robespierre

2011

2011-01-10 · Top 5 Ridiculous Conspiracy Theories · Hank, 5 named — No. 1: the Phantom Time Hypothesis (00:00:45)
1 Phantom time hypothesis · 2 Nazi UFOs · 3 KFC sterility rumor · 4 Wingdings · 5 reptilian conspiracy theory “The Reptilianoids”
2011-01-10 · Top 5 Ridiculous Conspiracy Theories · Hank, 3 named — Icke's followers include the father of 'balloon boy'; the reptilians supposedly include the British royal family, most of America's presidents, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, feed on human guilt, fear and aggression, and must drink human blood to keep their humanoid shape. (00:02:57)
1 British royal family · 2 Brad Pitt · 3 Angelina Jolie
2011-01-12 · Top Six Conjoined Twin Pairs in History · John, 6 named — No. 6: the Biddenden Maids and their Easter charity (00:00:23)
1 Biddenden Maids · 2 Giacomo and Giovanni Battista Tocci · 3 Lori and George Schappell · 4 conjoined twins 'Jodie and Mary' (pseudonyms) · 5 Chang and Eng Bunker · 6 Millie and Christine McKoy
2011-01-14 · Top 5 Actual Conspiracies · Hank, 5 named — No. 1: Operation Snow White, the Scientologists' infiltration of the US government (00:00:13)
1 Operation Snow White · 2 Project MKUltra · 3 Tuskegee Syphilis Study · 4 Gunpowder Plot · 5 Business Plot
2011-01-14 · Top 5 Actual Conspiracies · Hank, 2 named — Hank says the plot apparently didn't seem a bad idea then: right-wingers called Roosevelt's government jobs and help for the poor communist, and fascist dictatorships, working in Italy and Germany, looked like a quick fix. (00:02:53)
1 Italy · 2 Germany
2011-02-18 · Thoughts from Places: Small Town America · John, 2 named (5 unnamed items) — Bored, John walks to the huge Knightstown cemetery; he loves cemeteries partly because their many names help a writer, reading out names such as Walter Manlove and founder Waitsell Cary. (00:00:38)
… · 6 Walter Manlove · 7 Waitsell Cary
2011-02-28 · Harry Baals & Dick Trickle: The Funniest Names in History · John, 6 named — Countdown of six unfortunate names: Dick Trickle, Ima Hogg, Harry Baals, Shanda Lear, Hymen Lipman, Chris P Bacon (00:00:44)
1 Dick Trickle · 2 Ima Hogg · 3 Harry Baals · 4 Shanda Lear · 5 Hymen Lipman · 6 Chris P. Bacon
2011-02-28 · Harry Baals & Dick Trickle: The Funniest Names in History · John, 2 named (playful) — Among unfortunate Dicks John also names Dick Sweat, the former congressman, and Dick Army. (00:00:48)
1 Dick Swett · 2 Dick Armey
2011-02-28 · Harry Baals & Dick Trickle: The Funniest Names in History · John, 2 named — Ima Hogg, daughter of Texas governor Big Jim Hogg, was known as the First Lady of Texas, collected Picasso and Matisse, was a philanthropist and had an honorary degree. (00:01:27)
1 Pablo Picasso · 2 Henri Matisse
2011-02-28 · Harry Baals & Dick Trickle: The Funniest Names in History · John, 4 named — Chris P Bacon is a Los Angeles film composer with music in Gnomeo and Juliet, Michael Clayton and I Am Legend, and wrote the whole score of Space Chimps. (00:02:24)
1 Gnomeo & Juliet · 2 Michael Clayton · 3 I Am Legend (2007) · 4 Space Chimps
2011-08-29 · A Letter to the Aliens · Hank, 2 named — Hank says humans are running low on fresh water and on hydrocarbons, and alternatives such as solar power and nuclear power are either dangerous or not feasible. (00:02:58)
1 solar power “directly converting sunlight into energy” · 2 nuclear power
2011-12-05 · 5 Worst Typos of History · John, 5 named — Countdown: The Pasta Bible, the name Imogen, the Washington Post FDR headline, the Constitution's its/it's, the 1631 and 1716 King James Bible misprints (00:00:51)
1 The Pasta Bible · 2 Imogen · 3 The Washington Post · 4 Constitution of the United States · 5 Bible

2012

2012-05-15 · Religion and Gay Marriage · John, 2 named — John says 'traditional marriage' as one man and one woman is inaccurate: in the Bible King David married 18 women and Solomon 700, plus 300 concubines. (00:00:27)
1 David (religious figure (tradition=Judaism)) · 2 Solomon
2012-07-17 · Hitler and Sex! · John, 4 named (playful) — John shares a favorite word, 'monorchid', a person with one testicle, and lists prominent monorchids: Mao Zedong, Lance Armstrong, Hermann Göring and the drummer from Green Day. (00:01:51)
1 Mao Zedong · 2 Lance Armstrong · 3 Hermann Göring · 4 Tré Cool “the drummer from Green Day”
2012-07-17 · Hitler and Sex! · John, 4 named — John says Hitler was controlling, possessive and domineering, with all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship; four of the six women he most likely had sex with killed themselves, including Eva Braun, married 40 hours before. (00:01:51)
1 Geli Raubal · 2 Unity Mitford · 3 Renate Müller · 4 Eva Braun
2012-07-17 · Hitler and Sex! · John, 2 named — John says of the other two likely lovers, Maria Reiter attempted suicide during her break-up with Hitler, and Erna Hanfstaengl tried to kill or overthrow him in 1943. (00:02:24)
1 Maria Reiter · 2 Erna Hanfstaengl
2012-10-09 · Attacked by Squirrels and Neoclassicism: Thoughts from Places, Washington D.C. · John, 3 named — National Gallery of Art; free access as the living American ideal; the US is just getting started; sign-off (00:03:06)
1 Jackson Pollock · 2 Alexander Calder “Calders” · 3 Chuck Close
2012-10-26 · Apples! CGP Grey Style · Hank, 2 named — Hank says that until the 17th century the word for apple in Old English and Latin was a generic term for all fruits (berries excepted, nuts included), making ancient texts ambiguous. (00:00:58)
1 Old English · 2 Latin
2012-10-26 · Apples! CGP Grey Style · Hank, 2 named — Hank says Johnny Appleseed, unlike Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, was a real person: John Chapman, a businessman, nomad and missionary who crossed the American frontier in the early 1800s supplying apple saplings. (00:01:38)
1 Paul Bunyan · 2 Pecos Bill

2013

2013-09-20 · 42 Amazing Maps · Hank, 3 named — Hank shows a map splitting the world into seven regions of about one billion people each, with North America, South America and Australia together making up one. (00:01:04)
1 North America · 2 South America · 3 Australia
2013-09-20 · 42 Amazing Maps · Hank, 3 named — Hank says such maps show the US lagging behind on the metric system, maternity leave and executing juveniles, which he calls a little embarrassing. (00:01:54)
1 metric system · 2 parental leave · 3 capital punishment “executing juveniles”
2013-09-20 · 42 Amazing Maps · Hank, 8 named — Hank says Africa is very big: bigger than the United States, France, Germany, Spain, the UK, all of Eastern Europe, China and India. (00:02:52)
1 United States · 2 France · 3 Germany · 4 Spain · 5 United Kingdom “the UK” · 6 Eastern Europe · 7 China · 8 India

2014

2014-04-11 · What Boys Look For in Girls · Hank, 8 named — Hank lists beauty practices: Karo women in Ethiopia scar their bellies, Kayan women in Thailand wear brass neck rings, Mursi women wear lip plates, Japanese women unstraighten teeth, an Indonesian tribe files teeth. (00:00:34)
1 Karo people · 2 Kayan people (Myanmar) · 3 Mursi people · 4 Japan · 5 Indonesia · 6 Europe · 7 Mauritania · 8 United States “America”
2014-05-16 · The Myth of Greatness · Hank, 6 named — Hank says Renaissance Florence held some of the most powerful economic and cultural forces the world has known: the Medici bankers, Botticelli, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, da Vinci and Brunelleschi. (00:00:54)
1 House of Medici · 2 Sandro Botticelli · 3 Niccolò Machiavelli · 4 Michelangelo “Michaelangelo” · 5 Leonardo da Vinci · 6 Filippo Brunelleschi
2014-05-23 · My Freakish Talent · Hank, 2 named — Some words mean the opposite of themselves, Hank says: inflammable means both very easy and very hard to catch on fire; sanguine means both cheerful and bloodthirsty. (00:01:20)
1 inflammable · 2 sanguine
2014-08-29 · What's the Difference Between A and Z · Hank, 3 named — Hank explains English means from England, a country inside the United Kingdom, while British covers the whole UK, including Northern Irish, Welsh and Scottish people, who may not like the label. (00:00:58)
1 Northern Ireland · 2 Wales “Welsh” · 3 Scotland “Scottish”
2014-08-29 · What's the Difference Between A and Z · Hank, 2 named — Hank says Rangers and Green Berets are both Army special operations forces; any recruit can apply to the Rangers, but Green Berets need three years of service and two languages. (00:02:27)
1 United States Army Rangers · 2 United States Army Special Forces “Green Berets”
2014-08-29 · What's the Difference Between A and Z · Hank, 2 named — Hank says Uber and Lyft are pretty much the same: newfangled ways to get taxis that people are surprisingly excited about. (00:02:47)
1 Uber · 2 Lyft
2014-11-13 · The History of Pizza and the History of John: Pizzamas Day 4 · John, 3 named — John rejects tracing pizza to ancient Egypt, India and Greece as just bread with toppings (garlic naan and banana bread are not pizza); pizza is bread, tomato sauce and cheese. (00:00:30)
1 Ancient Egypt · 2 India · 3 Ancient Greece
2014-11-13 · The History of Pizza and the History of John: Pizzamas Day 4 · John, 2 named — John: there are a few minor Johns in the Hebrew Bible, but Johns took off in the New Testament, e.g. John the Baptist and Jesus's apostle John. (00:02:42)
1 John the Baptist · 2 John the Apostle

2015

2015-01-02 · Why is The Alphabet In Alphabetical Order? Eight Completely Arbitrary Things · Hank, 7 named — Gendered names, alphabetical order, base 10 (00:00:32)
1 unisex name “Gendered Names” · 2 alphabetical order · 3 decimal “Base 10” · 4 entomophagy “Bugs Are Gross” · 5 pet · 6 social norm “Guys Can't Wear Skirts” · 7 fiat money “This is a piece of paper.”
2015-01-09 · 14 Fart Facts for my Flatulent Friends · Hank, 4 named — Hank says 'fart' is a hyper-conserved word found in Norse, Slavic, Sanskrit and Greek, and one of the oldest words in English. (00:00:00)
1 Old Norse · 2 Slavic languages · 3 Sanskrit · 4 Greek language
2015-01-09 · 14 Fart Facts for my Flatulent Friends · Hank, 5 named — Hank says James Joyce, Shakespeare, Dante, Chaucer and the Arabian Nights all contain fart jokes. (00:02:36)
1 James Joyce · 2 William Shakespeare · 3 Dante Alighieri · 4 Geoffrey Chaucer · 5 One Thousand and One Nights
2015-03-17 · What Are Paper Towns? · John, 3 named — John says Google recently used fictitious entries against Bing, and the Billboard charts have used them too. (00:01:57)
1 Google · 2 Microsoft Bing · 3 Billboard
2015-04-10 · This Video Makes No Sense · Hank, 2 named — Hank says many US presidents have killed people, mostly in combat, but only two definitely killed people outside combat. (00:02:59)
1 Andrew Jackson · 2 Grover Cleveland
2015-08-07 · Is This Video Cool? · Hank, 3 named — Hank says these words almost always reach the mainstream from a subculture — rock and roll, punk, beat poets — but most commonly from marginalized cultures. (00:02:26)
1 rock and roll · 2 punk subculture · 3 Beat Generation
2015-09-24 · Continents are Dumb · Hank, 7 named — In America, at least, people are taught there are seven continents: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and Antarctica. (00:00:42)
1 North America · 2 South America · 3 Europe · 4 Asia · 5 Australia · 6 Africa · 7 Antarctica
2015-09-24 · Continents are Dumb · Hank, 7 named — If any part of the definition is cultural, there is no excuse for one continent containing Russia, Indonesia, Japan, China, the Middle East, India and Pakistan. (00:01:51)
1 Russia · 2 Indonesia · 3 Japan · 4 China · 5 Middle East · 6 India · 7 Pakistan
2015-09-24 · Continents are Dumb · Hank, 5 named — Indonesia seemed small to Hank, but moved onto Europe it stretches from Northern Ireland to Kazakhstan; it has the land area of the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy combined. (00:02:29)
1 United Kingdom “UK” · 2 Germany · 3 France · 4 Spain · 5 Italy
2015-10-09 · The Surprising Truth About FLORIDA MAN! · Hank, 3 named — Hank says John and he are both at least partly Floridians, and Florida has a lot going for it: key lime pie, Cuban sandwiches, manatees, Cape Canaveral, Disney World, thunderstorms. (00:00:13)
1 Cape Canaveral · 2 Walt Disney World · 3 Miami Heat
2015-10-09 · The Surprising Truth About FLORIDA MAN! · Hank, 3 named — Hank's pet theory: lacking a stereotype for Florida like those for Californians, New Yorkers and Texans, pattern-recognizing brains seized on its weird headlines: 'weird news capital'. (00:03:12)
1 California · 2 New York City · 3 Texas “Texans”
2015-11-03 · Monkey Hangers · John, 2 named — John says Napoleon started the 13-year Napoleonic Wars, conquering and then losing most of Europe, but never conquered Great Britain or Russia. (00:01:05)
1 Great Britain · 2 Russia
2015-11-03 · Monkey Hangers · John, 3 named (playful) — The legend: a French warship sinks off Hartlepool, the surviving monkey is tried as a French spy and hanged; probably an adapted folk song (00:01:25)
1 Sunderland · 2 Snodland · 3 Braintree
2015-11-03 · Monkey Hangers · John, 2 named — John says in 2002 Stuart Drummond, the man in the H'Angus costume, ran for mayor as a team-backed stunt promising free bananas for schoolchildren, beat the real parties, and was re-elected in 2005 and 2009. (00:02:32)
1 Labour Party · 2 Conservative Party

2016

2016-06-28 · New Iceland · John, 2 named — John says there is no convenient midway point on the Atlantic between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia, unlike Hawaii or the Cook Islands in the Pacific. (00:01:34)
1 Hawaii · 2 Cook Islands
2016-06-28 · New Iceland · John, 3 named — The coalition would create New Iceland: great weather, Björk, a soccer team apparently better than England's, and only a two-hour flight from New York, Madrid or Marrakesh. (00:02:24)
1 New York City · 2 Madrid · 3 Marrakesh

2017

2017-01-17 · How Young Is History? · John, 5 named — John says much of what we think inevitable or natural about humanness isn't: not wealth inequality, climate change or polarization, but not literacy, free speech or a three-hour Rome-Florence trip either. (00:03:13)
1 economic inequality · 2 climate change · 3 political polarization · 4 literacy · 5 freedom of speech
2017-04-11 · Making the World's Largest Ball of Paint · John, 4 named — John jokes it can't be a coincidence that so many world's largest balls are in the US: popcorn in Iowa, stamps in Nebraska, competing twine balls from Kansas to Minnesota. (00:00:12)
1 Iowa · 2 Nebraska · 3 Kansas · 4 Minnesota
2017-09-19 · Why Cities? · John, 4 named — While much has been lost, John is grateful to live in a world with telescopes, vaccines, YouTube and books. (00:03:39)
1 Telescope · 2 vaccine · 3 YouTube · 4 Book

2018

2018-03-16 · The Most Popular Word in the World · Hank, 5 named — Hank says many languages, from Mandarin to Hebrew, Flemish, Russian, 'Indian' and Portuguese, have adopted OK as a common affirmative word. (00:00:29)
1 Mandarin Chinese · 2 Hebrew language · 3 Flemish · 4 Russian language · 5 Portuguese language
2018-05-15 · Seven Maps to Better Understand the World · John, 6 named — A map dividing humanity into tenths shows that Canada, the US, Mexico, most of the Caribbean, Chile, Peru and more make up only one tenth of the world's population. (00:00:29)
1 Canada · 2 United States · 3 Mexico · 4 Caribbean · 5 Chile · 6 Peru
2018-07-10 · The General Crisis · John, 4 named — From Africa to Asia to Europe to the Americas there was a lot of crisis, oddly, since the human species overall was getting much wealthier and better connected. (00:00:54)
1 Africa · 2 Asia · 3 Europe · 4 Americas
2018-07-10 · The General Crisis · John, 2 named — The Columbian Exchange also brought devastation: perhaps over 90% of Native Americans were killed in the centuries after Europeans arrived, mostly by new diseases like smallpox and diphtheria, a decline lasting through the General Crisis. (00:01:35)
1 smallpox · 2 diphtheria
2018-07-10 · The General Crisis · John, 3 named — Despite the wealth, European populations declined, largely due to the Thirty Years' War, which through combat and famine killed around 20% of people in today's Germany and up to a third in Poland and Lithuania. (00:02:25)
1 Germany · 2 Poland · 3 Lithuania
2018-07-24 · Other John Greens · John, 4 named (playful) — Part one: six other John Greens and the John Green near-EGOT (00:02:32)
1 Twister · 2 Speed 2: Cruise Control · 3 The Net · 4 Rookie of the Year
2018-11-27 · On The Melian Dialogue · John, 3 named — John says the Melian Dialogue happened about 2,400 years ago in ancient Greece; 5th-century BCE Athens was a democracy where Plato and Socrates philosophized and Sophocles wrote and held office. (00:00:00)
1 Plato · 2 Socrates · 3 Sophocles
2018-11-27 · On The Melian Dialogue · John, 2 named — John says the Melian Dialogue happened about 2,400 years ago in ancient Greece; 5th-century BCE Athens was a democracy where Plato and Socrates philosophized and Sophocles wrote and held office. (00:00:00)
1 Antigone · 2 Oedipus Rex

2019

2019-03-05 · Way, Way Down the Rabbit Hole · John, 1 named (2 unnamed items) — From a German-language newspaper site John learned the boys in the photo were not in fact farmers; he went on to genealogy sites, military records, Google Maps and obituaries. (00:00:29)
… · 3 Google Maps
2019-03-29 · The Largest Theft of All Time · Hank, 3 named — Hank says the largest bank robbery was in 2015: hackers in China, Russia and Europe took $300-900 million from many banks with common malware; no one was caught and nothing was recovered. (00:00:50)
1 China · 2 Russia · 3 Europe
2019-06-25 · Seemed Like a Good Idea: Eugene Schieffelin and the European Starlings · John, 3 named — Schieffelin, in his own word, 'liberated' many other European birds into New York, including bullfinches, skylarks and nightingales, all of which died. (00:00:29)
1 Eurasian bullfinch “bullfinches” · 2 Eurasian skylark “skylarks” · 3 Common nightingale “nightingales”
2019-06-25 · Seemed Like a Good Idea: Eugene Schieffelin and the European Starlings · John, 2 named — Without the movement of plants and animals between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after the Columbian Exchange, there would be no cows or horses in the Americas and no pizza (tomatoes from the Americas, wheat from Afro-Eurasia). (00:02:55)
1 tomato · 2 Wheat
2019-07-30 · The Mexican Repatriation · John, 2 named — In the mid-19th century the US took land from Mexico, including all of California and Arizona, through the Mexican-American War and the Gadsden Purchase; its Mexican citizens became US citizens. (00:00:29)
1 California · 2 Arizona
2019-07-30 · The Mexican Repatriation · John, 2 named — In the mid-19th century the US took land from Mexico, including all of California and Arizona, through the Mexican-American War and the Gadsden Purchase; its Mexican citizens became US citizens. (00:00:29)
1 Mexican-American War · 2 Gadsden Purchase
2019-10-30 · this is a video about pineapples. · John, 3 named — John says Louis XV of France and Catherine the Great of Russia loved pineapples. (00:01:56)
1 Louis XV · 2 Catherine the Great · 3 Ferdinand II of Aragon
2019-11-12 · still learning · John, 2 named — John says the lyrics were grafted onto a different Scottish folk melody, became a popular New Year's song in Scotland, and spread with Scottish emigrants to become "the world's New Year's song". (00:00:29)
1 Ireland · 2 Americas
2019-11-12 · still learning · John, 2 named — John says their biggest disagreements were political: Dunlop was so angry at Burns's celebration of the American and French revolutions that she didn't write to him for two years. (00:01:27)
1 American Revolutionary War · 2 French Revolution

2020

2020-05-19 · Didn't Make Sense Not to Live for Fun · John, 2 named — John says many languages, from Hebrew to Portuguese, use negative concord, while in English and some other languages double negatives can mean positives. (00:00:00)
1 Hebrew language · 2 Portuguese language
2020-05-19 · Didn't Make Sense Not to Live for Fun · video description, 3 named — In a comment John points to Taika Waititi and others, including Meryl Streep and Cumberbatch, reading Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach to raise money for PIH.
1 Taika Waititi · 2 Meryl Streep · 3 Benedict Cumberbatch
2020-12-31 · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed · John, 3 named — Today the tune plays in Japanese department stores before closing, was South Korea's anthem tune in 1945-1948, inspired a famous Dutch football chant, and fills film soundtracks from The Gold Rush (1925) to Minions (2015). (00:08:24)
1 Japan · 2 South Korea · 3 Netherlands
2020-12-31 · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed · John, 3 named — Today the tune plays in Japanese department stores before closing, was South Korea's anthem tune in 1945-1948, inspired a famous Dutch football chant, and fills film soundtracks from The Gold Rush (1925) to Minions (2015). (00:08:24)
1 The Gold Rush · 2 It's a Wonderful Life · 3 Minions

2022

2022-10-11 · Most People Have Never Been 20 · John, 2 named — John says most people ever born lived and died before Nero or Mansa Musa, before minutes and seconds, guns, global Christianity and Islam, and potatoes or pineapples in Afro-Eurasia. (00:01:11)
1 Nero · 2 Mansa Musa
2022-10-11 · Most People Have Never Been 20 · John, 4 named — John says most people ever born lived and died before Nero or Mansa Musa, before minutes and seconds, guns, global Christianity and Islam, and potatoes or pineapples in Afro-Eurasia. (00:01:19)
1 Christianity · 2 Islam · 3 potato (concept) “potatoes” · 4 pineapple

2023

2023-05-16 · Did TB Cause World War I? · John, 3 named — John asks whether tuberculosis, which gave us the stethoscope, the Adirondack chair and New Mexico, also partly gave us World War I; his answer is 'kinda'. (00:00:01)
1 stethoscope · 2 Adirondack chair · 3 New Mexico
2023-12-15 · Cat...I Farted. · Hank, 2 named — ChatGPT's examples (Chevrolet Nova, Pepsi in China) and Hank's own check (00:02:30)
1 Chevrolet Nova · 2 Pepsi
2023-12-15 · Cat...I Farted. · Hank, 7 named — Brand names that had to change because they are vulgar in other languages (00:03:04)
1 Kavli · 2 Mazda Laputa · 3 Gerber Products Company · 4 IKEA · 5 Vicks · 6 Sega · 7 Wii

2024

2024-06-04 · how it all ends · John, 2 named — John says we know very little about the distant past: not when people started having names or what they were, when language developed, or what our relationship with Neanderthals and Denisovans was like. (00:00:26)
1 Neanderthal · 2 Denisovan
2024-10-03 · Broadly in Favor of Humans · John, 6 named — John lists what humans did in the last eight hours of the human year: flew to the Moon, raised greenhouse gases, deforested most of North America, cut child death 95%, eliminated smallpox, grew food supply, drove large mammals toward extinction. (00:02:00)
1 Moon · 2 greenhouse gas · 3 deforestation “deforested” · 4 child mortality · 5 smallpox · 6 Megafauna “large mammals”

2025

2025-09-09 · Sorry, Hank, but Coffee Is Just Better · John, 3 named — John says coffee was seen as good for health, especially the gut, with people from Africa to the Americas to Europe praising it for the stomach. (00:00:29)
1 Africa · 2 Americas · 3 Europe

2026

2026-02-27 · Can We Do a Science Together?? · Hank, 6 named — Hank lists names he knows that share a name: Percy Jackson and LaToya Jackson; Isaac Mizrahi, Isaac Asimov, Oscar Isaac and Walter Isaacson. (00:00:29)
1 Percy Jackson · 2 La Toya Jackson · 3 Isaac Mizrahi · 4 Isaac Asimov · 5 Oscar Isaac · 6 Walter Isaacson
2026-02-27 · Can We Do a Science Together?? · Hank, 3 named — Hank thinks that at this moment in history people know a historically high number of names, including of people they don't and can't know, such as Catherine the Great, Catherine O'Hara and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. (00:00:58)
1 Catherine the Great · 2 Catherine O'Hara · 3 Lady Catherine de Bourgh
2026-08-21 · Not (Just) Dunking on Jeff Bezos · Hank, 5 named — Hank suggests perhaps today's Mozarts already exist: Stevie Wonder, David Byrne, Jacob Collier, Beyonce and Björk. (00:01:56)
1 Stevie Wonder · 2 David Byrne · 3 Jacob Collier · 4 Beyoncé · 5 Björk “Bjork”
2026-08-21 · Not (Just) Dunking on Jeff Bezos · Hank, 5 named — Hank says Machiavelli, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael all worked at the same time in Florence, a city of barely 60,000 people. (00:03:39)
1 Niccolò Machiavelli · 2 Sandro Botticelli · 3 Leonardo da Vinci · 4 Michelangelo · 5 Raphael