The Dave Bowman Show

Why is anybody surprised that ChatGPT5 is a disaster?

If you spend enough time with history trivia lovers, sooner or later somebody will hit you with the one about America’s “President for a Day.” They lean in with a grin, ask who was the 12th President, and when you say Zachary Taylor, they triumphantly declare, “Wrong! It was David Rice Atchison!” That’s when you’re supposed to look confused, and they get to explain that, for twenty-four hours in 1...

In this episode of What The Frock?, Rabbi Dave and Friar Rod explore how smartphones, streaming media, and the nonstop news cycle are reshaping the way we think. They dive into the complexities of Russiagate, political disinformation, and the historical lessons of Cicero’s Cataline speeches, revealing how the “ends justify the means” mindset can threaten a republic. The discussion blends modern po...

On August 10, 1861, the quiet hills and oak groves southwest of Springfield, Missouri, erupted in one of the fiercest fights the state would ever see. The Battle of Wilson’s Creek was the first major Civil War engagement west of the Mississippi River. It pitted a smaller but determined Union force under Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon against a larger Confederate and Missouri State Guard army led...

In the early hours of August 9, 1942, off a small volcanic island in the Solomons, the United States Navy suffered one of the worst defeats in its history. The name Savo Island became a bitter memory for sailors who fought in the first desperate months of the Guadalcanal campaign. It was the Navy’s first major surface engagement of that offensive, and it ended with four Allied heavy cruisers on th...

On August 8, 1988, Wrigley Field lit up for the first time in its long and storied history. The Cubs were finally playing under the lights, ending decades of sunlit baseball tradition on Chicago’s North Side. It was a moment fans had waited for, some reluctantly, others eagerly. Television demanded it, the league supported it, and even the city council finally agreed to it. But as history would ha...

In the summer of 1959, as Cold War tensions brewed and the space race gained momentum, a small American satellite quietly made history. Explorer 6, a modest sphere bristling with solar paddles and scientific instruments, launched from Cape Canaveral with little fanfare. Its mission was technical, its goals ambitious, but what it accomplished transcended science and touched something deeper. On Aug...

(Special Thanks to Bill Mick sitting in for me today while Cami and I are on our anniversary trip!) On this episode of Dave Does History, we travel to the thick woods of upstate New York, where on August 6, 1777, one of the bloodiest and most personal battles of the American Revolution erupted. The Battle of Oriskany wasn’t fought by foreign armies or distant kings. It was neighbors against neighb...

This week on Dave Does History, we step directly into the candlelit committee rooms of 1776, where a handful of exhausted men, some brilliant, some bothersome, grappled with the impossible: writing a document that would declare independence, defend it to the world, and somehow hold thirteen squabbling colonies together.

In August 1972, Uganda's dictator Idi Amin issued a chilling ultimatum. He gave the country’s Asian population just 90 days to leave. No hearings, no negotiations, no appeals. Seventy thousand people, many of them Ugandan citizens, were suddenly unwanted in the only home they had ever known. What followed wasn’t just an expulsion. It was organized theft, driven by racism and hunger for power. Busi...

In the summer of 1936, under the shadow of swastikas and the watchful gaze of Adolf Hitler, two American sprinters lined up for a race that would shake the foundations of Nazi propaganda. Everyone remembers Jesse Owens crossing the line first. Few recall who finished second. Ralph Metcalfe, a man shaped by grit, faith, and speed, ran the race of his life in Berlin. But his story didn’t end on that...

This week’s episode of What The Frock? begins with the unthinkable. Rabbi Dave takes to the mic alone, shaken and grieving, to deliver a eulogy for his friend and co-host, Friar Rod, who he believes has passed away from a sudden heart attack. He reflects on their years of friendship, their podcast journey, and the irreplaceable presence Rod brought to every episode. It is heartfelt, raw, and deepl...

On today's episode of Dave Does History, we're pulling up a chair at a Deadwood poker table and watching the final moments of one of the West’s most iconic figures. James Butler Hickok, known to the world as Wild Bill, wasn’t looking for a fight that day. He was just trying to win a hand. He had no idea that someone had already decided to end the game, permanently. But who was Wild Bill really? Be...

Its the hottest month for a reason

In 1963, the battle over civil rights reached a boiling point, and President John F. Kennedy stood at the edge of a political cliff. For years, he had played it safe, balancing ideals with cold electoral math. But that year, something shifted. From the fire hoses of Birmingham to the death of Medgar Evers, the moral weight of the moment pressed hard. Kennedy stepped forward with a national address...

In 1963, Civil rights protests were getting heated

On this episode of *Dave Does History*, we turn our attention to a man who stood his ground when the entire Union line was collapsing. General George Henry Thomas, The Rock of Chickamauga, isn't a name you hear as often as Grant or Sherman. But maybe you should. Born in Virginia and raised in the slaveholding South, Thomas made the unthinkable decision to stay loyal to the Union. His family disown...

The Treaty of Box Elder, signed on July 30, 1863, was meant to mark the end of violence between the United States and the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone. But beneath its formal words and lofty promises, the treaty became a masterclass in betrayal. Though short in text, its consequences stretched over generations.

In this episode of *Dave Does History*, we head into the winter of 1775, a moment when America stood at the edge of decision but hadn’t yet taken the leap. The muskets had fired at Lexington and Concord. The King had declared the colonies in rebellion. But most Americans still clung to the hope of reconciliation. That changed with the arrival of one powerful pamphlet. Thomas Paine’s *Common Sense*...

On this episode of *Dave Does History*, we saddle up for one of the strangest spectacles ever to grace the American sporting landscape: Donkey Baseball. That is right. In towns across the country during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, people paid good money to watch their neighbors try to play ball while riding reluctant, ornery donkeys. What started as a Depression-era gimmick turned into a fundraising...

Good morning, America, how are ya? I’m Rabbi Dave, joined as always by the ever-caffeinated Friar Rod, and today on What the Frock? we’re opening the dusty file marked Permanent Record. You remember the threat — utter one wrong word in 7th grade and boom, your life is over. But where did that terrifying idea come from? And why has it followed us into adulthood, now repackaged as cancel culture and...

"Just as a thousand years ago the Huns under their King Attila made a name for themselves, one that still rings mighty in history and legend, may the name German be known in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German." That was the moment the nickname “Hun” attached itself to Germany like a leech. At least, that’s what some folks say.

In the summer of 1958, as the heat of the Cold War shimmered off asphalt streets and atomic anxiety settled into living rooms like static, a quiet metal cylinder rose from Cape Canaveral. It made no splashy headlines. It gave no television interviews. But what it saw—and what it was built to see—helped redefine how the United States would fight the Cold War from above the clouds.

But long before Wyoming became a refuge for old historians or a playground for tourists with fly rods, it was a stretch of land tangled in a messy and magnificent story. It is a story that stretches from mammoth hunters to suffragists, from obsidian blades to steam engines, from tribal sanctuaries to territorial skirmishes.

Amelia Earhart wasn’t just a pilot. She was a force of nature wrapped in leather and sky. In this episode of *Dave Does History*, we trace the arc of her remarkable life—from her bold, tomboy beginnings in Kansas to the cockpit of the Lockheed Electra that carried her into legend. She didn’t break barriers gently. She tore through them at altitude, shattering expectations for what women could do i...