Things I Learned Last Night

Jose Canseco was one of the greatest home run hitters in MLB history, with over 450 on his long career. He had a little help, though. Many regard him as the man who introduced steroids in the MLB. While he probably wasn't the first, he was one of the first to be open about his PED use. That openness seems to be why he was excluded from the hall of fame despite his storied career. However, his ster...

Lawn Chair Larry, also known as Larry Walters, had always dreamed of flying. As a kid, he planned on becoming a pilot in the airforce. Unfortunately, he was turned by air force recruiters away due to his poor eyesight. In the wake of the death of his dream, Larry became a truck driver. However, his vision of flying never left him, even though the airforce was no longer an option. One day this drea...

Timothy Dexter might actually be the luckiest man ever to live. Dexter was a prolific business mam at the dawn of the United States. He was one of the first people in U.S. history to rise from the lower class to the upper class. His business success, however, was entirely a stroke of luck. Few things that he succeeded in can be attributed to his intelligence or business prowess. He made most of hi...

Ferdinand Waldo Demara is quite possibly the most legendary imposter to ever live. This man lied his way into almost every career known to man. Throughout his long life, Demara was a correctional officer, a prisoner, a soldier, a medic, a lawyer, a surgeon, and so much more. All the while being unqualified and his contemporaries being none the wiser. Even after Ferdinand Waldo Demara became famous...

Valiant Thor is the subject of a truly unbelievable story. We mean it. Tim doesn't even buy this one. Here's the story. Valiant Thor, or Val as his friends called him, was a humanoid alien living in an apartment inside the Pentagon. Val had a tight-knit relationship with President Eisenhower and was passionate about ending the possibility of nuclear war. Like many Aliens who have come to earth, Va...

We all remember the days sitting through history class learning about all the presidents in the short history of the United States. We learned all about each of these presidents and the things they did while in office. However, there's a good chance you were not taught about the first and only Emperor of the United States. In 1859, Joshua Abraham Norton laid claim to the position of Emperor of the...

We went viral on TikTok earlier this year with our "Cat Daddy" voicemail reactions. Since then, our listenership has grown by the tens-of-thousands and we also received a lot more voicemails! So we decided to react to more of them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of World War I, virtually everyone on earth knew that we could not afford another war as treacherous as the great war. In the US, a group of military leaders forged a small group that would come to be known as the Bomber Mafia. Their theory sounds primitive today, but at the time, it was groundbreaking. To put it simply, the Bomber Mafia hoped to win wars with bombs rather than with gr...

Stanley Meyer was a prolific inventor in the late 20th century. While working for a local lab, Meyer was on the team that had filed for numerous patents rumored to total in the hundreds if not thousands. However, personally, Meyer is the owner of just over a dozen patents. Regardless, the local patent office respected Meyer so much that they allegedly approved anything with his name on it on sight...

BlackRock inc. is the largest bank in the world. How big, you ask? Well, it manages an estimated total of $9 trillion. This corporation controls more money than many nations. The staggering amount of funds under its control has led many to suggest that BlackRock owns the world. The scary truth is, they kind of do. The decisions BlackRock makes with its assets have ramifications worldwide. The effe...

On the rooftops of Seattle lurks a hero the city never asked for and barely needs. In $10k dollar armor Phoenix Jones rushes down fire escapes and across alley ways in downtown Seattle night after night. This vigilante superhero is on a mission to make Seattle a safer place. Even though things started out well for Phoenix he and his team of caped crusaders, known as the rain city superhero collect...

Since the United States first landed on the moon 50 years ago, the dream of a space colony has been alive in the American consciousness. Is a space colony really possible, though? After 40 years of near inactivity in space, things are changing. Governments are beginning to reinvest in space exploration. Private organizations are also beginning to invest in a new frontier of business; the space ind...

Nascar has long been the pinnacle of the racing world. However, within the Nascar community, there stands no track greater than the Talladega Super Speedway. This racetrack is the track of dreams. Nascar Drivers spend their careers chasing qualifications for a chance on that pavement. In 1982 one aspiring driver rose through the ranks to earn his qualification at the Winston 500 held on Talladega'...

About 50 miles outside downtown Atlanta lies Lake Lanier. This artificial reservoir spans 59 square miles and boasts an impressive 692 miles of shoreline. For years people from all around Georgia have journeyed to the lake to escape the heat and enjoy all the trappings of lake life. Unfortunately, many of those who made this trip never returned. Since the lake's opening to recreation, well over 50...

Freeway Rick Ross built an empire of drug dealing and real estate in the mid-'80s. His reputation was stout, but he knew what he was doing and evaded legal trouble for years. His ability to stay one step ahead of law enforcement put him in a position to amass an estimated $900 million, all while hiding his nefarious activities from his mother. Unfortunately for Ross, one misstep cost him everythin...

Tesla held its special AI day yesterday and showcased all kinds of incredible new technologies in its autonomous vehicles. Then at the end of their conference, something strange happened. First, a video rolled on the screen showcasing what looked like a new robot design. Then as the lights came up, a robot came walking across the stage. Tesla quickly showed the live robot to be nothing more than a...

Every nation in the world has had its fair share of embarrassing moments. But only one has lost a war to flightless birds. In 1932, the Australian military sent a small group of soldiers to the outback to rid the area of emus who were destroying local crops. The Australian government didn't expect the decision to lead to The Great Emu War. However, these emus were ready for the battle and exhibite...

Every Presidential candidate makes promises throughout their campaign to sway voters to earn their spot as president. For many candidates, only a few of these promises come to fruition. Other promises haunt them throughout their presidency. These promises present challenges for the White House in a few unique scenarios long after the president who made them is gone. That is exactly what happened w...

Few things are more dangerous than extended distance flights. Yet, occasionally, brave pilots will attempt to fly extreme distances in one go. A single flight around the world is dangerous business. A flight around the world is child's play compared to flying around for 8 years, straight, with nuclear bombs on board. That is exactly what the United States Military did from 1960 to 1968. It was the...

At this point, we are all familiar with the Fyre Festival disaster. The Netflix and Hulu documentaries about the absolute failure of a concert captured the American youth. However, Fyre Fest was not the first music festival to crash and burn. In fact, it's quite common for music festivals to end in disaster. Whether it be due to the kind of crowd music festivals attract, or the kind of people who...

You have to be a pretty crazy person to assassinate a United States President. But, for Charles J Guiteau, the man who assassinated the 20th President James A. Garfield, the assassination of the president was the least crazy thing he ever did. From a shady political career to cult ties to ax-wielding outbursts, Charles J Guiteau was certainly unhinged. He was so insane that his lawyers made the fi...

In 1877 Alexander Graham Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company. It was the world's first telephone company and would one day become AT&T. Even though Alexander Graham Bell sold his ownership stake in the company after just a couple of years with the company, AT&T would become the largest telephone company in the company the world. In fact, AT&T grew so large that the United States government spe...

Fans of the Things I Learned Last Night podcast know that the United States has made some missteps over the years. However, everything we've discussed pales in comparison to the colossal failure that is the Salton Sea, California. This story has everything; capitalism, floods of biblical proportion, tourist traps, environmental disasters, and nuclear bombs. Yeah, of course, there are nukes in this...

In episode 32, we talked about John McAfee, the man who created McAfee antivirus and that's the LEAST interesting thing about him. For years, he has said that the government is after him. This week, he died in prison... mysteriously... Tim updates us about what we know, what we think could have happened, and where we go from here. Listen to our episode about John McAfee This show is part of the Sp...

We've been putting signs up at Starbucks and on social media asking for weird voicemails! This time, we put up a sign that said "Have you been abducted??". Here are a few of the voicemail responses we got and our reactions to them! This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5714661/advertisement...