History In Five Minutes Podcast

  Thomas Edison is arguably the most prolific inventor in all of history, with 1,093 patents to his name. At one point Edison promised to turn out a minor invention every 10 days and a big thing every six months or so. He largely made good on his promise. Edison is responsible for inventing the practical incandescent light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera, cement making technology, batteries, and the electric power generation system. While Edison purchased and even stole some of these patents, nearly 100 percent of them were tied to commercial success and quickly influenced American technological life. Did he accomplish this by brilliance, hard work, or stealing the inventions of better scientists like Nikola Tesla? A little bit of all of these. Learn more about his life by getting my new book The Most Productive People in History by clicking here. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Benjamin Franklin was nothing if not diversified in his talents. The Founding Father was a printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat, postmaster general, educator, philosopher, entrepreneur, library curator, and America's first researcher to win an international scientific reputation for his studies in electrical theory. He even made contributions to knowledge of the Gulf Stream.  How did he accomplish so much? Learn more about his life by getting my new book The Most Productive People in History by clicking here. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Medieval peasants had rotting teeth if they had any at all, right? Not all all. They not only had pretty good dental hygiene, but it was even better than ours today. For more from Tim O'Neil, check out these old podcasts: http://www.michaelrank.net/2013/07/01/hfm-021-common-knowledge-about-medieval-history-that-is-incorrect-part-1-with-tim-oneill/ Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

The United States has accepted immigrants throughout its history, but America has its emmigrants as well. Did you know there is a city in Brazil founded by Confederates who wanted to flee the U.S. during Reconstruction? Welcome to Americana, Brazil. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

The discovery of the abandoned Mary Celeste in 1872 is the stuff of nightmares. The brigantine merchant ship was found in the Atlantic Ocean with its cargo and valuables completely untouched but still packed with six months’ worth of food and water. No sign of a single crew member or passenger could be seen. The story only gets stranger from there. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Ghost ships are one of the most enduring legends of the sea, and tales of mysterious ships with missing crews have peppered the accounts of mariners both ancient and modern for hundreds of years. Some ghost ships exist in the realm of rumor, others are real but remain unexplained. On May 19, 1845, two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, departed England and set sail for the Canadian Arctic. Their goal was to travel through the treacherous waters of the Northwest Passage that separated the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. None of the crew were ever found. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

  No less a man than Leonardo Da Vinci was a real-life James Bond villain. How else can you describe a man who design cannons, tanks, and machine guns centuries ahead of his time? Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

  Franz Helm had creative ideas of using artillery. One was to strap a primitive jet pack on cats and launch them over the walls of enemy fortifications. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Auric Goldfinder and SPECTRE may seem over-the-top for their plans to irradiate the world's gold supply or kill political leaders with lasers from surveillance satellites, but there are real-life examples of inventors using audacious machines to crush their enemies. Learn how Archimedes defended his city with monstrous catapults, a huge iron claw, and even a primitive death ray. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Gunpowder has killed more people than any other invention in history, but it was ironically invented by Chinese alchemists with the intention of helping people live forever. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Every pre-schooler's favorite snack has had a strange journey. What was once the cure to wall-paper stains left by coal smoke is now one of the world's most popular toys. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Inventing is a messy process. Things don't work, ideas are discarded, and technology thrown away. Sometimes technology is used for a completely different purpose than what the inventor intended. Find out how Thomas Edison's electric pen became the best friend of professional skateboarders everywhere. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

It's bad luck to keep up your Christmas decorations past January 6. But it wasn't so long ago that wreathes and holly remained up through February. What happened? Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Why do we all belt out this tune at New Years -- or at least the two or three words we know? It has to do with 18th-century Scottish poetry and the influence of the Scottish Diaspora. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

How did St. Nicholas transform from a third-century Greek bishop into Santa Clause? I explain it all in five minutes. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

  Why do drunks fall off the wagon while teetotalers stay on the wagon? Some say it has to do with an English tradition before execution. Others say it comes from America's temperance movement. Find out which one is correct! Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

Ned Kelly was Australia's Robin Hood. His theft and killings of police made the British Empire put the highest bounty in its history on the heads of him and his gang. Learn about his deeds and how he went down in a blaze of glory while wearing a homemade Iron Man suit. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes  

The line between mafia and legitimate government can get very blurry. In the case of Kara Feyzi, an Ottoman bandit in the 19th century who practically controlled Bulgaria, the line was non-existent. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes   FROM NOVEMBER 27 TO DECEMBER 1, ALL OF MY BOOKS ARE ONLY $0.99!   Click on the titles below to go to the sales page and get them at the discount. 1. Off the Edge of the Map: Marco Polo, Captain Cook, and 9 Other Travelers and Explorers that Pushed the Boundaries of the Known World 2. Spies, Espionage, and Covert Operations: From Ancient Greece to the Cold War 3. How Iowa Conquered the World: The Story of a Small Farm State's Journey to Global Dominance 4. History's Greatest Generals: 10 Commanders Who Conquered Empires, Revolutionized Warfare, and Changed History Forever 5. Lost Civilizations: 10 Societies that Vanished Without a Trace 6. History's Most Insane Rulers: Lunatics, Eccentrics, and Megalomaniacs from Emperor Caligula to K

Japan has 10 times the mafia members per capita than the U.S. But they are more than a mafia -- the Yakuza has public clubs, members on large businesses' board of directors, and even disaster relief organizations. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes   FROM NOVEMBER 27 TO DECEMBER 1, ALL OF MY BOOKS ARE ONLY $0.99!   Click on the titles below to go to the sales page and get them at the discount. 1. Off the Edge of the Map: Marco Polo, Captain Cook, and 9 Other Travelers and Explorers that Pushed the Boundaries of the Known World 2. Spies, Espionage, and Covert Operations: From Ancient Greece to the Cold War 3. How Iowa Conquered the World: The Story of a Small Farm State's Journey to Global Dominance 4. History's Greatest Generals: 10 Commanders Who Conquered Empires, Revolutionized Warfare, and Changed History Forever 5. Lost Civilizations: 10 Societies that Vanished Without a Trace 6. History's Most Insane Rulers: Lunatics, Eccentrics, and Megalomaniacs from Emper

For nearly a century the Italian mafia dominated America, but they had such a good policy of stopping rats that we didn't know about their inner workings until very recently. Find out what separates a foot soldier from a don in this episode. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes   FROM NOVEMBER 27 TO DECEMBER 1, ALL OF MY BOOKS ARE ONLY $0.99!   Click on the titles below to go to the sales page and get them at the discount. 1. Off the Edge of the Map: Marco Polo, Captain Cook, and 9 Other Travelers and Explorers that Pushed the Boundaries of the Known World 2. Spies, Espionage, and Covert Operations: From Ancient Greece to the Cold War 3. How Iowa Conquered the World: The Story of a Small Farm State's Journey to Global Dominance 4. History's Greatest Generals: 10 Commanders Who Conquered Empires, Revolutionized Warfare, and Changed History Forever 5. Lost Civilizations: 10 Societies that Vanished Without a Trace 6. History's Most Insane Rulers: Lunatics, Eccentrics,