
The Weird History Podcast
Joe Streckert
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Top 10 The Weird History Podcast Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Weird History Podcast episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Weird History Podcast for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Weird History Podcast episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

184 Is Taiwan a Country?
The Weird History Podcast
01/10/19 • 29 min
Taiwan’s status is a matter of debate. In this episode we get into its history and try to suss out whether it’s part of China or an independent country.
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218 Juneteenth
The Weird History Podcast
06/19/20 • 17 min
Slavery in the United States did not end all at once. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, the last enslaved persons in the United States didn’t know they were legally free until June 19th, 1865 when the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas. That day, which became known as “Juneteenth,” has been recognized as a holiday by numerous African-American communities throughout the U.S. since 1865. While it’s still not an official federal holiday, it is recognized as a state holiday by over forty U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
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233 The Golden Fortress with Bill Lascher
The Weird History Podcast
10/09/22 • 37 min
During the Dust Bowl city officials in Los Angeles, fueled by anti-communist paranoia and xenophobia, were determined to keep migrants out of California. To that end, they dispatched the LAPD to remote border crossing points far outside the city in order to keep out anyone who looked like they were fleeing blight or didn’t have work. Author Bill Lascher spoke with us about his new book The Golden Fortress, which outlines how in 1936 LA law enforcement went to the far reaches of the Golden State to keep California closed.
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115 Italian Fascism Part Four, Voter Suppression and Murder
The Weird History Podcast
02/02/17 • 18 min
Following the March on Rome Mussolini and the fascists cemented their grasp on power via an electoral reform known as the Acerbo Law, voter suppression and intimidation in the 1924 election, and (possibly) by killing one of their biggest opponents, the socialist MP Giacomo Matteotti.

26 Joseph Barker on Artificial Intelligence, Strategy, and Games
The Weird History Podcast
04/17/15 • 28 min
Today’s episode is slightly different than our other entries. We have another interview episode, this time with Joseph Barker, who has a PhD in artifical intelligence, and whom I quoted in the last episode about the mechanical Turk. Instead of talking about fake, illusory artificial intelligence, this episode is devoted to how real, actual machines play games and formulate strategy.
The picture below shows Claude Shannon (whom Barker mentions in the podcast) and his chess machine at MIT in 1950. The machine, impressive at the time, could handle all of six chess pieces.
Related Links:
Barker mentioned John Von Neumann and Prisoner’s Dilemma by William Poundstone is an excellent introduction to Von Neumann and his ideas.
Read more about Claude Shannon, a pioneer of chess programming.
A good rundown from Slate about everything wrong with A Beautiful Mind.
Play Dots and Boxes online courtesy the UCLA math department.

155 North Korea Part Six: War and No Peace
The Weird History Podcast
02/26/18 • 14 min
The Korean War was supposed to be over quickly. However, due to intervention from the United Nations, China, and the Soviet Union, what would have been a quick regional conflict turned into a years-long war that involved over twenty countries and left millions dead. At the end of it, the borders between the two Koreas looked much like they had before the war, and it gradually became apparent that the division would not go away anytime soon.

234 Lupercalia
The Weird History Podcast
02/13/23 • 14 min
Before Valentine’s Day, ancient Romans celebrated a festival of fertility in the shadow of the Palatine Hill. Lupercalia was a popular holiday that featured blood, goat sacrifice, and getting whipped by naked guys.

201 Duncan Ryuken Williams on American Sutra
The Weird History Podcast
07/02/19 • 35 min
Duncan Ryuken Williams’s new book, American Sutra, explores Japanese Internment with a focus on Buddhism. Most Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans were Buddhists, and before and during internment these members of the Japanese-American community were treated very differently than those who’d converted to Christianity. Buddhists in internment camps found ways to practice their faith, despite it being discouraged, and Buddhist soldiers were crucial to the American war effort, both in Europe and the Pacific.

229 Douglas Wolk on All of the Marvels
The Weird History Podcast
10/12/21 • 59 min
The Marvel Universe is massive. Marvel comics go back well over half a century, and span thousands upon thousands of pages. Reading all of them would be a Herculean undertaking. And one man, Douglas Wolk, did exactly that, and wrote a book about it. We talked his new release All of the Marvels, and about how one of the most well-known fictional universes in the world has dealt with real-world history, like war, civil rights, crime, AIDS, Watergate, and more.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Weird History Podcast have?
The Weird History Podcast currently has 255 episodes available.
What topics does The Weird History Podcast cover?
The podcast is about History and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on The Weird History Podcast?
The episode title '184 Is Taiwan a Country?' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Weird History Podcast?
The average episode length on The Weird History Podcast is 21 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Weird History Podcast released?
Episodes of The Weird History Podcast are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of The Weird History Podcast?
The first episode of The Weird History Podcast was released on Oct 28, 2014.
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