On December 12th, 2023, Day 19 of Season 99 of LearnedLeague, we learned of an invention that was first created by French physicist Jean-Augustin Fresnel for use in a specific type of building.

I Later Learned more about the enduring history of lighthouses, the buildings that housed the Fresnel lenses debatably saved a million ships, and, while growing less nautically necessary, continue to endure as metaphors.

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On December 11th, 2023, Day 18 of Season 99 of LearnedLeague, we learned of beneficiaries of Section 2 of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution.

I Later Learned the history of lines of succession, which both required bringing guys like Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller to the vice presidency, and also goes much deeper down a roster to sort the order for more than a dozen possible presidential replacements. Why do we have such long orders ready? Could that many dominos fall?

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On December 8th, 2023, Day 17 of Season 99 of LearnedLeague, we learned of the primary ingredient in the chilled soup vichyssoise.

I Later Learned the history of the potato and its champion Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the French pharmacist who saved lives and changed the way the world eats by exalting the humble apple of the earth.

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On December 7th, 2023, Day 16 of Season 99 of LearnedLeague, we learned of a geographical term for a long and gradual curvature in a shoreline that forms a large, open bay.

I Later Learned about bights like the Great Australian one, and found myself at sea wondering why, when we whittle away which water is what and where, we’re wildly wishy-washy.

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On December 6th, 2023, Day 15 of Season 99 of LearnedLeague, we learned of a massively popular video game, created by Alexei Pajitnov while he worked for the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

I Later Learned how Tetris, a game about finding order in a deluge of descending debris, might be able to keep your mind from falling apart in its toughest moments.

Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on your favorite audio apps like Apple and Spotify, leave reviews, and tell your friends and join the conversation on the message boards! And if you like the show you can support by pre-ordering Ben's book before it comes out next month!

On December 5th, 2023, Day 14 of Season 99 of LearnedLeague, we learned of the scientific adjective "dizygotic," most often used as a descriptor for a person (or set of people).

I Later Learned more about fraternal twins, the more common twins who have less in common with each other than do identical twins, but still prove fascinating to researchers since they weren’t just siblings...they were wombmates.

Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on your favorite audio apps like Apple and Spotify, leave reviews, and tell your friends and join the conversation on the message boards! And if you like the show you can support by pre-ordering Ben's book before it comes out next month!

On December 4th, 2023, Day 13 of Season 99 of LearnedLeague, we learned of the world’s largest major airline alliances, combining forces across the skies to connect the world.

I Later Learned more on a minnow mentioned in the midst of mega networks like the Star Alliance, Skyteam, and Oneworld: the Vanilla Alliance, which united a group of underdog islands trying to help one another out in a way that hopefully isn’t too plain, boring, or, you know, vanilla.

Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on your favorite audio apps like Apple and Spotify, leave reviews, and tell your friends and join the conversation on the message boards! And if you like the show you can support by pre-ordering Ben's book before it comes out next month!

On December 1st, 2023, Day 12 of Season 99 of LearnedLeague, we learned of four basic human rights which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed as four freedoms.

I Later Learned that baked into those four freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear—a quartet which inspired a series of iconic paintings by Norman Rockwell, was the all-important freedom to be dumb and wrong.

Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on your favorite audio apps like Apple and Spotify, leave reviews, and tell your friends and join the conversation on the message boards! And if you like the show you can support by pre-ordering Ben's book before it comes out next month!