Midnight Facts for Insomniacs

The Most-Frequently Misused Words in the English Language

What are the most consistently misused words and phrases in the English language? Find out in this week's nitpicking, pedantic, gloriously sesquipedalian episode of MFFI. 
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In this episode:  
Terrific
Queer
Ironic
Literally
Meretricious 
Irregardless
Disinterested
Electrocute
Refute
Fewer vs Less
Nauseous 
Nonplussed
Eggcorns
I Could Care Less
Shoo-In
For All Intents and Purposes
Piqued
Hunger Pangs
You've Got Another Think Coming
Dog Eat Dog World
Coleslaw
Buck Naked
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Deadly Plants: From Belladonna to the Gympie-Gympie

What’s the world’s most dangerous plant? Which notorious stinging nettle is capable of an aerial attack? And what the heck is a hemicryptophyte? 
Join Shane and Duncan as they explore the wild world of toxic foliage in this week’s lush, leafy, and lethal episode of MFFI. 
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In this episode:  
Atropa Belladonna (Deadly Nightshade)
Herbaceous, Perennial, Rhizomatous, Hemicryptophyte
Augustus and Livia
Atropine
Daffodil (Narcissus Poeticus)
Lycorine
Castor Bean (Ricinus Communis) 
1978 Umbrella Murder (Georgi Markov)
Ricin Poison
Gympie-Gympie (Dendrocnide Moroides)
Gubbi-Gubbi
Phototoxic Giant Hogweed (Heracleum Mantegazzianum)
Tangent: Corpse Bloom (Amorphophallus Titanium)
Hemlock (Conium Maculatum)
Socrates
Nerium-Oleander
The Deadliest Plant on Earth
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Alternate Histories: The End of the World as We Know It

On September 26, 1983, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Soviet army saved the world.
When the Oko nuclear-warning system erroneously reported an incoming barrage of American missiles, Stanislov Petrov chose not to alert his superiors, and averted the apocalypse. But what if he had made a different decision? Would civilization still exist? What would the world look like today? 
Join the boys as they examine the uniquely human obsession with revising history, and take a journey down the "what if" rabbit hole.
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In this episode:  
The Roman Origins of Alternate History
Titus Livius's Ab Urbe Condita
Points of Divergence
Chaos Theory
The Butterfly Effect
Edward Norton Lorenz
"For Want of a Nail" 
Apocalyptic Futures
Lieutenant Colonel Stanislov Petrov
The Oko Warning System
"Launch on Warning" Protocol
Mutually Assured Destruction
Northern Hemisphere Effects vs. Southern
Fallout
Little Ice Age vs. Nuclear Winter 
What if the North Hadn't Won the Civil War?
Likelihood of a Northern Failure/Southern Stalemate
Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1864
McClellan Negotiates a Ceasefire
Lincoln's Legacy
Slavery Continues
Southern Decline
Westward Expansion, Further Fragmentation
WWI in America
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*Full Episode* After Midnight: The Top 5 Greatest Movie Sequels

To make up for the lost episode due to Shane’s bout with COVID, MFFI is releasing another full, brand new After Midnight this week! Enjoy your favorite segments like “How Stupid Are We?” and “This Week’s Random Fact,” plus the greatest movie sequels of all time.
What’s in your top five? Tell us in DISCORD ...
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Designer Babies and Dystopian Hellscapes: The Future of Gene Editing With CRISPR

The future is here, and it's terrifying. Join the boys as they learn all about the revolutionary gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9. What's with the crazy acronym, how swole can a chicken be, and when will Duncan get his prehensile tail? Find out on the latest DNA-snipped, biologically enhanced episode of MFFI. 
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In this episode:  
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats
Genetic Scissors
Streptococcus Pyogenes
Bacteria: The Real Hero
Yoshizumi Ishino
Francisco Mojica
Cas9
Emanuelle Marie Charpentier and Jennifer Anne Doudna
DNA/RNA/crRNA
Cas12a
Sickle Cell Treatment
Victoria Gray
CRISPR Crops
Memphis Meats
The GMO issue
HIV and Cancer Treatments
Challenges
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Real-Life Mad Scientists

Little-known fact: the mad doctor from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein was based on a real-life scientist named Giovanni Aldini. And even Aldini's corpse-reanimating experiments were mild compared to some of the bizarre and horrifying travesties that have been committed in the name of scientific progress. Join the boys as they explore two-headed dogs, telekinetic pong-playing monkeys, and the history of unhinged science.
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In this episode:  
Vladimir Demikhov
Head Transplants
Shavka and Brodyaga
Jose Manuel Rodriguez Delgado
Shiro Ishii
Unit 731
Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night (Disease Fleas)
Giovanni Aldini, the OG Frankenstein
Galvanism
The Postmortem Electrocution of George Forster
Andrew Ure, Frankenstein Part 2
The Postmortem Electrocution of Matthew Clydesdale
Elon Musk and Neuralink
Pager the Mind-Pong Monkey
Cryonics
Alcor, the Life-Extension Foundation
M.E.A.R.T, the Semi-Living Artist
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“High Class Freaks”: The Globetrotting History of Ripley’s Believe It or Not

Leroy Robert Ripley would transcend humble origins to become an unlikely superstar, rebranding from an awkward teenage cartoonist to the sophisticated leader of a profitable multimedia empire. In the process he would expand minds, introduce Americans to the wonders of the larger world...and also contribute to misinformation, promote stereotypes, and work hard to conceal the true secret behind his success. Join the boys this week as they tackle the complicated legacy of Ripley's Believe It or Not!
 
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In this episode:  
Leroy Robert Ripley
Santa Rosa
Those Teeth
From the San Franciso Bulletin to the New York Globe
Robert Leroy Ripley
Handball Champion
Rebranding/Makeover
Champs and Chumps
Believe It or Not
The Laconia
Ramble 'Round the World With Ripley
Ripley Meets India
Ripley Fetishizes China
The Lindbergh Controversy
The First Book
William Randolph Hearst Makes Ripley Rich
Curioddities
Norbert Pearlroth, Secret Weapon
The Warner Brothers Film Shorts
The Radio Show
Ripley, Casanova
BION Island
The First Museum
Human Exhibits, Oddities, and "High Class Freaks"
Freda Pushnik
Post-World-War Tour
The First TV Show
Death
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Spectral Evidence and Satanic Panic: The Salem Witch Trials

In the late 17th century, a satanic panic swept through the Puritan colony of Salem, Massachusetts. Neighbors turned on neighbors, families were torn apart, and when all was said and done 19 innocent men and women were dead.
And the scariest part? It could happen again.  
Join Shane and Duncan for a thorough exploration of one of the most shameful episodes in American history: the Salem Witch Trials. 
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In this episode:  
European Witch Trials
The German Trier Trials
King James VI
The Berwick Witch Trials
Connecticut Witch Trials
Arthur Miller's The Crucible
The Puritans
The Catholic Church and Indulgences
Salem in the 1690s
Abigail Williams and Elizabeth "Betty" Parris
Samuel Parris
William Griggs
Mary Sibley and the Witches Cake
Elizabeth Hubbard and the Wolf
The First Three Accused: Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba
Ann Putnam Jr.
The Devil's Book
John and Elizabeth Proctor
John Hathorne and Jon Corwin
Governor Sir William Phipps
Judge William Stoughton
The First Execution: Bridget Bishop
Oyer and Terminer
Spectral Evidence
Witch Tests
The Pressing of Giles Cory
The Superior Court of Judicature
The Panic Ends
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H.H. Holmes: Myths and Murder Castles

Everything you think you know about H.H. Holmes is probably a lie. Which is appropriate, because "Dr. Henry Howard Holmes" was more of a serial liar than a serial killer. But while the popular version of his story is more myth than reality, the truth behind the legend is equally fascinating. Join the boys as they unearth the disturbing history of Herman Webster Mudgett, aka H.H. Holmes. 
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In this episode:  
Herman Webster Mudgett
Myths vs. Reality
Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City vs. Adam Seltzer's The True History of the White City Devil
Yellow Journalism
The "Murder Castle"
The World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair)
Formative Years
Herman Webster Mudgett, "Resurrectionist"
First Wife: Clara Lovering
First Child: Robert Lovering Mudgett
Second Wife: Myrta Zulique Belknap
Second Child: Lucy Theodate Holmes
Englewood, Chicago
The Holtons
Scams and Swindles (Mineral Water and Natural Gas)
Benjamin Pitezel
The Connors: Julia, Ned, and Pearl
The Keeley Cure
The Disappearance of Emeline Cigrand
Third Wife: Minnie Williams
Disappearance of Anna and Minnie
On the Run
Fourth Wife: Georiana Yoke
Murders of Benjam, Howard, Alice, and Nellie Pitezel
Apprehended
The Trial
Executed
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Megafauna: Titans of the Past and Present

From the largest animal to ever inhabit the earth to the heaviest predator of all time, from Spinosaurus to Dire Wolves (they were real!), Shane and Duncan explore the biggest of the big. 
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In this episode:  
Modern Megafauna
Blue Whale: Balaenoptera Musculus
Megatherium (Giant Ground Sloth)
The Pando Aspen Colony 
Armillaria Ostoyae: Clone Network of Fungus Rhizomorphs
La Brea Tar Pits and Zed
The Five Major Extinction Events
The Square Cube Law
Patagotitan Mayorum
Brontosaurus (?)
Spinosaurus
Meganeuropsis Permiana
Paraceratherium
Dire Wolves
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