Best Idiomatic Podcasts (2026)

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CLASSIC: Idiomatic For The People, Part I 1:04:05

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28d ago1:04:05

1:04:05

Language is beautiful and, in many cases, continually evolving. As a result, we end up with hundreds of strange idioms and figures of speech that we use on a daily basis, with little to no understanding of what they originally meant. Join the guys and special guest, Rowan Newbie, the creator of the Pitches podcast, as they explore the bizarre origi…

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CLASSIC: Who was the highest paid athlete in history? 30:19

13h ago30:19

30:19

Today, most people probably don't remember the career of once-famous charioteer Gaius Appuleius Diocles -- however, in his day we was a cultural icon, one of the most famous athletes in Rome. Join the guys as they explore the story Diocles and trace one professor's quest to figure out exactly how much cash Diocles made in modern terms. See omnystud…

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Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu, with Tom Freston 47:38

3d ago47:38

47:38

Happy New Year! It's no secret that MTV fundamentally changed the nature of media and entertainment. But how did it actually get started? What made the world so obsessed with the concept of "Music Television"? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max get to learn the true origin story of MTV from none other than the legendary co-founder, Tom Freston. …

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SE Radio 701: Max Guernsey, III and Luniel de Beer on Readiness in Software Engineering 1:01:44

22h ago1:01:44

1:01:44

Max and Luniel co-authors of the book - "Ready: Why Most Software Projects Fail and How to Fix It", discuss the concept of Readiness in software engineering with host Brijesh Ammanath. While Agile workflows and technical practices help delivery, many software efforts still struggle to achieve desired outcomes. Rework, shifting requirements, delays,…

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CLASSIC: The Weird Life of George Washington, Part 2 33:11

5d ago33:11

33:11

Join Ben, Noel, Casey and returning guest Christopher Hassiotis as they continue exploring the strange life and times of George Washington in the second part of this two-part series. Listen in to learn more about Washington's weird hair routine, his bizarre, lifelong medical issues, and his family's troubling history in early America. See omnystudi…

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CLASSIC: The Weird Life of George Washington, Part 1 43:37

7d ago43:37

43:37

Returning special guest Christopher Hassiotis joins the guys today for a round-robin discussion of the very weird life of George Washington, first President of the United States. (As you may have guessed from the title, there's more weirdness than we could fit in a single episode.) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

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Folks, We're Doing A Clip Show: Leftovers, 2025 37:25

10d ago37:25

37:25

Hey there, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. Ben, Noel and Max here: as we travel to hang with our friends and family, we like to do a little thing at the end of the year where we explore various tangents and trivia we didn't get to in our first run of a show. So, as you're hugging or dodging your own family -- and just maybe having some advent…

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SE Radio 700: Mojtaba Sarooghi on Waiting Rooms for High-Traffic Events 1:07:46

1d ago1:07:46

1:07:46

Mojtaba Sarooghi, a Distinguished Product Architect at Queue-it, speaks with host Jeremy Jung about virtual waiting rooms for high-traffic events such as concerts and limited-quantity product releases. They explore using a virtual queue to prevent overloading systems, how most traffic is from bots, using edge workers to reduce requests to the custo…

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Was 536 Really the Worst Year in History? 42:42

12d ago42:42

42:42

Welcome to the end of the year, fellow Ridiculous Historians! As Ben, Noel and Max look back on the events of 2025, they discovered historians do, in fact, have one year singled out as "the worst year in human history." But... why? Join the guys as they explore how DXXXVI absolutely wrecked Europe, the Middle East and Asia -- with consequences that…

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CLASSIC: Clara, The World's Most Famous Rhinoceros 45:28

12d ago45:28

45:28

For centuries most people in Europe thought of rhinos as another form of mythical creature, like unicorns or griffins. However, this all changed when an enterprising sea captain brought a young, orphaned rhino named Clara back to his home country after his travels abroad. It's often said that fame can have a powerful effect on the average human bei…

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Christmas Traditions Are So Incredibly Weird! 43:55

16d ago43:55

43:55

What's the strangest Christmas tradition you practice? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max ring in the end of the year with an exploration of Christmas celebrations across the world -- and speculate on inventing a few of their own. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By iHeartPodcasts

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SE Radio 699: Benjamin Brial on Internal Dev Platforms 55:17

8d ago55:17

55:17

In this episode, Benjamin Brial, CEO and co-founder of Cycloid, speaks with host Sriram Panyam about internal developer platforms (IDPs) and internal developer portals. The conversation explores how these platforms address the growing challenges of DevOps scalability, multi-cloud complexity, and cloud waste, all of which organizations face as they …

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The Grim Christmas Folklore of Johnny Ace, with Jake Brennan 41:10

18d ago41:10

41:10

While the career of rhythm-and-blues vocalist Johnny Ace was short, he left a huge mark on the music world. Up until Christmas Day of 1954, Ace seemed set to reach genuine crossover success in pop music -- until, that is, he met his untimely end during an ill-fated game of Russian Roulette. At least, that's the legend. Yet as special guest Jake Bre…

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CLASSIC: How the Monopoly Board Game Became a World War II Escape Kit 29:35

22d ago29:35

29:35

Ben, Noel and Max return with this week's Classic episode! Monopoly is a pretty divisive game, and people tend to either love it or hate it. However, for hundreds of Allied POWs captured during World War II, Monopoly became more than a mere diversion -- it became, instead, their ticket to freedom. Join the guys as they explore the strange sequence …

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The Deliciously Ridiculous History of Fruitcakes 39:19

23d ago39:19

39:19

Let's be honest. If you live in the United States, you probably think fruitcake is ridiculous. It's like the MRE of Christmas, passed around from one family to the next. But what makes it so resilient? How, out of all the cakes in the world,did fruitcake become a thing -- and why does it remain with us today? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…

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SE Radio 698: Srujana Merugu on How to build an LLM App 1:18:30

16d ago1:18:30

1:18:30

In this episode of Software Engineering Radio, Srujana Merugu, an AI researcher with decades of experience, speaks with host Priyanka Raghavan about building LLM-based applications. The discussion begins by clarifying essential concepts like generative vs. predictive AI, pre-training vs. fine-tuning, and the transformer architecture that powers mod…

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That Time the US Government Brainwashed America into DIY Bomb Shelters 39:02

25d ago39:02

39:02

Picture this: it's just after World War II -- the world knows nuclear weapons can end civilization. So, how can a government help the public feel safe? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the ridiculous history of that time Uncle Sam tried to make the public build cartoonishly bad fallout shelters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac…

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Spontaneous Human Combustion: A Bizarre Controversy 31:50

1M ago31:50

31:50

Can people really just, for no discernable reason, catch on fire? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore the centuries old folklore and investigations of a phenomenon known as "spontaneous human combustion" -- and discover the debate continues, even in the modern day. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

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SE Radio 697: Philip Kiely on Multi-Model AI 56:33

24d ago56:33

56:33

Philip Kiely, software developer relations lead at Baseten, speaks with host Jeff Doolittle about multi-agent AI, emphasizing how to build AI-native software beyond simple ChatGPT wrappers. Kiely advocates for composing multiple models and agents that take action to achieve complex user goals, rather than just producing information. He explains the…

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IP, Part Three: A Copyright for Everyone! 39:59

1M ago39:59

39:59

As Ben, Noel and Max close out another year of Ridiculous History, they return to the patently baffling world of intellectual property. In part three of this series, the guys finally tackle one of the weirdest concepts out there -- a thoroughly confusing thing called a 'copyright'. What is it? Where did this idea come from, how does it work... and …

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CLASSIC: Was there a real-life Rapunzel? 28:59

1M ago28:59

28:59

Most people in the West are familiar with the old Rapunzel fairy tale -- a beautiful princess is confined to a tower until a prince, captivated by her beauty, uses her hair as a ladder and comes to her rescue. But where did this story come from, exactly? Tune in to learn more in today's Classic episode from 2019. See omnystudio.com/listener for pri…

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Ridiculous Maps: That Time Everyone Thought California Was An Island 34:39

1M ago34:39

34:39

Nowadays, pretty much anyone can easily find an accurate map of a city, a country, or the entire world. But this wasn't always the case. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore baffling cartography of old, when well-intentioned mapmakers, working with the best info they had at the time, often got things wrong. Our first episode in this contin…

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SE Radio 696: Flavia Saldanha on Data Engineering for AI 1:14:25

30d ago1:14:25

1:14:25

Flavia Saldanha, a consulting data engineer, joins host Kanchan Shringi to discuss the evolution of data engineering from ETL (extract, transform, load) and data lakes to modern lakehouse architectures enriched with vector databases and embeddings. Flavia explains the industry's shift from treating data as a service to treating it as a product, emp…

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The Chicago Tylenol Murders 39:23

1M ago39:23

39:23

For most people, Tylenol is nothing more than an ol' stand-by, over-the-counter pain reliever. Yet, as Ben, Noel and Max learn in today's episode -- this wasn't always the case. Today's episode takes the boys to 1980s Chicago, when a ghoulish series of still-unsolved murders rocked the pharmaceutical industry, and led to the creation of tamper-proo…

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CLASSIC: Benjamin Franklin's Advice On "Finding A Mistress" 31:43

1M ago31:43

31:43

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was a man of many interests, but his endeavors were by no means limited to technical innovation, philosophy and politics. In fact, throughout his life he had a reputation as an irredeemable lech -- literally, in later years, a dirty old man -- and his exploits were common knowledge on both sides of the Atlantic. He…

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Wait! Can a tree really own itself? 42:22

1M ago42:22

42:22

Do you have a favorite tree? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max head over to the famous college town of Athens, Georgia where -- legend has it -- one guy was so enamored with his childhood oak that he ultimately deeded it to itself. How much of the story is true? Can a tree really "own itself"? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information…

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SE Radio 695: Dave Thomas on Building eBooks Infrastructure 1:02:49

1M ago1:02:49

1:02:49

Dave Thomas, author of The Pragmatic Programmer, The Manifesto for Agile Software Development, Programming Ruby, Agile Web Development with Rails, Programming Elixir, Simplicity, and co-founder of the Pragmatic Bookshelf, speaks with SE Radio host Gavin Henry about building infrastructure for eBooks. They discuss what an eBook is, the various forma…

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Doc Holliday Was, In Fact, A Deadly Dentist 40:57

2M ago40:57

40:57

Longtime listeners are well-aware that the history of the 'Wild West' is more than a bit... embellished. Yet a grain of truth exists at the heart of almost every legend, and the story of Doc Holliday is no different. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max learn more about Tombstone's breakout star -- and how, if things were just a little different, …

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CLASSIC: What does "Idaho" actually mean? 24:53

2M ago24:53

24:53

Idaho was the 43rd state admitted to the Union, and today it's well-known for potatoes, mining, and stunning forests -- but, even in the modern day, Idaho is home to a surprising mystery: What does its name actually mean? Join the guys as they explore the ridiculous origin story of Idaho's name in this week's Classic episode. See omnystudio.com/lis…

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The Ridiculous History of Dog Food 36:09

2M ago36:09

36:09

Here on Ridiculous History, we are avowedly pro-dog. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into a strange evolution of slave, to companion, to family member, tracing the evolution of dog food as it blossoms into a multi-billion dollar marketing phenomenon (and one heck of a grift). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

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SE Radio 694: Jennings Anderson and Amy Rose on Overture Maps 1:03:45

1M ago1:03:45

1:03:45

Jennings Anderson, a Software Engineer with Meta Platforms, and Amy Rose, the Chief Technology Officer at Overture Maps Foundation, speak with host Gregory M. Kapfhammer about the Overture Maps project, which creates reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data. After exploring the foundations of geospatial information systems, Gregory an…

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Bir Tawil: The Ridiculous Tale of "Earth's Worst Real Estate" 31:26

2M ago31:26

31:26

Land! Historically speaking, it's a pretty popular thing. In fact, a great deal of human conflict is based upon fighting over real estate -- yet, as Ben, Noel and Max discover in today's episode, in at least one case there's a piece of the world no nation wants. For well over a century, Egypt and Sudan have both been fighting over who controls Bir …

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CLASSIC: Uncle Sam Tried to End World War II With Bat Bombs 38:12

2M ago38:12

38:12

Folks, we are phenomenally excited about this week's Classic episode. It sounds like something straight out of the cave beneath Bruce Wayne's Manor, but thanks to the passion of a part-time inventor named Lytle Adams, the United States military really did spend millions attempting to arm bats with incendiary devices and launch them -- real-life bat…

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The Ridiculous History of the "Ice Cream Sundae" 35:19

2M ago35:19

35:19

For fans of sweet, frozen sweets, there's nothing as perfect as ice cream. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max scoop into a bizarrely niche controversy: Who actually invented the 'Ice Cream Sundae,' and why on Earth is it spelled 'Sundae,' rather than 'Sunday'? Ben here: we do figure it out, and history is super weird. Thanks for tuning in! See o…

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SE Radio 693: Mark Williamson on AI-Assisted Debugging 54:12

2M ago54:12

54:12

Mark Williamson, CTO of Undo, joins host Priyanka Raghavan to discuss AI-assisted debugging. The conversation is structured around three main objectives: understanding how AI can serve as a debugging assistant; examining AI-powered debugging tools; exploring whether AI debuggers can independently find and fix bugs. Mark highlights how AI can suppor…

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Zombies, Part Two: The Movies! 53:08

2M ago53:08

53:08

On the shambling heels of their recent episode exploring the bizarre legendary origins of zombies, Ben, Noel and Max dive headfirst into the cinematic side of the undead: zombie movies. As they discover in today's episode, the film version of zombies or the walking dead has become increasingly distinct from the original folklore version -- and this…

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CLASSIC: The American Soldiers Who Defected to North Korea and Became Movie Stars 36:33

2M ago36:33

36:33

In this weekend's Classic episode, Ben quizzes Max on his dreams of being a director, ultimately asking: What would the average person do to become famous? Often described as one of the most isolated countries in the world, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has been ruled by the Kim dynasty since 1948. And while most reports of defectors fo…

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Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: The Temple of Artemis 32:11

2M ago32:11

32:11

It's no secret that the Wonders of the Ancient World were pretty... wonderful -- yet also pretty mischaracterized. In today's episode, Ben, Noel, and Super Producer Max explore the phenonemal Temple of Artemis, which was built not once, not twice, but three separate times before it ultimately disappeared. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf…

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That Time Everyone Loved Radium: What Could Go Wrong? 50:45

2M ago50:45

50:45

Fellow Ridiculous Historians, we all know the inspiring and tragic story of Marie Curie -- however, not everyone is familiar with the absolute boom in radium-associated merchandise, which took the world by storm before the public understood the dangers of radiation. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into a bizarre tale of capitalism, marke…

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SE Radio 692: Sourabh Satish on Prompt Injection 1:04:36

2M ago1:04:36

1:04:36

Sourabh Satish, CTO and co-founder of Pangea, speaks with SE Radio's Brijesh Ammanath about prompt injection. Sourabh begins with the basic concepts underlying prompt injection and the key risks it introduces. From there, they take a deep dive into the OWASP Top 10 security concerns for LLMs, and Sourabh explains why prompt injection is the top ris…

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CLASSIC: How a Broken Toilet Foiled a German Sub 25:48

2M ago25:48

25:48

Toward the end of World War II, the German Type VIIC submarine was acknowledged to be one of the most advanced -- and deadliest -- predators on the seas. Yet, in at least one case, some of the same technological breakthroughs that made these subs astonishing also led to their demise. Join the guys as they dive (get it?) into the strange story of U-…

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CLASSIC: Creature Feature: The Dark Tetrad 1:03:46

2M ago1:03:46

1:03:46

It's the weekend! Time to get outdoors, enjoy nature... and, honestly, watch out for crazy animals. Join the guys in this Classic episode as they make an appearance on Creature Feature, the podcast that takes a critter’s eye view to explore how animal behavior parallels the behavior of humans. In this episode, Katie Goldin and the guys explore the …

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SE Radio 691: Kacper Łukawski on Qdrant Vector Database 59:51

2M ago59:51

59:51

Kacper Łukawski, a Senior Developer Advocate at Qdrant, speaks with host Gregory M. Kapfhammer about the Qdrant vector database and similarity search engine. After introducing vector databases and the foundational concepts undergirding similarity search, they dive deep into the Rust-based implementation of Qdrant. Along with comparing and contrasti…

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CLASSIC: Gustaf Broman Tried to Cross the Atlantic in a Canoe . . . Or Did He? 38:59

2M ago38:59

38:59

Ben here: Noel and I are sailing the seas this week -- wish us luck! Luckily, our Super Producer Max is holding it down with some of our favorite Classic episodes. Here's one I especially enjoyed from 2019, all about strange ocean travels: "In 1895, Gustaf Broman announced he would sail across the Atlantic in a 13-foot-long sailboat crafted from a …

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CLASSIC: The Weird, Surprisingly Recent Origin of the Tooth Fairy 27:29

3M ago27:29

27:29

Ben here: Noel and I are sailing the seas this week -- wish us luck! Luckily, our Super Producer Max is holding it down with some of our favorite Classic episodes. Here's one for all the kids scared of dentists: "For millions of kids in the West, the story is as mysterious as it is profitable: Once your baby teeth begin falling out, hide them benea…

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CLASSIC: When Vikings Loot The Wrong Town 39:01

3M ago39:01

39:01

Ben here: we're out on the high seas this week -- true story! While we're away, we're sharing some of our favorite Classic episode. Here's one we absolutely loved, and travel-related: "Like many Viking leaders, Halfdan and Bjorn wanted to be known for their fearlessness in battle and their ability to locate the finest spoils -- they wanted the comm…

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SE Radio 690: Florian Gilcher on Rust for Safety-Critical Systems 1:03:44

2M ago1:03:44

1:03:44

Florian Gilcher, co-founder of Ferrous Systems and the Rust Foundation, speaks with host Giovanni Asproni about the application of Rust in mission- and safety-critical systems. The discussion starts with a brief overview of such systems, and an introduction to Rust, emphasizing aspects that make it well-suited for critical environments. Florian and…

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CLASSIC: Were Tulips Really The Bitcoin of the 1600s? 30:21

3M ago30:21

30:21

In the 1600s, residents of the Dutch Republic were -- according to the story -- absolutely bonkers for tulips. A market sprang up around the tulip trade, and people began paying in advance for tulip bulbs, negotiating increasingly extravagant financial agreements and, in some cases, even using tulips as currency. This Tulipmania is often presented …

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CLASSIC: (Some of) History's Dumbest Military Prototypes 55:49

3M ago55:49

55:49

As Ben and Noel hit the high seas, they're celebrating with a special week of their favorite Classics. It's true that the world's militaries often pioneer technological innovation -- but don't let all those great successes fool you! The world's militaries have at least as many failures as they do breakthroughs. Join Ben, Noel and special guest Chri…

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The Dumbest Mobster Ever Tried To Steal Ruby Slippers 40:23

3M ago40:23

40:23

There are few pieces of film history more iconic than Dorothy's magic ruby slippers from 1939's The Wizard of Oz. Yet, at first, the studio had no idea how valuable these would become. The multiple pairs of slippers languished in obscurity until costume department worker named Kent Warner launched a mission to save them. Yet the story doesn't stop …