1645: "The Gulf of Tonkin"

1645: "The Gulf of Tonkin"

Author: JC May 7, 2026 Duration: 3:39
Interesting Things with JC #1645: "The Gulf of Tonkin" – U.S. destroyers fired into the dark after reporting a second North Vietnamese attack, but the ships had no confirmed targets, pilots found no enemy vessels, and the disputed incident became the legal basis for expanding the Vietnam War.

Curiosity often leads us down the most rewarding paths, and that's the spirit behind Interesting Things with JC. Each episode is a compact dive into a story that makes you pause and think, hosted by JC. You'll find a mix here: forgotten chapters from our past that explain the present, nuanced looks at cultural shifts happening now, and those remarkable tales that simply never got the spotlight they deserved. This isn't a dry lecture but a conversation about the threads connecting history, society, and our everyday lives. The focus is on depth over breadth, making each installment of this podcast a self-contained exploration. Whether it's an obscure historical event with surprising modern echoes or a fresh perspective on a current topic, the aim is to feed that curiosity with something substantive. Tune in for a thoughtfully researched and engagingly presented look at the world's fascinating corners.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Interesting Things with JC
Podcast Episodes
1657: "The Stonefly of British Columbia" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:42
Interesting Things with JC #1657: "The Stonefly of British Columbia" – Stonefly nymphs cling to rocks in cold British Columbia rivers while scientists check whether the water can still support life; when the insects disa…
1656: "Antimatter Propulsion" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:46
Interesting Things with JC #1656: "Antimatter Propulsion" – Antimatter destroys normal matter on contact and converts mass directly into energy, but the fuel powerful enough to push spacecraft toward light speed cannot t…
1655: "Particles Live Longer in Accelerators" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:39
Interesting Things with JC #1655: "Particles Live Longer in Accelerators" – A muon forms high above Earth and should decay before reaching the ground, but many survive the trip as their internal clocks slow near light sp…
1654: "Fusion Propulsion" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:54
Interesting Things with JC #1654: "Fusion Propulsion" – A spacecraft engine tries to push plasma at hundreds of kilometers per second while no normal material can touch the fuel. Fusion promises travel times chemical roc…
1653: "The Sugar Industry and the Scientists" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:32
Interesting Things with JC #1653: "The Sugar Industry and the Scientists" – Harvard researchers published papers that downplayed sugar’s possible link to heart disease while sugar industry funding stayed undisclosed, and…
1652: "Facebook’s Emotional Contagion Experiment" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:44
Interesting Things with JC #1652: "Facebook’s Emotional Contagion Experiment" – Facebook changed the News Feeds of nearly 690,000 users to test whether emotions could spread online without telling them first, and the use…
1651: "The NERVA Program" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:56
Interesting Things with JC #1651: "The NERVA Program" – A rocket engine fires in the Nevada desert without burning fuel the normal way, and a uranium reactor heats liquid hydrogen until it blasts through the nozzle; the…
1650: "Ion Drives" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:41
Interesting Things with JC #1650: "Ion Drives" – An engine produces less force than a postcard weighs, yet it keeps pushing a spacecraft across billions of miles of space; chemical rockets burn hard and stop quickly, whi…
1649: "Ernst Stuhlinger" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:41
Interesting Things with JC #1649: "Ernst Stuhlinger" – A NASA engineer answers a nun asking why Mars missions matter while people are starving on Earth, and the answer comes from a former V-2 rocket scientist whose later…
1648: "Why Are Manhole Covers Round?" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:27
Interesting Things with JC #1648: "Why Are Manhole Covers Round?" – A heavy cover sits over a city access hole, but its shape keeps it from dropping into the tunnel below; the same circle also spreads traffic force and l…