The Mistake of Christopher Columbus

In an off‑beat twist on scientific discovery, a reclusive Australian hermit emerges from his bush shanty with a bold claim: the Earth is flat. Armed with scar‑etched eyes and a mind honed by war, he confronts a bewildered newspaper editor in Sydney, presenting trigonometric calculations that upend centuries of accepted geography. The encounter spirals into a frantic newsroom drama as the editor races to alert the public, while the hermit vanishes under the weight of his own revelation.

Meanwhile, the scattered papers ignite a chain reaction that draws a curious shipping executive, a secretive White House conclave, and the nation’s top scientists into a covert debate over the planet’s true shape. As the government grapples with the potential fallout for defense and ideology, listeners are invited into a clever, humor‑tinged exploration of belief, evidence, and the unexpected consequences when one man dares to rewrite the map.