99% Invisible

This week, two stories about the strange power of the 1-800 number.

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In 1888, Willard Bundy created the first employee "time clock" — essentially a souped-up grandfather clock that could, for the first time, produce an accurate record of when workers arrived and left. Though Bundy’s aim was simple, his invention soon sparked a change in American life far broader than he intended. Roman Mars and reporter Ellie Lightfoot trace how the time clock not only ignited a revolution in workplace efficiency and surveillance, but transformed our relationship to time itself.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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Spolia, from a Liverpool neighborhood to ancient Rome.

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Producer and reporter Ramtin Arablouei (co-creator of the NPR show, Throughline) has a simple question: why are so many NBA players wearing a compression sleeve on their arm? It seems like everyone has one. Do they all have elbow issues? The answer is really the story of Allen Iverson, an underdog player who went from a prison cell to international fame in just a few years. And through the story of him and his sleeve, you can see the whole history of basketball’s relationship with race, with respectability politics, and who gets to look like what on the court.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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Two rival paleontologists turn a hunt for dinosaur bones into an all-out scientific war.

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This episode is sponsored by Claude. For problems worth solving, get started with Claude at Claude.ai.

On his deathbed, President Chester Arthur ordered that all of his personal and professional papers be burned. Three barrels of documents went up in flames. But 23 letters survived, initialed only "J.I.S." Comedian Elliott Kalan joins Roman Mars to tell the story of how a politician who owed so much to a corrupt government system became the one to dismantle it, thanks to one woman: Julia Isabella Sand. It’s the story of how a woman no one had ever heard of helped transform a president few remember, and in the process created the American government as we know it.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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A devastating fire put one of Hong Kong's oldest building traditions on trial, but the real story runs much deeper.

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In 1821, two Rhode Island brothers went looking for buyers for their woolen fabric, and stumbled into a lucrative, captive market: Southern slave plantations. Roman Mars and historian Seth Rockman trace the strange life of so-called "Negro cloth" — a textile category defined by nothing but who it was worn by. Along the way, they uncover how enslaved people shaped the very cloth used to control them, and how New England manufacturers convinced themselves they were the good guys.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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Behind every perfect nature-inspired design is a far more complicated story.

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In 1925, the world saw the birth of what just might be the greatest gadget in American History: the Brannock Device. The metal contraption transformed the way we measure feet forever, and more than a century after its invention…it has barely changed. Roman Mars and journalist Paul Lukas trace the life of the Brannock Device, from its role outfitting WWII sailors to its surprising endurance into the modern era, even as the entire world changed around it.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

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