Commute | The Podcast

1) When Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on their famous western expedition, it wasn’t just to find more opportunities for commerce. Instead, Jefferson had a bizarrely personal request for the adventurers.

2) Unlike much of the world, public restrooms are free to use in America. But why, and are we better off because of it?

3) There have been 275 million copies of Monopoly sold worldwide since its creation in 1935, so many people have had to make tough choices on what game piece they’ll use. This week, a brief history of the pieces … and a comeback story for one piece that just wouldn’t die.


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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2015/4/13/8384167/thomas-jefferson-mastodons
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-05/why-american-cities-lost-their-public-bathrooms
https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-bathroom-restroom-free-market-90683
https://coolmaterial.com/feature/the-story-behind-monopoly-pieces/

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1) The dot com bubble from 1995 to 2000 was fueled by speculation of how profitable mainstream internet use could be. Some, like Amazon, rode the waves to riches. For others, like Pets.com, things got quickly out of hand.

2) LOL. We text it without even thinking about it. So, where did LOL come from?

3) Comic books are filled with fascinating stories of unique characters. Batman. Superman. Wonder Woman. Gorillas. Wait, huh?

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/took-pets-com-just-268-days-go-ipo-complete-liquidation-thats-disaster/
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/dotcom-pets-dot-com.asp
https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/05/lol-s-25th-anniversary-origins-of-still-popular-internet-abbreviation-trace-back-to-may-1989-newsletter.html
https://comicsalliance.com/history-gorillas-comic-books/

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1) In 1998 a construction worker found something extraordinary under Benjamin Franklin’s London-based home - human remains. What was the founding father up to??

2) Dwight D. Eisenhower. Susan B. Anthony. Sacagawea. We keep trying dollar-coins, and they keep failing. Why? 

3) Even if they know you well, people that suffer from prosopagnosia can’t recognize you - in fact, they often can’t even identify themselves. 

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-was-benjamin-franklins-basement-filled-with-skeletons-524521/
https://www.money.org/ana-blog/sacagawea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacagawea_dollar?wprov=sfti1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/08/21/feature/my-life-with-face-blindness/
https://www.npr.org/2010/11/13/131267727/living-with-face-blindness-who-are-you-again

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The assassination of President John F. Kennedy remains a favorite topic of conspiracy theorists six decades after the event. It probably doesn’t help that we don’t know where his brain is…

The murder of Amber Hagerman has saved more than 1,000 kids. It changed the way child abductions are handled. Why does her own case remain unsolved?

Yo Dawg! In the mid-2000s, MTV was full of music videos and reality shows like Cribs and Pimp My Ride. Pimp My Ride took an old, end-of-life car and “pimped” it out, but the new shiny car (occasionally outfitted with a cotton candy machine) was not always what it appeared.

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://allthatsinteresting.com/where-is-jfks-brain

https://people.com/crime/texas-girls-abduction-inspired-amber-alert-26-years-later-case-remains-unsolved/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pimp-my-ride-cars_n_6663840

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1) Ride-hailing services like Uber have dominated the industry for more than a decade. Open the app, order a ride, and you’re on your way. But remember those yellow taxis we used to call? Well, they have feelings, too.

2) Paul McCartney is the most successful and famous rock musician of the last 50 years. At one point his fans thought he was dead and secretly replaced by a double. Things are about to get weird.

3) Online dating sites have gone from taboo to mainstream with record speed - but do they work?

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.wired.com/story/uber-taxis-digital-disruption/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2018/06/08/uber-lyft-taxi-drivers/
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/paul-mccartney-is-dead-conspiracy-897189/
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/02/06/the-virtues-and-downsides-of-online-dating/

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Do we ever stop to think where the words we use came from? Case study: Bluetooth.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could gamble and never lose? Houston furniture mogul Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale may have figured it out. 

In 1579, a mysterious man from Africa arrived in Japan and lived quietly and anonymously, but by the end of his time there he would become a legend.

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.businessinsider.com/bluetooth-name-origin-2017-3
https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2022/04/06/mattress-mack-jim-mcingvale-sports-bets-march-madness-super-bowl/
https://time.com/6039381/yasuke-black-samurai-true-story/

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Video games are big business, pulling in over $37 billion per year in domestic sales. So why can’t we make a good movie based on one?

In the late 1600s, the town of Salem, Massachusetts, dissolved into total hysteria and violence during the infamous Salem Witch Trials. But what caused the panic in the first place?

Acclaimed chef David Ruggerio had it all - published cookbooks, a show on the Food Network…and a sinister secret.

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.newsy.com/stories/why-are-video-game-adaptations-so-bad/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/02/20/three-reasons-video-game-movies-always-seem-to-be-terrible/
https://historylists.org/events/list-of-5-possible-causes-of-the-salem-witch-trials.html
https://nypost.com/2022/03/25/celeb-chef-david-ruggerio-admits-to-life-in-the-mafia/

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Prices are increasing at the fastest rate since the early 1980s. While we all feel it at the grocery store and the gas pumps, inflation is hitting another market sector, as well - the Tooth Fairy.

We’ve heard of someone or something being blacklisted, right? An action has happened that brings with it a level of distrust and rejection. In 2005 a new type of blacklisting began, but this blacklist often ends with an award-winning green light.

Michael Jordan. Tiger Woods. Tom Brady… and Joey Chestnut?

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.thebalance.com/is-inflation-even-hitting-tooth-fairy-money-5220065
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/31/18644508/tooth-fairy-rate-kids-traditions
https://web.archive.org/web/20150316002706/http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-et-c1-franklin-leonard-black-list-20141215-story.html
https://files.blcklst.com/files/2021_black_list_v4.pdf
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/07/04/how-joey-chestnut-ate-a-record-76-hot-dogs-at-nathans-contest/

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Smoking or non-smoking? Until the late 1990’s, this was the question at restaurants, bowling alleys, and on airplanes. Why did the smoking option go away? And we examine one town in America actually trying to completely eliminate smoking. 

The Patterson-Gimlin film has been the definitive Big Foot documentation since 1967. It didn’t take long, though, for the two men to disagree on just what they saw.  (+ Dave has a plan for he and Jay to join a Big Foot expedition.)

For 7-8 hours per night we do nothing … or do we? What happens while we sleep, and is lack of sleep really more dangerous than terrorism?!

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://time.com/6126252/brookline-tobacco-free-generation-law/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_ban?wprov=sfti1
https://allthatsinteresting.com/patterson-gimlin-film
https://www.sleepadvisor.org/sleep-statistics/

http://www.commutethepodcast.com

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For over 80 years the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile has been one of the most recognizable vehicles on the road, but when’s the last time you passed one?

Solitaire and Minesweeper were preloaded in almost every PC in the 90’s. So - why? And did Microsoft have ulterior motives?

During prohibition, the US government tried to legislate away alcohol. While the ban was eventually lifted, some questionable turns were taken along the way.

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/style/inside-oscar-mayer-wienermobile.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-computers-comewith-solitaire-and-minesweeper-2015-8
https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/the-little-told-story-of-how-the-u-s-government-poisoned-alcohol-during-prohibition.html

http://www.commutethepodcast.com

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