How the World Kept Cool When “The Ice King” Ruled (originally aired July 23, 2019)

Guest: Jonathan Rees, Professor of History at Colorado State University-Pueblo, author of "Refrigeration Nation," "Before the Refrigerator," and "Refrigerator"

Before the refrigerator, or air conditioning or electric fans, ice was a hot—or rather, cold—commodity. We’re talking with Jonathan Rees about the surprisingly complex workings of the ice industry, and the “Ice King” who started it all by shipping New England ice all around the globe.

How Beef Changed America

Guest: Joshua Specht, visiting assistant professor, University of Notre Dame, and author, “Red Meat Republic: A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America”

If you want a Big Mac, Whopper, or Quarter-Pounder, there’s not much more you have to do than enter a drive-thru and cough up a few dollars. But what it takes to turn cattle into your carry-out isn’t just a modern story of food production—our modern food industry has its roots in the Indian War, cowboy mythology, industrialization, and even in consumer activism, both for and against beef. 

Better Back Then

Guest: Jon Townsend, YouTuber, 18th-century historian, James Townsend & Son

The 18th century was a strange time, perched right between the primitive and the industrial. Cooking and working as they did provides a special feeling of exploration and self-sufficiency—along with some strange discoveries.

Smart Online Learning

Guest: Rachel Wadham, Education and Juvenile Literature Librarian, BYU Library, and regular contributor to the Lisa Valentine Clark Show, BYUradio

Online learning is not just for making classroom lessons more engaging, it's become a standard part of the modern education system. What do you need to know that your "digital native" children already know?

My Name Is Null

Guest: Christopher Null, journalist, WIRED magazine

If you’re tech-savvy, you already know that "null" is a word in programming that tells computers that a value is empty. Basically, "null" is the same as blank. So if your license plate or last name is "Null" then you might become invisible to computers. From minor digital annoyances to receiving dozens of parking citations, we talk about the hilarity and frustration of being Null.