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This week we're joined by Brock Dittus and Aaron Flores (you may recognize them from the Sprocket Podcast), who talk about the process of recreating a long-lost song found on a demonstration cassette tape. All that, and plenty Rick Emerson talk, ending with Emerson's epic 8/8/08 radio speech. Enjoy!
Find out more about Brock and his music here: https://sites.google.com/view/brock-dittus?pli=1&fbclid=IwAR26hRXccyCOvTGpec1bYU5hmkHf9YS6S2iyyz0L2tUn4FavxyEjHIFEPo8
If you've seen "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?," you know Pepsi doesn't have a great track record with promotions. This week we're joined by guest Ryan Zeinert, who talks about yet another Pepsi marketing fiasco from 2003 when they tried to give away a billion dollars.
There's not a lot of places where conversations can pivot from boiling water to aging Twinks to (thought-to-be) extinct clams to a man robbing a bank with his own birth certificate to NASA's new Artemis moon mission program, but that's just what makes the Mark & Toddcast so special.
Fall is here, and it's time to get comfortable under a warm blanket and just have a cozy, comfortable, meandering chat about the Portland Timbers, the Portland Elk Statue, van abductions, mosquito magnets, grenades washing ashore, and, of course, Cheetle™.
This week we present a "cozy cast" as we kick back and wonder about why lemons make your face pucker when you eat them, how Auto Tune is the new electric guitar, Lloyd Center turning into a roller skating rink, more about Havana Syndrome, Biden puff-puff-passes marijuana reform, Nixon exposed to radiation, and that time a nursing home in Taiwan ordered a stripper for its wheelchair-bound elderly resident patients.
This week we recorded live from behind the Unipiper merch booth at the Vancouver Mall during the first annual CouveCon! Enjoy the retro sounds of a bustling mall in this "nature is healing" episode of the Mark and Toddcast.
A wise man once said, "We were so occupied with the fact that we could, that we didn't stop to ask if we should." So 30 years later, here we are formulating plans to bring back extinct species like the Woolly Mammoth and carrier pigeon. Find out all about the real-life science behind bringing species back to life. In the news segment: the Willamette Falls area gets a new name, COVID antibodies, thermostat lockouts, Portland's Museum of Cartoon Arts, no In-N-Out for Beaverton, and South Dakota's new Corn-bassador. Enjoy!
While James Strang, "The Mad King of Lake Michigan," has nothing to do with the ousted bratwurst queen, both get highlighted in this week's episode. That, and the evolution of club/dance music. So really, we're just all over the place.
Most likely you've at least heard (or seen a meme of) Alex Jones at some point over the past two decades, and more recently during his trial for defamation about his Sandy Hook conspiracy theories. But who is he, really? Where did he come from? And is a dangerous true believer, a con artist, a ringmaster, a manipulator, or just a soulless, narcissistic troll? We speak with Joni DeRouchie about the man behind the meme.
We finally put the "Mark" back in the Mark & Toddcast as Mark rejoins the show after his hiatus. This week we catch up on Todd's family vacation to Colorado, science, culture, and Portland news, and then give an little overview of how the VHS and Beta formats work.
From the publisher's feed
Pour yourself something warm. Let it drizzle outside. This one's for the curious.
The Mark & Toddcast is your weekly escape from the algorithm, the outrage cycle, and whatever fresh hell is trending. Broadcasting from the rainy heart of Portland, Oregon, two friends have spent 11 years and over 300 episodes doing exactly what you wish you could do at your favorite dimly lit neighborhood pub: sitting down with a pint and wandering through whatever's genuinely interesting.
Consider us comfort food for your brain.
Instead, expect pure Pacific Northwest chill and unfiltered curiosity about topics like:
Why we absolutely hate the sound of our own voices
The secret origin of the biohazard symbol
America’s classified, Cold War plan to nuke the moon
The Stanford Prison Experiment (and why it was actually kind of BS)
Portland’s very own infamous Barbie-hacking culture jammers
The unsolved mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
And yes... the actual science of farts
What’s in an Episode?
The Catch-Up: A little life banter between two longtime friends navigating the Rose City.
Just the Headlines: A quick spin through the weirdest, wildest science and culture news of the week.
The Deep Dive: A 20-minute, high-level plunge into whatever strange subject one of us couldn't stop reading about.
Meet Your Hosts:
Mark spent his twenties operating nuclear reactors for the Navy before coming home to Portland's Silicon Forest to keep the machines that build microchips running. Now, he’s a technical director helping companies get found online.
Todd has lived several lives—ad copywriter, artist, Newsweek-published writer, and an unrepentant Madonna superfan. Today, he’s a local therapist helping people untangle their stories and reconnect with the humans around them.
Pull up a chair. Grab a local beverage.
Science is funny.

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