Underunderstood

By Select WorksSociety & Culture

Underunderstood episodes

October 27, 2020The Guacfather
The origin story of a wobbly toy with a peculiar name.
We have a Patreon now! Members get access to Overunderstood, our bonus podcast. Check it out at patreon.com/underunderstood.
Show Notes:
1:47 - Nickelodeon's Wild & Crazy Kids Gwok Ball on Dailymotion

4:26 - Google Books Ngram Viewer results for "guac"

4:57 - Maureen Down piece from the New York Times Magazine, May 29, 1994: The Lost Quayle Diaries

5:27 - The New York Times, January 22, 1997: Snacks to Fix in Super Bowl Timeouts

6:16 - "Guac" used in a 1993 episode of Norther Exposure

6:34 - "Guac" used in a 2000 episode of Will & Grace

7:46 - Guac Ball on Toy Directory

8:12 - Creative Imaginations website, archived August 3, 2008

9:25 - Wham-It on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in December 1989 (PDF)

12:40 - Wham-It on Amazon, complete with photos of the can

16:04 - Lars and the Real Girl, with which this story has - and I cannot stress this enough - nothing in common

18:28 - Regina's Guac Ball

19:42 - K·B Toys (RIP) on Wikipedia

19:54 - Gymboree on Wikipedia

24:57 - John asks Reddit: Is "guac" an old surf term?

25:32 - Dave Chappelle coins "Zip it up and zip it out"

26:32 - "Guac" in the LA Times, April 7, 1989
32 min
October 20, 2020May Contain Up To 60% Peanuts
The FDA gets salty.
0:01 - Underunderstood is on Patreon. THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who subscribed so far!

4:50 - TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS CHAPTER I--FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SUBCHAPTER B--FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION PART 164 -- TREE NUT AND PEANUT PRODUCTS Subpart B--Requirements for Specific Standardized Tree Nut and Peanut Products Sec. 164.110 Mixed nuts.

7:15 - People on YouTube like counting nuts:
Planters Mixed Nuts - Less Than 50% Peanuts? Let's Put It To The Test!
Are Planter's mixed nuts really less than 50% peanuts?
"LeSs ThAn 50% PeAnUtS"

7:49 - Andy Rooney on mixed nuts

14:57 - U.S. vs 25 bags of nuts

19:10 - FDA's first proposed mixed nuts rule, 1968. If you've never had the pleasure of reading the Federal Register, you're welcome.

22:49 - Wikipedia article on mixed nuts

22:57 -
https://twitter.com/nicholasadeleon" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nicholas De Leon

29:20 - Mixing Up the Nuts (Consumer, 1985).

34:03 - “When does it stop being peanut butter?”: FDA food standards of identity, RuthDesmond, and the shifting politics of consumer activism, 1960s–1970s article. Paper by Angie Boyce about food standards of identity and a legendary consumer advocate.

34:19 - Patreon, again! You can get access to our Discord where we talk about Trader Joe's snacks, and you get to help us pay for various pro software subscriptions.
35 min
October 13, 2020Amazon's Next Top Model
Once a photo gets on the internet, it could end up anywhere.
0:01 - We have a Patreon now!

2:13 - Product on Amazon

4:10 - Billy's tweet

4:22 - Hellicus's tweet

4:48 - Ryan Broderick

7:00 - CCbeauty's webpage

10:00 - HDcrafter link 1

11:20 - HDcrafter link 2

12:53 - Buzzfeed article

14:33 - Medium account

15:29 - About.me page

17:18 - Mr. Sparkle

25:53 - The guy who replaced Ryan is everywhere

26:46 - iFlashDeal bib

28:26 - Buzzfeed article translated into Chinese

29:19 - Francis on 17qq

31:56 - Graphika report (via Input)

34:07 - foreigner face on Google HK

34:26 - foreigner on Google HK

34:37 - foreigner face on Baidu

35:37 - Baidu source

38:15 - New photos from Ryan

38:40 - The photo on Amazon has been updated again to a 3rd guy

39:14 - Ryan on new products (screenshot)

41:03 - Patreon
44 min
August 26, 2020Is This Podcast Dead?
Underunderstood returns October 13, 2020.
Show notes:
A Reddit theory about our absence

Music from Underunderstood - Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music

A fan dances to our theme song on TikTok
4 min
February 10, 2020The One About The Circle
Adrianne tries to figure out if there is a right way to play Netflix’s awkward social media game.
10:08 - Social Learning and Coordination in High-Stakes Games: Evidence from Friend or Foe

11:55 - Friend or Foe clip - YouTube

15:35 - Shubham Goel for Governor 2018 and video of Shubham’s campaign speech - Instagram

19:15 - Shubham's diagram

21:44 - Here's Why Richard Hatch Won't Be on Survivor's All-Winners Season - Men's Health

23:24 - The Winner of The Circle Opens Up About Life IRL - Wired and ‘The Circle’ on Netflix: 20 Burning Questions Answered - Decider

25:11 - Teaching Prisoners' Dilemma Strategies in Survivor: Reality Television in the IR Classroom - Mark B. Salter
36 min
January 28, 2020The Pittsburgh Potty
Why do so many Pennsylvania homes have freestanding toilets in their unfinished basements?
01:21 - Pittsburgh toilet - Wikipedia

02:44 - The dual toilets at Cloister Cafe - Yelp

04:19 - Peculiar Pittsburgh: The Pittsburgh potty ... explained - YouTube

06:50 - Documenting The Pittsburgh Potty - 90.5 WESA

07:46 - The original version of this story misidentified this quote. It's from realtor Stephen Cummings.

08:11 - Slavery in Pittsburgh - Popular Pittsburgh

11:33 - Architect Offers Explanation For Pittsburgh’s Basement Toilets (And It’s Not What You Think) - 90.5 WESA

15:16 - Andrea Allen

16:22 - Double D Plumbing - Manta
22 min
January 21, 2020A Tale of Two Billies
Is H&M using Billie Eilish to greenwash?
01:19 - H&M Now Sells Billie Eilish Merch — & It's Sustainable - Refinery29

03:05 - Sustainable Fashion on Wikipedia

04:29 - A copy H&M's press release

05:15 - Greenwashing on Wikipedia

05:49 - H&M's Billie Eilish collection

05:53 - H&M's Conscious Collection

06:20 - Here are some of the publications that called this line sustainable: Teen Vogue, MTV.com, Mic, WWD, NME

10:56 - "Is Billie Eilish's line at H&M sustainable?" - Google

12:56 - Greenwashing Alert: H&M and Billie Eilish Collaboration - Eco-Stylist

13:47 - Eco-Stylist's criteria for brands they work with and their transparency report outlining their ethics and business model

15:38 - H&M called out on "illegal" sustainability marketing - Ecotextile

24:40 - H&M: fair living wages were promised, poverty wages are the reality - International Labor Rights Forum

25:31 - Perspex's sustainability information page

26:24 - H&M Menlo Park

27:40 - H&M Woodbridge

31:00 - Sunrise Movement on Wikipedia

31:30 - Alex O'Keefe

36:53 - Sunrise Movement is asking people to hold 2020 launch parties on January 29. You only need gather a few friends, and it's a great way to get started in collective action.
38 min
January 14, 2020Toilet Seat Blues
Add “Smurf butt” to the list of things to expect when you’re expecting.
00:43 - Maile's original email included this article.

01:45 - When jeans bleed onto your skin, you can tell.

03:40 - According to a study done at Johns Hopkins there is a correlation between heartburn and hairiness. The heartburn is due to estrogen causing the esophageal sphincter to relax, which allows stomach acid to splash up into the esophagus. That estrogen is also responsible for hair growth in the developing baby.

04:45 - If you're interested in purchasing some art of a Smurf's butt crack, we got you.

06:01 - Chromhidrosis on Wikipedia

06:28 - This man turned blue and Oprah interviewed him about it in 2008.

11:00 - Here are some of the forums I browsed: What to Expect, CafeMom, Pregnant Chicken, Everyday Chemistry, Reddit, Pregnancy Podcast.

11:14 - Andrei Rebarber
26 min
January 07, 2020Grab Bag
We’ve done 12 stories so far, and since we first published them there have been some updates, and new details have emerged. Today we’re rounding those up.
Where’s My Chile?
3:50 - Elitech RC-4 Temperature Data Logger Recorder with External Temperature Sensor

7:50 - Ben Chapman and Don Schaffner of the Food Safety Talk podcast
Underunderwear
10:26 - Chris' custom undies

10:34 - Here's a stock graphic that breaks it all down for you.
Recorded for Awesomeness
14:22 - A screenshot of Yelp's app update
Gas and Gains
What Happened to the McFlurry?
21:40 - The Flurry Index

22:15 - Gavin Rehkemper's dataset of McDonald's locations in the USA
27 min
December 17, 2019The Incredible Shrinking Cap’n
00:22 - Cap'n Crunch was created by Pamela Low in 1963.

01:50 - Urban Dictionary defines Cap'n Crunch Mouth as "When the roof of your mouth gets all torn up after eating Cap'n Crunch or some other rough food."

02:23 - Underunderstood: The 9/11 Hoax That Wasn't

03:15 - The Try Guys: Eugene Ranks The Most Popular Cereals

07:11 - A collection of tweets claiming Cap'n Crunch has shrunk

08:21 - My Brother, My Brother and Me

16:20 - Partially hydrogenated oils (or PHOs) were deemed to be no longer classifiable as GRAS (which means "Generally Recognized as Safe") by the FDA in 2015.

16:29 - Here are photos of a box of Cap'n Crunch from 1995 with "partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil" listed as an ingredient. It seems to have been replaced with "palm and/or coconut oil" in Cap'n Crunch currently sold in the United States.

18:38 - Jason Liebig on Twitter

18:44 - CollectingCandy.com

21:53 - Jason's Instagram is fun but his Flickr is INCREDIBLE

23:06 - Rockin' the 80’s – Tale of the 30-Year-Old Snickers

23:50 - New York Times article from 1994 about the Doritos redesign

25:05 - An archived version of Wikipedia featuring "Hot and Cold Nerds."
25:16 - Nerds Hot and Cool - Discovered!! A CollectingCandy.com World Premiere!!
25:49 - Statement from Quaker Foods
27:17 - Cereal Time TV - Gabe Fonseca's YouTube channel
27:46 - Gabe Fonseca on IMDB
27:48 - Gabe eating Cap'n Crunch from the 90s on YouTube
28:19 - Screenshot of Gabe holding old Cap'n Crunch up to the camera
29:46 - Gabe's measurement on the vintage Cap'n Crunch box
30:16 - Billy's photoshop to determine the size of 90s Cap'n Crunch
34:45 - Official written statement from Cap'n Crunch
Episode artwork by Phil Robibero
37 min