Don't Look Now

Ever wonder where your fork and spoon came from?  This episode is all about the invention of eating utensils: Chop Sticks, Spoons, Forks, and the backwards cousin of the table setting, the Spork.  Take a listen and learn of the great wickedness of the fork users and England's most celebrated spoon.

Our topic this week is the HIV virus and what science has uncovered about how and when it crossed over and mutated from the SIV virus that infects African primate populations.  We also discuss when the virus is most likely to have first shown up in North America (hint: probably earlier than you think) resulting in the American AIDS epidemic.

Come learn about the history of New Year's Day and New Year celebrations from around the world.  Time to sit back, eat some Hoppin' John, much on some Niangao, and taste some Samanu as we tour some traditions.

It's the Christmas season, and what better way to kick it off than to discuss Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Come learn a bit about what inspired Theodor Geisel to create the Grinch, how the subsequent TV shows and movies were made, and a bit about the in-world continuity of The Grinch.(apologies for the audio quality... had to record without the good microphone) 

Mixing fantasy and true crime for our 200th episode.  The idea of a Changeling, a replacement creature left in place of  a child or other relative taken by the fairies, is a concept that permeates through most European cultures.  Sometimes real life parallels folklore and we discuss three true crime stories that involve real life changelings.   

The International Space Station (ISS) has been a model of international cooperation, being run by five cooperating space agencies (US, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada).  It has been continuously manned since November 2000, having housed people for more than two decades.  Listen in and learn about its history, purpose of operation, and uncertain future.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886 as a gift to the United States from the people of France.  We discuss the history of the statue, so well known bits like the statement above, and others less well known, such as the Statue being damaged by an explosion in 1916 set by German agents.  Take a listen and find out the hidden history of Lady Liberty.

The Filles du Roi or Daughters of the King, was a term used to describe roughly 800 young French women who's dowries and passage to the new world was paid for by King Louis the 14th in an attempt to correct the imbalance of men in New France and help encourage the creation of families and the agricultural settlement of the territory.  Between 1663 and 1673 these women braved the trip across the ocean to an unknown future for the hope of new life and possibly new love in the new world.

We discuss the invention of manmade snow and how its usage at ski resorts around the world has increased economic activity but also resulted in many unintended impacts.

We discuss two topics tied to birth control: Margaret Sanger's fight to make birth control and information about it accessible to American women and George Rosenkranz and his work to synthesize human sex hormones which led to the creation of mass produced contraceptive pills.

The concept of wandering spirits seems to be ubiquitous across cultures.  While most will say they don't believe in ghosts by the light of day, this stand gets a bit less firm in the middle of the night when strange things happen.  Why do we tell ghost stories?  They are told all around the world and continue to be told over the years so there must be a reason for their existence.  Do we all just like the thrill of a scary story, or are there larger societal reasons that we cling to our ghost stories?

Haunted houses are a hallmark of the Halloween season in the United States.  When did they become a thing and when did they morph into the modern high end professionally run houses of today.  Buckle up and take a listen.

Listen in and learn about Pepper's Ghost, an illumination technique developed in the the 1860s and still in use today to project ghostly images onto the stage where they can be seen to appear in apparent three dimensional reality.  The technique has had a resurgence in recent decades allowing a deceased Tupac to perform at Coachella, and Michael Jackson to perform at the Billboard Music Awards. 

George Remus went from celebrated defense attorney at the onset of Prohibition to one of the most notorious bootleggers in the country.  After he eventually landed in jail, his wife Imogene ran off with an FBI agent and liquidated his multimillion dollar fortune.  Remus subsequently shot and killed Imogene in a public rage and defended himself in court, managing to get himself considered temporarily insane.  If you want drama, this story has it, so have a seat and take a listen.

Now that we have reached October, it's time for some spooky season stories.  Today we discuss one of the scary creatures from Irish folklore, the banshee.  Rumored to wail in signal of the impending death of those who hear it, the Banshee has roots that go back to the 8th century.  Are there wailing female forms haunting the Irish countryside, or are there other creatures a bit more mundane in origin that might have given birth to the legend.

We discuss the horrific case of the Radium Girls, young women who worked for companies in the early 20th century painting watch dials with glowing radium based paint.  They were told the product was harmless and were allowed to ingest it and use it as a fashion accessory.  Almost all of the women came down with serious health effects and radiation poisoning while their employers did their best to cover the issue up.  The case eventually became on of the driving forces that led to the founding of OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which is tasked with protecting American workers from workplace dangers.

New historical anthropology has unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts relating to the many Chinese workers that worked for the Central Pacific Railroad constructing the Transcontinental Railroad across the United States.  Information about he workers has been sparse due to the disinterest of racist railroad managers in keeping information about Chinese works at the time on this side of the Pacific, and the Cultural Revolution in China destroying primary sources of that side of the Pacific.  Come learn about how the railroad was really built and the people we owe a debt of gratitude to. (audio issue at the end of the podcast fixed thanks to JSS)

Imogene Rechtin started a campaign in 1910 to ban the pernicious scourge of kissing.  It's probably not a great spoiler to say that she failed in her attempt, but take a listen an find out about her group, the World Health Organization (no, not that WHO), and it's attempt to rid the work of kissing.

Thomas Andrew Parker, better known as Colonel Tom Parker, is famous for being Elvis Presley's controlling manager during is career.  However, few knew that he was not from West Virginia as he claimed, but actually an undocumented Dutch immigrant named Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk who arrived in America under some highly sketchy circumstances.  Take a listen and learn all about Colonel Tom.

Courage the Cowardly Dog was a cartoon that ran for four seasons on Cartoon Network in the late 90s and early 2000s.  While the show consisted of Courage subjected to all kinds of scary situations, few people know that much of the show had basis in reality.  Courage's home is a real house in New Mexico where unspeakable things have happened, and a real life serial killer roamed.