Mark and Toddcast

One of the push-backs we often hear from critics of evolution is how unreliable the method of Carbon-14 Dating is. Which is correct. Sort of. But Carbon-14 Dating is far from the only method we use to figure out how old the earth and galaxy around us is, and this week we explore the many different ways we can understand, test, and know the relative age of what's around us. Plus, the most decorated...

Many of us remember the late 90s ska-fueled song "Zoot Suit Riots," but many may not know the song is based on a real event, in which racial tensions in 1940s Los Angeles exploded into a series of attacks on Mexican-Americans by Navy servicemen, culminating in a 5-day riot. This week we dive into that story, as well as talk current news stories like what on earth is happening with DOGE and "The Gu...

This week we celebrate Todd's birthday by welcoming our wonderful friend Cara from Ohio. She joins us for the news, then takes on the role of judge as Mark and Todd go head-to-head for 5 rounds of "Wheel of Wikipedia" (which I'm now realizing is actually called "War of Wikipedia," but whatever). Cara is hilarious and the best person ever -- the perfect birthday show!

As we close out one year and face down another one, we clear out the news and go for a wild ride involving crystals, "brainspotting," "Severence," Todd's favorite documentary, Clackamas Town Center and Washington Square malls, Dr. Pamplin steals from his employees, the Belmont Goats, "brain rot," the speed of human thought, RFK Jr. and chemtrails, the DOJ recognizes the Tulsa Massacre, our slow br...

It's one last stocking stuffer from the Mark and Toddcast! Enjoy our final show of the year - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

For a Christmas treat, we recorded an extra long episode....which our recorder stopped recording at 32 minutes in for some reason. So while we didn't get to all of our stories or Mark's great topic about quantum measuring for GPS, we did manage to get in a few stories. And aren't a few stories better than none? No, of course not. But here they are anyway.

Dave Baehler of the NotNerd Podcast joins Todd this week to plow through the news pile, which includes the Willamette Valley Ornament Hunt, freezing your corpse for a monthly fee, life in the most inhospitable place on Earth, Mattel's "Wicked" mistake, Portland's Yelling Choir, the dangers of standing desks, Harriet Tubman awarded rank of general, and the Onion buys InfoWars. Then we pivot to talk...

Bananas are the most popular fruit in the United States, as well as all over the world. But banana-flavored candy sits at the bottom of our candy taste list - probably because it tastes nothing like bananas. Find out the weird history of both banana flavoring, as well as how we got to the bananas we have in the store today (spoilers: colonialism and the US overthrowing democracies).  Peel and enjo...

This week we look at something called "Game Theory," which is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions, and has applications in many fields of social science, economics, logic, systems science, computer science, and more. We've also got an action-packed news segment, including Warhol- and cheese-related thefts, a new "Oregon Trail" movie, the new January 6 monument, vibrating spi...

Mark is out sick, so Todd is joined by NotNerd's very own Nate - who just had one of his Instagram posts hit a million views. Find out what it's like to go suddenly viral, as well as a news roundup that you have to listen to to the very end. I promise.

The $64,000 Question" was one of many 1950s game shows that was caught up in cheating scandals. We tell the story of the show, the senate hearings, and a woman named Joyce who defied everyone. In our news segment, we chat about a neo-Nazi falling to his death on Hitler's favorite mountain, Mt. Adams is rumbling, Mt. Rainier is shrinking, NASA heads to Jupiter, New York hates Salt & Straw, ever...

Along with the grand volcanic dames of Mt. Hood, Rainier, St. Helens, and Adams, there are many extinct volcanoes and lava fields dotting the entire Portland area. This week we take a look at Mt. Tabor in specific, and the Boring Lava Field in general. In our news segment, we cover the end of tedious passwords, Earth's new second moon, which companies are undermining democracy, a second asteroid h...

It's a world-wind tour around the news from the last couple of weeks, including Todd and the Unipiper's trip to Celtic Fest, Portland's stolen (or not) cat statue, the WNBA expansion, billboards hacked by furries, pickleball in Lloyd Center, our brains are now .5% plastic, Doritos make mice see-through, the mystery of the dead "spy" whale, and more. Enjoy!

This week we recap Todd's trip to Yellowstone, and focus on one of the earliest businessmen to set up shop in the new National Park: Steamboat owner/operator E.C. Waters, who was such a legendary a-hole that he was eventually completely banned from even entering the park. And in our news segment - school cellphone bans, LiveNation's Portland venue proposal, Boeing's ongoing astronaut disaster, Ame...

"How dare one interfere with the mighty judgement of God and His wrath?!" Who knew the lightning rod was such a, well, lightning rod of controversy? Benjamin Franklin gave a gift to the world, and much like the still relevant battles pitting science against (a person's own definition of) God, not everyone wanted that gift. Burn the witches, we've got some history to learn. In the news segment: Ore...

After a trip through our news stories, including the creation of "dark oxygen" by lumpy nodules on the bottom of the ocean, stuck astronauts, Amazon's WalkOutShops super don't use humans in India to run their stores, more record heat, escaped turtles, and cocaine sharks, we take a closer look at a catastrophic explosion that happened in downtown Roseburg, Oregon, in 1959, completely destroying the...

Esperanto is a language created in the late 1800s as a way for everyone in the world to have an incredibly easy-to-learn and standardized secondary language, and has had enough success that it's still used for some government, military, and wikipedia translations today - and even spawned a movie starring William Shatner speaking the language. Find out all about Esperanto in this week's episode.

After a hefty portion of news, including plans for Lloyd Center, the Portland Pickles' THC drink, the Herman the Sturgeon conspiracy, the deletion of MTV News's entire back catalog from the internet, a man with 175 children, and much, much, much more, we focus on a man called Stanislav Petrov, a Russian soldier who received warning that Americans had started a nuclear attack on Russia and had to m...

After a hefty dive into our news pile, which includes stories about sinking Panama islands, a look at what's happening in Cannon Beach, Baker City, and Oaks Park, a steer taller than Hollywood beefcake Jason Mamoa, bilingual AI brain implants, PSU vs. Boeing, the death of InfoWars and other right-wing propaganda sites, and another lawsuit against Madonna, and much, much more, we take a look at the...

This week we chat with special guest the Unipiper about his return to playing the National Anthem at the Portland Timbers game, after muffing it the first go-around. He also stays to chat about our news roundup, including the advancement (or not) of AI political ads, the language of sperm whales unlocked, magnets made the earth flourish with life, a defrocked AI priest who suggested baptism via Ga...

In 1993, TV news studios started receiving calls from kids who opened their Barbies and GI Joe dolls for Christmas only to discover Barbie shouting militaristic slogans and GI Joe talking about shopping. Later parodied on The Simpsons, this bit of "culture jamming" has its origins right here in Portland (which also involves ipecac, mashed potatoes, and vomiting at a Dan Quayle appearance). All tha...

It's nice to find a library that has every book. But what if there's a library with every book ever printed, but also every sentence, paragraph, and page that could ever be written in the future? It's a heady concept, and it's called "The Library of Babel," which has more "books" than atoms in the entire universe. It's a lot, so join us this week as we crack the book open on this fascinating subje...

And if you thought those three things weren't enough, we also dive into sending the "essence of humanity" to the moon, Oregon's "devil comet" and Dark Sky Sanctuary, giant hybrid sheep, and Deez Nuts get arrested.

Pressed into the asphalt of Philadelphia, Boston, Richmond, Kansas City, and even Santiago and Barcelona are these mysterious tiles talking about Kubric, resurrection, and Jupiter. What are they? Where did they come from? And do they mean anything? Take a dive into the weird world of the Toynbee Tiles. Also, another successful pilot project for Universal Basic Income, violent crime in the US is dr...

After an entire year of waiting, the Madonna concert  finally happened! Take a ride with Mark and Todd as they travel to Seattle to catch Madonna's fantastic Celebration Tour on Part 2 of Mark and Todd's Big Adventure!