Getting Through This with Tom and Scott

The business in a Chicago suburb that supported Tom's family for 80 years is closing down, resulting in a large party of family members and close friends, Tom's fiancee Sandy -- and his ex-wife CiCi! Did sparks fly? Did Tom get more than he bargained for? Yes, to both questions, but for an unexpected reason that sent Tom to the very hospital he was born in!

The Great Pedestrian speaks! Will those who stifle sidewalk traffic by looking at cell phones listen? This episode is a festival of thrilling ideas, including a revisit to the greatest pedestrianic idea of all: the trans-continental sidewalk!

What is really the greatest invention of our modern age? The answer, supplied by Tom and Scott, may surprise you. But even more exciting: a huge new museum proposed by Scott to honor this most vital of all of human invention: Indoor Plumbing !

After Labor Day, lolling on the beach or wearing white clothes is an act of social disobedience - but we did it anyway. Today's podcast tells the story of what happened after we smashed conventional norms.

Tom reveals the astonishing truth about how congealed toothpaste on the bathroom sink led him to meet the love of his life!

Tom imagines a nightmare scenario that might have spun out of Scott's recent trip to Flushing Meadow Queens to watch the US Open tennis qualifying match. What if the unthinkable were to happen, resulting in Scott on the wrong side of Serena William's wrath? What is this "unthinkable" nightmare? And how did Scott manage to narrowly avoid it?

What is it like to eat at one of the most expensive restaurants in world.? Tom recounts celebrating his fiancee's birthday at Eleven Madison. Was it worth the hype and expense? And were there any "unintended consequences"?

Scott enjoys a day at the beach, but a partial eclipse prompts our podcast to issue a timely warning and thereby saving the eyesight of perhaps countless listeners. But keep listening to the end to hear how humble we still are.

A scandal in Academia that is quietly going unnoticed, no college currently offers an advanced degree in time travel! But we have an exciting solution. This leads to a discussion of how Tom acquired his PhD without incurring massive student dept..

Our podcast once again scoops the Atlantic Monthly! How long before this very scoop-ability becomes an Atlantic or NYTimes story that we scoop?

A wierd unexplained noise leads Tom and Scott to enthusiastically appreciating something many people take for granted but is a miracle that helos to make modern life livable.

FLANEUR ALERT! Smoke from threatens the art of walking around town and looking at people and things -- will Flaneurs be forced to remain indoors? The answer might shock you.

Scott's herculean struggle to cancel a subscription to a small town digital newspaper exposes the dark underbelly of seemingly innocuous media imprisoning its readers like the octopussian "Trusts" of the gilded age.

Tom and Scott take on the daunting task of redefining and updating the "American Dream". The "American Dream" used to be a house in the suburbs surrounded by a picket fence, but now it's more vague and still somewhat exclusionary.

In a stirring public statement Tom declares he has "done nothing wrong" and that any accusations of illegality that may be made against him are completely fabricated. Why he is professing his innocence is shockingly different from the many public figures who have made the same clasim of innocence in years past.

Knicks win leads to surprising discovery.

Why a compassionate effort to spread the joy of perfect weather in New York to other less fortunate climates won't work, but deserves acolades anyway.

A chance get together with Scott, Tom and their girlfriends leads to fascinating speculation: could Scott live at the Morgan Library.?

For years Tom has podcasted frome the "Flatiron district" of Manhattan. But what is the story of the Flatiron building after which the district is named and why was it called a "folly"? This is the first episode where we attempted to video the actual building, as seen from the ;podcast studio.

Time is moving too fast! What can we do about it? We take on the problem, and in the process answer Hillel's famous question "if not now, when?"

A quickly aborted exploration of pavement turns into a spirited discussion of why someone in North Korea with a laptop can turn off America's electric grid.

Scott tells of his recent trip to Maine where he at old inns. Tom hopes the matter of fact travel tale can turn into a "tall tale" or a "shaggy dog story" with a rollicking kick-ass ending that hadn't been created yet! Would they pull off this anecdotal knuckle biter?

Quite simply, we reveal the fatal flaw with AI, in how it's like a nerdy would-be friend who actually doesn't get you.

When wil the fashion industry join forces with the security industry and create bulletproof riot gear for everyone, enabling the average Joe casually walk into into even the most dangerous places without fear?

Finally an insightful appreciation of lunch. From stories of TV writers obsession with the lunch break to a chilling warning of what could happen if all lunches "went away" and there was no noontime meal for anyone anywhere -- and how we must perhaps learn to navigate a world without lunch.