Commute | The Podcast

** Episode 25 Replay** In the 1970s, a boyband was dubbed the next Beatles because of the fan fervor they generated. You’ve probably never heard of them today.  Did the heightened public reaction actually hurt their career? The table game Dungeons & Dragons has been popular among a small subculture of people for decades.  In recent years gameplay has soared, even increasing 30% during the pand...

In November 1968, the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets played one of the greatest endings to a televised football game in NFL history…and no viewers actually saw it.  Lose weight. Save money. Stop drinking caffeine. It’s that time of year to make New Year's resolutions. Every year we do them, and every year we mostly fail. Why? In the winter months, we go out  just a little earlier than...

It’s a special holiday episode of Commute!! You can almost taste it, can’t you? The holiday dinner table set with mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls, green beans and … KFC? You know how the Grinch tried to stop Christmas from coming to Whoville but, today, Grinch bots don’t want to stop Christmas. They just want you to pay more for it. Christmas songs are unique. For two months they follow us fr...

By most accounts, ten-year-old Ryan Kaji is just like any other normal kid - he likes cartoons, playing with toys, and making silly videos. Where Ryan starts to differ from your kid, though, is that he made $30 million last year.  Internet black markets are wild and unregulated places (don’t look it up - it’s not for the faint of the heart), but you can always find help there for people in need. W...

Taylor Swift is the dominant musical artist of her generation. She consistently releases well-reviewed, original and popular music. Why is she going back to release new versions of her first six albums that sound exactly like the originals?  Internet personality Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, started a restaurant chain in 2020, but MrBeast Burger has no physical locations and doesn’t spend any mone...

It was recently announced that crypto.com spent a record $700 million to rename the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It sounds crazy, but companies do it. Does it really make sense? Billionaires in Silicon Valley are spending amazing money on technology to extend lifespans. But will this only extend lifespans of the rich? We just passed Thanksgiving, which means one thing - time for the Hallmark Chr...

“Want to make some extra money on the side? Be your own boss?” Pyramid schemes - sorry, I mean, multilevel marketing companies - continue to flourish and recruit new members despite volumes of evidence suggesting that only a select few make money.  Why, why, why?? What moments define you? Both good and bad but, far too often, it’s hard to let go of the bad. And what if one of your worst days ended...

We read it in the movie review: “this film stinks despite incredible A-list talent.” But is the A-list an actual list? For the last two decades albums have been coming out of recent Billboard Top 20 songs with kids singing bizarrely squeaky clean lyrics. We explore. It’s a nightmare that you hope you never experience: lost, alone at sea. Wouldn’t it be nice to know how to survive?  We’ll tell you....

The nonprofit Invisible Children released a 2012 documentary about Ugandan militia leader Joseph Kony. The group hoped to raise awareness about Kony and his crimes against humanity. It did that, but what did it do with all that attention? Casting directors are crucial for a film’s success, finding the right actor for the proper role. How do they do it?  Plus, some of the most interesting ‘what if’...

So you ordered a pair of pants and, unfortunately, they don’t fit. The following steps seem simple, right? You mail them back, get a new pair, and move on with life. Well, it’s not so simple for that pair of pants you just returned. We explore the tragic journey of the returned item. Technology has emerged to allow you to chat virtually with loved ones. There’s just one catch - they’re dead. If yo...

World War II officially ended on September 2, 1945. Why did one man continue fighting for nearly three decades? You’re minding your own business when, unprompted, your brain blurts out, “I want my baby back, baby back baby back,” and suddenly you must have ribs from Chili’s. We explore the irresistible power of the jingle. Halloween is coming and, if you’re like most of us, you’ll wait until the l...

The 1980’s blockbuster film E.T. took the world by storm. With it came opportunities rarely seen in marketing: video games and toys based on the movie, and a powerful new form of advertisement - product placement.  Ever wonder where they find the houses used in television shows and moves?  If you play your cards right, your place could be next. The plot of Minority Report includes a futuristic for...

Like over 90% of internet users, you utilize Google for all of your search needs. Heck, Google is synonymous with search! But what about the distant second place option: Microsoft’s BING?  Shouldn’t BING concede to Google and quietly go away?  It’ll never happen. We’ll tell you why.    Near the North Pole there’s a facility that  guards mankind’s most critical resource. It’s not a medicine, it’s n...

A few years ago, in an attempt to revise struggling sales, JC Penney hired a new CEO and immediately changed its sales strategy - doing away with coupons and discounts in exchange for “fair and square” pricing. The result? Well, seven months later, that CEO was looking for a job. Netflix. Hulu. Apple TV+. Disney +. Quibi. One of these is not like the others.  The latest version of the popular Sims...

In 1996, Microsoft debuted a virtual assistant to help folks navigate Microsoft Office - a cartoon paper clip named Clippy. What started as “Aw, that’s kinda cute,” quickly turned to “Let’s kill him!”  How did it go so wrong? In the 1990s, a movie about a goofy genie captivated the hearts of American moviegoers. No, it wasn’t Disney’s Aladdin or the Shaquille O’Neil feature, “Kazaam.” This movie w...

You’ve tried to use Wikipedia as a scholarly source, only to have it rejected because anyone can edit Wikipedia.  Right…? McDonalds had not only Ronald McDonald (ep 9) in its advertising, but an entire gang of wacky characters.  Hamburgler, Grimace, and The Pirate (??) to name a few. What happened to them? If you were rich how would you spend your money? A couple of houses? A few cars? Maybe even...

** Episode 7 Rebroadcast** On this episode: Over the last 20 years, you’ve probably owned a computer with the Windows XP operating system. Remember the legendary default wallpaper photo of the green rolling hill? Yea, that’s a real place. Can you buy an unused superhero from Marvel Comics and make it your own? Ya know, one of the weird ones that no one has heard of? The team at NPR’s Planet Money...

Before we paid constant attention to our cell phones, many of us did the same to something else in our pocket - a digital pet called a Tamagotchi. A virtual animal that ate, pooped, and, sigh, could even die. Prep school Bishop Sycamore recently lost a high school football game to the national powerhouse IMG academy. But here’s the thing - Bishop Sycamore might not exist. All the movies you can wa...

Real cash prizes in real-time - the quiz show game “HQ Trivia” exploded in popularity in 2018 and was one of the most downloaded apps in the world - and then fell into obscurity in 2019. What happened? Well, a lot. Real players with actual stats on fake teams. The fantasy sports industry has taken over our attention and our bank accounts. But as the interest in fantasy sports continues to climb, w...

For years we’ve heard about the rise of virtual reality and its inevitable march into our culture. But If this is virtual reality’s time to shine, why is it still so niche? Go look in your coffee mug cabinet. Go ahead - we’ll wait. Happen to find a mug with a single word or simple phrase on it, like “Blessed” or “Family” among your collection? If so, you’re probably among the millions of people wh...

A lot of us pop or crack our knuckles. But are we giving ourselves a higher chance of arthritis? Let’s see if Harvard can help us figure this out. Regardless of whether you think his chicken is Finger Lickin’ Good or not, the white suit-wearing face of Kentucky Fried Chicken was a complicated man. Oh, and wait until you hear what he thought about the gravy. Usain Bolt is the fastest human alive. H...

When someone wins a lifetime supply of something, what does it mean? Do you get it delivered to you for the rest of your life? You’ve reached the mountain top of the game-show world: you just won the best prize! You can’t be stopped! Or can you? In 1974, a violent clash broke out in West Virginia over a proposal about school textbooks. What can we learn, and are the ramifications still playing out...

It’s a special Olympic-themed episode this week on Commute! Gold. Silver. Bronze. To win an Olympic medal is a lifetime achievement, an invitation into an exclusive club of enteral glory. But what’s the award itself worth, and not just in dollars and cents? It sure seems cool to host the Olympics, but is it worth it? Global exposure carries a unique set of challenges. How do you become an Olympian...

It’s Monday morning, and you want a bowl of cereal.  But you have a problem - your milk expired Saturday. Or did it? Who decides the lifespan of food? In 2014 Richard Simmons disappeared. He stopped returning calls, emails, and texts. He stopped showing up for his fitness classes. Did he get kidnapped? Was he hiding from someone?  Or was it something else? Long before Spotify and Apple Music we do...

In the 1970s, a boyband was dubbed the next Beatles because of the fan fervor they generated. You’ve probably never heard of them today.  Did the heightened public reaction actually hurt their career? The table game Dungeons & Dragons has been popular among a small subculture of people for decades.  In recent years gameplay has soared, even increasing 30% during the pandemic. What is so attrac...