Commute | The Podcast

Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars last week. If you were watching live, you saw it but didn’t hear it. Let’s learn about the censoring work of our friends at the FCC. William Stewart Halsted is credited as much as anyone with developing modern medicine, including the medical residency program. And he was typically high on cocaine. During the Cold War and in the early days of the space ra...

Saint Peter’s University Peacocks became the 2022 March Madness Cinderella team by beating squads they had no chance against on paper, gathering fans and viewers with each win. Does NCAA tournament success do anything for the school, itself? When you call a customer service number it almost always happens: you get put on hold. The music that greets you, though, is more complicated than you’d think...

This week on the show: Metal detectors didn’t have a resurgence during the pandemic - they had a rebirth. A new generation of treasure hunters has emerged. Is this a good thing? Action Park was one of the most popular theme parks in America during the 1980s. Then the first person died. Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in 2012. The fallout had a...

What would you do for your favorite drink? What would you give? In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union wanted Pepsi so badly that it paid with the only thing it had - military equipment.  It’s been over 100 years since we’ve had a nice presidential beard like Abe’s or mustache like Teddy’s. Why don’t U.S. Presidents grow facial hair anymore? And should Joe Biden consider a goatee?  Becoming a profess...

Have a weird talent? Always had dreams of securing eternal glory with a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records? Figuring out your talent is the easy part. Author Stephen King is renown for creepy classics like The Shining & IT. But what about the time he found himself in a real-life suspense story?  G, PG, PG-13, R, and even NC-17. We know the movie rating system, but who decides? http://w...

User reviews are the first resource to help consumers discover how good a product or service is; what other buyers liked and disliked.  What if most of those reviews were fake…? It’s a horror movie staple and it always works - the jump scare!! Can a film lead to an actual, measurable shift in culture and society? http://www.commutethepodcast.com Follow Commute: Instagram -instagram.com/commutethep...

One of the most prolific serial killers of his time, Diego Alves was executed 170 years ago, but that wasn’t the last time anyone saw Alves. In fact, you can still meet the killer face-to-face today, his head perfectly preserved in a jar! In many ways, Whittier, Alaska, is just like any town in America. It has schools, grocery stores, and a city government. When it differs, though, it really diffe...

When a baby is born, it needs more than love and affection - it needs a name! Can you name your new baby whatever you want? Eh, it’s complicated and, no, you can’t name it Santa Claus. Yes, you just watched the Super Bowl, but here’s what they didn’t tell you.  Ten years ago, Jeremy Lin took the NBA by storm. Linsanity captured the attention of the world - and nearly ruined Jeremy’s life. http://w...

Every kid's favorite way to waste their parent's quarters - the claw machine! So, what are your chances of actually winning? 50 million people start their day with a cup of coffee and a crossword puzzle. Can these daily word games teach us about how we form new memories? And why do crossword puzzles end up entangled in culture wars? Peloton, the in-home exercise equipment company, was th...

Since 1887, we’ve celebrated the best weird holiday - Groundhogs Day. Every February 2nd Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his hole to determine how close we are to spring. How did such an idea get started? And how reliable is ol’ Phil? We share pictures of our children online without a second thought. Could they sue us for that one day?? In the early 2000s, Major League Baseball star Barry Bonds was...

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy remains a favorite topic of conspiracy theorists six decades after the event. It probably doesn’t help that we don’t know where his brain is… The murder of Amber Hagerman has saved more than 1,000 kids. It changed the way child abductions are handled. Why does her own case remain unsolved? Yo Dawg! In the mid-2000s, MTV was full of music videos and re...

Deep in a German jungle is a species of ant that at first glance seems to be normal, but while other ants die quickly, as ants typically do, this specific type of ant doesn’t. The secret of long life, however, comes with a cost. In the 1990s, the clothing brand AND1 with unique shirts full of insults, (“Go to church - and pray you don’t guard me.”) was a serious competitor in the athletic wear sec...

For more than three decades Dollar Tree has advertised “everything’s a $1” - household items, toys, kitchenware - everything. That’s been the company’s brand identity for 35-years, until now. Why is Dollar Tree turning into Dollar & a Quarter Tree? In 1999, Doug Lindsay developed symptoms consistent with a rare disease that had also afflicted his mother, a condition that had baffled doctors fo...

** 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...