The Missing Chapter Podcast

You know how the game goes - Start with everyone along the starting line, when you say 'Green Light' everyone will move towards the finish line, when you say 'Red Light' everyone must immediately stop. If players are still moving when you call 'Red Light', they must go back to the starting line. And if you’re thinking about playing this game in a real life scenario, it prob...

Hollywood’s depiction of pirates, swashbucklers, and buccaneers is often glamorized and fictionalized to the point, where it’s difficult to differentiate between villain and hero. The history and reality of pirates is often much more obvious, but no less thrilling and entertaining.   Enter into today’s episode, arguably the most successful but least-known, pirate to sail the seven seas. His exploi...

Welcome to this episode of the Missing Chapter - and the segment we refer to as the Missing Chapter Profile.  We’re going to take some time today and highlight someone of great musical stature.  He has an immediately recognizable voice, and for any Italian family, his songs are a staple in any household, especially while cooking or baking.  And for you Yankee fans, there’s nothing more nostalgic t...

I hope to rekindle what it was like as a kid for some of our listeners here - or maybe for our younger audience, trigger more of a recent memory - the Crane Game.  You might not know it by name, but the epiphany of what this game is will happen immediately when I say this - the game with the claw! But this isn’t an episode about toys, although we’ve done a few of those, this is an episode about a...

Well, here we are in the snow-covered hills of upstate NY.  It’s a balmy 14 out this morning, my windshield was covered with an impenetrable microscopic ice, which is somehow impervious to a massive steel and plastic ice scraper, I almost took a header coming down my steps from said ice, and I still can’t feel my hands from pumping gas this morning with a chill that seems like it came from Arendel...

There are great quotes from American history and then there are Mark Twain quotes. There are great writers from American History and then there is Mark Twain.   An astonishing and profound author, whose collection of works impacted U.S. history as much as the commentary he was making on it. From his humble upbringing to his amazing journey through life. The chapters of  his  days, read like one of...

From relatives to neighbors, family to strangers, what other response is so commonly known around the world than what happens following someone’s sneeze.  God bless you gesundheit, blesh you, salud - whatever your response, this is something so commonly used that it spans across continents, religions, ethnicities, and cultures - how is that possible?  And better yet, how is it that so many people...

If any of our listeners have flown before, you’ve probably noticed two schools of flying patrons - those that love it and spend their time casually reading their favorite book or appear to have the best slumber of their lives, and those that have to take a valium washed down with a swig of vino to get their heart rates back to normal pumping levels.  Me, personally, I fall somewhere in the middle....

History is draped in mystery, speculation, and intrigue and certain events in our nation’s past lend themselves to these fascinations. Maybe none more so than assassinations and, in particular, those of President John F. Kennedy and President Abraham Lincoln. Today’s episode of The Missing Chapter delves into the latter. A renowned actor, a beloved leader and a nation still divided with a gaping w...

John Macarthur, in his book Reckless Faith says, “Federal agents don’t learn to spot counterfeit money by studying the counterfeits. They study genuine bills until they master the look of the real thing. Then when they see the bogus money they recognize it.”  How true is that?  And what’s behind the note itself.  How about this?  What’s behind the story of counterfeit money altogether?  Well, stic...

Holiday traditions are in the details… Whether it be the specific way you decorate the Christmas tree, the precise angle the wreath is hung on the door, the Christmas card that gets mailed to friends and family has to be perfect. Undoubtedly, a large portion of the holiday season gets spent on… gifts. Finding gifts, buying gifts, and wrapping gifts.   Decades ago, most gift givers would cover pack...

Ahh, it’s almost Christmas.  Hear the fire crackle, see the sparkling lights of the decorations inside and out, the smell of balsam around the house, hot chocolate in hand, and the beautiful traditional sounds of one of our favorite Christmas songs of all time - Morse Code.  Wait, wait, what?  Morse Code?  Yup, that confusion that just struck your ears was the same confusion that some sailors expe...

Hey, everyone, tis the season!  Merry Christmas from the Phils at the Missing Chapter!  And with the Christmas spirit, comes the music, the holiday festivities, and the quintessential customs.  Our families hold dear to some of our Christmas traditions.  Would you be surprised, though, if I told you that some of the more popular traditions don’t have a biblical backing - that they may not have bee...

FDR is President, minimum wage is .30/hour, the digital calculator celebrated its first year, a gallon of gas is a hefty .15, and the Allied forces cross the English Channel to invade Normandy…the year? 1944.  The place, Mattoon, Illinois, and this small town is experiencing great panic and fear over a mysterious illness that seems to be randomly selecting as its next victim.  What kind of symptom...

New territory for The Missing Chapter Podcast – the Vikings. A grizzled, hardened Norseman whose impressive resume warrants an episode in and of itself. It includes the unification of both Denmark and Norway. Reigning as king of these two Scandinavian countries in the late 10th-century, this monarch not only brought these fragmented tribes under his control, he also converted the Danes to Christia...

Any financial advisor will tell their clients to strike while the iron’s hot.  We’re seeing trends toward a certain stock, it’s low, make sure you buy now, as many as you can!  Or eh, not so sure about this investment in this market, you better sell while you still can get something for your investment. For today’s episode, we’re talking some sketchy insider trading secrets…don’t get your hopes up...

A warm crackling fire, the aroma of a turkey bronzing in the oven… is there a more American holiday than Thanksgiving? I’m not sure if there is, and let me add this to the picture you’re painting for our listeners… What’s on the television? Well, that would be the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, of course! It’s as iconic to this holiday as the mashed potatoes and the apple pie. You’re absolutely r...

George Washington, Martha Washington, General Philip Schuyler, Lafayette, Benjamin Rush…what do these people have in common?  Well, quite a bit, but the known similarities isn’t what our focus is on this podcast.  We harness the unknown.  Well, in this episode of the Missing Chapter, let’s do just that.  We’re going to look at how these individuals faired during the American Revolution, some bette...

Boy it sure seems like technology is really taking off lately huh?  I say that in the most literal sense because now you can go to your local Target or Wal-Mart and buy a toy that uses technology that was unthinkable only a few decades ago.  To think when I was a kid that I would be able to take a remote control and manipulate a toy helicopter high into the air, and even watch the flight once it c...

History comes in all facets - from artwork, to major accomplishments, huge catastrophes, and everything in between. Historically speaking, the big screen has provided opportunities for history to come alive! And if you're a follower of the Missing Chapter, you know we love our movies! So why not bring back the Top 5 - The Top 5 Historic and Iconic Movie Cars of all time. There is surely to be...

3 simple piano keys… used to create one of the most iconic Hollywood scores in history; one that can invoke a response from its listeners, unlike many others of its kind. In 1978, 2 friends set out to create a scary story and, in the process, produced a groundbreaking film that would change the landscape of movie-making forever, as well as the holiday it portrays. The leaves have changed, the air...

A superstition, according to Oxford Dictionary, is a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief.  Wow, that’s a mouthful.  In essence, it’s something that we do out of habit, or maybe out of fear of bad luck.  Don’t step on a crack or you’ll break your mothers back.  You just spilled the s...

When unearthing evidence of the past, it is unbelievable to read the lengths that governments will go to spy on other sovereign nations.  I’m sure your mind went right to Cold War era espionage, which, if you’ve been a listener of the Missing Chapter for any period of time, you would know that’s one of our favorite eras and topics to talk about.  Of all the spy-tech that came out of that time peri...

The man was a grudge-holder and today… he was already fuming. The smell of smog, the oppressive heat & humidity, the unmerciful rush hour traffic. The overwhelming tidal wave of sidewalk commuters pushing and bumping into him as he left his office for the day. He was exhausted, frustrated, and simply put…wanted to be home. Standing on the street curb, he waved frantically at the handsome cabs...

If you are new to the Missing Chapter Podcast, first of all, welcome to our classroom!  For those of you who are veterans to the Missing Chapter, you know we love our coffee.  Specifically, we love our Utica Coffee Roasting Company coffee.  Almost every one of our episodes highlights a coffee from our beloved roasters in the heart of downtown Utica.  If you are a listener outside of our central NY...