Mark and Toddcast

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 hits the dinosaurs, the cost of the "American Dream," and more.

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, Americans die younger, a next-gen battery storage lab in Richland, Wa., gallons of urine, Todd's new lifestyle, and much, much more. Enjoy!

"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: Oregon gets a C-, a person's morality changes with the season, Google declared a monopoly, a beaver causes internet outages, you won't believe where this one guy shoves an eel, and much, much more. Enjoy?

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 city.

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 make the ultimate decision - hope it was a fake warning, or start the nuclear annihilation of the entire planet and everyone on it. So how was your day at work?

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 mysterious disappearance and underground selling of the iconic paintings that adorned Taco Bells around the country in the 1990s. Hollywood beefcake Jason Mamoa is 6'4".

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 Gatorade, and much more.

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 that, and much more on this week's episode.