Mark and Toddcast

"Go Ask Alice" was a publishing and cultural phenomenon, with ramifications felt from the household level to the actual White House, and whose very real fallout included both the War on Drugs and the "Satanic Panic" of the 70s and 80s. But as Emerson discovered, perhaps not all was as real as it seemed with the mysterious, "Anonymous" book that still today is a best-seller and a cultural touch point. Find out the wild story, which is the basis for Emerson's new book "Unmask Alice," available in July.

This week we take a look at an international renowned chef and cookbook author James Beard, whose impact was so large that even Julia Child was a fan. We take a look at his start in Oregon, and his rise to be one of the most influential chefs in history. All that, and a special appearance by Zymo! "What is Zymo?" you may ask? Find out this week.

Humans are the only species on earth that can "understand" music. Why is that? What exactly *is* music, and why can't animals seem to put the pieces together? This week we take a look at what goes on inside the human brain to turn sound into that magic entity -- which has the capacity to help us heal, grow, learn, recover, remember, and more -- we call music. (It also makes the bourgeoisie and the rebel.) 

Yes, we've explored blockchain and bitcoin and NFTs before, but we're heading back in with a special guest (Mark's business partner Brett) who actually knows what he's talking about - so again we take a dive into just what this all means, especially for us "regular people."

Mark's away, which means Todd can play - and record an extra long episode with Nate and Dave from one of our favorite podasts, The NotNerd Podcast. After a wrap-up of news stories, Nate and Dave go head-to-head for this latest round of War of Wikipedia, in which each present a short, weird Wikipedia article to be judged by Todd as to whose is the most amusing. It's a Christmas miracle!

Much like "Tiger King," the story of the famous flight of the 1984 Olympic JetPack Guy takes some turns that go from mildly interesting to downright shocking. This week we find out how the jet pack (which isn't a jet pack, it's a rocket) was created, and what happened after its most famous flight.

After a lengthy discussion of science and Portland news, we dig into the story of the person who inspired the successful Montgomery Bus Strike against segregation -- 9 months before Rosa Parks became the face of the campaign. Find out all about 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, and how her actions led to a revolution.

From 1932-1972, the United States government purposefully injected black men with syphilis - without their knowledge or consent - with the intent of not treating it, in order to study the effects of the disease. This week we take a look at this vile experiment and its effects on the black community to this day.

This we we're joined by TikTok creator Kyle McCarthy, whose short, life-affirming, documentary TikTok content is gaining a significant audience. We talk with him about how the future will always be better than the past.

We're finally back after an extended holiday, and boy do we have a lot of news to catch up on! Join us as we recap the last couple of weeks in science and Portland news. Farts in a jar! Who could resist?