Episodes

No, dear listener, this episode is not about everything that can go wrong in a podcast episode will go wrong. It is, however, a quick dive into Named Laws of nature or corporate life or technology or etc. Jon and Kurt share and discuss “laws” that are named after people. Where did they come from? Why were they so named? What did they seek to memorialize as a law? Remember Cheop’s Law (he who built the Great Pyramid): “Nothing ever gets built on time or under budget.” Not even a podcast.

There is an actual “Museum of Failures” which memorializes products that were massive failures. Classics like “neon green Heinz Ketchup” and “Spray on Condoms” (yes, you read that correctly) are on exhibit as are countless others that, while born out of innovation, just never made it. Jon and Kurt highlight a few of the juiciest failures and have fun speculating as to why they never caught on.

Kurt and Jon explore the disorienting land defined by the Urban Dictionary and learn more than they bargained for. As it turns out, Kurt is equally at home with hors d'oeuvres as well as store d'oeuvres. One is consumed in a friend's living room. The other at Costco. If you don't know what it means to be a body booker, say, "Damn, Gina," or engage in the fine art of chipmunking, then this episode is for you. All we know is that Kurt and Jon are cheugies, and you probably are too. Bye, Felicia.

Did you know that the words written on Twitter every single day would fill a book of ten million pages? Did you know that “buttload” is an actual measurement? Jon and Kurt have fun in this episode doling out seemingly ridiculous statements that are actually true. They sound faker than Kurt’s french accent, but are 100% correct.

It started innocently enough when Kurt drove by a parking lot full of fire trucks, lights flashing, but no fire. And it got them thinking, what % of a firefighters day is actually spent fighting fires? (Answer given in the episode.) From there, Jon and Kurt decided it would make a fun game show to ask each other to guess what the % answer was to interesting questions….like what % of people pee in the shower? What % of people say they always read the Terms & Conditions (90%), what % of people sen...

The boys decide to give in to their genetic hard-coding and spend an episode exploring what makes the male human do so many idiotic things. Throughout the ages, it seems that those with the Y chromosome have simply not evolved. The “why women outlive men” trend on social media has it right. Tragically funny and infinitely ludicrous, Jon and Kurt discuss this phenomenon that seems to have sidestepped around half of the population.

The boys are back sharing their feelings. They emote about peeves…yes, all those peeves, be they macro or micro, that get under their skin. But this time, they don’t just dwell on the negative, the bothersome, the nuisances, as they add a new category…pet pleasures. What are those things/experiences/feelings that conjure up releases of dopamine and create a happy place.

Having too much fun with the topic, the boys add on to last week’s list and come up with even more new names for ordinary feelings we all have (like when you have an eyelash stuck in your eye).

Jon and Kurt pick up the scent from an earlier episode where they discovered John Koenig’s “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.” Basically, he made up words to fit common feelings that deserve and need to be named. Never missing a chance to make up words (in the hopes of one day making it into the OED), Jon and Kurt hope they aren’t thrust into “joculimbo” when they try to entertain by making up words to describe the feeling of actually cutting the bagel in two equal parts or the feeling of getti...

What does a Pepsi navy have to do with telling time, reading books, or popes dying? Don’t have a proverbial pot to piss in as you think of the answer? Well, we are sure there is a cool new word that sums up your feelings. And, in this episode, Jon and Kurt bring all of this together to enlighten, enrichen, and possibly entertain.

Jon and Kurt can’t get enough of sharing things that makes the other say, “I didn’t know that!” They once again use the construct of each relating three little known morsels to one another. From the heights of Mt. Everest to the lows of World War I and lots in between, they give accounts of historical eerie coincidences and puzzling math party tricks and more. Set your watch to utc +1 (why? Who knows–seems you can just make it up) and give it a listen.

The boys are back at it. They are committed to teaching/relating/sharing with each other unique and oddball things previously unknown. In this episode they talk about exploding whales, dropped bombs, the oldest professions in the world, and the aforementioned weird etymology of the word “testify.” Grab a thing or two and have a listen….

Jon and Kurt recently learned of a fascinating human dynamic: there are many instances where large groups of people all swear they know a fact that is indisputable. Yet they are wrong. Their "fact" is completely made up. It is a wild manifestation of being human–certainly AI wouldn’t fall prey to a social current that sweeps up many in its errant tide. In this episode, our completely human co-hosts explore many different examples of The Mandela Effect. It’s true. I swear it. I saw it myself.

Jon and Kurt continue with the format of sharing fascinating, entertaining, fun things the other didn’t know. Yes, there was an Emu war. And Ikea sells a gazillion meatballs. There is a species that regenerates. Oh, and we get to hear the two oldest jokes in the world. Pull up a metaphoric stool and hear all about these and others.

Jon and Kurt seek to educate, enlighten, and entertain each other with information previously unknown–be it of the historical, technological, or linguistic bent. What happened in 1752 that no one remembers? From what common sense practical usage did everyday words come from? And what the hell do you call this cool way of cursing: $@&*#!. Come get some fun learning on….

Throughout history, dating as far back as humankind can go, there is an indomitable spirit in people that drives innovation and invention…to make our lives easier and more efficient. This manifested in a way that we kept creating new “technologies” from the umbrella to the printing press to electricity to the automobile to the internet, well you get the idea. And as great as we can say these have made our lives, when they first started there were many nay-sayers. Many who predicted their demise ...

Jon and Kurt were intrigued by the history, impact, and power of seemingly innocuous everyday items. In this episode they try to make the cast that the utilitarian fork isn’t just about eating, it is representative of the history of humanity. And then they discuss chewing gum and its role in society. You’ll never grab a utensil or chew the same way again…

You might think the common brew/brewski/suds/etc. is just a proletariat beverage more suited to frat brothers than aristocracy. But you would be wrong. Beer has been revered for over 10,000 years as both a nutritious drink and a social elixir. Jon and Kurt follow beer’s impact over the centuries from ancient Egypt to Medieval Europe to the landing of the Mayflower. Grab a cold one and have a listen.

Proving once again that you can take the men out of boyhood but can’t take the boy out of the men (or something like that), Jon and Kurt crack themselves up by sharing a bunch of words that sound really dirty (like clatterfart) but are actually quite innocuous on the word spectrum. So don’t be pusillanimous, put on your headphones, and listen. You might find it to be quite a tittynope.

We all go through life blithely using everyday products without knowing why they are what they are or why they have certain qualities. We just accept them for their utility value, not bothering to ask why. Well, phew, thankfully Jon and Kurt have decided to ask the question and this episode brings their answers. Why do winter hats have that pom pon on top? Why are doorknobs made of brass? Why do wine bottles have an indention in the bottom? And so many more….Tune in and never look at an everyday...

Humanity has long searched beyond the corporeal to find answers to life’s big questions. As part of this, there has always been a place for “gods” in all civilizations. From the omnipotent Zeus to Thor the Thunder God to current "big religions’ gods" to the top pagan deities, gods have played a huge role in creating/guiding/forming life’s overall path. Yet, yet, there are also many gods who have far narrower remits. The goddess of sewers. The god of intoxication. The god of excuses. Etc. These ...

Jon went into the fictional phone book to make a list of home addresses where TV/film/literary characters lived. And then he decided to test Kurt’s knowledge of said addresses, giving him three questions to ask to try and identify who, what, and where lived there. The big question is: can you do better than Kurt did?

Humans love their monuments…the pyramids, the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, the coliseum, etc. But what do we know of them except what we learn from a hard to hear guide on crowded tour when you just want to get to the restaurant for dinner or a wikipedia page that seems to jump centuries like a schoolkid jumping puddles or saying “huh, I didn’t know that” to a trivia question answer in a beer soaked bar? In other words, they are cool, but what are really intriguing secrets and little...

Join Jon and Kurt for a rollicking, delicious, jaunt through the history of donuts and their role in pop culture. Find out why they (ok, just one of them) call donuts "the Truman Doctrine of Pastries", what Clark Gable and Washington Irving had to say about them, and how the hole came to be. Expect to get a big hankering for a donut...