June 27, 2025 • 44 mins
Guess what happens when we try to pick the top 8 U.S. museums to visit? (Spoiler: we accidentally end up with 11 on the list.) From a mecca of kazoos to a dinner theater in a mine, here are some wonderfully bizarre places you shouldn’t miss. Plus, facts about SPAM! Featuring Dylan Thuras.
This episode originally aired on July 5, 2017.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Guess what, mango, what's that?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Well, I'm not sure if you've ever been to the
Secret Museum in New York City. There's a secret museum. Yeah,
it's hidden in this elevator shaft, and it's pretty incredible.
Each shelf is considered its own wing of the museum,
and they have all sorts of weird things in there,
from vintage magazines to a gallery of weird toothpaste from
around the world, to the shoe that was supposedly thrown
at George Bush at that Iraqi Press cow rest. It's
(00:23):
so strange, and it's all hiding in this tiny hidden
museum that commuters just walk past all the time.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
It's strange how many like little museums and galleries there
are hiding all around us. Like I feel like I
only learned about this micro toy museum in my neighborhood
when it showed up on my son's Pokemon Go So
that thing did prove useful very.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
The crazy thing is they are actually more museums in
the country than Starbucks and McDonald's combined. Like, according to
the Washington Post, there are over thirty five thousand museums
in this country and they cover every conceivable topic, from
a forest fire museum in Idaho to a museum of
maritime pets and a Napos maritime Pets.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I really want that museum to just be a giant
gallery of parrots owned by famous buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm pretty sure that's what it is. We have to
check it out, but doesn't it feel like a waste?
I mean, if there are that many museums hiding all
around us, shouldn't we be taking advantage of them? So
that's what we're going to do in this episode. We're
creating a weird summer travel guide filled with obscure places
that deserve way more attention. What do you say we
dive in? Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius.
(01:47):
I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my
good friend Mangesh hot Ticketter, and today we're talking about
finding ways to fit.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
In a little weirdness into your summer.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So, as you know, Mango, a few weeks ago, while
we were recording a few episodes, my wife and kids
were doing their annual trip with three or four other
moms and a herd of kids the Great Smoky Mountains.
They go in they camp there for three nights in Elkmont, Tennessee.
And it's not just for the camping. It's because there's
a species of firefly that light up in synchrony. That's right,
synchronize fireflies. And it only happens for about two weeks
(02:19):
in June.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Just two weeks, like that's such a short window.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It is, but it sounds magnificent and it's one of
the only places in the world where you can see them.
There have been some others found in the swamps of
South Carolina and some other areas of the Appalachians, but
this has become such a big deal in the Smokies
that the camp sites at Elkmont book up a year
in advance. But during the second week in June you
can take a trolley up to the area and see
the fireflies, even if you're not a camper.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
That's something I definitely want to see. Well, that's what
got me.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Thinking, somemer may have already started, but it's not too
late to find lots of other unique and weird things
to see and do around the country before the season ends.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Definitely not and to help us find some of the
most interesting off the beaten path places and events around
the country, we turn to our friends at one of
our favorite websites at liss Obscura. Now, if you don't
know atless Obscure, you've got to check it out. And
in a bit will be joined by Dylan Thuris, one
of the founders, to hear about some of his favorite spots.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And I'm sure you've got a ridiculous quiz ready for
two lucky people.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Of course, who are.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
We going to have on the line today.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well, we've got a travel theme, so we've got two
travel agents from Virginia and they'll be joining us to
play weird world laws.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
All right, Okay, well let's get started. So we know
it can sometimes be tough to schedule around exact dates
that we'll still get to a few awesome festivals later
on in the episode, but let's start with some places
you can go to pretty much any week. And because
we love museums that are focused on very specific things,
I think we should kick this off with a few
of those. I see you've made a big list here, Mango.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, I've got this list of one hundred and thirty
one must see museums around the country right now.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, that's great, but I'm not sure we have time
for one hundred and thirty one places, and in fact,
you're moving from Brooklyn to Atlanta this summer. Yeah, I'm
barely even getting a summer. So why don't you say,
why don't we pick eight and we'll talk about those.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I'm gonna cut my list off right here. Okay, let's
begin right here on the East Coast and start with
the museum dedicated to one of my favorite instruments, the kazoo. Whoa,
I'm talking about the Kazoo Museum at the Kazoobi Kazoo
Factory in Bocher at South Carolina. Did you know the
kazoo is actually one of the only homegrown instruments in
the US.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
All right, Well, while I can't say I'm an expert
on weird instrument history, I actually do know this one
because of its origin. So a few episodes ago, you
got to share lots of fun facts about your home
state of Delaware. So I feel like it's my turn
to recognize some of the very important facts about my
home state of Alabama. I don't know if you've noticed,
but we come from some pretty influential states here, Mayory.
(04:42):
But I know this one because the kazoo was invented
by an Alabama vest and clockmaker, Thaddeus von Klegg, almost
two hundred years ago.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's right. And do you think we're going to be
the first podcast to mention a clockmaker from Alabama?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Probably?
Speaker 4 (04:54):
So?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
But did you know that the kazoo is also known
as the down South summer?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Good God, no, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Now I feel bad for running away from that man
who asked if I wanted to check out his down
South submarine.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
This sounds like a really fun museum.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
By the way, did you know that kazoo is sometimes
called the most democratic.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Of all instruments?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Why is that?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Because they're cheap and approachable and basically anyone can just
pick one up and play it immediately. There's this avant
garde piece from the nineteen seventies called With one Hundred Kazoos,
and audience members are given kazoos to a company, a
little orchestra of real musicians, and they don't sound bad
because kazoos are that easy. All right, But let's move on.
Where do we go from Beaufort, South Carolina. Let's head
(05:37):
one state up to North Carolina to a museum. I
have to admit I didn't even know existed when we
went to college in the state. It's the Museum of
the Alphabet in Waxhaw, North Carolina. And what happens at
the Museum of the Alphabet, Well, it started out as
a project intended to translate the Bible into as many
languages as possible. But even if that's not your interest,
it's a pretty fascinating project. It's really a celebration of
(05:59):
the history of the ridden life language. There are twelve
galleries dedicated to individual languages or families of languages, from
Greek to Hebrew to African languages. But I think what's
most interesting about it is the focus on minority languages
that are only spoken by a small number of people,
and they might be going extinct if they're not preserved.
I remember seeing a fact somewhere that of the seven
thousand languages in the world, about a third of those
(06:21):
lack a written alphabet, So all of those would definitely
be at risk of being lost completely if people stop
speaking them.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah, my family actually speaks a tiny dialect of a
language called Konkni, which doesn't have its own script, and
it was great growing up because it's basically like a
secret language that I had just with my parents. There
are so few speakers, but it's really not that useful
if you're trying to get around India. But it's fascinating
that the Museum of the Alphabet is really trying to
preserve languages, and one of the ones they focused on
(06:47):
is that of the Galah communities of South Carolina, Georgia,
and Florida. It's a creole language of some of the
African American populations in the coastal region, and it was
developed out of several West African languages in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries as a way for slaves or different
backgrounds to communicate with one another.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
It's so interesting. I definitely want to check this place out.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well. While you're there, you can also see how your
name would look and cling on.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
That's pretty cool too.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Actually, that reminds me of the time you and I
went to speak to the employees at Google and Mountain View, California.
Remember this trip definitely. Because we'd heard they were so smart,
we decided to put them to the test and had
a few language experts create the world's geekiest crossword puzzle,
so every answer was in a constructed language like Klingon
and Elvish and Esperanto, and we told them whoever completed
(07:32):
it would get a free T shirt. Now, not only
did we run out of T shirts because so many
of them completed it, but they were correcting our grammatical mistakes.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And these constructed languages, I guess they are pretty smart.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, it's so crazy.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Okay, So another fascinating spot.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Where to next?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Well, there are two other spots in the South before
we head up to the northeast. The first is right
here in Georgia in Statesboro at the Georgia Southern Campus.
It's the US National Tic Collection and it's the largest
collection of its kind in the world.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Wow, this definitely seems fitting for this time of year
when we're all searching for ticks after we go for
a hike, and especially that one that makes people vegetarian
because it gives you an intolerance to eating meat.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
How weird is that?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I know, it's like the meat lobby's nightmare.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
But how big could this tick collection be? Are there
really that many kinds of ticks out there?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I was so surprised. They have over a million specimen
and there are eight hundred and sixty species of these
bloodsuckers collected from all seven continents.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Wow. I just opened the website here and I see
that they're open just a couple of days a week
for a couple hours each, so you definitely need to
plan in advance. Oh and this collection is actually owned
by the Smithsonian Institution.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
M hm. And my other span in the South is
in Scottsboro, Alabama.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes, another Alabama fact. And I know this one, so
please let me talk about it. I mean, you owe
me after all the Delaware facts and the tax savans issue.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Okay it a floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
So this is the Unclaimed Baggage Center in North Alabama,
and it's not technically a museum, but it might as
well be. It's where every piece of lost luggage from
around the country goes. It's a forty thousand square foot
facility and they take all the best stuff from the
lost luggage they acquire from the airlines and put it
on sale there.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
How weird is that?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Is so weird?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And it's been around since the seventies. I think it
was an insurance salesman who decided to buy unclaim luggage
from a bus station first, and then he'd set up
shop somewhere and sell all this stuff. This was all
before you expand it into the airline world, and there
are literally millions of items passing through there every year.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Have you actually ever bought anything from there?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Where? Do you think I got this awesome American flag
cowboy hat? Anyway, it's definitely worth a visit, if only
just to see the weirdness of all the stuff people
have lost.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Well, the unusual thing to me, too, is that it
isn't just a pile of junk like from what I've read.
It's actually kind of a nice shopping experience.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, they've got a guest services desk with a concierge
who can help you find some great dining options in
the city. They'll provide you with personal shoppers. They even
have someone take care of your pet while you rummage.
It's a full service thrift shop. But thanks for letting
me talk about it. I think it's what that's four
places now?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Next, Well, I figured i'd owed you, but we've done
a little music, some language, some bugs, and I think
we deserve a break. So we're gonna head up north
where we can kick back, hand our kids some quarters
and then ignore them for a while while we bask
in the warm globe screen.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Actually these are two different places, but they're very much related.
The first is a dream spot for retro arcade nerds.
It's called the American Classic Arcade Museum in Laconia, New Hampshire,
and according to Guinness, it's the largest arcade in the world.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
So it's a museum, but you can also play the
games they have.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Definitely, there are hundreds, and the focus is on many
of the classic coin operated games that were so popular
before there was a significant shift in the eighties and
early nineties to the more violent stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Okay, now I'm looking at their website and I see
they not only have the Kiss that's the band pinball machine,
but also the Harlem Globe Trotters, Sandball, the Sheet And
I see we miss something called Brofest. I feel like
I'm okay with that, though I might prefer to visit
when it's not Brofest whatever that is.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Profest is like a big networking
event for professionals from all over the globe, of course,
But speaking of pinball machines, that's the perfect segue into
the other half of this thing we're pretending is one visit,
and that's the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum in
Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania. They have four hundred vintage games in
pinball machines, with over twelve hundred more in storage.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I actually love the history of penball.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It's so weird.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So did you know that after pinball was invented in
the nineteen thirties, Mayor La Guardia, you know, the one
that New York's least successible airport by public transit is
named after. Anyway, he had more than two thousand pinball
machines confiscated in the early nineteen forties because they were
considered gambling machines.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah. This classic photo of him holding a sledgehammer winding
back getting ready to go after one.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
That's a tough guy to destroy a penball machine. But yeah,
I really do want to see this place, so Pennsylvania.
All right, Well, before we head to our next destination,
what do you say we take a little detour and
talk to one of our favorite adventure lovers. Dylan Thuris
is our old friend and co founder of Atlas Obscura,
(12:05):
a definitive guide to the world's most wondrous and curious
places In addition to cataloging the world's wonders and web
and book form, Atlas has also hosted incredible events where
you can meet wolves at bars, explore subterranean graveyards, learn
lock picking from expert locksmiths, and even how a duet
with a gibbon. It's truly one of our favorite sites
to get lost in and we're so excited to have
(12:26):
him here today.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Welcome Dylan.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Hey, thanks for having me on. Man, guess it's so
exciting to be here.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
All right, all right, So Dylan, tell us a little
bit about how you founded Atlas Obscuro.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
So I met Josh, my co founder, way back in
my two thousand and seven and I was about to
go on a big trip. I was moving to Hungary
to Budapest for a year, and we were done through
previous projects about ideas of wonder and discovery, and we
started talking about travel and the kinds of places we
(12:56):
like to find and how difficult it could be actually
to find these sort of tiny museums or you know,
collections of mummies, or the sort of stuff that really
like stuck with you when you traveled someplace. So basically
it came out of a desire to create a database
of that kind of stuff for ourselves as travelers, and
(13:17):
we thought, you know, I bet you there's tons of
people out there who know about some incredible place that
they grew up next to or they happened upon on
a trip, and we should make a kind of a
place where people can put those incredible locations. And so
that's how it started. And living in Eastern Eurofe, I
traveled around and started finding some of these things with myself,
and then in two thousand and nine we launched alis
(13:39):
Obskira and it's always been a kind of open platform
where people tend to submit a place and so yeah,
to this day, people still send stuff in it's totally
mind boggling that you've never heard of.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
So how do you make time in your life to
explore with a busy job and all this other stuff?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Yeah, I mean, I think one of the thesist statements
of Alice Obscira is that you can find incredible wonders,
you know, around the corner from you, that you don't
have to travel around the world. And so a lot
of times it's just trying to be really curious about
what is already around you. It's sort of if you
see something unusual that you drive by, it's like taking
(14:16):
the time to stop and knock on the door or
see if you can get in somehow. You know. I
recently moved, and so I've been exploring this area around
where I live, and I found out that there's a
you know, maybe a minute from me, there's a gigantic,
huge mine that is open to the public that you
(14:36):
can just kind of walk into and they host like
concerts there. Sometimes it's really incredible and it's always surprising.
What's you know, just right around the corner from you.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Wow, that's pretty cool. We're talking in this episode about
several of the oddball museums around the country, and you know,
Mangesh came up with a pretty awesome list of this.
And do you have any favorite museums around the country,
you would say, just for our listeners to check out
this summer.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Yeah, sure, I mean, if we're going to sort of
keep it specifically unusual museums, there's a few really good ones.
Obviously this is a really well known one, but the
Muter Museum or Mutter Museum in Philadelphia is America's greatest
medical museum, and it is just an incredible collection of
(15:26):
skulls and wax faces with horrible skin diseases. It's not,
you know, it's not for the week of stomach if
you have. If you're not comfortable with that kind of stuff,
it's probably like you might want to take it slow.
But it really is an unbelievable museum. And it's really
an example of a kind of museum that was more
(15:46):
prevalent than sort of mentally eighteen hundreds and still exists
all over Europe. The just earn't very many of them
there in the US. And the Muter is an incredible museum.
It's questionable if you can call on a museum exactly.
But one of the places that started me on this
whole journey this past is a place in Wisconsin called
(16:08):
the House on the Rock. And the House on the
Rock is kind of a like a legendary tourist stops.
It's tucked back in the woods of Wisconsin. If you
weren't kind of told about it or hadn't heard of it,
you wouldn't have any reason you wouldn't kind of sort
of stumble across it. But what it is is it
started out as one man's kind of architectural project the
(16:29):
sort of at least the myth is that it was
a screw you to Frankloyd Right, that this guy went
to work for Franklood Right and he told him I
wouldn't hire you to build a Chicken cooper a cheese
great and the guy said, I'm going to go build
the greatest Francloid Right house ever. So it's this weird
off brand Frankloyd Right house. And whether whether the myth
(16:49):
is true or not, I mean, it's almost certainly not,
but it works, and you definitely, it definitely is a
very sort of Frankloyd Wrong vibe as you as you
go through who Over time, this house sort of started
acquiring other collections and other museums, and they attached this
enormous set of warehouses sort of buried in the forest,
(17:10):
and you really can't tell how big the place is.
He start going through it and it takes like five
hours to go through. And inside of this house is
a whale, a sculpture of a whale fighting a squid
that is the size of the Statue of Liberty. It's
like my house. The world's largest carousel is in the
house with the world's most diverse collection of carousel animals.
(17:34):
The house is actually it's a big set piece in
Neil Deaemon's book American Gods, and he is said on
the record that he had to tone down the craziness
of the house on the rock because no one would
believe even though it's a book of fantastical fix the
actual house is too much, too intense. So that I
went to that place when I was like twelve on
a road trip with my parents and it kind of
(17:56):
set me on this path. Wow in a way.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And is another big day coming up, and I've seen
you guys are promoting it on the website as well,
on August twenty first as the complete solar eclipse. So
tell us a little bit about how you guys are
celebrating this and where you will be on that day.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, I am so so freaking excited about this. So
you know, August twenty first is going to be like
this once in a lifetime celestial experience, total solar eclipse
cutting across almost the entire United States. And you know,
short of traveling all over the world, there are these
eclipse chasers who basically go all around the world seeking
(18:34):
kind of the next great eclipse. For most people in
the US this will be their best chance to see
a total solar eclipse I at least for forty some years.
So we are having a big three day party out
in kind of rural Oregon, in an area that's weather
wise is thought to have one of the best chances
of getting a totally clear view of the eclipse. And
(18:56):
we've got Science Friday from MTR coming out. We've got
a ton of musicians and performers. We have the Sun
Raw Orchestra performing sort of themed themed celestial act and
it's just going to be a celebration of kind of
the science, the wonder and the beauty of this this
natural event.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Oh that's awesome really and I'll be me and.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
The fam will will be out there. Wow, yeah, it'll
be good.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well, that's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
We're going to be watching it from from Nashville, which
is I know in the band that's supposed to see it,
so so not quite.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
As remote as you will be.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
But I've already purchased my solar clips viewing glasses.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Great.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Excited for that, But almost as exciting as this is
the quiz that we're about to take.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So Mango, what what game is done? Playing today.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
This is a game called Trucking in Puns and it's
based on Atlas Obscure. Is incredible catalog of crowdsourced puney
titled food Trucks.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Trucking in Puns I like it. So basically, we're going
to take an incredible food truck name and give you
a clue and you have to tell us its punny name.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
So don't worry. This will be fun and we hope
you're ready to play.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
You ready, Dylan, I think, so prepare for disaster.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
All right, We've just got a few questions here. Okay,
here we go.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
This food truck combines a Vietnamese soup with the number
of tires it has.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
It's in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Okay, here we go. Question number two. This food truck
combines a cure song about days in the week with
a breakfast dish that comes sunnyside up or over easy.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
God, that's hard.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Oh man, Wow, nicely done.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So this is a real food truck. Yeah, Frida egg
I'm in love. Good job. Wow. Okay, next question.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
This food truck name combines a French loaf of bread
and something Tony Soprano might tell you after he does
you a small favor.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Oh I actually I remember this one is one of
my favorites. Forget about it?
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yes, all right? Two more, here we go.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
This food truck celebrates pork while naming itself for Tupac's
rival from Clinton Hill.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Oh, notorious pig.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
It's gotta be it is okay?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Last one here a famous Rolling Stone song which shows
compassion for Satan combined with a place you might get
a cold cut sandwich like Cats Is in New York City.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
I really want this to be about Satan. But if not,
is it sympathy for the deli?
Speaker 1 (21:44):
You got it?
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Five for five?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Wow? Five for five? So what is Dylan one today?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Well that earns him an official certificate of admiration from
us here at Part Time Genius. Thanks so much for
joining us, Dylan, congratulations.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
That's my actual only skill is.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
But we hope all of our listeners will check out
Alice Obscure if you have not already. Dylan, thanks so
much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Welcome back to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
So Mango has been taking us on a tour of
the weird museums to get out of the summer heat.
Now we hit up the Kazoo Museum in South Carolina,
the Museum of the Alphabet in North Carolina, the US
National Tic Collection in Georgia, Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama,
the American Classic Arcade Museum in New Hampshire, and then
the Pinball Hall of Fame in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
All right, where to next, Mago.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, all this touring has probably made you a little hungry,
so let's head over to the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Hey, by the way, I had this.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Funny experience in college where I was at a party
in chatting with this guy and he said he was
from Austin, and I said, Oh, that's such a cool town.
And he just went off talking about how great the
Spam Museum is, like at length, and I kept thinking,
I mean, there's south By, Southwest city Limits, barbecue, so
many cool things. Why is he hung up on spam?
And then I eventually I figured it out. Yeah, but
(23:17):
all his evangelism did make me want to go.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Now, have you ever had spam Mango?
Speaker 3 (23:21):
No, I have no interest in trying it, but I
like it as a punchline.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I actually haven't tried it either, but I feel like
we need to change that in a future episode. Maybe
we'll find a way to incorporate it into a food quote.
I do think the history of spam is super interesting,
and because I can't stop pulling up the websites of
places you're mentioning, I see they're celebrating a big birthday
this year.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
That's right. Spam was first created in nineteen thirty seven
at the Hormeelle Foods Corporation plant, so they're turning eighty.
And at the museum you can follow its history and
see tons of memorabilia from World War Two and the
role it played in the war. I mean, it's such
a massively popular food in several of the island cultures
of the Pacific. Because of the spread during the war,
can was an easy way to give sustenance to soldiers
(24:02):
in far flung visions, and the military really doubled down
on it. I think we shipped over a hundred million
or possibly even one hundred and fifty million pounds of
spam to soldiers around the world during the war.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Wow, I know it was so present in the soldiers
daily lives. They actually started referring to Uncle Sam as
Uncle Spam.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, there's so many interesting facts about spam, Like did
you know that Hallie Selassi, the Rastafarian messiah and Ethiopian leader,
took a tour of the Spam Museum when he visited
the States. Actually, I know it's not time for the
fact Off yet, but maybe we should have a special
mini fact Off Spam edition.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Oh that's a great idea. Okay, Can I go first?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Definitely?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
All right?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So, there used to be a mascot named Slam and Spamy.
According to the Daily Meal, he was a machine gun toading,
bomb hurling, angry face pig introduced by Hormel to help
support the war effort, and he showed up on everything
from clothing to bombers.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I want that T shirt too. The McDonald's breakfast platter
in Hawaii actually includes a slice of spam.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Well, in Guam they eat an average of six cans
per year.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
In South Korea, it's considered a luxury food and it's
appropriate to give to a host when you attend their party.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
So there used to be a kosher spam distributed by
the Israeli Army. It was made of chicken or beef,
but they phased it out in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Okay, Well, if I say you win, will you agree
to go check out this museum with you?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Totally? All right? Next?
Speaker 3 (25:21):
All right? The next one is one of the craziest
and most interesting places people have never heard of. And
it's in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
All right, Kansas. So what is it.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
It's a place called Stratka and it's a huge salt
mine where the Kansas Underground Salt Museum lives. So this
mine is insanely big. It has veins that extend all
the way to New Mexico. Oh wow, But there's a
museum down there that's sixty five stories underground, Like that's
basically an underground skyscraper.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, you can.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Take a tram tour there. And there's apparently a two
hundred and fifty million year old salt crystal that researchers
have actually found a living bacterium in.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Wow. That place sounds pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
And I'm not even done. The mine is also a
storage location for government records. Do you want to find
master prints of like Gone with the Wind or The
Wizard of Oz, Well, this is the place.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
To look, oh way.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
And also sometimes they host something called Murder in the
Mine at the dinner theater there.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
All right, you're just making this up at this point.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
It's so serious you should look it up. I mean,
even on every other website related to this tour of
Weird Museum.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I am and holy crap, you're not making this up.
I've got to see this place. So it looks like
you've got one more place to take us to before
we break for a quiz, and then I'm going to
share a few fun festivals everyone should check out this summer.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Okay, so I know we said eight, but let me
just say, if you're already in Kansas, it would be
a shame if you didn't just make a quick trip
up one state to Paul's Valley, Oklahoma. This is the
home of the Toy and Action Figure Museum, with over
thirteen thousand action figures, and the coolest part of the
museum is the diorama that showcases thousands of different action
figures from over the years, including a Peewee's playhouse.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
So I was going to call you out on going
over your quota, but you won me over at Peewee.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Okay, you're right, it does sound cool.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
And just one more we're headed out to cal but
you might as well stop off quickly at the Idaho
Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho, if only to see the
world's largest potato chip, a pringle measuring twenty five inches long.
It's been there since nineteen ninety one. Good lord, can
you imagine how stale that thing is now?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
All right?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
I know you can't help yourself, and that is another
good addition. They're just too many good places. I think
we should do another episode on museum. All right, So
what's your final stop on the museum front.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Well, this one's going to come as no surprise to
you since you've known me so long. It's the Berlin
Game Museum of Pez Memorabilia in Berlin Game, California.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I should have known you'd end your list with this,
all right, So tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
They have all five hundred and fifty plus characters ever
produced and the largest Pez dispenser in the world, which
looks like a snowman.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
And by the way, I know a lot of people
know that Pez was started as an adult candy as
a way to help smokers avoid smoking, which is why
the original dispensers look like lighters. But my favorite thing
about Pez is that it used to come in so
many weird flavors, like this is so much earlier than
this kitcat trend where they kick cats come in like
soy sauce and baked potato flavor or whatever. Right, but
early on PEZ came in coffee, eucalyptus, and even chlorophyll.
(28:07):
What I want to try those? I really hope they
sell them in the museum lobby.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
For some reason, that PEZ fact about its origins, I
forget it, and then every time I hear it, I'm like, oh,
that's so interesting. It used to help people quit smoking.
So all right, well that's a terrific list of museums.
Congratulations for managing to actually fit in eleven museums on
your list of eight. So while I take a minute
to process that math, let's take a break.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Bro quiz, So mango, who do we have on the
line today?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
So we've got two wonderful travel agents on the line.
We've got Susan Whitson from King and Whitson Travel in Washington,
Virginia and Martha Rhoads from Travel with Martha and Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
All right, well, let's welcome them both. Now.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Susan, I understand that you actually before your career as
a travel agent worked at the White House.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Is this true?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
That was Laura Bush's press secretary for a couple of
years in the second administration, before I went home and
had some children and decided to embark on a career
and travel.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Wow, that's been an interesting gig.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
No, it was a wonderful experience, wonderful career, and I
think part of the recent why I went into the
travel business was simply because I went through I had
these amazing experiences travel around the world with the President.
I've tried to recreate a lot of those from my clients.
The only thing I cannot do is I cannot get
air Force one. I like to think I could do
everything else other than get Air Force one.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Well, this call is over, you know. That's what we
were going on for you and Martha.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Speaking of interesting experiences, I heard you had an interesting
experience recently trying to go through security at the airport
and you were pulled aside.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Huh.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
Yeah, Well, I think I would offer your listeners what
I call a newly acquired travel tip in the category
of learned this the hard way. Yeah. I tested Paul
for explosives at TSA this week, and I was quite
concern about what that could possibly be. And after my
first pat down, the agent's gloves tested positive for explosives,
(30:12):
and I got very comforted maybe I wasn't going to
be allowed on my flight. And a second pat down
and the gloves were clear, And it took me a
little while, but I realized that it was probably the
body powder that I put on before I went to
the airport, and consulting with my engineering son, I learned
that body powder has magnesium carbonate, which is also used
(30:34):
to make gunpowder and flash powder and rocket fuel. So
that's something for people to know, is to skip the
body powder until you get to the other side of security.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Wow, well, I'm glad. I'm glad you made it through.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So, speaking of advice that you have to give your clients,
that's actually related to today's quiz. What quiz are we
playing with these guys today, Mango.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
We're going to play a game called Weird World Laws.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Okay, weird World Laws.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
So what's going to happen is we're going to give
you a law from a certain place around the world,
and all you guys have to do is tell us
whether that is true or false. We're gonna let you
guys work together on this one. There are five questions
you guys.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Ready to go?
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
All right, here we go.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Question number one or statement number one, feeding the pigeons
in Venice is against the law.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
True or false?
Speaker 5 (31:22):
So, Susan, I think that's probably true. I think it's
probably true too, but I know people do it anyway.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
It is true and mango, God give us the explanation
for that one.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Yeah, Venice has a pigeon problem and all those birds
cause extra work for the cleanup crew who have to
polish the town statues. And in fact, you can get
a hefty fine if you feed the pigeons.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Wow, it's good advice there. Don't feed the pigeons.
Speaker 5 (31:47):
Great to know.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Number two.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
In Luxembourg, it's illegal to put holy water in a
water balloon.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
True or false?
Speaker 5 (31:55):
I would say true. Who has access to holy water?
And we I mean, you know, you could just go
in and you could get like a little cup and
get it out of the little font if you wanted
to in there, if you really wanted to. So I
would say that would be pretty bad. But some mischievous
child could do that. I'm gonna say that's false because
(32:16):
that just seems like not even a law you would need.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Yeah, you're right, it's false.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
All right, that's one of those you want.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
To I want to put that in our travel tip work,
all right.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Question number three. In Barbados, wearing camouflage shorts is a
crime unless you're in the Barbados military.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
True or false?
Speaker 5 (32:41):
You know they have that they Martha, they have that
rule in Africa. They have that law in Africa, I know.
Is loud enough? Yeah, when you go in Safari, Yeah,
I don't. I don't know about Barbados. Why would you
be wearing camo and Barbadoes? Anyway? With true, I'm gonna
go with true one. I'll go too.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
You guys are right, it's true. And uh. The reason
is because the rule came out in the eighties when
gang members impersonated the military and robson banks and since
then the last on the books.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Wow, well done, these guys are what three for three? Three?
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Well, Martha is I miss one? I'll give Martha's.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
You guys are a team. You stick together. Okay, here
we go. Question number Question number.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Four, travel agent code.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
That's right, That's that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Travelers stick to the other buddy system here. Okay, it's
illegal to reincarnate in China without government permission. It's illegal
to reincarnate in China without government permission?
Speaker 1 (33:39):
True or false?
Speaker 5 (33:40):
Could reincarnate not reproduce? Right?
Speaker 1 (33:42):
That is good?
Speaker 5 (33:45):
I think that's false.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I don't know Martha's.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
I think that's false.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
What do you think, Martha? Okay, they went with false?
What's the answer?
Speaker 3 (33:55):
This one's actually true?
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Wow, let's hear the explanation.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Really.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yeah, the law was in acted partially to prevent the
Dalai Lama from reincarnating in Tibet. But if you want
to be born there in your next life, you actually
have to seek the blessing of the Chinese Government's interesting stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
So remind your clients. Remind your clients to reincarnate, and in.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Travel tips, clients, a little known facts about your upcoming
trip to China.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
That's right, all right? Last question. These guys are three
for four. Let's see if they can get the last one.
Number five is it's illegal for foreigners to handle or
pet a pure bred French poodle in the Maldives. Poodle mixes, however,
are fair game? True or false?
Speaker 5 (34:37):
I have no idea on this one. I think we
got to goru okay, true.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Okay, yeah, Theno's kind of a trickster when he comes
up with these.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
What's the answer is, It's actually false. Anyone can touch
a French.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
Right there.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
But I think I think in our official rule book
of travel agent quizzes, what did they have to score
to win the big prize?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
I think three out of five? And what did they get?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
So Martha and Susan combined for an astounding three or five,
which wins them a certificate to their moms or boss
singing their praises from us and where I'm going to
send you a pickle luggage tag as well the classiest
pickle luggage tags on Etsy.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Wow. Congratulations guys.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Thank you guys so much for joining us today and
I hope you have a great next trip.
Speaker 5 (35:26):
Thank you with you.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Welcome back to part time Genius Mango. I think you've
given our listeners some great museums to visit when they
want to escape the heat this summer. But I don't
think summer can really be complete without visiting at least
one or two weird festivals. So with that in mind,
I wanted to quickly share a few must attend events
for the remaining months and I'm must attend. Okay, let's
hear them all right, listeners, you're gonna have to move
(36:04):
quickly to make this first when it's down in New Orleans.
It's the Sand Firm and Bull Run, and the festival
takes place from July seventh to ninth. Now, I know
you've all heard of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona,
and that's pretty much exactly what this is. But instead
of bulls, participants are being run down and beaten with
foam bats by the.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Big Easy roller girls.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Last year, the run attracted fourteen thousand participants.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
I can't believe people I should come for that. It's amazing,
it's a big deal. Well what else do you have?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
All right?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Then you'll have a couple weeks to recover for two
very different festivals on back to back nights, but it's
really worth it to make it to both. First, you
have the Great Texas Mosquito Festival Inclute, Texas, and this
is where you'll see the Mosquito calling contest and Willie
man Chew, which is the twenty six foot tall mosquito
mascot wearing a cowboy hat and boots.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
I'm a little skeptical of taking a trip just to
hang out with a giant mosquito.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
I think you're forgetting. It wears a hat and you
can't miss that.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Okay, and there's a second festival right there on that
second night.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
No, not right there.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
You'll need to catch a flight from nearby Houston up
to Detroit and then make the easy one and a
half hour drive up to Yale, Michigan for the annual
Balooney Fest. I mean, you don't want to find out
who's crown this year is King and Queen of Boloney
on Twitter?
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Right? You want to be there.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Plus you can enjoy the Baloney Derby and the outhouse
races Outhouse Races.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
I guess this is because of where you need to
run after eating a bunch of ballooney.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
I get the impression that is the case, But I'm
pretty sure I've told you before. Why can't stand the
smell of baloone even to this day?
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Why is that? Again?
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Well, because I grew up across the street from Triplet Boys,
who were younger brothers and my friend Mike, Well, their
mom would return home from the grocery store and she
would always buy them packs of baloney. The baloney would
never make it to the refrigerator. It would just hit
the kitchen table and the boys would tear into it
like a pack of wild dogs.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I can still hear it now. It's so gross.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Well, it seems like the right thing to do to
attend the Baloney Festival is a tribute to them. So
where to you next?
Speaker 2 (38:01):
All right, Well, I've got two other stops, the first
of which is perhaps the only thing more gross to
me than baloney. It's the Wisconsin State Cowchip Throw in
Prairie do Sac, Wisconsin. This happens to be in very
early September, And in case you didn't know, a cowchip
is a piece of hardened cow dung. So the whole
idea behind the throwing contest is to see how far
(38:21):
you can throw, or rather fleeing like a discus, these cowchips.
And apparently the record is two hundred and forty eight feet.
But the best part about the whole thing might be
the rules, as the homepage of the event's website says
no gloves, but licking your hands is allowed.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
To get a better grip.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
So discussing, well, it's clearly not that disgusting, because forty
thousand people show up every year to check it out.
There's even a corporate division, Mango. So I'm thinking maybe
we should get the House Stuff Works Gang to sign
up for this.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
How state cowshit throws work. I like that, all right.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
And here's another thing I know that they're all excited about,
and that we talked about earlier with Dylan, and this
is the solar eclipse happening on August twenty first. It's
the first one in the United States in our lifetime
and won't happen again for decades.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
As I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Earlier, We've ordered our solar eclipse glasses and I can't
wait to see it. Anyone in the band that runs
diagonally across the country from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South
Carolina will be able to see it in totality, but
even those who aren't will at least be able to
see a partial eclipse.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
There's a terrific episode of Every Little Thing, one of
our favorite new podcasts, that covers this event and the
super weird and fun world of eclipse chasers.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
It's pretty great. Well, speaking of pretty great, you know
what time it is.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Time for the part time genius fact off. This is
the part of the show where we share some of
the incredible facts we found in our research but didn't
get a chance to share yet.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
All right, Mango, you want to kick it off? Sure?
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Do you know that every year about half a penny
from each American taxpayer it goes to something called the
International Boundary Commission, whose job it is to keep a
clean border between the US and Canada. This area is
known as the Slash Slash and it's a twenty foot
wide zone that goes the distance of the border. Definitely
a destination for geography nerds and slash.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
That's pretty cool. I've actually never heard of that. I
can't imagine how many hours are spent keeping that area cut.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
It's so weird.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Speaking of weird, if there's one thing that was reinforced
as we were looking into places to visit, it's that
Florida is weird but also pretty awesome. So did you
know that Florida is home to the world's first underwater hotel.
Now it's the Jewels Undersea Lodge and Key Largo Undersea Park. Now,
you do have to be scuba certified, but if you are,
you can watch the fish swim around outside your bedroom.
(40:44):
You'll have access to a full kitchen. There's even a
lounge with books and movies to enjoy, all while being
twenty one feet under the surface.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
So if you're looking for a place to take a
nice long stroll, why not head to Weldon Spring, Missouri,
where you can walk on the nuclear waste Adventure. This
fifty four acre park sits on the land of what
used to be the largest explosive factory in the country
and a uranium factory during.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
The Cold War.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Oh wow, Yeah, the US Department of Energy decided to
throw a whole bunch of rocks on it in the eighties,
and now you can take that walk knowing you're strolling
on top of asbestos and mercury, uranium TNT all sorts
of fun things go.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
That's crazy, all right, But like I was saying, Florida
is weird. It's not only home to the first underwater hotel,
but there's also an underwater cemetery just a few miles
off the coast of Miami. It used to be called
the Atlantis Memorial Reef, which I think sounds cool, but
it's now called the Neptune Memorial Reef. But if you visit,
you'd see these huge columns with lions guarding the entrance.
(41:42):
Now inside you'd find stone roads and other evidence of
this lost city. And when someone passes away and is cremated,
their remains are then put into concrete memorials inside the
city where divers can visit all of this forty feet
below the surface.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
That's crazy and also a lot of Florida. Yes it is,
Okayins you just talked about death, I'll talk about a
pretty huge existence of life known as the humongous fungus
in Grant, Oregon. It's this huge network fungus that scientists
think maybe both the largest and oldest life forms still
found on Earth. It spreads twenty two hundred acres and
it has been growing for twenty four hundred years. No way,
(42:18):
And while it has a sweet name, the honey mushroom,
the main way scientists know how widespread it is is
to see how many of the trees above ground are dying,
because it's a parasite that takes over the root systems
of these trees above and eventually kills No. No, I'm
so sorry. I was trying to make this about life.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Yeah, that one took a surprising turn, all right, So
back to Florida. You know one thing I wish I
could still experience there is the sound of the singing
runway at the abandoned Disney World Airport in Orlando. It
was only used for a year or two before they
decided not to allow flights to come directly into the
Magic Kingdom. But even better than the convenience to Disney
(42:54):
was the fact that the grooves and the runway, you know,
the ones that are kind of like the ones that
run along the interstate there, decided to make them play
when you wish upon a star when driven over it
forty five miles an hour.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
It's such a fun surprise for passing.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
Oh I love that, And after the emotional roller coaster
we experienced in this fact off, I think I have
to give it to you for ending on a happy note,
so you win this week's edition.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Thanks Mango. That's it for today's Part Time Genius.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
Happy travels out there, and thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Part Time Genius is a production of how stuff works
and wouldn't be possible without.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Several brilliant people who do the important things. We couldn't
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Speaker 3 (43:45):
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Speaker 2 (43:47):
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mixy sound thing.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
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Speaker 1 (43:52):
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Speaker 2 (43:55):
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Speaker 3 (43:58):
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And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe
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Speaker 1 (44:06):
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Speaker 3 (44:06):
Do we do? We forget Jason?
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Jason who
Guess what, mango, what's that?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Well, I'm not sure if you've ever been to the
Secret Museum in New York City. There's a secret museum. Yeah,
it's hidden in this elevator shaft, and it's pretty incredible.
Each shelf is considered its own wing of the museum,
and they have all sorts of weird things in there,
from vintage magazines to a gallery of weird toothpaste from
around the world, to the shoe that was supposedly thrown
at George Bush at that Iraqi Press cow rest. It's
(00:23):
so strange, and it's all hiding in this tiny hidden
museum that commuters just walk past all the time.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
It's strange how many like little museums and galleries there
are hiding all around us. Like I feel like I
only learned about this micro toy museum in my neighborhood
when it showed up on my son's Pokemon Go So
that thing did prove useful very.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
The crazy thing is they are actually more museums in
the country than Starbucks and McDonald's combined. Like, according to
the Washington Post, there are over thirty five thousand museums
in this country and they cover every conceivable topic, from
a forest fire museum in Idaho to a museum of
maritime pets and a Napos maritime Pets.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I really want that museum to just be a giant
gallery of parrots owned by famous buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm pretty sure that's what it is. We have to
check it out, but doesn't it feel like a waste?
I mean, if there are that many museums hiding all
around us, shouldn't we be taking advantage of them? So
that's what we're going to do in this episode. We're
creating a weird summer travel guide filled with obscure places
that deserve way more attention. What do you say we
dive in? Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius.
(01:47):
I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my
good friend Mangesh hot Ticketter, and today we're talking about
finding ways to fit.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
In a little weirdness into your summer.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So, as you know, Mango, a few weeks ago, while
we were recording a few episodes, my wife and kids
were doing their annual trip with three or four other
moms and a herd of kids the Great Smoky Mountains.
They go in they camp there for three nights in Elkmont, Tennessee.
And it's not just for the camping. It's because there's
a species of firefly that light up in synchrony. That's right,
synchronize fireflies. And it only happens for about two weeks
(02:19):
in June.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Just two weeks, like that's such a short window.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It is, but it sounds magnificent and it's one of
the only places in the world where you can see them.
There have been some others found in the swamps of
South Carolina and some other areas of the Appalachians, but
this has become such a big deal in the Smokies
that the camp sites at Elkmont book up a year
in advance. But during the second week in June you
can take a trolley up to the area and see
the fireflies, even if you're not a camper.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
That's something I definitely want to see. Well, that's what
got me.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Thinking, somemer may have already started, but it's not too
late to find lots of other unique and weird things
to see and do around the country before the season ends.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Definitely not and to help us find some of the
most interesting off the beaten path places and events around
the country, we turn to our friends at one of
our favorite websites at liss Obscura. Now, if you don't
know atless Obscure, you've got to check it out. And
in a bit will be joined by Dylan Thuris, one
of the founders, to hear about some of his favorite spots.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And I'm sure you've got a ridiculous quiz ready for
two lucky people.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Of course, who are.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
We going to have on the line today.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well, we've got a travel theme, so we've got two
travel agents from Virginia and they'll be joining us to
play weird world laws.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
All right, Okay, well let's get started. So we know
it can sometimes be tough to schedule around exact dates
that we'll still get to a few awesome festivals later
on in the episode, but let's start with some places
you can go to pretty much any week. And because
we love museums that are focused on very specific things,
I think we should kick this off with a few
of those. I see you've made a big list here, Mango.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, I've got this list of one hundred and thirty
one must see museums around the country right now.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, that's great, but I'm not sure we have time
for one hundred and thirty one places, and in fact,
you're moving from Brooklyn to Atlanta this summer. Yeah, I'm
barely even getting a summer. So why don't you say,
why don't we pick eight and we'll talk about those.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I'm gonna cut my list off right here. Okay, let's
begin right here on the East Coast and start with
the museum dedicated to one of my favorite instruments, the kazoo. Whoa,
I'm talking about the Kazoo Museum at the Kazoobi Kazoo
Factory in Bocher at South Carolina. Did you know the
kazoo is actually one of the only homegrown instruments in
the US.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
All right, Well, while I can't say I'm an expert
on weird instrument history, I actually do know this one
because of its origin. So a few episodes ago, you
got to share lots of fun facts about your home
state of Delaware. So I feel like it's my turn
to recognize some of the very important facts about my
home state of Alabama. I don't know if you've noticed,
but we come from some pretty influential states here, Mayory.
(04:42):
But I know this one because the kazoo was invented
by an Alabama vest and clockmaker, Thaddeus von Klegg, almost
two hundred years ago.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's right. And do you think we're going to be
the first podcast to mention a clockmaker from Alabama?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Probably?
Speaker 4 (04:54):
So?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
But did you know that the kazoo is also known
as the down South summer?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Good God, no, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Now I feel bad for running away from that man
who asked if I wanted to check out his down
South submarine.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
This sounds like a really fun museum.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
By the way, did you know that kazoo is sometimes
called the most democratic.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Of all instruments?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Why is that?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Because they're cheap and approachable and basically anyone can just
pick one up and play it immediately. There's this avant
garde piece from the nineteen seventies called With one Hundred Kazoos,
and audience members are given kazoos to a company, a
little orchestra of real musicians, and they don't sound bad
because kazoos are that easy. All right, But let's move on.
Where do we go from Beaufort, South Carolina. Let's head
(05:37):
one state up to North Carolina to a museum. I
have to admit I didn't even know existed when we
went to college in the state. It's the Museum of
the Alphabet in Waxhaw, North Carolina. And what happens at
the Museum of the Alphabet, Well, it started out as
a project intended to translate the Bible into as many
languages as possible. But even if that's not your interest,
it's a pretty fascinating project. It's really a celebration of
(05:59):
the history of the ridden life language. There are twelve
galleries dedicated to individual languages or families of languages, from
Greek to Hebrew to African languages. But I think what's
most interesting about it is the focus on minority languages
that are only spoken by a small number of people,
and they might be going extinct if they're not preserved.
I remember seeing a fact somewhere that of the seven
thousand languages in the world, about a third of those
(06:21):
lack a written alphabet, So all of those would definitely
be at risk of being lost completely if people stop
speaking them.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah, my family actually speaks a tiny dialect of a
language called Konkni, which doesn't have its own script, and
it was great growing up because it's basically like a
secret language that I had just with my parents. There
are so few speakers, but it's really not that useful
if you're trying to get around India. But it's fascinating
that the Museum of the Alphabet is really trying to
preserve languages, and one of the ones they focused on
(06:47):
is that of the Galah communities of South Carolina, Georgia,
and Florida. It's a creole language of some of the
African American populations in the coastal region, and it was
developed out of several West African languages in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries as a way for slaves or different
backgrounds to communicate with one another.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
It's so interesting. I definitely want to check this place out.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well. While you're there, you can also see how your
name would look and cling on.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
That's pretty cool too.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Actually, that reminds me of the time you and I
went to speak to the employees at Google and Mountain View, California.
Remember this trip definitely. Because we'd heard they were so smart,
we decided to put them to the test and had
a few language experts create the world's geekiest crossword puzzle,
so every answer was in a constructed language like Klingon
and Elvish and Esperanto, and we told them whoever completed
(07:32):
it would get a free T shirt. Now, not only
did we run out of T shirts because so many
of them completed it, but they were correcting our grammatical mistakes.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And these constructed languages, I guess they are pretty smart.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, it's so crazy.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Okay, So another fascinating spot.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Where to next?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Well, there are two other spots in the South before
we head up to the northeast. The first is right
here in Georgia in Statesboro at the Georgia Southern Campus.
It's the US National Tic Collection and it's the largest
collection of its kind in the world.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Wow, this definitely seems fitting for this time of year
when we're all searching for ticks after we go for
a hike, and especially that one that makes people vegetarian
because it gives you an intolerance to eating meat.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
How weird is that?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I know, it's like the meat lobby's nightmare.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
But how big could this tick collection be? Are there
really that many kinds of ticks out there?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I was so surprised. They have over a million specimen
and there are eight hundred and sixty species of these
bloodsuckers collected from all seven continents.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Wow. I just opened the website here and I see
that they're open just a couple of days a week
for a couple hours each, so you definitely need to
plan in advance. Oh and this collection is actually owned
by the Smithsonian Institution.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
M hm. And my other span in the South is
in Scottsboro, Alabama.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes, another Alabama fact. And I know this one, so
please let me talk about it. I mean, you owe
me after all the Delaware facts and the tax savans issue.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Okay it a floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
So this is the Unclaimed Baggage Center in North Alabama,
and it's not technically a museum, but it might as
well be. It's where every piece of lost luggage from
around the country goes. It's a forty thousand square foot
facility and they take all the best stuff from the
lost luggage they acquire from the airlines and put it
on sale there.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
How weird is that?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Is so weird?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And it's been around since the seventies. I think it
was an insurance salesman who decided to buy unclaim luggage
from a bus station first, and then he'd set up
shop somewhere and sell all this stuff. This was all
before you expand it into the airline world, and there
are literally millions of items passing through there every year.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Have you actually ever bought anything from there?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Where? Do you think I got this awesome American flag
cowboy hat? Anyway, it's definitely worth a visit, if only
just to see the weirdness of all the stuff people
have lost.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Well, the unusual thing to me, too, is that it
isn't just a pile of junk like from what I've read.
It's actually kind of a nice shopping experience.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, they've got a guest services desk with a concierge
who can help you find some great dining options in
the city. They'll provide you with personal shoppers. They even
have someone take care of your pet while you rummage.
It's a full service thrift shop. But thanks for letting
me talk about it. I think it's what that's four
places now?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Next, Well, I figured i'd owed you, but we've done
a little music, some language, some bugs, and I think
we deserve a break. So we're gonna head up north
where we can kick back, hand our kids some quarters
and then ignore them for a while while we bask
in the warm globe screen.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Actually these are two different places, but they're very much related.
The first is a dream spot for retro arcade nerds.
It's called the American Classic Arcade Museum in Laconia, New Hampshire,
and according to Guinness, it's the largest arcade in the world.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
So it's a museum, but you can also play the
games they have.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Definitely, there are hundreds, and the focus is on many
of the classic coin operated games that were so popular
before there was a significant shift in the eighties and
early nineties to the more violent stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Okay, now I'm looking at their website and I see
they not only have the Kiss that's the band pinball machine,
but also the Harlem Globe Trotters, Sandball, the Sheet And
I see we miss something called Brofest. I feel like
I'm okay with that, though I might prefer to visit
when it's not Brofest whatever that is.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Profest is like a big networking
event for professionals from all over the globe, of course,
But speaking of pinball machines, that's the perfect segue into
the other half of this thing we're pretending is one visit,
and that's the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum in
Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania. They have four hundred vintage games in
pinball machines, with over twelve hundred more in storage.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I actually love the history of penball.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It's so weird.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So did you know that after pinball was invented in
the nineteen thirties, Mayor La Guardia, you know, the one
that New York's least successible airport by public transit is
named after. Anyway, he had more than two thousand pinball
machines confiscated in the early nineteen forties because they were
considered gambling machines.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah. This classic photo of him holding a sledgehammer winding
back getting ready to go after one.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
That's a tough guy to destroy a penball machine. But yeah,
I really do want to see this place, so Pennsylvania.
All right, Well, before we head to our next destination,
what do you say we take a little detour and
talk to one of our favorite adventure lovers. Dylan Thuris
is our old friend and co founder of Atlas Obscura,
(12:05):
a definitive guide to the world's most wondrous and curious
places In addition to cataloging the world's wonders and web
and book form, Atlas has also hosted incredible events where
you can meet wolves at bars, explore subterranean graveyards, learn
lock picking from expert locksmiths, and even how a duet
with a gibbon. It's truly one of our favorite sites
to get lost in and we're so excited to have
(12:26):
him here today.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Welcome Dylan.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Hey, thanks for having me on. Man, guess it's so
exciting to be here.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
All right, all right, So Dylan, tell us a little
bit about how you founded Atlas Obscuro.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
So I met Josh, my co founder, way back in
my two thousand and seven and I was about to
go on a big trip. I was moving to Hungary
to Budapest for a year, and we were done through
previous projects about ideas of wonder and discovery, and we
started talking about travel and the kinds of places we
(12:56):
like to find and how difficult it could be actually
to find these sort of tiny museums or you know,
collections of mummies, or the sort of stuff that really
like stuck with you when you traveled someplace. So basically
it came out of a desire to create a database
of that kind of stuff for ourselves as travelers, and
(13:17):
we thought, you know, I bet you there's tons of
people out there who know about some incredible place that
they grew up next to or they happened upon on
a trip, and we should make a kind of a
place where people can put those incredible locations. And so
that's how it started. And living in Eastern Eurofe, I
traveled around and started finding some of these things with myself,
and then in two thousand and nine we launched alis
(13:39):
Obskira and it's always been a kind of open platform
where people tend to submit a place and so yeah,
to this day, people still send stuff in it's totally
mind boggling that you've never heard of.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
So how do you make time in your life to
explore with a busy job and all this other stuff?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Yeah, I mean, I think one of the thesist statements
of Alice Obscira is that you can find incredible wonders,
you know, around the corner from you, that you don't
have to travel around the world. And so a lot
of times it's just trying to be really curious about
what is already around you. It's sort of if you
see something unusual that you drive by, it's like taking
(14:16):
the time to stop and knock on the door or
see if you can get in somehow. You know. I
recently moved, and so I've been exploring this area around
where I live, and I found out that there's a
you know, maybe a minute from me, there's a gigantic,
huge mine that is open to the public that you
(14:36):
can just kind of walk into and they host like
concerts there. Sometimes it's really incredible and it's always surprising.
What's you know, just right around the corner from you.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Wow, that's pretty cool. We're talking in this episode about
several of the oddball museums around the country, and you know,
Mangesh came up with a pretty awesome list of this.
And do you have any favorite museums around the country,
you would say, just for our listeners to check out
this summer.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Yeah, sure, I mean, if we're going to sort of
keep it specifically unusual museums, there's a few really good ones.
Obviously this is a really well known one, but the
Muter Museum or Mutter Museum in Philadelphia is America's greatest
medical museum, and it is just an incredible collection of
(15:26):
skulls and wax faces with horrible skin diseases. It's not,
you know, it's not for the week of stomach if
you have. If you're not comfortable with that kind of stuff,
it's probably like you might want to take it slow.
But it really is an unbelievable museum. And it's really
an example of a kind of museum that was more
(15:46):
prevalent than sort of mentally eighteen hundreds and still exists
all over Europe. The just earn't very many of them
there in the US. And the Muter is an incredible museum.
It's questionable if you can call on a museum exactly.
But one of the places that started me on this
whole journey this past is a place in Wisconsin called
(16:08):
the House on the Rock. And the House on the
Rock is kind of a like a legendary tourist stops.
It's tucked back in the woods of Wisconsin. If you
weren't kind of told about it or hadn't heard of it,
you wouldn't have any reason you wouldn't kind of sort
of stumble across it. But what it is is it
started out as one man's kind of architectural project the
(16:29):
sort of at least the myth is that it was
a screw you to Frankloyd Right, that this guy went
to work for Franklood Right and he told him I
wouldn't hire you to build a Chicken cooper a cheese
great and the guy said, I'm going to go build
the greatest Francloid Right house ever. So it's this weird
off brand Frankloyd Right house. And whether whether the myth
(16:49):
is true or not, I mean, it's almost certainly not,
but it works, and you definitely, it definitely is a
very sort of Frankloyd Wrong vibe as you as you
go through who Over time, this house sort of started
acquiring other collections and other museums, and they attached this
enormous set of warehouses sort of buried in the forest,
(17:10):
and you really can't tell how big the place is.
He start going through it and it takes like five
hours to go through. And inside of this house is
a whale, a sculpture of a whale fighting a squid
that is the size of the Statue of Liberty. It's
like my house. The world's largest carousel is in the
house with the world's most diverse collection of carousel animals.
(17:34):
The house is actually it's a big set piece in
Neil Deaemon's book American Gods, and he is said on
the record that he had to tone down the craziness
of the house on the rock because no one would
believe even though it's a book of fantastical fix the
actual house is too much, too intense. So that I
went to that place when I was like twelve on
a road trip with my parents and it kind of
(17:56):
set me on this path. Wow in a way.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And is another big day coming up, and I've seen
you guys are promoting it on the website as well,
on August twenty first as the complete solar eclipse. So
tell us a little bit about how you guys are
celebrating this and where you will be on that day.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, I am so so freaking excited about this. So
you know, August twenty first is going to be like
this once in a lifetime celestial experience, total solar eclipse
cutting across almost the entire United States. And you know,
short of traveling all over the world, there are these
eclipse chasers who basically go all around the world seeking
(18:34):
kind of the next great eclipse. For most people in
the US this will be their best chance to see
a total solar eclipse I at least for forty some years.
So we are having a big three day party out
in kind of rural Oregon, in an area that's weather
wise is thought to have one of the best chances
of getting a totally clear view of the eclipse. And
(18:56):
we've got Science Friday from MTR coming out. We've got
a ton of musicians and performers. We have the Sun
Raw Orchestra performing sort of themed themed celestial act and
it's just going to be a celebration of kind of
the science, the wonder and the beauty of this this
natural event.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Oh that's awesome really and I'll be me and.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
The fam will will be out there. Wow, yeah, it'll
be good.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well, that's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
We're going to be watching it from from Nashville, which
is I know in the band that's supposed to see it,
so so not quite.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
As remote as you will be.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
But I've already purchased my solar clips viewing glasses.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Great.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Excited for that, But almost as exciting as this is
the quiz that we're about to take.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So Mango, what what game is done? Playing today.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
This is a game called Trucking in Puns and it's
based on Atlas Obscure. Is incredible catalog of crowdsourced puney
titled food Trucks.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Trucking in Puns I like it. So basically, we're going
to take an incredible food truck name and give you
a clue and you have to tell us its punny name.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
So don't worry. This will be fun and we hope
you're ready to play.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
You ready, Dylan, I think, so prepare for disaster.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
All right, We've just got a few questions here. Okay,
here we go.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
This food truck combines a Vietnamese soup with the number
of tires it has.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
It's in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Okay, here we go. Question number two. This food truck
combines a cure song about days in the week with
a breakfast dish that comes sunnyside up or over easy.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
God, that's hard.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Oh man, Wow, nicely done.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So this is a real food truck. Yeah, Frida egg
I'm in love. Good job. Wow. Okay, next question.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
This food truck name combines a French loaf of bread
and something Tony Soprano might tell you after he does
you a small favor.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Oh I actually I remember this one is one of
my favorites. Forget about it?
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yes, all right? Two more, here we go.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
This food truck celebrates pork while naming itself for Tupac's
rival from Clinton Hill.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Oh, notorious pig.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
It's gotta be it is okay?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Last one here a famous Rolling Stone song which shows
compassion for Satan combined with a place you might get
a cold cut sandwich like Cats Is in New York City.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
I really want this to be about Satan. But if not,
is it sympathy for the deli?
Speaker 1 (21:44):
You got it?
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Five for five?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Wow? Five for five? So what is Dylan one today?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Well that earns him an official certificate of admiration from
us here at Part Time Genius. Thanks so much for
joining us, Dylan, congratulations.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
That's my actual only skill is.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
But we hope all of our listeners will check out
Alice Obscure if you have not already. Dylan, thanks so
much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Welcome back to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
So Mango has been taking us on a tour of
the weird museums to get out of the summer heat.
Now we hit up the Kazoo Museum in South Carolina,
the Museum of the Alphabet in North Carolina, the US
National Tic Collection in Georgia, Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama,
the American Classic Arcade Museum in New Hampshire, and then
the Pinball Hall of Fame in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
All right, where to next, Mago.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, all this touring has probably made you a little hungry,
so let's head over to the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Hey, by the way, I had this.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Funny experience in college where I was at a party
in chatting with this guy and he said he was
from Austin, and I said, Oh, that's such a cool town.
And he just went off talking about how great the
Spam Museum is, like at length, and I kept thinking,
I mean, there's south By, Southwest city Limits, barbecue, so
many cool things. Why is he hung up on spam?
And then I eventually I figured it out. Yeah, but
(23:17):
all his evangelism did make me want to go.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Now, have you ever had spam Mango?
Speaker 3 (23:21):
No, I have no interest in trying it, but I
like it as a punchline.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I actually haven't tried it either, but I feel like
we need to change that in a future episode. Maybe
we'll find a way to incorporate it into a food quote.
I do think the history of spam is super interesting,
and because I can't stop pulling up the websites of
places you're mentioning, I see they're celebrating a big birthday
this year.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
That's right. Spam was first created in nineteen thirty seven
at the Hormeelle Foods Corporation plant, so they're turning eighty.
And at the museum you can follow its history and
see tons of memorabilia from World War Two and the
role it played in the war. I mean, it's such
a massively popular food in several of the island cultures
of the Pacific. Because of the spread during the war,
can was an easy way to give sustenance to soldiers
(24:02):
in far flung visions, and the military really doubled down
on it. I think we shipped over a hundred million
or possibly even one hundred and fifty million pounds of
spam to soldiers around the world during the war.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Wow, I know it was so present in the soldiers
daily lives. They actually started referring to Uncle Sam as
Uncle Spam.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, there's so many interesting facts about spam, Like did
you know that Hallie Selassi, the Rastafarian messiah and Ethiopian leader,
took a tour of the Spam Museum when he visited
the States. Actually, I know it's not time for the
fact Off yet, but maybe we should have a special
mini fact Off Spam edition.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Oh that's a great idea. Okay, Can I go first?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Definitely?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
All right?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So, there used to be a mascot named Slam and Spamy.
According to the Daily Meal, he was a machine gun toading,
bomb hurling, angry face pig introduced by Hormel to help
support the war effort, and he showed up on everything
from clothing to bombers.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I want that T shirt too. The McDonald's breakfast platter
in Hawaii actually includes a slice of spam.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Well, in Guam they eat an average of six cans
per year.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
In South Korea, it's considered a luxury food and it's
appropriate to give to a host when you attend their party.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
So there used to be a kosher spam distributed by
the Israeli Army. It was made of chicken or beef,
but they phased it out in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Okay, Well, if I say you win, will you agree
to go check out this museum with you?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Totally? All right? Next?
Speaker 3 (25:21):
All right? The next one is one of the craziest
and most interesting places people have never heard of. And
it's in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
All right, Kansas. So what is it.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
It's a place called Stratka and it's a huge salt
mine where the Kansas Underground Salt Museum lives. So this
mine is insanely big. It has veins that extend all
the way to New Mexico. Oh wow, But there's a
museum down there that's sixty five stories underground, Like that's
basically an underground skyscraper.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, you can.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Take a tram tour there. And there's apparently a two
hundred and fifty million year old salt crystal that researchers
have actually found a living bacterium in.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Wow. That place sounds pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
And I'm not even done. The mine is also a
storage location for government records. Do you want to find
master prints of like Gone with the Wind or The
Wizard of Oz, Well, this is the place.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
To look, oh way.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
And also sometimes they host something called Murder in the
Mine at the dinner theater there.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
All right, you're just making this up at this point.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
It's so serious you should look it up. I mean,
even on every other website related to this tour of
Weird Museum.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I am and holy crap, you're not making this up.
I've got to see this place. So it looks like
you've got one more place to take us to before
we break for a quiz, and then I'm going to
share a few fun festivals everyone should check out this summer.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Okay, so I know we said eight, but let me
just say, if you're already in Kansas, it would be
a shame if you didn't just make a quick trip
up one state to Paul's Valley, Oklahoma. This is the
home of the Toy and Action Figure Museum, with over
thirteen thousand action figures, and the coolest part of the
museum is the diorama that showcases thousands of different action
figures from over the years, including a Peewee's playhouse.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
So I was going to call you out on going
over your quota, but you won me over at Peewee.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Okay, you're right, it does sound cool.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
And just one more we're headed out to cal but
you might as well stop off quickly at the Idaho
Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho, if only to see the
world's largest potato chip, a pringle measuring twenty five inches long.
It's been there since nineteen ninety one. Good lord, can
you imagine how stale that thing is now?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
All right?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
I know you can't help yourself, and that is another
good addition. They're just too many good places. I think
we should do another episode on museum. All right, So
what's your final stop on the museum front.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Well, this one's going to come as no surprise to
you since you've known me so long. It's the Berlin
Game Museum of Pez Memorabilia in Berlin Game, California.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I should have known you'd end your list with this,
all right, So tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
They have all five hundred and fifty plus characters ever
produced and the largest Pez dispenser in the world, which
looks like a snowman.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
And by the way, I know a lot of people
know that Pez was started as an adult candy as
a way to help smokers avoid smoking, which is why
the original dispensers look like lighters. But my favorite thing
about Pez is that it used to come in so
many weird flavors, like this is so much earlier than
this kitcat trend where they kick cats come in like
soy sauce and baked potato flavor or whatever. Right, but
early on PEZ came in coffee, eucalyptus, and even chlorophyll.
(28:07):
What I want to try those? I really hope they
sell them in the museum lobby.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
For some reason, that PEZ fact about its origins, I
forget it, and then every time I hear it, I'm like, oh,
that's so interesting. It used to help people quit smoking.
So all right, well that's a terrific list of museums.
Congratulations for managing to actually fit in eleven museums on
your list of eight. So while I take a minute
to process that math, let's take a break.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Bro quiz, So mango, who do we have on the
line today?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
So we've got two wonderful travel agents on the line.
We've got Susan Whitson from King and Whitson Travel in Washington,
Virginia and Martha Rhoads from Travel with Martha and Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
All right, well, let's welcome them both. Now.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Susan, I understand that you actually before your career as
a travel agent worked at the White House.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Is this true?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
That was Laura Bush's press secretary for a couple of
years in the second administration, before I went home and
had some children and decided to embark on a career
and travel.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Wow, that's been an interesting gig.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
No, it was a wonderful experience, wonderful career, and I
think part of the recent why I went into the
travel business was simply because I went through I had
these amazing experiences travel around the world with the President.
I've tried to recreate a lot of those from my clients.
The only thing I cannot do is I cannot get
air Force one. I like to think I could do
everything else other than get Air Force one.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Well, this call is over, you know. That's what we
were going on for you and Martha.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Speaking of interesting experiences, I heard you had an interesting
experience recently trying to go through security at the airport
and you were pulled aside.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Huh.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
Yeah, Well, I think I would offer your listeners what
I call a newly acquired travel tip in the category
of learned this the hard way. Yeah. I tested Paul
for explosives at TSA this week, and I was quite
concern about what that could possibly be. And after my
first pat down, the agent's gloves tested positive for explosives,
(30:12):
and I got very comforted maybe I wasn't going to
be allowed on my flight. And a second pat down
and the gloves were clear, And it took me a
little while, but I realized that it was probably the
body powder that I put on before I went to
the airport, and consulting with my engineering son, I learned
that body powder has magnesium carbonate, which is also used
(30:34):
to make gunpowder and flash powder and rocket fuel. So
that's something for people to know, is to skip the
body powder until you get to the other side of security.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Wow, well, I'm glad. I'm glad you made it through.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So, speaking of advice that you have to give your clients,
that's actually related to today's quiz. What quiz are we
playing with these guys today, Mango.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
We're going to play a game called Weird World Laws.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Okay, weird World Laws.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
So what's going to happen is we're going to give
you a law from a certain place around the world,
and all you guys have to do is tell us
whether that is true or false. We're gonna let you
guys work together on this one. There are five questions
you guys.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Ready to go?
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
All right, here we go.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Question number one or statement number one, feeding the pigeons
in Venice is against the law.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
True or false?
Speaker 5 (31:22):
So, Susan, I think that's probably true. I think it's
probably true too, but I know people do it anyway.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
It is true and mango, God give us the explanation
for that one.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Yeah, Venice has a pigeon problem and all those birds
cause extra work for the cleanup crew who have to
polish the town statues. And in fact, you can get
a hefty fine if you feed the pigeons.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Wow, it's good advice there. Don't feed the pigeons.
Speaker 5 (31:47):
Great to know.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Number two.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
In Luxembourg, it's illegal to put holy water in a
water balloon.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
True or false?
Speaker 5 (31:55):
I would say true. Who has access to holy water?
And we I mean, you know, you could just go
in and you could get like a little cup and
get it out of the little font if you wanted
to in there, if you really wanted to. So I
would say that would be pretty bad. But some mischievous
child could do that. I'm gonna say that's false because
(32:16):
that just seems like not even a law you would need.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Yeah, you're right, it's false.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
All right, that's one of those you want.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
To I want to put that in our travel tip work,
all right.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Question number three. In Barbados, wearing camouflage shorts is a
crime unless you're in the Barbados military.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
True or false?
Speaker 5 (32:41):
You know they have that they Martha, they have that
rule in Africa. They have that law in Africa, I know.
Is loud enough? Yeah, when you go in Safari, Yeah,
I don't. I don't know about Barbados. Why would you
be wearing camo and Barbadoes? Anyway? With true, I'm gonna
go with true one. I'll go too.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
You guys are right, it's true. And uh. The reason
is because the rule came out in the eighties when
gang members impersonated the military and robson banks and since
then the last on the books.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Wow, well done, these guys are what three for three? Three?
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Well, Martha is I miss one? I'll give Martha's.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
You guys are a team. You stick together. Okay, here
we go. Question number Question number.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Four, travel agent code.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
That's right, That's that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Travelers stick to the other buddy system here. Okay, it's
illegal to reincarnate in China without government permission. It's illegal
to reincarnate in China without government permission?
Speaker 1 (33:39):
True or false?
Speaker 5 (33:40):
Could reincarnate not reproduce? Right?
Speaker 1 (33:42):
That is good?
Speaker 5 (33:45):
I think that's false.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I don't know Martha's.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
I think that's false.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
What do you think, Martha? Okay, they went with false?
What's the answer?
Speaker 3 (33:55):
This one's actually true?
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Wow, let's hear the explanation.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Really.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yeah, the law was in acted partially to prevent the
Dalai Lama from reincarnating in Tibet. But if you want
to be born there in your next life, you actually
have to seek the blessing of the Chinese Government's interesting stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
So remind your clients. Remind your clients to reincarnate, and in.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Travel tips, clients, a little known facts about your upcoming
trip to China.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
That's right, all right? Last question. These guys are three
for four. Let's see if they can get the last one.
Number five is it's illegal for foreigners to handle or
pet a pure bred French poodle in the Maldives. Poodle mixes, however,
are fair game? True or false?
Speaker 5 (34:37):
I have no idea on this one. I think we
got to goru okay, true.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Okay, yeah, Theno's kind of a trickster when he comes
up with these.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
What's the answer is, It's actually false. Anyone can touch
a French.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
Right there.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
But I think I think in our official rule book
of travel agent quizzes, what did they have to score
to win the big prize?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
I think three out of five? And what did they get?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
So Martha and Susan combined for an astounding three or five,
which wins them a certificate to their moms or boss
singing their praises from us and where I'm going to
send you a pickle luggage tag as well the classiest
pickle luggage tags on Etsy.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Wow. Congratulations guys.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Thank you guys so much for joining us today and
I hope you have a great next trip.
Speaker 5 (35:26):
Thank you with you.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Welcome back to part time Genius Mango. I think you've
given our listeners some great museums to visit when they
want to escape the heat this summer. But I don't
think summer can really be complete without visiting at least
one or two weird festivals. So with that in mind,
I wanted to quickly share a few must attend events
for the remaining months and I'm must attend. Okay, let's
hear them all right, listeners, you're gonna have to move
(36:04):
quickly to make this first when it's down in New Orleans.
It's the Sand Firm and Bull Run, and the festival
takes place from July seventh to ninth. Now, I know
you've all heard of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona,
and that's pretty much exactly what this is. But instead
of bulls, participants are being run down and beaten with
foam bats by the.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Big Easy roller girls.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Last year, the run attracted fourteen thousand participants.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
I can't believe people I should come for that. It's amazing,
it's a big deal. Well what else do you have?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
All right?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Then you'll have a couple weeks to recover for two
very different festivals on back to back nights, but it's
really worth it to make it to both. First, you
have the Great Texas Mosquito Festival Inclute, Texas, and this
is where you'll see the Mosquito calling contest and Willie
man Chew, which is the twenty six foot tall mosquito
mascot wearing a cowboy hat and boots.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
I'm a little skeptical of taking a trip just to
hang out with a giant mosquito.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
I think you're forgetting. It wears a hat and you
can't miss that.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Okay, and there's a second festival right there on that
second night.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
No, not right there.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
You'll need to catch a flight from nearby Houston up
to Detroit and then make the easy one and a
half hour drive up to Yale, Michigan for the annual
Balooney Fest. I mean, you don't want to find out
who's crown this year is King and Queen of Boloney
on Twitter?
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Right? You want to be there.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Plus you can enjoy the Baloney Derby and the outhouse
races Outhouse Races.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
I guess this is because of where you need to
run after eating a bunch of ballooney.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
I get the impression that is the case, But I'm
pretty sure I've told you before. Why can't stand the
smell of baloone even to this day?
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Why is that? Again?
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Well, because I grew up across the street from Triplet Boys,
who were younger brothers and my friend Mike, Well, their
mom would return home from the grocery store and she
would always buy them packs of baloney. The baloney would
never make it to the refrigerator. It would just hit
the kitchen table and the boys would tear into it
like a pack of wild dogs.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I can still hear it now. It's so gross.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Well, it seems like the right thing to do to
attend the Baloney Festival is a tribute to them. So
where to you next?
Speaker 2 (38:01):
All right, Well, I've got two other stops, the first
of which is perhaps the only thing more gross to
me than baloney. It's the Wisconsin State Cowchip Throw in
Prairie do Sac, Wisconsin. This happens to be in very
early September, And in case you didn't know, a cowchip
is a piece of hardened cow dung. So the whole
idea behind the throwing contest is to see how far
(38:21):
you can throw, or rather fleeing like a discus, these cowchips.
And apparently the record is two hundred and forty eight feet.
But the best part about the whole thing might be
the rules, as the homepage of the event's website says
no gloves, but licking your hands is allowed.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
To get a better grip.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
So discussing, well, it's clearly not that disgusting, because forty
thousand people show up every year to check it out.
There's even a corporate division, Mango. So I'm thinking maybe
we should get the House Stuff Works Gang to sign
up for this.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
How state cowshit throws work. I like that, all right.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
And here's another thing I know that they're all excited about,
and that we talked about earlier with Dylan, and this
is the solar eclipse happening on August twenty first. It's
the first one in the United States in our lifetime
and won't happen again for decades.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
As I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Earlier, We've ordered our solar eclipse glasses and I can't
wait to see it. Anyone in the band that runs
diagonally across the country from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South
Carolina will be able to see it in totality, but
even those who aren't will at least be able to
see a partial eclipse.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
There's a terrific episode of Every Little Thing, one of
our favorite new podcasts, that covers this event and the
super weird and fun world of eclipse chasers.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
It's pretty great. Well, speaking of pretty great, you know
what time it is.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Time for the part time genius fact off. This is
the part of the show where we share some of
the incredible facts we found in our research but didn't
get a chance to share yet.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
All right, Mango, you want to kick it off? Sure?
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Do you know that every year about half a penny
from each American taxpayer it goes to something called the
International Boundary Commission, whose job it is to keep a
clean border between the US and Canada. This area is
known as the Slash Slash and it's a twenty foot
wide zone that goes the distance of the border. Definitely
a destination for geography nerds and slash.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
That's pretty cool. I've actually never heard of that. I
can't imagine how many hours are spent keeping that area cut.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
It's so weird.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Speaking of weird, if there's one thing that was reinforced
as we were looking into places to visit, it's that
Florida is weird but also pretty awesome. So did you
know that Florida is home to the world's first underwater hotel.
Now it's the Jewels Undersea Lodge and Key Largo Undersea Park. Now,
you do have to be scuba certified, but if you are,
you can watch the fish swim around outside your bedroom.
(40:44):
You'll have access to a full kitchen. There's even a
lounge with books and movies to enjoy, all while being
twenty one feet under the surface.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
So if you're looking for a place to take a
nice long stroll, why not head to Weldon Spring, Missouri,
where you can walk on the nuclear waste Adventure. This
fifty four acre park sits on the land of what
used to be the largest explosive factory in the country
and a uranium factory during.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
The Cold War.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Oh wow, Yeah, the US Department of Energy decided to
throw a whole bunch of rocks on it in the eighties,
and now you can take that walk knowing you're strolling
on top of asbestos and mercury, uranium TNT all sorts
of fun things go.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
That's crazy, all right, But like I was saying, Florida
is weird. It's not only home to the first underwater hotel,
but there's also an underwater cemetery just a few miles
off the coast of Miami. It used to be called
the Atlantis Memorial Reef, which I think sounds cool, but
it's now called the Neptune Memorial Reef. But if you visit,
you'd see these huge columns with lions guarding the entrance.
(41:42):
Now inside you'd find stone roads and other evidence of
this lost city. And when someone passes away and is cremated,
their remains are then put into concrete memorials inside the
city where divers can visit all of this forty feet
below the surface.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
That's crazy and also a lot of Florida. Yes it is,
Okayins you just talked about death, I'll talk about a
pretty huge existence of life known as the humongous fungus
in Grant, Oregon. It's this huge network fungus that scientists
think maybe both the largest and oldest life forms still
found on Earth. It spreads twenty two hundred acres and
it has been growing for twenty four hundred years. No way,
(42:18):
And while it has a sweet name, the honey mushroom,
the main way scientists know how widespread it is is
to see how many of the trees above ground are dying,
because it's a parasite that takes over the root systems
of these trees above and eventually kills No. No, I'm
so sorry. I was trying to make this about life.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Yeah, that one took a surprising turn, all right, So
back to Florida. You know one thing I wish I
could still experience there is the sound of the singing
runway at the abandoned Disney World Airport in Orlando. It
was only used for a year or two before they
decided not to allow flights to come directly into the
Magic Kingdom. But even better than the convenience to Disney
(42:54):
was the fact that the grooves and the runway, you know,
the ones that are kind of like the ones that
run along the interstate there, decided to make them play
when you wish upon a star when driven over it
forty five miles an hour.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
It's such a fun surprise for passing.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
Oh I love that, And after the emotional roller coaster
we experienced in this fact off, I think I have
to give it to you for ending on a happy note,
so you win this week's edition.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Thanks Mango. That's it for today's Part Time Genius.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
Happy travels out there, and thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
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