500 Open Tabs
Each episode, hosts Kaveh Taherian and Hannah Hillam choose one of their countless open browser tabs and finally take the time to read and discuss its contents until they gain enough strength to close that tab once and for all.
Episodes
This week we deep dive into the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history that happened in 1959 and how the Red Scare of the 1950s directly led to the founding of the now iconic Renaissance Pleasure Faire. A listener email informs us of how Nixon's airborne toilet is memorialized in Seattle.
San Diego Comic Con Panels:
I'm Me and It's This Game's Fault!
Friday July 25, 2025 8:00pm - 9:00pm
Middle E...
The ancient tournament of Kumitab returns as we pit some of our craziest subjects against one another including Rube Waddell, an Aswang, and Pepsi bottle cosplay Nixon.
Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs
500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7
Many of you have sent Listener Email submissions that were on the longer side, so we dedicated an entire episode for them to aerate like a fine wine! Amongst many things, we learn about the notorious California Egg Wars and a highly coveted ladies room Picasso.
Listener Tabs:
World Coal Carrying Championships
https://gawthorpemaypole.org/world-coal-carrying/
Pink
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink
MONA Defends Ladi...
This week we deep dive into the oft overlooked subplot of Batman's 1988 storyline "A Death in the Family" in which the Joker is recruited by the Ayatollah Khomeini himself to Iran's ambassador to the UN and the life of Dora Richter, the first Trans woman to ever receive gender-affirming surgery. A listener email finally clarifies the origins of the Michigan-Ohio rivalry.
Episode Tabs:
The Joker Was Once DC's U.N. ...
This week we deep dive into the story of how bisexual icon Toto Koopman went from being a world famous model to World War II spy and how a planned citywide blackout resulted in a tense Los Angeles thinking it was under attack by the Japanese. A listener email explains how the final legal breakup of The Beatles occurred at the "Happiest Place on Earth."
Episode Tabs:
The Story of Toto Koopman, the Free-Spirited Mod...
This week we deep dive into how turn of the century celebrity conman Death Valley Scotty came to get a castle built in the desert and how Dutch artist Willem Arondeus helped destroy the Amsterdam public records office, saving countless queer people and Jews from being identified by the occupying Nazi army. A listener email explains how the English weren't the only ones to eat mummies.
Episode Tabs:
There's A Damag...
This week we deep dive into how the Woman's Army Corps proved to be a safe space for closeted lesbians during WW2 and how after a trade deal with the Soviet Union in 1989, Pepsi briefly possessed the sixth-largest fleet in the world. A listener email informs us of Japan's Colonel Sanders curse.
Episode Tabs:
Allan Berube Interviews of WAC soldiers
https://tinyurl.com/ep71sources
The Doomed Voyage of Pepsi’s Soviet N...
This week we deep dive into how at the height the Cold War the United States and USSR put on cultural exchange fairs for each other and Michel and Nadine Vaujour pulled off one of the most dramatic helicopter prison escapes ever. A listener email clues us into the music career of a non-scientist Oppenheimer.
Episode Tabs:
The All-American Expo That Invaded Cold War Russia
This week we deep dive into how ravens and wolves work in tandem to survive and how Tipu Sultan's beef with the English led to the greatest piece of hater art ever commissioned. A listener email explains how sharks have been around longer than Saturn's rings!
Episode Tabs:
Ravens and Wolves – Friends or Enemies
https://centerofthewest.org/2022/10/13/ravens-and-wolves-friends-or-enemies/
Tipu’s Tiger
This week we're joined by special guest Patrick Ballesteros as we deep dive into how gatekeeping can be an effective tool against instant gratification, how John Calhoun's landmark rodent utopia over-population experiment led to societal collapse, and how corvid behavior effects our everyday lives. A listener email tells us how Richard Nixon once longed to be the Kendrick Lamar of his day.
Journey Through the Maze:...
Guest host Josie Azzam dives into the fascinating (and occasionally outrageous) lives of Napoleon Bonaparte’s many siblings while Hannah goes on an existential journey to learn more about the mysterious Sea Peoples and their role in the collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations. A listener mail asks the question: was Shakespeare actually Italian?
Episode Tabs:
House of Bonaparte
This week we learn about all the many, many Popes who have been murdered, and guest host Alyssa Cooper shines a light on the unexpectedly progressive world of 19th century New England whaling wives. A listener email tells us all about the inventor of the automatic machine gun, Hiram Maxim, and his foray into amusement park rides.
Episode Tabs:
In 1303 the French King Sent Goons to Attack and Kidnap the Pope
This week we learn about how the introduction of the corrugated box changed the entire pizza delivery industry and how Pythagoras' belief that fava beans contained the souls of the dead may have lead to his violent death. A listener email gets into the X-rated history of tree carvings in the American west.
Episode Tabs:
The Low-Tech Genius of the Cardboard Pizza Box
This week we deep dive into how professional flatulists used to make the big bucks and how Tippi Hedren's humanitarian work with Vietnamese refugees inadvertently created a multi-billion dollar industry. A listener email explains how Legacy Park in Ashburn, VA is a valued MEMBER of the community.
Episode Tabs:
The True Story of Roland the Farter, and How the Internet Killed Professional Flatulence
This week we're in Chicago for C2E2 as we deep dive into what led to the confrontation of German and Irish immigrants vs the Chicago Police Department in 1855 and how 2 renegade tricksters managed to tank Dow Chemical's stock by giving a fake interview to the BBC. A listener email shares their Filipino family's own personal story of crossing paths with the Aswang.
Episode Tabs:
The Lager Beer Riot: Chicago’s ‘Firs...
This week we're joined by special guest Murahd Shawki as we deep dive into people who are questioned by police for exercising their First Amendment right to video record in public spaces like a Taco Bell parking lot, how El Adobe in San Juan Capistrano came to be Richard Nixon's favorite Mexican restaurant despite only serving continental cuisine, and how a shaggy sheepdog named Auditor won the hearts of miners in Butte, M...
This week we deep dive into the strange phenomenon of people who falsely claim to be descended from Native American or First Nation ancestors and the absolutely unhinged on and off field antics of Baseball Hall of Famer Rube Waddell. A listener email explains how the only copilot in NASCAR history was a rhesus monkey named Jocko Flocko.
Episode Tabs:
Who can Identify as a Native American?
It's Nowruz again so this week we deep dive into how the legend of Siavash may have influenced Persians to jump over fire on Red Wednesday and how a proposed U.S. state would span the southern Oregon and Northern California region. A listener email explains how Disney perfected a hue of green for their trashcans as to become almost invisible to park goers.
Episode Tabs:
Chaharshanbe Suri: A Fire-jumping Festival
This week we're joined by special guest J. L. Westover as we deep dive into the mechanics of a capitalist gameshow of yesteryear, how Australian jewel beetles mistakenly bang discarded beer bottles, and that time the CIA tried to trick a Filipino communist guerrilla movement into thinking vampires were real. A listener email tells us how a Finnish pizza restaurant clapped back at Silvio Berlusconi by making an award w...
This week we conclude the Stone of Destiny heist and deep dive into the various stories of ship boys named Richard Parker who were eaten at sea. A listener email tells us about the time the UK Royal Air Force airdropped cats into a remote part of Malaysia to help deal with the rat problem.
Episode Tabs:
The Students Who Stole The Stone Of Destiny
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-63130942
Cannibal...
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