April 25, 2025 • 48 mins
How long would it take to watch every video on YouTube? (Spoiler: it's mind-boggling!) Our digital landscape, beverage choices, and literary understanding would look dramatically different without the plot twists of April 23rd. Join us for three tales of pivots, blunders, and centuries-old mysteries that prove sometimes the most brilliant successes start with spectacular failures!
- YouTube turns 20 today! Follow the incredible journey from a failed Valentine's Day dating site to a half-trillion dollar empire that's revolutionized how we learn, parent, and entertain ourselves.
- New Coke's spectacular 1985 crash-and-burn wasn't just a marketing disaster—it accidentally became Coca-Cola's greatest triumph. Discover why Americans stockpiled original formula, poured New Coke down sewers, and sent angry executives scrambling to restore the classic recipe after just 79 days!
- Shakespeare may be history's greatest literary genius...or perhaps its most elaborate front man. Dive into the delicious 400-year-old mystery that has scholars questioning how a grammar school kid from nowhere gained intimate knowledge of royal courts, Italian geography, and advanced legal concepts.
If it's a special day for you or someone you care about, why not learn a little more about today by listening to some fun, engaging tales of the past? You'll find yourself a little smarter and have some great stories you can share while waiting for Mr. Beast’s next mega-video. If you need some great gift ideas, we have those too (along with links to where you can find them on Amazon).
Fun links from today’s stories (these links worked in mid-2025 - not sure how long the links will be available):
- Link to the very first You-Tube video ever
- Link to the Gary Taylor’s bio page at FSU
The rest is under construction!
Text me your favorite time travel movie!!!
~~~ DayStrider Fun ~~~
Do you want to be mentioned here in the podcast? Or do you want me to do a shout-out for a loved one? All you need to do is send me an e-mail: daystriderstories@gmail.com
Better yet, you can record your own shout-out by leaving me a voice message using this SpeakPipe link
Do you have a story that you wish to share? Join me as a guest and let’s tell the world together! Once again, just send me an e-mail or find me here on Facebook: Truman Pastworthy
If you had as much fun listening as I did creating this episode, please click "follow" in your favorite podcast platform . . . oh . . . and even better - why not share it with a friend (or three)! I’m betting you know just the perfect person who would enjoy today’s stories!
If you feel adventurous, how 'bout writing a great review? :-)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Truman (00:02):
Welcome seeker.
Can you guess how long it wouldtake to watch every video
currently posted on YouTube?
We're going to answer thatquestion for you as we celebrate
YouTube's 20th birthday.
And if you like corporateblunders, we've got one that
happened on this day that wouldmake your inner hoarder
(00:23):
salivate.
Yep, today is April 23rd, andwithout it, there'd be no
mindless doom-scrolling onshorts or reels.
Instead, you might actually bereading Shakespeare to pass the
time.
And by the way, it's hisbirthday today.
Our journey begins with theorigin story of humanity's
(00:45):
largest content repository thatwithin just two decades has
actually rewired modern life.
Then, we'll crack open thefizzy tale of how Coca-Cola
execs poured 99 years oftradition down the drains,
causing many Americans to nearlyriot for their beloved classic
(01:07):
formula.
Finally, we'll don ourdetective caps to chase the
ink-stained trail ofShakespeare, history's most
brilliant wordsmith, or perhapsits most elaborate Renaissance
frontman.
The portal's humming, historysecrets are waiting, and our day
(01:27):
striding adventure begins now.
Grab your curiosity and let'sto be or not to be into the
past.
Welcome, seekers, to theenchanting world of Daystrider,
(01:48):
the podcast where we embark on adaily journey through history.
I'm your travel guide, TrumanPastworthy, and together we'll
explore some fascinating storiesthat happened on this exact
day, but from some time in thepast.
From groundbreaking inventionsto remarkable birthdays and
extraordinary events to quirkynational holidays, we've got it
(02:09):
all.
So kick back, relax, and openyour mind for some lighthearted
stories that'll leave yousaying, huh, I never knew that
happened on this day.
Alrighty then, let's get to it.
A billion hours of humanattention disappeared yesterday.
And a billion more are going todisappear today.
(02:33):
You want to know where it allwent?
Well, here's a hint.
It started as a failed datingsite, got ghosted on Valentine's
Day, and now it's got yourtoddler, your teenage neighbor,
and your favorite uncle glued totheir screens.
Yep, today is YouTube's 20thbirthday, and we're going to
(02:54):
hear the origin story ofhumanity's largest repository
of, well, pretty mucheverything.
But first, we need to rewind alittle to January 2005, when
three former PayPal wizards,doesn't it seem like they always
come from PayPal?
Yeah, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley,and Jawed Kareem were at a
(03:19):
dinner party.
And they became frustrated thatthey couldn't find any videos
of Janet Jackson's wardrobemalfunction that happened during
the halftime show of the SuperBowl a year earlier.
You remember that one?
Yeah, they couldn't find itonline anywhere.
And so their friendly dinnerconversation spiraled into a
(03:42):
debate about how the world needsa better way to share videos.
At the time, the only optionwas using emails, and frankly,
that option sucked.
The size limits were way toolow, and back then, two-thirds
of Americans were still usingdial-up modems.
(04:03):
Remember those?
Half my listeners are asking,Truman, what's a modem?
So they decided to create asite that would allow people to
post and share videos.
But they also wanted to makemoney.
So they dreamt it up as adating site where people could
(04:24):
post dating videos.
Yeah, they even concocted a funtagline, tune in, hook up.
What's amazing is they onlyneeded six weeks to get this
thing built.
And their creativity hit thepinnacle when they went live on
Valentine's Day of that year.
But much to their chagrin, Thisidea bombed.
(04:48):
They struck out.
Whatever cliche you want toinsert here as an example of a
pickup line that totallyflopped.
No one wanted to tune in inorder to hook up.
And they were so desperate thatthey started offering women 20
bucks to make videos for thesite just so they'd have
(05:08):
something out there posted.
But if there's anything you'velearned here at Daystrider, It's
that some of history's greatestinventions and discoveries
start out as an accident or aflop.
And when the boys realized thattheir sight was toast, they
decided to drop the dating partand double down on the video
(05:30):
idea to solve this huge gap inthe market.
They didn't have any ideas howthey could make money at it at
first.
And they never could have knownthat their idea would
eventually be worth more thanthe GDP of most countries.
Yeah.
So on April 23rd, 20 years agotoday, co-founder Jawed Karim
(05:53):
uploaded the platform's firstvideo called Me at the Zoo.
It was 18 seconds of awkwardcommentary about elephant
trunks.
Yeah, definitely not one ofthose one small step for man
types of events, right?
Well, I'm going to leave youthe YouTube link to that video
(06:15):
in the show notes.
And to be clear, this is thevery first YouTube link ever.
So that's the humble originstory.
But the rise to the top isstaggering.
In only 19 months after thatzoo video started, Google made
what many called a recklessgamble, paying $1.6 billion for
(06:39):
this quirky video platform witha goofy name that wasn't even
profitable.
Industry experts called itinsanity.
The Wall Street Journalquestioned Google's judgment.
But boy, were they wrong.
And not just a little wrong,they were way off.
Because no one would haveguessed that that overpriced
(07:01):
acquisition would now be worth ahalf a trillion dollars.
Yes, today's YouTube divisiononly is worth $500 billion,
roughly 300 times what Googleoriginally paid.
But those aren't the onlystaggering numbers here.
YouTube generated $54 billionin revenue last year alone.
(07:24):
Analysts predict that by nextyear, this failed dating site
will generate more revenue thanDisney.
Yeah, that's the entire Houseof Mouse, all of its parks and
princesses, and the Marvelsuperheroes thrown in.
If YouTube were a standalonecompany today, it would be more
valuable than 97% of thecompanies in the S&P 500.
(07:48):
That's crazy, right?
But forget the dollars for asecond.
You want to hear somethingreally bonkers?
They've basically built aparallel universe right inside
of our phones.
What are you talking about,Truman?
Back in YouTube's first fullyear, they had 830,000 daily
(08:08):
users.
Today, that headcount is 83million.
Yeah, an invisible nation thesize of Germany...
exists only in our screenswatching YouTube every single
day.
And hold on to your braincells.
Those 83 million people watch 1billion hours of content.
(08:29):
1 billion hours every singleday.
Our attention span is beingcompletely rewired.
And there's no end in sight.
If you started watching YouTubevideos right now and did
nothing else, No sleeping, noeating, just bleary-eyed
(08:50):
consumption.
It would take you over 100,000years to watch all 5 billion
videos currently on theplatform.
That's crazy, right?
And the content tsunami neverstops.
Every minute, literally every60 seconds, creators upload 360
(09:11):
more hours of fresh video.
So I'll do some quick math foryou, folks.
Since I started talking aboutYouTube just a bit ago, 12,000
new videos were uploaded ontothe platform.
Oh, check that.
200 more just got uploaded.
Is your head spinning yet?
(09:31):
All right.
I'll stop with the numbers.
You know me.
I just can't help it.
But those figures arestaggering.
But what's worse is the realityof all this content.
we've seen a fundamentalreshaping of how humans spend
their waking hours.
And it's created threerevolutions that have happened
(09:54):
right under our noses.
Of course, there's therevolution of the creator
economy, a career path thatdidn't exist when that first zoo
video got uploaded.
Today, YouTube has minted awhole new class of celebrities.
Jimmy Donaldson, who's Mr.
Beast, sits at the pinnacle.
(10:14):
But thousands more makecomfortable livings producing
content from their bedrooms.
It's the gold rush of our era.
And this goldmine gets two anda half million new prospectors
every single day.
All fighting for yourattention.
But my point with thisrevolution is that those folks
(10:36):
at Disney and over at Netflix...
They not only have to worryabout each other and what
they're up to, they also facecompetition from millions of
micro-competitors out there, alltrying to come up with fresh
content, hoping to go viral.
Yeah.
Now, my favorite revolution iswhat I like to call YouTube
(10:59):
University, the greatesteducational institution that
nobody ever enrolled in.
Suddenly, knowing how to changebrake pads, or fix leaky
showers, or perfecting yourBoston accent for a podcast skit
is no longer gated behindtextbooks or experts.
Now, it's just a few clicksaway.
(11:21):
And yes, I actually learned howto change my own brakes on my
cars and those of my familythanks to the YouTube Auto
Mechanics.
I also learned how to recordand edit stories for this very
podcast at YouTube University.
But my real point here,knowledge has been democratized
(11:43):
in ways that would make thoseDewey Decimal librarians weep
with joy.
Or scream with horror, I'm notsure which.
But you can learn anything youwant.
And not just education.
You can go to YouTube formotivation, inspiration, and
even perspiration.
Alright, now this finalrevolution might make you think
(12:07):
a little harder.
about our future as a species,the parenting revolution.
Now, I know I said no morenumbers, but what do you think
are the most watched videos inYouTube's history?
Parents, get ready to sigh,because you'll knowingly nod
along when you hear that threeof the top four videos in
(12:32):
history, with Baby Shark at over15 billion views, And Johnny
Johnny Yes Papa and Wheels onthe Bus with 7 billion views
each.
Yeah, kid videos.
And what's more scary, thatBaby Shark video, it's been
watched twice for every humanbeing existing on Earth.
(12:52):
Yeah.
Parents haven't just embracedYouTube, they've surrendered to
it, transforming the platforminto history's most accessible
digital babysitter.
Sadly, the modern lullaby, itisn't sung anymore.
It's streamed.
So there you have it.
(13:15):
The platform that began becausethree guys couldn't find a
wardrobe malfunction videoonline has become the digital
nervous system of modern life.
In the time it takes you to sayone Mississippi, 30 more videos
get uploaded into YouTube'sever-expanding universe.
And some of them, they mightbecome legends.
(13:38):
But most will just vanish intothe algorithm abyss.
But YouTube, it's more than aplatform.
It's the accidental empire thatis redefining how we learn,
laugh, and live.
And we're only 20 years in.
What do you think the next 20years will bring?
(13:59):
Will that next upload changethe world?
We'll see.
Transition Music (14:05):
Music
Truman (14:06):
Roses are red and quills doth shine.
Prithee, a review would be mostdivine.
Hast thou no words, fear not,good friend.
Type this pod doth enchant,beginning to end.
Can you imagine waking up oneday to discover your favorite
beverage in the world, somethingyou've cherished your entire
(14:30):
life, has suddenly vanished?
Not just misplaced, butdeliberately replaced with an
imposter claiming to be better?
That's exactly what happened tomillions of Americans on this
day in 1985, when Coca-Colacommitted what seemed like
(14:50):
corporate suicide by killing offits iconic 99-year-old recipe
and replacing it with new Coke.
This wasn't just some fun newflavor gimmick they try for a
bit that sits alongside theoriginal.
No.
Coca-Cola literallydiscontinued the classic recipe,
(15:11):
locked the legendary Formula 7Xin an Atlanta bank vault, and
told America, trust us, you'lllike this new one better.
Spoiler alert, America calledBS to that, and many customers
rebelled.
Literally rebelled.
To understand why Coca-Colawould risk everything on such a
(15:35):
dramatic move, we need to rewindto the late 70s and early 80s.
The bigwigs in Atlanta weresweating bullets as they watched
their arts rivals, PepsiChallenge commercials, demolish
their market share.
These weren't just ads, theywere public executions of Coke's
(15:55):
reputation.
Regular people, famous peopleall on camera choosing Pepsi in
blind taste tests.
And worse still, when Cokesecretly ran their own tests
behind closed doors, thehorrifying truth was being
confirmed.
America really did preferPepsi's taste.
(16:17):
What scared the Coke execs evenworse, many of their own
employees preferred Pepsi aswell.
For a century-old company,whose entire identity was the
best tasting cola, this wasn'tjust a marketing problem, it was
an existential crisis.
Yeah, the Coca-Cola brassbecame convinced that their
(16:40):
century-old formula was theproblem.
Nah, they didn't think Pepsi'syouth-focused marketing or the
Pepsi generation campaigns weredoing the trick.
They started blaming the tasteof their flagship product.
And this belief would drivethem to a decision that nearly
collapsed an Americaninstitution.
(17:01):
In 1982, while they weredeveloping Diet Coke for the
diet soda market, their flavorscientists stumbled onto
something interesting.
In single-sip taste tests,which is how they conducted
their research, people naturallygravitated towards sweeter
flavors with less bite or acidicedge.
(17:22):
And this led them to create asweeter formula that
consistently beat both regularCoke and Pepsi in blind taste
tests.
And executives were ecstatic.
They found the silver bullet,the formula that could reclaim
their eroding market share.
And so, for the next threeyears, Coca-Cola operated like a
(17:45):
secret government agency.
conducting taste tests withalmost 200,000 Americans behind
closed doors.
And the data looked flawless.
The new formula was winning.
Victory was certain.
But, and there's always thatbut, right?
Buried in their mountain ofspreadsheets was a ticking time
(18:08):
bomb that they completelyignored.
About 10% of the taste testerswho liked the new taste became
visibly angry at the meresuggestion that this might
replace the original.
And I'm not talking aboutdisappointed or concerned here.
I'm talking furious.
And these angry few wereremarkably effective at turning
(18:31):
the other testers in the roomagainst the new formula.
It was the research equivalentof a check engine light And
Coca-Cola's response was, eh,just put some tape over top of
it and keep driving.
So, on April 23rd, 1985, at NewYork's Lincoln Center,
(18:51):
Coca-Cola staged an elaboratepress conference that would go
down in marketing infamy.
Chairman Roberto Gazzettaunveiled New Coke with
extraordinary confidence,calling it smoother, rounder,
yet bolder, with a more harmonicflavor.
Huh.
The media immediately notedwhat executives wouldn't admit.
(19:13):
New Coke tasted sweeter andmore like Pepsi.
Yeah.
Coca-Cola president DonaldKeogh declared, I've never been
as sure about a decision as I amabout the one we're announcing
today.
Yeah.
Meanwhile, as the executivessmugly sipped their New Coke on
(19:34):
stage, the company's share priceplummeted.
was already dropping over inthe New York Stock Exchange.
And of course, Pepsi, withperfect competitive instinct,
took out full-page newspaper adsacross the country declaring,
after 87 years of going at iteyeball to eyeball, the other
guy just blinked.
Yeah, they even gave theiremployees a day off to celebrate
(19:58):
what they saw as Coca-Cola'ssurrender in the Cola Wars.
And then what happened over thenext few weeks shocked everyone
at Coca-Cola.
Within days, the company wasflooded with angry phone calls,
5,000 a day, escalating up to8,000 by June.
They had to hire additionaloperators just to feel the
(20:20):
outrage.
Yeah, grassroots protestorganizations formed with names
like Old Cola Drinkers ofAmerica and the Society for the
Preservation of the Real Thing.
Yeah, this actually happened.
At public demonstrations,people were pouring new Coke
down the sewer drains.
(20:41):
And in grocery stores acrossAmerica, people were panic
buying thousands of dollarsworth of original Coke, clearing
the shelves.
A Seattle customer even filed alawsuit demanding the return of
the original formula.
I guess he thought it wasunconstitutional.
And then there's the deliciousirony of Gay Mullins, who became
(21:03):
America's anti-New Cokecrusader.
This dude was on nationaltelevision, leading protests,
demanding the return of hisCoke.
And guess what?
He actually failed a blindtaste test where he preferred
the taste of New Coke.
And his reaction?
He kept protesting anyway,because this wasn't about taste.
(21:27):
It was about something far morepowerful.
The audacity of a corporationtelling Americans that they
couldn't have what they'd grownup with.
And all this outrage camedespite the fact that in Blind
Taste Test, people consistentlyrated New Coke better tasting
(21:47):
than the original.
Guess what?
This wasn't about flavor.
It was about identity,nostalgia, and the audacity of a
corporation thinking it couldsimply replace a cultural icon.
So fast forward just 79 days,and those titans of industry who
(22:07):
remember they were up there intheir crisp suits before,
raising crystal glasses andtoasting the death of their
century-old recipe, they werenow...
before the cameras looking likehostages at their own press
conference.
Miserable.
And Donald Keogh, the companypresident, practically whispered
the corporate equivalent ofuncle when he admitted, the
(22:31):
consumer is our boss.
We want them to know how sorrywe are.
The company announced that theoriginal formula would return as
Coca-Cola Classic.
And this news was sosignificant that television
networks interrupted regularprogramming for special reports
(22:53):
for a soft drink returning.
Yeah, I'm serious.
That's how big this news was.
And now here's where thiscorporate disaster takes a twist
that would make M.
Night Shyamalan jealous.
Within months, Coca-ColaClassic wasn't just back.
It was thriving again.
and outselling Pepsi at doublethe rate.
(23:15):
This failure had millions ofAmericans suddenly remembering
why they loved Coke in the firstplace.
People who hadn't bought Cokein years were now stocking their
fridges with it.
In fact, some cynics suggestedthat the whole debacle was an
elaborate marketing ploy, aconspiracy theory that Coca-Cola
(23:36):
denies, with Keogh's famousline, we're not that stupid or
that smart.
Meanwhile, New Coke wasrebranded as Coke 2, and it
limped along for about 15 yearsuntil it was finally
discontinued.
But guess what?
As late as 1987, blind tastetests still showed that people
(23:58):
preferred the taste of New Cokeover both Pepsi and Coca-Cola
Classic.
And many just refused to admitit once they knew what they were
drinking.
Now, a lot of people like mewere saying, sure, One sip is
delicious, but an entire can?
Uh-uh, not for me.
This is because that new flavorwas only good as a little sip.
(24:20):
But when you need a cold Coketo cool down after mowing the
lawn, it just wasn't going todo.
And those flavor scientists,they reluctantly agreed with me
here.
But the marketing guru stillsuggests that this fiasco wasn't
about taste buds.
It was about heartstrings.
And Americans weren't drinkinga beverage.
(24:41):
They were sipping nostalgia ina carbonated form.
And that curved bottle wasn'tjust packaging.
It was identity in a glass.
That sounds like marketerswould say, right?
Well, whichever you believe, atleast one thing seems to be
true.
The real secret formula thatmakes Coca-Cola special can't be
(25:03):
locked in some bank vault.
So the next time you open aClassic Coke, Raise it high as
your trophy of consumerrebellion.
In a world where corporationsseem to control everything, that
fizz represents somethingremarkable.
The time an entire nationlooked a billion-dollar company
(25:23):
in the eye and said, nice try,guys.
Now bring us back the goodstuff.
A time traveler's delight wejourney hence, to tales of yore
and great reverence.
If these stories warm thineheart with glee, to share or not
to share, do so I plead.
(25:44):
Everybody knows the nameShakespeare.
But what if history's greatestliterary genius was actually a
fraud?
Yeah, there are many out therethat believe the man from
Stratford was just a front forthe real author of Romeo and
Juliet.
(26:04):
They argue that this Glover'sson from a small town far from
London with his limited formaleducation could never have
possessed the intimate knowledgeof royal courts, foreign lands,
and the specialized subjectsthat fill his works.
And as Shakespeare scholar GaryTaylor explains...
Gary (26:27):
The argument that Shakespeare, because he was from
a small town in the EnglishMidlands and he didn't go to a
university, is exactly the samekind of prejudice.
Truman (26:37):
Whoa, big words there.
And we'll get to those in aminute.
But today, April 23rd, marksthe cosmic symmetry of
Shakespeare's life.
The same day he entered thisworld in 1564, he exited it 52
years later on this same day.
What are the odds of that?
(26:58):
This plot twisting geniusenjoyed the perfect poetic
ending to his own life story.
And that's exactly why I neededto dig deeper.
And I wanted some help.
So I called in an expert onthese conspiracy theories.
Gary (27:16):
I don't think that I could possibly change anyone's mind.
People who believe in theseconspiracy theories, it's very
hard to convince someone that aconspiracy theory is wrong,
because if you attempt to do so,you just become part of the
conspiracy.
Truman (27:36):
All right.
Well, meet Professor GaryTaylor.
He's an expert of all thingsShakespeare.
He's written dozens of booksand essays, and he's created
compilations of the Swan ofAvon's works.
He's the Robert O.
Lawton Distinguished Professorfrom Florida State University,
(27:56):
And he has much to say aboutShakespeare's genius.
Gary (28:01):
Shakespeare is very unusual among playwrights, but
also, I think, among writers ofall kinds, in his ability to
tell stories in which not onlydo human beings interact with
other human beings, but alsohuman beings interact with the
non-human natural world.
Truman (28:25):
Yeah, good stuff there, right?
And if we stay in ProfessorTaylor's camp, we believe that
our hero was fully or mostlyresponsible for about 37 plays
and over 150 sonnets.
And we believe he was amasterful businessman in
addition to these literaryworks.
And I say masterful because hewas able to produce his plays
(28:48):
that included a great deal ofpolitical satire.
So he was poking fun at theestablishment much to the
pleasure of the common folk, allwhile keeping his head.
Gary (29:01):
In Shakespeare's lifetime, the theater is censored, books
are censored, and his mostimportant predecessor and
collaborator in the Englishtheater, Christopher Marlowe,
was almost certainly politicallyassassinated for his pushing
the boundaries in a way thatupset the political authorities.
Truman (29:23):
Yeah, so if you'd like more on the backstory about this
execution, you can catch thatin the bonus episode.
But my point here is thatShakespeare's brilliance wasn't
just in his writing.
It was in his survival.
He was able to navigate thedeadly political waters of
Elizabethan England better thanany of his characters navigated
(29:45):
their fictional dilemmas.
And ironically, this veryability to adapt and survive...
also fuels the conspiracytheorists.
Because if he was just a simpleman from Stratford, how could
he have been so politicallysavvy?
So let's track how thisskepticism evolved.
So Shakespeare wrote hiscontent just over 400 years ago.
(30:09):
And then about 200 years ago,scholars began to question the
authenticity of his authorship.
And then in the last 50 yearsor so, people have really picked
up the thread and taken it inall kinds of directions.
And their conspiracy web istangled with the cast of
unlikely ghostwriters, each withtheir own dramatic backstory.
(30:33):
First up, the Earl of Oxfordtheory.
This highly educated aristocratwith his fancy European travels
supposedly used Shakespeare ashis literary puppet.
Why?
Well, writing plays was beneathhis noble station, and he
needed to avoid politicalfallout from his thinly-veiled
(30:55):
royal critiques.
Just one small problem withthis one.
Oxford died in 1604, whileShakespeare's creative juices
kept flowing for another decade,churning out masterpieces like
The Tempest and Macbeth afterthe Earl was in his grave.
Then there's ChristopherMarlowe, the spy turned
(31:17):
playwright who supposedly stagedhis own murder.
While history records his deathin a tavern brawl in 1593, and
remember that's theassassination you just heard
about a bit ago, conspiracytheorists claim he faked the
whole thing, disappearing intothe shadows only to keep writing
(31:38):
and now using Shakespeare'sname for the next two decades.
Come on, this has all theelements of a binge-worthy
Netflix original.
Espionage, fake deaths, andstolen identities.
In the Francis Bacon corner,believers argue that this
brilliant lawyer, philosopher,and scientist was juggling
(32:00):
political ambitions with asecret playwright career.
And of course, rather thankeeping it simple...
The Baconians insist that heembedded elaborate cryptographic
signatures throughout thetexts, secret codes that only
they can decipher as proof ofhis authorship.
Because apparently being agenius philosopher and father of
(32:23):
the scientific method wasn'tenough achievement for one
lifetime.
Well, anyway, if you listen tothese theorists long enough, you
might start nodding along.
Their passion is prettycontagious.
But guess what, ProfessorTaylor?
He isn't buying any of thisliterary identity theft.
Gary (32:42):
I find the argument implausible.
And the fact that so manydifferent candidates have been
proposed for the person who wasreally Shakespeare should tell
you that there isn't really asingle candidate who is
believable.
Truman (33:03):
And when I challenged him a little more, he shocked me
with this retort.
Gary (33:07):
Well, I don't really care, and I've never cared.
I mean, it wouldn't make anydifference to me, you know, if
the person that we think isShakespeare turns out to be the
person that we know as the Earlof Oxford or whoever else.
Truman (33:25):
Bam! It doesn't matter, even if we have proof of this
stuff.
It doesn't matter.
The professor's saying weshouldn't be spending all of our
energy on that.
Instead, we should be focusingon and celebrating the great
works of art that have beengiven to us and have been played
and replayed for all thesehundreds of years.
And guess what?
Our hero wasn't just a literarygenius.
(33:47):
He was also a shrewdbusinessman.
Gary (33:50):
This was the most important moment in
Shakespeare's career because itmeant that...
He was not just a freelancetrying to sell scripts to any
company that might take them ora jobbing actor who just got
whatever roles he could inwhatever theater company was
(34:12):
looking for extra actors for aparticular show.
He was one of the core actorsof the company and also one of
the shareholders of the companyand eventually Five years later,
became one of the shareholdersof the Globe Theater itself.
And every one of theirshareholders got a part of the
(34:34):
profits from every performance.
Truman (34:37):
See that?
Shakespeare wasn't just a poetscribbling by candlelight.
He was a Renaissanceentertainment entrepreneur.
And he knew exactly how to turnwords into gold.
And that business savvy makesthe conspiracy theories even
more fascinating.
All right, well, it's time forus to wrap up now.
(35:00):
But if you want to hear moreabout Shakespeare or hear what
Professor Taylor's favoriteplays were, it's all waiting for
you in the bonus episode.
So be sure to check that out.
So on this cosmic day ofsymmetry, when Shakespeare both
entered and exited the worldstage, perhaps We should marvel
(35:22):
less about who held the quilland more at what flowed from it.
We are such stuff as dreams aremade on, he wrote.
And his dream continues toshape ours.
Happy birthday, Shakespeare.
And happy death day, too.
The curtain may have fallen onyour life 400 years ago, but
(35:44):
your encore never ends.
What a ride through time today,folks.
We traced YouTube's remarkablejourney from that first elephant
video to a platform where Mr.
Beast is still working hard toget as many views as that baby
(36:05):
shark video.
Hard to believe that a faileddating site accidentally created
what we now call the creatoreconomy.
Then we witnessed Coca-Cola'sepic face plant when they tried
fixing something that wasn'tbroken.
Those 8,000 angry calls per dayand people pouring new Coke
(36:26):
down the sewers really showedthat products aren't just about
taste.
They're about an emotionalconnection and identity.
And finally, our literarymystery tour revealed the
tantalizing gaps inShakespeare's biography that
keep conspiracy theoristsbuzzing.
Whether our wordsmith was agrammar school genius or a
(36:49):
convenient front for a shadowycabal of Tudor steward
propagandists, his work remainsthe greatest collection of
content in literary history.
From accidental empires tofizzy fiascos and renaissance
mysteries, April 23rd has shapedour world in surprising ways.
So please share these storieswith your favorite history buff.
(37:11):
And until next time, keepstriding through time with
curiosity as your compass.
And you know what else?
If today's stories made yougrin, there are dozens of other
stories waiting for you in theback catalog.
Origin stories, if they stir upyour sense of wonder, we have
so many of those.
Some of the most popular, theorigin of the Sports Illustrated
(37:34):
magazine on August 16th, theRed Cross on May 21st, and the
game of basketball on December21st.
If bubbling beverages boostyour brainwaves, then you gotta
hear about the greatest beer runever on January 19th.
And if celebrating birthdays offamous folks perks your
(37:55):
interest, well, check out thishodgepodge of famous folks.
Confucius, birthday onSeptember 28th.
Chuck Berry, birthday onOctober 18th.
And Abraham Lincoln, birthdayon February 12th.
If your passion is fun guestswith great stories to tell,
there are half a dozen bonusepisode options waiting for you.
(38:15):
To find them, just scrollthrough the feed and look for
those words, bonus episode.
Every day has a story andthere's so much fun.
And we are going to stridethrough them all until we're
done.
So after you share thesespecial stories, you can also
(38:36):
mention the following famousfolks who celebrate their
birthdays today.
Maybe you know one of today'sbirthday boys as the Doctor of
Thuganomics, or the Chain GangSoldier.
No?
Never heard of that?
Well, those are John Cena'snicknames in the WWE, where he's
(38:56):
had a very long and decoratedcareer.
And he's been in a number ofaction movies as well.
But here's a really fun fact.
He's got a great reputationwhen it comes to charitable
work.
And Senna holds the worldrecord for the most wishes
granted through the Make-A-WishFoundation.
That's pretty neat, right?
Let's raise our glass ofShirley Temple to say cheers to
(39:22):
the late Shirley Temple, whohonored today each year of her
amazing life.
She was a famous child actressin the 1930s depression era,
appearing in 29 movies by theage of 10.
Once she retired from thescreen and stage, she went into
public service as a diplomat.
And of course, she has a fundrink named after her.
(39:43):
Khloe Kim adds another candleto the cake today when she's not
getting rad on the snowboardhalfpipe.
where she's won Olympic andX-Game gold medals.
She's surprising folks with hersinging abilities.
Yeah, she appeared on TheMasked Singer during season four
as the Jellyfish.
You can check that out.
(40:03):
And you already know that ourmost famous birthday from the
history books is WilliamShakespeare.
And in addition to all thatyou've learned about people
questioning if he even wrote allthose plays and sonnets,
there's actually some questionas to prove that today was
actually his birthday.
Huh, weird, right?
Well, famousbirthdays.com saysit's today and has him ranked as
(40:28):
the sixth most famous personborn today.
So, that's good enough for me.
And speaking of my most oftenquoted website, the 50th most
famous person born today,according to
famousbirthdays.com, is LauraAnderson.
She rose to fame on the fourthseason of Love Island when she
(40:51):
became the runner-up with herpartner, Paul Knops.
She springboarded thatexperience into more reality
shows like Celebrity Karaoke andCelebs Go Dating.
Yeah, I don't know.
But I did watch a morning talkshow interview with her from
about six years ago.
She seems lovely, but that'sall I got for you.
So good luck, Laura.
(41:12):
And when I looked atWikipedia's centenarians list, I
discovered that the Koreanauthor and philosopher Kim
Hyung-suk, who turns 105 today.
Yeah, he was born in 1920.
And what's crazy is he wasstill authoring books in his
late 90s.
And he had three bookspublished the year he turned
(41:33):
100.
Wow.
You can bet I won't bepodcasting when I turn 100.
If I even get to 100.
Let's get to today's holidays.
April 23rd is Picnic Day.
And there's a holiday thateveryone should celebrate.
Of course, if the weathercooperates.
Make some sandwiches, gathersome snacks, and get outside to
(41:57):
enjoy your lunch with someothers.
Here's a quick fun fact.
The Guinness Book of WorldRecords recognized the largest
picnic ever in 2009, which tookplace in Lisbon, Portugal, with
over 20,000 people picnicking.
Today is also Table Tennis Day.
(42:17):
The International Table TennisFederation picked today because
that's when their organizationwas formed about 100 years ago.
But here's something I bet youdidn't know.
The original version of thissport, and yes, ping pong is an
Olympic sport, the originalversion was played with a golf
ball, and the paddles werebooks, and the net Also made of
(42:42):
books lined across the center ofa table.
How about that?
Yeah, learn something newtoday.
Learn lots of things new today.
And then here's a greatholiday.
Take a chance day.
Yeah, make it a point to circlethis day on your calendar and
then go do something outside ofyour comfort zone.
Like maybe there's a specialsomeone that you want to be more
(43:04):
a part of your life.
Well, today's the day.
You ask them to join you on apicnic date because it's picnic
day.
Yeah, two holidays in one.
And you can triple up.
Find a place to have yourpicnic where there's a ping pong
table nearby and play afriendly game of ping pong.
Yeah, the holiday hat trick.
(43:26):
Oh, wait a second.
Hold on.
You can turn this hat trickinto a holiday grand slam and
celebrate Shakespeare'sbirthday.
You can sneak in a quote fromHamlet.
to your special someone.
Ready?
We know what we are, but knownot what we may be.
There you go.
(43:47):
Helping make things happen inyour life here, folks.
So do you have a loved one whocelebrates April 23rd?
Well, if you do, and you wantto make them feel really special
about this day, then I've gotsome gift ideas that will turn
you into their hero.
Why do I say that soconfidently?
(44:08):
Well, it's because these giftsare customized to their special
day.
And not only that, many ofthese ideas are things that they
don't own.
They are unique.
And guess what else?
There are links in the shownotes so you can easily find and
order these gifts and they'llbe at your place just in time.
Our first segment today wasabout YouTube.
(44:30):
And if your loved one is intodoom scrolling on that platform,
some YouTube decor would spiceup their living space.
For example, a plush pillow.
They could rest their tablet onthe pillow, and then rest that
on their lap, and away they go,contributing to that billion
hours of watch time.
And then we talked aboutCoca-Cola, and there are
(44:51):
literally dozens of gift ideasfeaturing Coke, including some
of the beverage itself in thoseiconic glass bottles.
And make sure you tell them howtheir favorite beverage almost
died on this day.
but it pulled through becauseit was special, just like your
loved one.
Now, don't roll your eyes whenwe get to Shakespeare.
(45:13):
You may be too cool foranything book-y or poem-y, but
maybe your loved one likes thatkind of thing.
No?
All right, well, Shakespearedoes have some witty famous
quotes that may be perfect as awall hanging, so they're worth
checking out.
And the famous folks that wereborn today, they all have some
great books and CDs and wallhangings that might be just what
(45:36):
you're looking for.
But my favorite of all thethings I found was a John Cena
action figure.
Now he'd make a great additionto the trinket shelf or
someone's office desk.
Remember when I said it waspicnic day?
Surely an image of a picnicbasket came to mind, right?
Well, they have some reallyfancy baskets that you could
(45:59):
give as a gift.
And you could double down andactually make a picnic meal and
get them out of the house ontheir special day and enjoy a
picnic together.
And then they get to keep thebasket.
And even better than that, youshouldn't be surprised to know
that they sell custom ping pongballs.
Yeah, you can get whateversaying or image you want printed
(46:20):
on them.
Now there's a gift that nobodyhas, right?
Yeah, so no more hemming andhawing about the person who has
everything, because theydefinitely do not have
customized ping pong balls.
And if none of thoseoutstanding ideas work, there's
one other way to make this dayspecial.
(46:40):
You could dedicate apersonalized shout-out right
here on this podcast, andthey'll be memorialized forever.
Yeah, I could do the shout-outfor you.
Just send me an email,something fun you want to share.
Or you can do your own shoutout by using the Speak Byte link
that's available in the shownotes.
Today's shout out is forsomeone who must be pretty
(47:02):
special because so many folkswanted to join in.
Guest (47:05):
Happy birthday, Heather.
I hope you have the best dayever.
I'm super glad I've gotten toshare a cubicle with you this
whole year and I'm really goingto miss you.
Hola, my work daughter.
Happy birthday.
Many blessings.
Love you.
I don't
Gary (47:28):
know about me, but I'm feeling 33.
Truman (47:33):
Very nice job, peeps.
Especially that little duet weheard.
And as I mentioned, you canfind the link to do that in the
show notes.
And as always, if you have astory that just needs to be told
about any day in the past, sendme an email and let's connect.
All right, time to wrap up.
(47:54):
So I'm going to quote someShakespeare to bid farewell.
Are you ready?
Our revels now are ended.
These are actors, as I foretoldyou, were all spirits and are
melted into air, into thin air.
Parting is such sweet sorrow.
(48:15):
that I shall say goodnight tillit be morrow.
Thanks so much for listening.
Until next time, this is TrumanPastworthy reminding you that
every day has a great story.
And we'll be striding throughthem all to find some more
goodies for you.
Now get out there and make yourown great story today.
Welcome seeker.
Can you guess how long it wouldtake to watch every video
currently posted on YouTube?
We're going to answer thatquestion for you as we celebrate
YouTube's 20th birthday.
And if you like corporateblunders, we've got one that
happened on this day that wouldmake your inner hoarder
(00:23):
salivate.
Yep, today is April 23rd, andwithout it, there'd be no
mindless doom-scrolling onshorts or reels.
Instead, you might actually bereading Shakespeare to pass the
time.
And by the way, it's hisbirthday today.
Our journey begins with theorigin story of humanity's
(00:45):
largest content repository thatwithin just two decades has
actually rewired modern life.
Then, we'll crack open thefizzy tale of how Coca-Cola
execs poured 99 years oftradition down the drains,
causing many Americans to nearlyriot for their beloved classic
(01:07):
formula.
Finally, we'll don ourdetective caps to chase the
ink-stained trail ofShakespeare, history's most
brilliant wordsmith, or perhapsits most elaborate Renaissance
frontman.
The portal's humming, historysecrets are waiting, and our day
(01:27):
striding adventure begins now.
Grab your curiosity and let'sto be or not to be into the
past.
Welcome, seekers, to theenchanting world of Daystrider,
(01:48):
the podcast where we embark on adaily journey through history.
I'm your travel guide, TrumanPastworthy, and together we'll
explore some fascinating storiesthat happened on this exact
day, but from some time in thepast.
From groundbreaking inventionsto remarkable birthdays and
extraordinary events to quirkynational holidays, we've got it
(02:09):
all.
So kick back, relax, and openyour mind for some lighthearted
stories that'll leave yousaying, huh, I never knew that
happened on this day.
Alrighty then, let's get to it.
A billion hours of humanattention disappeared yesterday.
And a billion more are going todisappear today.
(02:33):
You want to know where it allwent?
Well, here's a hint.
It started as a failed datingsite, got ghosted on Valentine's
Day, and now it's got yourtoddler, your teenage neighbor,
and your favorite uncle glued totheir screens.
Yep, today is YouTube's 20thbirthday, and we're going to
(02:54):
hear the origin story ofhumanity's largest repository
of, well, pretty mucheverything.
But first, we need to rewind alittle to January 2005, when
three former PayPal wizards,doesn't it seem like they always
come from PayPal?
Yeah, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley,and Jawed Kareem were at a
(03:19):
dinner party.
And they became frustrated thatthey couldn't find any videos
of Janet Jackson's wardrobemalfunction that happened during
the halftime show of the SuperBowl a year earlier.
You remember that one?
Yeah, they couldn't find itonline anywhere.
And so their friendly dinnerconversation spiraled into a
(03:42):
debate about how the world needsa better way to share videos.
At the time, the only optionwas using emails, and frankly,
that option sucked.
The size limits were way toolow, and back then, two-thirds
of Americans were still usingdial-up modems.
(04:03):
Remember those?
Half my listeners are asking,Truman, what's a modem?
So they decided to create asite that would allow people to
post and share videos.
But they also wanted to makemoney.
So they dreamt it up as adating site where people could
(04:24):
post dating videos.
Yeah, they even concocted a funtagline, tune in, hook up.
What's amazing is they onlyneeded six weeks to get this
thing built.
And their creativity hit thepinnacle when they went live on
Valentine's Day of that year.
But much to their chagrin, Thisidea bombed.
(04:48):
They struck out.
Whatever cliche you want toinsert here as an example of a
pickup line that totallyflopped.
No one wanted to tune in inorder to hook up.
And they were so desperate thatthey started offering women 20
bucks to make videos for thesite just so they'd have
(05:08):
something out there posted.
But if there's anything you'velearned here at Daystrider, It's
that some of history's greatestinventions and discoveries
start out as an accident or aflop.
And when the boys realized thattheir sight was toast, they
decided to drop the dating partand double down on the video
(05:30):
idea to solve this huge gap inthe market.
They didn't have any ideas howthey could make money at it at
first.
And they never could have knownthat their idea would
eventually be worth more thanthe GDP of most countries.
Yeah.
So on April 23rd, 20 years agotoday, co-founder Jawed Karim
(05:53):
uploaded the platform's firstvideo called Me at the Zoo.
It was 18 seconds of awkwardcommentary about elephant
trunks.
Yeah, definitely not one ofthose one small step for man
types of events, right?
Well, I'm going to leave youthe YouTube link to that video
(06:15):
in the show notes.
And to be clear, this is thevery first YouTube link ever.
So that's the humble originstory.
But the rise to the top isstaggering.
In only 19 months after thatzoo video started, Google made
what many called a recklessgamble, paying $1.6 billion for
(06:39):
this quirky video platform witha goofy name that wasn't even
profitable.
Industry experts called itinsanity.
The Wall Street Journalquestioned Google's judgment.
But boy, were they wrong.
And not just a little wrong,they were way off.
Because no one would haveguessed that that overpriced
(07:01):
acquisition would now be worth ahalf a trillion dollars.
Yes, today's YouTube divisiononly is worth $500 billion,
roughly 300 times what Googleoriginally paid.
But those aren't the onlystaggering numbers here.
YouTube generated $54 billionin revenue last year alone.
(07:24):
Analysts predict that by nextyear, this failed dating site
will generate more revenue thanDisney.
Yeah, that's the entire Houseof Mouse, all of its parks and
princesses, and the Marvelsuperheroes thrown in.
If YouTube were a standalonecompany today, it would be more
valuable than 97% of thecompanies in the S&P 500.
(07:48):
That's crazy, right?
But forget the dollars for asecond.
You want to hear somethingreally bonkers?
They've basically built aparallel universe right inside
of our phones.
What are you talking about,Truman?
Back in YouTube's first fullyear, they had 830,000 daily
(08:08):
users.
Today, that headcount is 83million.
Yeah, an invisible nation thesize of Germany...
exists only in our screenswatching YouTube every single
day.
And hold on to your braincells.
Those 83 million people watch 1billion hours of content.
(08:29):
1 billion hours every singleday.
Our attention span is beingcompletely rewired.
And there's no end in sight.
If you started watching YouTubevideos right now and did
nothing else, No sleeping, noeating, just bleary-eyed
(08:50):
consumption.
It would take you over 100,000years to watch all 5 billion
videos currently on theplatform.
That's crazy, right?
And the content tsunami neverstops.
Every minute, literally every60 seconds, creators upload 360
(09:11):
more hours of fresh video.
So I'll do some quick math foryou, folks.
Since I started talking aboutYouTube just a bit ago, 12,000
new videos were uploaded ontothe platform.
Oh, check that.
200 more just got uploaded.
Is your head spinning yet?
(09:31):
All right.
I'll stop with the numbers.
You know me.
I just can't help it.
But those figures arestaggering.
But what's worse is the realityof all this content.
we've seen a fundamentalreshaping of how humans spend
their waking hours.
And it's created threerevolutions that have happened
(09:54):
right under our noses.
Of course, there's therevolution of the creator
economy, a career path thatdidn't exist when that first zoo
video got uploaded.
Today, YouTube has minted awhole new class of celebrities.
Jimmy Donaldson, who's Mr.
Beast, sits at the pinnacle.
(10:14):
But thousands more makecomfortable livings producing
content from their bedrooms.
It's the gold rush of our era.
And this goldmine gets two anda half million new prospectors
every single day.
All fighting for yourattention.
But my point with thisrevolution is that those folks
(10:36):
at Disney and over at Netflix...
They not only have to worryabout each other and what
they're up to, they also facecompetition from millions of
micro-competitors out there, alltrying to come up with fresh
content, hoping to go viral.
Yeah.
Now, my favorite revolution iswhat I like to call YouTube
(10:59):
University, the greatesteducational institution that
nobody ever enrolled in.
Suddenly, knowing how to changebrake pads, or fix leaky
showers, or perfecting yourBoston accent for a podcast skit
is no longer gated behindtextbooks or experts.
Now, it's just a few clicksaway.
(11:21):
And yes, I actually learned howto change my own brakes on my
cars and those of my familythanks to the YouTube Auto
Mechanics.
I also learned how to recordand edit stories for this very
podcast at YouTube University.
But my real point here,knowledge has been democratized
(11:43):
in ways that would make thoseDewey Decimal librarians weep
with joy.
Or scream with horror, I'm notsure which.
But you can learn anything youwant.
And not just education.
You can go to YouTube formotivation, inspiration, and
even perspiration.
Alright, now this finalrevolution might make you think
(12:07):
a little harder.
about our future as a species,the parenting revolution.
Now, I know I said no morenumbers, but what do you think
are the most watched videos inYouTube's history?
Parents, get ready to sigh,because you'll knowingly nod
along when you hear that threeof the top four videos in
(12:32):
history, with Baby Shark at over15 billion views, And Johnny
Johnny Yes Papa and Wheels onthe Bus with 7 billion views
each.
Yeah, kid videos.
And what's more scary, thatBaby Shark video, it's been
watched twice for every humanbeing existing on Earth.
(12:52):
Yeah.
Parents haven't just embracedYouTube, they've surrendered to
it, transforming the platforminto history's most accessible
digital babysitter.
Sadly, the modern lullaby, itisn't sung anymore.
It's streamed.
So there you have it.
(13:15):
The platform that began becausethree guys couldn't find a
wardrobe malfunction videoonline has become the digital
nervous system of modern life.
In the time it takes you to sayone Mississippi, 30 more videos
get uploaded into YouTube'sever-expanding universe.
And some of them, they mightbecome legends.
(13:38):
But most will just vanish intothe algorithm abyss.
But YouTube, it's more than aplatform.
It's the accidental empire thatis redefining how we learn,
laugh, and live.
And we're only 20 years in.
What do you think the next 20years will bring?
(13:59):
Will that next upload changethe world?
We'll see.
Transition Music (14:05):
Music
Truman (14:06):
Roses are red and quills doth shine.
Prithee, a review would be mostdivine.
Hast thou no words, fear not,good friend.
Type this pod doth enchant,beginning to end.
Can you imagine waking up oneday to discover your favorite
beverage in the world, somethingyou've cherished your entire
(14:30):
life, has suddenly vanished?
Not just misplaced, butdeliberately replaced with an
imposter claiming to be better?
That's exactly what happened tomillions of Americans on this
day in 1985, when Coca-Colacommitted what seemed like
(14:50):
corporate suicide by killing offits iconic 99-year-old recipe
and replacing it with new Coke.
This wasn't just some fun newflavor gimmick they try for a
bit that sits alongside theoriginal.
No.
Coca-Cola literallydiscontinued the classic recipe,
(15:11):
locked the legendary Formula 7Xin an Atlanta bank vault, and
told America, trust us, you'lllike this new one better.
Spoiler alert, America calledBS to that, and many customers
rebelled.
Literally rebelled.
To understand why Coca-Colawould risk everything on such a
(15:35):
dramatic move, we need to rewindto the late 70s and early 80s.
The bigwigs in Atlanta weresweating bullets as they watched
their arts rivals, PepsiChallenge commercials, demolish
their market share.
These weren't just ads, theywere public executions of Coke's
(15:55):
reputation.
Regular people, famous peopleall on camera choosing Pepsi in
blind taste tests.
And worse still, when Cokesecretly ran their own tests
behind closed doors, thehorrifying truth was being
confirmed.
America really did preferPepsi's taste.
(16:17):
What scared the Coke execs evenworse, many of their own
employees preferred Pepsi aswell.
For a century-old company,whose entire identity was the
best tasting cola, this wasn'tjust a marketing problem, it was
an existential crisis.
Yeah, the Coca-Cola brassbecame convinced that their
(16:40):
century-old formula was theproblem.
Nah, they didn't think Pepsi'syouth-focused marketing or the
Pepsi generation campaigns weredoing the trick.
They started blaming the tasteof their flagship product.
And this belief would drivethem to a decision that nearly
collapsed an Americaninstitution.
(17:01):
In 1982, while they weredeveloping Diet Coke for the
diet soda market, their flavorscientists stumbled onto
something interesting.
In single-sip taste tests,which is how they conducted
their research, people naturallygravitated towards sweeter
flavors with less bite or acidicedge.
(17:22):
And this led them to create asweeter formula that
consistently beat both regularCoke and Pepsi in blind taste
tests.
And executives were ecstatic.
They found the silver bullet,the formula that could reclaim
their eroding market share.
And so, for the next threeyears, Coca-Cola operated like a
(17:45):
secret government agency.
conducting taste tests withalmost 200,000 Americans behind
closed doors.
And the data looked flawless.
The new formula was winning.
Victory was certain.
But, and there's always thatbut, right?
Buried in their mountain ofspreadsheets was a ticking time
(18:08):
bomb that they completelyignored.
About 10% of the taste testerswho liked the new taste became
visibly angry at the meresuggestion that this might
replace the original.
And I'm not talking aboutdisappointed or concerned here.
I'm talking furious.
And these angry few wereremarkably effective at turning
(18:31):
the other testers in the roomagainst the new formula.
It was the research equivalentof a check engine light And
Coca-Cola's response was, eh,just put some tape over top of
it and keep driving.
So, on April 23rd, 1985, at NewYork's Lincoln Center,
(18:51):
Coca-Cola staged an elaboratepress conference that would go
down in marketing infamy.
Chairman Roberto Gazzettaunveiled New Coke with
extraordinary confidence,calling it smoother, rounder,
yet bolder, with a more harmonicflavor.
Huh.
The media immediately notedwhat executives wouldn't admit.
(19:13):
New Coke tasted sweeter andmore like Pepsi.
Yeah.
Coca-Cola president DonaldKeogh declared, I've never been
as sure about a decision as I amabout the one we're announcing
today.
Yeah.
Meanwhile, as the executivessmugly sipped their New Coke on
(19:34):
stage, the company's share priceplummeted.
was already dropping over inthe New York Stock Exchange.
And of course, Pepsi, withperfect competitive instinct,
took out full-page newspaper adsacross the country declaring,
after 87 years of going at iteyeball to eyeball, the other
guy just blinked.
Yeah, they even gave theiremployees a day off to celebrate
(19:58):
what they saw as Coca-Cola'ssurrender in the Cola Wars.
And then what happened over thenext few weeks shocked everyone
at Coca-Cola.
Within days, the company wasflooded with angry phone calls,
5,000 a day, escalating up to8,000 by June.
They had to hire additionaloperators just to feel the
(20:20):
outrage.
Yeah, grassroots protestorganizations formed with names
like Old Cola Drinkers ofAmerica and the Society for the
Preservation of the Real Thing.
Yeah, this actually happened.
At public demonstrations,people were pouring new Coke
down the sewer drains.
(20:41):
And in grocery stores acrossAmerica, people were panic
buying thousands of dollarsworth of original Coke, clearing
the shelves.
A Seattle customer even filed alawsuit demanding the return of
the original formula.
I guess he thought it wasunconstitutional.
And then there's the deliciousirony of Gay Mullins, who became
(21:03):
America's anti-New Cokecrusader.
This dude was on nationaltelevision, leading protests,
demanding the return of hisCoke.
And guess what?
He actually failed a blindtaste test where he preferred
the taste of New Coke.
And his reaction?
He kept protesting anyway,because this wasn't about taste.
(21:27):
It was about something far morepowerful.
The audacity of a corporationtelling Americans that they
couldn't have what they'd grownup with.
And all this outrage camedespite the fact that in Blind
Taste Test, people consistentlyrated New Coke better tasting
(21:47):
than the original.
Guess what?
This wasn't about flavor.
It was about identity,nostalgia, and the audacity of a
corporation thinking it couldsimply replace a cultural icon.
So fast forward just 79 days,and those titans of industry who
(22:07):
remember they were up there intheir crisp suits before,
raising crystal glasses andtoasting the death of their
century-old recipe, they werenow...
before the cameras looking likehostages at their own press
conference.
Miserable.
And Donald Keogh, the companypresident, practically whispered
the corporate equivalent ofuncle when he admitted, the
(22:31):
consumer is our boss.
We want them to know how sorrywe are.
The company announced that theoriginal formula would return as
Coca-Cola Classic.
And this news was sosignificant that television
networks interrupted regularprogramming for special reports
(22:53):
for a soft drink returning.
Yeah, I'm serious.
That's how big this news was.
And now here's where thiscorporate disaster takes a twist
that would make M.
Night Shyamalan jealous.
Within months, Coca-ColaClassic wasn't just back.
It was thriving again.
and outselling Pepsi at doublethe rate.
(23:15):
This failure had millions ofAmericans suddenly remembering
why they loved Coke in the firstplace.
People who hadn't bought Cokein years were now stocking their
fridges with it.
In fact, some cynics suggestedthat the whole debacle was an
elaborate marketing ploy, aconspiracy theory that Coca-Cola
(23:36):
denies, with Keogh's famousline, we're not that stupid or
that smart.
Meanwhile, New Coke wasrebranded as Coke 2, and it
limped along for about 15 yearsuntil it was finally
discontinued.
But guess what?
As late as 1987, blind tastetests still showed that people
(23:58):
preferred the taste of New Cokeover both Pepsi and Coca-Cola
Classic.
And many just refused to admitit once they knew what they were
drinking.
Now, a lot of people like mewere saying, sure, One sip is
delicious, but an entire can?
Uh-uh, not for me.
This is because that new flavorwas only good as a little sip.
(24:20):
But when you need a cold Coketo cool down after mowing the
lawn, it just wasn't going todo.
And those flavor scientists,they reluctantly agreed with me
here.
But the marketing guru stillsuggests that this fiasco wasn't
about taste buds.
It was about heartstrings.
And Americans weren't drinkinga beverage.
(24:41):
They were sipping nostalgia ina carbonated form.
And that curved bottle wasn'tjust packaging.
It was identity in a glass.
That sounds like marketerswould say, right?
Well, whichever you believe, atleast one thing seems to be
true.
The real secret formula thatmakes Coca-Cola special can't be
(25:03):
locked in some bank vault.
So the next time you open aClassic Coke, Raise it high as
your trophy of consumerrebellion.
In a world where corporationsseem to control everything, that
fizz represents somethingremarkable.
The time an entire nationlooked a billion-dollar company
(25:23):
in the eye and said, nice try,guys.
Now bring us back the goodstuff.
A time traveler's delight wejourney hence, to tales of yore
and great reverence.
If these stories warm thineheart with glee, to share or not
to share, do so I plead.
(25:44):
Everybody knows the nameShakespeare.
But what if history's greatestliterary genius was actually a
fraud?
Yeah, there are many out therethat believe the man from
Stratford was just a front forthe real author of Romeo and
Juliet.
(26:04):
They argue that this Glover'sson from a small town far from
London with his limited formaleducation could never have
possessed the intimate knowledgeof royal courts, foreign lands,
and the specialized subjectsthat fill his works.
And as Shakespeare scholar GaryTaylor explains...
Gary (26:27):
The argument that Shakespeare, because he was from
a small town in the EnglishMidlands and he didn't go to a
university, is exactly the samekind of prejudice.
Truman (26:37):
Whoa, big words there.
And we'll get to those in aminute.
But today, April 23rd, marksthe cosmic symmetry of
Shakespeare's life.
The same day he entered thisworld in 1564, he exited it 52
years later on this same day.
What are the odds of that?
(26:58):
This plot twisting geniusenjoyed the perfect poetic
ending to his own life story.
And that's exactly why I neededto dig deeper.
And I wanted some help.
So I called in an expert onthese conspiracy theories.
Gary (27:16):
I don't think that I could possibly change anyone's mind.
People who believe in theseconspiracy theories, it's very
hard to convince someone that aconspiracy theory is wrong,
because if you attempt to do so,you just become part of the
conspiracy.
Truman (27:36):
All right.
Well, meet Professor GaryTaylor.
He's an expert of all thingsShakespeare.
He's written dozens of booksand essays, and he's created
compilations of the Swan ofAvon's works.
He's the Robert O.
Lawton Distinguished Professorfrom Florida State University,
(27:56):
And he has much to say aboutShakespeare's genius.
Gary (28:01):
Shakespeare is very unusual among playwrights, but
also, I think, among writers ofall kinds, in his ability to
tell stories in which not onlydo human beings interact with
other human beings, but alsohuman beings interact with the
non-human natural world.
Truman (28:25):
Yeah, good stuff there, right?
And if we stay in ProfessorTaylor's camp, we believe that
our hero was fully or mostlyresponsible for about 37 plays
and over 150 sonnets.
And we believe he was amasterful businessman in
addition to these literaryworks.
And I say masterful because hewas able to produce his plays
(28:48):
that included a great deal ofpolitical satire.
So he was poking fun at theestablishment much to the
pleasure of the common folk, allwhile keeping his head.
Gary (29:01):
In Shakespeare's lifetime, the theater is censored, books
are censored, and his mostimportant predecessor and
collaborator in the Englishtheater, Christopher Marlowe,
was almost certainly politicallyassassinated for his pushing
the boundaries in a way thatupset the political authorities.
Truman (29:23):
Yeah, so if you'd like more on the backstory about this
execution, you can catch thatin the bonus episode.
But my point here is thatShakespeare's brilliance wasn't
just in his writing.
It was in his survival.
He was able to navigate thedeadly political waters of
Elizabethan England better thanany of his characters navigated
(29:45):
their fictional dilemmas.
And ironically, this veryability to adapt and survive...
also fuels the conspiracytheorists.
Because if he was just a simpleman from Stratford, how could
he have been so politicallysavvy?
So let's track how thisskepticism evolved.
So Shakespeare wrote hiscontent just over 400 years ago.
(30:09):
And then about 200 years ago,scholars began to question the
authenticity of his authorship.
And then in the last 50 yearsor so, people have really picked
up the thread and taken it inall kinds of directions.
And their conspiracy web istangled with the cast of
unlikely ghostwriters, each withtheir own dramatic backstory.
(30:33):
First up, the Earl of Oxfordtheory.
This highly educated aristocratwith his fancy European travels
supposedly used Shakespeare ashis literary puppet.
Why?
Well, writing plays was beneathhis noble station, and he
needed to avoid politicalfallout from his thinly-veiled
(30:55):
royal critiques.
Just one small problem withthis one.
Oxford died in 1604, whileShakespeare's creative juices
kept flowing for another decade,churning out masterpieces like
The Tempest and Macbeth afterthe Earl was in his grave.
Then there's ChristopherMarlowe, the spy turned
(31:17):
playwright who supposedly stagedhis own murder.
While history records his deathin a tavern brawl in 1593, and
remember that's theassassination you just heard
about a bit ago, conspiracytheorists claim he faked the
whole thing, disappearing intothe shadows only to keep writing
(31:38):
and now using Shakespeare'sname for the next two decades.
Come on, this has all theelements of a binge-worthy
Netflix original.
Espionage, fake deaths, andstolen identities.
In the Francis Bacon corner,believers argue that this
brilliant lawyer, philosopher,and scientist was juggling
(32:00):
political ambitions with asecret playwright career.
And of course, rather thankeeping it simple...
The Baconians insist that heembedded elaborate cryptographic
signatures throughout thetexts, secret codes that only
they can decipher as proof ofhis authorship.
Because apparently being agenius philosopher and father of
(32:23):
the scientific method wasn'tenough achievement for one
lifetime.
Well, anyway, if you listen tothese theorists long enough, you
might start nodding along.
Their passion is prettycontagious.
But guess what, ProfessorTaylor?
He isn't buying any of thisliterary identity theft.
Gary (32:42):
I find the argument implausible.
And the fact that so manydifferent candidates have been
proposed for the person who wasreally Shakespeare should tell
you that there isn't really asingle candidate who is
believable.
Truman (33:03):
And when I challenged him a little more, he shocked me
with this retort.
Gary (33:07):
Well, I don't really care, and I've never cared.
I mean, it wouldn't make anydifference to me, you know, if
the person that we think isShakespeare turns out to be the
person that we know as the Earlof Oxford or whoever else.
Truman (33:25):
Bam! It doesn't matter, even if we have proof of this
stuff.
It doesn't matter.
The professor's saying weshouldn't be spending all of our
energy on that.
Instead, we should be focusingon and celebrating the great
works of art that have beengiven to us and have been played
and replayed for all thesehundreds of years.
And guess what?
Our hero wasn't just a literarygenius.
(33:47):
He was also a shrewdbusinessman.
Gary (33:50):
This was the most important moment in
Shakespeare's career because itmeant that...
He was not just a freelancetrying to sell scripts to any
company that might take them ora jobbing actor who just got
whatever roles he could inwhatever theater company was
(34:12):
looking for extra actors for aparticular show.
He was one of the core actorsof the company and also one of
the shareholders of the companyand eventually Five years later,
became one of the shareholdersof the Globe Theater itself.
And every one of theirshareholders got a part of the
(34:34):
profits from every performance.
Truman (34:37):
See that?
Shakespeare wasn't just a poetscribbling by candlelight.
He was a Renaissanceentertainment entrepreneur.
And he knew exactly how to turnwords into gold.
And that business savvy makesthe conspiracy theories even
more fascinating.
All right, well, it's time forus to wrap up now.
(35:00):
But if you want to hear moreabout Shakespeare or hear what
Professor Taylor's favoriteplays were, it's all waiting for
you in the bonus episode.
So be sure to check that out.
So on this cosmic day ofsymmetry, when Shakespeare both
entered and exited the worldstage, perhaps We should marvel
(35:22):
less about who held the quilland more at what flowed from it.
We are such stuff as dreams aremade on, he wrote.
And his dream continues toshape ours.
Happy birthday, Shakespeare.
And happy death day, too.
The curtain may have fallen onyour life 400 years ago, but
(35:44):
your encore never ends.
What a ride through time today,folks.
We traced YouTube's remarkablejourney from that first elephant
video to a platform where Mr.
Beast is still working hard toget as many views as that baby
(36:05):
shark video.
Hard to believe that a faileddating site accidentally created
what we now call the creatoreconomy.
Then we witnessed Coca-Cola'sepic face plant when they tried
fixing something that wasn'tbroken.
Those 8,000 angry calls per dayand people pouring new Coke
(36:26):
down the sewers really showedthat products aren't just about
taste.
They're about an emotionalconnection and identity.
And finally, our literarymystery tour revealed the
tantalizing gaps inShakespeare's biography that
keep conspiracy theoristsbuzzing.
Whether our wordsmith was agrammar school genius or a
(36:49):
convenient front for a shadowycabal of Tudor steward
propagandists, his work remainsthe greatest collection of
content in literary history.
From accidental empires tofizzy fiascos and renaissance
mysteries, April 23rd has shapedour world in surprising ways.
So please share these storieswith your favorite history buff.
(37:11):
And until next time, keepstriding through time with
curiosity as your compass.
And you know what else?
If today's stories made yougrin, there are dozens of other
stories waiting for you in theback catalog.
Origin stories, if they stir upyour sense of wonder, we have
so many of those.
Some of the most popular, theorigin of the Sports Illustrated
(37:34):
magazine on August 16th, theRed Cross on May 21st, and the
game of basketball on December21st.
If bubbling beverages boostyour brainwaves, then you gotta
hear about the greatest beer runever on January 19th.
And if celebrating birthdays offamous folks perks your
(37:55):
interest, well, check out thishodgepodge of famous folks.
Confucius, birthday onSeptember 28th.
Chuck Berry, birthday onOctober 18th.
And Abraham Lincoln, birthdayon February 12th.
If your passion is fun guestswith great stories to tell,
there are half a dozen bonusepisode options waiting for you.
(38:15):
To find them, just scrollthrough the feed and look for
those words, bonus episode.
Every day has a story andthere's so much fun.
And we are going to stridethrough them all until we're
done.
So after you share thesespecial stories, you can also
(38:36):
mention the following famousfolks who celebrate their
birthdays today.
Maybe you know one of today'sbirthday boys as the Doctor of
Thuganomics, or the Chain GangSoldier.
No?
Never heard of that?
Well, those are John Cena'snicknames in the WWE, where he's
(38:56):
had a very long and decoratedcareer.
And he's been in a number ofaction movies as well.
But here's a really fun fact.
He's got a great reputationwhen it comes to charitable
work.
And Senna holds the worldrecord for the most wishes
granted through the Make-A-WishFoundation.
That's pretty neat, right?
Let's raise our glass ofShirley Temple to say cheers to
(39:22):
the late Shirley Temple, whohonored today each year of her
amazing life.
She was a famous child actressin the 1930s depression era,
appearing in 29 movies by theage of 10.
Once she retired from thescreen and stage, she went into
public service as a diplomat.
And of course, she has a fundrink named after her.
(39:43):
Khloe Kim adds another candleto the cake today when she's not
getting rad on the snowboardhalfpipe.
where she's won Olympic andX-Game gold medals.
She's surprising folks with hersinging abilities.
Yeah, she appeared on TheMasked Singer during season four
as the Jellyfish.
You can check that out.
(40:03):
And you already know that ourmost famous birthday from the
history books is WilliamShakespeare.
And in addition to all thatyou've learned about people
questioning if he even wrote allthose plays and sonnets,
there's actually some questionas to prove that today was
actually his birthday.
Huh, weird, right?
Well, famousbirthdays.com saysit's today and has him ranked as
(40:28):
the sixth most famous personborn today.
So, that's good enough for me.
And speaking of my most oftenquoted website, the 50th most
famous person born today,according to
famousbirthdays.com, is LauraAnderson.
She rose to fame on the fourthseason of Love Island when she
(40:51):
became the runner-up with herpartner, Paul Knops.
She springboarded thatexperience into more reality
shows like Celebrity Karaoke andCelebs Go Dating.
Yeah, I don't know.
But I did watch a morning talkshow interview with her from
about six years ago.
She seems lovely, but that'sall I got for you.
So good luck, Laura.
(41:12):
And when I looked atWikipedia's centenarians list, I
discovered that the Koreanauthor and philosopher Kim
Hyung-suk, who turns 105 today.
Yeah, he was born in 1920.
And what's crazy is he wasstill authoring books in his
late 90s.
And he had three bookspublished the year he turned
(41:33):
100.
Wow.
You can bet I won't bepodcasting when I turn 100.
If I even get to 100.
Let's get to today's holidays.
April 23rd is Picnic Day.
And there's a holiday thateveryone should celebrate.
Of course, if the weathercooperates.
Make some sandwiches, gathersome snacks, and get outside to
(41:57):
enjoy your lunch with someothers.
Here's a quick fun fact.
The Guinness Book of WorldRecords recognized the largest
picnic ever in 2009, which tookplace in Lisbon, Portugal, with
over 20,000 people picnicking.
Today is also Table Tennis Day.
(42:17):
The International Table TennisFederation picked today because
that's when their organizationwas formed about 100 years ago.
But here's something I bet youdidn't know.
The original version of thissport, and yes, ping pong is an
Olympic sport, the originalversion was played with a golf
ball, and the paddles werebooks, and the net Also made of
(42:42):
books lined across the center ofa table.
How about that?
Yeah, learn something newtoday.
Learn lots of things new today.
And then here's a greatholiday.
Take a chance day.
Yeah, make it a point to circlethis day on your calendar and
then go do something outside ofyour comfort zone.
Like maybe there's a specialsomeone that you want to be more
(43:04):
a part of your life.
Well, today's the day.
You ask them to join you on apicnic date because it's picnic
day.
Yeah, two holidays in one.
And you can triple up.
Find a place to have yourpicnic where there's a ping pong
table nearby and play afriendly game of ping pong.
Yeah, the holiday hat trick.
(43:26):
Oh, wait a second.
Hold on.
You can turn this hat trickinto a holiday grand slam and
celebrate Shakespeare'sbirthday.
You can sneak in a quote fromHamlet.
to your special someone.
Ready?
We know what we are, but knownot what we may be.
There you go.
(43:47):
Helping make things happen inyour life here, folks.
So do you have a loved one whocelebrates April 23rd?
Well, if you do, and you wantto make them feel really special
about this day, then I've gotsome gift ideas that will turn
you into their hero.
Why do I say that soconfidently?
(44:08):
Well, it's because these giftsare customized to their special
day.
And not only that, many ofthese ideas are things that they
don't own.
They are unique.
And guess what else?
There are links in the shownotes so you can easily find and
order these gifts and they'llbe at your place just in time.
Our first segment today wasabout YouTube.
(44:30):
And if your loved one is intodoom scrolling on that platform,
some YouTube decor would spiceup their living space.
For example, a plush pillow.
They could rest their tablet onthe pillow, and then rest that
on their lap, and away they go,contributing to that billion
hours of watch time.
And then we talked aboutCoca-Cola, and there are
(44:51):
literally dozens of gift ideasfeaturing Coke, including some
of the beverage itself in thoseiconic glass bottles.
And make sure you tell them howtheir favorite beverage almost
died on this day.
but it pulled through becauseit was special, just like your
loved one.
Now, don't roll your eyes whenwe get to Shakespeare.
(45:13):
You may be too cool foranything book-y or poem-y, but
maybe your loved one likes thatkind of thing.
No?
All right, well, Shakespearedoes have some witty famous
quotes that may be perfect as awall hanging, so they're worth
checking out.
And the famous folks that wereborn today, they all have some
great books and CDs and wallhangings that might be just what
(45:36):
you're looking for.
But my favorite of all thethings I found was a John Cena
action figure.
Now he'd make a great additionto the trinket shelf or
someone's office desk.
Remember when I said it waspicnic day?
Surely an image of a picnicbasket came to mind, right?
Well, they have some reallyfancy baskets that you could
(45:59):
give as a gift.
And you could double down andactually make a picnic meal and
get them out of the house ontheir special day and enjoy a
picnic together.
And then they get to keep thebasket.
And even better than that, youshouldn't be surprised to know
that they sell custom ping pongballs.
Yeah, you can get whateversaying or image you want printed
(46:20):
on them.
Now there's a gift that nobodyhas, right?
Yeah, so no more hemming andhawing about the person who has
everything, because theydefinitely do not have
customized ping pong balls.
And if none of thoseoutstanding ideas work, there's
one other way to make this dayspecial.
(46:40):
You could dedicate apersonalized shout-out right
here on this podcast, andthey'll be memorialized forever.
Yeah, I could do the shout-outfor you.
Just send me an email,something fun you want to share.
Or you can do your own shoutout by using the Speak Byte link
that's available in the shownotes.
Today's shout out is forsomeone who must be pretty
(47:02):
special because so many folkswanted to join in.
Guest (47:05):
Happy birthday, Heather.
I hope you have the best dayever.
I'm super glad I've gotten toshare a cubicle with you this
whole year and I'm really goingto miss you.
Hola, my work daughter.
Happy birthday.
Many blessings.
Love you.
I don't
Gary (47:28):
know about me, but I'm feeling 33.
Truman (47:33):
Very nice job, peeps.
Especially that little duet weheard.
And as I mentioned, you canfind the link to do that in the
show notes.
And as always, if you have astory that just needs to be told
about any day in the past, sendme an email and let's connect.
All right, time to wrap up.
(47:54):
So I'm going to quote someShakespeare to bid farewell.
Are you ready?
Our revels now are ended.
These are actors, as I foretoldyou, were all spirits and are
melted into air, into thin air.
Parting is such sweet sorrow.
(48:15):
that I shall say goodnight tillit be morrow.
Thanks so much for listening.
Until next time, this is TrumanPastworthy reminding you that
every day has a great story.
And we'll be striding throughthem all to find some more
goodies for you.
Now get out there and make yourown great story today.
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