Seemingly Unrelated

If it's 2 am in Denver Colorado and you've been out partying all night, where will you go to fill up on some fast food to tide you over? Well, if it's 1858 the answer is: oyster bars. This week on Seemingly Unrelated we are cracking open the shell that hides the secret history of the oyster asking big questions like: How dangerous were oyster beds to early European colonists? Why does anyone know about Altoona, PA? HOW much did the...

Up front this is just about which Europeans landed on the Americas first and set up shop. The actual answer beyond that is no one and there are many peoples and histories that populate both continents for millenia before any Europeans managed to cross the Atlantic (or vice-versa?).

Either way, we are digging into the major competing narratives about which White guys traveled where to get at the heart of the question: Who cares? Alon...

How could the Three Little Pigs have stopped the most powerful military of the 1st century BCE? That's what we set out to explore on this episode of Seemingly Unrelated where we dive into the history of steel making, story telling, and how they connect the Battle of Carrhae with learning to code in Python.

Our guest co-host this week is puppeteer extoridanaire Alicia Britt!

We'll be asking the big questions this week like: Ho...

This week on Seemingly Unrelated pod we are getting into the villain's origin story behind the most USA of all snack cakes: Twinkies. Love them, or fear them, the twinkie looms large in the US imagination and in the vision of the US from around the world. It represents all things the USA loves: soft golden hydrogenated fats and corn syrup that is pure and white at its core.

We're joined this week to help explore the depths of snack...

Protect yourself from invasion get a breeding pair of hamsters, today! This week on Seemingly Unrelated we are deep diving into the history of the cutest widdle guys you have witnessed do unspeakable acts for unknown reasons to find out why exactly did we start keeping these rodents as pets?

Our special guest this episode is Dr. Rianna Walcott Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland, and Associate Director...

There are so many chicken little's these days decrying the downfall of man at the hands of Large Language Models. There are also, a lot of grifters taking advantage of that panic to line their wallets or just feel alive if only for a moment. Which is why we are here to fight that misinformation and identify the Seemingly Unrelated truths behind the myths and fears around artificial intelligence.

Joining us this week is a guest host ...

The 'House of Mouse' is a very litigious one which is why we are super wary about this week's episode of Seemingly Unrelated. We're taking a look at the very origins of both Disney the company and intellectual property rights on a journey to find out if Mickey himself might have had an impact on the cost of some prescription drugs. Along the way we'll take a journey by sea to solve the mystery of calculating longitude, laugh and cr...

Must...resist...urge...to do hyper specific...group...choreography...!!

On today's episode of Seemingly Unrelated we are the biaswreckers here to say you're not delulu, K-pop is having an all time comeback around the world. But are the Big 3 just the visual for a deeper and more sinister subunit bent on world domination? To find out we're going to have to take a tour back to the first K-pop idols from the 1960s and ask: What style o...

Given its association with Homer Simpson, the donut (or doughnut?or do-nut?) is perhaps one of the great icons of American culture filling our minds with corner shops and diners serving piping hot black coffee and delicious fried circles of sweet dough.

The donut however, is not just a calorie dense delivery service that keeps you functional on the go, it is also a hero...

On today's episode of Seemingly Unrelated we unpack an iconic...

We're back from hiatus and for season 2 we are starting things off with our first ever theme month! This month, every episode is about that most basic of needs and builder of cultures: food.

To get things started we have to ask a basic question: What is authentic parmesan cheese? The answer to that question is going to surprise you but it's only the beginning as we chart the unexpected waters of European national food history fr...

Hello superfans world wide, thank you for continuing to subscribe to Seemingly Unrelated. We are taking a brief hiatus here at the end of April as we dilligently prepare season 2 of the podcast to release on 13th May. Luckily, there is all of season 1, a full 15 episodes, that you can catch up on right now if you so desire through your podcast player of choice.

But, why listen to the same old episodes again, when there are 7, y...

Did you know that Hitler has an IMDB page? It's true and also really weird! Join us this week as we explore the long tail of Hitler's impact on the silver screen. What was Hitler's favorite movie? How did his interest in one actress help create the first Schindler type who saved dozens of Jews from execution? How distant is Hitler really from those of us watching everyday blockbuster movies now?

This is our season 1 finale y'all! Th...

On this very special seasonal episode we are digging into the unrelated tales that make up the internet as we know it. We'll be answering questions no one has ever asked while sober such as:

What is the internet anyway? How does it work? Does it have to work this way or are there alternatives? What is, and always has been, the most popular thing on all the different forms of the internet regardless of time, place, language, or ...

In 1992, a Baptist pastor sought to distill his marriage counseling advice into five, easy concepts that couples could use to build happier relationships. In 1996, a call to end dependence on cash welfare and 'Get America Back to Work' resulted in sweeping reforms and a new state based block grant system for welfare in the US. By 2009 somehow, some way, the state of Oklahoma managed to put these two together...

On this episode o...

The hot button issue for Gen Z (according to media run by not Gen Z) is the impact of photo filters on body image and mental health. This sudden surge in access to easy to manipulate tech has launched a thousand think pieces about FOMO, impossible fitness standards, and a host of ills directly connected to too much social media and too much envy for outrageous lifestyles.

Is this trend particularly new? What is the underlying mechan...

Is there a secret, dark history lurking behind those friendly lucky cat statues that welcome you into your favorite Chinese take out place?

This week on Seemingly Unrelated we dive into the Maneki-neko, aka Beckoning Cat, aka Lucky Cat, which has become a symbol of pan-Asian businesses around the world. All in pursuit of answering the question: why is this guy so popular?

We'll explore the potential heroic legend of the Maneki-neko, ...

Sometimes, things that are so completely different and range wildly in their impact have a single, slender, fascinating thread that binds them together. Pulling on that thread, not just merely remarking upon it, but finding out what it means and how it matters is exactly what we do on this podcast.

Today's episode finds the tie that binds three disparate elements: The CIA's attempt to win the Cold War through culture with the Congre...

 There's been a buzz in the news lately about immigration causing all sorts of issues around the world. This isn't the first time that proposals to ban entire groups have been championed, and that has caused some serious problems in the past. This week on Seemingly Unrelated, find out how Spelling Bees helped bring an end to the disastrous Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and proved that diversity is a strength, no...

Does January 1 make any sense as New Year's Day? Why not March 21 or even the first day after Labor Day just like school used to be. It turns out there is a very convoluted story to answer that question and it might be connected to how successful you are in keeping your resolutions this year.

Dickson, Joanne. ‘Where Did the New Year’s Resolution Come from? Well, We’ve Been Making Them for 4,000 Years’. The Conversation, 1 Janua...