Your Brain on Facts
Host Moxie LaBouche brings you a weekly half-hour of things you didn't know, things you thought you knew, and things you never knew you never knew. Topics range from the history of nursing to the Balinese funeral rite David Bowie requested, from the origin of the Vulcan salute to the theft of Canada's strategic maple syrup reserve. This is your brain on facts. yourbrainonfacts.com
Episodes
Finally, I get to the subtopic that launched not one but two episodes, the Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet, as well as the most interesting boring thing I could find and why science didn't get a handle on scurvy until nearly WWII.
(Apologies in advance because I was red-lining my mic throughout and I have no idea why -- I'd been doing VO jobs all day with no such issue.)
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What started as a need to tell the real story of "Gentleman Pirate" Stede Bonnet has turned into a myth vs history two-parter! I love when that happens. Hear about pirate pensions, the makeup of the mariners, and civil unions on the seven seas. Special thanks to Charlie and Jesse over the in Brainiac Breakroom for help with the title.
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It's the return of our occasional series, We Can't Have Nice Things. This week, we look at radio contest and promotions that went badly wrong, often at the draft stage. Free nude wedding anyone?
1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross at yourbrainonfacts.com/merch
02:45 Radio Luxembourg's Ice Block Challenge
06:02 Bait & switch
10:12 Rules are rules
17:36 Review and news
20:40 No accounting for...
Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear leather jackets with chains, long hair, and lots of eyeliner! Today we look at three times heavy metal musicians said "We're not gonna take it" and defended the freedom of speech, but were they "Breaking the Law" and just "Howl(ing) at the Moon"?
0:42 Twisted Sister vs Congress
17:07 Reviews and news
19:58 Ozzy Osbourne's Suicide Solution
26:20 Judas Priest, Better Th...
People used to say "If you believe that, I have some swampland in Florida to sell you," but they really should have said, "I have some lovely acres in the Republic of Poyais you can buy, but you have to act now!" Presenting one of my favorite con artists ever, the man who declared himself prince of a South American country that didn't exist, Gregor MacGregor (yes, that's really his name).
(Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MOXIE - Enter promo code MOXIE for 83% off and 3 extra months free!)
There are four Sundays a month, but more than a dozen days we call "Black Sunday." Here are three -- two forces of nature and one parade of schadenfreude.
02:42 Black Blizzard
12:45 Bondi Beach
24:42 Disneyland
Who you gonna believe -- me or your lying eyes? Today we look at court cases where people try to avoid taxes by arguing that things aren't the things that they clearly are.
00:50 Tomato
08:18 Jaffa Cakes
17:48 Hydrox vs Oreo
37:40 X-Men
Links to all the research resources are on the website.
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Our Patrons have a nose for good topics, so today we
07:04 Smells and space
14:40 Ham-sniffer
21:17 It's the pits
30:48 Aromatherapy
Links to all the research resources are on the website.
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Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the book and a shirt.
Music: Kevin MacLeod, and The Mini Vandals.
Sources:
Why did no one tell me about Moms Mabley?!! Hear about her and other 'living loud and proud' ladies (Dorothy Parker, Mae West, Tallulah Bankhead) on this International Women's Day.
01:00 Tallulah Bankhead
13:00 Mae West
23:00 Moms Mabley
Links to all the research resources are on the website.
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Voted on by our Patreon, we dive into the deadly side of sculpture, painting, ballet and more!
01:36 Blucifer
04:00 Get the lead out
10:00 Ballet blazes
20:45 Death by a thousand face
26:43 The Conqueror and the conquered
Links to all the research resources are on the website.
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Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy the...
Necessity is the mother of invention and these inventions had real mothers! Hear about Black female inventors, the tribulations of research, and a story I didn't expect to find and couldn't pass up.
01:00 L'histoire
06:36 Martha Jones's corn husker
07:55 Mary Jones de Leon's cooking apparatus
08:56 Judy Reed's dough kneader-roller
10:30 Sarah Goode's folding bed-desk
11:40 Sarah Boon's ironing board
17:15 ...
Congrats to Hearts & Wheels, who won week 2 of #moxiemillion, by sharing the show to help it reach 1 million downloads this month!
Necessity is the mother of invention and who was in a more necessitous position than victims of the Atlantic slave trade? You may revolutionize industries, but good luck getting a patent.
00:47 Patents and law
06:40 Benjamin Bradley
09:10 Benjamin Montgomery
16:30 Thomas Jennings
23:15 Henry Boyd
Congrats to Richard Enriquez, who won week 1 of #moxiemillion, by sharing the show to help it reach 1 million downloads this month!
Cleopatra-schmeopatra! Hear the stories of three queens of Africa who should also be household names. Starring the clever queen Moremi, the fierce queen Amanirenas, and the terrifying queen Ranavalona.
Links to all the research resources are on the website.
3:06 Moremi of Ife
10:54 Amanirena of Kush
23:00 R...
With half the world's continents being home to a panoply of monkey species, it's no wonder the people of Center & South America, Asia, and Africa hold monkeys in high esteems as mythological and religious figures. Hear about Hanuman, howlers, Hapi, and a helluva lot more (and yes, Sun Wukong, obviously).
Links to all the research resources are on the website.
04:45 Japan: Sarugami
09:57 Central/South America: howler monkey...
Javier Leiva from Pretend did a podcast with me!!!!
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We teach each other about:
03:10 a pig in a poke
06:30 salting a mine
10:00 melon drop
14:50 vanity awards
21:55 Baltimore stock-broker
25:00 fake casting agents
Plus learn the three most interesting things about me!
Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie o...
How'd it go for the first BBC announcer with an accent? How much work can you get if you "make it" in voiceover? How much did the woman behind Siri make? And what's a pencil got to do with any of this? All this and more in part 2!
Like what you hear? Become a patron of the arts for as little as $2 a month! Or buy the book or some merch. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twi...
From a rogue radio operator, to Bugs Bunny, to the lady who recorded all the time and temperature message for the phone company, we look at some history and notable names in voicework (which is what I do for a living, hire me!)
Like what you hear? Become a patron of the arts for as little as $2 a month! Or buy the book or some merch. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram...
Happy new year! Or is it? It depends on which calendar you're using.
Like what you hear? Become a patron of the arts for as little as $2 a month! Or buy the book or some merch. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Music: Kevin MacLeod, David Fesliyan.
Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Links to all the research resources are on the website.
...
Happy holidays to all my beautiful Brainiacs! Enjoy this bonus mini episode on a bit of history that, while not obscure, should be better-known (and taken to heart) by more people -- the WWI Christmas Truce.
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