500 Open Tabs

This week we answer all your burning questions like what rabbit holes we try to avoid, what unused tabs we still have open, and what the hell actually constitutes as anime.

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Tabs Wiki: https://500-open-tabs.fandom.com/wiki/500_Open_Tabs_Wiki

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https...

This week we conclude the Coney Island summer series with the story of how 3 rival entrepreneurs pushed each other to the limit in a battle for the public's attention and how, in true Coney Island fashion, it culminated in a gigantic fire. A listener email explains why you always feel the need to "crunch out a butt steak" as soon as you walk into a bookstore.

Episode Tabs:

Coney Island Was Once Full of Dueling, Backstabbing Th...

This week we continue the Coney Island summer series as we learn about the gigantic Elephant shaped building that quickly devolved from hotel to brothel and then promptly caught fire. A listener email shares with us the absurd story of British nurse Violet Jessop.

Episode Tabs:

THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD

https://www.sideshowworld.com/81-SSPAlbumcover/Elephantine/Colossus.html

Listener Tabs:

Story of the unsinkable wom...

This week we learn how a non-doctor doctor named Martin Couney leveraged the crowds at Coney Island's fascination with freak shows into giving birth to the modern NICU. A listener voicemail combines everyone's love of cats with planes.

Episode Tabs:

Preemies on Parade: How a Fake Doctor's Coney Island Incubator Shows Ended Up Saving Thousands of Lives

https://www.mentalfloss.com/science/medicine/martin-couney-baby-incubator-sho...

The ancient tournament of Kumitab returns as we pit some of our craziest subjects against one another including Colonel Sanders, Kaveh the Blacksmith, and the Magic Eye turtle wearing a bowler hat.

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversa...

This week we slide tackle into learning about the infamously bloody 1962 World Cup match between Chile and Italy that was preceded by new goal rules, a warring international press, and the largest earthquake ever recorded. A listener email gives the Ballroom scene a Jellicle twist.

Episode Tabs:

World Cup stunning moments: The Battle of Santiago

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/04/stunning-moments-no4-battle-o...

This week we are joined by special guest co-host Alyssa Cooper as she walks us through the insane Beanie Baby craze of the late 90s. A listener email explains the Mr. Trashwheel phenomenon that has taken over Baltimore.

Episode Tabs:

How Playground Rumors and Artificial Scarcity Created the Billion-Dollar Beanie Baby Mania

https://www.mentalfloss.com/fun/toys/how-playground-rumors-and-artificial-scarcity-created-beanie-baby-man...

This week we are joined by special guest co-host Josie Azzam as she tells us about when Russian rich kids called the Narodniks tried and failed horribly to convince the newly freed Serfs to join them in overthrowing the Czar. A listener email reveals the Swedish origins of an iconic Muppets tune.

Episode Tabs:

Going to the People

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_to_the_People

Listener Tabs:

Sweden: Heaven and Hell

https:...

This week we conclude the insane life story of KFC founder Harland Sanders as he fries chicken for Oppenheimer and publicly beefs (chickens?) with his corporate overlords. A listener email explains the Seinfeldian origins of the Canadian Toonie coin.

Episode Tabs:

Colonels of Truth

https://www.damninteresting.com/colonels-of-truth/

Listener Tabs:

A Tale of Two Designs: How Canada’s 1-dollar Coin Became the Loonie

http...

This week we learn about the insane life of KFC founder Harland Sanders as he is put in charge of his younger siblings from the age of 5 and later worked the railroads where he developed a reputation for constantly getting into fistfights. A listener email tells of about that time in 1876 when chunks of red meat rained from the sky in Kentucky.

Episode Tabs:

Colonels of Truth

https://www.damninteresting.com/colonels-of-truth/

This week we learn about the history of courtroom sketching and how the Lindbergh kidnapping helped get cameras banned from courtrooms altogether. A listener voice memo ponders how all airline safety brochures ended up looking the same.

Episode Tabs:

Why Do We Still Need Courtroom Artists?

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-courtroom-artists

Listener Tabs:

Airline Safety Cards

https://www.airlinesafetycards.be/Sa...

This week we're joined by cohost of Nerd of Mouth/ producer of LPNtv Holden McNeely as he tells us about the horrors of an entire island off the coast of Brazil populated by extremely poisonous snakes that jump from trees as well as his soft pitch for a movie where looksmaxxing influencers are trapped on said island. A listener emails tells us about a very offensively named shop in India.

Episode Tabs:

Snake Island (Full Lengt...

This week we learn how personality tests went from determining if you could handle PTSD in WW1 to whether or not you could be employed by a Fortune 500 company. A listener emails tells the story of that time Gary Larson had to explain a not so complicated Far Side comic to his fans.

Episode Tabs:

The First Personality Test Was Developed During World War I

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/first-personality-test-was-develop...

This week we learn how during Jim Crow, a group of Black artists sold between 50 to 200,000 landscape paintings from the trunks of their cars directly to doctors offices, real estate agents, and motels. A listener emails tells us about the award winning goodest boy.

Episode Tabs:

History of the Florida Highwaymen

https://www.floridahighwaymenpaintings.com

Listener Tabs:

Good Boy dog actor Indy wins Best Performance at Astr...

This week we learn how activist Marion Stokes archived 30 years of television in an effort to protect the truth from fake news. A listener voice memo suggests a novel way to clone Richard Nixon.

Episode Tabs:

The Remarkable Story of a Woman Who Preserved Over 30 Years of TV History

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/marion-stokes-television-news-archive

Listener Tabs:

This man has held onto Richard Nixon's half-eat...

This week we learn about Uncle Sam's predecessor Brother Jonathan, and how America's mascot for itself evolved between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. A listener email explains the importance of a finely carved 2000 year old statue of the Buddha recently found in Egypt.

Episode Tabs:

Before America Got Uncle Sam, It Had to Endure Brother Jonathan

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/brother-jonathan-uncle-sam

Listener Tabs...

This week we learn how a rejected Belgian inventor's obsession with creating new instruments eventually led to the creation of one of the great American art forms. A listener email explains how bikes were used to smuggle drugs in the Netherlands.

Episode Tabs:

It was banned by the Nazis, Stalin and the Vatican. This is the surprising history of the saxophone

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-25/saxophone-history-of-musical-in...

This week we conclude the story of controversial comic artist Mike Diana whose run in with the law eventually ends up with him being taken to trial with charges of obscenity. A listener email explains how the how until recently, nipples in comics were considered taboo.

Episode Tabs:

Author of pedophile guide arrested on Florida obscenity charge

https://archive.ph/20130203144830/http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/arti...

This week we dive into the origin of the controversial comic artist Mike Diana, who sought to create the "most offense zine ever made." A listener email explains how the release of a million balloons over the skies of Cleveland led to civilian deaths.

Episode Tabs:

Mike Diana Comics (TRIGGER WARNING!)

https://mikedianacomix.com/

Listener Tabs:

When Cleveland Released 1.5 million Balloons and Two Men Died

https://rarehistori...