Seemingly Unrelated

What Terrible Event Made Instant Ramen Popular?

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:51:13 GMT

We are tackling two, yes TWO unrelateds that have to do with the very unexpected connects of popular food stuffs.

Joining Andrew this month is the season 3 crew fresh off of recording it is of course Alicia Britt and Producer Naomi!

Up first we tackle the outsized influence that Scotch whiskey had on the establishment of the NHS. Along the way we get to the bottom of why Johnnie Walker has multi-coloured labels and how to best deal with snake oil salesmen...Red Dead Redemption style.

Then we head over to Japan in the 70s to seek out the truly disturbing event that took instant ramen from obscurity to global dominance. The mystery has a lot to do with left wing radicals and once again the Mitsubishi corporation

Bibliography:

Brickman, Sophie. “The History of the Ramen Noodle.” Culture Desk. The New Yorker, May 21, 2014. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-history-of-the-ramen-noodle.

Bruce-Gardyne, Tom. “Dewar’s: A Brand History.” The Spirits Business, February 20, 2018. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2018/02/dewars-a-brand-history/.

“Full Record for ‘HIGHLAND DOCTOR’ (0033) - Moving Image Archive - Catalogue.” Accessed April 5, 2026. https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/0033.

Master Of Malt. “Dewar’s Whisky.” Accessed April 5, 2026. https://www.masterofmalt.com/distilleries/dewars-branded-whisky/.

McCrae, Morice. The National Health Service in Scotland: Origins and Ideals, 1900-1950. Tuckwell Press, 2003.

McQueen, Craig. “Campaign to Celebrate Scot Who Laid Foundations of NHS 100 Years Ago.” Daily Record, July 2, 2012. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/campaign-to-celebrate-scot-who-laid-1115508.

Murai, Shusuke. “Cup Noodles Slurping Strong, 45 Years On.” The Japan Times, August 22, 2016. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/22/reference/cup-noodles-slurping-strong-45-years/.

“NRS Web Continuity Service.” Accessed April 5, 2026. https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20230324104912/http://www.ournhsscotland.com/.

South China Morning Post. “What’s the Story behind Instant Ramen Noodles?” April 1, 2020. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3077785/whats-story-behind-instant-ramen-noodles-and-how-did.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Where Did the X-Files Get All Its Ideas?

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Everything from secret government experiments on aliens, implanted memories of sisters being kidnapped, extremely convenient bees...all of the things that filled the stories of the X-Files came from a 30+ year tradition of paranormal documentary style TV shows before it.

But what real world trends inspired THOSE TV shows?

Joining us this month to find out is the creator of the Accentricity podcast and University of Glasgow lecturer Dr. Sadie Ryan!

Go to patreon.com/seeminglyunrelated for the complete episode

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Did Nintendo Start as a Criminal Organization?

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Well...not entirely but...sort of? Welcome back to Seemingly Unrelated, while the main feed is on hiatus the bonus feed is still racking up coins and smashing our heads inexplicably into floating bricks.

The full bonus episodes are available exclusively on Patreon for the low price of $2/month sign up now to find out what Nintendo has to do with Arab oil cartels, tobacco giants, and the Yakuza themselves...

go to http://www.patreon.com/seeminglyunrelated to get the rest of this episode

#nintendo @NintendoJP @beforemario @GameHistoryOrg #hanafuda #yakuza #darkhistory #videogamehistory

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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The Terrifying Tale of Christmas Island w/Alice Fraser (preview)

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Here is a little preview of our final bonus episode with Alice Fraser. Go to patreon.com/seeminglyunrelated to unlock the rest of the episode for as little as $2.

Also, you can book Alice Fraser to help you with your creative work just go to https://www.patreon.com/AliceFraser or https://www.alicecomedyfraser.com/ for details her workshops are exceptional and reasonably priced.

Christmas Island is a really bad song, but not nearly as bad as what's been happening on Christmas Island. That means we needed to find someone extra good to help explore this history and we invited romance novelist, prolific podcaster, comedian/lawyer and all around good egg Alice Fraser to help us answer some questions about Christmas Island like:

How boring was the naming of islands in the 17th/18th century? Is the British military responsible for giving a bunch of people cancer? How important is it to introduce your toddler to Godzilla? And of course: If Batman funded his vigilante life style with his own poo would we be so mad about all the punching of poor people?

All this and more in our holiday bonus spectacular of Seemingly Unrelated

Bibliography:

Alexis-Martin, Becky. “The Atomic History of Kiritimati – a Tiny Island Where Humanity Realised Its Most Lethal Potential.” The Conversation, July 4, 2019. https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.uhxvuqp3p.

Australian Border Force Website. “Australian Border Force Website.” Accessed December 14, 2025. https://www.abf.gov.au/.

“Bird-Lore/Volume 01/No. 2/Suggestions for Bird-Day Programs - Wikisource, the Free Online Library.” Accessed December 14, 2025. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bird-Lore/Volume_01/No2/Suggestionsfor_Bird-Day_Programs.

“Bugbog.Com/Kiribati_line/Christmas_island.Htm.” Accessed December 14, 2025. https://www.bugbog.com/kiribati_line/christmas_island.htm.

“Christms Island.” Accessed December 14, 2025. https://www.thehistoricalsociety.org/history-online/christmas-island.html.

“Formerly Disputed Islands | U.S. Department of the Interior.” Site page. June 12, 2015. https://www.doi.gov/oia/islands/disputedislands.

Gómez-gallego, Tamara, Iván Sánchez-castro, Lázaro Molina, et al. “Phosphorus Acquisition by Plants: Challenges and Promising Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture in the 21st Century.” Pedosphere 35, no. 1 (2025): 193–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedsph.2024.05.002.

“Protecting Birds Where They Live and Migrate.” BirdLife International, March 22, 2021. https://www.birdlife.org/projects/ibas-mapping-most-important-places/.

The Andrews Sisters – The Vocal Group Hall of Fame. n.d. Accessed December 14, 2025. https://vocalgroup.org/inductees/the-andrews-sisters/.

“TimesMachine: July 25, 1856 - NYTimes.Com.” Accessed December 14, 2025. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1856/07/25/77054566.html?zoom=14.61&pageNumber=8.

We Were but Sailing by – Early Impressions of Christmas Island. April 19, 2019. https://christmasislandarchives.com/we-were-but-sailing-by-early-impressions-christmas-island/.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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The Christmas Curse of Japan- Season 2 Finale! w/Alicia Britt

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the season finale of Seemingly Unrelated! We've managed 46 episodes so far and we'll be returning in March with season 3 (bonus eps continually monthly patreon.com/seeminglyunrelated )

To cap it off this festive season we'll be traveling to Japan where holidays like Christmas should seem to be unrelated already, but it gets even weirder. Why is there a Colonel Sanders dressed in a Santa Suit every December? What decidely un-Christian like business has its busiest day of the year on Dec 25th? More importantly: Who is Randy Bass and what has he got to do with buckets of Christmas Chicken?

Joining us again is fan favorite co-host Alicia Britt to answer this secret blend of 11 secrets and spices and to tackle the most daunting mystery of them all: Is 7-11 actually from Asia?

All this and more on the seasonally themed season finale of Seemingly Unrelated!

02:48 Episode Proper Starts for new people

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Do Nutrition Labels Actually Tell Us Anything About Nutrition? w/Amy Weldon

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 05:00:00 GMT

When you look at the back of the box of your favorite ready-to-eat meal, where does the list of macromolecules and daily requirements on the nutrition label come from? That's what we are going to find out this week on Seemingly Unrelated as we explore the unusually recent history of the nutrition label by asking: What did we do before we added these things in 1994? Why don't vitamins and minerals show up on every nutrition label? What role did World War II play in getting the governments of the world to take action on minimal nutrition? And why do the founders of vitamines [sic] Funk & McCollum sound like second rate musical writers?

We're joined this week by the host of the Blue Collar White Coat podcast, she is a professional science communicator perfectly positioned to talk about the difficulties in translating hard science to public consumption it's Amy Weldon!

Together we will find out the greatest mystery of all: Did a corpulant, Victorian undertaker trick us all into counting carbs from beyond the grave? Only here, on Seemingly Unrelated!

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Have Zoos Been Running the World for 4000 Years? w/Chris Mancini

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 05:00:00 GMT

!!ALERT ALERT!! GO TO BIT.LY/ALPHACAT1 RIGHT NOW THE FUND ENDS FRI 14 NOV !!ALERT ALERT!!

The gorilla enclosure seconds the motion to sanction the cave bats for their hoarding of fresh fruit resources. More like the Zoo-nited Nations amirite? I'll stop.

On this episode we are diving into the other controversial history behind zoos as explore the ways in which zoos and zoo animals have been used in international diplomacy. Was the first ever zoo made up of trophies from conquest or a contemplative garden to debate the animalistic nature of man? Does the English heraldry actually feature three leopards instead of lions? How long is too long for a zoo to put animals in poorly maintained cages before someone intervenes? And of course, did a polar bear really go swimming in the Thames river every day?

To help us answer these questions we must call upon podcasting veteran, director of the film Earbuds: The Podcasting Documentary and current media mogul at White Cat Entertainment it's Chris Mancini!

He'll help us answer that most important question of all: What makes panda bears so damn popular and is it a secret conspiracy? All this and more will be answered this week on Seemingly Unrelated!

To get the full show notes click here

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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The True Terror Behind Witch Costumes

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 05:00:00 GMT

It's the Seemingly Unrelated Spoooooktacular! We've got a terrifying and spinetingling episode for you this week as we look deep into the history of Witch iconography: the point hat, the broom, the black cat, not the nose though...the nose thing is just exactly what you think it is.

Our guide through this spectre of deeply problematic horrors is in fact Michael Johnstone from Walkie Talky Brewing who has to take the reigns because of a Halloween curse placed on Andrew in 1987 that prevents him from leading on main feed spooky episodes.

Michael is better placed for this one because we'll be tackling a popular internet question: Were witches actually just beer brewers who ran afoul of Christian anti-drinking sentiments?

Find out as we repeat the same incantation as a woman around the cauldron did but get all the credit this Halloween on Seemingly Unrelated!

Get the full bibliography on the free post patreon.com/Seeminglyunrelated

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Was the 2008 Housing Collapse Predicted by Hollywood? w/Phil W. Bayles

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 04:00:00 GMT

We're talking about the very real and physical place that is Hollywood, CA on this episode of Seemingly Unrelated. Why are the hills around Los Angeles filled with the rich and famous while the valleys are home to much more socio-economic diversity? Did film studios set up shop in Hollywood because of the weather? Has the 9th circuit court of appeals been holding back patent law for 150 years? Were the seeds of the Great Recession sown in the Great Depression itself?

We dig into these questions with our special guest co-host Phil W. Bayles!

Plus, the most famous billboard in the world tricked us all into thinking it was a legitimate piece of history. All this week on a star studded episode of Seemingly Unrelated.

Here are those wild 9th Circuit Cases I mentioned in the episode: Click Here

#Hollywood #RealEstateScam #Edendale #BoyleHeights #UniversalCity #ThomasEdison #Hollywoodhistory #historypodcast #podcast

Find the full bibliography for the episode here

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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"No amount of water can wash away genocide" w/ Ophira Gamliel

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 04:00:00 GMT

At the time of this episode's release we are in the middle of a 10 day period of reflection and piety for the Jewish people. The window between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is known as the 'High Holidays' to many. So, we at Seemingly Unrelated want to take this confluence of events where the High Holidays overlap with an extra 3rd episode of the show inside of a calendar month to put the spotlight on these holidays.

What are the High Holidays about? Why are they celebrated so much in the home and not at the temple? How did the Jews of the Malabar coast in South India and the Egyptian god Anubis help shape the meaning of the word "atonement" during these Holidays? What does it mean to atone anyway and how does the shifting nature of that word reflect a flexible Jewish identity spread over thousands of years and bound to no single region of the world? These are the questions we set out to answer on this extra episode as well as to ask what atonement means for the High Holidays of 2025.

To help guide us on our journey is our special guest and the person who will be leading the discussion while Andrew learns some new things, Dr. Ophira Gamliel. Ophira is a senior lecturer in religious studies at the University of Glasgow and author of Judaism in South India 849-1489: Relocating Malabar Jewry.

If you are listening to this before Oct 2, we also think you'll appreciate this screening of The Rose of Ioannina that is definitely worth checking out.

Bibliography:

“Eyal Weizman ← Forensic Architecture.” Accessed September 28, 2025. https://forensic-architecture.org/about/team/member/eyal-weizman.

Gamliel, Ophira. “Land Fetishism and Genocidal Iconoclasm.” Palestine/Israel Review, The Pennsylvania State University Press, September 2, 2025. https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/366001/.

Gamliel, Ophira. Matrilineal Jews or Slave Descendants? Halakhic Laws and Trade Alliances in Medieval Malabar. Edited by Mahmood Kooria. Amsterdam University Press, 2024. https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/287725/.

Google Arts & Culture. “A 13th-Century Manuscript Depicts an Eastern Muslim Boat from Maqamat al-Hariri.” Accessed September 28, 2025. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/a-13th-century-manuscript-depicts-an-eastern-muslim-boat-from-maqamat-al-hariri/pwHrty-7mcYEsw.

Lambourn, Elizabeth A. “‘Things for the Cabin’: Inhabiting the Ocean.” Chapter. In Abraham’s Luggage: A Social Life of Things in the Medieval Indian Ocean World, 189–218. Asian Connections. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

🎵 Subscribe to the show everywhere

📽️ Find the videos on Youtube

🎰 Want even more? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month and a list of sources for this episode on our Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Fast Food Craze that Built Your City w/Kobi Omenaka

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 US government spend on the transcontinental railroad?! What putrid Youtube rabbit hole has our guest fallen down recently? And of course, do oysters really get people excited or is it just the beverages we tend to pair with them?

Our guest this week is a marketing guru and podcast producer/host of The Wire Stripped as well as Flixwatcher (both featuring Andrew as a guest in multiple episodes) it's Kobi Omenaka!

All this plus: How McDonald's rebuilt the 11th busiest airport in the world, on Seemingly Unrelated!

Bibliography:

Ali, Rafat. ‘The 23 Grandest Amtrak Train Stations in America’. Skift, 26 October 2013. https://skift.com/2013/10/26/the-22-grandest-amtrak-train-stations-in-america/.

Bill of Rights Institute. ‘Westward Expansion Migration US’. Accessed 15 September 2025. https://live-bri-dos.pantheonsite.io/essays/migration-west/.

Burrows, Michelle. Oyster Nutrition Facts. n.d.

‘Cannery’. The Baltimore Museum of Industry, n.d. Accessed 15 September 2025. https://www.thebmi.org/exhibits/cannery/.

Jennifer Bohnhoff. ‘A Short Inquiry into Canning, Oysters, and Christmas’. Accessed 15 September 2025. http://jenniferbohnhoff.com/3/post/2018/12/a-short-inquiry-into-canning-oysters-and-christmas.html.

‘Kuwait International Airport’. Airport Technology, n.d. Accessed 15 September 2025. https://www.airport-technology.com/projects/kuwait-international/.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. ‘Traveling on the Overland Trails, 1843-1860 | National Expansion and Reform, 1815 - 1880 | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress’. Web page. Accessed 15 September 2025. https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/national-expansion-and-reform-1815-1880/traveling-on-the-overland-trails-1843-1860/.

Maryland, Preservation. ‘This Day in History: Chartering of the B&O Railroad’. Preservation Maryland, 28 February 2022. https://preservationmaryland.org/this-day-in-history-chartering-of-the-bo-railroad/.

‘OYSTERS AND TYPHOID’. Journal of the American Medical Association 84, no. 4 (1925): 286–87. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1925.02660300044015.

Program, Campus Archaeology. ‘The Great Oyster Craze: Why 19th Century Americans Loved Oysters’. MSU Campus Archaeology Program, 23 February 2017. https://campusarch.msu.edu/?p=4962.

Stover, John F. History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Purdue University Press, 1987.

University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. ‘History of Oysters’. 18 September 2017. https://www.umces.edu/oysters/history.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science. ‘History of Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay’. Accessed 15 September 2025. https://www.vims.edu/research/units/labgroups/molluscan_ecology/archive/vorhf/introduction/.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Who Actually "Discovered" America & Why Do We Care? w/Dan Walker

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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? Along the way we'll talk about: Was the inventor of baking powder the most annoying person in Massachusetts? Should all Italian-American stereotypes really have a Louisiana accent instead of Long Island? Where the ancestors of the Pilgrims all Scandanavian? And why are researchers dedicated to making organ transplants more successful so obsessed with a guy on a raft sailing to Easter Island?

Our guest co-host this week is a professional armorer and safety manager as well as a pretty radically nice guy, it is Dan Walker (no link because he does not exist online for you)

All of this plus, why are people so obsessed with finding heroes in the history of European colonial expan...on right...no that one actually makes sense on the face of it...this week on Seemingly Unrelated!

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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How Fables Defeated the Roman Empire w/Alicia Britt

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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: How do you court an armorer? What is so common about the 'Common Era?' Which real time strategy game unit works best against the Roman legions? As well as, could Rumpelstiltskin spin you a website made of gold?

All these questions and the secret anti-capitalist lesson of the Three Little Pigs this week on Seemingly Unrelated.

Visit codestorytelling.com for more about learning how to code through story telling

#fables #history #historypodcast #steel #armor #Rome #Parthia #Aesop #fairytales

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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The Dark History of the Twinkie- w/Michael Johnstone

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 cake depravity by the owner of Walkie Talky Brewing in Leith, Scotland and long time food industry expert Michael Johnstone!

But how did the twinkie rise above the competition to become so famous/infamous? We'll find out on this episode and answer some seemingly unrelated questions along the way like: Why is the Twinkie called a Twinkie and does that have anything to do with the LGBT+ community? What flavour is a Twinkie meant to be anyway? Can eating too many Twinkies drive you to the edge of sanity? Is the Twinkie healthier than unprocessed roadkill?

All these questions plus the life and times of Harvey Milk on this king sized snack of an episode of Seemingly Unrelated!

#Twinkie #HarveyMilk #Twinkiedefense @hostess_snacks

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture. Episodes drop every other week so subscribe to listen to more.

Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated

Find the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeeminglyUnrelatedPod

Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode (free) on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SeeminglyUnrelated

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

🎵 Subscribe to the show everywhere

📽️ Find the videos on Youtube

🎰 Want even more? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month and a list of sources for this episode on our Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did Hamsters Win World War II? w/ Dr. Rianna Walcott

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 of the Black Communication and Technology (BCaT) Lab.

To get to the origin of the pet hamster we have to answer some questions that really do seem completely unrelated like: Why are hamsters always running around at 2am? Is the arabic name for hamsters a major influence on the Dune novels? Are all pet hamsters actually siblings? and were hamsters the secret weapon in the allied invasion of Italy?

All these questions will be folded up into a tiny burrito and stuffed into your cheeks plus the haunting issue of how many hamsters can one man fit into a lab coat before they all escape? This week on an endless exercise wheel of futility called Seemingly Unrelated.

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture. Episodes drop every other week so subscribe to listen to more.

🎵 Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated

📽️ Find the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeeminglyUnrelatedPod

🎰 Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode (free) on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SeeminglyUnrelated

#hamsters

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

🎵 Subscribe to the show everywhere

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🎰 Want even more? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month and a list of sources for this episode on our Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Panic! At the AI Apoc@lyp$e...w/Franklin Johnstone Didymus

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 for the first time. They are a researcher into health's role in homelessness prevention as well as a veteran front line mental health nurse from the Covid-19 pandemic it is Franklin Johnstone Didymus!

Alongside Frank, we will tackle the big questions like: Is the uncanny valley real, or just ableist nonsense? Was General Ned Ludd the figment of the polices' imagination? Is the Terminator less scary than the second coming of Christ? And of course...do people stop fearing AI the minute they realize they want to have sex with it?

These questions and the unusual feelings everyone has for Spirit the horse this week on Seemingly Unrelated!

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture. Episodes drop every other week so subscribe to listen to more.

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Could Mickey Make Insulin Cheaper?

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 cry alongside the tragically short life of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and ask the question: what does Sonny Bono have to do with any of this?

All this and a lesson in how clocks work on what is quite possibly the most seemingly unrelated topic of any episode of Seemingly Unrelated the podcast!

All these questions and more will be explored, at least until the South Korean government shuts this podcast down, on Seemingly Unrelated!

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Is K-pop a PSY-op?

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 of music is K-pop anyway? Did Tony Blair inspire the K-wave? Is PSY mocking, or celebrating the Gangnam neighborhood? And most importantly, if Blackpink told you to betray your government, would you do it?

All these questions and more will be explored, at least until the South Korean government shuts this podcast down, on Seemingly Unrelated!

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Who is the 'Donut King' and how did he save 30,000 families?

Tue, 27 May 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 pink box of goodness by exploring the impact the humble donut has had on the United States and beyond. Why are they called "donuts" if there are not usually nuts involved? How did the First World War decorate the donut with its first heroic medal? Who is the 'Donut King' and what nefarious dictator did his reign challenge?

The answers to these questions will do more than just fill the hole at the center of your donut, they will fill your mind with the Seemingly Unrelated heroism of the donut.

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Is there such a thing as authentic Italian or French food?

Tue, 13 May 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 from disappointment of the continental breakfast to the bloody defense of Budapest against the Ottomans we are back in top form.

If this is your first time hearing of the show, welcome and make sure to hit that subscribe button because we do exactly this, all the time.

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Interregnum Special - Sample of the Patreon Bonus Episode on TMNT

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:20:12 GMT

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, yes 7, entirely new episodes you have never heard of over on our Patreon for the low low price of $2. That includes a brand new episode that dropped the same day as this one.

Want to get a sample before you buy? Well you're in luck we've got one in today's drop here on the free feed, but if you want the rest just go to https://www.patreon.com/SeeminglyUnrelated and sign up for the Patreon now!

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Six Degrees of Separation from Atrocity

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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! Thanks so much for listening to the first season of this experiment and we look forward to bringing more unusual connections through history, culture, and apparently cinema in season 2 coming soon!

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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The Secret History of the Internet- Al Gore, Anime, and the French

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 04:00:00 GMT

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 really any factors?

That's right we'll be globetrotting all episode long to hunt out the secret, alternative, histories of inter-network connectivity on this extra special episode of Seemingly Unrelated.

Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Is Welfare One of the 5 Love Languages?

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 10:37:53 GMT

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 of Seemingly Unrelated we are performing an act of service to let you, the audience, know that we really love you by deep diving into the 5 Love Languages and their strange connection to welfare reform. What are the 5 Love Languages? Do we actually have a primary way of expressing and receiving love? What is the most boring name for a legislative agenda in US history? Is the solution to an epidemic of loneliness just to give people cash?

All these questions and more will be answered plus a whole lot of shenanigans on episode 13 of Seemingly Unrelated: Is Welfare One of the 5 Love Languages?

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Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Are Tiktok beauty filters the continuation of a Victorian era architectural fraud?

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 05:00:00 GMT

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 mechanism that pushes people to slavishly follow the latest filtered trend? More importantly why did the guy who came up with this theory used to hide under tables at parties to spy on the guests?

Find out in episode 12 of Seemingly Unrelated where we go #nofilter to discuss the link between Tiktok's AI generated beauty and a 19th century passion for pretending you are related to nobility.

Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated

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Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SeeminglyUnrelated

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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How did Hello Kitty help fight the rise of underage escort services?

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 05:00:00 GMT

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, it's brief stint as a symbol of the Yoshiwara pleasure district in Tokyo, a journey through an oft ignored mass migration of servants to the Americas, and a special visit from Hello Kitty who is apparently not actually a cat?!

Find out all the secrets, and maybe some get some good fortune with episode 11 of Seemingly Unrelated!

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Find the videos on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/@seeminglyunrelatedpod

Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month and find all the sources we used for this episode on our Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/c/SeeminglyUnrelated

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guess the connection between CIA spies, RFK's assassination, and the video game crash of 1983

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 05:00:00 GMT

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 Congress for Cultural Freedom. The assassination of Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan. As well as, the 2nd place runner up in the pre-1983 video game crash Mattel's Intellivision. What could they possibly have in common? Listen to find out.

‘Blue Sky Rangers Intellivision History’. https://history.blueskyrangers.com/.

Boellstorff, Tom, and Braxton Soderman. ‘Transplatform: Culture, Context, and the Intellivision/Atari VCS Rivalry’. Games and Culture 14, no. 6 (1 September 2019): 680–703. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412017721839.

‘Defending Sirhan Sirhan | Bentley Historical Library’. https://bentley.umich.edu/news-events/magazine/defending-sirhan-sirhan/.

Gorney, Cynthia. ‘Sirhan’. Washington Post, 20 August 1979. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/08/20/sirhan/75cd41f0-e570-4bc4-ac93-83f251eec765/.

Library of Congress, ‘Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassin | https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawing-justice-courtroom-illustrations/about-this-exhibition/assassination-and-murder-trials/robert-f-kennedys-assassin/.

‘Remembering the Congress of Cultural Freedom - ProQuest’. https://www.proquest.com/docview/206723938?accountid=11862&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals.

Severo, Richard. ‘George Plimpton, Urbane and Witty Writer, Dies at 76’. The New York Times, 26 September 2003, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/obituaries/george-plimpton-urbane-and-witty-writer-dies-at-76.html.

‘The Assassination of Robert Kennedy | History Today’. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/assassination-robert-kennedy.

The Paris Review. ‘Invisible Ink: At the CIA’s Creative Writing Group’, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/01/09/invisible-ink-at-the-cias-creative-writing-group/.

X. ‘Who Is Sirhan Sirhan? His Life before the RFK Assassination’. Los Angeles Times, . https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2021-08-30/sirhan-sirhan-robert-f-kennedy-essential-california.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Did The Scripps National Spelling Bee end the Chinese Exclusion Act?

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 05:00:00 GMT

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, not a problem needing to be solved.

Anna P. Kambhampaty, “How Indian Americans Came to Love the Spelling Bee,” The New York Times, July 3, 2021, sec. Style, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/style/spelling-bee-south-asian-americans.html; https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/05/07/learning/07LODTimesMachineLN/07LODTimesMachineLN-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.png; “About the Bee | Scripps National Spelling Bee,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.spellingbee.com/about; “Daily News from New York, New York - Newspapers.ComTM,” , https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/435742927/; “Daily News from New York, New York - Newspapers.ComTM,” , https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/435742927/; “Immigration and Nationality Act,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.lbjlibrary.org/news-and-press/media-kits/immigration-and-nationality-act; “Immigration Laws.,” image, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdclccn.22019016/?st=gallery; “Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian,” https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act; “NPC Centennial Spelling Bee | National Press Club,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.press.org/events/npc-centennial-spelling-bee; “The Women Win in Congress Spelling Bee | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2007/2007-111-002/; “Today In History: Luce-Celler Act Signed in 1946 | South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA),” https://www.saada.org/news/20140702-3609; “Chinese Exclusion Act (1882),” National Archives, September 8, 2021, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/chinese-exclusion-act.

Andrew D. Johnstone

E-mail: jstone.wmuc@gmail.com

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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What is the Secret Origin of New Years Day?

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 05:00:41 GMT

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 January 2023. http://theconversation.com/where-did-the-new-years-resolution-come-from-well-weve-been-making-them-for-4-000-years-196661.

Dickson, Joanne M., Nicholas J. Moberly, David Preece, Alyson Dodd, and Christopher D. Huntley. ‘Self-Regulatory Goal Motivational Processes in Sustained New Year Resolution Pursuit and Mental Wellbeing’. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 6 (2021): 3084. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063084.

Hallinan, Blake, Bumsoo Kim, Saki Mizoroki, Rebecca Scharlach, Tommaso Trillò, Mike Thelwall, Elad Segev, and Limor Shifman. ‘The Value(s) of Social Media Rituals: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of New Year’s Resolutions’. Information, Communication & Society 26, no. 4 (12 March 2023): 764–85. ttps://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1983003.

https://billpetro.com/. ‘History of New Year’s Resolutions: Where Did They Begin?’ https://billpetro.com/history-of-new-years-resolutions/.

Jasiński, Jakub. ‘New Year in Ancient Rome « IMPERIUM ROMANUM’. https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/roman-religion/roman-feasts/new-year-in-ancient-rome/.

Magazine, Smithsonian, and Maris Fessenden. ‘Ever Heard of the Bontebok? It’s an African Animal Humans Nearly Destroyed, Then Saved’. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ever-heard-bontebok-its-one-african-animal-humans-nearly-destroyed-then-saved-180955885/.

NCR. ‘Why March 25, the Annunciation, Was Once New Year’s Day’, 25 March 2020. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/why-march-25-the-annunciation-was-once-new-year-s-day.

Oscarsson, Martin, Per Carlbring, Gerhard Andersson, and Alexander Rozental. ‘A Large-Scale Experiment on New Year’s Resolutions: Approach-Oriented Goals Are More Successful than Avoidance-Oriented Goals’. PLoS One 15, no. 12 (December 2020): e0234097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234097.

‘The Octave of Christmas’. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/octave-christmas/.

‘When Is Easter? | Royal Observatory’. https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/when-easter.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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How did two Jewish men re-shape our Christmas traditions?

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 05:00:24 GMT

Subscribe to Seemingly Unrelated on Youtube, Apple Podcasts, Spotfiy or go to seeminglyunrelatedpod.com to subscribe however you like.

Find us on Patreon where we have a bonus episode about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for just $2. https://www.patreon.com/c/seeminglyunrelated/

Happy Holidays from Seemingly Unrelated! We're here just ahead of Santa Claus himself to look into the rise and fall of that seemingly most festive food of all, chestnuts.

Are chestnuts roasting on an open fire actually a holiday tradition? Who in God's name is St. Martin and what does he have to do with caroling? Were people really able to pay their taxes with chestnuts?

Settle in round the fire and have a listen to find out these answers and more!

‘American Chestnut History | The American Chestnut Foundation’. Accessed 16 December 2024. https://tacf.org/history-american-chestnut/.

archive.ph. ‘“The Christmas Song” | Yule Laugh, Yule Cry: 10 Things You Didn’t Kno…’, 13 December 2013. https://archive.ph/oeE3g.

Contributor, Josh Swartz. ‘Chestnuts Were Once Such a Huge Part of Life in America’s Appalachia Region, They Were Used as a Form of Currency’. Business Insider. Accessed 16 December 2024. https://www.businessinsider.com/appalachian-history-chestnut-currency-2018-5.

Foley, Malcolm, and Hugh O’Donnell. Treat or Trick? Halloween in a Globalising World. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008.

Hepting, George H. ‘Death of the American Chestnut’. Journal of Forest History 18, no. 3 (July 1974): 60–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/3983346.

Planchart, Alejandro Enrique. ‘The Geography of Martinmas’. In Western Plainchant in the First Millennium. Routledge, 2003.

‘The Story Behind ’The Christmas Song’ : NPR’. Accessed 16 December 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20200523021136/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/572408088.

Why Don’t We Roast Chestnuts Anymore?, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3Ro6yKiZc.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Faster than a Speeding Bullet - is it a bird or a train?

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 09:21:25 GMT

Look up in the sky it's...well nothing because this week we're talking about some low hanging fruit. Is it possible that the so called 'bullet train' of Japan was designed with owls and kingfisher birds in mind? Or, is this yet another example of a story that makes the rounds on podcasts and social media that is based entirely on myth?

Come join us this week on Seemingly Unrelated as Andrew does a deep dive into the truth behind the Shinkansen's connection to wildlife and Jason makes some inappropriate jokes about tunnels.

BBC News. ‘How a Kingfisher Helped Reshape Japan’s Bullet Train’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-47673287.

Common Kingfisher. Bird Catching a Fish. David Attenborough’s Opinion., 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veQ2ilQrzMU.

‘CyberSec Pro’. https://www.googletagmanager.com/static/service_worker/4c30/sw_iframe.html?origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.csuci.edu.

Experiment! How Does An Owl Fly So Silently? | Super Powered Owls | BBC, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_FEaFgJyfA.

‘GTAC | The Kingfisher and the Bullet Train – In the News’. https://gtac.edu.au/the-kingfisher-and-the-bullet-train-in-the-news/.

‘High Speed Train Inspired by the Kingfisher AskNature’. https://asknature.org/innovation/high-speed-train-inspired-by-the-kingfisher/.

Hood, Christopher P. ‘The Shinkansen’s Local Impact’. Social Science Japan Journal 13, no. 2 (2010): 211–25.

Japan House London. ‘Shinkansen Bullet Train’. https://www.japanhouselondon.uk/read-and-watch/shinkansen/.

JFS Japan for Sustainability. ‘JFS Biomimicry Interview Series: No.6’. https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id027795.html.

JRailPass. ‘History of the Shinkansen: The Japanese Bullet Trains | JRailPass’. Japan Rail Pass Travel Blog | JRailPass (blog), 12 March 2018. https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/shinkansen-bullet-train-history.

Penwell, Cameron. ‘South Manchurian Railway Company Publications in the Japanese Collection | 4 Corners of the World’. Webpage. The Library of Congress, 19 February 2019. https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2019/02/south-manchurian-railway-company-publications-in-the-japanese-collection.

‘STEM and Biomimicry | National Inventors Hall of Fame®’. https://www.invent.org/blog/trends-stem/biomimicry.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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Did Pirates have better insurance than we do?

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 05:00:32 GMT

Avast ye mateys! 'Tis time to set sail for adventure, and delicious fried delicacies. This episode on Seemingly Unrelated we are talking about the once and future global fast food chain Long John Silvers.

What is a pirate constitution? Has America ever properly taken care of its veterans? What is the correct term for a place that sells fish and chips?

Also go learn more about pirates at Jamie Goodall's website https://jamiegoodall.com/.

Footnotes:

Aratani, Lauren. ‘Jon Stewart Celebrates after Senate Passes Bill to Assist Veterans Exposed to Toxins’. The Guardian, 3 August 2022, sec. US news. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/03/senate-passes-pact-act-veterans-toxins-burn-pits.

‘World War I Hospital - Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (U.S. National Park Service)’.https://www.nps.gov/fomc/learn/historyculture/world-war-i-hospital.htm.

Fitzharris, Lindsey. The Facemaker: One Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I. Penguin UK, 2022.

Foy, Charles. ‘Sewing a Safety Net: Scarborough’s Maritime Community, 1747-1765’. Faculty Research & Creative Activity, 1 June 2012. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/history_fac/13.

‘History’. Accessed 21 November 2024. https://achh.army.mil/history/book-wwi-militaryhospitalsintheus-chapter16.

Mathis, Jessica. ‘Long John Silvers “Best Place to Work,” New Location with “Drive-Thru of the Future” - Food & Dining Magazine’, 23 January 2018. https://foodanddine.com/long-john-silvers-best-place-work-new-location-drive-thru-future/.

‘Robert Louis Stevenson - The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson - Volume 1 Page 92’.https://robert-louis-stevenson.classic-literature.co.uk/the-letters-of-robert-louis-stevenson-volume-1/ebook-page-92.asp.

Stice, Joel. ‘The Untold Truth Of Long John Silver’s’. Mashed, 30 October 2018. https://www.mashed.com/136693/the-untold-truth-of-long-john-silvers/.

Taylor, Yutong Yuan, Kate. ‘10 Companies You’ve Never Heard of Control More than 50 of the Biggest Restaurant Chains in the World’. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/who-owns-taco-bell-arbys-burger-king-2019-3.

USA. ‘Long John Silver’s Franchise Costs, Fees & FDD’. https://www.franchisedirect.com/foodfranchises/long-john-silvers-franchise-07016/ufoc/.

Yawen, Lu. ‘Bell of the Ball: A Tribute to Long John Silver’s, Fast Food Underdog’. RICE (blog), 8 August 2022. https://www.ricemedia.co/long-john-silvers-ljs-singapore/.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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When times get tough, society plays games

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 05:00:31 GMT

It's been a...tense...week for some folks. A tense year. A tense life, even. Now, more than ever, let's take a break and focus on some cheery topics such as: the blitz, the black death, and gambling addiction. Yay...

This week we're talking about games on Seemingly Unrelated and their unusual habit of popping up right when the world seems to be at its lowest. Is the NYT Connections game a predictor of political disaster? How many people died when Americans refused to 'black out' their lights in World War II? Was the first notorious European gambler an advocate for mental health treatment? The answers to these questions and more will be resolved with a rush of relief in episode four of Seemingly Unrelated.

‘A Puzzling Career, Spring 2006, Northwestern Magazine’. Accessed 8 November 2024. https://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/spring2006/alumninews/wherearetheynow/banderooge.html.

Abdul, Geneva. ‘What Connects Only Connect and New York Times? Game’s Similarity Puzzles Host’. The Guardian, 15 June 2023, sec. Media. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/15/connections-new-york-times-puzzle-only-connect-victoria-coren-mitchell.

Bana; Cowell, Edward B. (Edward Byles); Thomas, Frederick William (1897). The Harsa-carita of Bana. University of California Libraries. London : Royal Asiatic Society. p. 65.

David Sidney Parlett. The Oxford Guide to Card Games. Oxford University Press, 1990. http://archive.org/details/oxfordguidetocar00parl.

Denning, Trevor. The Playing-Cards of Spain: A Guide for Historians and Collectors. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1996.

Gannon, Michael. Operation Drumbeat: The Dramatic True Strory of Germany’s Fast U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II. Harper Collins, 2011.

MCNY Blog: New York Stories. ‘The “Dimming” of Times Square’, 16 August 2011. https://blog.mcny.org/2011/08/16/the-dimming-of-times-square-2/.

Shepard, Richard F. ‘Bambi Is a Stag and Tubas Don’t Go “Pah-Pah”: The Ins and Outs of Across and Down’. The New York Times, 16 February 1992, sec. Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/16/magazine/bambi-is-a-stag-and-tubas-dont-go-pahpah-the-ins-and-outs-of-across.html. Smith, David. ‘So You Thought Sudoku Came from the Land of the Rising Sun ...’ The Observer, 15 May 2005, sec. Media. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/may/15/pressandpublishing.usnews.

Times, The New York. ‘Answers About World War II in New York, Part III’. City Room, 1286223289. https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/answers-about-world-war-ii-in-new-york-part-iii/.

Valinsky, Jordan. ‘Move over Wordle, the New York Times Might Have Found Its next Hit Game | CNN Business’. CNN, 28 August 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/28/business/connections-nyt-new-game-launch/index.html.

‘Wyna Liu’. Accessed 8 November 2024. https://madmuseum.org/learn/wyna-liu.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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CAPTCHA and Guatamalan Batman

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 05:00:47 GMT

Are you even a human? This is the existential question we all get asked on a daily basis from the likes of Google, Instagram, TikTok and other tech companies that frankly are in no position to question our humanity.

That's right, today's topic is CAPTCHA. Will you be able to decipher the words we say as they are scrambled into a wavy multicoloured mess? Perhaps you can identify which central American country CAPTCHA is being used in to fight crime? Or will you just download tons of pornography and rage against the machine?

All these questions and more will be given a great big green check mark on this week's episode of Seemingly Unrelated!

Footnotes:

Burgess, Matt. ‘Captcha Is Dying. This Is How It’s Being Reinvented for the AI Age’. Wired. Accessed 28 October 2024. https://www.wired.com/story/captcha-automation-broken-history-fix/.

Gault, Matthew. ‘Captcha Is Asking Users to Identify Objects That Don’t Exist’. VICE (blog), 24 May 2023. https://www.vice.com/en/article/captcha-is-asking-users-to-identify-objects-that-dont-exist/.

Gugliotta, Guy. ‘Deciphering Old Texts, One Woozy, Curvy Word at a Time’. The New York Times, 28 March 2011, sec. Science. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/science/29recaptcha.html.

Ovide, Shira. ‘Tired of Proving You’re Not a Robot? Say Goodbye to Captcha Boxes.’ Washington Post, 25 July 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/25/captchas-hate-privacy-pass/.

‘The Future of CAPTCHAs’. Accessed 28 October 2024. https://anti-captcha.com/apidoc/articles/the-future-of-captchas.

Krzyworzeka, Natalia, Lidia Ogiela, and Marek R Ogiela. “Cognitive CAPTCHA Password Reminder.” Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) 23, no. 6 (2023): 3170-.

Kumar, Mohinder, M. K. Jindal, and Munish Kumar. “An Efficient Technique for Breaking of Coloured Hindi CAPTCHA.” Soft computing (Berlin, Germany) 27, no. 16 (2023): 11661–11686.

Metz, Rachel. AI Startup Says It Has Defeated Captchas. Technology Review (1998). Vol. 117. Cambridge: Technology Review, Inc, 2014.

“Humans + Porn = Solved Captcha.” Network security 2007, no. 11 (2007): 2–2.

https://gizmodo.com/gpt4-open-ai-chatbot-task-rabbit-chatgpt-1850227471

Alnfiai, Mrim, and Fawaz Alassery. “TapCAPTCHA: Non-Visual CAPTCHA on Touchscreens for Visually Impaired People.” Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces 16, no. 4 (2022): 385–398.

Shi, Chenghui, Xiaogang Xu, Shouling Ji, Kai Bu, Jianhai Chen, Raheem Beyah, and Ting Wang. “Adversarial CAPTCHAs.” IEEE transactions on cybernetics 52, no. 7 (2022): 1–14.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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How did Sperm Whales help Thatcher re-elected?

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 05:00:23 GMT

How did sperm whales help get Margaret Thatcher re-elected in 1983? Well, obviously they sent postcards from Antarctica.

Today's episode of Seemingly Unrelated takes us all the way down to the Antarctic to find out about whale hunting. Why are they called Sperm Whales? What happened on Deception Island? Where is the worst postal appointment in the world? Would you believe that Thatcher was universally disliked when she was prime minister?

If you're enjoying these first three episodes, please consider stopping by our Patreon for a 4th bonus episode available right now! Just visit seeminglyunrelatedpod.com to find that and the footnotes, socials, everything related to the show.

Footnotes:

‘1983: Thatcher Triumphs Again’. 5 April 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393313.stm.

‘A History of Whaling | National Science and Media Museum’. https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/history-whaling.

Biggs, Simon. ‘Raid on Deception Island. Antarctica’. RoyalMarinesHistory, 15 February 2020. https://www.royalmarineshistory.com/post/2020/02/15/raid-on-deception-island-antarctica.

British Antarctic Survey. ‘The Antarctic Treaty (1959)’. https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/antarctica/the-antarctic-treaty/the-antarctic-treaty-1959/.

Facts, Whale. ‘Spermaceti’. Whale Facts (blog), 29 April 2013. https://www.whalefacts.org/spermaceti/.

Freedman, Lawrence. The Official History of the Falklands Campaign: War and Diplomacy. Psychology Press, 2005.

Fuchs, V. E. Organisation and Methods. Vol. 1. London: HMSO, 1953. https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511141/.

‘Landing - South Georgia Heritage Trust’, 22 August 2024. https://sght.org/.

NBC News. ‘Awash in Whale, Japan Can’t Eat It All’, 9 February 2006. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11258464.

‘SDP: Breaking the Mould’. 25 January 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1136223.stm.

‘South Georgia, Operation Paraquat - Falkland War 1982’. . https://www.naval-history.net/F32-South_Georgia_retaken-Paraquat.htm.

UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. ‘Operation Tabarin and Its Postal History 1943-1945’. https://shop.ukaht.org/products/operation-tabarin-and-its-postal-history-1943-1945.

Whale & Dolphin Conservation UK. ‘What Is Baleen?’ https://uk.whales.org/whales-dolphins/what-is-baleen/.

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

🎵 Subscribe to the show everywhere

📽️ Find the videos on Youtube

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The dark side of pre-paying for electricity

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 05:00:08 GMT

Welcome to the very first episode of Seemingly Unrelated!

This is the podcast all about the mundane, everyday things we don't think too much about but which have connections to huge events, moments, ideas, etc.

We are your hosts, Dr. Andrew Johnstone and Jason Heat. One is a lecturer and academic with decades of experience in cultural heritage and the other is an actor, writer, and wrestling commentator. We like to keep the theme of seemingly unrelated consistent.

This first episode centers around pre-paid electricity meters/metres. If you've lived in some low quality rental accommodations, you might well know about these disastrous things but if not it's fine everything will make sense soon enough. While they have been bugging renters for decades, there is a sinister, seemingly unrelated connection to rent strikes in Apartheid South Africa.

How will these things be connected? Listen to find out on the first episode of Seemingly Unrelated!

Footnotes:

Brederode, William. ‘Prepaid Electricity Crisis: There Might Be More than 70 Million Meters That Stop Working next Year’. News24.

https://bit.ly/4foynei

Citizens Advice. ‘Almost Half a Million Could Be Forced onto Pricey Pay-as-You-Go Meters by the End of the Year, Warns Citizens Advice’, 30 September 2022. https://bit.ly/3YF5Kng

Ding, et al. ‘Prepayment Meters Strongly Associated with Economic and Health Deprivation: An Observational, Cross-Sectional Study’. medRxiv, 10 January 2023.

‘ESKOM ENCOURAGES INDIGENT HOUSEHOLDS TO CLAIM FREE BASIC ELECTRICITY - Eskom’, 29 September 2021. https://www.eskom.co.za/eskom-encourages-indigent-households-to-claim-free-basic-electricity/.

‘Free Basic Electricity / Alternative Energy: Oversight; Electrical Power Interruptions: Solutions and Strategies | PMG’. https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/14159/.

Jacome, Veronica, and Isha Ray. ‘The Prepaid Electric Meter: Rights, Relationships and Reification in Unguja, Tanzania’. World Development 105 (1 May 2018): 262–72.

Kambule, et al. ‘Formulating Best Practice Recommendations for Prepaid Electricity Meter Deployment in Soweto, South Africa – Capitalising on the Developed-World’s Experiences’. Journal of Public Affairs 22, no. 4 (2022): e2646.

Kambule, et al. ‘Exploring the Driving Factors of Prepaid Electricity Meter Rejection in the Largest Township of South Africa’. Energy Policy 124 (1 January 2019): 199–205.

Malama, et al. ‘The Effects of the Introduction of Prepayment Meters on the Energy Usage Behaviour of Different Housing Consumer Groups in Kitwe, Zambia’. AIMS Energy 2, no. 3 (2014): 237–59.

Media, P. A. ‘Extra Costs for Customers on Prepayment Meters to Be Scrapped in Budget’. The Guardian, 11 March 2023, sec. Money.

https://bit.ly/4hyVeWm

‘Prepayment Electricity Metres’. Nature 139, no. 3530 (1 June 1937): 1101–2.

Schnitzler, Antina von. ‘Citizenship Prepaid: Water, Calculability, and Techno-Politics in South Africa’. Journal of Southern African Studies 34, no. 4 (2008): 899–917.

Democracy’s Infrastructure: Techno-Politics and Protest after Apartheid. Princeton University Press, 2016.

Sky News. ‘Why the Problem of Prepayment Meters Won’t Go Away for Vulnerable Energy Customers’.

‘South Africa : Soweto Prepaid Electricity Metering Concerns to Be Heard by Public Enterprises and Cogta Portfolio Committees - ProQuest’. .

Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.

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🎰 Want even more? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month and a list of sources for this episode on our Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.