In 1993, TV news studios started receiving calls from kids who opened their Barbies and GI Joe dolls for Christmas only to discover Barbie shouting militaristic slogans and GI Joe talking about shopping. Later parodied on The Simpsons, this bit of "culture jamming" has its origins right here in Portland (which also involves ipecac, mashed potatoes,…

It's nice to find a library that has every book. But what if there's a library with every book ever printed, but also every sentence, paragraph, and page that could ever be written in the future? It's a heady concept, and it's called "The Library of Babel," which has more "books" than atoms in the entire universe. It's a lot, so join us this week a…

And if you thought those three things weren't enough, we also dive into sending the "essence of humanity" to the moon, Oregon's "devil comet" and Dark Sky Sanctuary, giant hybrid sheep, and Deez Nuts get arrested.By Mark and Toddcast

Pressed into the asphalt of Philadelphia, Boston, Richmond, Kansas City, and even Santiago and Barcelona are these mysterious tiles talking about Kubric, resurrection, and Jupiter. What are they? Where did they come from? And do they mean anything? Take a dive into the weird world of the Toynbee Tiles. Also, another successful pilot project for Uni…

After an entire year of waiting, the Madonna concert finally happened! Take a ride with Mark and Todd as they travel to Seattle to catch Madonna's fantastic Celebration Tour on Part 2 of Mark and Todd's Big Adventure!By Mark and Toddcast

In this mostly real-time episode, Mark has a surprise adventure for Todd to celebrate both their birthdays, which ends up being quite the ride. Get to the choppa!By Mark and Toddcast

It was sort of the Segway before the Segway: a commuter monorail system balanced by a series of gyroscopes. While this innovation never took off, there are still modern-day companies working to revive the concept. Find out more this week, along with an apocalypse of cicadas, ungrateful fans sue Madonna, cold Tesla batteries, video proof that plants…

Everyone has heard of the famous Stanford Prison Experiment, which purported to show that anyone could become a monster warden or beaten-down prisoner in the matter of a week. But what if that whole experiment was kind of bullshit? This week we take apart the experiment, and discuss news including the end of the beloved Fruit Stripe gum, federally …

This week we blow up a story about one of the most famous non-famous people in the world: Treb Heining, whose work with balloons has transformed, well, ballooning, I guess. Hear his wonderful story (the ups and the downs), as well as news stories about the new Portland waterfront skate park, a new study about the regret rate of transition surgeries…

It's that time of year again - let's go back and revisit Mark's top-of-show Dad Jokes for 2023. Happy new year!By Mark and Toddcast

This week Todd welcomes Dave Baehler of the NotNerd Podcast to give a final news roundup up the year! Join us as we tackle news about the "holy grail" of male contraception, ChatGPT gets seasonal affective disorder, First Thursdays at the Portland Art Museum, Big Pink's new security robot, Google's top searches of 2023 (and forever), a rare pair of…

Looking for a fun holiday excursion or something to do with out-of-town folk? Why not take a tour of some of Portland's finest hand-made chocolatiers? Mark takes us on a first-hand journey -- with samples! -- to some of the best. All that, as well as a look at "Greedflation," retail stores lying about consumer theft, PlayStation takes your purchase…

This week Todd is joined by co-host of the NotNerd podcast Nate Heath to discuss everything from flying hamburgers, to Portland's new ice rink, "super pigs," woolly mammoth resurrection, Banksy's identity, retailers lying about theft issues, and a closer look at some of the successful Universal Basic Income experiments happening all over the United…

Fonts didn't suddenly spring into existence with the word processor in the 1980s. In fact, fonts have been around since people have been writing things down, back to 8500 BC. Take a ride with us to see how we go from cuneiform to comic sans on this episode.By Mark and Toddcast

From tracing apps to stranded astronauts to MDMA to Lloyd Center to ABBA to Best Buy to Netflix to Twinkies to the Jantzen Beach carousel to black holes to photons to Costco selling out of gold bars, I think we pretty much cover everything in this episode.By Mark and Toddcast

The human body is 2.5% metal, which we need in order to produce electricity, heal our skin, and make us move and think, among other things. We're not saying we're robots, but we're sort of robots. This week we dive into the weird world of metals, and how exactly our bodies need and use them to pilot the other 97.5% of us that's an organic, goopy pi…

This week we discuss both the question "What exactly is radiation?" as well as the history of the most ubiquitous word on the entire planet: "OK." Where did it come from? How did this tiny word take over the whole world? All that, plus lots of Portland news, and angry Furries fighting on beaches. Enjoy, ok?…

After discussing how submarines surface and dive (in other words, "how do you store buoyancy?) and our one-of-a-kind "Just the Headlines!" segment, we take a look into the history of red food dye, and what to look out for if you want to avoid the "bad" kind of food coloring. Spoilers: You want the dye made from smashed up bugs grown on a cactus. No…

This week we veer from Netflix to Amazon to Silver Falls to asking the most important question: wtf is going on with TikTok's new NPC trend? We try to make sense of it all on this week's show. Enjoy it like ice cream yum yum.By Mark and Toddcast

Todd recaps his recent vacation to eastern Idaho, Craters of the Moon, and Mark's old Navy training area, and recent science/Portland news. Then we take a look into the real-life Johnny Appleseed. Was he a mythical Paul Bunyan story, or was he a real person? Find out this week.By Mark and Toddcast

Most of us maybe know one thing about George Washington Carver -- that he invented peanut butter. Not only is that not true, but his work with peanuts was just a tiny slice of the botanical and agricultural advances - from crop rotation to use of organic fertilizers - he pioneered. Find out more on this week's show.…

This week we dive a bit further into the world of AI art, specifically in how AI works around the world of copyright protection. Who does AI art belong to? Can it be protected? Find out this week.By Mark and Toddcast

Many of us have heard of the Biosphere 2 project - it was one of the main news stories of 1991, which Todd just visited in Arizona. But many don't know the full history, controversy, and eventual take-over of the project from the genius hippy theater freaks who built it to.....yes, Steve Bannon, and then eventually the University of Arizona.…

Look who found their way back to the studio! We're back for an all-news catch-up show detailing some of the bigger stories we flagged over the past month or so.By Mark and Toddcast

This week we take a short look into an indigenous South American warrior named Galvarino, who, despite having his hands cut off by Spanish Conquistadors, strapped knives to his stumps to rally his fellow Mapuche community into fighting back. In the news: the Portland Wolverine is sighted again, a promising anti-Alzheimer enzyme, remembering Darcell…

This week we have a nice CozyCast™ discussion about science and Portland news, including meatballs made from mammoth meat, the closing of Cracker Barrel, Portland's wolverine sightings, Walmart eliminates grocery bags, US renewable energy outpaces oil, the Exploding Whales baseball team, the power of Dad Jokes, and a very special edition of Hero Ci…

This week we revisit the topic of moral panics, and discuss some of the elements into what makes a moral panic, from switchblades to saggy pants to everything in between. In the news segment: Naval space lasers, facial recognition laws, can money buy happiness?, a fungus named after Keanu Reeves, the price of insulin drops, and the Trail Blazers ge…

After catching up on a months-worth of science and Portland news, we take a look at a little company from Ridgefield, Washington that had one simple idea: "What if I could borrow a truck to help me move my stuff to a different city?"By Mark and Toddcast

Like it or not, Artificial Intelligence -- in many different areas -- will have an enormous impact on the future. This week we take a look at where AI is right now, some of its current applications, and some of the ramifications coming in the future. But the most important thing, McDONALD'S IN AUSTRALIA IS NO LONGER CARRYING DIET COKE THIS IS NOT A…

This week we bring you the story of Mark's neighbor Rose, a woman in her late 20's who has already had two heart transplants, and is now on the waiting list for both a heart and liver transplant. She honored us by telling her story about navigating the emotional burdens, as well as the medical and insurance nightmares that come with long-term care.…

It's that time of year again where we take a look back and compile all the Dad Jokes from the beginning of each episode. Enjoy, and thanks for another great year!By Mark and Toddcast

This week we're joined by Brock Dittus and Aaron Flores (you may recognize them from the Sprocket Podcast), who talk about the process of recreating a long-lost song found on a demonstration cassette tape. All that, and plenty Rick Emerson talk, ending with Emerson's epic 8/8/08 radio speech. Enjoy! Find out more about Brock and his music here: htt…

If you've seen "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?," you know Pepsi doesn't have a great track record with promotions. This week we're joined by guest Ryan Zeinert, who talks about yet another Pepsi marketing fiasco from 2003 when they tried to give away a billion dollars.By Mark and Toddcast

There's not a lot of places where conversations can pivot from boiling water to aging Twinks to (thought-to-be) extinct clams to a man robbing a bank with his own birth certificate to NASA's new Artemis moon mission program, but that's just what makes the Mark & Toddcast so special.By Mark and Toddcast

Fall is here, and it's time to get comfortable under a warm blanket and just have a cozy, comfortable, meandering chat about the Portland Timbers, the Portland Elk Statue, van abductions, mosquito magnets, grenades washing ashore, and, of course, Cheetle™.By Mark and Toddcast

This week we present a "cozy cast" as we kick back and wonder about why lemons make your face pucker when you eat them, how Auto Tune is the new electric guitar, Lloyd Center turning into a roller skating rink, more about Havana Syndrome, Biden puff-puff-passes marijuana reform, Nixon exposed to radiation, and that time a nursing home in Taiwan ord…

This week we recorded live from behind the Unipiper merch booth at the Vancouver Mall during the first annual CouveCon! Enjoy the retro sounds of a bustling mall in this "nature is healing" episode of the Mark and Toddcast.By Mark and Toddcast

A wise man once said, "We were so occupied with the fact that we could, that we didn't stop to ask if we should." So 30 years later, here we are formulating plans to bring back extinct species like the Woolly Mammoth and carrier pigeon. Find out all about the real-life science behind bringing species back to life. In the news segment: the Willamett…

While James Strang, "The Mad King of Lake Michigan," has nothing to do with the ousted bratwurst queen, both get highlighted in this week's episode. That, and the evolution of club/dance music. So really, we're just all over the place.By Mark and Toddcast

Most likely you've at least heard (or seen a meme of) Alex Jones at some point over the past two decades, and more recently during his trial for defamation about his Sandy Hook conspiracy theories. But who is he, really? Where did he come from? And is a dangerous true believer, a con artist, a ringmaster, a manipulator, or just a soulless, narcissi…

We finally put the "Mark" back in the Mark & Toddcast as Mark rejoins the show after his hiatus. This week we catch up on Todd's family vacation to Colorado, science, culture, and Portland news, and then give an little overview of how the VHS and Beta formats work.By Mark and Toddcast

This week we dive into one of the most useful personality type tools out there: the Enneagram, which has been used throughout human history. Special guest Chelsea Heath joins the show to give an overview of what the Enneagram is (and isn't), how it works, and what it can mean for people who are striving to know themselves and their traumas better.…

Nothing is more predictable about society than the fact that old people panic about how everything they don't understand is a sign of the end times. Aristotle complained about how rude the youth were to the elders. Authority figures freaked out about Teddy Bears and cars. Parents rended their garments about the Satanic grip radio and comic books ha…

This week special guest host Dave Baehler of the NotNerd Podcast joins the show to take us on a trip from the theoretically smallest things in the universe, to the incomprehensibly largest things, and everything in between, from yottameter to zettameter. Meter? I barely knew her!By Mark and Toddcast

"Go Ask Alice" was a publishing and cultural phenomenon, with ramifications felt from the household level to the actual White House, and whose very real fallout included both the War on Drugs and the "Satanic Panic" of the 70s and 80s. But as Emerson discovered, perhaps not all was as real as it seemed with the mysterious, "Anonymous" book that sti…

This week we take a look at an international renowned chef and cookbook author James Beard, whose impact was so large that even Julia Child was a fan. We take a look at his start in Oregon, and his rise to be one of the most influential chefs in history. All that, and a special appearance by Zymo! "What is Zymo?" you may ask? Find out this week.…

Humans are the only species on earth that can "understand" music. Why is that? What exactly *is* music, and why can't animals seem to put the pieces together? This week we take a look at what goes on inside the human brain to turn sound into that magic entity -- which has the capacity to help us heal, grow, learn, recover, remember, and more -- we …

Yes, we've explored blockchain and bitcoin and NFTs before, but we're heading back in with a special guest (Mark's business partner Brett) who actually knows what he's talking about - so again we take a dive into just what this all means, especially for us "regular people."By Mark and Toddcast

Mark's away, which means Todd can play - and record an extra long episode with Nate and Dave from one of our favorite podasts, The NotNerd Podcast. After a wrap-up of news stories, Nate and Dave go head-to-head for this latest round of War of Wikipedia, in which each present a short, weird Wikipedia article to be judged by Todd as to whose is the m…

Much like "Tiger King," the story of the famous flight of the 1984 Olympic JetPack Guy takes some turns that go from mildly interesting to downright shocking. This week we find out how the jet pack (which isn't a jet pack, it's a rocket) was created, and what happened after its most famous flight.By Mark and Toddcast