Misc

Everything else that defies categorization

351 episodes Page 3 of 18

#5367: Circling the ER: Driving When You Can't Stop

What do you do when the destination has no parking and a sick passenger in the seat? A holding pattern for city streets.

executive-protectionaviationemergency-preparedness

#5365: Padded Tool Belts: Do They Actually Carry More?

Padded belts don't raise your weight ceiling — they move the load onto your hip bones. Here's what the brands actually rate.

ergonomicshuman-factorshardware-standards

#5362: Building a Workbench Superstructure From T-Slot

T-slot, welded steel, or strut channel? How to build a vertical frame that carries monitors, shelves, and lights off your desktop.

diymechanical-engineeringergonomics

#5361: Choosing a Foldable Workbench for a Tiny Jerusalem Apartment

What actually matters when your workbench has to fold into a closet — and why plastic tables fail at the joints, not the top.

diyergonomicsusability

#5360: Ful Medames: Slow Cooker vs Pressure Cooker

Dried fava beans, a slow cooker, and one overnight soak — the idiot-proof path to Egyptian street-style ful medames.

digestive-physiologygut-healthmaterial-science

#5358: Ivy League Is a Sports Conference

The Ivy League is an athletic conference, not an academic body — and that tells you everything about how university rankings actually work.

taxonomycultural-biaslegacy-systems

#5354: Ten Beer Festivals, Ancient to Modern

From Hathor's temple to a Denver convention hall — ten drinking festivals and what actually changed over 3,000 years.

cultural-biaspolitical-historyhistorical-linguistics

#5349: Why Israel Feels Like a Country at War With Quiet

Balagan, matkot, and tailgating in the Negev: what explains Israel's loud, urgent tempo — and why "security" isn't the answer.

israelpolitical-historycultural-bias

#5345: Why Trades Still Say Apprentice, Journeyman, Master

A papyrus contract from 18 BC, a five-euro coin, and the German Walz — how one medieval ladder survived only in the licensed trades.

labor-ethicswork-culturehistorical-linguistics

#5339: How Auction Insiders Find the $9,000 Forklift

Government surplus, factory liquidation, and bankruptcy sales are three different animals — and the pros who profit know exactly where to look.

supply-chainindustrial-automationlogistics

#5337: The World's Weirdest Museums: Poop, Parasites, and Broken Hearts

From a Poozeum in Arizona to Tokyo's parasite museum, we explore the world's most oddly specific collections and the obsession behind them.

taxonomycultural-biasdigital-preservation

#5334: Ten Legal Loopholes Hiding in Plain Sight

Empty boxes dodging a billion pounds in UK business rates, pizza counted as a vegetable, and the squatter-hunter who turned adverse possession into...

tenant-rightsland-ownershiptax-compliance

#5332: The Real Story Behind Lunch Atop a Skyscraper

That famous photo wasn't the Empire State Building, wasn't a candid moment, and the "fearless Mohawk" legend is false. Here's what really happened.

structural-engineeringlabor-ethicslegend-building

#5331: Steeplejacks, Linemen, and Tower Climbers

Three jobs that look like pure nerve — steeplejacks, helicopter linemen, tower climbers — and what they're actually doing up there.

electrical-engineeringsituational-awarenessinfrastructure

#5330: Who Actually Works on a Live 765kV Line?

Helicopter barehand work on a 765kV line is the top few percent of the trade — here's who gets there, and what it costs.

electrical-engineeringinfrastructurework-culture

#5326: What Makes a Bar a Third Place?

A listener's search for a bar where you can actually hear your friend — and the 35-year-old sociology that explains why it's so hard to find.

urban-designurban-planningwork-culture

#5324: Retention by the Numbers: Who Actually Trains Their People?

Most small organizations run training programs — they just don't call them that. What the data says about who invests in talent, and why it pays.

work-culturefuture-of-workproductivity

#5323: When to Keep Old Tech for Parts (and When to Let Go)

An old Kindle in a drawer raises a question every collector faces: spare, parts donor, or e-waste?

right-to-repaire-wastemodular-hardware

#5322: How New Is the Air You're Breathing?

A sealed air pillow from AliExpress leads to a genuinely strange question: how old are the molecules you're breathing right now?

atmospheric-scienceair-qualitymaterial-science

#5320: Where Does Micro-Engraving Actually Begin?

The naked eye's real resolution limit isn't what textbooks say — and it changes everything about micro-engraving and micro-soldering.

precision-engineeringhuman-factorsergonomics