Underunderstood posts
Posts: 141
Files: 395
Where Do These Muffins Come From?
Adrianne looks for the origin of an NYC blueberry muffin.Show notes: The Street Vendor Project JMJ Baking (Food and Drink International) Adrianne's Reddit post
Flavio Skittela
Skittles needs to get its story straight.Show notes: Jason Liebig's video about Skittles (Instagram) Skittles (Wikipedia) Mars's "History" webpage An ad for Skittles and others from 1971: Galaxy candies in 1972: Skittles 7oz candy pack bag (Jason's Flickr)
This House Is Not a House
A strange viral Zillow listing catches John's attention.Show notes: The original Zillow listing Zillow Gone Wild post (Facebook) The House On Wade Avenue (YouTube) New pump station in Hampton strategically disguised to look like a home Transformer Houses (Bldgblog) Neighborhood Transformers: Inside Toronto's Stealthy House-Shaped Substations (99% Invisible) 58 Joralemon Street (Instagram) Brooklyn Vent (Blodgblog)
Is Kanye Allowed to Sleep in a Stadium?
Kanye has been living in a stadium in Atlanta for two weeks. Is that really allowed?Show notes: Kanye West Fans Turn Up at Donda Show ‘to See History Unfold’ The room in question: Mercedes-Benz Stadium's A TO Z GUIDE Mercedes-Benz Stadium's Private Events page City of Atlanta Property Information
What Did Sam Morris Do?
Sam Morris wants to know why Twitter suspended Sam Morris.Show notes: @sammorris is still suspended as of this writing Our guest Sam Morris The model Sam Morris The Library of Congress's most recent update on the Twitter archive Note: For some reason Adrianne keeps saying the account has been suspended for eight years in this episode, but it's probably over a decade, possible as much as 14 years.
Alexa & Friends
A look at how Alexa came to be, and a mystery about Mark Zuckerberg's personal voice assistant. Overdub, the voice creating feature in Descript Amazon Unbound GladOS from Portal Dude talking to Alexa Nina Rolle's website The Verge article about the voice of Alexa Amazon's new male voice, Ziggy
What Happened to Kansas City's Rock-afire Explosion?
John tries to track down one of the last copies of a famous animatronic pizza band.Show notes: The Rock-afire Explosion performs a Beatles medley (YouTube) "The Rock-afire Explosion" documentary has been posted to YouTube Reddit thread about the KC Rock-afire bar closing The band being loaded into a truck (Instagram) A tweet inquiring about the KC Rock-afire's move to Branson The Rock-afire Explosion at Billybob's Wonderland (YouTube)
The oFISHial Rules For Disposing of Goldfish
A viral post about massive Minnesotan goldfish left Regina with some unanswered questions.Show NotesAssociated Press: Unwanted pets: Giant goldfish turn up in Minnesota waterwaysStar Tribune: Football-sized goldfish found in Burnsville lake, prompting plea not to dump petsCity of Burnsville pleads on Twitter:A comprehensive list of Minnesota's invasive species laws. 84D.08 ESCAPE OF NONNATIVE AND INVASIVE SPECIES:(a) A person that allows or causes the introduction of an animal that is a prohibited invasive, regulated invasive, or unlisted n...
Surfing and Copyright
Billy has questions about Mark Zuckerberg's music choices on Instagram.Show notes: The 4th of July post Lift eFoils electric surfboards The post featuring JessB's "Bullseye" Adam Mosseri's post using Childish Gambino's "Feels Like Summer" Casey Newton's Platformer
Peter Pan Fail
Adrianne debunks Peter Pan truthers on Reddit.Show notes: Nathan's viral tweet Reddit truther 1 Reddit truther 2 A famous Peter Pan fail on YouTube "Fiasco!" (This American Life) My Life as a Meme: 'I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This' Revisited (Vice) Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Wikipedia) Fly by Foy
Mangos and Bronze Rhino
Adrianne shares some mango research and John presents a mystery about an Irish Rhino statue.Show notes: zzmango.com Tweet from Chris Xu “We are facing some problems with shipping out mangoes to the United States” (Fresh Plaza) This has a nice little map of where mangoes in the US come from Rhino sunk without trace in the Dodder (Irish Times) Reddit post about the Rhino Satellite view of the river on Google Maps How to Pour Foundation Concrete Under Water
Natural in Space
Adrianne fact-checks Trivial Pursuit to find a lost boy band song allegedly commissioned by NASA. NASA on mission to planet pop (New Scientist) Natural's first hit, "Put Your Arms Around Me" (YouTube) NASA wakeup calls (PDF) She Sends Songs Into the Skies (LA Times) "Way Up There," sung by Patti Labelle (YouTube) Weezer: "I Love the USA" was commissioned by NASA (YouTube) NASA Mission Probes Alien Terrain Of Pop Culture for Signs of Support (Wall Street Journal) Natural on Wikipedia
Static at the Pump
Regina has another question about gas.Show notes: 00:44 - I got married on May 27th and Adrianne, Billy and John gave a speech that made me cry. We did not play the Underunderstood theme song, though we definitely should have. 01:46 - r/whatcarshouldibuy & hoovie’s garage are some of his favorites 02:38 - Here’s a sonos subreddit in case you want to spend $6k on speakers. 05:52 - The state of New Jersey has only full service gas stations. 07:00 - I am pretty sure my math was wrong here. He’s 33. 10:00 - Evidence of people having issues wi...
Who Is John, the Gay Psychic Santa from The Circle?
An early episode this week! We'll be back to Thursday next week.The Circle is back, and there's a mysterious catfish named John. Who is this "full time psychic, part time Santa"?Show notes: The Circle on Netflix Season 2 Trailer (YouTube) Pimeyes Kris Kringles are forking over cash to take ‘Santa’ classes (New York Post) Dave Saunders (@santadept25)
$902.81
An obscure CD is listed for over $900 on Amazon. What's the scam?Show notes: Dubious Ranger on Bandcamp Uneasy Truce at the Watering Hole on Amazon The Devil's Dating Service on Amazon, currently for $970 Used CDs on Amazon for $902.81 (Film Score message board)
The Other Mars 2112
John has found another dead theme restaurant and wants to know what happened to it.If you're listening to this on Patreon and you'd rather use your favorite podcast app, you can do that! Instructions are available here, but if you have issues, don't hesitate to message us.Show notes: Mars 2112 on Wikipedia Shaquille O'Neal Turned Away from Mars 2112 (Eater) Woodfield Mall Meets Outer-Space (History of Schaumburg Township) Photos of the Illinois location The dream of DisneyQuest is dead (Polygon)
Turn the Light Off Or We’re Going to Jail
Regina has some questions about road trips and the law.If you're listening to this on Patreon and you'd rather use your favorite podcast app, you can do that! Instructions are available here, but if you have issues, don't hesitate to message us.Show notes: TikTok about this by @aaryell "is it illegal to turn inside light on while driving" (Google search) Is It Illegal to Drive With Interior Lights On? (Schaefer Autobody Centers) Why do some people say its illegal to turn on the lights in your car while it’s moving? (Quora)
Billy Eichner's Shorts
What's going on with an unidentified patch left in Billy Eichner's luggage?Show notes: Billy Eichner's Instagram video TSA's luggage search policies TSA video showing luggage search procedures FBI’s Role in Access Control Measures at Our Nation’s Airports (FBI.gov) Patch comparison
Something on the Tables at the Oscars
Regina noticed something strange during the Oscars this past weekend, so she goes looking for answers.Show notes: Yuh-Jung Youn wins Best Supporting Actress (YouTube) The Covid-19 Oscars: Not Masked but Still Muffled (New York Times) Masks at the Oscars? Here’s how the Academy Awards are happening in person (LA Times) Seen on the 2021 Oscars. Anyone know what these cup shaped things are on the tables? (Reddit) K-Array Tornado-KTL2 Anthony Hopkins on TikTok
The $100 Million Meme Stock Deli
A deli in New Jersey has suddenly become a baffling meme stock.Show notes: Hometown Deli's Facebook page The deli's annual report Matt Levine's newsletter A small update from after we recorded: $100 million NJ deli linked to shell company E-Waste, whose stock has soared despite having no real business
A Trivia Test-Run
Some sample questions to get us in the mood for this weekend's trivia contest!If you want to get involved this weekend, send an email (hello@underunderstood.com) with the subject line "Trivia", or hit us up in Discord to get set up. It runs from Friday evening through Sunday, and there's no limit to the number of participants.Show notes (answer spoilers below): The story we worked on at The Outline about the competition Episode of The Outline World Dispatch that explains the Robert Redford thing (Apple Podcasts) Dilbert comic st...
Censoring 6teen
Who dubbed over this episode of a mid-2000s cartoon?Show notes: 6teen (Wikipedia) 6teen episode: "Mr Nice Guy" (YouTube) TVTropes on 6teen 6teen on the Censorships wiki VidAngel
The Burger King Kids Club’s Secret Member
What happened to Jazz?Show notes: McDonaldland on Wikipedia Burger King Kids Club commercial (YouTube) List of Kids Club characters (Fandom) A clear image of the Kids Club characters 1990 Kids Club commercial (YouTube) Burger King Character of Unknown Origin (Reddit) Burger King Kids Club: The Origins Of Jazz (Deviantart) An issue of Adventures magazine for sale (eBay)
Piccolini Cuscino
What kind of pasta was Robert Pattinson talking about?Show notes: Robert Pattinson: A Dispatch From Isolation (GQ) Comic about robert pattinson cooking (Jennifer Xiao) I Made Robert Pattinson’s Infamously Gross Pasta Recipe (Tyler Oakley - YouTube) i made robert pattinson's GQ pasta (scrivspo - YouTube) I Tried Making Robert Pattinson's Weird Pasta Recipe (Buzzfeed India - YouTube)
The Bunny Agreement
Something is amiss in the world of battery brand mascots.Show notes: Search results for "batteries" on amazon.in Probably the first Duracell bunny ad Another Duracell bunny ad "About Us" in Duracell UK First Energizer bunny ad Ad with the Duracell bunny's voice Lawsuit filed by Energizer against Duracell in 2016 Filing that mentions the Bunny Agreement
Hibernation and Sleep Paralysis
Regina finds a TikTok about hibernation.Show notes: The first Tik Tok The second TikTok Some Animals Don't Actually Sleep for the Winter, and Other Surprises About Hibernation (National Geographic) More hibernation podcast: We discovered after recording that How Stuff Works also did an episode about this
Emergency Call 911
Adrianne investigates a peculiar message on a New York City bus.Show notes: "EMERGENCY CALL POLICE" on MTA Bus Destination (Reddit) Bus with signs reading “Emergency! Call police” and “Help! Call 911”? (Reddit) Bus Messaging (Reddit) Opie and Anthony clip (Trigger warning: these guys suck) Man attacks MTA bus with driver, passengers inside (Fox 5 New York) Aaron Gordon's current newsletter, Urbababble
Webdriver Torso
John takes us back to 2014 to revisit a solved internet mystery.Show notes: tmpqjyiOb(YouTube) Wired UK article where Webdriver Torso first gained traction Webdriver Torso YouTube mystery clips' French connection (BBC) The Eiffel Tower clip(YouTube) The Truth About Webdriver Torso (Internet Archive) YouTube’s weirdest channel keeps getting weirder (Daily Dot) Rickroll video(YouTube) Google and the accidental mystery of Webdriver Torso (Engadget) astronaut.io
Media Cruises
A trip through media company-affiliated vacations.Show notes: Postcard From Peru: Why the Morality Plays Inside The Times Won’t Stop (New York Times) NYT Student Journeys Summer 2018 Brochure The Nation Cruise Academic Travel Abroad
[Insert episode title here]
(*Regina, drop the episode description here)Show notes: The original tweet from Ottawa Public Health Ottawa Public Health's misinformation site Liz Plank on Intagram
