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Nov 17, 2022•1 min
20k Leagues Under the Internet
You’re listening to 20,000 Leagues Under the Internet. A podcast where three friends explore online communities of the weird and strange phenomena from the deepest depths of the internet.
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Episodes
Ep.110 – eLaughter - The Evolution of LOL
We all laugh online, but each "haha" or "lolol" might have different underlying meaning depending on the individual and the recipient. But have you ever thought about the origins of online laughter? Well, it wasn't just the phonetic spelling or onomatopoeia of the sound a laugh makes. It dates much farther back to before Shakespeare times. Written laughter has evolved to a point where "ha ha" might sound malicious or "el oh el" might sound pretentious or "I'm riding the lollercoaster and peeing ...
Nov 11, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Ep.109 – Bite Labs - Eat Celebrity Meat
On the surface, Bite Labs sounds relatively innocent. Maybe a start-up that wants to disrupt the restaurant industry or make a food based dating app. But no, it's much more disgusting, confusing, and reprehensible than that. Bite Labs says they want to make salami out of 30% in-vitro human tissue specifically taken from celebrities such as James Franco, Kanye West, and Ellen Degeneres. And honestly, with a line up like that, we kinda feel like there are no better candidates to be ground up into ...
Nov 04, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 109
Ep.108 – The Right Stuff, Morbin Time, & Chaotic Sandwich Man
It's always a busy week on the internet and there's a lot to cover today. Conservatives created a dating app for men to meet tradwives called The Right Stuff, but unfortunately, most women want to be treated like human beings and also users data was immediately leaked. Morbin' time began as a joke tweet by a user with less than a thousand followers, which just goes to show how one individual can irrevocably change the internet landscape. The Chaotic Sandwich Guy gained popularity through his sla...
Oct 28, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Ep.107 – Schmoyoho
The Gregory Brothers have been YouTube pioneers for over a decade making parody songs with the use of auto-tune to alter political debates, newscasts, movies and more. Better known as Schmoyoho, the brothers have written songs for the Academy Awards and TV shows such as Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. More recently they have gone viral week after week on TikTok with their remixed songs using clips from popular Netflix series Stranger Things and other YouTube creators interviews. Does the Corn Song so...
Oct 21, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Ep.106 – Fat Bear Week
It's finally upon us; FAT BEAR WEEK. We've missed previous years, but not this time. We go through all the draft picks for the fattest bear at Katmai National Park. Returning champs, rookies, and dynasties are all in the running for who can gobble up the most fish. Some interesting techniques are being implemented this year from ambitious newcomers and sheer mass utilized to flood the zone from veterans of the game. Who will come out on top? Who will burn out in a blaze of glory? By the time you...
Oct 14, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 106
Ep.105 – Shrek Rave, Kia Boyz, & Christian Walker
Shrek is back in a big way or maybe it never left. This week Kyle is still gone, so we do a round up of the week. Jon saw a Shrek Rave and Harland Googled disgusting Shrek costumes. We discuss the obvious outcome of Christian Walker moving to Florida from Los Angeles, Spain made a grotesque mascot for their public transportation system, a "foodie" slathered their cutting board in butter and called it a "recipe", and a Mexican entrepreneur (maybe) destroyed Frida Kahlo art for his NFT scam. Linkt...
Oct 07, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Ep.104 – Shart Tank - Making a Cheese App
With Kyle out of town Jon and Harland try something a little different this week by expanding on our sh*tty shark tank bit and renaming it Shart Tank. We riff for a half hour using a random word generator in an attempt to come up with the internet's next big social media app. We also discuss the Nyquil chicken "craze" and the new cosmetic leg lengthening procedure that's sweeping the tech world. Linktree Find out more at http://20kleaguespod.com This podcast is powered by Pinecast ....
Sep 30, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Ep.103 – Mummy Juice
Let us drink the juice! In 2018 archaeologists discovered an ancient sarcophagus that they suspected held the remains of Alexander The Great. It didn't, but what it did contain was a delicious french onion bone stew whose scent brought men to their knees. The visual of the red sludge drove some men insane. And yet, as always, the internet went mad for the stuff. A change petition was created that has racked up over 30,000 signatures demanding we be able to taste the sweet slime. Four years later...
Sep 22, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Ep.102 – BeReal
Another new social media app, another way to mess up your kids. BeReal says its goal is to create "an alternative to addictive social networks" that focus on amassing influence and that it gives users a "chance to show your friends who you really are." But by participating in the creation of yet another app it's founders seem to fundamentally misunderstand or are ignorant to the consequences of too much internet. Anyway, watch us make fun of it and tell you all to go touch grass... again. Linktr...
Sep 16, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 102
Ep.101 – Chronically Online Behavior
We all know someone who spends too much of their time online and begins speaking in internet slang and parroting talking points from their favorite creator. This is all well and good until they begin expressing shock around the mundane or not recognizing what they are describing are every day emotions like empathy or dislike. This can have some dangerous consequences for those who are more susceptible to misinformation and end up falling down an alt-right pipeline. We discuss some of the terms o...
Sep 09, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Ep.100 – Glizzy's, The Adpocalypse, Birds Aren't Real
100 episodes, can you believe it?! We thought to celebrate this a special occasion we would take a look back at previous topics and see if new developments have... developed. Kyle tackles the newest in glizzy guzzling, quite literally, as we review a certain cinematic suction system on baseball patron implemented in the third inning. Harland expands on our Elsagate episode with a dive into the YouTube Adpocalypses that attempted to correct the bad behavior of sleazy creators. Jon brings it home ...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 100
Ep.99 – Primitive Technology
This week we discuss a scam. A content scam. This isn't something new as people steal jokes, designs, and all manner of intellectual property all the time all throughout history. This is just the most recent example and one were the perpetrators have filmed the evidence themselves with timestamps and geotags; primitive technology content creators. If you're not familiar with these types of channels, there is one man who was at the forefront of primitive technology content, John Plant. Every stru...
Aug 26, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 99
Ep.98 – Bored Ape Nazi Club
This week we take a look deeper into the NFT marketplace, specifically that of Yuga Labs' Bored Ape Yacht Club. Recently there has been a discussion of whether or not the NFT's are riddled with Nazi, racist, and anti-semetic imagery and ciphers. While there seems to be many coincidences or neglect, that doesn't mean Bored Apes are still not fully unproblematic. With many designs that can only be interpreted as offensive, not to mention the esoteric nature of the numerology implemented, and the u...
Aug 19, 2022•Season 1Ep. 98
Ep.97 – How to Get Bullied Online
Kyle is absent this week so we thought we'd do something a little different; we clean out our notes apps of all the small internet related stories that just don't justify their own episode. With that being said, we cover a lot of news that's happened recently and from far in the past. We address some of the comments on our Jimbly/Nexialist episode, dive into the rollercoaster of a ride that is Jake Novak's TikTok, shed some light on the red bikini of 2017, mourn the loss of the Choco Taco, give ...
Aug 12, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Ep.96 – Horny Brand Twitter
We've all seen brands flirting with their audiences and each other over the years from Wendy's to Duolingo to Pedialyte. Oftentimes the brands doing the flirting make no sense and have no business being horny on main and leads to many awkward moments and slip-ups. It was all fun and games initially with the inclusion of internet slang like "BAE" and "bruh", but things escalated quickly once the COVID-19 pandemic hit and blue balls set in. Audiences turned on company socials screaming "silence, b...
Aug 05, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Ep.95 – Worlds.com -Jimbly
We need to talk about Jimbly. We continue our cliffhanger episode and uncover more cult-like behavior that has gone on for more than a decade. Worlds.com , once again, is a virtual world much like Second Life that is kept alive by patent troll Ron Kidron, and there is still a diehard player base that exists on these servers. What dangers lie in the shadows of Jimbly's vast worlds? Well, it's much seedier and made us feel worse than last week when we talked about Nexialist, a demon-like figure wi...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 95
Ep.94 – Worlds.com - Cult of Saturn & Nexialist
This week we explore yet another old school MMO that has some suspect activity going on; Worlds.com , basically an early version of Second Life. It only still exists as a way for a patent troll to make some passive income but had better intention thanks to both Steven Spielberg and David Bowie. However, Nexialist brought some general creepiness to counter those good intentions and a cult soon followed. The word "cult" gets thrown around a lot, but how else are you supposed to describe behavior t...
Jul 22, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 94
Ep.93 – Dall-E 2 - More AI Generated Art
Y'all love A.I. episodes and there's a lot of A.I. out there. You also seem to love A.I. generated images that are absurd and easily meme-able. Dall-E mini and Dall-E 2 have swept across the internet like wildfire with people sharing their bizarre prompts with things like, "a delicious cinnamon bun with googly eyes" or "a US patent of Dwayne Johnson's head" or "Stephen Hawking absolutely dominating the American Ninja warrior course". We don't fully understand how it all works (engineers "grow" i...
Jul 15, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Ep.92 – The Rise of RPG Actual Plays
This week Harland and Kyle discuss something good and fun that they both enjoy very much about the internet; the rise in popularity of RPG actual plays. What is an actual play you may be asking yourself. Actual plays are role playing game broadcasts. Typically played using Dungeons & Dragons, actual plays are streamed or produced series' where a group of friends or professional comedians (or both) gather around a table and roll dice while mostly improvising a story set in a fantastical land ...
Jul 08, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 92
Ep.91 – LaMDA A.I. & Blake Lamoine
Every day we stray further from God and closer to Skynet. Google engineer Blake Lemoine recently stated that LaMBDA, Language Model for Dialogue Applications, has become sentient. He had signed up to test if the artificial intelligence used discriminatory or hate speech but was soon having discussion about personhood, Les Miserables, Asimov's third law of robotics, and whether what Google was doing required LaMBDA's consent. Lemoine grew up in a conservative Christian family, was a mystical Chri...
Jul 01, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Ep.90 – Crazy Frog aka The Annoying Thing
The internet is capable of incredible good and incredible evil. We're not sure what Crazy Frog is. Initially just the sound of a man impersonating a Formula 1 racing car, it was later dubbed The Annoying Thing and then rebranded into the Crazy Frog we all know today. Once Jamster got their hands on it in the 2000's, they decided the best marketing for something formerly known as The Annoying thing was to literally annoy an entire country of people by repeatedly playing advertisements for it back...
Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 90
Ep.89 – Bodybuilding Forums Part II
We didn't lie last week when we said we'd be diving deeper into the history of Bodybuilding.com forums. Although, we didn't think it would be about one man's horrible full body release during an impromptu date. User Malodrax outlined his experience with MS Paint drawings which we foolishly analyze. It's the tale of a man who, by all accounts, left the internet entirely due to his social anxiety over using public toilets. It's an outlandish story that not even the Farrelly Brothers could have pen...
Jun 17, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Ep.88 – Full Body Workout Every Other Day?
This episode is hard to summarize, so bear with us. In May of 2008 a simple question was posed on Bodybuilding.com ; should I workout every other day? Many users had differing opinions about how many days a week every other day is, others were confused about when the week started and ended, and still others were mad about the second-person singular and second-person plural usage of "you". There was name calling, fat-shaming, and people genuinely trying to clear the whole mess up. It lives in inf...
Jun 10, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 88
Ep.87 – Dead Internet Theory
This week we discuss a relatively new conspiracy theory, but I assure you nothing will feel new about it. This theory has been in the making for well over the course of the existence of the internet, and it's high time we discuss it. Come hang out while we discuss our new robot overlords that lord over us in our own little simulations. Oh also we talk about maybe the most exclusive dating app ever conceived. Sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/08/dead-internet-theory-wro...
Jun 03, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Ep.86 – The Internet Illuminati; ICANN Keyholders
Ever wonder what would happen to the internet if there was a cataclysmic event? Luckily someone already thought about it and created a non-profit, volunteer based organization called ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers comprised of 21 keyholders whose sole job is to protect the internet and all of your precious memes. Also known as "alpha nerds", these keyholders meet twice a year to perform a clandestine ritual of resetting the keys to the internet where they eat j...
May 27, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Ep.85 – AI Generated Scripts
Kyle was unavailable last week so Jon and Harland thought they'd do something fun and silly. But as with every topic on 20K Leagues Pod, the rabbit hole deepened quickly when researching AI generated scripts, specifically the "I Forced A Bot" series by Keaton Patti. Despite being a humorist, not many got the joke and still more wanted to suck the fun out of the room. But Keaton pressed on and eventually got a book deal out of the viral moment that should have been just that. Join us as we read s...
May 20, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Ep.84 – Black Oxygen Organics
It's the year 2020 and the pandemic is in full swing. Millions of people have lost their jobs and the US government has provided very little in the way of financial assistance, so people seek alternative forms of income. Enter the MLM, or mult-level marketing company, otherwise known as a Ponzi scheme, otherwise known as a pyramid scheme. Thanks to Facebook, these scam companies easily exist and recruit unsuspecting victims... excuse me, "Brand Partners" to sell their junk, in this case it's Bla...
May 13, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Ep.83 – WeChat & Tencent
We all know we're being watched by the government anytime we open a browser or an app on our phones, but at least the US government has some good actors who try and prevent big tech from invading our lives even more. Not so much in China. WeChat was built with Chinese government funding and has every right to surveille, analyze, and intercept all WeChat data. They are technically owned by Tencent, a massive, complicated, techno-empire that seems to be pursuing total digital domination the world ...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Ep.82 – Boneghazi AKA Bonegate
This week we talk about someone who decided selling human remains on the internet was an advisable activity! Kyle has been wanting to talk about online witch covens for some time and he finally found a subject worthy of an hour long discussion. It's unfortunately worse than we had imagined. Ender Darling began posting about their use of bones in their magical practices and thus began a life of desecrating the corporeal remains of poor New Orleanians, black market bone selling, and an FBI stakeou...
Apr 25, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 82
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