I come to you one last time to say goodbye. And to thank you for joining me on this journey of being curious for its own sake, of saddling a hunch and seeing where its long stride takes us. I think curiosity takes different forms throughout our lives. Wherever you are in your journey, it’s been an honor to be a part of it. You can follow my next adventures on my website: www.dougfraserdigital.com Here's my Twitter And here's the ol' LinkedIn Until next time, stay curious. Credits Curious State i...
Dec 20, 2022•3 min•Ep. 39
In 2021, the top three classical musicians on Spotify—Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart—were streamed 19.2 million times a month in 2021, which together would have earned them over $852,000. How is it that songs hundreds of years old are still being listened to? What is it about classical music that makes it so timeless? Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, shares his passion for the love that classical music generates. To learn more about Ben and access his incredible library of fre...
Dec 13, 2022•12 min•Ep. 38
Matt McGinley entered the music industry over 15 years ago as the drummer for the band Gym Class Heroes. Nowadays, Matt’s a contributing music producer for hit radio shows and podcasts, like This American Life, Serial, Nice White Parents, and S Town. Suffice it to say, he produces a lot of music. And it's all part of an ever-growing global library. By Google’s count, between 97 and 230 million songs exist worldwide. It makes you wonder…haven’t all the possible songs been written by now? Credits ...
Dec 06, 2022•13 min•Ep. 37
Easy money is hard to come by. Unless you’re in the ransomware business. Then tens of millions of dollars can be yours in a single, unsuspecting click. Quick cash grabs fuel a worldwide economy, funneling extorted funds into secret bank accounts, hackers’ salaries, and even government pockets. In a world where your data is the gateway to a thief’s payday, all is not lost. Cybercrime vigilantes like The Ransomware Hunting Team volunteer their time to make the digital world a safer place. Chances ...
Nov 29, 2022•16 min•Ep. 36
On Chris’s investigations (To Catch a Predator), the predators are real—so is the danger. And one night in Florida, that danger came with a car full of guns. Credits Curious State is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast hosted and produced by Doug Fraser. Find Curious State on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook , or subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates. Podcast Manager - Adam Cecil Podcast and Advertising Operations Specialist - Morgan Christianson Digital Operations Specialist - Holly H...
Nov 22, 2022•20 min•Ep. 35
Back in the day, Princeton eating clubs were all the rage. It’s where you tapped into the pulse of the Princeton experience. Allegiances were sworn. Bread was broken. Bonds were forged with fellow members, some of whom would become crucial connections in the post-college world. The bicker of 1958 is a tale of a time gone by, but also a reminder of the continued struggle with anti-semitism and exclusion. Listen to Gatecrashers , a hidden history of Jews in the Ivy League, wherever you get your po...
Nov 08, 2022•16 min•Ep. 34
It’s a tough world out there, eh? To live. To die. To hear the call of nature and answer it by eating your children. Just ask Bill Schutt, the author of Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History . He discovered something shocking: Cannibalism in nature is incredibly widespread. In fact, it covers the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom. Credits Curious State is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast hosted and produced by Doug Fraser. Find Curious State on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook , or subscr...
Nov 01, 2022•14 min•Ep. 33
The music of Stranger Things haunts living rooms across the globe, and at times steals the show. It takes a professional touch to properly integrate music to serve the goal of a scene, and of a moment. Be it for signaling tension, to call back to a previous season, to ratchet up the thrills, or to bring comic relief. Creating the right music offers the opportunity to elevate a scene. But getting the timing just right is what makes it so. Because it’s not just what music plays—it’s when. To learn...
Oct 25, 2022•13 min•Ep. 32
Howard Berger started working in the movie industry at the young age of 13. Today, he has over 100 films to his credit as a professional makeup artist. He's worked on movies like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe , From Dusk Till Dawn , and the blood-filled Kill Bill movies. But things on set don't always go as planned. Click here to learn more about Howard and purchase his new book, Masters of Make-Up Effects . A Quick Request If you enjoy Curious State, would you ...
Oct 18, 2022•20 min•Ep. 31
Growing up in rural Ohio, Michelle Belanger had to hide her unique abilities from classmates. Her grandmother worried that if she showed off too much, government men would take her away for testing. Luckily, that never happened. Instead, Michelle went on a journey of self-discovery and created the de facto code of ethics for the international vampire community. A Quick Request If you enjoy Curious State, would you mind sharing your favorite episode with a friend? It’s a great way to help the sho...
Oct 11, 2022•18 min•Ep. 30
Leonard Pickel's Hauntrepreneurs has designed over 300 original haunted attractions, including ones for Madison Square Garden, Universal Studios Florida, several Six Flags Amusement Parks, and the Kandy Halloween Party at the Playboy Mansion. But what goes into designing a haunted house? Leonard takes us through the spooky business of manipulating architecture, impossible floor plans, why you should always "scare forward," and the kind of haunted houses that chill him to the bone. A Quick Reques...
Oct 04, 2022•18 min•Ep. 29
Imagine the Ultimate Fighting Championship…but with pillows. That’s the basic recipe for the Pillow Fighting Championships . And it just might be the next big sport. Steve Williams, CEO of PFC, joins me to share pillow fighting’s journey into worldwide popularity (and possibly into the list of Olympic sports). A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: The story of the one and only TKO so far in the PFC How do you win a pillow fight? How the PFC pillows get their trademark thwhop! sound A...
Sep 27, 2022•11 min•Ep. 28
Movie trailers are a game of chess. Except in this game, millions of dollars are at stake with every move. Dallas Taylor, owner of Defacto Sound and host of Twenty Thousand Hertz , gives us a peek behind the curtains where creativity and business live in a pressure cooker. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: How many trillions of minutes of TV are watched in the US every year (yes, trillions ) The evolution of movie trailers Have movie and TV trailers become too epic? A Quick Reque...
Sep 20, 2022•15 min•Ep. 27
Ashrita Furman broke the world record for underwater hoola-hooping in Florida, where a pod of dolphins watched from afar—in what I presume was utter confusion. I've been in the presence of some pretty fascinating people. The voice of Porky Pig, a haunted house architect, a scientist who's close to bringing back a T-Rex (albeit in a less menacing, chicken-sized form). But Ashrita Furman is in a league of his own. He has world records out the ying yang, including: The most matches put out on your ...
Sep 13, 2022•15 min•Ep. 26
A photo album made with rabbit fur. A secret breeding project. A lost alligator. The story of Project Angora is truly stranger than fiction. Holocaust researcher and founder of the Knitting Hope project, Tanya Singer , shares a little-known story from inside 31 concentration camps. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: Why Heinrich Himmler was so obsessed with angora rabbits The dark message of Nazi fashion Why animal exhibits existed at some concentration camps Click here to read th...
Sep 06, 2022•16 min•Ep. 25
The line between friendship and a romantic relationship blurs when sex comes strutting into the room. How do you navigate the complications of going from buddy to booty call? Thankfully, we’ve got an expert with the answers: Dr. Justin Lehmiller. He’s a social psychologist, Kinsey Institute Research Fellow, and the creator of Sex and Psychology . Justin was part of a team that conducted a year-long study of 200 friends-with-benefits relationships. And what he found can help us all unweave this t...
Aug 30, 2022•20 min•Ep. 24
Cyanide has made quite the name for itself. Take the Jonestown murder-suicide, for example—where cult leader Jim Jones called for over 900 of his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch. Cyanide also sits centerstage with a popular spy movie trope: the cyanide tooth. In case of capture, pop out the fake tooth that’s actually made of cyanide. Swallow it. And boom, a quick death is on its way. But how exactly does cyanide kill you? Let’s light up our gumshoe detective pipes and crack this case wide...
Aug 23, 2022•16 min•Ep. 23
Jackson Galaxy is America’s Cat Daddy. He’s the host of Animal Planet’s hit show, My Cat From Hell , he’s amassed over 100 million views on his YouTube channel, and he has his own toy line—when it comes to cats, Jackson knows best. So, Jackson…is it true? Are cats assholes? Or is there more to those furry enigmas than meets the eye? A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: The problems with seeing cats through dog-colored glasses Why cats are Zen masters The dating impact for men with c...
Aug 16, 2022•18 min•Ep. 22
The shows we refer to as guilty pleasures may be more insightful than we think. Danielle J. Lindemann, author of True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us , takes us on a journey into ourselves. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: The character archetypes that make for compelling reality TV Do people care that reality TV isn’t real? The very first reality TV show (it’s almost 50 years old) How reality TV builds community Did You Know? For the season one finale of Survivor in 2000—g...
Aug 09, 2022•18 min•Ep. 21
Only 80 known cases of highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) exist. What's it like to remember almost everything that’s ever happened to you? Rebecca Sharrock shares her experience—and how her dreams revealed an incredible feature of HSAM. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: How she uses scent to relive positive memories Rebecca’s first memory…at just 12 days old What her dreams helped reveal about her memory Did You Know? To help her quiet the memories in her mind, Rebecc...
Aug 02, 2022•12 min•Ep. 20
Whales are textbook beauty and grace—and they’re a helluva lot of work to clean up when they die. Today, we’re diving into one of the most bizarre, smelly, and heartbreaking jobs in the world: working on a marine animal stranding response team. Thanks to Dr. Susan Barco and Dr. Alex Costidis at The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center Stranding Response Program , here are a few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: The equipment you need to dismember and move a 50-ton whale How ma...
Jul 26, 2022•23 min•Ep. 19
Under the right conditions, hobbies and physical activities become deep play, taking on additional layers of meaning and personal significance. Historical figures, like Winston Churchill, relished his deep play. Which, for him, was painting. “I know of nothing which, without exhausting the body,” he said, “more entirely absorbs the mind.” Ol’ Churchill knew that his deep play was important not just for the fun of it, but for the positive impacts on his work. Something Alex Pang knows all about. ...
Jul 19, 2022•18 min•Ep. 18
Did know that—scientifically speaking—there’s no difference between a dove and a pigeon? Yet a dove’s more colorful counterpart has been dragged through the cultural mud. In doing so, we’ve missed out on the rich history and amazing features of this incredible creature. Andrew Blechman (author of Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird ) is here to share the jaw-dropping details. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: The world event that led to the ...
Jul 12, 2022•18 min•Ep. 17
Over the next year, 56 million people around the world will die. That’s 106.6 per minute, 1.8 people every second, every day. That’s a lot of deaths. And it’s someone’s job to pick those people up and take them where they need to go. But who picks you up when you die? A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: Why’s there such a high divorce rate among morticians? Why does the person who picks you up wear a suit and tie? How did the Civil War change funeral services? Did You Know? Want to...
Jul 05, 2022•15 min•Ep. 16
Sully. Miguel. Mr. Incredible. Nemo. Pixar has an extensive roster of characters who instantly capture our imaginations. But getting an impactful story to fall into place comes with big challenges—ones Pixar writers have to creatively spar with every day. And sometimes, those challenges hit back. 20-year Pixar storytelling veteran Matthew Luhn takes us on his journey into the writers’ room. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: Why did Toy Story (and Pixar) almost get shut down? How ...
Jun 28, 2022•24 min•Ep. 15
The First World War saw the dawn of fighting in the skies and advanced, savage warfare on the ground. Maimed soldiers lucky enough to survive were unlucky enough to live in a time when medical tech was vastly outpaced by war tech. That struggle to keep up meant uncertain futures for wounded soldiers—especially when it came to facial injuries. Medical historian Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris takes us behind the scenes of a medical revolution: the birth of plastic surgery. A few curiosities you’ll uncover...
Jun 21, 2022•21 min•Ep. 14
In an age when eels were sometimes used as currency and castles pierced the sky, “thou” was all the rage. But over time, it disappeared from use. Where’d it go? And will it ever make a comeback? Grammar Girl (aka Mignon Fogarty) helps us parse through the grammatical treasures of yore and solve the “thou” mystery once and for all. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: The searing insults “thou” provided The societal shift that ended “thou” What dead word Grammar Girl would love to re...
Jun 14, 2022•14 min•Ep. 13
Is sleep giving you the cold shoulder? What if you had a bedtime buddy? A platonic pal who could slow the thoughts running through your head and lull you to sleep every night? Enter Drew Ackerman (aka Dearest Scooter). His Sleep With Me podcast gets 3 million+ downloads every month. That’s over a hundred thousand people, every night, falling to sleep to Drew’s hypnotic voice and meandering tales. How does he do it? What’s the secret sauce to lulling a football stadium’s worth people nightly? A f...
Jun 07, 2022•18 min•Ep. 12
Science is all around us. It's in our smartphones, the contours our of eyelids, the hidden rabbit nest in the backyard. But what if everything we’ve come to know about the world (and that the natural world knows about itself) disappeared? Could science itself go extinct? Alie Ward of Ologies stops by to set the scientific record straight, and share why science is more than a path to answers—it's a gift of questions. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: What animal species Alie disco...
May 31, 2022•16 min•Ep. 11
Cemeteries are a rather new invention in human history, created only 10-15,000 years ago. We’ve come a long way from stopping to smell the proverbial roses… instead of rotting flesh. But how do these resting grounds for the deceased become tourist destinations for the living? Cemetery historian and author Loren Rhoads helps us dig up the truth. A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode: Why a famous Paris cemetery “brought in” celebrities The world event that led Loren to fall in love wit...
May 24, 2022•16 min•Ep. 10
