Mr. Yuk is a neon green circular sticker with a cartoon face on it. His face is scrunched up with his eyes squeezed tight and his tongue is sticking out of its mouth. It's the face you make when you taste something disgusting. He's the pictorial embodiment of the sentiment of yuck. Aptly enough: he was designed to be the symbol for hazardous substances, aimed at deterring children from ingesting them. The idea what that if you saw a Mr. Yuk sticker on something around the house, it meant that th...
Apr 30, 2024•56 min•Ep 580•Transcript available on Metacast Situated right in downtown Mumbai, India is an area of about 55 acres of dense, overgrown forest. In one of the most populous cities in the world, this is a place where peacocks roam freely -- a space out of time. This forest is protected by a religious community. It has survived in a relatively undeveloped state in the middle of this gargantuan city. Importantly, it’s also home to an ancient tradition in crisis -- one that is central to the lives (and deaths) of a particular population. There’s...
Apr 23, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep 579•Transcript available on Metacast This is the fourth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district, who describes the lasting impact Moses’ highways have made on her district, and her own philosophy when it comes to political power and bringing ambitious projects to life. Elliott and Roman also cover the second sec...
Apr 19, 2024•3 hr 40 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we're featuring an episode from The Sporkful's series on the creation of "Anything's Pastable," Dan Pashman's new pasta cookbook. Dan talks with Roman about how this massive project came to be and all the design decisions required to put together a cookbook. And then, in part two of “Anything’s Pastable,” Dan embarks on an epic trip across Italy in search of lesser-known pasta dishes — and to learn about the evolution of pasta more broadly. He starts in Rome, where food writer Katie Pa...
Apr 16, 2024•45 min•Ep 578•Transcript available on Metacast Hailing from central African cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, sapeurs have become increasingly recognizable around the world. Since the 1970s, sapeurs (from: le sape , short for "Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes" ) have been known for donning technicolored three-piece suits with flamboyant accessories like golden walking sticks and leopard-print fedoras, and then cat-walking through their city streets. In recent years, Solange, Kendrick and SZA have all featured sapeurs in t...
Apr 09, 2024•35 min•Ep 577•Transcript available on Metacast A chambre de bonne is usually one small room, on the top floor of a five- or six-story apartment building, and it’s usually just big enough to fit a bed and a table. It’s affordable housing in a city where finding housing is nearly impossible. Reporter Jeanne Boëzec tells about the history of the chambre de bonne apartments, and how while cute, they are also cramped and can be unpleasant spaces for people who have to live there, a living embodiment of the gap between the rich in Paris and everyo...
Apr 02, 2024•33 min•Ep 576•Transcript available on Metacast This is the third and final episode in a three-part series of Roman Mars recording on-location guides to the design features and interesting spots in cities he loves. Roman moved to Athens, Georgia, to pursue a PhD in plant genetics, but dropped out and got into the local music and art scene instead, and started making his way toward radio. Roman Mars Describes Athens GA As It Is Note: This series is made possible by the all-new 2024 Lexus GX and SiriusXM. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to list...
Mar 29, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast A few years back, journalist Lauren Ober was diagnosed with autism. She then made a podcast about her experience called The Loudest Girl in the World . And she found herself imagining a fantasy world where everything is tailored to Lauren’s very specific autistic needs. And she called this magical imagined place, wonderfully devoid of overwhelming stimuli "Autism Pleasantville." "Obviously," Ober notes, "there’s not a one-size fits all diagnosis or even definition of autism ... as the autism ada...
Mar 27, 2024•33 min•Ep 575•Transcript available on Metacast In the middle of the 20th century, the small town of Jasper, Indiana did something that no other city had done before: they made garbage illegal. The city would still collect some things, like soup cans and plastics, but yucky junk, like food waste, wouldn't get picked up. This change was made possible by a new appliance: the garbage disposer – that little grinding machine at the bottom of a lot of kitchen sinks. The Monster Under the Sink Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episode...
Mar 19, 2024•27 min•Ep 574•Transcript available on Metacast This is the third official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Blank Check podcast co-host and The Atlantic movie critic David Sims as our book club guest. Elliott, Roman, and David cover the first section of Part 4 (Chapter 11 through Chapter 15), discussing the major story beats and themes. The Power Broker #3: David Sims Join the discussion on Discord and Reddit . Subscribe...
Mar 15, 2024•2 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast This year marks the 40th anniversary of a lot of landmarks in pop culture, especially sci-fi and fantasy. So many franchises were born in 1984. Some came to define the genre or invent new genres. The great podcast Imaginary Worlds noticed this and produced a three-part series about 1984's Cambrian explosion of creativity that landed on the big screen, the small screen, bookstore shelves and, of course, the toy store. In this episode we learn about at two iconic franchises that launched in 1984: ...
Mar 13, 2024•39 min•Ep 573•Transcript available on Metacast Intimidating Proposition 65 warnings can be found on all kinds of products manufactured or distributed in the State of California. They can seem rather terrifying at first, but within the state, they are ubiquitous, on everyday objects from power tools to potato chips, dietary supplements, leather jackets, gas pumps, coffee tables, the list goes on. All of which raises the question: if these labels are on so many things, are they actually useful in warning us of real dangers? 572- WARNING: This ...
Mar 05, 2024•43 min•Ep 572•Transcript available on Metacast Roman Mars is on a mission to describe the cities that shaped who he is and how he thinks about design. Next up, Santa Fe. Santa Fe wasn’t always on the proverbial map — in fact, the Santa Fe railroad just passed it on by. A lot of care has been taken to keep Santa Fe cute and quaint over its history, with steps to preserve native architecture and historical design. The result is a mixture of structures old and new, but mostly made to look old, for better or worse. Roman Mars Describes Santa Fe ...
Mar 02, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the mid-1970s, almost every jazz musician has owned a copy of the same book. It has a peach-colored cover, a chunky, 1970s-style logo, and a black plastic binding. It’s delightfully homemade-looking—like it was printed by a bunch of teenagers at a Kinkos. And inside is the sheet music for hundreds of common jazz tunes—also known as jazz “standards”—all meticulously notated by hand. It’s called the Real Book. But if you were going to music school in the 1970s, you couldn’t just buy a copy o...
Feb 27, 2024•42 min•Ep 438•Transcript available on Metacast It’s been said that history is written by the person at the typewriter. But who did the person who made history depend on? Often, it’s impossible to find out. But once in a while, we get lucky, and the story was not only recorded, it’s really good. Well that’s what this podcast is all about. “Significant Others” is a show that tells a story you might not know about a person you probably do. For example, in this episode we explore how Benedict Arnold might never have turned on his country were it...
Feb 23, 2024•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast What we see on screen has this way of influencing our perception of the world, which makes sense because the average American spends 2 hours and 51 minutes watching movies and TV each day. That’s a whopping 19 percent of our waking hours. Walt Hickey is a data journalist and author of a new book called You Are What You Watch . In it, Walt makes a case for how much film and television shapes us as individuals and as a society, far beyond what we give it credit for. You Are What You Watch Subscrib...
Feb 21, 2024•31 min•Ep 571•Transcript available on Metacast This is the second official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with New York Times political columnist Jamelle Bouie as our book club guest. Elliott and Roman cover Part 3 of the book (Chapter 6 through Chapter 10), discussing the major story beats and themes, with occasional asides from Jamelle Bouie guiding us through the politics of the era. The Power Broker #02: Jamelle Bouie ...
Feb 16, 2024•2 hr 45 min•Transcript available on Metacast White Castle has its own take on fast food hamburgers. For starters, the patties are square, with five holes in each patty. And they’re small, too –- two-and-a-half inch sliders. Just big enough to fit into the palm of your hand. And since they’re steamed on a bed of onions, everything is infused with this very specific onion-esque flavor. Today, White Castles can be hard to find, depending on where you live. But KCUR's Mackenzie Martin, a producer at A People's History of Kansas City , says tha...
Feb 13, 2024•43 min•Ep 570•Transcript available on Metacast Seen from above, Sofia, Bulgaria, looks less like a city and more like a forest. Large "interblock park" green spaces between big apartment structures are a defining characteristic of the city. They're not so much "parks" in the formal sense, with fences and gates, just open green areas growing up in interstitial spaces left behind. But as green as it still looks today, Sofia used to be even greener. Since the fall of Bulgarian communism in the late 1980s, Sofia has lost more than half of its gr...
Feb 06, 2024•34 min•Ep 569•Transcript available on Metacast When a highway gets made, there’s a clear and consistent process for doing so. Not so, public memorials. From the Vietnam Wall to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, it’s always different. Sometimes a handful of concerned citizens get together and make it happen. Sometimes a nonprofit pushes for it, or a foundation. There’s usually a lot of activism, and a lot of fraught conversations – about design, location, the story it should tell about what happened, and who it affected. And how do...
Jan 30, 2024•40 min•Ep 568•Transcript available on Metacast A few years ago, at the very start of the pandemic, Roman Mars wrote an episode of 99pi in which he simply talked about design details in his house -- realizing that he, like the audience, didn't have many other places to go. (You should check it out. It's called "Roman Mars Describes Things As They Are"-- it’s a real time capsule and a fan favorite.) Since then, he's been thinking about and wanting to record a companion episode out in the world. Over the next couple months, he's going to three ...
Jan 26, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Watch a skate video today, and you'll notice how similarly shaped the boards are. It’s called the “popsicle” design, because the deck is narrow in the middle and rounded off at both ends, like a popsicle stick. This may seem stupid simple, but that basic, clean popsicle shape is actually the product of a lot of experimentation and iteration. In 1989, one particular board would cement skateboard design as we know it. But to understand it, we have to go back over a decade to the mid-70s, as more a...
Jan 24, 2024•52 min•Ep 567•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to our first official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. Robert Caro happens to be our special guest for this episode and you do not get more special than that. On today’s show, Elliott Kalan and Roman Mars will cover the Introduction, Part 1, and Part 2 of the book (the intro through the end of Chapter 5), discussing the major story beats and themes, and then we will bring the great Robert Caro to the stage. Power Broke...
Jan 19, 2024•2 hr 33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fake cities. Imitation nations. People role-playing as civilians, spies, or enemies, complete with costumes and props. It's all part of an effort coordinated and constructed by the U.S. military to prepare soldiers for war. Fake villages designed for training purposes dot the entire United States, not to mention other countries. Researchers have identified over 400 of them around the world. Imitation Nation Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and ge...
Jan 16, 2024•35 min•Ep 566•Transcript available on Metacast Our second and final set of mini-stories for the season: We'll be covering upside-down construction, the linguistics of filler and a fire that has been burning for decades. Check out Lizzie No 's latest album Halfsies on Band Camp. She's on tour in 2024. Go see her and say hi for me! Mini-Stories 18 Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.c...
Jan 09, 2024•35 min•Ep 565•Transcript available on Metacast We're revisiting this Christmas classic from 2021. Happy Holidays! Slovenia is a small country in Central Europe nestled between Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary. It's a land of snowy white peaks, green valleys, and turquoise rivers. The country is beautiful in all seasons, but it is perhaps at its most magical around Christmastime. This nation of just over 2 million people is visited by, not one, not two, but three different "santas" every festive season. But it hasn't always been this way. ...
Dec 26, 2023•39 min•Ep 470•Transcript available on Metacast It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's mini-stories season! Gather the kids around the fire because We have a year-end mix of short stories about a rogue architect, spooky kitchens, a hundred year old music streaming service, and the crazy way the French tried to make telling time less crazy. Today's episode featured a story from Sound Detectives . Listen to Sound Detectives on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and go to sounddetectivespodcast.com to find color...
Dec 20, 2023•48 min•Ep 564•Transcript available on Metacast Keeping track of numbers has always been part of what makes us human. So at some point along the way, we created a tool to help us keep count, and then we gave that tool a name. We called it: a calculator. But depending on what era you were born in, and maybe even what country, what constituted a 'calculator' varied widely. Keith Houston wrote about the evolution of the calculator in his latest book, Empire of the Sum The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator . It is exactly the kind of nerder...
Dec 13, 2023•34 min•Ep 563•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode features #1 Robert Caro superfan, Conan O'Brien . The Power Broker by Robert Caro is a biography of Robert Moses, who is said to have built more structures and moved more earth than anyone in human history. And he did it without ever holding elected office. Outside of New York City, Robert Moses wasn't exceptionally well known. Inside of New York, he was mostly accepted by the media as simply the man who built all those nice parks. But The Power Broker , which is subtitled Robert...
Dec 05, 2023•44 min•Ep 562•Transcript available on Metacast Roman note: This is one of my favorite episodes of all time. Should be a movie. Enjoy! The tradition of the Tomb of the Unknowns goes back only about a century, but it has become one of the most solemn and reverential monuments. When President Reagan added the remains of an unknown serviceman who died in combat in Vietnam to the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery in 1984, it was the only set of remains that couldn’t be identified from the war. Now, thankfully, there will never l...
Nov 29, 2023•45 min•Ep 344•Transcript available on Metacast 
