Secretly Incredibly Fascinating
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A weekly podcast about the history, science, lore and surprises that make everyday things secretly incredibly fascinating. Hosted by comedy writer, emoji creator, and ‘Jeopardy!‘ champion Alex Schmidt. Join Alex & his co-host Katie Goldin for a joyful deep dive into seeing the world a whole new way! (For research sources, bonus episodes, and how you can support the podcast, visit sifpod.fun.)
145 Episodes
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Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why ducks are secretly incredibly fascinating. Special guests: Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn.Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why pickles are secretly incredibly fascinating. Special guest: Elliott Kalan.Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why Ferris wheels are secretly incredibly fascinating.Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)
Hey this is Alex! We made a special SIF episode about the Mario movie. Become a supporter to hear it!To become a supporter, start a Maximum Fun membership here: https://maximumfun.org/join It'll ask which shows you're supporting. Select "Secretly Incredibly Fascinating". Then that leads you to a Bonus Content ("BoCo") page, where there's a special Secretly Incredibly Fascinating Bonus Content Feed AND an all-of-MaxFun bonus feed. Our special episode about the 1993 'Super Mario Bros.' movie is hosted in the Secretly Incredibly Fascinating Bonus Content Feed.Join our Discord! We hang out there every week. There's also extra tips there for getting your bonus feeds. Discord invite link: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5Here's the link to Alex's special FAQ show about all things Maximum Fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kNplapKs-wHere's the list of this year's MaxFun meetups on Thurs. March 23rd: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=142eOvPSsWQLACZJyd2b9e8sJcmjnc-w&ll=38.449103683287106%2C-98.16156520000001&z=4 Click the locations for details. And here's more info about that MaxFun Meetup Day: https://maximumfun.org/events/meetups/maxfun-meetup-day-2023/Thanks for reading/listening. E-mail Alex (sifpod@gmail.com) if you have any questions. And remember: trust the fungus.
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why duct tape is secretly incredibly fascinating.Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why high fives are secretly incredibly fascinating. They also interview returning guest (and National High Five Day co-founder!) Conor Lastowka.Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5Check out Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why Leap Day is secretly incredibly fascinating.Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why yeast is secretly incredibly fascinating.Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why barnacles are secretly incredibly fascinating.Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5
Alex Schmidt and his *new co-host* Katie Goldin take a look at why paperclips are secretly incredibly fascinating -- on our first-ever episode on the Maximum Fun podcast network! Hooray!!!Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Alex Schmidt has three big pieces of news to share! 1) SIFpod is joining the Maximum Fun podcast network. 2) Katie Goldin is joining up as Alex's weekly co-host. 3) There's now a Discord hangout for our SIF community. Hear all about it here!You can check out the new SIF page at MaxFun's site: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/secretly-incredibly-fascinating/Join in the fun on the SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/D5k9X4Rg [note: this invite link expires in February 2023]And see you Monday with another brand-new SIF episode. 🦬
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers/podcasters Andrew Ti (‘Yo, Is This Racist?’, Sub-Optimal Pods) and Moujan Zolfaghari ('Mission To Zyxx', 'Tooning Out The News') for a look at why glitter is secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Alex Schmidt is joined by author & comedy writer Dennard Dayle (1900HotDog.com, book 'Everything Abridged') and comics & comedy writer Brendan McGinley (1900HotDog.com, comic series 'Citizen X') for a look at why maps are secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
(Alex's podcast hosting service requires a minimum of 5 characters per episode title, so that's why this episode's title has an exclamation point)
Alex Schmidt is joined by bestselling author Jason Pargin (new novel "If This Book Exists, You’re In The Wrong Universe") for a look at why undersea cables are secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedian Billy Wayne Davis (new special 'Testify') and comedy writer/performer Zac Oyama ('Dimension 20' on Dropout.tv) for a look at why rubber ducks are secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Hey folks -- happy holidays! Please enjoy this holiday hello, plus the first episode of a podcast miniseries Alex made in 2020. (and "Alex" = me, I'm the one writing this)
Here's the website for the full 4-episode miniseries: https://www.bisonemojipodcast.com/
You can also find the episodes by searching "1 Way To Make An Emoji" in your podcast player.
Have a safe and fantastic rest of 2022, and see you in 2023!
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers/performers Sam Reich and Mike Trapp (Dropout.tv) for a look at why ball bearings are secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writer/podcaster Katie Goldin (‘Creature Feature’ podcast, @ProBirdRights) for a look at why Snoopy is secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD.
Alex Schmidt is joined by author/podcaster Joel Stein ('Story Of The Week' podcast) for a look at why eggnog is secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD.
Breaking news: the entire Internet fell for a decade-long Wikipedia hoax about the invention of toasters. Here's the BBC's story about that: https://www.bbc.com/news/the-reporters-63622746
Great news: this podcast is one of the only forms of Internet media that didn't fall for that hoax. (Alex researched the real story!) So please enjoy this re-release of our already-accurate "Toasters" episode, featuring special guests Moujan Zolfaghari and Kimberly Clark. Original air date: June 27th, 2022.
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(In the 80's/90's) I did not have any air-conditioning in grade-school OR high-school in the classrooms. & the ONLY a/c in our schools were in the offices & the ONE computer room in our High-school. I'm sure that NOW the entire school has a/c. It totally sucked during gym class when it was hot out....I'd skip or write a fake "sick" note so I didn't have to go.
That fork joke at the intro got me
Huge fan of the land acknowledgment! Thank you!!
The guest on this episode is especially hilarious. I've listened to this episode several times & still laugh (& learn) every time. 😆
The female guest ruins this episode. She's not only UNfunny but her voice & laugh make ears bleed.
I got some orange chicken today because of this episode. Secretly incredibly delicious
Happy 🎂 Birthday Alex!!
Thank you for doing a land acknowledgment!
"Players obsess over it. Others don't," got a chuckle out of me. I was ready to riot if Alex said "No one thinks much about it."
Another fantastic episode! I absolutely adore Alex, (the host) & the perfect guest(s) are matched w/ each episode topic.
One of the chick's he's got on as a guest is so stoned AND illiterate, pronouncing it "lie-berry".
- I highly recommend this awesome podcast! It truly lives up to it's name. 5 stars all the way-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
boy this was a rough episode... the guests were boring, the subject was boring and all the info was boring. took me three days to listen to and I did not retain any of it. this is a skipper y'all, overall great show but forget this one 😬
-Such a fascinating episode! The topic, "Random Numbers" was really interesting & an enjoyable listen.
Here's my pigeon story: for years I claimed them as my favorite bird simply because no one else seemed to like them. I had a similar affinity for dandelions. When I was 13 I rescued a pigeon from a rat trap. The trap had been on it's foot for a while, the damage was done to the foot, but once I was able to catch the bird and remove the trap, he could much more easily fly and hop along on the ground, so I was proud of myself.
Man, this air conditioning episode is a trip back in time. My house used to have a schedule of opening and closing windows because where I'm from nights are never above 70 and insulation in houses is top notch because of the winters. We would open every window the instant the sun set and then close them 30 minutes before first light. Then you just can't have too many electronics and keep your fridge and your electronics in the basement. Now I bought a cheap air conditioner that is standing but has an exterior vent for the price of a computer at the time and have just kept it in good repair for like 10 years now. Technology being so prevalent is great for the lower class.
It is interesting that no one in America knows about medical hydroxyapatite. It is considered safe to swallow (used to help with bone growth in women with osteoporosis) and helps regrow enamel. In America there are basically no products because of the fluoride industry that provides that chemical cheaply to city water supplies. I personally use Apagard which I order from Japan and it is amazing
Oh!! This ones going to be good!!!
I had to pause the episode and everything I was doing to express how excited I was to hear Alex plug Calculords, as I still play it regularly years after it came out.
My favourite episode so far. These boys are having so much fun. I laughed so hard I blew coffee out of my nose. I never believed that expression was actually real.