Fun Fact Collectors: Recent Episodes
Fun Fact Collectors
We're two friends who love learning about anything and then pulling our favourite fun facts out at parties. Each week we'll take you down the rabbit hole of our latest fascination.
If you have too many tabs open If nobody wants to play trivial pursuit with you If you still talk about your 3rd grade class project This is the podcast for you!
Jade reveals the mystery of eyes and how they work, while giving listeners a peek into the real life chaos that has derailed FFC season 2 plans.
Our first episode by request, Brad answers Jade's singular question on firefighting, and dozens more she never knew she had.
For the finale of season 1, we take you behind the scenes to the making of Fun Fact Collectors. See you next season!
Tune in comrades as Bradley finally gives fun facts about what is wrong with society and how we're going to roll up our sleeves and fix it together!
More fun than it sounds
Jadrien tells Brad about the woman, the myth, the legend, Frances Glessner Lee, and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.
Jadrien tells Brad about the fascinating world of competitive Scrabble, with a brief detour into cryptic crosswords and codebreaking in WW2.
Brad finally releases decades of infodumping on the Avro Arrow, and some other cool planes too.
Jadrien regales Brad with the story of America's only unsolved case of air piracy: the DB Cooper hijacking.
On a rare break from Baldur's Gate III, Bradley explains the history of fun, rules, and Dungeons & Dragons
Brad and Jadrien are sick this week, but couldn't resist jumping on to record a shortie about Jadrien's new sweater featuring certified daddy anti-facism activist Smokey Bear.
This tangent, in which Brad rants about Lord of the Rings DVDs, was removed from episode 25 1/2 for time reasons, but we thought you might enjoy it anyway.
For our first ever part 2, Jade brings us back into the terrifying world of teens... from early homo sapiens to the TikTok Teen (TM) of today.
Brad breaks the no-swears rule to tell us all about the "enshittification" of the internet and the importance of digital privacy.
This week we become fun fact investigators as Jadrien takes us down the rabbit hole of Benjamin Franklin's bone-filled basement to answer the question: what gives, Ben?
Brad brings a topical subject to the podcast this week - wild fires. Wild fires: hot. Smokey Bear: hotter.
Using our time machine, we travel all the way back to April 2023 to have a very special guest talk about more plants!
Jadrien tells Brad about the curse of allergies (and also, about metal detectors, for unrelated reasons).
Brad talks Jadrien into buying an electric vehicle.
Donut – Cheap Chinese Truck from Wish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRG0Wai4sR0
Donut – OG EVs w/ Jay Leno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsulOhzmNJE
Not Just Bikes channel on urban planning
https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustBikes
Technology Connections - A Complete Beginner's Guide toElectric Vehicles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyp_X3mwE1w
Engineering Explained – How Green EVs are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RhtiPefVzM
Jadrien shares her dissertation on sea monsters in an attempt to convince Brad (and listeners) that (1) they are real and (2) they are coming for you.
Brad tells Jadrien about the nuance of Canadian gun laws and how they compare to laws in other counties.
Brad continues his quest to explain everything by talking about electricity and how it brings you top notch content like this.
How Electricity Gets to You – Wendover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhxo2oXRiio
2003 Blackout – Practical Engineering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KciAzYfXNwU
2021 Texas Outage – Practical Engineering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08mwXICY4JM
Home electrification Pt 1 – Technology Connections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVLLNjSLJTQ
The magic of heat pumps – Technology Connections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43XKfuptnik
Gas lighting Pt 1– Technology Connections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tURHTuKHBZs
Cheap extensions cords will kill you – Technology Connections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_q-xnYRugQ
Electrical Clocks – Tom Scott
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bij-JjzCa7o
Jadrien tells Brad about the long history of genetically modified crops and how artificially selection makes everything more delicious.
Brad brings out more facts on DHMO, a chemical compound found everywhere that while vital to life can also have deadly repercussions.
https://healthresearchfunding.org/dangers-dihydrogen-monoxide/
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/bottled-water.htm
https://history.howstuffworks.com/medieval-people-drink-beer-water.htm
Jadrien surprises Brad with the unbelieveable story of how close the United States came to importing hippos to solve the meat crisis of the early 1900s.
Bradley finally goes off the deep end and does an entire episode about time, from calendars to daylight saving time.
https://xkcd.com/1883/
Brad tells Jade about the long-enduring, iconic vibes of Ancient Egypt and the human-made structures vying for World's Tallest. Economics explained video https://youtu.be/0Gpo8wKLw6Y
Jadrien tells Brad everything he never wanted to know about parasitic worms in infecting humans.
On our best (worst?) episode yet, Brad gives Jadrien a cursed delivery, and tells you more than you ever wanted to know about the iconic Costco hotdog.
Costco Income Graph https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/10hsaf8/oc_costcos_2022_income_statement_visualized_with/
Great PolyMatter on Costco vs Amazon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7BycrGnaJA
The very real https://www.costcohotdog.com
Jade's favourite reality show finished hundreds of years ago - tune in for the hottest 16th century gossip about England's royal drama.
This week, Brad goes way down the rabbit hole on Vikings, and how they were everywhere
- Map of viking expansion - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_expansion#/media/File:Viking_Expansion.svg
This week, Jadrien tells Bradley about the long history of detective fiction and it's charming little brother: Whodunits.
Shownotes:
- Parks and Rec on Jail - https://youtu.be/eiyfwZVAzGw
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/deduction-vs-induction-vs-abduction
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_fiction
- https://interestingliterature.com/2013/02/a-short-history-of-detective-fiction/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whodunit#:~:text=According%20to%20Merriam%2DWebster%20Dictionary,while%20working%20for%20Variety%20magazine
- https://www.novelsuspects.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-detective-fiction/#:~:text=Detective%20fiction%20can%20be%20traced,with%20for%20the%20most%20part.
- https://www.novelsuspects.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-whodunit/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red-Headed_League
- https://screenrant.com/most-common-tropes-murder-mystery-movies/\
- https://collider.com/10-best-whodunits-of-the-21st-century-to-watch-before-glass-onion/
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pseudonym
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/653534/cains-jawbone-book-puzzle
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain%27s_Jawbone
This week, Bradley hits Jadrien with some wet facts about great lakes, good lakes, and just okay lakes from all around the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_area
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_volume
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_depth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Slave_Lake#
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Great_Lakes
RealLifeLore - Why You Can’t Measure the Coastline of Britain
Ask a Mortician - The Lake That Never Gives Up Her Dead
On the very first episode, Jadrien tells Bradley about all things hibernation - including surprising misinformation taught to school children across generations.
Sources
https://www.science.org.au/curious/hibernation#:~:text=Hibernation%20is%20a%20way%20animals,in%20medical%20benefits%20for%20people.
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/what-is-hibernation/
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/some-animals-dont-actually-sleep-winter-and-other-surprises-about-hibernation
https://www.scienceworld.ca/stories/do-bears-actually-hibernate/#:~:text=Instead%20of%20hibernating%2C%20bears%20fall,%2C%20drinking%2C%20or%20passing%20waste!
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/denning.htm
https://www.britannica.com/science/diapause
https://byjus.com/biology/difference-between-diapause-and-hibernation/
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/about-hedgehogs/hibernation/
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/hibernation-faqs/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/hedgehog#:~:text=Adaptations%20and%20Hibernation-,Hedgehogs%20have%20a%20coat%20of%20stiff%2C%20sharp%20spines.,Hedgehogs%20hibernate%20in%20cold%20climates.
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/09/when-hedgehogs-hibernate/#:~:text=A%20hedgehog's%20heart%20rate%20is,to%20just%2020%20during%20hibernation.
https://asknature.org/strategy/hibernation-induces-dramatic-physiological-changes/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84727-3#:~:text=In%20the%20wild%2C%20the%20dwarf,the%20hibernation%20season%20in%20Madagascar.
https://lemur.duke.edu/discover/meet-the-lemurs/fat-tailed-dwarf-lemur/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat-tailed_dwarf_lemur
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/the-mysterious-brain-of-the-fat-tailed-dwarf-lemur-the-worlds-only-hibernating-primate/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84727-3#:~:text=While%20hibernating%2C%20dwarf%20lemurs%20can,months%2C%20making%20arousals%20unnecessary42.
https://www.crocoworld.com/crocodile_aestivation/
https://www.sophisticatededge.com/do-crocodiles-hibernate.html
https://www.healthline.com/health/can-humans-hibernate
https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/could-humans-hibernate-0
We're two friends who love learning about anything and then pulling our favourite fun facts out at parties.
Each week we'll take you down the rabbit hole of our latest fascination.
If you have too many tabs open
If nobody wants to play trivial pursuit with you
If you still talk about your 3rd grade class project
This is the podcast for you!