Midnight Facts for Insomniacs

Ross Ulbricht created the most notorious website in history when he launched the The Silk Road in 2011. An online marketplace for drugs, guns, poisons, and explosives, the Silk Road would become synonymous with the Internet's lawless new frontier: the so-called "Dark Web."

But what really IS the Dark Web? And how did a middle-class suburban kid become the notorious criminal kingpin known as the "Dread Pirate Roberts"?

Fire up your TOR browser and cover your digital tracks as you follow Shane and Duncan into the darkest depths of the web for a fascinating true story of drugs, contract killings, and betrayal.  

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In this episode:  

• Deep Vs Dark
• Ross Ulbricht, Libertarian
• TOR (The Onion Router) 
• The Bitcoin Connection
• 'Shrooms
• Altoid
• Dread Pirate Roberts
• Variety Jones
• The Kingpin Statute
• Gawker and Chuck Schumer
• Julia and Erica
• Ross's Rules and the "Nonaggression Principle"
• DEA, FBI, and IRS
• Agent Carl Force, aka Nob
• Curtis Green, aka ChronicPain
• Agent Shaun Bridges, Thief 
• Assassinations
• IRS Agent Gary Alford
• Caught
• Trial and Sentencing 
• Carla Sophia, the "French Maid"

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~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

Ten episodes away from the big 1-0-0, the boys are hunting for the true origin story of the elusive video-game Easter egg. (Hint: Ready Player One got it wrong.) Follow along as Shane guides Duncan through some of the most famous, interesting, or pathetically failed examples of hidden content from movies and games. 

PS: is there an Easter Egg in episode 90? Guess you'll have to keep listening to find out...

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In this episode:  

• Debunking Spielberg's Version of the First Easter Egg
• Adventure, by Warren Robinett
• Adam Clayton, Snitch
• Not Fixed by Brad Stewart
• Steve Wright and the Origin of the Term "Easter Egg"
• Video Whizball and the First Name Drop
• The True Origin: Moonlander, by Jack Burness
• The DEC G40
• Red Faction: Armageddon and Mr. Toots 
• Stormtrooper Blooper and the Battlefront Homage
• Resident Evil and the Jill Sandwich
• Castlevania CD Remix
• Doom II and John Romero's Head
• Diablo's Nonexistent Cow-Level
• Diablo II's Actual Hidden Cow-Level
• Batman: Arkham Asylum and the Product-Placement Easter Egg
• Konami, Solid Snake, Psycho Mantis, and the Creepiest of Easter eggs
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Literal Easter eggs
• Back to the Future and the Case of the Disappearing Pine
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Samuel L Jackson, Pulp Fiction, and Nick Fury's Tombstone
• Ezekial 25:17, Murder Monologue
• Big Kahuna Burger and the Tarantino/Rodriguez connection 
• From Dusk Till Dawn, Reservoir Dogs, Four Rooms, Death Proof
• Indiana Jones and Droid Hieroglyphs  (C-3PO and R2D2)
• The Phantom Menace (Galactic Senate E.T.s)
• Ready Player One and the Death of Easter Eggs

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~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

Do bears really hibernate? What does the color green look like to a cat? And most importantly, is ice cream flavored with beaver butts? Find the answers to these and other essential animal-related questions in this week's episode of MFFI. 

In this episode:  

• Do Bears Hibernate?
• Are Bats Blind?
• Can Dogs and Cats See Color?
• Can Owls Spin Their Heads Around?
• Are Penguins Monogamous?
• Is Ice Cream Flavored With Beaver Butts?
• Do Cats Love Milk?
• Have Primates (Like Koko) Actually Learned Sign Language?

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Join the Midnight Masses!

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~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

The word of the week is “tangent.“ This host-swap episode is supposedly about slang (like, for instance, “off the rails”), but it’s also about bees and legs and wives and Snoop D-O-Double-G. If you enjoy listening to the guys talk smack and ramble, enjoy. 

In this episode:  

• Definition of Slang
• History
• Gig
• Lit
• 23 Skidoo
• Dumpster Fire
• Salty
• California Slang
• Monkey's Uncle
• The Bechdel Test
• Inspo
• Gucci
• Mansplain 
• Unplug
• Ghost

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Join the Midnight Masses!

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And we now have Midnight Merch! Show your Insomniac pride and pick up a tee shirt or coffee mug to spread the word! 

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~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

Never say never. Shane swore that MFFI would never address the dreaded "K" family, but fate (and the Discord crew) had other plans. Join the boys for a fascinating dive into the putrid swamps of television history to learn how the scourge that is Reality TV conquered the entertainment world. 

In this episode:  

• Reality Television VS Documentary Series
• The Finances
• SAG-AFTRA
• Networks VS Production Companies
• Writers Strikes
• The History of Reality TV
• American Family
• Meet the Louds
• Nummer 28
• MTV
• The Real World New York
• Cast VS Editors
• Expedition Robinson
• Survivor Debuts
• Types of Reality TV
• Competition/Elimination Shows
• Formatted Shows
• Docu-Style Shows 
• Soft Scripting
• Story Narratives
• Criticism and Controversy
• Reality TV as Anthropological Experiment
• Frankenediting
• Joe Millionaire and the Slurp Heard Around the World
• Liquor and Sexual Abuse Allegations
• Product Placement
• The Humiliation Factor/Shame TV
• Tragedies

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Join the Midnight Masses!

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Episode Transcript

~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

You can’t win them all.

In 1961, America experienced the sting of its first truly humiliating public defeat, a debacle that played out in real time on the international stage. The bungled and bloody Bay of Pigs Invasion would mark the first major misstep of the Kennedy administration, and as “Operation Zapata” began to unravel in Cuba, the resulting scandal would undermine America’s carefully crafted image as a shining beacon of virtue.

In this episode:  

• Fulgencio Batista
• 1933 Sergeants uprising
• Mafia’s Playground
• Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
• Che Guevara
• The Movement
• The Moncada Army Barracks
• 26 of July movement
• Granma Yacht 
• Brain Drain
• Dwight D Eisenhower
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy
• Operation Pluto
• Phases One, Two, and Three
• Operation Zapata
• Sonic Booms
• Brigade 2506
• Carlos Rafael Santana Estevez
• The Attack 
• Mad Dog Flight
• FAR T-33s
• The Aftermath
• Tractors 
• Operation Mongoose
• Poison Cigar
• Exploding Mollusk
• The Fountain Pen
• Scuba Suit
• Poison Pills
• LSD Spray
• Thallium Salts

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Join the Midnight Masses!

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~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

Why have only a few particular murders and heists and scandals been immortalized in popular culture? Join Shane and Duncan for a dive into three famous capers of the 1900s to help uncover the x-factors that elevate a garden-variety crime to legend status. 

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In this episode: 

• Charles Lindbergh
• The Aerial Daredevil Lindbergh
• Aviator Worship
• Air Mail ServiceThe Orteig Prize
• John Alcock and Arthur Brown
• The Kidnapping of the Lindburgh Baby
• The Ransom Notes
• John Condon, Intermediary
• The Body is Found
• Gold Certificates Break the Case
• Bruno Richard Hauptmann
• The Trial
• Theft of the Mona Lisa
• The Louvre in the Early 1900s
• Louis Beroud
• Leonardo da Vinci and the History of the Painting
• Francesco and Lisa Giocondo
• Louis Lepine
• Pablo Picasso, Suspect
• Vencenzo Peruggia
• Alfredo Geri and Giovanni Poggi
• Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
• Fatty, Chaplin, and the Keystone Kops
• Memorial Day at the Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco
• Virginia Rappe
• Bambina Maude Delmont
• The Death
• First Trial
• Second Trial
• Third Trial and Exoneration
• William B Goodrich

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~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

The largest cult on earth has over 25 million followers, the 4th largest army in the world, and a nuclear arsenal. It also has bowling alleys and karaoke bars, and regularly hosts international marathons. Under three generations of iron-fisted dictators, the so-called Hermit Nation disconnected from the rest of the world, but with the rise of western-educated Kim Jong-un, North Korea is rapidly modernizing. Is the country bracing for change? What is life like in an isolated, rogue state? And is there any point in negotiating with a hostile, nuclear-armed enemy? Join Shane and Duncan for a nuanced exploration of the most feared and vilified country on earth.

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In this episode: 

• The First Sino-Japanese War
• The Military Police Reign Era
• Kim Il-sung, the Tiger
• Kim Joins the Soviet Army
• World War II and Pearl Harbor
• Establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea
• The Korean War, 1950
• Armistice, 1953
• Syngman Rhee and South Korea
• Juche
• Kim-Il-sung's Cult of Personality
• Kim and the Titanic
• The Rise of Kim Jong-il
• Cult of Kim Jong-il
• Mount Paektu
• Collapse of the Soviet Union
• North Korean Famine
• The Rise of Kim Jong-un
• Purging of Enemies
• The Execution of Jang Song-thaek
• The Murder of Kim Jong-nam
• North Korean Economy
• The Black Market
• The Drug Trade
• Counterfeiting
• Cyberwarfare
• Reforms 
• Sanctions
• Nuclear Capabilities
• Life in North Korea
• Life in Pyongyang
• The DMZ (the 38th Parallel)
• North Korean Myth Busting

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Join the Midnight Masses!

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And we now have Midnight Merch! Show your Insomniac pride and pick up a tee shirt or coffee mug to spread the word! 

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~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

From paper dresses to giant metal erections, MFFI explores some of the weirdest historical fashion trends. 

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In this episode: 

• Hobble skirts
• Paper clothing
• Powdered wigs
• Codpieces
• Foot Binding
• Tudor Ruffs
• Crakowes
• Sabatons/Poulaines

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Join the Midnight Masses!

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And we now have Midnight Merch! Show your Insomniac pride and pick up a tee shirt or coffee mug to spread the word! 

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Episode Transcript

~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~

Only a sucker would believe that P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." In the latest episode of MFFI, the boys once again undermine their own faith in humanity by exposing the inventors, scientists, authors, and orators who deserve none of the credit they've been given. 

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In this episode: 

• Stigler's Law of Eponymy 
• Mark Twain and Helen Keller
• Halley's Comet
• The Pythagorean Theorum
• Hubble's Law (Edwin Hubble)
• Alexander Friedmann
• Georges Lemaitre and the Hubble Constant
• Hubble and the Nobel Prize
• Fermi Paradox Redux
• The Invention of the Automobile
• Henry Ford, William Klann, and the Assembly Line
• Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz
• Siegfried Marcus
• The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
• Carriages
• The Telephone
• Alexander Graham Bell vs. Elisha Gray
• Johan Philip Reis and the Singing Station
• Antonio Meucci and the Teletrophono
• Mark Twain Misattribution
• Albert Einstein Misattribution
• QAnon Misattribution (White Squall)
• Marie Antoinette Misattribution
• PT Barnum Misattribution
• Marilyn Monroe Misattribution 

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Join the Midnight Masses!

Become an Insomniac by dropping a review, adding us on social media, and contacting us with episode ideas. 

And we now have Midnight Merch! Show your Insomniac pride and pick up a tee shirt or coffee mug to spread the word! 

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Episode Transcript

~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~