Seemingly Unrelated

On this very special seasonal episode we are digging into the unrelated tales that make up the internet as we know it. We'll be answering questions no one has ever asked while sober such as: What is the internet anyway? How does it work? Does it have to work this way or are there alternatives? What is, and always has been, the most popular thing on all the different forms of the internet regardless of time, place, language, or really any factors? That's right we'll be globetrotting all episode long to hunt out the secret, alternative, histories of inter-network connectivity on this extra special episode of Seemingly Unrelated.Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated Find the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeeminglyUnrelatedPod Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode (free) on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SeeminglyUnrelated

In 1992, a Baptist pastor sought to distill his marriage counseling advice into five, easy concepts that couples could use to build happier relationships. In 1996, a call to end dependence on cash welfare and 'Get America Back to Work' resulted in sweeping reforms and a new state based block grant system for welfare in the US. By 2009 somehow, some way, the state of Oklahoma managed to put these two together...On this episode of Seemingly Unrelated we are performing an act of service to let you, the audience, know that we really love you by deep diving into the 5 Love Languages and their strange connection to welfare reform. What are the 5 Love Languages? Do we actually have a primary way of expressing and receiving love? What is the most boring name for a legislative agenda in US history? Is the solution to an epidemic of loneliness just to give people cash?All these questions and more will be answered plus a whole lot of shenanigans on episode 13 of Seemingly Unrelated: Is Welfare One of the 5 Love Languages? Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated Find the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeeminglyUnrelatedPod Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode (free) on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SeeminglyUnrelated

The hot button issue for Gen Z (according to media run by not Gen Z) is the impact of photo filters on body image and mental health. This sudden surge in access to easy to manipulate tech has launched a thousand think pieces about FOMO, impossible fitness standards, and a host of ills directly connected to too much social media and too much envy for outrageous lifestyles.Is this trend particularly new? What is the underlying mechanism that pushes people to slavishly follow the latest filtered trend? More importantly why did the guy who came up with this theory used to hide under tables at parties to spy on the guests?Find out in episode 12 of Seemingly Unrelated where we go #nofilter to discuss the link between Tiktok's AI generated beauty and a 19th century passion for pretending you are related to nobility.Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated Find the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeeminglyUnrelatedPod Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SeeminglyUnrelated

Is there a secret, dark history lurking behind those friendly lucky cat statues that welcome you into your favorite Chinese take out place?This week on Seemingly Unrelated we dive into the Maneki-neko, aka Beckoning Cat, aka Lucky Cat, which has become a symbol of pan-Asian businesses around the world. All in pursuit of answering the question: why is this guy so popular?We'll explore the potential heroic legend of the Maneki-neko, it's brief stint as a symbol of the Yoshiwara pleasure district in Tokyo, a journey through an oft ignored mass migration of servants to the Americas, and a special visit from Hello Kitty who is apparently not actually a cat?!Find out all the secrets, and maybe some get some good fortune with episode 11 of Seemingly Unrelated!Subscribe to the audio only version on:https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelatedFind the videos on Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/@seeminglyunrelatedpodWant even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month and find all the sources we used for this episode on our Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/c/SeeminglyUnrelated 

Sometimes, things that are so completely different and range wildly in their impact have a single, slender, fascinating thread that binds them together. Pulling on that thread, not just merely remarking upon it, but finding out what it means and how it matters is exactly what we do on this podcast.Today's episode finds the tie that binds three disparate elements: The CIA's attempt to win the Cold War through culture with the Congress for Cultural Freedom. The assassination of Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan. As well as, the 2nd place runner up in the pre-1983 video game crash Mattel's Intellivision. What could they possibly have in common? Listen to find out. ‘Blue Sky Rangers Intellivision History’.  https://history.blueskyrangers.com/.Boellstorff, Tom, and Braxton Soderman. ‘Transplatform: Culture, Context, and the Intellivision/Atari VCS Rivalry’. Games and Culture 14, no. 6 (1 September 2019): 680–703. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412017721839.‘Defending Sirhan Sirhan | Bentley Historical Library’. https://bentley.umich.edu/news-events/magazine/defending-sirhan-sirhan/.Gorney, Cynthia. ‘Sirhan’. Washington Post, 20 August 1979. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/08/20/sirhan/75cd41f0-e570-4bc4-ac93-83f251eec765/.Library of Congress, ‘Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassin | https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawing-justice-courtroom-illustrations/about-this-exhibition/assassination-and-murder-trials/robert-f-kennedys-assassin/.‘Remembering the Congress of Cultural Freedom - ProQuest’.  https://www.proquest.com/docview/206723938?accountid=11862&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals.Severo, Richard. ‘George Plimpton, Urbane and Witty Writer, Dies at 76’. The New York Times, 26 September 2003, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/obituaries/george-plimpton-urbane-and-witty-writer-dies-at-76.html.‘The Assassination of Robert Kennedy | History Today’.  https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/assassination-robert-kennedy.The Paris Review. ‘Invisible Ink: At the CIA’s Creative Writing Group’,  https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/01/09/invisible-ink-at-the-cias-creative-writing-group/.X. ‘Who Is Sirhan Sirhan? His Life before the RFK Assassination’. Los Angeles Times, . https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2021-08-30/sirhan-sirhan-robert-f-kennedy-essential-california.

 There's been a buzz in the news lately about immigration causing all sorts of issues around the world. This isn't the first time that proposals to ban entire groups have been championed, and that has caused some serious problems in the past. This week on Seemingly Unrelated, find out how Spelling Bees helped bring an end to the disastrous Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and proved that diversity is a strength, not a problem needing to be solved. Anna P. Kambhampaty, “How Indian Americans Came to Love the Spelling Bee,” The New York Times, July 3, 2021, sec. Style, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/style/spelling-bee-south-asian-americans.html; https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/05/07/learning/07LODTimesMachineLN/07LODTimesMachineLN-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.png; “About the Bee | Scripps National Spelling Bee,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.spellingbee.com/about; “Daily News from New York, New York - Newspapers.ComTM,” , https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/435742927/; “Daily News from New York, New York - Newspapers.ComTM,” , https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/435742927/; “Immigration and Nationality Act,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.lbjlibrary.org/news-and-press/media-kits/immigration-and-nationality-act; “Immigration Laws.,” image, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdclccn.22019016/?st=gallery; “Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian,” https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act; “NPC Centennial Spelling Bee | National Press Club,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.press.org/events/npc-centennial-spelling-bee; “The Women Win in Congress Spelling Bee | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2007/2007-111-002/; “Today In History: Luce-Celler Act Signed in 1946 | South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA),” https://www.saada.org/news/20140702-3609; “Chinese Exclusion Act (1882),” National Archives, September 8, 2021, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/chinese-exclusion-act.  -- Andrew D. JohnstoneE-mail: jstone.wmuc@gmail.com