Your Brain On Facts

7 billion people spread across 59 million square miles, but we all need to eat and we eat more things that are than same than different. Learn about pizza preference, drunk foods, and truly unique fare around the world. Support the show Music by Chris Haugen Read the fill script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. You can also leave a question or fact of your own on my voicemail at 804-404-2669. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've probably heard about the Austrian Christmas demon Krampus, but what about Befana, the Italian Christmas witch? In what country do you need reservations for Xmas dinner at KFC? Where do people wish you happy holidays with a specific request for presents? Promo: Soulstory podcast Watch the Yule Goat. Support the show Music by Kevin MacLeod  Read the fill script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our instantly-connected world, there are entire groups of people you may never have heard of, whether they have never had contact with others or they live alongside the better known population. Learn about the Sami of Norway, Yali of New Guinea, Ladakhi of India, and more. Support the show Music by Kevin MacLeod and Audionautix. Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As long as we have had media on which to record our art, there have been competing formats. While more modern examples like Betamax vs VHS or Blu-ray vs HD DVD may leap to mind, format wars go back as far as the days of Thomas Edison and the first audio media, wax cylinders. We'll also look at 8-tracks, 16-2/3 RPM records, "self-destructing" DVD's, and a string of Sony failures.   Mentions: EngineerGuy Music by Kevin MacLeod Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From naming ceremonies around the world and adult circumcisions, to unexpected disasters and baptising the dead whether they want it or not, we look at different ways people are made part of their faith or community. Music by Kevin MacLeod and Tabletop Audio. Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Think you don't speak French because you failed it in high school? Wouldn't know Hindi from Urdu? You actually speak them every day! Mentions: NativLang, Marge Bruchac's letter Music by Kevin MacLeod, and Chris Haugen. Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 From the Yellow Pages and Golden Book, to Mao's little red book, three different green books and more!  Music by Kevin MacLeod, Audionautix, and Rooster Teeth (I love you, please don't sue). Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From music hall to Red Dwarf, pantomime to Absolutely Fabulous, we look at the history of British comedy, the names, shows, and historical events that made it what it is today. Like what you hear? Become a patron of the arts for as little as $2 a month!  Music: Kevin MacLeod and John Phillips Sousa. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are many reasons why an individual or group would eat other people - religious rites, shows of strength, signs of respect, and of course desperation.  Cannibalism can be split into four often overlapping categories: by choice, by necessity, endo-cannibalism (eating people within your group), and exo-cannibalism (eating people outside your group).   Special guests: Heather from Nature Vs Narcissism and Seth from Sketch Nerds.   Music: Kevin MacLeod and Tabletop Audio Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Carlin wasn't wrong with his list of 7 dirty words you can't say, but he missed a whole lot. Everyday parts of our media and surprisingly innocuous things were banned from movies, TV, and radio for the better part of the twentieth century. Lucille Ball was pregnant on "I Love Lucy," but they weren't allowed to say the word 'pregnant.' Movies were forbidden from showing drugs, murder, silhouettes of nudity, "excessive kissing," and a lot more.     Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod.  I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/ Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are some musicians that leave an enduring legacy through long and storied careers, like the Rolling Stones, who formed in 1962 and swear 2018 for be their final year touring, for real this time. There are actors who are iconic because they have been on our TV’s or the silver screen for decades, like Sean Connery, James Earl Jones, and our beloved Betty White. But by the same token, there are musicians, actors, and shows that are like a stone dropped in a pond -- their appearance was brief, but their ripples continue to this day.   With special guest, Dan LeFebvre from Based On A True Story podcast.   Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept 15 to Oct 15. Join us in celebrating cultural touchstones and famous people, as well as learning things like the distinction between Latino and Hispanic. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will Shel Silverstein turn your kids into cannibals? Is a baby penguin spreading the "gay agenda"? We look at children, young adult, and LGBTQ books challenged or banned for silly reasons.   Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Learn why parents objected to such diverse classics as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Ender's Game and which book is banned in the most countries. With special guest Megan Dangerous from Oh No! Lit Class podcast. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Goats are the internet’s second favorite animal, a ruminant quadruped that gives us milk, meat, fiber, and hilarious videos. Legend has it they also discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls, cataract surgery, and coffee. They can climb seemingly impossible heights and escape every kind of fence mankind has invented. They feature in the zodiac and the mythologies of most of the world.   Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s in a name? That which we call a city by any other name would smell as sweet. Some nicknames are obvious. Denver, CO is the Mile High City because it’s precisely one mile above sea level. Dallas, Texas is The Big D; everything’s bigger in Texas. But which American city can also be called The Emerald City, which state is the Land of Lincoln and what’s a buckeye or a Sooner?   Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you want to open an actual door to the past, you’ll have to do it without a doorknob. The patent for the a knob that turns to move a latch inside the door wasn't filed until 1878. Lots of things, from CPR to timezones to sliced bread, that seem like they've been around forever are actually quite young. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Genghis Kahn's empire killed 2/3 of Northern China, but people under his rule knew unrivaled gender equality and religious freedom. Mother Teresa gave aid to the poor, but also encouraged their suffering. Spiky cacti sometimes contain life-sustaining water, and even the most beautiful roses have thorns. We’re all some mix of good and bad. Thanks to our special guests Dimly Lit podcast. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a literal world of funeral practices to choose from, from an Irish wake to Tibetan sky burial, from New Orleans Jazz funerals to Balinese ngaben cremation, from being buried in a car-shaped coffin in Ghana to burying the head of family with a funnel in their mouth in Nigeria, so you can give them palm wine during the funeral. Thanks to our special guests from Life in Stories podcast. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website.         Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tests are all around us.  You probably took one the minute you were born. We look at tests named for the people who created them - Bechdel, Myers-Briggs, Apgar, and more. 01:25 Bechdel-Wallace  09:00 DuVernay 13:40 Myer-Briggs 18:10 Apgar Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod . Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices