500 Open Tabs

Latest Episodes:

56: Crocker Spite House and John Orr Feb 12, 2025

Show notes

This week we deep dive into how Billionaire James Crocker built a fence around a German immigrant's home in San Francisco and how legendary arson investigator John Orr's passion project doubled as a confession for some of California's worst fires. A listener email explains how the first ever women’s college basketball game was played at Smith College in 1893.

Episode Tabs:

The Man Who Built a 40-Foot Spite Fence Around His Neighbor’s Home

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94298/crocker-spite-fence-san-francisco

He Was Both Fire Captain And Prolific Arsonist. His Novel Put Him In Prison.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-29/john-orr-glendale-fire-captain-prolific-arsonist

Listener Tabs:

Stone of Blarney, Meet Head of Lenin

https://lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-report/2015/jul/10/stone-blarney-meet-head-lenin/

March 22, 1893: First Women’s Collegiate Basketball Game

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/first-womens-collegiate-basketball-game/

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

55: Big Jim O’Leary and Mark Twain vs USPS Feb 05, 2025

Show notes

This week we learn how the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 gave birth to the city's most honest gambler and how Mark Twain's feud with the United States Postal Service lasted a lifetime. A listener email tells us the story of Mike the Headless Chicken.

Episode Tabs:

The Irish American Gangster Whose Family Rose from Chicago's Ashes

https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/big-jim-oleary-chicago-crime-boss

Mark Twain Had a Lifelong Feud with the United States Postal Service

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mark-twain-had-a-lifelong-feud-with-the-united-states-postal-service

Listener Tabs:

How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31374512-how-to-tame-a-fox-and-build-a-dog

Mike the Headless Chicken

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

54: Aristotle's Masterpiece and American Hippo Bill Jan 29, 2025

Show notes

This week we learn about a sex manual/midwifery book from 1684 and how the American Hippo Act forced two rivals from South Africa to come together for the greater good. A listener email explains why Pandas use horse manure to stay warm.

Episode Tabs:

When the Birds and the Bees Were Not Enough

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/when-the-birds-and-the-bees-were-not-enough-aristotle-s-masterpiece/

American Hippopotamus

https://magazine.atavist.com/american-hippopotamus/

Listener Tabs:

Why is Bern the Capital of Switzerland?

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/federal-city-_why-is-bern-the-capital-of-switzerland/44577476

Why Wild Giant Pandas Frequently Roll In Horse Manure

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2004640117

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

53: Dellschau Notebooks pt. 2 and Nuclear Semiotics Jan 22, 2025

Show notes

This week we finally unpack Charles Dellschau's forgotten aeronautical notebooks and learn how long-term nuclear waste warning messages are created. A listener email digs up the story of how the Brynlow shovel was dug up out of Alderley Edge but not identified as a Bronze Age tool until many decades later.

Episode Tabs:

Charles A.A. Dellschau Book

http://www.shishigami.com/srfa/Charles_Dellschau_FINAL.pdf

Inverse Archaeology: Sending a Message to the Future https://www.stochastication.com/2016/06/13/inverse-archaeology/amp/

Listener Tabs:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1l0CodEbSLsF0zj7i5SWJPJfvu9iNvi3f&hl=en&ll=34.42740297426141%2C-117.9767350680066&z=8

https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/opinion/magic-and-mining-at-alderley-edge.htm

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

52: LA Fire Update and Patreon AMA Jan 15, 2025

Show notes

Unfortunately the LA fires have forced us to delay recording, so here's a quick update about ways you can help followed by our last Patreon AMA that should be unhinged enough to hold you all over till next week. Stay safe friends!!

ANIMATION PPL & FRIENDS AFFECTED BY FIRES:

https://airtable.com/appugwkqKAVGDdeaJ/shrrujOu1GKwKAW0f/tblBTejpocYFoeauX

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

51: Salamander Wool and Dellschau Notebooks pt. 1 Jan 08, 2025

Show notes

We're back from the winter break and midder than ever! This week we learn how salamanders tricked medieval Europeans into thinking they were fireproof and how Prussian immigrant Charles Dellschau's forgotten aeronautical notebooks came to shock the art world 40 years after his death. A listener email tells the harrowing tale of how astronaut Sergei Krikalev got stuck in space after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Episode Tabs:

The Asbestos Workers’ Salamander

http://www.laborculture.org/publications/Asbestos_Workers'_Salamander_Occasional%20Paper_3.pdf

Did An Artist's Flights Of Fancy Depict Early Aviation?

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/columnists/native-texan/article/Did-an-artist-s-flights-of-fancy-depict-early-5909915.php

Listener Tabs:

https://www.ndtv.com/science/sergei-krikalev-the-story-of-sergei-krikalev-whose-country-disappeared-when-he-was-in-space-5414875

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chessie_(sea_monster)

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

50: 2024 Audience Favorites: Oops All Kavehs! Jan 01, 2025

Show notes

Yes it's technically 2025 now but here are Kaveh's two most popular tabs of 2024 as voted by you the audience! Join us as we revisit the story of our Horse Daddy King Nikola Jokić and the wonderful Meiji era political cartoons involving Tanuki balls.

Episode Tabs:

How Nikola Jokić Became The World’s Best Basketball Player

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/how-nikola-jokic-became-the-worlds-best-basketball-player

Testicular Tanuki Tales: Japanese Folk Humor for Children with a Ribald Satirical Twist

https://blogs.princeton.edu/cotsen/2017/09/tanuki/

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to https://nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

49: 2024 Audience Favorites: Oops All Hannahs! Dec 25, 2024

Show notes

This year for Christmas you're getting Hannah's two most popular tabs of 2024 as voted by you the audience! Join us as we revisit the story of how Iceland got the wrong translation of Dracula and Pompeian graffiti got freaky deaky.

Episode Tabs:

The Literary Mystery of the Icelandic Dracula by Valur Grettison

https://grapevine.is/mag/2022/05/09/the-literary-mystery-of-the-icelandic-dracula/

What the Graffiti of Ancient Pompeii Teach Us About Our Modern Selves

https://blog.degruyter.com/graffiti-ancient-pompeii-teach-us-modern-selves/

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to https://nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

48: K2MITAB!! (500 Open Stabs Round 2) Dec 18, 2024

Show notes

On our season 1 finale, the ancient tournament of Kumitab continues as we pit some of our craziest subjects against one another including Ronald Reagan's sweatpants, a meth-addled WW2 solider, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. A listener email explains the wonders of a nonstop Moby Dick reading marathon.

Listener Tabs:

https://slate.com/life/2024/01/moby-dick-whale-book-ship-massachusetts-captain-ahab.html

https://www.dailyrecordnews.com/news/getting-to-the-bottom-of-mel-s-hole/article_d72b6a68-7ac2-11e1-b3ce-001a4bcf887a.html

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a

SUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabs

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

47: The 47 Society and Ol' Rip the Horned Toad Dec 11, 2024

Show notes

This week we learn about how an offline meme of the number 47 made its way into Star Trek and how a hibernating lizard named Ol' Rip caught the attention of President Calvin Coolidge himself. A listener email shines a light on Disneyland's complex system of garbage tunnels.

Episode Tabs:

The 47 Society

https://www.47.net/47society/

The strange tale of Old Rip, the horned toad on display in a Texas courthouse

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texana/2018/10/05/the-strange-tale-of-old-rip-the-horned-toad-on-display-in-a-texas-courthouse/

Listener Tabs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tigers_of_Mompracem

https://worldofwalt.com/disney-underground-trash-tubes.html

Email your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs

500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7

Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7a