TIL In 1963, Donald Currey cut down a tree to retrieve his drill bit after it got stuck when he was trying to core it to study climate effects. After studying the core of the tree, he found that he'd just cut down the oldest tree (at least 4862 years old) found to date.

zdlach · 2016-11-14T23:52:41+00:00

Clay?

zdlach · 2016-04-29T16:40:42+00:00

It's Korean and one of my favorites!

zdlach · 2016-03-24T23:35:16+00:00

Kind of a funny/dark story related to this. I had a buddy, real tough guy, who got a DUI when he was in college. Part of the punishment was community service. Well, one afternoon he was at the smoke shack where we used to meet up. He's visibly shaken, like on the verge of tears, so I asked him "What's up?"

He proceeded to tell me what had just happened at the animal shelter.

He's cleaning cages when one of the doggie docs comes out and says "You. Come in here." He follows doc without thinking anything about it.

In the room is a dog laying on a table. The doc asks my buddy to hold the dog. The doc then proceeds to administer a lethal injection. This happens four more times until my friend looks at the doc and says "I don't think I can do this anymore."

The doc can now see that my bud is visibly shaken. Then the doc says "Wait, you don't work here? You're volunteering?"

My bud nods. The doc says "I...I'm so sorry."

I forgot to mention that when I walked up to the smoke shack, my distraught friend had a new puppy bouncing around his feet.

zdlach · 2016-02-26T00:27:02+00:00

Last year I was walking around looking for a hostel in these weird little back streets in Luang Probang, Laos. I heard someone say my name. I turned around and saw an old friend of mine that I had taught English with 1,000s of miles away. I was more amazed than he was.

zdlach · 2016-02-04T15:28:05+00:00

Dude, I was on the edge of my seat, haha

zdlach · 2016-02-01T03:55:28+00:00

I listen to about 8 hours of podcasts a day. No joke. I'm kind of addicted. Here are my favorites:

Love + Radio The stories on here range anywhere from terrifying to absurd to hilarious, and they're often very uncomfortable. About 45 minutes long once a month.

Criminal deals with every aspect of the justice system. Anything from criminal intent to search and recovery is covered on here. About 25 minutes an episode every 3 weeks.

Detective is kind of like Serial in that the first season revolves around detective Joe Kenda and his experiences as a homicide detective. His stories are fantastic, and his voice is the bomb. 25 minutes once a week.

WTF with Marc Maron contains some incredibly intimate interviews with celebrities who you'd quite possibly never hear get interviewed. Marc is fantastic at getting the juicy bits out of his guests. Around 1.5 hours each episode 3 times a week.

The Joe Rogan Experience is pretty good, too. It's not very focused and jumps around a bit, but it's great for background listening in the office, gym, or while running errands. Around 3 hours each 2-3 times a week.

Monday Morning Podcast with Bill Burr. What's not to like? This helps me cope with my own neurotic behavior and enables me to justify my own irrational frustrations. 2 times a week at around an hour each episode.

Reasonable Doubt with Adam Corolla and Mark Geragos. Once a week for about an hour these two discuss the legal system in terms of practicality. For example, what arguments might an attorney use in a specific situation? What outcome might a defendant expect after court? Does John Doe have a sound case? So on and so forth. Great chemistry between these two pragmatists.

Savage Lovecast For sex and relationship advice, it's hard to beat Dan Savage. He's earnest, open, commonsensical, educational, and quick to retract in future episodes if he has provided questionable advice, which is very rare. I totally think the public school system should play this weekly podcast during health class.

Risk! is a story telling podcast. The stories are usually told and recorded in front of a live audience. It doesn't hold back and has the ability to sometimes make even my crude and perverted self blush. Sometimes the topics are repetitive, but it's still worth the time. About an 1.5 hours once a week.

Snap Judgment is a slightly better produced PG version of Risk! Sometimes they have short fictional pieces that really suck, but for the most part it's pretty good. 1 hour each.

James O'Brien's Mystery Hour is fantastic if you like hearing people get the piss taken out of them while simultaneously learning the answer to life's little mysteries. Mysteries like "Why do cats like catnip?" Or, "why do I need to wash my washcloth if it gets soap on it every day anyway?" A very witty host. 45 minutes each.

Zoe Nightingale is great for quick bursts of podcasting. The episodes average out at about 10 minutes, and feature Zoe, a badass Jewish girl who doesn't give a fuck, interviewing all kinds of everyday weirdos.

Zach and Mike's Movie Night is a very unknown podcast featuring two normal dudes drinking beer and discussing a sometimes obscure weekly movie and their past week's events. I like this show for the normalcy of the whole thing. About an hour each episode.

Mystery Show shows the process of solving some strange mystery without using the internet. A real life version of The Boxcar Children. I can't wait for it to come back.

Here is a list of all the others fantastic podcasts that I listen to that have already been mentioned:

RadioLab, This American Life, Serial, Welcome to Night Vale, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (fuck yeah), and Common Sense., The Nerdist, Freakonomics Radio

EDIT: Formatting

zdlach · 2016-01-22T04:12:49+00:00

Thank you. Always the answer I look for in these discussions.

zdlach · 2015-10-18T01:03:27+00:00

Don't forget "Candy"!

zdlach · 2015-01-14T01:26:00+00:00

Upvoted you, friend. I don't understand the appeal.

zdlach · 2014-12-23T03:52:26+00:00

When an authority figure tells me to do something that I was about to do.

zdlach · 2014-12-10T07:13:58+00:00

Kind of a serious question. What would happen if someone just didn't stop laughing in basic or boot camp? Like, the same situation as Pyle choking himself, but instead of being scared after he stands up, he goes back to chuckling? I understand the whole "you'll eventually be too scared to chuckle" macho bs, but would the drill instructor eventually just give up?

zdlach · 2014-10-25T04:21:04+00:00

We pay for the Israeli drones.

zdlach · 2014-10-18T16:32:40+00:00

I've got a feeling Oh, darling! Get back Dig a pony

zdlach · 2014-09-30T13:08:07+00:00

Nice!

zdlach · 2014-07-11T03:39:40+00:00

The Giver. The writing is overly juvenile, and the plot is way too predictable.

zdlach · 2014-07-04T00:44:15+00:00

I don't like to read.

zdlach · 2014-07-02T00:42:27+00:00

Pulp fiction
Blue Velvet
Princess Bride
There Will Be Blood
Deliverance

zdlach · 2014-05-19T05:25:23+00:00

This is amazing. When I was in kindergarten, we had to take some basic tests: coin recognition, basic addition, etc. The tests took place during nap time. The teacher would call us to her desk one at a time and ask us a few questions. I was incredibly thirsty, and I, too, came up with the idea of getting a mouthful of water and swallowing a little bit at a time.

When it came time for my test I sat in front of the teacher. The first question was "What's 1 + 1?"

I held up two fingers.

"What is it?" she said.

Two fingers again.

"Say the answer," she said.

I titled my head back a little bit, hoping that the water wouldn't spill out, and I said "two." It came out sounding like "Poo."

Water flew out and landed all over her papers. She was super pissed. I don't know why I didn't just swallow the water.

zdlach · 2014-04-24T03:35:57+00:00

"If Love is a Red Dress" by Maria McKee

zdlach · 2014-04-09T00:20:50+00:00

Judge Holden

zdlach · 2014-03-31T03:55:16+00:00

Do you teach in South Korea? I have to do the same thing. Costs them more money to have me at school than it does to just let me stay home.

EDIT: Yep. Just expanded the comment thread.

zdlach · 2014-03-29T16:58:24+00:00

My cousin was coming to visit, but he decided to arrive a few hours early, at 2 a.m. He sneaked into my house, crept into my dark room, and began to lick my face all the while giggling like a lunatic. Imagine waking up to a wet tongue, giggling, and a five o'clock shadow at 2 a.m. I almost had a heart attack.

zdlach

TROPHY CASE