Hey all, I posted this in our Discord but wanted to include our Reddit community as well. As a thank you for being wonderful, dedicated listeners of 99pi, we want to show our gratitude by sending you some stickers! Also, the 99pi team will be getting together next week and I thought what better time to have the team stuff some stickers into envelopes for our listeners.

If you'd like some stickers, just fill out this form: https://forms.gle/zKirkVRyVGaP9hzW8

Feel free to pass the link to your friends/any fans of 99pi. Thanks!

Edit: Couldn't upload the images, but you can see them in the Discord.

I heard Roman audibly gasp during vulture bonus episode, when one of the guests (you'll forgive me for not trying to write their name from memory, as I don't want to butcher it) mentioned how it's possible to see feral dogs within cattle carcases, including inside their rib cages.

That reminded me of one of the classic internet moments, back when internet was young, things were still amazing here, there were no influencers and we haven't even used the phrase "going viral".

If you don't know what exactly "dogs in elk" are, buckle up, folks, it's a wild ride.

One of Reddit threads.

Original story, as saved by the MIT. (I don't know that there's anything else that'd get us closer to the 'original' these days)

An amazing podcast episode by the Endless Thread (u/endless_thread) podcast about the incident.

This is serious. We could make you delirious. You should have a healthy fear of us cuz to much of us is dangerous.

So that thing is an earworm. I tried searching the history on the reddit but didn't have any luck. Is it available anywhere?

Edward Norton's 2019 movie, Motherless Brooklyn, has clear references to The Power Broker. The character that Alec Baldwin plays is clearly intended to be Robert Moses. Why don't you invite Edward Norton to be a guest on a future episode.

Motherless Brooklyn - Wikipedia

Has anyone else noticed that the price of the 99pi book has been dropping by a little every day for the past month at Amazon?

There are no new posts created for newly published episodes. Even the pinned episode post is old.

Hey all,

I remember an episode where it was mentioned that during the cold war and the separation in Berlin, East Germany could not get hold of Titanium Dioxide very easily. This compound is used in paint to make it more opaque and bright. And the episode talked about how western propaganda showed East Berlin looking very drab and dull but actually this was true because the paint on their buildings etc. lacked this compound.

1. Is anyone able to identify this episode?? I searched the website and found nothing!

2. I find this fascinating and I'm going to Berlin next week - does anyone know of an area or place that this distinction in colouration is visible? I just want to nerd out a bit haha

I was shocked to start episode 577, “The Society of Ambiance Makers and Elegant Persons,” to hear Christopher Johnson kick off the show, and to only hear Roman in the ads. Is this how they’re going to be going forward? No shade on Christopher, he’s a great reporter and cohost. And I’m fully aware that Roman does not typically write his voiceovers. It was just very strange since he has been so synonymous with the show for over a decade. I really enjoyed this episode, but I am just not sure how I feel about 99PI without Roman.

Seems nuked on Apple Podcasts, Roman asks how to get to the service stairs and the episode ends at 30:36

It doesn’t get more ironic than reading ad copy about the off road suspension while sitting in a parking garage.

As cursed as it was to hear Roman utter the phrase "oinks and giggles", at least it was during the most appropriate episode!

I was inspired by the most recent episode to ask AI if it could generate a movie poster for a Pixar adaptation of “The Power Broker.”

I normally listen to podcast start to end but this one has too many episodes and it seem to have gotten much more interesting afterwards. I am planning on listening to the latest and than going back in time but before that are their any that are necessary? Like are there any that are referenced later? Thanks.

I might be mistaken but I feel like the autism episode had a sponsor selling furniture? I can't remember the name of it and can't find it by scrubbing through the timeline

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If all you know about this story from The Rev W. Awbry’s Railway Series is what they recounted in Train Sets 3, the story goes like this:

Henry, a sentient locomotive, was out on the rails after having just been repainted, when suddenly a typhoon struck. Henry sought shelter in a tunnel, and for refusing to endanger himself during a storm, is entombed in said tunnel for eternity. The message here is that workers must be dutiful even in the face of danger.

Good heavens! That doesn’t sound too good. They read this to children? Well no, not exactly.

First, we have to reintroduce some missing details. They quote the poem that introduces the story, which begins, “There once was an engine attached to a train…”

Attached to a train. A train full of people.

By refusing to exit the tunnel, Henry was stranding perhaps a hundred people in the middle of a rail line, in a gulley, under a bridge. In this universe, pulling passengers is the thing the trains most want to do in the world, it is the major leagues. Henry has these people behind him because he has lobbied for the privilege for years.

“But surely these people could be understanding of someone wanting shelter from rain?”

Fair point. Just one problem: it wasn’t raining. The rain stops immediately after Henry gets into the tunnel. But he still won’t leave because “it may soon start again.”

“Well they didn’t have to build a brick wall around him.”

They let Henry out of there the instant he agrees to come out, by which time his voluntary hermitage has ruined his paint anyway.

The lesson here is partially about responsibility and work ethic, but it’s much more about vanity. If you are so afraid of rain that the mere possibility makes you hide in a tunnel, nobody gets to see your paint and then it gets ruined by neglect.

That episode felt very much like a product of 2000s fixation on dour interpretations of children’s stories. But it went a bit too far in my opinion in misrepresenting the events of the story.

There seems to have been a mixup, when they were playing the 'remix' of the Snow White song. The second one is obviously a different song, does anyone know what song was supposed to go there?

Listening to Kurt’s description of the circular plan cities sounds like Walter Burleigh Griffins plan of Canberra.

I would've otherwise never had any interest in this book but thanks to 99pi I'm waiting 12 weeks for it.

I've listened to the vexillology discussions on 99pi and have loved them. I couldn't help but think of it when minnesota- my state- recently redesigned their flag.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/12/19/new-minnesota-flag-final-design

The initial proposal to redesign the flag came because there was insensitive imagery on the state seal. Therefore the state seal (and thus the flag) needed to be redesigned.

A commission was set up, public submissions were accepted, public voting took place, the commission narrowed down the choices, and a final design was selected. It will be implemented this May on statehood day.

The previous (still current) state flag was a pretty terrible design, imagery aside. Difficult to read with lots going on and very similar to many other states. The seal on a blue background.

The new flag is much simpler and more recognizable. Easy to notice from a distance and recognizable, while still containing symbolism.

I was curious if 99PI was looking into this story at all or the changing of any other state, local, or national flags

Some ugly both-sidesing in this episode. Are we supposed to cry for the small businesses that can't help but to put known toxins in the products they sell us? And who cares if these "bounty hunters" look for lawsuits just to enrich themselves, by doing that they are making everything safer for us by punishing the companies putting out unlabeled toxic products. Did they forget to mention they were sponsored by some lobby group this episode or what?

I remember one episode where it was about these hiking huts in the wilderness that you could stay at for free.

They often didn't have a bed or running water but they provided a place to spend the night. I think they also mentioned a map that show you where these huts were located however they weren't very well maintained? I think they were located some where in Scandinavia but Im not sure anymore.

Any help finding this episode would be much appreciated :)

"in true 99PI fashion, get in a GX today and experience how design marries form and function."

A piece of me died hearing Roman Mars read that. I wanted to be excited that this show got bigger but I can't listen to scummy ads that take advantage of the creator's image like that.

I'm going to wash my hands.

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https://preview.redd.it/206t9417semc1.jpg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2d9133bab78aedfb86702c02116d1d4952e351d

I pass this office building on my ride to work in St. Louis, MO. I've been meaning to take a picture of it for a while, but finally got motivated to stop after catching up on some past episodes.

I don't know why I find it so funny that a corporate office on a random industrial road has a castle facade, but it always makes me giggle.

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Shout out to the guy I saw in Busselton, Western Australia today in a BDOC shirt. It's a long way from home

Hi Does anyone know if there is an audiobook available in the UK? Every option I try says ‘unavailable in your country’. Although I have the hard copy, audio would be great in the car as I travel for work a lot. Here’s hoping! EDIT to add for the Power Broker - sorry left out that small detail!