Stuff I Learned from Podcasts: Issue 3

A couple of fun ones in today’s Stuff I Learned from Podcasts, as evidenced by all the notes I wrote out.

First off, was the most recent Ologies podcast which was released on June 19th. This one was about Deltiology, or the study and collection of postcards. Our host, Allie Ward, interviewed Donna Braden, a curator at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. She was a fantastic guest, full of passion for postcards and believe it or not, the postcard discussion was fascinating.

• Some of the first postcards were created by the government as another revenue stream. Then in 1861, an act was passed by Congress to allow for privately printed postcards.
• People used postcards as a cheap way to mail greeting and holiday cards. Could mail for a penny.
• The largest ‘postcard’ that you can mail is 12 inches by 15 inches, as long as it is sufficiently stiff to pass through the sorting machines. The cost will be more than the standard postcard rate though.
• Postcards were compared to modern social media posts as people often used them to portray their lives in the best possible light.

AirSpace by the Smithsonian from June 14, 2018 was all about Space Junk.

• Neil Armstrong’s lunar boots are still on the moon. They left them to save weight for more space rocks.
• The oldest piece of human made space junk orbiting the Earth is the American satellite Vanguard 1. It was launched in 1958 and they lost contact with it in 1964 and it has been orbiting since.
• All orbits are degrading, even the moon’s as it is very gradually moving away from the Earth.
• In 2009, a Russian communications satellite collided with an American satellite, creating a lot of new debris.
• In 1960, a piece of an American rocket fell to Earth and killed a cow in Cuba. Reports are that the U.S. government paid Cuba $2,000,000 in compensation. That was an expensive cow.

On the E & C Pod of Awesomeness, Adam and Jay interview their old friend and current WWE superstar, Rhyno. We love Rhyno around here and this interview was fun to listen to.

• He sold his house to buy a boat which he now lives on, even though it isn’t in the water yet. The boat is called the Patsy Ann.
• The three guys wrestled together, well before any of them made it to the WWE.
• When first talking to the WWE, he was presented with a list of potential names which included Juggernaut and Sarah (for some reason). The three guys had to fight for Rhyno with a Y because he was already known as Rhino in other promotions.