Episodes (Page 12)
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Reveals that graphite's primary modern use is in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, not pencils as commonly assumed
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Reviews the 2010 study by two economists suggesting that economic growth slows significantly once national debt exceeds 90% of GDP
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Traces the history of artificial lighting from labor-intensive tallow candles made from rendered cow fat to modern electric illumination
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Describes the FBI's unprecedented 2018 operation creating a fake encrypted phone company to infiltrate criminal networks and gather evidence
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Follows a victim's journey after losing over $800,000 to online fraud, tracking her attempts to recover funds through FBI and financial institutions
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Profiles Jon Rolston, a San Francisco junkman who has spent two decades understanding which discarded items have resale value or second-life potential
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Follows the story of a man ('V') who was unexpectedly laid off from his company despite strong job performance and current standing
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Describes a near-catastrophic cyberattack targeting the XZ open-source software that powers critical internet infrastructure for banks, airlines, and military systems
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Examines why gold has maintained its economic and cultural value despite not having inherent utility like most commodities
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Reveals the practice of debt collectors buying zombie second mortgages
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Explores why video game workers accept lower wages despite working in a booming industry, examining labor market dynamics in gaming
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Ralph Nader's 1960s consumer safety crusade launched the modern consumer movement in the U.S.
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Millions of American workers are bound by noncompete agreements that prevent them from changing jobs within their fields, exemplified by efforts in Hawaii to ban these contracts
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A 30-year-old theft of two sacred Bhairav masks from a Hindu temple in Nepal, stolen from a family that owned them for over 500 years, sets the stage for a recovery story
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Union membership in the U.S. has declined for decades despite high public support, with the unionization process itself being a major barrier to organizing
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FTX bankruptcy has created a financial feeding frenzy among vulture investors and creditors competing over the company's remains, separate from Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal case
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Consumer sentiment doesn't match economic data
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TikTok is filled with financial advice of varying reliability, including many questionable tax tips that often suggest fraudulently categorizing personal expenses as business expenses
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Francis Galton discovered that the average guess of a crowd for an ox's weight was nearly perfectly accurate, off by only one pound out of hundreds of guesses
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Japan's economic miracle of the 1980s