As we close out one year and face down another one, we clear out the news and go for a wild ride involving crystals, "brainspotting," "Severence," Todd's favorite documentary, Clackamas Town Center and Washington Square malls, Dr. Pamplin steals from his employees, the Belmont Goats, "brain rot," the speed of human thought, RFK Jr. and chemtrails, the DOJ recognizes the Tulsa Massacre, our slow brains, and a cow swims the Columbia River and takes on I-84, and much, much more.

It's one last stocking stuffer from the Mark and Toddcast! Enjoy our final show of the year - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

For a Christmas treat, we recorded an extra long episode....which our recorder stopped recording at 32 minutes in for some reason. So while we didn't get to all of our stories or Mark's great topic about quantum measuring for GPS, we did manage to get in a few stories. And aren't a few stories better than none? No, of course not. But here they are anyway.

Dave Baehler of the NotNerd Podcast joins Todd this week to plow through the news pile, which includes the Willamette Valley Ornament Hunt, freezing your corpse for a monthly fee, life in the most inhospitable place on Earth, Mattel's "Wicked" mistake, Portland's Yelling Choir, the dangers of standing desks, Harriet Tubman awarded rank of general, and the Onion buys InfoWars. Then we pivot to talk about the science of corruption, and what can be done to curb it. Enjoy!

Bananas are the most popular fruit in the United States, as well as all over the world. But banana-flavored candy sits at the bottom of our candy taste list - probably because it tastes nothing like bananas. Find out the weird history of both banana flavoring, as well as how we got to the bananas we have in the store today (spoilers: colonialism and the US overthrowing democracies).  Peel and enjoy!

This week we look at something called "Game Theory," which is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions, and has applications in many fields of social science, economics, logic, systems science, computer science, and more. We've also got an action-packed news segment, including Warhol- and cheese-related thefts, a new "Oregon Trail" movie, the new January 6 monument, vibrating spiders, and the clowns who built the Astoria Bridge.

Mark is out sick, so Todd is joined by NotNerd's very own Nate - who just had one of his Instagram posts hit a million views. Find out what it's like to go suddenly viral, as well as a news roundup that you have to listen to to the very end. I promise.

The $64,000 Question" was one of many 1950s game shows that was caught up in cheating scandals. We tell the story of the show, the senate hearings, and a woman named Joyce who defied everyone.In our news segment, we chat about a neo-Nazi falling to his death on Hitler's favorite mountain, Mt. Adams is rumbling, Mt. Rainier is shrinking, NASA heads to Jupiter, New York hates Salt & Straw, everyone lives in a haunted house, and more.

Along with the grand volcanic dames of Mt. Hood, Rainier, St. Helens, and Adams, there are many extinct volcanoes and lava fields dotting the entire Portland area. This week we take a look at Mt. Tabor in specific, and the Boring Lava Field in general. In our news segment, we cover the end of tedious passwords, Earth's new second moon, which companies are undermining democracy, a second asteroid hits the dinosaurs, the cost of the "American Dream," and more.

It's a world-wind tour around the news from the last couple of weeks, including Todd and the Unipiper's trip to Celtic Fest, Portland's stolen (or not) cat statue, the WNBA expansion, billboards hacked by furries, pickleball in Lloyd Center, our brains are now .5% plastic, Doritos make mice see-through, the mystery of the dead "spy" whale, and more. Enjoy!

This week we recap Todd's trip to Yellowstone, and focus on one of the earliest businessmen to set up shop in the new National Park: Steamboat owner/operator E.C. Waters, who was such a legendary a-hole that he was eventually completely banned from even entering the park. And in our news segment - school cellphone bans, LiveNation's Portland venue proposal, Boeing's ongoing astronaut disaster, Americans die younger, a next-gen battery storage lab in Richland, Wa., gallons of urine, Todd's new lifestyle, and much, much more. Enjoy!