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PODCAST

Endless Thread

Untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL. Hosted by Ben Brock Johnson & Amory Sivertson.

technology

All Episodes

00:45:08

Hidden Levels Ep. 4: Machinima

Endless Thread ·

2025/10/18

Machinima — a portmanteau of “machine” and “cinema” — refers to movies filmed inside video games. The art form had a renaissance in the 1990s, and many thought it had a future in Hollywood. Among the early pioneers were the New York animation collective the Ill Clan, who puppeteered characters in real-time inside the video game Quake, bypassing traditional animation rendering. This technique exploded into a cultural phenomenon through the 2000s with hits like Red vs. Blue, South Park’s Emmy-winning

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00:31:25

Hidden Levels: Choose Your Player (Side Quest)

Endless Thread ·

2025/10/17

Today, Stef Sanjati is a creator on YouTube with over half a million subscribers. Her content mostly focuses on her two greatest loves — makeup and gaming — often combining the two with her otherworldly video game-inspired beauty tutorials.Growing up in small-town Ontario, though, Stef was a quiet, introverted kid who was bullied a lot. For one thing, she looked different from her peers. Having been born with a rare genetic condition called Waardenburg Syndrome, Stef has several distinct physical

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00:44:10

Hidden Levels Ep. 3: This Game Wants YOU

Endless Thread ·

2025/10/14

For decades, the U.S. Army has been on edge about recruitment, hitting its goals for a few years, only to miss them again. As part of their strategy to combat recruiting concerns, the Army has turned its focus online: to the world of gaming and competitive eSports.With nearly 80% of Americans between the ages of 13 and 28 playing video games weekly, the Army has identified this community as a vital demographic for potential recruits. The core goal of this outreach is to use gaming as an entry

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00:41:36

Hidden Levels Ep. 2: Stick It to 'Em

Endless Thread ·

2025/10/10

In this second episode of Hidden Levels, Amory traces the history of the humble-yet-genius joystick — from early 20th century aviation, to 1970s video game consoles like the Atari 2600, to the Nintendo 64 thumbstick in the 1990s, to what some consider the joystick's greatest implementation: the dual-thumbstick controller.This optimal interface has changed the game, and not just the video game. The modern dual-stick controller is now considered an MVP in the military, and in medicine.

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00:37:16

Hidden Levels Ep. 1: Mr. Boomshakalaka

Endless Thread ·

2025/10/07

Welcome to our all-new collaborative series, "Hidden Levels," in which we team up with 99% Invisible to explore how the world of video games has impacted the world beyond. We’ll dive deep into how games are made and designed, exploring everything from the history of the joystick to the faithful recreation of nature in digital spaces.Whether you are a lifelong gamer or have never picked up a controller, "Hidden Levels" uncovers how games have quietly changed culture, technology, and the way we see

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00:05:08

Announcing 'Hidden Levels': how the videogame world...

Endless Thread ·

2025/10/06

Have you ever jumped on something as you're moving through the real world, and heard that Mario bouncy sound in your head? Or maybe seen someone acting like an NPC when they're a real person? Maybe you know that the first real "in-app" purchase was actually a weapons store in an arcade game version of Double Dragon 3. Wherever you go in the real world, you can find signs of the influence of videogames. But you have to know where to look. That's why Endless Thread and 99% Invisible are launching a

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00:30:42

A fork (still) in the road

Endless Thread ·

2025/10/03

You've heard of the "Freshman 15"... how about the "DOGE 15"? This is how some federal employees have referred to the stress associated with the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency back in January and the "restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force" that came with it, as announced in an email sent to nearly all federal employees with the subject line, "Fork in the Road."Federal workers have found community in the FedNews subreddit: "A vital, independent hub for U.S

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00:27:49

Bridezillas and Quiz Traps

Endless Thread ·

2025/09/26

Ben and Amory share stories about potential pettiness from Reddit. Ben shares a post from r/weddinshaming post about a bride who changed her wedding to a weekday in another state. Amory counters with a teacher who used AI to foil his student's cheating. Petty or just? You be the judge.Credits: This episode was produced by Frannie Monahan. It was co-hosted by Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.

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00:37:00

Losing Our Marbles

Endless Thread ·

2025/09/19

In 2020, Jenna Marbles — one of the most popular YouTube creators of all time —posted her last video. Five years later, her devoted fanbase still wonders: where is she, and is she okay? We investigate the mystery behind one of YouTube's biggest disappearances, and why people still care so much.Show notes: r/JennaMarbles (Reddit) The Best, Fakest, and Most Teary Influencer Apologies of 2020 (Vulture) How to trick people into thinking you're good looking (YouTube) An Authentic Guide to

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00:24:24

Message In A Laptop

Endless Thread ·

2025/09/12

What is your relationship with the trash heap of digital history? Can you still connect your old hard drives? Still sifting through your old photos in the cloud? Do you ever low key snoop in the old electronics of other people, searching for treasure?That's what Noah Simmons was doing a while back when he discovered something compelling in its simplicity: a homework assignment document, on an old laptop picked up at an estate sale. The title of the essay? "My Secret Place." From there, the

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00:39:47

Encore: The Internet's Most Hated Bird

Endless Thread ·

2025/09/05

As summer fades away, we bring you an encore episode about you shoreline companions and occasional bullies — gulls.Gulls are not beloved creatures. Consult social media, where they are deemed relentless, dirty pests who steal our food and crowd our beaches. As one TikTok user puts it, "Seagulls are the worst animals to ever exist." Such hatred overlooks truths about this intelligent, charismatic animal, and it is masking a big problem: While gulls may seem like they are everywhere, many species

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00:31:46

Introducing "Jaws Island"

Endless Thread ·

2025/08/29

Dun dun... This week, on Endless Thread... dun dun... something new is here... dun dun dun dun... a podcast mini-series about the 50th anniversary of the cinematic classic... DUN dun dun dun DUN dun dun dun..."Jaws!"Part 1 of this mini-series, Jaws Island, is right here, right now, and it's all about the "finatics" (yes, that's what they call themselves). WBUR arts and culture correspondent Andrea Shea takes us to Martha's Vineyard — AKA "Amity Island," where Jaws was filmed — for the 50th

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00:30:12

AI and Relationships, Part 2: AI Therapists and Bot...

Endless Thread ·

2025/08/22

What happens when we outsource aspects of our most personal moments to machines?In the second installment of our two-part series on AI and relationships, we hear from Rhiannon Williams, a reporter for MIT Technology Review who spoke to people all over the world about how they're using AI to relate to their loved ones, including a man who turns to it during marital disputes, a French mother who uses it to craft nightly tales for her son, and a nursing student who calls her AI companion her

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00:28:12

AI and Relationships, Part 1: Into the Woods

Endless Thread ·

2025/08/15

Amir Mizroch spent years deconstructing fairy tales for his children — and thinking that maybe, he could create something out of his analysis and storytelling for a wider audience. In the first episode of our two-part series on AI and relationships, we hear what Amir finally created, and explore the questions it raises about connection in the digital age.Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter, and edited by Meg Cramer. It was co-hosted by Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson. Mix and

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00:27:28

Bootcamp for Men: from betas to alphas

Endless Thread ·

2025/08/08

In the past few years, videos from a new kind of camp have begun circulating the internet. They feature men participating in a variety of bizarre activities: from aggressively digging holes under floodlights, to collectively wailing in a pool of water. These are man camps, where men can pay up to $18,000 to undergo extreme boot-camp-like conditioning in the name of reclaiming their masculinity.This week on Endless Thread, host Ben Brock Johnson and senior producer Dean Russell, dive into the past,

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00:24:45

Kisscams, ratcams, Barbra Streisand

Endless Thread ·

2025/08/01

On this week's Endless Thread, host Ben Brock Johnson and producer Grace Tatter bring us two stories about the power of livestreams – one from the Coldplay concert box seats, and another from a notorious rat corridor in Brooklyn, NYC.Show notes: What's the deal with "Astronomer" CEO and CPO affair? (Reddit) A Crown Heights Building's Rat Infestation Gets a Livestream (Hell Gate) Rat cam (YouTube/Adam Schleser) I am a rat (a real live rotten-tailed rat) (YouTube/Adam Schleser)

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00:29:34

Thinking Outside the Dox: What 'consensual doxing'...

Endless Thread ·

2025/07/25

Kristen Sotakoun (@notkahnjunior on TikTok) says she has always been 'the FBI of the friend group' – that person you can count on to dig up the juicy details on anyone's social media.It's a skillset that has earned her millions upon millions of views on TikTok in a series she has dubbed 'consensual doxing.' In her videos, Kristen completes challenges from her viewers to find their birthdays, using only publicly posted information online. Kristen is now a handful of creators on TikTok who are

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00:24:11

There's a new emoji for sadness :(

Endless Thread ·

2025/07/18

What does the thumbs-up emoji mean to you? Or the wilted rose? The meanings of emojis are limitless and can differ across social groups or generations. On this episode of Endless Thread, Ben and Amory discuss two stories about how certain emojis have taken on surprising meanings.Show notes: * Here’s why the Aerial Tramway Emoji is suddenly in every YouTube comment section (daily dot) *Alright guys.. What is does this emoji mean and why is it used so much? (Reddit)

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00:21:37

Why it feels like it rains every weekend

Endless Thread ·

2025/07/11

If you feel like it's been raining a lot on the weekends this summer, you're not alone. A couple months ago, we noticed a thread on r/boston asking why? So, we enlisted the help of one of our WBUR colleagues, Climate and Environment Corespondent Barbara Moran to clear things up once and for all.Show notes: Rain Every Weekend??? (Reddit) OMG, why is it raining every Saturday in Boston? (WBUR)

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00:37:08

Episodes We Love: How to Fight a Shark

Endless Thread ·

2025/07/04

This episode originally aired on July 12, 2024. It has been updated to more clearly represent communication with Kayleigh Grant about a conversation with Kristian Parton.When Endless Thread producer Grace Tatter heard a friend assert that she could ward off a shark because of TikTok, Grace was both concerned for her friend's safety, and curious. Why are there so many videos about "redirecting" sharks on TikTok, and how accurate are they? Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dive into the

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433 results

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