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From99% Invisible

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From99% Invisible

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14 minutes

Released:

Feb 18, 2014

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Podcast episode

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There is a beauty to a universal standard. The idea that people across the world can agree that when they interact with one specific thing, everyone will be on the same page– regardless of language or culture or geographic locale. … Continue reading →

Released:

Feb 18, 2014

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture. From award winning producer Roman Mars. Learn more at 99percentinvisible.org.

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99% Invisible-08- 99% Free Parking: It’s weird how much anxiety comes from parking in a city. Beyond the stress of looking for parking, you must contend with the frequently unreliable meters. The signage can be indecipherable. As a point of interaction with your municipality, by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-03- 99% Reality (only): There’s not much that we can do about all the physical matter that’s been designed and built by someone else. It is the way it is. But with the advent of portable devices with GPS, a compass, and a network, … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-29- Cul de Sac: When people critique cul-de-sacs, a lot of the time, they’re actually critiquing the suburbs more generally. The cul-de-sac has become sort of like the mascot of the suburbs– like if suburbia had a flag, it would have a picture of … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
12 min listen
99% Invisible-06- 99% Symbolic: Before I moved to Chicago in 2005, I didn’t even know cities had their own flags. In Chicago, the city flag is everywhere. It’s incorporated into all different aspects of city life and the design elements are used on businesses, … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-05- 99% Forgotten: At the top of Mt. Olympus in San Francisco, on what was once thought to be the geographic center of the city, is a pedestal for a statue that isn’t there. There’s no marker. You can just make out the … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-02- 99% 180: In the beginning, former AIA-SF president Henrik Bull and the Transamerica Pyramid did not get along. The building was an affront to late 1960’s modernist ideals. It was silly. It looked like a dunce cap. Its large scale had no … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-17- Concrete Furniture: The New City Hall, designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell, was the first modern, concrete, civic building in Toronto. When it opened in 1965, it stood out very prominently in the traditional Victorian fabric of the city. by 99% Invisible
7 min listen
99% Invisible-44- The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: The Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis became most famous at the moment of its demise. The thirty-three high-rise towers built in the 1950’s were supposed to solve the impending population crisis in inner city St. Louis. by 99% Invisible
12 min listen
99% Invisible-20- Nikko Concrete Commando: In 2001, Delfin Vigil was walking the streets of San Francisco and ran across the name “Nikko” carved into the concrete sidewalk. After seeing Nikko once, Delfin began to see the name everywhere. One block after another, there he was … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
7 min listen
99% Invisible-07- 99% Alien: Humans need a few basic things to survive- air, water, food, heat, shelter- but just surviving isn’t really enough. We also need familiarity, a little comfort, interaction, a small place of our own. When it comes to designing space habitat … Continue r... by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-23- You Are Listening To + Radio Net: youarelistening.to appeared online on March 6, 2011 and I was hooked instantly. The combination of the police scanner and ambient music is an intriguing, and distinctly live, experience (unlike most of the time shifted audio I tend to consume). by 99% Invisible
20 min listen
99% Invisible-04- 99% Details: It’s a stick with bristles poking out of it. It doesn’t even qualify as a simple machine, but the careful thought and design that went into the creation of the modern, angled bristle, fat handled toothbrush shows just how much … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-13x-Game Over (Snap Judgment): 99% Invisible Extra! The tape rolls as we witness the tearful end of a perfect online world. This is a piece I did for Snap Judgment, based on a story from Robert Ashley’s brilliant A Life Well Wasted internet radio … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
12 min listen
99% Invisible-09X-99% Doomed: 99% Invisible Extra! NASA is figuring out how to take the next great leap into space. The difficulty is, if we leap to Mars, we might not make it back. This is a story I produced last year (Summer 2009) … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
12 min listen
99% Invisible-19X- RJDJ Reactive Music: This week, the radio audience heard episode #10, but for you web and podcast listeners, I have a story I did about a year and a half ago, about the reactive music app called RJDJ. I did this piece for … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
10 min listen
99% Invisible-15- Sounds of the Artificial World: Without all the beeps and chimes, without sonic feedback, all of your modern conveniences would be very hard to use. If a device and its sounds are designed correctly, it creates a special “theater of the mind” that users completely … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-38- Sound of Sport: If Dennis Baxter and Bill Whiston are doing their job right, you probably don’t notice that they’re doing their job. But they are so good at doing their job, that you probably don’t even know that their job exists at … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
6 min listen
99% Invisible-13- Maps: I’m sorry, but if you don’t love maps, I don’t think we can be friends anymore. Maps are amazing. They are art and story. A representation of where we are and where we wish we could be. They’ve always had … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-09- 99% Private: Privately Owned Public Open Spaces, or POPOS, are these little gardens, terraces, plazas, and seating areas that are private property, but are mandated for public use. City planners require developers to add these little “parks” to their buildings to m... by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-10- 99% Sound and Feel: Chris Downey explains it like this, “Beethoven continued to write music, even some of his best music, after he lost his hearing…What’s more preposterous, composing music you can’t hear, or designing architecture you can’t see? by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-01- 99% Noise: This episode of 99% Invisible is all about acoustic design, the city soundscape, and how to make listening in shared spaces pleasant (or at the very least, possible). It features an interview with Dennis Paoletti from Shen Milsom & Wilke. by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
96- DIY Space Suit: Cameron Smith is building a space suit in his apartment. He’s not an astronaut. He’s not even an engineer. Cameron Smith is an archaeologist–on faculty in the anthropology department at Portland State University in Oregon. by 99% Invisible
13 min listen
99% Invisible-16- A Designed Language: The idea is simple and quite beautiful: if we all shared a second, politically neutral language, people of all different nations and cultures could communicate freely and easily, and it would foster international understanding and peace. by 99% Invisible
6 min listen
99% Invisible-28- Movie Title Sequences: More and more I’m finding that the first 2-3 minutes of a movie are my favorite part of the film. My life is devoted to the beautiful expression of information, which is why film title sequences hold a special place … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
10 min listen
99% Invisible-12- 99% Guilt Free: “Sustainable Design is a design philosophy that seeks to maximize the quality of the built environment, while minimizing or eliminating the negative impact to the natural environment.” -Jason F. McLennan, The Philosophy of Sustainable Design I like McL... by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-24- The Capitol Columns: If you were present for any of the presidential inaugurations, from Andrew Jackson to Dwight D. Eisenhower, you saw the solemn oath of office taken between twenty-two smooth, sandstone columns at the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol Building. by 99% Invisible
7 min listen
99% Invisible-22- Free Speech Monument: In 1989, a group called the Berkeley Art Project decided to hold a national public art competition to create a monument that would commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, which began on the University of California Berkeley … Cont... by 99% Invisible
8 min listen
99% Invisible-19- Liberation Squares plus NY Dick: In a recent piece from Urban Omnibus, Vishaan Chakrabarti (Professor at the Graduate School for Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University), wrote about how urban open spaces contribute to political change, by 99% Invisible
11 min listen
99% Invisible-14- Periodic Table: Everyone knows it when they see it. The classic “castle with turrets” periodic table is a beautiful and concise icon that contains a great deal of amazing information, if you only know how to read it. And even if you … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
6 min listen
99% Invisible-18- Check Cashing Stores: A few years ago, journalist Douglas McGray learned that the largest chain of check cashing stores in Southern California, Nix Check Cashing, was being bought by the nation’s largest credit union, Kinecta. The credit union thought it had something to … ... by 99% Invisible
6 min listen

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The Containment Plan (rebroadcast): It’s hard to overstate the vastness of the Skid Row neighborhood in Los Angeles. It spans roughly 50 blocks, which is about a fifth of the entire downtown area of Los Angeles. It’s very clear when you’ve entered Skid Row. by 99% Invisible
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Backfired: The Vaping Wars: Nearly 10 years after the launch of the JUUL, Backfired: The Vaping Wars asks: Could e-cigarettes have been the solution to one of the world’s most pressing public health problems—or was this technology doomed to introduce a whole new generation to nicotine, and end up perpetuating an intractable addiction? by 99% Invisible
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The Power Broker #06: Mike Schur: Featuring television producer, writer, director, and actor Mike Schur, and covering the first half of Part 5, chapters 25-26. by 99% Invisible
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Category 6: In the 55 years since the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale was created to warn us about hurricanes, hurricanes have become bigger, faster, and more devastating. There's now debate about whether it may be time for something new. by 99% Invisible
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The Los Angeles Leaf Blower Wars: The leaf blower is one of the most hated objects in the modern world, but the reality of banning them is very complicated by 99% Invisible
36 min listen
584- Fact Checking the Supreme Court: Whose job is it to fact check the Supreme Court? As it turns out, no one. So why is it like that, and what even happens when you prove them wrong? by 99% Invisible
44 min listen
352- Uptown Squirrel [update]: Squirrels were purposefully introduced into our cities in the 1800s, and when their population exploded, we lost track of how many there are. by 99% Invisible
30 min listen
583- The Lost Subways of North America: Roman talks to Jake Berman, author of "The Lost Subways of North America." by 99% Invisible
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The Power Broker #05: Brandy Zadrozny: Featuring Brandy Zadrozny, senior reporter for NBC News who covers misinformation, conspiracy theories, and the internet, and covering the last section of Part 4, chapters 21-24. by 99% Invisible
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582- Rocket Man: Where's my jetpack? by 99% Invisible
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581- It's Howdy Doody Time!: How an ugly puppet created television as we know it by 99% Invisible
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579 BONUS- Towers of Silence: Vulture Conservation: In this bonus episode, Lasha talks about extra reporting she did for Towers of Silence on the current state of vulture conservation. by 99% Invisible
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580- Mr Yuk: Our pal Gillian Jacobs takes us through the history of poison control and the yucky face meant to warn children about the dangers lurking in their kitchen cabinets by 99% Invisible
56 min listen
579- Towers of Silence: How the loss of vultures in India has put an ancient burial tradition in crisis by 99% Invisible
71 min listen
The Power Broker #04: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Featuring the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and covering the second section of Part 4, chapters 16-20. by 99% Invisible
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578- Anything's Pastable: Eat Sauté Love: Dan Pashman embarks on an epic trip across Italy in search of lesser-known pasta dishes — and to learn about the evolution of pasta more broadly. by 99% Invisible
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576- Chambre de Bonne: The history of the chambre de bonne, the tiny French apartment type that may be, finally, on the way out. by 99% Invisible
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Roman Mars Describes Athens GA As It Is: A 99pi guide to some of our favorite design features of Athens, Georgia. by 99% Invisible
37 min listen
575- Autism Plesantville: How to accommodate autism in the built world by 99% Invisible
33 min listen
574- The Monster Under the Sink: The garbage disposer and the dream of a garbage-free city by 99% Invisible
27 min listen
The Power Broker #03: David Sims: Featuring Blank Check co-host and The Atlantic movie critic David Sims covering the first section of Part 4, chapters 11-15 by 99% Invisible
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573- Toyetic: The constant and sometimes fraught back and forth between cartoons and toys, as exemplified by Transformers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by 99% Invisible
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572- WARNING: This Podcast Contains Chemicals Known to the State of California to Cause Cancer or Other Reproductive Harm: Understanding the clunky Prop 65 warnings on products by 99% Invisible
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Roman Mars Describes Santa Fe As It Is: A 99pi guide to some of our favorite design features of Santa Fe. by 99% Invisible
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438- The Real Book [rebroadcast]: Since the mid-1970s, almost every jazz musician has owned a copy of the same book and originally it was a totally unlicensed publication by 99% Invisible
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Significant Others: A Sneak Peek at the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal: It’s been said that history is written by the person at the typewriter. But who did the person who made history depend on? by 99% Invisible
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571- You Are What You Watch: How much film and television shapes us as individuals and as a society, far beyond what we give it credit for by 99% Invisible
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The Power Broker #2: Jamelle Bouie: Featuring New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie covering Part 3. by 99% Invisible
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570- The White Castle System of Eating Houses: How White Castle invented fast food by 99% Invisible
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Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from 99% Invisible

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