890: Maximal Americanness
Summary
This episode explores quintessentially American traits through five stories: Pablo Torre reflects on MLB’s robot umpires preserving the right to booing culture; Jiayong Fan examines the question “Are you okay?”; Aviv de Kornfeld visits Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes; Emmanuel Berry analyzes *Survivor*’s race-themed season; and Roman Mars and Emmanuel Jochi discuss Noah Webster’s speller and ad-libbing the national anthem.
Topics discussed
Intro: Robot Umpires and the American Desire to Argue
Act 1: The Hollow Politeness of 'Are You Okay?'
Act 2: Defying Warnings at Sleeping Bear Dunes
Act 3: Race and Strategy in Survivor's 'Race War' Season
Act 4: Noah Webster's Blue Back Speller and Literacy
Act 5: Improvising the National Anthem
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