Informal Investigation

Asher
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Hobbies
  • Updated Semimonthly

Need a new hobby? Just curious about someone else's hobby? You're in the right place! The Informal Investigation Podcast dives deep into the wondrous world of stuff you never knew you were missing! Click subscribe and let's begin!

Episodes

  1. 01/14/2021

    Investigation into Mansplaining

    Investigation into Mansplaining  Introduce Summar Audience recommendation  How did mansplaining find us? What is mansplaining? Summar's definition? Some “formal” definitions Asher’s definition  Is mansplaining real?  What is an example? Where is the line between sharing and mansplaining? Can you be mansplaining in a debate setting? Summar’s experiences? Why do men mansplain? Do you think men get under explained? Do you think annoying talkers think of women as easy victims?  How do you think you should respond if someone is explaining things in a condescending way? Can a man mansplain to a man? Can a woman mansplain? Is the term mansplaining sexist in it of itself?  To use the word mansplain or to not use the word mansplain? Notable books: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IWGQ8PU/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=iipodcast-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=4f9e4a5cae097e6dc4e707f5b6185b52&creativeASIN=B00IWGQ8PU (Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit) Audience recommendation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bass (Branzino ) Another podcast on mansplaining - https://livingexperiment.com/mansplaining/ (Living experiment - Mansplaining) - This is a different podcast with a different but interesting view on the word.

  2. 12/28/2020

    Investigation into Starting a Podcast

    You are listening to the Informal investigation podcast This is the podcast where we investigate, experience, and share interesting finds   My name is Asher and lets begin ::Music:: The informal investigation podcast is for entertainment purposes only. We are not responsible if you mess up. You should always do your own homework. If you try anything mentioned on this podcast you are doing so at your own risk. The views presented on this podcast do not represent any affiliated or unaffiliated organizations. ::music:: Today we are opening an informal investigation into how to start a podcast. I hope by the end of this podcast you will feel empowered to start your own.  I’m excited to announce we have finished our first quarter of the informal investigation podcast. I hope all you listeners out there have been enjoying our content. If you have I kindly ask that you subscribe and rate our podcast on https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/informal-investigation/id1535406737 (Itunes). Let’s review what we have been doing.  We started off with https://www.informalinvestigation.com/episode/investigation-into-pumpkin-ale (episode 1 - Investigation into Pumpkin Beer) - Where we discovered pumpkin beer dates back to 1771 and we made an actual recipe from the 18th century. In https://www.informalinvestigation.com/episode/investigation-into-gold (episode 2 we investigated Gold) to help us understand the rising gold prices and an exploration into the process of buying gold without getting ripped off For our https://www.informalinvestigation.com/episode/investigation-into-flannel (third episode we investigated flannel) and how this warm soft material became so popular and fashionable. We found our favorite flannel company - https://www.vermontflannel.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiArIH_BRB2EiwALfbH1LOG7d2oDw1-oSVEs43MhFOpjIemVutH6jNx_D1z-mgKDp8CAhtD6hoCGFkQAvD_BwE (The Vermont Flannel Company) and shortly after our episode release they almost completely sold out! For our https://www.informalinvestigation.com/episode/investigation-into-pale-ale- (fourth episode we were getting thirsty again and investigated pale ale). Of course we had to brew our own and made an amazing blonde ale. Then there was our most recent and popular episode where we took a super deep dive into https://www.informalinvestigation.com/episode/investigation-into-dry-cereal (dry cereal). We talked about the kellogg family, CW Post, and ofcourse we made our own cereal - https://www.instagram.com/informal_investigation/ (Coffee Bean Puffs).  ::music:: Why am I making this episode?  I know what y'all are thinking...I have only been podcasting for 3 months now! What do I know? You're correct to some extent. Although I lack the long term experience of many podcasters I am close to my podcasting beginning and I remember exactly what it's like to start a podcast because I'm living it now. I can give you a slightly different perspective then what you may be https://www.buzzsprout.com/how-to-make-a-podcast?gclid=CjwKCAiAoOz-BRBdEiwAyuvA64nGWBRcSds8c2NG8GKnK34KhPbRTtWxwH19xNW00Io2Hma7PI4-jxoCKykQAvD_BwE (reading online). Since starting this journey 3 months ago I have already been approached by multiple people asking for advice on starting their own podcasts. I hope by the end of this episode if you wanted to start your own podcast you will feel ready, inspired and empowered to do so.  Why do you want to start a Podcast?   There are really 2 reasons people start podcasts. Either to make money or they have something they are passionate about that they want to share with the world! Obviously you can be doing it for both reasons.  The reason I started this podcast is a little different. For those of you who are listening to this episode years in the future - we are recording this episode during the covid 19 pandemic. This has been a stressful...

  3. 12/14/2020

    Investigation into Dry Cereal

    Investigation into Dry cereal  You are listening to the Informal investigation podcast This is the podcast where we investigate, experience, and share interesting finds   My name is Asher and lets begin ::Music:: The informal investigation podcast is for entertainment purposes only. We are not responsible if you mess up. You should always do your own homework. If you try anything mentioned on this podcast you are doing so at your own risk. The views presented on this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not represent any affiliated or unaffiliated organizations. ::music:: Today we are opening an informal investigation into Dry Cereal   If you like what you hear on this podcast please subscribe to us on your podcast listening app of choice to be notified about all of our latest episodes!  Disclaimer! This episode on dry cereal got way-way-way more out of control then I expected! What started out as an investigation into cereal turned into a deep dive into gastrointestinal diseases, the war on masturbation, corporate legal battles, suicide, and ultimately the making of the official informal investigation podcast cereal. Consider yourselves warned!  To get our story started let's take you back to the breakfast table before the 20th century. Generally there were 2 versions of the American breakfast: If you were rich it was a meat and fat heavy meal consisting of bacon, gravy, fried potatoes, and who knows what else. Obviously this was not a very healthy way to start your day.  If you were poor you would eat hot cereals from grain whether it be porridge, gruel or mush. I wasn’t exactly sure the difference between these. With a little help from wikipedia it appears Porridge is a breakfast cereal made by boiling ground or crushed grain in water or milk. Gruel is similar to porridge however it is generally thinner. Mush on the other hand is a cornmeal porridge that can either be served as is or allowed to set then cut into squares and fried. These hot cereals were labor intensive requiring hours of boiling over wood stoves every morning. I bet all the mothers out there were starting to get fed up needing to wake up hours early to make some hardly appreciated mush for their family  The obvious disadvantages of these two breakfast options left a vacuum for a revolution of American breakfast. ::music:: Let’s jump in! In 1875 the now popular oatmeal was brought to the market by Henry Parsons Crowell. First he made cracked oats then later on the technology was developed to make rolled oats. His company was originally called the Consolidated Oatmeal Company and later switched their name to Quaker Oats - as this sounds a lot more wholesome. I can’t imagine why anyone would put consolidated and oatmeal in the same sentence - but that’s just me. Making oatmeal still took a decent amount of time as instant oats had not yet been invented. I assume Crowell's oats were similar to the old fashioned Quaker Oats we have today. If only he knew one day his breakthrough hot cereal would be called old fashioned. Another fun fact...those cylindrical containers we buy oatmeal in were created by Crowell and a major breakthrough in food packaging at that time. Where exactly the story of dry cereal begins is unclear. Some people start with Sylvester Graham. He was the maker of flour and these bread nuggets which later got bastardized into what we know as the graham cracker. Sylvester Graham -- Graham cracker -- Yep, mind blown! This story is going to become a who’s who of American food manufacturing. Some tell a story where grahams biscuits were too hard to chew so people started to soak them in milk and then call this the beginning of dry cereal. Dry - sure but cereal I dono... Graham was a presbyterian minister and called himself a christian physiologist and created the American...

  4. 11/28/2020

    Investigation into Pale Ale

    Investigation into Pale Ale You are listening to the Informal investigation podcast This is the podcast where we investigate, experience, and share interesting finds   My name is Asher and lets begin ::Music:: The informal investigation podcast is for entertainment purposes only. We are not responsible if you mess up.  You should always do your own homework.  If you try anything mentioned on this podcast you are doing so at your own risk.  The views presented on this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not represent any affiliated or unaffiliated organizations. ::music:: Today we are opening an informal investigation into Pale Ale  For those of you who have been following this podcast you will remember our first episode in mid October covered pumpkin beer.  If you haven't listened to it stop now! and go listen! It’s not what you expect and it will blow your freakin mind! Pumpkin beer is a specialty beer and definitely not for everyone.  Even though the one we made was pretty great, I got sick of it after 1 or 2 beers and the rest of it is just sitting in my fridge gathering dust.  Anyone ever wonder why things in the fridge don’t gather dust?  That's for a different time! Pumpkin beer is a novelty beer though and I'm sick of it.  After coming off of pumpkin beer I needed a super basic beer to clean my pallet and reset my beerometer! Ya, beerometer said first on the internal investigation podcast. Quick disclaimer! On this podcast we investigate, experience, and share interesting finds!  Interesting being subjective I wanted to warn you I happen to have a special place in my heart for all sorts of brews and ferments.  These topics are likely to have more than their fair share of episodes.  ::music:: The history of pale ale is complex, zig zagging, and still being written.  There are constantly new styles being added to this category. Milk Shake Indian Pale Ales, Sour Indian Pale Ales, White IPAs are just a couple of the newer styles.  To learn more about Pale Ales I was able to find a book called https://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381691/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=iipodcast-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=5bbc90407ba39037515ad04b7e211e3e&creativeASIN=0937381691 (“Pale Ale” (I know really original) by Terry Foster). The book goes into detail about the history of pale ales and how to brew them Before pale ale existed there was just plain old “Ale” in England.  Ale was a very strong beverage that did not include hops.  Sometime after the 15th century when hops were introduced in England they started making ale with hops and this was known as beer.  Hops in addition to their unique flavor have antimicrobial properties.  This allowed brewers to make Ale much weaker (ie less alcohol) and save money on their grain bill.  Ironically, nowadays hops are the most expensive ingredients in beer.  Eventually the term Ale faded from common use as people started to exclusively enjoy hopped beer.   The term later re-surfaced to refer to strong beers. Unfortunately the https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DTV9HVV/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=iipodcast-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=420925fa43030fbcc12699f1f7d603a6&creativeASIN=B07DTV9HVV (hydrometer) was not used in brewing till the 18th century so it's hard to know exactly what they meant by “strong” beer.  We will get back to hydrometers in a different episode but in short it measures how much sugar is extracted from the grain and later turned into alcohol. So where did the Pale get put into Pale Ale.  Like it sounds pale refers to color.   ::music:: Let's get back to our beer basics: Beer is made by soaking milled barley in warm water to extract the sugars.  This sugar water called wort is then boiled with hops to add additional flavor.  Finally the wort is cooled and yeast are added to ferment the sugars...

  5. 11/14/2020

    Investigation into Flannel

    Investigation into Flannel You are listening to the Informal investigation podcast This is the podcast where we investigate, experience, and share interesting finds   My name is Asher and lets begin ::Music:: The informal investigation podcast is for entertainment purposes only. We are not responsible if you mess up.  You should always do your own homework.  If you try anything mentioned on this podcast you are doing so at your own risk.  The views presented on this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not represent any affiliated or unaffiliated organizations. ::music:: Today we are opening an informal investigation into Flannel In case you have been isolating super hard and don’t get out much - Let me be the one to tell you flannel season 2020 is here! As you're getting geared up with your favorite soft, warm, and colorful winter garments Do you find yourself asking yourself - Self? What, when, how, and why did we all get flannelized!? Flannel is a soft woven fabric, yep a soft woven fabric, It's really that simple! Originally it was made from wool but now it's made from wool, cotton, synthetic fiber, and I think you can even get it made out of some kind of vegetation. So! What makes it so soft? 2 things It is loosely spun and Flannel  can be brushed for extra softness.  What happens is a fine metal brush scrapes the material raising fine fibers creating a nap - which is just a fancy word for a raised fuzzy surface What about the pattern? Does it need to be tartan? I know big words.  Tartan is that classic pattern seen on flannel shirts with criss crossed horizontal and vertical bands of different colors.  The answer to this is no.  Flannel is just the soft fuzzy material that is fuzzified using the 2 methods we just mentioned. ::music::  But tartans!  Common now!  Tartans deserve a little side tract here. Tartans have a rich history in Scotland.  Each clan was represented by a different tartan pattern.  Believe it or not you can officially register your own pattern today no matter where in the world you live, who your ancestors are, or your personal feelings on flannel - that's equal opportunity for ya.   Just go to tartanregister.gov.uk and make it official.  It seems you design a weave, then name it, and register it for the meer price of 70 pounds.  You should prob check that no one has already registered your tartan or your application can be rejected and you will be chased down by an angry Scotish clan. Of Course, I immediately started sketching out my tartan but tartans are going to have to have their own episode. This is about flannel! My first exposure to flannel was from Osh Kosh Bigosh before I can even remember.  My first memorable flannel experience was in grade school.  My mom bought me a wardrobe full of beautiful flannel.  It's warm, soft, and colorful - what could go wrong, rite?   Unfortunately my esteemed grade school colleagues did not feel the same way.  At that time I suppose flannel was not the coolest thing. I was made fun of a bit and some people called me raymor and flanneligan haha i know.  Fortunately, I was always a big dude so there was a limit to how far they were willing to take this.  I don’t actually remember caring all that much but it likely made an impression because my next phase was Hawaiian shirts which are so not fuzzy they feel slick. As you can tell I was always the super cool kid.  ::music:: I was trying to figure out the origin story of flannel but I was not able to find all that much.  There is no official book on flannel and when you google it you find vague stories by every company that sells flannel.  After reading the same useless information 25 times I gave up and went with what I had. The party line seems to be flannel is of welsh origin sometime in the 17th century.  Makes sense...

  6. 10/28/2020

    Investigation into Gold

    You are listening to the Informal investigation podcast This is the podcast where we investigate, experience, and share interesting finds   My name is Asher and lets begin ::Music:: The informal investigation podcast is for entertainment purposes only. We are not responsible if you mess up.  You should always do your own homework.  If you try anything mentioned on this podcast you are doing so at your own risk.  The views presented on this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not represent any affiliated or unaffiliated organizations. Today we are opening an informal investigation into Gold If you like what you hear on this podcast please subscribe to us on your podcast listening app of choice to be notified about all of our latest episodes. Also links to resources mentioned in this episode can be found in the show notes at informalinvestigation.com.   At the time this podcast is being recorded it is 2020 and the VID is upon us. That is the COVID19 pandemic.  Gold  prices have soared to around $2000 an ounce.   This should not be a surprise.  It is during times of crisis that gold prices rise.  People still turn to gold when uncertain about their nation's currency.  In my mind, the price of gold going up is a harbinger of badness.  Gold is element number 79, labeled Au, in group 11, period 6 on the periodic table. Aside for being shiny and having some industrial uses gold gets its value from being currency  In order to understand how the element with the atomic number 79 gained its relative significance, we need to first understand currency. ::music:: The journey started when I picked up the book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BPM3GZQ/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=iipodcast-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=b9c911fa66444f57280fc216009347a7&creativeASIN=B07BPM3GZQ (“The bitcoin standard” by Saifedean Ammous) - Apologies for butchering his name. At the time, I was interested in bitcoin - but that is going to be a discussion for another time.  He starts his book explaining primitive moneys and monetary metals.  The first couple chapters completely changed the way I look at money. The purpose of money is “to move economic value over time and space” The most primitive way this is done is with barter or the direct exchange of goods.  You want a loaf of bread and I want a dozen eggs so let's trade - easy rite? This works great but only on a small scale. However in a larger economy people start to specialize.  They become more efficient at making specific products.  Because of this specialization many more products come to market. This is good but also creates some obvious trade problems: coincidence of wants - I want what you got but you don’t want what I got -  You want a case of my pumpkin beer for your party tonight.  However, you make cars and I already have one.  What do we do now? How do you pay me for the beer so your party isn’t a total bust? Coincidence of scales - What this means is lets say I do want that car  you make and you want a case of beer that I make.  Are you going to trade me 1/1000 of a car for my case of beer?  Or do I need to give you 1000 cases of beer for a car.  Not very practical.  Coincidence of time - Let's say we agreed on 1000 cases of beer for one car.  However I need the car now and your ragger isn't scheduled till next year. Coincidence of location - How are we supposed to exchange your car for my 1000 cases of beer if you make your cars in china If your curious about all these pumpkin beer references, make sure to listen to our previous episode where we investigate pumpkin beer. The solution to these issues is to have a medium of exchange A middle man so to say, an item that can hold value that you can give me for the case of beer that I can use whenever I want to acquire whatever I want - AKA money What qualifications...

  7. 10/14/2020

    Investigation into Pumpkin Ale

    You are listening to the Informal investigation podcast This is the podcast where we investigate, experience, and share interesting finds   My name is Asher and lets begin ::Music:: The informal investigation podcast is for entertainment purposes only. We are not responsible if you mess up. You should always do your own homework. If you try anything mentioned on this podcast you are doing so at your own risk. The views presented on this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not represent any affiliated or unaffiliated organizations. Today we are opening an informal investigation into pumpkin beer If you like what you hear on this podcast please subscribe to us on your podcast listening app of choice to be notified about all of our latest episodes   For those of you who haven't noticed the summer has come to an end I’m sorry, the fall is now upon us, and winter is coming  It is that time when pumpkin everything has completely taking over our lives  We have to make that difficult decision every morning whether to order our regular black coffee or a pumpkin spice latte  Pumpkinizing everything has become the norm’ and everyone's inner basic white girl has come out to play  I was listening to the radio the other day and the host made a joke “They even put pumpkin spice on grill cheese” and everyone laughed on the laugh track. Its no joke! 2 years ago I made a killer wrapped pumpkin spice brie that could have easily been turned into amazing grilled cheese sandwiches Today we are not talking about PSL’s aka Pumpkin spice lattes or some other modern pumpkinized foodity but rather one that dates back to 1771 . Yes, 17 freakin 71. In doing research for this episode I got my hands on the https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195367138/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=iipodcast-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=54504bf91829ddf51871e4b54f1d9c6e&creativeASIN=0195367138 (oxford companion to beer written by Garrett Oliver) - who I consider one of the most famous brew masters alive today This book is an encyclopedia for beer It literally goes from A to Z everything beer As I clicked through the pages and got to the letter P and to my surprise there was actually a section under pumpkin beer It seems that pumpkin ale is the first original American beer style dating back to the 18th century  As we know, beer is traditionally made by soaking barely and hops in water then allowing the sugars from the barely to ferment creating beer  Because of grain shortages at that time the colonists were looking for other sources of sugars to ferment into alcohol  Well...you can guess what happened next! Get the pumpkins! Screamed the colonists  Smash um! Squeeze um! Hop um! This actually happened... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195367138/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=iipodcast-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=54504bf91829ddf51871e4b54f1d9c6e&creativeASIN=0195367138 (Oliver) quotes a recipe: The recipe is entitled Receipe for pompion ale  “Let the pompion be beaten in a trough and pressed as apples. The expressed juice is to be boiled in a copper a considerable time and carefully skimmed that there may be no remains of the fibrous part of the pulp. After that intention is answered let the liquor be hopped cooled fermented as malt beer. “ This recipe was published by the American philosophical society in Feb 1771 This recipe is almost like a pumpkin cider. If you break it down to its most basic elements Its essentially pumpkin juice that is hopped and fermented Not exactly sure when our modern version of pumpkin beer surfaced. Wikipedia says that The first commercially brewed pumpkin ale came from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill%27s_Brewery (Buffalo Bill's Brewery) in Hayward, California, in the 1980s. This was part of the PSL- pumkin spice latte craze where everything started to become pumpkin spice more then actual pumpkin per

  • 7 Episodes

5
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About

Need a new hobby? Just curious about someone else's hobby? You're in the right place! The Informal Investigation Podcast dives deep into the wondrous world of stuff you never knew you were missing! Click subscribe and let's begin!

Information

  • Creator
    Asher
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2021
  • Episodes
    7
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2020 Asher M.
  • Show Website
    Informal Investigation