Sofa King Podcast

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the Pony Express. The Pony Express ran for only a year and a half, but was such an epic adventure that it still lives on as part of the mythology of the Old West. In 1860, several business men developed a system of riders going nonstop with mail, only pausing to eat and swap for a fresh horse. It was a dangerous job, especially since it took place in the middle of the Paiute War! Before the express, it took almost a month for mail to go from East Coast to West. With the Pony Express, it took only ten. So, how much did it cost? How dangerous was it? What famous Western figures were part of it? Why was it important when Lincoln became president? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-pony-express https://www.nps.gov/poex/learn/historyculture/index.htm https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/537885/facts-about-pony-express

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the infamous disappearance of Tara Calico. This true crime tale is over thirty years old, and it has some strange twists and turns. On September 20, 1988, she went on her daily bike ride and never came home. Chillingly, she told her mom that if she wasn’t back home by noon, she should come looking for her. Witnesses said a truck was stalking her, and signs of a scuffle and broken Walkman were found. Then? Nothing. Months later, a polaroid was found in Florida that showed what could have been Tara bound and gagged in the back of a van. So, what did the FBI say about the picture? Who confessed in 2013 on their deathbed, and how could it implicate the sheriff overseeing the original case? What did the psychic stripper say? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Tara_Calico https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/tara-leigh-calico https://allthatsinteresting.com/tara-calico https://unsolvedmyste

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest athletes in all of recent history, Bo Jackson. Bo dominated sports and popular culture in the 1980s. He was the only athlete in history to be the MVP on both professional football and professional baseball. He broke record after record in the MBA and NFL, and when younger he was even up for the Olympic track and field team. He was made extra famous from the “Bo Knows” ad campaign from Nike. Bo wasn’t named Bo, but earned it as part of his nickname “The Wild Boar” due to untamed spirit. You might not know sports, but you’ll be blown away once you listen in and get to know Bo.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/athlete/bo-jackson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Jackson http://www.espn.com/classic/jackson_bo.html https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/richest-baseball/bo-jackson-net-worth/ How Good Was Bo Jackson Actually? - YouTube Pro-Stars - Opening Theme (2nd Version) - YouTube

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time to look at one of the most badass lawmen of all time, Bass Reeves. You may not have ever heard of Bass Reeves. And that may be because he was black. Reeves was a deputy marshal and arrested over 3000 fugitives (the highest amount ever) in the most dangerous territory in the US. He was born a slave, fought in the Civil War on both sides, got in 14 gunfights with bandits, and is thought by some to be the genesis of everything from The Lone Ranger to Django. If you want to hear some true red dead podcasting, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: Bass Reeves: The Lone Ranger - YouTube Drunk History https://www.history.com/news/bass-reeves-real-lone-ranger-a-black-man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_Reeves https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/bass-reeves-the-real-life-django-a-legendary-african-american-marshal/ https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/ https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=RE020 https://www

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the wild life, tragic death, and amazing comedy of Chris Farley. If you lived through the 90s, you couldn’t escape his presence. He was a break-out star on Saturday Night Live, and he was in some of the top comedies of his day (I’m looking at you Tommy Boy). He rolled with the likes of Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Chris Rock, and he partied. He partied a bit too hard. He was checked in to rehab a dozen times in two years, and his antics were legendary. He was lined up to star in some pretty serious acting roles and headline some crazy projects before his death from an overdose at 33. If you want to live in a van down by the river, give this one a listen!     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/chris-farley https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000394/bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Farley https://nypost.com/2022/02/25/bob-odenkirk-knew-chris-farley-would-die-years-before-it-happened/ https://www.buzznicked.com/chris-f

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the global Sand Mafia. Sand seems like a strange thing for organized crime to mess with, but it has become a global, dangerous phenomenon. With 50 billion tons of sand consumed globally, third world countries are selling off their sand through a mysterious system of third party corporations. Though sand is legal, the way it is mined is not. So, how dangerous is the Sand Mafia? Where do they operate? How much political pull do they have? How many people have they killed? What countries import the most illegal sand? Why is this so devastating to the environment? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: Vice Documentary More Deadly Than Being a Soldier in a War Zone: Environmental Activists Killed for Defending Planet Have Doubled in 15 Years (newsweek.com) Nat Geo Video Forbes Video https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a39880899/earth-is-running-out-of-sand/ https://theworld.org/stories/2015-04-03/worlds-deadly-wa

Daves not here man .... This episode of the Sofa King Podcast is a discussion of the brutal regime of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Born Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili in December of 1878, he changed his name to Koba (a sort of Russian Robin Hood) and eventually settled on the new name of Stalin which meant “Man of Steel.” He was born to ordinary parents, but had a series of health complications as a child and a strange relationship with his mother, who wanted him to become a priest. If you’ve listened to our other podcasts about cult leaders, serial killers, and madmen, this childhood is the perfect recipe! Eventually, he went to the seminary study religion, but he ended up stopping. Some say he quit, others that he was expelled for lack of tuition, and some that he was booted for starting to join the early days of the Russian Revolution. Either way, he became an influential member of the early revolution, and he started leading guerrilla attacks and even famously robbed a bank to help fund the cause.

Daves not here man .... When he is we will be back =) On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we throw on our protective tinfoil headgear and step into a Faraday cage to talk about the famous Phoenix Lights. First witnessed on Thursday, March 13, 1997, the Phoenix Lights have been a topic of discussion among friends, colleagues, and strangers alike. Seen above the night skies of Arizona, the two events were witnessed and recorded by a number of people and while some settled for the delayed government explanation of just being flares dropped from an A-10 Warthog aircraft, others have maintained the argument that flares don’t move across and over great distances without falling from the sky and leaving a trail of smoke above them. But if they weren’t flares, what were they? And why did they show up again in later years? Join us as we take a closer look to figure out if they were secret experimental government aircraft, natural swamp gasses above the desert, Power Rangers come to save us, or perhaps act

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the little-known secret of “closed towns,” most notably Russia’s City 40. City 40 was the old code name for what is now known as Ozersk. This is the birthplace of the Soviet Nuclear weapons program after the end WWII, and to this day, nobody is allowed into the city except its citizens. There are an estimated 100,000 people living in City 40 today, and it is the hub of Russian nuclear technology. A documentary called City 40 (directed by Samira Goetschel) was filmed by a crew who were illegally smuggled into the city by residents who wanted their story to be told. This is one of the major sources of information about Ozersk since the Russian military still keeps the place on lock down for reasons of state security. So what goes on in City 40? Well, originally, it was the home of the Mayak Nuclear Facility, a place built by forced prison labor. This plant produced the majority of the nuclear material for early Soviet Bombs, and now it refines nuclear ma

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we turn to some True Crime and discuss the case of Leopold and Loeb. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb killed 14-year-old Bobby Frank on May 21, 1924. Why? Well, that one gets complicated. Both Leopold and Loeb were prodigies, child geniuses. They had each graduated from Ivy League colleges by age 17 or 18. Leopold thought that he was a Nietzschean superman and that typical laws and morality were below him. Loeb, apparently, was just down for whatever and loved the thrill of a crime. So they planned a perfect crime just to prove they could get away with it. Which they didn’t. So, how did they get caught? What was the plan? What happened to Frank’s body, and what evidence was found? Which one of them was shanked by a straight razor in prison? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/leopold-and-loeb-gain-national-attention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park. The Yellowstone Supervolcano is one of the few in the world, and if it ever erupts, it will be a world-ending, cataclysmic event. America will pretty much be a wasteland (and a good chunk of Canada…sorry neighbors to the north). If there is a super eruption, it will last for months, send magma nearly 70 miles into the sky, and bury a significant portion of the U.S. in over ten feet of burning ash. So, what is NASA’s plan to cool it down? When did it erupt last, and when do the pattern suggest it is due again? Why do some geologists think it will never happen again? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.vox.com/2014/9/5/6108169/yellowstone-supervolcano-eruption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2014GC005469 https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/volcano.htm

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most intelligent animals on planet earth, the Orca. People call them killer whales, which is pretty wrong on both parts. One, they aren’t whales. Second, they aren’t really killers—at least not of humans. Sure, the ones held captive will kill after they are driven mad, but in the wild, they treat humans playfully. They form one of the most sophisticated animal cultures on earth, have a robust language, and teach their young. They can kill a great white, shut down half their brain when they sleep, and get in snowball fights with fishermen. And don’t forget Tilly, the captive Sea World Orca made famous by the movie Blackfin that killed three people!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/marine-animals/facts-about-orcas/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orca https://us.whales.org/whales-dolphins/facts-about-orcas/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/watch-orca-whales-kill-a-great-white-shark-in-this-stunning

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the one of the best comedic minds of our generation, Mike Judge. Judge blew up with his smash TV show Beavis and Butthead. It was an anthem to Generation X and a huge hit on MTV, spawning movies, and forcing people to do bad impressions of the main characters for years. He created King of the Hill which was a ratings hit, and he directed live action cult films such as Office Space and Idiocracy. Mike Judge has suffered controversy and success over the years, and has left us with everything from red Swingline staplers to President Camacho. Give this one a listen!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0431918/bio https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/mike-judge-6996.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Judge https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/producers/mike-judge-net-worth/ https://www.ranker.com/list/mike-judge-facts/erik-barnes https://www.cracked.com/article_32961_mike-judge-15-know-you-know-facts.htm

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a strange case of True Crime known as the Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping. In 1976, three men (Frederick Woods, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld) did the unthinkable. As bus driver Ed Ray was driving 26 children back from a pool outing, the kidnappers boarded their school bus and held them at gunpoint. Then, the children and Ray were forced to endure an 11 hour claustrophobic bus ride and were dumped into a buried moving truck for 16 hours. Everyone from the media to the FBI swarmed the town. So, what did it take for them to escape? Were any of them harmed? How did all the victims end up in a prison? Why weren’t the kidnappers ever able to ask for their ransom demand? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.cityofchowchilla.org/300/1976-Bus-Kidnapping https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-frederick-woods-rare-photos-from-one-of-the-largest-kidnappings-in-u-s-history/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Chowchilla

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we turn our eyes to the heavens and talk about Solar Flares. These nasty little critters blast off of the sun in eleven year cycles and can wreak havoc with high tech equipment. In the past, people didn’t care much about this phenomenon. For one, they didn’t have telescopes to see them, and even once they did, they just didn’t matter. But now, living in a world of satellites, GPS, cell phones and radio waves, these bursts of electromagnetic energy could really do some damage to our tech and even society at large. What was the biggest solar flare ever detected? Do people on earth die due to the Solar Flares? How much money did a Solar Flare cost Elon Musk when his Starlink satellite program got slammed by a flare? What is the real danger of them, and do you need to become a prepper? Listen, laugh, learn?   Visit Our Sources: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/solar-flares-radio-blackouts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare https://www.livemint.com/news/worl

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at MTV. This little upstart cable channel first aired in 1981with very little content but a big dream. It fulfilled those dreams and then some. There would be no 1980s culture without MTV. The music, the fashion, the videos, all of it was first seen here. It low-key launched the careers of people like Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Spike Jonez, and John Stewart. It gave us Madonna’s sexy lace, Prince’s swagger, hair metal, music news, and Beavis and Butthead. This one will be a walk down memory lane and an exploration of one of the greatest cultural juggernauts of the past forty years.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mtv-launches https://www.mtvpress.com/networks/mtv-history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV https://theconversation.com/40-years-of-mtv-the-channel-that-shaped-popular-culture-as-we-know-it-165365 https://www.everything80spodcast.com/the-history-of-mtv/ https://watchmojo.com/video/id/9782 https://en.wikipedia

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the king of the chase scene, Burt Reynolds. Reynolds gave us classic movies such as Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, and Hooper and became an icon and sex symbol for decades. From the disturbing Deliverance to the porn-heavy Boogie Nights, he ended having a wide range as an actor. He fell off the scene for a while and had a resurgence and Oscar nomination in the late 90s. What director did he hate working with? What did Marlon Brando say about Burt Reynolds? Why did he turn down the role of James Bond when Sean Connery quit the franchise? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/burt-reynolds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Reynolds https://burtreynolds.com/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/burt-reynolds-dead-deliverance-boogie-nights-star-was-82-831093/ https://dos.myflorida.com/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/burt-reynolds/ https://fanbuzz.com/racing/peopl

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest actors of all time, Christopher Lee. This legend played Dracula and was in little known film series such as James Bond, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars. What’s more impressive is that in WWII he became a spy, a Nazi hunter, and a member of the infamous SOE—The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. After he mastered spy craft and acting, he also mastered thrash metal music, becoming the oldest musician to ever break the Billboard Top Twenty with his song “Jingle Hell.” You know his face and his rolls, but you don’t know Christopher Lee and his crazy back story.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/11/christopher-lee https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/christopher-lee-3395.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee https://gizmodo.com/22-incredible-facts-about-the-life-and-career-of-sir-ch-1710917366 https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Christopher_Lee

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. This wall was both a symbolic and physical barrier between Soviet and Western ideals for over 30 years. After WWII, Germany was divided into four parts, each run by a different nation. Berlin was divided as well, and it served as the most important border-crossing and battle ground for the Cold War. After thousands of citizens fled the Soviet-let East, they built The Berlin Wall which divided the city in two. Hundreds were killed as guards had orders to shoot to kill, but eventually, the wall came down. What accidental press conference helped destroy the wall? Who was Harald Jager, and what part did he play? What does a mine field, archery, and fake planes have to do with one family’s escape? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: History Channel’s Take https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-the-berlin-wall-and-how-did-it-fall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall https://en.wi

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the wonderful world of ants. Experts suggest that there are up to ten quadrillion ants alive on the planet, roughly 25% of all life on earth. They are highly organized, intelligent, social, and…creepy. They talk to each other via sound and pheromones. Ants grow crops, they go to war, and they even farm aphids to milk them for honeydew. Their size, scale, venom, and strength is wildly divergent. Their nests and colonies are so complex that they baffle architects, so they are sure to baffle the three of us. If you want to hear if Brent thinks they are machines, give this one a listen!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/insects/ant-facts/ https://www.toptenreviews.com/the-worlds-most-dangerous-ants https://canyouactually.com/researchers-poured-10-tons-of-cement-into-this-ant-metropolis-then-dug-it-up/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusociality Aphids and Honeydew Ant Colony in Cement A