Hyperfixed

This week, the Villa Vie Odyssey, a 3-year-long cruise that hosted everyone from retirees to would be social media influencers, dramatically ended its voyage by forcing all its passengers to disembark in Cambodia, scuttling what was advertised as an endless cruise due to rising gas prices. So we are unlocking some of our reporting on the ship from when it was still on the water.

Be sure to check out Joe Rhodes entire travelogue on his Substack, Unmoored.

If you'd like to hear 2 more episodes on the Villa Vie, as well as nearly 50 other premium episodes, go to hyperfixedpod.com/join and become a premium member. In addition to bonus episodes, you will get access to our discord, discounts on merch and live shows, and more.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Sanderson's podcast feed has been stolen. And so has his voice. And we're not being figurative over here! Whoever took it has cloned his voice with AI and is using it to make him say things he would never say in his real life. But is there anything he can do about it? We investgate.

Hyperfixed is a completely independent podcast. If you like what we do, please consider supporting the becoming a premium member. You will get bonus episodes, access to our discord, discounts on merch and live shows, and much much more. Join us at hyperfixedpod.com/join.

LINKS:

The Lifefulness Podcast

Craig Silverman's Open Source Intelligence Newsletter Indicator

Scott Seligman's collected research on the theft of Sanderson's podcast

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week, we answer a question we have gotten quite a few times since the show began: Why does every microwave have a "Popcorn" button, but nearly every popcorn manufacturer warns you not to use it? The answers are wilder than you ever imagined.

Support Hyperfixed by becoming a premium member. You will get access to bonus episodes, the Hyperfixed discord, discounts on merch and live shows, and you will be supporting completely independent journalism. We don't exist without your help!

hyperfixedpod.com/join

LINKS:

Alec Watson's YouTube channel, Technology Connections

The Popcorn Board

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A segment from our recent live show in Brooklyn! We investigate one man's obsession with an incredibly charismatic performer.

Please consider becoming a Hyperfixed premium member - you will get bonus episodes and access to our discord and much more, in addition to supporting independent journalism.

https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join

LINKS:

In Memoriam for "Minnie"

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week, we're unlocking an episode from our premium feed: an interview with Kate Downey, Host and Creator of the CRAMPED podcast.

Get tickets for the Hyperfixed live show!

If you like this episode and would like to hear more like it, as well as join our discord and get discounts on merch, you can support us by going to https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join.

LINKS:

• CRAMPED podcast

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Alice was browsing the stock audio in Adobe premiere, when she found dozens of audio marked "prison." Were they actually recorded in prison? By actual prisoners? And if so, was it voluntary? We investigate.

Reminder! There are only two weeks until Hyperfixed live in Brooklyn! Buy tickets HERE

Hyperfixed is completely independent and can only exist with the support of our listeners. Please consider becoming a premium Hyperfixed member. You'll get bonus episodes, discounts on merch and live shows, and much more. You can join by following THIS LINK

LINKS:

• Watch Weeds on TUBI
• Max Cerda's Non-Profit, BUILD
• Latino Reentry Integration Services
• Space! The Game Show

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In 2022, Amber’s favorite podcast came to an abrupt and shocking end, and now, its archive of episodes has started disappearing from the internet. So she’s come to the Hyperfixed team to find out how to preserve what’s left, and answer a question that's been haunting her for years: is her favorite podcast host ok?

LINKS:

• ReTell Pharmacy Podcast

We are doing a LIVE SHOW in Brooklyn in September, get your tickets here

http://tickets.hyperfixedpod.com/

Please consider becoming a hyperfixed premium member. Your support keeps our show alive.

https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Three years ago, Becca was seeing double. Her hometown's hedge maze had an uncanny resemblance to a famous maze in England, but no one seemed to realize it except her. So Becca wants to know if the maze is, indeed, a copy. And if she's right, she wants credit where credit is due.

LINKS:

- Adrian Fisher's book: The Amazing Book of Mazes
- Henry Eliot's book: Follow This Thread
- Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow
- Photo of the Longleat Hedge Maze
- Photo of the Big Green Monster in Stow, Massachusetts
-Photo of the sign at the Big Green Monster at Honey Pot Hill

We are doing a LIVE SHOW in Brooklyn in September, get your tickets here

http://tickets.hyperfixedpod.com/

Please consider becoming a hyperfixed premium member. Your support keeps our show alive.

https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week we're cooking up a couple stories in the lab so while you wait, please check out Panic World, a fantastic podcast hosted by friend of the show Ryan Broderick.

-----

Why are cats so popular on the internet? It started with cat memes like I Can Haz Cheezburger and Keyboard Cat, then we became enamored with cat celebrities like Lil Bub, Grumpy Cat, and Princess Monstertruck. And now, we’re witnessing the next evolution in cat internet content: “cute cat AI.”

Our guest and host of American Hysteria, Chelsey Weber-Smith, calls it a “Kitty Horror Picture Show.” Chelsey joins Ryan and Grant to tell us about the explosion of really weird AI-generated cat videos depicting cat families that’s all over TikTok and YouTube right now — much like Elsagate once did in 2014. Then, Ryan takes us back even further, to cover an older cat-based moral panic: Bonsai Kittens. Together, we look at how though technology has changed, we’ve pretty much always wanted to show each other freaky stuff on the internet — whether real or fake.

Our guest Chelsey Weber-Smith hosts American Hysteria, a show that explores the fantastical thinking and irrational fears of Americans. Check it out here or wherever you listen to podcasts.

LINKS

Garbage Day Newsletter

Panic World

American Hysteria

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Earlier this year, David's mouse suddenly stopped working, which wouldn't be that weird, were it not for the fact that people across the world were reporting the same issue with the same mouse. What happened, and why? The Hyperfixed Team investigates.

We are doing a LIVE SHOW in Brooklyn in September, get your tickets here

http://tickets.hyperfixedpod.com/

Please consider becoming a hyperfixed premium member. Your support keeps our show alive.

https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join

LINKS:

The Lever (David's investigative news website)

Consumer Reports

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Growing up, Alison was a voracious reader. But there was one book series in particular that she devoured. "Samurai Girl" by Carrie Asai. Recently, Alison wanted to learn more about the author whose books she loved nearly 20 years ago. But she couldn't find anything about Carrie Asai. No other writing credits. No bio. So it left Alison wondering, who was Carrie Asai?

LINKS:

• Samurai Girl
• Bob Levy's Book
• Sara Shepard

Get tickets for the Hyperfixed live show!

If you like this episode and would like to hear more like it, as well as join our discord and get discounts on merch, you can support us by going to https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

An extended (bonus!) interview from our Fauxbituaries episode, now unlocked for you! Investigative journalist, Craig Silverman, helps us track down one of the authors of a fake obituary site.

Get tickets for the Hyperfixed live show!

If you like this episode and would like to hear more like it, as well as join our discord and get discounts on merch, you can support us by going to https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join.

LINKS:

Craig Silverman's website Indicator

The Hyperfixed episode "Fauxbituaries"

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week, another installment of our Hyperfixer series. We chat with an anonymous hacker who took down a white supremacist dating site.

LINKS:

• Martha Root's Social Media
• Martha Root's Chaos Communication Congress Presentation
• Martha's Website, OK Stupid

Get tickets for the Hyperfixed live show!

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The twisted logic behind one company's real estate strategy.

https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join

Check out Planet Money

DISCLAIMER: This episode is not sponsored by Wetzel's Pretzels.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week we're sharing a podcast we love, the show Smart Girl Dumb Questions. It's a curiosity party, and you're invited. On Smart Girl Dumb Questions, Nayeema Raza asks simple Qs to big thinkers (like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Diplo, or two 11 year olds), trying to make sense of life.

LINKS:

• Smart Girl Dumb Questions podcast feed: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-girl-dumb-questions/id1784967461
• Smart Girl Dumb Questions on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When Markus's good friend died suddenly, he went online to get more information. What he found was several AI written obituaries on dodgy looking websites with a litany of factual inaccuracies. Who is making these, and why? And is there anything that can be done to stop them?

To hear our conversation with Craig Silverman (and a bunch of other great bonus episodes, and join our discord, and get discounts on Hyperfixed merchandise, and support independent journalism) become a Hyperfixed Premium member. If we get 150 signups between now and the end of april, we will give away merch to 5 listeners. If we get more than 150, we'll give away more!

https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join

LINKS:

• Joe Supan on fake obituaries
• Craig Silverman's Newsletter, Indicator
• Joshua Braun on fake news and ad technology
• Check My Ads

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Alex has a new podcast called Amityvilleville, on which he and his friend Caroline Thompson watch all 92 movies in the Amityville Franchise, interview people involved in the making of these movies, and hopefully some people involved in the true life amityville case! On this episode, we watch Amityville 3-D, the third entry in the series, starring a young Meg Ryan and Lori Laughlin.

Amityville 3-D: Here's how my mom and dad fell back in love after my dad bought a haunted house that killed me and then exploded.

As of this writing, Amityville 3-D is available (lamentably, in 2-D) on the following streaming services:

TUBI

Pluto TV

If you are just discovering this podcast, please consider listening to Alex's other podcast, Hyperfixed

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Our most popular bonus episode ever, now unlocked for you. Sometimes, we bite off more than we can chew here at Hyperfixed. This is one of those times.

Hope you enjoy it!

If you like this episode and would like to hear more like it, as well as join our discord and get discounts on merch, you can support us by going to https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join. We're trying to sign up 1500 new premium members so I can give our producers raises and pay them healthcare. Currently, and we only need 1440 more! You can help us reach our goal!

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week - Chris is a movie lover, and there are dozens of classics he's desperate to watch. But he can't. Alex tries to help him.

Please consider becoming a premium Hyperfixed member. You get bonus episodes, access to our discord, discount on merch, and you support independent journalism. https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join

Also! Alex and his pal Caroline are starting a new show! Join then on Amityvilleville, where they will watch all 91 movies in the sprawling, confusing, ridiculous Amityville franchise. Find it on any podcast app, or on Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, etc.

LINKS:

• Audio Description Project: https://adp.acb.org/
• https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/215510667-Audio-Description-Style-Guide-v2-5
• Descriptive Video Works: https://descriptivevideoworks.com/
• You Describe: https://ydx.youdescribe.org/home

Special thanks to Jenna and the team at Descriptive Video Works!

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week, the story of a man who is bound and determined to make his city safer, even if it means breaking the law.

Please consider becoming a premium hyperfixed member. You'll get bonus episodes, access to our discord, discounts on merch (https://merch.hyperfixedpod.com/) and most importantly, you will be supporting independent journalism.

https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join

LINKS:

• People's Vision Zero Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peoplesvisionzero/
• Jonny's White Paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n3PeT7vwutg26_u1jf4Iqx7ba7GdHI42/view
• To become a PVZ Member: https://pvz.typeform.com/joinus
• To support People's Vision Zero: https://ko-fi.com/peoplesvisionzero

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices