
Not Past It
Ever wonder why the world is the way it is? Like, 1000s of years of humanity and this is the version of the world we came up with. This one? Same. Each Wednesday on Not Past It host Simone Polanen will pick a moment from that very same week in history -- and tell you how it shaped our lives today.
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128 years ago this week, news broke of a small-town butter contest turned scandalous. Dairy experts and buttermakers gathered in Meadville, Pennsylvania to award the state’s best butter. Little did they know, there was a cheat in their midst. These treacherous events sparked important questions for Meadvilleans, and fo
On March 15th, 1937—86 years ago this week— a new kind of bank opened in the US. That bank wouldn’t deal out money— it would deal out blood. Blood banks would help to revolutionize medicine, save countless lives, and make complex new surgeries possible. But who could put blood in those banks? Who couldn’t? And why? Tha
Hey, Barbie Girls! On March 9th, 1959, the now-legendary Barbie doll debuted at the International Toy Fair. She was controversial from the start; her hot bod scandalized parents and intrigued kids across the country. But while grown-ups were clutching their pearls, a more pointed battle was brewing -- over the purpose
The Notorious B.I.G. was at the top of his game when he was murdered, 25 years ago this week. On March 9th, 1997, Christopher Wallace was gunned down in public. We’re telling the story of Biggie’s friendship with Tupac. Just not the one you may have heard. This episode originally aired March 9, 2022. Check out our Noto
Before Squid Game, BTS, and Parasite, South Korea dazzled the world in a different field… figure skating. All thanks to their queen of the ice, Yuna Kim. On February 25, 2010 she set a new world record at the Winter Olympics. But Yuna’s path to the Olympics was bigger than her — and charts the history of a nation emerg
Simon Wiesenthal walked out of the Mauthausen concentration camp a survivor determined to hold war criminals accountable. When it was discovered that one of the Holocaust’s primary architects was in hiding, Simon was on the case. His 15 year globe-spanning hunt ended in 1960 with some secret spy photography that would