Futility Closet Podcast
| The Futility Closet Podcast | |
|---|---|
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | Greg Ross Sharon Ross |
| Genre | History |
| Language | English |
| Updates | Weekly |
| Length | 30 minutes |
| Production | |
| Theme music composed by | Doug Ross |
| No. of episodes | 166 (as of August 23, 2017) |
| Publication | |
| Original release | March 17, 2014 – present |
| Website | The Futility Closet Podcast |
Search Futility Closet Podcast on Amazon.
The Futility Closet Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Greg and Sharon Ross. It presents curious and little-known events and people from history, and poses logical puzzles.
Format[edit]
A typical episode lasts thirty minutes and consists of three segments: first is the primary feature of the week lasting about fifteen minutes; second is the reading of listener mail and updates to previous episodes; third is a lateral thinking puzzle, posed by one of the hosts for the other to solve.
Some episodes depart from this format, for instance by presenting several short items or open questions culled from research, or by presenting several puzzles in lieu of other content. Most episodes include an advertisement.
History[edit]
In January 2005, Greg Ross started the Futility Closet website, an online wunderkammer of trivia, quotations, mathematical curiosities, chess problems, and other diversions.[1] The site spawned two printed collections,[2] and continues to be updated daily. In March 2014 Greg launched a thirty-minute weekly podcast, with his wife Sharon joining as co-host.[3] The earliest episodes differ somewhat from the present format, with several topics per episode and no lateral thinking puzzle.
Episodes[edit]
Content and sources[edit]
The podcast has a wide scope and is not restricted to any particular era, but most episodes concern colorful personalities and strange events from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Victorian oddities are a mainstay of the show, as are unexplained mysteries, forteana, hoaxes and impostors, sensational murders, remarkable animals, and the adventures of mariners, aviators, and explorers. Subjects are often prompted by listener suggestions.
Each episode is researched by Greg, a former magazine editor who makes use of several university libraries in the Research Triangle.[3][4] The complete sources for each podcast are listed in the show notes.
Each episode ends with a lateral thinking puzzle. Many of these puzzles originate from the books of Paul Sloane and Des MacHale, while others are submitted by listeners or are devised by the hosts themselves. There have been several special episodes that consist entirely of lateral thinking puzzles.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
Music[edit]
The podcast's opening theme is an instrumental bass composition, "Fallen Star", which was written and performed by Doug Ross,[13] brother of Greg.[14] Doug Ross also supplies the bass riffs which punctuate the transitions between episode segments.
Reception[edit]
The Futility Closet Podcast has been praised by James Harkin of No Such Thing as a Fish[15], and by economist Tim Harford.[16] Joshua Gelernter of The Weekly Standard described Futility Closet as "one of the most interesting websites on the internet." Michael Förtsch of Wired.de named the Futility Closet Podcast as one of seven podcasts to make you smarter.[17] The podcast was praised by Colin Patrick of Mental Floss, by Jennifer K. Bauer of Inland360.com,[18] and by Kayla Matthews of Makeuseof.com, who praised Greg Ross's scrupulous research.[19] Gizmodo's Robbie Gonzalez praised the site's lateral thinking puzzles.[20] Futility Closet was praised by Steve Dodson of the linguistics blog Languagehat[21], and was cited by the linguist Ben Yagoda at the Lingua Franca blog.[22]
Puzzles from Futility Closet have frequently been featured in the New York Times puzzle section and the New York Times blog.[23][24][25] Futility Closet was recommended by the Honduran newspaper La Tribuna.[26] Its puzzles and paradoxes have been cited by El País[27] and Il Post.[28]
Futility Closet's segment on the Canadian candy boycott was featured on CBC Radio.[29]
Support[edit]
At the time of its launch, the podcast was supported chiefly by advertisements and one-time donations. By the end of 2014 a Patreon campaign had been established.[30]
References[edit]
- ↑ Mark Frauenfelder (2011-10-17). "Interview with Futility Closet blogger Greg Ross / Boing Boing". Boingboing.net. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
- ↑ "Books". Futility Closet. 2013-11-22. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 March 17, 2014September 14, 2015 (2014-03-17). "Podcast Episode 1: Calendar Reform, Doll Mansions, and Hitchcock's Vertigo". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ "About". Futility Closet. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
- ↑ November 24, 2014September 12, 2015 (2014-11-24). "Podcast Episode 35: Lateral Thinking Puzzles". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ December 22, 2014September 12, 2015 (2014-12-22). "Podcast Episode 39: Lateral Thinking Puzzles". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ May 4, 2015September 11, 2015 (2015-05-04). "Podcast Episode 56: Lateral Thinking Puzzles". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ August 10, 2015September 10, 2015 (2015-08-10). "Podcast Episode 69: Lateral Thinking Puzzles". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ December 21, 2015 (2015-12-21). "Podcast Episode 86: Lateral Thinking Puzzles". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
- ↑ April 4, 2016April 4, 2016 (2016-04-04). "Podcast Episode 100: Lateral Thinking Puzzles". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ December 26, 2016January 16, 2017 (2016-12-26). "Podcast Episode 135: Lateral Thinking Puzzles". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ May 1, 2017April 30, 2017 (2017-05-01). "Podcast Episode 152: Lateral Thinking Puzzles". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ "Doug Ross".
- ↑ "FC 11: A Woolf in Sheikh's Clothing".
- ↑ https://soundcloud.com/nosuchthingasafish/episode-131-no-such-thing-as-walking-the-life-jacket
- ↑ "Tim Harford — Article — The five best economics podcasts of 2016". Timharford.com. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
- ↑ "Diese 7 Podcasts Machen Euch Schlauer".
- ↑ "Staff Picks: Futility Closet".
- ↑ "11 True Story Podcasts That Make Your Life Look Dull".
- ↑ "Sunday Puzzle Hiatus: Try Some Lateral Thinking Puzzles On For Size".
- ↑ "Futility Closet".
- ↑ "The Strange Saga of Gobbledygook".
- ↑ "The Necktie Paradox".
- ↑ "Making Way".
- ↑ "The Prisoners' Paradox".
- ↑ "Plataformas web para nunca dejar de aprender".
- ↑ "No solo de números consecutivos vive el cuadrado mágico".
- ↑ "Il paradosso della decimazione".
- ↑ "CBC Podcast Playlist 90".
- ↑ December 14, 2014September 12, 2015 (2014-12-14). "Podcast Episode 38: The Thunder Stone". Futility Closet. Retrieved 2017-08-26.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
External links[edit]
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