Join co-hosts Zack and Katie as they learn about a different topic every week. Real-life couple Zack Radvansky and Kathryn Feeney are two curious individuals who love learning. Although Katie is in her third year of law school and Zack didn't go to college, they never run out of fascinating things to learn about together. In this podcast, every episode Katie challenges Zack to "become an expert" on a totally random topic - but the catch is, he only has 30 minutes to do it. Using the power of the internet, and a little humor and love, Zack and Katie want to prove that no matter who you are, or how much education you have, anyone can learn about anything in the world if they put their mind to it.
Episodes
Monday Aug 16, 2021
Monday Aug 16, 2021
In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an expert on... Surfing! First of all, thanks for the break! Hope you guys enjoyed those couple of throwbacks -they were two of our favorites. Now school is back in session (for Katie, at least), and we are back to our regularly scheduled programming! But we still wanted to keep the summer feel going, so we learned all about surfing. As Zack mentions, he focused on the history and cultural roots of surfing, and it was a good choice. We learned all about surfing's roots, from ancient Peru to less ancient Hawaii. Of course, there were some dark spots in this story, including colonization bringing disease and a really top-notch racist dude named Alexander Hume. But outside of that, it was a fun and wild ride. Come ride the waves with us and learn about a really radical aspect of native Hawaiian culture!
Highlights Include:
- 20-foot-long solid wood surfboards
- Surfing at the Olympics
- Lots of digs at people named William Anderson!
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Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Music by Jake Radvansky
Monday Aug 09, 2021
Monday Aug 09, 2021
This episode we are giving ourselves a little summer break and throwing it back to one of our favorites, Banksy! Happy Summer Everyone!
In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Banksy! Who is Banksy? Okay, we didn't actually figure out Banksy's true identity in this episode, but we did learn a whole lot about the anonymous street artist. In today's world, it's pretty rare to maintain true anonymity in spite of worldwide fame, but somehow Banksy has managed it. This is a really visual episode for obvious reasons, so definitely check out our instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast to see all of the cool works of art Zack so eloquently describes. Including: A teddy bear throwing a molotov cocktail! Princess Diana on English currency! Steve Jobs as a Syrian migrant! And more! Banksy has a lot to say, and a really creative way of saying it. Whether he's Mr. Brainwash, Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack, Jamie Hewlett of the Gorillaz, or random man Robin Gunnigham, he's an impressive and always surprising fellow. Fight the power along with him (and us) and listen!
Highlights include:
- A Spontaneously Shredded $1.37 Million-Dollar Work of Art
- Original Banksys on sale for $60 at a hot dog stand
- Banksy's TRUE IDENTITY (just kidding)
Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep
Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1
Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod
Send us your expertise at 30minuteexpertpodcast@gmail.com
And please rate and review!
Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvansky
Monday Aug 02, 2021
Monday Aug 02, 2021
This episode we are giving ourselves a little summer break and throwing it back to one of our favorites, Kintsugi! Happy Summer Everyone! Have fun and appreciate your flaws :)
In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an expert on... Kintsugi! What is kintsugi, you may ask? Zack did too! Join Zack and Katie in learning about the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with gold, and maybe learn to appreciate your own flaws along the way. Self-love. Kintsugi style.
Monday Jul 26, 2021
Monday Jul 26, 2021
In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... The Butterfly Effect! This is a complicated one, but ultimately satisfying. If you've ever wondered whether a tiny decision in your life led to massive changes and unforetold differences, this episode will NOT clear that up for you, but it will certainly try. A math mistake in a weather simulation in the 1960s made Edward Norton Lorenz ask, does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? And everyone RAN with it. However, pretty sure they ran with the opposite of what he meant. He more wanted us to think about how random and unpredictable nature is, not to question whether or not you should have asked your crush to prom. What he was going for is the basis of Chaos Theory. Chaos Theory: Not just a Ryan Reynolds movie. Speaking of movies, lots of movie references in this one. There's a movie called the Butterfly Effect, with Ashton Kutcher, and a butterfly-effect-y movie called Sliding Doors, which may or may not star Gwenyth Paltrow. As we always say, do your own research!
Highlights Include:
- Hypo that Zack and Katie are future monarchs
- Fractals! Chaos Theory!
- A pronunciation-fest of the word "meteorological"
Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod
Send us your expertise at 30minuteexpertpodcast@gmail.com
And please rate and review!
Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Music by Jake Radvansky
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
In today's episode, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Publisher's Clearing House! What a random topic, but it turned out super fun. In fact, Zack puts it in his top three episodes of ALL TIME. So I wouldn't skip it. If you aren't American, or are like 12, you may not know what this is. But rest assured, you will know by the end of this episode! Direct Sales! Sweepstakes! Giant Checks! Ed McMahon? It's all here. Except Ed McMahon, who is a figment of the Mandela Effect (shoutout a couple weeks ago). A little bit predatory, a little bit fun, PCH is a truly American brand.
Highlights Include:
- Deep dive into asteroid strikes
- Evel Knievel-style business strategies
- Katie's fear of attics
Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod
Send us your expertise at 30minuteexpertpodcast@gmail.com
And please rate and review!
Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Music by Jake Radvansky
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
In today's episode, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Taxidermy! If you are grossed out right now, then you know how she felt! But it ended up being a lot more interesting, historical, and environmentally-inclined of a topic than we anticipated. Taxidermy has its roots in Ancient Egypt, as well as in the practices of ancient Europeans as well as Native Americans through today. We did a brief run through how it actually works (nothing too upsetting, we promise), but focused on the history of taxidermy and its impact on society.
Highlights Include:
- A mummified hippo!
- A Croc hanging from the ceiling of a cathedral!
- A very false take on modern Minneapolis taxidermy-ing women
Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod
Send us your expertise at 30minuteexpertpodcast@gmail.com
And please rate and review!
Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Music by Jake Radvansky
Monday Jul 05, 2021
Monday Jul 05, 2021
In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Fireworks! How did we come up with this idea? Oh, maybe because they've been going off non-stop for the past week! As we learned, fireworks have been a part of celebrating our country's independence since the first anniversary of the singing of the Declaration of Independence, which is pretty cool. Makes those 2am explosions have some significance, you know? If you've ever wondered how on earth fireworks work, this one's for you. We learned where the colors come from, where the shapes come from, how they get up there in the sky in the first place, etc. Now, we are truly experts. And, we got a nice history lesson along with it. Travel to ancient China with us, learn about the beginning of gunpowder and the beautiful pyrotechnic displays that have come from it.
Highlights Include:
- Exploding Bamboo!
- "Cross-section" of a firework
- Biggest ever Fireworks show? Philippines, 2016
Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod
Send us your expertise at 30minuteexpertpodcast@gmail.com
And please rate and review!
Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Music by Jake Radvansky
Monday Jun 28, 2021
Monday Jun 28, 2021
In today's episode, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Roller-coasters! Hang on to your hats, kids! Literally, if you are on a roller-coaster, and figuratively if you are listening to this episode because it is one wild ride. Roller-coasters have such a fun history, and continue to be fun today. We went to 16th-century Russia to ride some ice-slides with Catherine the Great, Coney Island to see the creations of the father of the roller-coaster himself, La Marcus Thompson, and ended up on the tallest of all - Kingda Ka in none other than Jackson, New Jersey. Roller-coasters prove that you can have a total blast just using the simple laws of physics. Just consult your retina doctor before you whip around on all those twists and turns!
Highlights Include:
- From 1 to 149 in under 5 seconds
- Roller-coaster riding mules
- A demand from Walt Disney
Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod
Send us your expertise at 30minuteexpertpodcast@gmail.com
And please rate and review!
Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Music by Jake Radvansky
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Monday Jun 21, 2021
In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Stonehenge! This may be the oldest topic we've ever covered here on #0 Minute Expert, because man, that thing is old! Stonehenge is still very much a mystery, but very smart scientists and archaeologists are pretty sure (and convinced us) that Stonehenge dates to as early as 4,200 B.C. WOW! Also, it was likely built in stages over 1,500 years - talk about contractors taking a long time to get the job done! Unfortunately Zack could not solve the mystery, but we did explore options including: temple? burial ground? place for human sacrifice? As well as the strong possibilities that it was built by and for Merlin the wizard and/or aliens. Next year, let's all meet at Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice and see what all the fuss is about.
Highlights Include:
- 50,000 pound 30 foot stones
- Druids!
- Good old fashioned "maybe aliens did it"
Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod
Send us your expertise at 30minuteexpertpodcast@gmail.com
And please rate and review!
Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Music by Jake Radvansky
Monday Jun 14, 2021
Monday Jun 14, 2021
In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... The Rosetta Stone! Not the software that teaches you Spanish, we covered that in the intro. But the real Rosetta Stone! The ancient granite slab that finally allowed modern humans to understand what was written in ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Who knew there was another ancient Egyptian system of writing called "Demotic"? Probably some smart people and definitely lots of archaeologists, but not us. We were floored. It took two men over 20 years to finally crack the code of the Rosetta Stone - only to learn that it's just a love fest for some dude named Ptolemy. Just kidding, Ptolemy seems pretty cool, but that just might be me falling for the propaganda that is the message of the Rosetta Stone. But all in all, pretty cool that we can finally read hieroglyphics and learn more about the incredible civilizations of the ancient Egyptians. PS - to the British Museum -- give the Rosetta Stone back!!!
Highlights Include:
- 1100 to 1600 lbs??
- A hieroglyphic - emoji comparison
- Ranting at the British Museum!
Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod
Send us your expertise at 30minuteexpertpodcast@gmail.com
And please rate and review!
Podcast artwork by Rick Radvansky
Music by Jake Radvansky