Episode notes
Alex Schmidt and special guest Dan Hopper explore why escalators are secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.
LINKS FOR DAN HOPPER:
RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
- native-land.ca
- U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
- The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland (Smithsonian)
- “Finding Lenapehoking” (YouTube / Hudson River Maritime Museum)
- Why Do They Call It Beacon? (The Highlands Current)
- Dutch & Native American Heritage In The Hudson River Valley (National Park Service)
RESEARCH SOURCES:
- Movin’ On Up: The Curious Birth and Rapid Rise of the Escalator (Popular Mechanics)
- How the Escalator Forever Changed Our Sense of Space (Smithsonian Magazine)
- “The Birth of the Modern Escalator” by Dr. Lee Gray (Elevator World trade journal)
- Wheaton Station Escalator — Silver Spring, Maryland (Atlas Obscura)
- The story behind the world’s longest outdoor escalator system (CNN Travel)
- Central—Mid-Levels Escalator (Hong Kong Tourism Board)
- The 10 Longest Escalators in the World (Mental Floss)
- Dragon Escalator — Beijing, China (Atlas Obscura)
- Shanghai Shopping Mall Has Seven-Story Spiral Escalators (Popular Mechanics)
- Spiral Escalators Look Cool, But Do They Make Sense? (Atlas Obscura)
- Human waste shuts down BART escalators (San Francisco Chronicle)
- The Reason Escalator Stairs Are Grooved (Mental Floss)
- TikTok post from BravoCon where a Real Housewife’s heels jam an escalator
- YouTube upload of Simpsons clip of the Itchy and Scratchy short “Screams from a Mall”
- ‘I use that to clean my shoes’: Woman finds out the real reason for the bristles on escalators (The Daily Dot)
- Case Reports: Escalator-related injuries in children (Pediatrics journal)
- King’s Cross fire: ‘I was screaming in pain’ (BBC News)
- Macy’s Wooden Escalators — New York, New York (Atlas Obscura)
- 80-Year-Old Wooden Escalators are Repurposed as a Sculptural Ribbon by Artist Chris Fox (ThisIsColossal.com)
- Vancouver, you’re using escalators wrong, but that’s mostly OK (CBC News)
- The tube at a standstill: why TfL stopped people walking up the escalators (The Guardian)
- The escalator riddle: would we all move faster and more safely if we stopped walking on them? (The Guardian)
- The Sunday Magazine: Why is it so unnerving to walk up or down a broken escalator? (CBC Radio)
- Why does it feel strange to walk up a non-working escalator? (BBC Science Focus Magazine)
In this episode...
Guests
- Dan Hopper
About the show
A weekly podcast about the history, science, lore and surprises that make everyday things secretly incredibly fascinating. Hosted by comedy writer, emoji creator, and ‘Jeopardy!‘ champion Alex Schmidt. Join Alex & his co-host Katie Goldin for a joyful deep dive into seeing the world a whole new way!
Get in touch with the show
People
How to listen
Stream or download episodes directly from our website, or listen via your favorite podcatcher!