Episode notes
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why the middle finger is secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.
LINKS FOR KATIE GOLDIN:
- Katie Goldin on Twitter
- @ProBirdRights
- ‘Creature Feature’ podcast (iHeartRadio)
- When Is a Bird a ‘Birb’? An Extremely Important Guide (Audubon)
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:
- Aye-aye’s highly specialised finger is snot just for finding grubs (London Natural History Museum)
- Researchers reveal secret of aye-ayes’ long middle finger (The Guardian)
- Why do aye-ayes have such long middle fingers? (BBC Wildlife)
- This Primate’s Long Middle Finger Has a Startling (And Rather Gross) Use (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Duke Lemur Center page for Aye-Aye
- Denver Zoo page for Aye-Aye
- Scientific Punch-Up Over Idea That Fighting Shaped Our Hands (National Geographic)
- Your Face: Punching Bag or Spandrel? (Archaeology Magazine)
- Science Q&A: Why might the middle finger have evolved to be the longest? (The New York Times)
- The evolution of human and ape hand proportions (Nature Communications)
- “Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger and the Law” by Ira P. Robbins (UC Davis Law Review)
- When did the middle finger become offensive? (BBC News)
- Do gestures retain mental associations with their iconic origins, even after they become emblematic? An analysis of the middle-finger gesture among American English speakers (PLOS One)
- Stone Phalluses of Pompeii (Atlas Obscura)
- Romans Used to Ward Off Sickness With Flying Penis Amulets (Atlas Obscura)
- North Korean Officials Had No Idea What Their Hostages Were Signaling in This Photo (Atlas Obscura)
- Where does ‘V for Victory’ come from? (Imperial War Museums)
- A B.C. museum says it’s preserved the railcar from which Pierre Trudeau gave the finger to protesters (National Post)
- No, Fidel Castro is not Canada PM Trudeau’s father (The Associated Press)
- Some More News: “All of 2024’s Hottest Conspiracy Theories” (YouTube)
- Watch Bush’s “one-fingered victory salute” (Salon.com)
- Baseball-Reference.com page for Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn
- Footnotes of Baseball History: Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn’s Insane 1884 Season and a Photographic First (SB Nation / AZ Snake Pit)
- ‘Obscene’ Baseball Card Sells For Shocking $9,600, 24 Times Original Estimate (Forbes)
- Criminal podcast: “The Finger”
- Here’s why a Vermont man put up a giant, illuminated middle finger sculpture on his front lawn (The Boston Globe)
- Westford’s middle finger there to stay (VT Digger)
In this episode...
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
@sifpod
@sifpod
SIF on Discord!People
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