Will This Be On The Test?

A minisode from Mattie! This is an unresearched ramble about her magnificent life. Well, it's more about how she's finally getting doctors to listen to her, and she hopes it helps some people. We miss y'all, but we're still here! TikTok is the easiest way to find us!

This Week Mattie tells us all about the amazing Sarah Biffen. the disabled woman artist that did portraits of multiple royal families in the late 18th and early 19th century. That's right, Mattie is doing an art episode this time. everything has gone mad. will Austin do one that contains actual educational value next? Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod TikTok @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

We're Back! after a long break, we come in with the unofficial themes of our podcast! Animals that kill and the atrocities committed by Europeans. Austin goes into The Lions of Tsavo, the real actual killer lions that inspired The Ghost and The Darkness and whatever that Idris Elba movie that came out last year was. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod TikTok @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

Will This Be on the Test? returns this week!

We're taking a break! But, we will be back. In the meantime, please rate and review the podcast on Apple, keep your subscription active, continue following us on all the socials @onthetestpod, and letting everyone know they should shiver with antici... *SAY IT* ...pation. See y'all soon!

This week Austin fell down a rabbit hole and ended up riding the rails with all his possessions wrapped up in a handkerchief on a stick. (or a Bindle as Mattie helpfully pointed out.) After a brief discussion about how our ghost threw a ceramic pig across a room (oh yeah, there is a MAJOR ghost update.) Austin talks about Hobos, a bit of their culture, and their self described King, Leon Ray Livingston. who was the analog equivalent of the lady on Instagram showing you how amazing her van is. Hear about the Hobo Signs, the wild claims made by the Hobo King, how heaven is real and it is in Pennsylvania, and watch us accidentally become a true crime podcast for a hot second. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

Its a solo episode this week and Mattie goes into labor. let me rephrase that. Mattie talks about the Labor Movement. like the last 200 years of progress, how Reagan made it all worse, and how in the last 2 years American workers have gone through almost a microcosm of the entire fight for labor again. we also discuss quiet quitting, how unskilled labor is a misnomer, the great resignation, and Pete Davidson. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

This week Mattie and Austin discuss literature. really, we both read the same book and talked about it, you should read I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, we both liked it. Then Austin starts to talk about Pickleball, but it angers Mattie (she thinks Pickleball is made up,) so he talks about Matthew Hopkins. The Witchfinder General. Then Mattie takes us North to Edinburgh Scotland and tells us all about Mary King's Close and how myths about it have become so prevalent that they often get reported as true.  Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

Hello Party People! that was weird, lets try again. This week Mattie and Austin are back to their usual routine with a pretty great Episode Mattie talks about an influential figure in film and makeup that we don't learn much about, Lon Chaney. He pioneered a lot of early film makeup and became one of the first faces of the horror movie genre. Then Austin dredges up a national unpleasant memory and talks about The Presidential Fitness Test. why did we do it? did it actually do anything? and how did Reagan make it worse?  Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

This week Mattie and Austin switched things up. instead of painstaking research over multiple days to put out an episode Mattie and Austin gave each other an unknown topic and then had to research it in only half an hour. that is right, we combined the thrill of video game speed runs with the excitement of reading and taking notes. we are legends. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

after being super exciting and trendy and taking their cats to the vet Mattie and Austin had enough time in their busy lives to record a new episode! Mattie starts us off by talking about those adorable lil bandits Raccoons (aka Trash Pandas) and how they are an incredibly destructive invasive species that is on an unstoppable march across Japan and Europe. we also get a bunch of cool facts and Austin has to answer a true or false quiz that he in now way studied for. then Austin talks about Tulip Mania. A financial crash that even though it was all about people buying flowers for the same cost as a house, was still a better investment than NFTs. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

ok, we are a little late getting this episode out, but it is still Tuesday in a few time zones so Mattie and Austin both agree that this episode is on time. mostly. Austin starts this week talking about Zoos. and just a bunch of wholesome animal facts with just a light sprinkling on the exploitative nature of colonialism. He also talks about his new hero Ken Allen. Just a wholesome episode that nobody could object to. Mattie talks about sex, how our state failed us when it came to sex ed, and the effectiveness of contraception and comprehensive sex ed. Austin had to hold up Mattie's notes so she could make all the hand gestures she needed. the perfect visual aid for this Audio format.   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

This week, Mattie and Austin have a return guest! you know him, you love him, you want to give him belly rubs, Fezzik returns to purr aggressively right into the microphone while we shout facts and tangents at you! Mattie starts by teaching us about the Hearst family and the exploits, wars, and sensationalism of an American media dynasty. We also try and remember what the Spanish American War was. we know it was with Spain, and after the episode we also had a vague memory of Teddy Roosevelt doing something in it.  Then Austin decides to talk about something that he finds comforting. DDT. specifically what a big problem wide spread use of it was, and how people managed to force change against a seemingly insurmountable problem. he also gets to use the phrase "Toxic Colonialism," and can not stress enough how happy it made him. and we can not stress this enough we are not actually sponsored by North Korea or Elon Musk. Especially not Elon Musk. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

This week Mattie and Austin decided to keep it chill and talk about what they thought were light topics where nothing could possibly be sad. they were both wrong. Austin tells us about Godzilla. a 1954 monster movie loved by millions that has a much darker deeper meaning than he anticipated when he started. He also ruins King Kong while he's at it. Mattie then talks about the history of fathers day and how it is celebrated. It quickly devolves into us saying how upsetting the word Daddy has become.  and we can not stress this enough we are not actually sponsored by North Korea. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

This episode Mattie and Austin both decided to cover a disease. this was not planned. we just share a single brain cell and it does this to us some times. Mattie starts off by talking about the Bubonic Plague. specifically the American outbreak in the 1900s. that was covered up by the government. that we were never taught about. Then Austin lightens the mood by talking about Tuberculosis. you know, the slow wasting disease that made us all super sad when we watched Moulin Rouge. fun times were had by all but for those of you that stuck around you get to hear about Austin's ghost encounter and Mattie yell at a dog.   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

This week Mattie and Austin spent most of the time watching Old Enough and wishing we lived in Japan so we could walk to do simple errands in our town without getting run over by a Land Rover. but we also managed to research and record a pretty good episode Austin starts us off with a segment about Alchemy. it was absolute nonsense, but was it actually important? Did we discover the key to eternal life AND making things into gold? no. but we did find some other things that are pretty important.   The Mattie learned about a figure from history that kicked so much ass and did it in such a badass way that it was for sure the inspiration for one of the biggest characters in Fantasy literature and TV. She tells us about St Olga of Kiev and how amazing she was.   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer  

This week Mattie gets the entire episode to talk about the Astor place riots. she hinted at this in a previous episode about Broadway, and neither of us were prepared for what she found. Rivalry, nationalism, gang violence, riots, and an acting rivalry that makes Will Smith and Chris Rock look tame. is that reference still timely? let's say yes. unless you are listening to this years in the future. then you might need to google some stuff about the 2022 Oscars. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer  

We start things off talking about our new reality show favorite: Is it Cake? you should watch it Then Austin talks about probably the most Kansas history you are ever going to learn and teaches you about J R Brinkley, a doctor, and early radio pioneer that made his money the old fashioned way, by implanting goat glands into people. Then Mattie answers the question we've all been asking. Can you make a ghost? I mean we all know how to make ghosts, but can you simply believe a fake person into existence? Mattie covers the time in the 70s when some researchers did exactly that and had some fascinating results. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer  

I may have exaggerated in the title, but Mattie does talk about grammar and punctuation and how court cases have been decided on typos and misplaced commas. it might not exactly save your life, but it has cost companies and governments millions of dollars.   Next Austin turns the clock way back. back before even Pliny the Elder. (that's right, Austin can research something without leaning on the genius that is Pliny) and talks about one of the earliest civilizations, The Indus Valley people in North Western India and Pakistan from back in 3000 BCE, and how surprisingly modern they were.   We also talk reality TV. so don't worry, it isn't all archeology and Grammar this episode. we have standards to uphold.   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer  

This week, Mattie and Austin are back to their old reality TV habits AND Mattie talks about her amazing birthday. Then, Austin talks about the Berlin Wall. more specifically the things we think lead to it being torn down and the reality. ( I'll give you a hint, Austin relished his chance to tell us all yet again that Reagan was trash and you shouldn't like him.)   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer  

This week, Austin talks about medical animal testing. and does talk about bad things happening to animals. if you want to skip this segment and pet a cat he totally understands. Skip ahead to 34 minutes Then to lighten the mood Mattie tells us all about Emperor Norton I. The totally legitimate recognized Emperor of the United States. during this episode listen for Mattie declaring herself a micro nation and Austin naming himself emperor of the Midwest and levying a hefty tax to be paid in cheese, or else he will organize the cats to make war. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer  

This epsisode Austin talks way too much about Electric cars, and also what a tool Elon Musk is. Then Mattie tells us about the Murphy Ranch, the headquarters of American Nazis in the 30s and early 40s, located right outside Los Angeles. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer  

This week Mattie is back! and she dives headfirst into evolutionary biology and one of the biggest hoaxes to ever involve parts of an orangutan. She tells us about the missing link hoax, why people fell for it, and the ongoing who done it about who is responsible for fooling the scientific community for so long. Austin then talks about math. well, he tries to anyway. but his presentation on Pythagoras turned into him talking about yet another sex cult half way through his research. and yes, the two are related. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer  

You ever get tired of your family around Christmas and go to see a movie or play to get away from them for a bit while also technically still spending time with them? well, this is a story about a time when hundreds of people died doing exactly that in Chicago in 1903. hear about the tragic Iroquois Theater fire, how it happened, and the wide sweeping negligence that caused this "absolutely fireproof" theater to burn down.  you also get to hear Mattie suddenly realize that she had in fact taught this very subject in her class and exclaim "The doors!" it will make sense in context. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

This week Austin starts off by talking about Canada! they are right there to the north of us, we love them, they have amazing healthcare, and One of the deadliest accidents ever happened in Halifax when a ship exploded in 1917. it was really bad. so naturally this is the first thing Austin learned about Canada that wasn't strictly bigfoot related. Then Mattie talks about why the poster of the cat hanging from a clothes line captioned "Hang in there" is actually evil. and not in a haunted painting way, but in a the psychology of positivity culture is really bad for you way. we also say bad things about Oprah, so if this is our last episode that means she got to us and only you know the truth!   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

after a little holiday break Mattie and Austin are back. back again. Tell a friend. Mattie starts off by talking about jury duty. and mostly about all the problems we have with every step of the process. Austin talks about black cats. why are they bad luck? how many witches are involved? what exactly is the kiss of shame? Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

We were unable to record an episode this week, but we will be back!

This week Mattie got her Covid booster and it knocked her out for about 8 hours, but Austin propped her up in front of a microphone, gave her a can of redbull and we got an episode hot of her! Mattie tells us about famed American Traitor Benedict Arnold. We never learn exactly what he did or anything else about the man. or that he had some very relatable reasons for doing the things he did. Austin tells us about banned and challenged books. mostly because for the last month he has seen a pretty intense uptake in Karens getting mad about things. so he talks about some books that were banned in the past, the ones he is seeing challenged right now, and how some public libraries handle complaints about their collection. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

After going out and partying too hard last week Mattie and Austin recover just in time to bring you a new episode! James Garfield's assassination gets overshadowed by Lincoln and JFKs deaths. but it really shouldn't be. and Austin tells you why this week by covering the insane life of presidential assassin, thief, street preacher, poet, and sex cult reject Charles Guiteau. this topic just goes in 1,000,000 different directions and was just a wild ride to research. Then, Mattie delivers her in depth research on the legality, morality, ethics, and practical concerns of the hobby of collecting human skulls. you can hear Austin's jaw hit the floor a few times. (This is an expression. his jaw is fine and he did not purchase a human jaw to drop during Mattie's segment. He has some taste.)  Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

Happy Halloween Listeners! Well, I guess this is coming out a few days after Halloween. we have never been good at scheduling things ahead of time. We did record on Halloween so it counts. Mattie talks about an less well known teenaged civil rights pioneer, and why we don't learn as about her as we do Rosa Parks. and we also talk about the variety of injustices she has suffered and is still experiencing as a result of her civil disobedience in the 1950s. Then, in celebration of spooky season Austin tells the tale of an Algonquin evil spirit that drives people to extreme gluttony and cannibalism. The Wendigo. He also uncovers a previously unnoticed anachronism in a beloved Halloween movie and gives the pedantic explanation that literally nobody asked for.   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

Mattie and Austin are back from a whirlwind to the greatest city in the world, New York City! And because we can't do anything normal we spent a large chunk of it at disaster sites, a graveyard, an abandoned small pox hospital, and an old lunatic asylum. you know, the usual tourist stuff. We also saw the Olsen twins. Austin starts us off by talking about an 11 year old meme you might remember as the Ancient Aliens guy. So why and when did we start to think space aliens built the pyramids? Austin found out and also learned an important lesson about messing up your YouTube algorithm. seriously, all the Critical Role content he loved is gone and replaced by flat earth conspiracy videos. Mattie loves travel and also loves to travel alone, well at least when there isn't a global pandemic ruining things for her, and she gives some travel advice that she has learned from experience and some that she learned from the web. Like, that despite what some true crime Facebook fan groups say very few people are hunting you like a wounded gazelle, and the hotel clerk who talks about his mother way too much probably isn't going to stab you in the shower. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

This week Mattie and Austin gave it 110% and watched all the entire Halloween franchise. Shout out to Kansas' greatest export Paul Rudd, Star of Halloween 6. We are absolutely going to see Halloween Kills soon and we will report back to you. Mattie starts us out by telling us all about The Great White Way (don't worry, its not related to racism OR sharks.) and how Theater changed and traditions developed over the centuries we have had just a ton of theaters there. She also explains what Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway are. We also tried to create an Off Off Off Broadway, but we went too many layers deep and tore a hole in reality. Then Austin covers a listener suggestion. well, kind of. He talks about the Sargasso Sea. a unique Ecosystem that we don't hear a lot about and how Christopher Columbus didn't discover it (shocking,) how it relates to the mysterious Bermuda Triangle, and how little we know about where baby eels come from. He also goes on a brief environmentalism rant and accuses Christopher Columbus of a lot of things. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

after a week spent fighting back pain because we old Mattie and Austin are back to blow your mind with some facts and stuff   Austin starts off by telling us about the Palmer raids. the time when Federal law enforcement overstepped their bounds so much the American people actually took action. he also talks about what an asshole J Edgar Hoover was. (Seriously. Austin thinks he might've done more harm than Ronald Reagan.) Then Mattie goes into a debate that has been dividing households for years. What is better print books, eBooks, or audio books? We all have our opinions, but what are the facts? prepare to be amazed as Mattie dives in and gives us the actual facts on how the medium we use affects how we learn.   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

We are back! after 2 weeks off we are back better than ever! and by better than ever I mean we watched reality tv and horror movies for 2 weeks. Austin says that counts as research. Mattie tells us why the arts are important and, specifically, how theater has given her most of her important life skills. Austin bores Mattie with some sports facts, but he thought it was cool. especially since it involves a 17 year old girl striking out the New York Yankees and why women were banned from Major League Baseball for decades. We also have a new theme song! Check out https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer She is spectacular   Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com theme song by https://www.fiverr.com/nilgunozer

On this, our 100th Episode Mattie and Austin switch things up. Instead of researching our own topics, we each researched a topic for the other to cover. Mattie wrote a segment for Austin to read about his least favorite genre of anything. Listen as  Austin slowly realizes she researched bluegrass music, and hear the annoyance in his voice as he talks about banjos and why the mandolin should just go away. Then Mattie gets a wall of musical terms and German names to try to pronounce while she covers Austin's topic, the original musical sex symbol Franz Liszt. We are also taking our annual break from recording for the next two weeks to improve the background stuff of the podcast, so watch out for our triumphant return at the start of October.

After a tough week, we record an episode at the last second and just manage to get it out. so we are a little rougher than usual. But I still think we are funny. Mattie gives us feedback on feedback. like the best practices for feedback in work, schools, and telling Austin to stop dancing. Austin then talks about a 600-year-old riot at Oxford and how Medieval England had just zero chill.  

This week Mattie and Austin saw many goats! We here at Will This Be on the Test LOVE goats, Mattie and Austin got married at a petting zoo because that meant there would be goats at the wedding and a park near our house hired goats to eat all the weeds. It was an exciting weekend. Ok, now that we have your attention with a beloved animal that almost everyone loves, Austin talks about Killer Whales (another beloved animal that almost everyone loves) and how they are not so secretly cold-blooded (ok, warm-blooded. they are mammals after all) killers who do some incredibly fucked up things in nature, like toss baby seals around like a volleyball, terrify sharks, and how a serial killer Orca was a tourist attraction at SeaWorld for years. We also realize that most of the movies we loved as kids came out in 1993. Then Mattie talks about Eidetic memory, photographic memory, and Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM.) we learn about how memory is formed, how people with superior memory don't always think it is a good thing, and absolutely nothing about the hit Musical Cats and the Classic song Memory. I can't believe we forgot about that.  

This week, after seeing something either totally amazing or tragic at Costco, Mattie and Austin only ramble for like 10 minutes before the episode starts. Why do we hate poetry? and more importantly what exactly is poetry? Mattie tells us all about how we might not like it because it is taught in a strange way and people gatekeep the ever-living shit out of it. She also blew Austin's mind by telling him that the most taught poem does not mean at all what we think it means. it was wild. Then Up in the Sky! It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No, It's Austin talking about Superman! Why is Austin in the sky? he is nothing like a bird. this intro is confusing. we didn't think it through. But Austin heard a celebrity say something stupid and so he had to talk about an amazing time when activists teamed up with the writers of the Superman radio drama and stopped the KKK in their tracks.   

This week Mattie and Austin are still excited to be on upcoming episodes of Mythstorie (8/18) and Storyshout! they are both a lot of fun and you should give them a listen. Austin got perplexed by why there was a bear, just a whole ass bear standing there, on California's state flag. this led him down a rabbit hole of the most intensely American story he has ever heard. Mattie also makes a great bare-ass pun that Austin completely misses, but listening back it was super good. Then Mattie tells us that it is okay to accept a compliment. then goes into some, not all, of the weirdness we put around compliments, and tips on how to give and just as importantly accept compliments. We would also like to compliment our listeners who clearly have amazing taste.  

Mattie and Austin actually went places and did things this week! and naturally, we both got inspired by real-world events for our topics this week. Mattie talks about the 1899 newsies strike because we went to an amazing community theater production of Newsies. the real story has less singing, probably less dancing, and certainly no dance fighting. Austin talks about the University of Wisconsin's Humanities building after a friend sent a series of text messages about being lost there. It is nicknamed the labyrinth and may or may not be a riot-proof bunker built to disorient student protesters in the late 1960s. And best of all Mattie and Austin have a guest spot coming up on the Mythstorie podcast on 8/18! we know you can't get enough of us here, so check them out and listen to us talk about the lil cryptid that captured our heart and gave us Phil Collins. The Squonk.

This Week, our problematic fave is back and we watched Love is Blind After the Alter. and is Jessica no longer the villain? Is Mark a butthead? and Why do they keep bringing on people from Too Hot to Handle? are we going to have to watch this show now? Are they laying the groundwork for a Netflix reality show extended universe? anyway Austin talks about the most suburban shit ever (Other than crocs and socks, overcooking steak on the grill, and being unhinged in Nextdoor,) and goes into lawns. why do we have them? what do they do? and can we just get rid of them? he also yells at Thomas Jefferson for the second week in a row. Then Mattie concludes her three-part series on the Mercury 13, when politicians got involved and things got worse. She also uncovers a part of NASA's history they really tried to cover up. if you listen closely you can hear Austin's mind being blown and his heart breaking at the exact same moment. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com

this week Mattie and Austin have to flee our unventilated and poorly insulated recording studio/ oddly shaped walk-in closet due to extreme heat. but we adapted, overcame, and recorded an episode that only sounds a little like we recorded in a cave. because we do in fact live in a cave. We probably should've mentioned that earlier. Then we get into Part 2 of 3 of Mattie's segment of the Mercury 13, and how it became a toxic dramatic workplace, a bit of a reality TV show, and witness one of the top 10 power moves I have ever seen in history. like better than when Caesar came back and executed the pirates that kidnapped him. Then Austin talks about Mt Rushmore. It is more than just an underwhelming tourist trap in the middle of South Dakota. it is insulting to Native Americans on so many levels And the sculptor has some pretty shocking ties to the worst people in America. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com

This week we start off strong with Mattie's strategy for becoming the office's undisputed cryptozoology expert. A lofty professional development goal we should all aspire towards. Then we get into Austin's segment about an absurd art movement from the early 20th century that challenged how we thought about art. Austin also holds it responsible for Maureen in Rent. he may never forgive art for this. Then, in part 1 of a 2 part episode, Mattie talks about something super important that we should all know more about but probably will get overshadowed by some Billionaires playing Astronaut. She talks about The Mercury 13 and the brave pioneering women that fought to be a part of Space exploration in the '50s and '60s. Including Wally Funk, who will be on the flight along with the worst person alive Jeff "I had to buy a newspaper just to get people to say nice things about me" Bezos. We also talk about how buying a home is the worst, and why Mattie should not be allowed in art museums.

This week, Austin reveals the true horror of being married to Mattie. She made him watch Rent. The Movie version. It was bad, consider this a content warning. for Rent. Then Mattie gives us helpful life skill information that we should've learned in school but were not taught and goes in-depth about what is and isn't covered by HIPAA ( The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and what your rights are. Naturally, Austin gets distracted by bees. Then Austin talks about something he did learn about and is super salty that people take it seriously. The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (Austin refuses to learn how to correctly pronounce her name) and why it is dumb and the people who follow it are probably assholes who just identify with her Capitalism fan fiction Mary Sue characters and have never actually thought about the content of the books.  Tangents include Psychics, Crystals, Bees, Sex Sent Me To the ER, and Katanas.

Success! this week we are still absolute wrecks who lack professionalism BUT we recorded it successfully! Austin starts us off talking about pigeons, a bird that is literally everywhere but we don't learn a ton about them. Sure we know all about them delivering messages but we learn so little about their careers in search and rescue, art criticism, and seduction.  Then, in a revival you've all been begging for since the early 2000s, Mattie tells us all about the saga of Mike the Headless Chicken, the Legend of the West. and in addition to the life of a chicken without a head that toured the country, we get the horrifying details about decapitation that we didn't ask for but are getting anyway. we also talk about our reaction to the Supernatural finale about 6 months after it aired, and how Mattie can cure your snoring in one easy step! listen to find out how, it will shock you! (not clickbait) Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com

So, we had a whoopsie with the SD card we record to and we lost this week's episode. But we will rerecord and get it out to you all next week. It was a good one and all about birds for some reason. And supernatural. Sorry about the delay, but while you wait you can tell us what kind of bird each member of the supernatural cast is. I'll start. Misha Collins is clearly a Spoonbill that got stuck in a trenchcoat and is very sad about it. Fun! Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com

This week, after watching way too much reality TV, Austin decided to look at the unethical psychology experiments we learned about and rate them on how well they could be adapted into a reality TV show. Because let's face it, if they filmed the Stanford Prison experiment and put it on prime time tv they would've won an Emmy. and on a related note Mattie watched Riverdale and blew Austin's mind by telling about how Ross's kid from friends is now Archie. Mattie goes into the origins and applications of the IQ tests. now you think this could be a fun little jaunt where we both take a sketchy online IQ test and compare results (we do, don't worry.) but it turns into a dive into unequal opportunity, bad science, and eugenics. seriously, can't we go into an episode without eugenics showing up?  

at some point in our lives, as you sit there hand cutting buckets of confetti because someone in charge thinks that larger confetti looks better and nobody sells large confetti chunks or defending Zach Snyder's vision for The Justice League in public where people can hear you, you pause and think to yourself "Am I in a cult?" Well worry no more because Mattie talks about the different types of cults, how cults work, how to tell if you are in a cult, and who is vulnerable to being in a cult (It's everyone, literally everyone.) we also talk a little bit about how to get out of a cult, but our podcast might be a cult and we don't want our listenership to drop. so maybe skip that part. Austin, because he has the maturity level of a third-grader, decides to talk about Guano, aka bird and bat poop. But like most things that sound ridiculous at first, it turns into a tale of slavery, imperialism, war, OSHA violations, and environmental destruction that will take generations to recover from. So really what we have all come to expect from this podcast. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com

This week Austin talks about mercury (the element, not the planet) and a truly horrifying period of industrial abuse that reminded him of Radium Girls. Then Mattie tells us all about Edgar Allan Poe. Pretty much everything we learned about the man was wrong and the reason why is bonkers. Twitter: @onthetestpod Facebook: Facebook.com/onthetestpod Insta: @onthetestpod onthetestpod.com