Last But Not Least - This American Life

Tim Keown, a high school student grew up thinking his town of Kankakee, Ill. was fantastic. But like most town, there's something about its past that Tim was unaware of.

He discovered that his town of 30,000 was ranked dead last in a list of worst places to live. This was published in The Places Rated Almanac, and was based on crime, job outlook, climate, culture, etc. It wasn't long before the town became the laughingstock of the country.

David Letterman published a top ten list about slogans for the town. One of them was "You'll come for our payphone, you'll stay because your car has been stolen." In an effort to improve the town's image, Letterman sent the Kankakee two gazebos to beautify the downtown.

The town has put up the gazebos, put citizens don't like to go there. It reminds them of how much their town was made fun of. Tim and other students were shocked to learn of this. They always thought their town was fine.

Students then recalled stories of how the perception people had of Kankakee affected them. One girl got teased on her academic exchange program for being from the town. Another girl was shopping for a prom dress and a clerk was reluctant to help them once it was clear what town they were from.

These students decided enough was enough. Since Letterman is retiring, they cut down one of the gazebos and turned it into a rocking chair as a retirement gift for the late night host.

One gazebo down, one to go.

Come Se Dice "Not It?" - This American Life

Adriana Cardona, editor of a Chicago-based bilingual newspaper approached a homeless man on the street. Her interaction with him led to a major investigative story that has been happening in Chicago for years under everyone's nose.

The homeless man told her his story. He's from Puerto Rico. His government paid for a one way ticket to Chicago so he could go to a rehab clinic for his drug use. When rehab didn't work, he was stranded, and had to live on the street. He's not alone.

After doing some investigating, Adriana discovered that the Puerto Rican government has been doing this for years. Homeless Puerto Ricans who encountered this are all over Chicago, and cities around the country. There's more to this story.

Reputable rehab clinics had no idea the clinics these people were sent to even existed. They are not listed anywhere, they're unmarked, and aren't run by a licensed organization. The state of Illinois was not aware this has happening.

Adriana tracked down a Puerto Rican health official. The official was surprised to learn these facilities were not licensed. Even though their government is aware of the problem, they aren't doing anything to fix it.

They believe any form of treatment is better than nothing.

The podcast also gave details on one of these homeless men, named Manuel. After leaving the rehab clinic Puerto Rico referred him to, he tried signing up for a real one, but the waiting list was too long. He is unable to get the HIV medication he needs, is still addicted to drugs, and now has to try to survive cold winters.

Do You Hear What I Hear? - This American Life

How many times have you heard a song, but don't know what it is called? We may type lyrics into Google or use the Shazam app to figure out the title of the song. One man went to great lengths in order to identify an unusual piece of music.

For the last two years, Dick Corbett has been fascinated by a piece of hold music that plays when he calls the doctor's office. To him, this music is very catchy and interesting to listen to. He would hear it when he called to inquire about his medical bill, and when he called his cardiologist. It turns out that his entire healthcare system uses this piece of hold music. He can't get away from this.

Sometimes Dick would call the hospital asking to be put on hold so he could listen to it. He is a very driven person, and will not stop listening until he figures out what this is. Dick tried to figure out what this music was by having someone listen to many clips of music to see if it matched. Nothing.

Eventually, a registrar at a hospital did some digging for him, and found out all the hospitals on his healthcare network have phones set to the Cisco default hold music. It is entitled "Opus No. 1." It turns out that many people, like Dick, like the song, and have been trying to find it somewhere. After that, the reporter tracked down the composer to let him know of his popularity.

His name is Tim Carleton, who recorded the song in 1989 when he was 16 years old. He no longer composes music. He hasn't profited off Cisco using the piece of music, which is now installed on 65 million of its units. Listening to it, Tim compares it to seeing an old high school yearbook photo of himself.

This American Life is very good at taking a stories that seem trivial and making them super interesting. Knowing Dick's background and personality are important to knowing why he would care so much about a piece of hold music. Tracking down the composer made the story well-rounded and gave listeners the significance of the sound.

Listen to "Opus No. 1" here.

Haunted - RadioLab

Dennis had a hard time leaving home. After leaving college, he spent most of his 20s living with his parents. When he was 28, he was finally ready to leave the nest. Months after he left, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. A short while after his mother passed away, his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and passed away.

After he lost both his parents, he was left with the house he tried to leave. He moves back in at the age of 32, and started doing renovations to the home.

Night after night, he dreamt that his parents came back to the house, and undid what renovations he had done to their house. Three separate friends came by the house, each telling him they felt a strange presence.

Paranormal investigators came by to see what this presence was. Dennis had always been a skeptic when it came to hauntings. He started believing when the lead investigator saw a presence that looked like Dennis's dad. He communicates with him through a flashlight. If his dad answers "yes" to a question, the flashlight flickers.

It turns out, there is a scientific explanation to why the flashlight flickers when he asks a question. Learning this, Dennis isn't disappointed. He is always a skeptic, though he won't ever let go of that experience.

A Burger a Day - Freakonomics Radio

What is the cheapest, nutritious, and most bountiful food that has ever existed? It has 390 calories, 23 grams of protein, and costs under $2. It's the McDouble. Is it wrong to classify a fast food hamburger as the most nutritious food? The host of Freakonomics doesn't think so.

One scholar argued that the only reason the McDouble is cheap, is that it doesn't factor in all the external costs, including poor farm workers. A Missouri farm worker doesn't see the debate that way. He argues that he is also a consumer, and low food prices, such as the McDouble, is a benefit to him. 

"Pay is only good in so much as what it can buy, and what you can buy is a McDonald's cheeseburger  for just a little over one buck at over 14,000 restaurants. And that is a good thing." - Blake Hurst, President of the Missouri Farm Bureau

As Blake Hurst pointed out, the McDouble is bountiful. There are McDonald's everywhere all across the country. If one needed to feed a large amount of people well and for the least amount of money possible, this burger would be the best choice.

This podcast suspends what people believe, and makes them think as an economist would. Obviously, the McDouble isn't the best food choice out there. But in order to get the most calories for the least amount of money, one would buy a hamburger from McDonald's. Economics is all about trying to get the most for the money.

What is Collective Hysteria? - Stuff You Should Know

Listen to this podcast here

Students at an all-girls boarding school in Mexico started showing troubling symptoms. Of the 3600 students, 600 showed signs of vomiting, fever, and trouble walking. Doctors and other experts came out to try to figure out what was causing this mystery illness. They found nothing.

This is an example of collective hysteria. It's defined as groups of people who all exhibit the same symptoms, though the conditions is non-existent. The brain has been tricked into showing these physical symptoms. This tends to affect women way more than men, though no one knows why. 

Mass hysteria is more likely to break out in isolated communities, and situations where there are highly formalized, structured rules. Such was the case in the Catholic boarding school in Mexico. This was also the case of the Dancing Plague of 1518.

That case started in the French town of Strasbourg when one woman began dancing in the street for four to six days. Soon, others joined in and by the month's end, there were 400. These people didn't know why they were dancing, or how to stop. 

Physicians called this plague a "natural disease," and concluded that the only way to stop it was to have them keep dancing. Musicians were brought in to these street to encourage the dancing. Eventually, some of these people died from heart attacks, exhaustion, and strokes. A historian said that marathon runners would not be able to handle the intense workout the victims of this plague went through. 

People who have mass hysteria are not faking their symptoms. The girls in the boarding school felt real sickness, and the dancers actually couldn't stop. 

According to this podcast, the media can play a role in spreading collective hysteria. This is shown by a case in New Zealand. In 2007, a drug was changed so the pill would be a different shape. It still contained the exact same active ingredient. After it was released, people started feeling different side effects. After the media reported on this, even more people exhibited the same side effects. Studies found that the most people felt symptoms in areas it was reported on the most. 

Those Cheating Teachers! - Freakonomics Radio

In recent years, teachers cheating on behalf of their students have become national news stories. But why is this happening?

The hosts of the show looked through data, and estimated that 5 percent of all elementary school classrooms in Chicago have cheated for their students. The major reason for this is incentives.

With new laws and policies, the stakes are higher for teachers to have their students do well on tests. Because of this, a tiny portion of teachers have been caught erasing and filling in correct answers so their students do better.

While the most common approach to handling this situation is to fire the teachers, an alternate route would be to make it harder to cheat. To do this, teachers from other schools can come in and proctor the tests. They could also hire exam proctors and create part time jobs, much like the U.S. government does with census takers.

Economics is all about incentives and opportunity costs. In order to make the problem of cheating go away, a solution that would yield positive benefits would be the best option. Simply firing these teachers would do no good, because other cheaters would pop in and take their place. Finding out a way to disincentivize cheating would be the most economical solution.