PODCAST · society
500 Open Tabs
by Kaveh Taherian & Hannah Hillam
Each episode, hosts Kaveh Taherian and Hannah Hillam choose one of their countless open browser tabs and finally take the time to read and discuss its contents until they gain enough strength to close that tab once and for all.
Episodes
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134: Rat Kings
This week we learn about the horrific once mythical cryptid of dozens of rats with their tales tied together that turned out to actually be real. A listener email explains how Soviet era bootleggers called the Roentgenizdat used discarded x-rays to share music. Episode Tabs: What Are Rat Kings…
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133: Optical Media Preservation (feat Tawny Platis)
This week we're joined by special guest Tawny Platis as she tells us the story of how not being able to find Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon resulted in her becoming a DVD preservationist. A listener email explains their journey in trying to sew the perfect Sarah Masquerade gown from Labyrinth....
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132: Joan Quigley: Astrologer to the Reagan Administration
This week we learn how an astrologist from San Francisco embedded herself into the Reagan administration and became an unofficial advisor that dictated the times of the president's press conferences and whether or not it was safe to land Air Force One. A listener email explains how a town in...
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131: Dr. Norman Lewiston (feat Dr. Kaveh Hoda)
This week we're joined by special guest Dr. Kaveh Hoda of the House of Pod as he regales us with the story of how a professor of pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine managed to keep his 3 simultaneous wives a secret from one another. A listener email explains the time that GM...
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130: The Luddites and AI
This week we dive into the Luddite uprising of the early 19th century and their subsequent mischaracterization as being anti-tech instead of anti-exploitation. A listener email explains the story of Elmer McCurdy, the mummified bandit who could. Episode Tabs: What the Luddites Really Fought…
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129: AMA 2026
This week we answer all your burning questions like what rabbit holes we try to avoid, what unused tabs we still have open, and what the hell actually constitutes as anime. Email your closed tab submissions to: [email protected] Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs 500...
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128: Coney Island Amusement Park Wars
This week we conclude the Coney Island summer series with the story of how 3 rival entrepreneurs pushed each other to the limit in a battle for the public's attention and how, in true Coney Island fashion, it culminated in a gigantic fire. A listener email explains why you always feel the need to...
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127: Elephantine Colossus of Coney Island
This week we continue the Coney Island summer series as we learn about the gigantic Elephant shaped building that quickly devolved from hotel to brothel and then promptly caught fire. A listener email shares with us the absurd story of British nurse Violet Jessop. Episode Tabs: THE EIGHTH WONDER…
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126: Coney Island Infantoriums
This week we learn how a non-doctor doctor named Martin Couney leveraged the crowds at Coney Island's fascination with freak shows into giving birth to the modern NICU. A listener voicemail combines everyone's love of cats with planes. Episode Tabs: Preemies on Parade: How a Fake Doctor's Coney...
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125: KUMIT۵B (500 Open Stabs Round 5)
The ancient tournament of Kumitab returns as we pit some of our craziest subjects against one another including Colonel Sanders, Kaveh the Blacksmith, and the Magic Eye turtle wearing a bowler hat. Email your closed tab submissions to: [email protected] Support us on Patreon:...
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124: The Battle of Santiago
This week we slide tackle into learning about the infamously bloody 1962 World Cup match between Chile and Italy that was preceded by new goal rules, a warring international press, and the largest earthquake ever recorded. A listener email gives the Ballroom scene a Jellicle twist. Episode Tabs:...
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123: Beanie Babies (feat Alyssa Cooper)
This week we are joined by special guest co-host Alyssa Cooper as she walks us through the insane Beanie Baby craze of the late 90s. A listener email explains the Mr. Trashwheel phenomenon that has taken over Baltimore. Episode Tabs: How Playground Rumors and Artificial Scarcity Created the...
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122: Narodniks (feat Josie Azzam)
This week we are joined by special guest co-host Josie Azzam as she tells us about when Russian rich kids called the Narodniks tried and failed horribly to convince the newly freed Serfs to join them in overthrowing the Czar. A listener email reveals the Swedish origins of an iconic Muppets tune....
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121: Colonel Sanders pt 2
This week we conclude the insane life story of KFC founder Harland Sanders as he fries chicken for Oppenheimer and publicly beefs (chickens?) with his corporate overlords. A listener email explains the Seinfeldian origins of the Canadian Toonie coin. Episode Tabs: Colonels of Truth...
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120: Colonel Sanders pt 1
This week we learn about the insane life of KFC founder Harland Sanders as he is put in charge of his younger siblings from the age of 5 and later worked the railroads where he developed a reputation for constantly getting into fistfights. A listener email tells of about that time in 1876 when...
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119: History of Courtroom Sketching
This week we learn about the history of courtroom sketching and how the Lindbergh kidnapping helped get cameras banned from courtrooms altogether. A listener voice memo ponders how all airline safety brochures ended up looking the same. Episode Tabs: Why Do We Still Need Courtroom Artists?...
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118: Snake Island (with Holden McNeely)
This week we're joined by cohost of Nerd of Mouth/ producer of LPNtv Holden McNeely as he tells us about the horrors of an entire island off the coast of Brazil populated by extremely poisonous snakes that jump from trees as well as his soft pitch for a movie where looksmaxxing influencers are...
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117: History of Personality Tests
This week we learn how personality tests went from determining if you could handle PTSD in WW1 to whether or not you could be employed by a Fortune 500 company. A listener emails tells the story of that time Gary Larson had to explain a not so complicated Far Side comic to his fans. Episode Tabs:...
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116: The Highwaymen
This week we learn how during Jim Crow, a group of Black artists sold between 50 to 200,000 landscape paintings from the trunks of their cars directly to doctors offices, real estate agents, and motels. A listener emails tells us about the award winning goodest boy. Episode Tabs: History of the...
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115: Marion Stokes
This week we learn how activist Marion Stokes archived 30 years of television in an effort to protect the truth from fake news. A listener voice memo suggests a novel way to clone Richard Nixon. Episode Tabs: The Remarkable Story of a Woman Who Preserved Over 30 Years of TV History...
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114: Brother Jonathan
This week we learn about Uncle Sam's predecessor Brother Jonathan, and how America's mascot for itself evolved between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. A listener email explains the importance of a finely carved 2000 year old statue of the Buddha recently found in Egypt. Episode Tabs: Before...
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113: History of the Saxophone
This week we learn how a rejected Belgian inventor's obsession with creating new instruments eventually led to the creation of one of the great American art forms. A listener email explains how bikes were used to smuggle drugs in the Netherlands. Episode Tabs: It was banned by the Nazis, Stalin…
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112: Mike Diana pt 2
This week we conclude the story of controversial comic artist Mike Diana whose run in with the law eventually ends up with him being taken to trial with charges of obscenity. A listener email explains how the how until recently, nipples in comics were considered taboo. Episode Tabs: Author of...
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111: Mike Diana pt 1
This week we dive into the origin of the controversial comic artist Mike Diana, who sought to create the "most offense zine ever made." A listener email explains how the release of a million balloons over the skies of Cleveland led to civilian deaths. Episode Tabs: Mike Diana Comics (TRIGGER...
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110: Curse of the Fire Horse
This week Hannah discusses the superstitions surrounding the year of the Fire Horse which began after a young girl tried to burn down Tokyo for love. A listener email reveals the hidden life of Yoplait Mimes. Come see us at C2E2! Artist Alley R-07 Episode Tabs: Yaoya Oshichi: The Girl Who Tried…
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109: Kaveh the Blacksmith
On this very special Nowruz episode, Kaveh explains the origin of his snake shoulder fighting namesake from the Shahnameh. A listener voice memo gets into how Mendez v. Westminster overlaps with some of our previous tabs. Episode Tabs: Zahhāk: An Etiology of Evil...
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108: Might Morphin Power Rangers (with Steven Ray Morris)
This week we're joined by friend of the show Steven Ray Morris as he teaches us how Haim Saban was able to recycle Super Sentai footage and turn it into a gajillion dollar franchise . A listener email reminds us how the original Space Jam is still alive and well. Episode Tabs: Might Morphin Power...
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107: Darwin’s Maiden Voyage
This week we learn about 22 year old Charles Darwin's first trip out to sea on the HMS Beagle and his unlikely friendship with captain Robert FitzRoy sparked his theory of evolution. A listener email tells us the lengths one Serbian chimp went to find a girlfriend. Come find us at Emerald City...
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106: Magic Eye
This week we learn about the various uses of the history that led to the creation of the 90s' greatest 3D craze, Magic Eye. A listener email tells us how lead on the ocean floor can help modern science. Episode Tabs: When Magic Eye Pictures Ruled the World...
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105: John Swartzwelder
This week we're joined by special guest Kaveh Mohebbi of the Cinema Rex podcast as he tells us about the myth surrounding John Swartzwelder, the most prolific writer in the history of The Simpsons whose voice helped shape the show and who may or may not actually exist. A listener mail tells us…
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104: Batman (Disambiguation)
This week we learn about the various uses of the name Batman including a town in Iran, a personal valet to a commissioned officer in England and a unit of measurement. A listener email informs us the colossal dickhead John Batman, who terrorized the people of New South Whales and Tasmania.…
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103: Renfrew Christie
We are back for season 3 with new tabs and a new format! This week we learn about the South African legend Renfrew Christie, who used his dissertation at Oxford as a front to spy on the Apartheid government's secret nuclear program. A listener email fills in the gaps of our Emperor Norton...
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102: The Tab Conspiracy - p2
Part 2! After meeting on the 500 Open Tabs Discord, a few fans of the show got together and recorded a tribute episode "The Tab Conspiracy," so we decided to share it with our tens of listeners!! This week they discuss first and second sleep (which may or may not have been invented by Hobbits)…
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101: The Tab Conspiracy - p1
After meeting on the 500 Open Tabs Discord, a few fans of the show got together and recorded a tribute episode "The Tab Conspiracy," so we decided to share it with our tens of listeners!! This week they discuss how Ivo Zdarsky flew to Vienna in a homemade airplane to claim political asylum from...
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100: KUMIT4B!! (500 Open Stabs Round 4)
Our Season 2 finale brings back the ancient tournament of Kumitab, where we pit some of our most unhinged subjects against one another including Bat Boy, Khutulun, and the 1800s self-replicating robot Jesus in a battle to the death. Email your closed tab submissions to: [email protected]...
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99: A Niewe Herball, Atomic Bomb Ring, and Reverse John Wick
This week we are joined by award winning author Amal El-Mohtar as we learn about herbiary plagiarism from the 16th century, how Kix cereal once offered toys with radioactive material, and the tale of a 14th century French dog pulling a reverse John Wick. A listener mail tells us about the most...
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98: Leon Theremin and Emperor Norton
This week we learn about the fascinating life of Russian inventor Leon Theremin, whose eponymous instrument led to the birth of electronic music and how San Francisco happily obliged a formerly successful South African businessman after he delcared himself Emperor of the United States. A listener...
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97: Listener Email Extravaganza - Thanksgiving Edition!
It's Thanksgiving week so we're showing our thanks to our tens of listeners by dedicating an entire episode to their tabs! Join us as we learn about Existentialism, criminals who are bad at stealing ruby slippers, and a prophet's foreskin. Listener Tabs: Philosophize This...
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96: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Pumpkin Mammoth Theory, and Bao Xishun
This week we're joined by very special guest, comic artist Harris Fishman AKA BeetleMoses as we discuss Roald Dahl's relationship to Tim Burton's 2005 adaptation of his book, how Wooly Mammoths helped propagate pumpkins in the Americas, and how the world's tallest man helped save some dolphins. A...
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95: Billy Possum and The Thing
This week we deep dive into how a political cartoon of William Howard Taft inspired Billy Possum who once tried to take control of the plush market from the Teddy Bear and how a listening device within a seemingly innocent gift from the Soviets during the Yalta Conference inspired the modern day...
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94: The Acali Experiment and Bat Boy
This week we deep dive into the true story of ten strangers who were picked to live on a "sex raft" to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start banging, and the hilarious origins of Bat Boy, the Weekly World News's flagship creation. A listener email informs us about the PT...
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93: Gef the Talking Mongoose, Origin of Haunted Houses, and Halloween Candy Myths
It's finally Halloween! This week we're joined by very spooky guest Alyssa Cooper as we learn about Gef, a talking Mongoose who haunted a rural home on the Isle of Man, how haunted houses share a history with Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and how unfounded rumors about razor blades in apples...
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92: Astor Place Riot pt 3 and The Great Imposter
This week we're together in New York as we discuss the grand finale of the Astor Place riot which unfolded like a Looney Tunes style fight and Barry Bremen, the great sports impostor who posed as players for the MLB, the NBA, and a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. A listener email informs us of the...
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91: Astor Place Riot pt 2 and Khutulun
This week the story of the Astor Place riot continues with the Bowery Boys gang further fueling the divide between English and American theatre styles and the fearsome Mongolian Warrior Khutulun, who refused to marry a man who couldn’t beat her in wrestling. A listener mail tells us all about...
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90: Origin of Gotham City and Astor Place Riot pt 1
This week we're in NYC as we deep dive into how a satirical 1800s magazine helped coin the city's nickname and the origins of a bitter rivalry between the American stage actor Edwin Forrest and English actor William Charles Macready that led to a full scale riot in 1849. A listener email explains...
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89: Manzanar Baseball Project and The Midnight Cave Experiment
This week we deep dive into activist Dan Kwong's efforts to restore a baseball field at a former California internment camp and about researchers who lived in subterranean caves for months at a time without access to clocks, calendars, or the sun. A listener email explains some sweet, sweet...
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88: Self-Experimenting Medical Researchers and Sybil Ludington
This week we deep dive into the absolutely disgusting history of medical researchers who experimented on themselves and the story of teenager Sybil Ludington, the unfortunately nicknamed "female Paul Revere," who rode 40 miles in the pouring rain to warn American revolutionaries of the…
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87: Sushi Row pt 2 and Historical Laxatives
This week we conclude the story of Sushi Row with how Koda Farms' development of their proprietary Kokuho Rose rice allowed Kawafuku to become the first Sushi bar in Los Angeles and how historical cure-alls ended up mostly being aggressive laxatives. A listener email explains the traditional…
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86: Time Colonization and Sushi Row pt 1
This week we deep dive into how Monochronic culture forced its will on the Polychronic world and how Ventura Blvd in Los Angeles earned the moniker of Sushi Row by housing the greatest concentration of Sushi restaurants outside of Japan. A listener email explains how the Monkey Puzzle Tree became...
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85: History of Lawns and The 1903 Oregon Train Robbery
This week we deep dive into how a newly founded America's insecurity about their status in the world led to their obsession with front lawns (and 9/11?) and the story of Portland's most polite train robber, Bill Miner. A listener email explains how Max Headroom briefly took over the Chicago...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Each episode, hosts Kaveh Taherian and Hannah Hillam choose one of their countless open browser tabs and finally take the time to read and discuss its contents until they gain enough strength to close that tab once and for all.
HOSTED BY
Kaveh Taherian & Hannah Hillam
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does 500 Open Tabs have?
500 Open Tabs currently has 138 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is 500 Open Tabs about?
Each episode, hosts Kaveh Taherian and Hannah Hillam choose one of their countless open browser tabs and finally take the time to read and discuss its contents until they gain enough strength to close that tab once and for all.
How often does 500 Open Tabs release new episodes?
500 Open Tabs publishes regularly with 138 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to 500 Open Tabs?
You can listen to 500 Open Tabs on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts 500 Open Tabs?
500 Open Tabs is created and hosted by Kaveh Taherian & Hannah Hillam.
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