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1-42 of 42
- Based on the stories Mike Rowe wrote for his podcast, "The Way I Heard It".
- 2005– TV-GTV EpisodeAncient sites where some of the world's oldest artifacts were discovered; traditional artisans and old religious and communal celebrations of Armenia. (Copied from Part 1) Joseph also visits markets and touches on the more recent history and customs.
- This is an account of the tactics, ships and senior personal and their triumphs and mistakes. Both the naval and airiial conflicts are explored by modern day historians detailing the events of twists and turns, all of which were surrounded around the amphibious landings in Leyte Gulf. Near the end is when a new form of warfare is introduced, the Kamakazi attack. In the end, the Japanese lost 26 ships, the United States lost six. This equates to thousands of lives lost.
- We start off on the water outside of Portland, Maine and quickly move into a sail making shop that recycles sails. Then knowing Joseph we have to visit a market. And being on the coast it's a seafood one. But, he does make his way to a vegetable one. Soon we are transported out of the big city moving up north along the coast since most of Maine is forested (83%) on roads and the water.
- Joseph starts off in, you guessed it, a market. More specifically Chatuchak Market. Then experiences the rich cultural connections of Bangkok, Thailand, from grand palaces to Buddhist temples. In one scene he explains that giving food to the Buddhist monks you are feeding your ancestors. After meeting a monk and exchanging food for a blessing this is the first time that I have seen Joseph so emotional that he could barely speak. He continues his explorations outside of Bangkok where he sees the Thailand-Burma railroad, including the bridge over the River Kwai.
- We start off at a market in Lusaka and then head northeast to the South Luangwa National Park and a walking safari starting off near a large group of lions. Next we head back south to the Lower Zambezi National Park were we take a water safari. Afterwards we end up in Livingstone, near Victoria Falls.
- It's the holiday season and we're in Wilmington, NC with the police trying to make the season safe. In the worst case scenario someone calls 911. The call is connected to the nearest emergency call center where a trained operator gathers all necessary information and relays it to a dispatcher who in turn decides what kind of help is needed, police, fire department, medical. In another situation we meet Marian. Marian is a Labrador Retriever capable of sniffing out 19,000 combinations of explosives. We also get to see the helicopter division in action in a drug related operation.
- In an industry with an annual production totalling $200,000,000 we find ourselves at the Burgen Ranch in Southern Oklahoma. It isn't all cowboys on horseback riding herds of cattle. The modern ranch is more mechanized with trucks, tractors and ATVs because time is money and sometimes the cowboys need to be miles away quickly. We see all of the ins and outs of herding cattle, veterinary services, feeding, tagging and branding. This is one of 700,000 ranches across the country.
- Every day America's farms process 100,000 tons of corn every day. From the farms there are 40 corn mills across the country to turn the raw corn into consumable products. No corn on the cob comes out of these places. But, we end up at Lifeline Foods, a mill in St. Joseph, MO. Do you know when their busiest time is? It is in the winter. Yep. Because Super Bowl Sunday the country eats more food than any other day of the year. So, we are introduced to the various work stations to take the raw corn, break it down and produce the necessary products. And with Mike Rowe narrating the program you know there has to be something to go wrong.
- Welcome to Logan Aluminum in Russellville, KY. This facility pumps out around 5,000,000 pounds of aluminum on an average day. Not only is it better for the environment, but it is cheaper to recycle aluminum; and that is exactly what happens at Logan Aluminum. And with Mike Rowe narrating this program there are bond to be problems to cause some unexpected fun, or problems with production.
- Textiles have been around for about 100,000 years, give or take a few. But, here in America the textile industry is on the decline. Where there used to be around 30,000 mills, there are only 13,000 left in the country. Wanna guess where they mostly went? But, tonight's episode takes us to American Woolen Company in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, one of only four woolen mills in America. The wool comes from sheep raised in Montana. In the mill the fibrous wool is broken up in several processes, which is then rolled out into individual strands that are then twisted to add strength and placed on a roller as thread that can be woven together to create any number of products. With a company that has been around for nearly 200 years using finicky machinery older than the employees who are at retirement age there are plenty of problems during the day.
- We are brought onto the George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier while it's 6,000 personnel crew are performing exercises. With a length of 1,000 feet and 70 stories high there is constantly something going on 24 hours a day, every day. During this period 30 aviators have qualified in carrier landings while teams around the ship are performing other training exercises and tending to their daily tasks. There is one thing to emphasize with what Mike repeats with the various people he introduces. The amount of time on the job and the training that each person in the Navy receives is far more intense than that in the civilian community. But, all of this doesn't happen without the other ships in the task force that are both above and below the water doing training of their own. All of this training bring the crews to a high level of efficiency that allows them to do their jobs under either day to day conditions or during the severe conditions of battle.
- Let's visit the Volvo Construction Equipment Company in southern Pennsylvania. Here we see a joint effort between humans and robots producing some of the largest machines produced. We see how various areas work on a strict timeline putting together the various assemblies that ultimately ends up as very large machines. Of course, all of this doesn't work flawlessly, yes we see the trials and tribulations when things don't go as they should and the quick response in resolving the problem.
- As the country that consumes more sugar per Capita than any other country, we also produce a fair amount of it; nearly nine million tons. That comes out to around 18,000,000,000 pounds of sugar. Most of our sugar comes from beets, but the most saught after comes from cane, which grows in the South, mostly in Florida where we will be with U.S. Sugar. The company has 300 miles of railroad tracks to get the cane to the refinery. Here we are treated to the various work areas and seeing who does what, along with the huge machinery required to process the cane. But, let us not forget that not everything in the mechanical world works perfectly forever, so we also see some of the problems that occur and how the workforce resolve these problems.
- Of the 38 brick manufacturing companies in America we have found the Old Carolina Brick Company with its 55 employees that crank out on average 30,000 handmade bricks a day. We start by blending rock and soil into a uniform clay. This mixture is cut, smoothed down, dried and finally fired to harden. And of course there are always problems that crop up.
- Let's step into the wonderful world of paper. Not just your everyday piece of paper, but tons of it being manufactured. Sound exciting? Then come along. So, a little tidbit of information ... there are 200+ paper mills in the country producing over 200,000 tons of paper every day. Reality check, that's 400,000,000 pounds of paper a day, and that could really ruin your day if it fell on you. Additionally, America is the largest paper manufacturer in the world. So, for now let's visit International Paper in Columbus, MS. Here these folks produce the pulp required to produce paper products. The inbound products coming from local sawmills are anything from wood chips to tree logs. From little bits to really big bits they are all cut and pressed into uniform square chips and then dried. Many additional facilities like Proctor & Gamble in Northern Utah take huge bales of pulp to make the finished paper products. They process it, package it, wrap it, store it until it's time to ship it. And don't forget, Mike Rowe is announcing and we all know what that means ... yep, let's hear from the maintenance teams and the people that know how to troubleshoot problems within their area. Great job everyone!
- This story starts out in a classroom and ends up traveling to a galaxy far, far away. Donald Crouch is an 8th grade teacher who encountered Jim who has a very bad stuttering problem except when he quotes poetry. When Donald asks his class to write a poem about something they are passionate about, well Jim writes about something new in his life that he falls in love with. During the Depression rickets and scurvy were a public health issue in Michigan and the government sent tons of vitamin C up from Florida to combat the problem. Earlier that week a welfare worker had delivered a case of grapefruit to Jim's home. With Jim's new found love he writes an outstanding poem titled "Ode to a Grapefruit". When his teacher, Donald, reads how good it is and knowing how bad Jim stutters except when quoting poetry he accuses Jim of plaguerism putting Jim on the spot. Jim was so angry with Mr. Crouch thinking that he sprung from his seat and recited "Ode to a Grapefruit" just as he had written it. Although angry Jim's voice was clear, and big and booming. Jim became a master at memorization, which lead to Jim joining the debate class that lead to the theater where eventually he ended up playing the lead in the cast of Othello on Broadway. A Tony award followed, then an Emmy, then an honorary Oscar. Eventually, Jim would find himself in a galaxy far, far away as the voice of Darth Vader.
- This episode is the only one where Mike does not mention the name of the person he is referring to. But, it is about two brothers, Ed is a staunch Republican while his younger brother is a Democrat. Both brothers were actors, although Ed was the more famous having performed around the world. During their Thanksgiving dinner the brothers bickered over everything, the economy, immigration taxes, race relations, the future of the Supreme Court and the border. With the upcoming presidential election coming up Ed's little brother went on and on about how the Democrat would win in a landslide. Even the pundits said so. So did the pollsters and media. At the Thanksgiving dinner Ed was trying not to gloat over the fact that the Republican candidate won. His little brother bemoaned the future of the 1st Amendment and the faith of the Supreme Court. He continued to declare an end to America's democracy and that the baffoon in the White House was a dictator. At the end of the heated discussion Ed's little brother stormed out of the room and out of the house. Ed sat there wondering how many other Thanksgiving dinners had been spoiled by political bickering. Five months later Ed's little brother would have a cameo performance that would leave Ed forever forgotten. Only three words were spoken: "Sic semper tyrannis". These three words were spoken after Ed's little brother shot President Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head and jumped down onto the stage. Ed's little brother, well his name does not bear mentioning, but for anyone who doesn't know who he is, he is John Wilkes Booth.
- Mike starts us off in an empty cinema, except for a Marine watching the movie Bambi with tears in his eyes. And here is where someone flubbed it. The Marine has the enlisted rank of Sergeant Major (E-9) and the office rank of Captain (O-3). (This is the only time I've seen a mistake like this on the show.) The Marine's name is Donnie. Donnie serves as a drill instructor right out of boot camp and also ends up with distinguish service in Vietnam. He retires after 13 promotions as a major (O-4). But Donnie has a pre-Corp secret.
- This story centers around John and his true love Peggy who live in Atlanta. John has proposed to Peggy, but she doesn't say Yes. She also doesn't say No. Instead, five other eligible bachelors propose to Peggy, one being John's best friend, Rhett. Rhett and Peggy married, but the two were too different and shortly the marriage fell apart. Soon John swooped in and he and Peggy were married. With John's dabbling in journalism he encouraged Peggy to follow her dreams of writing and Peggy did write, and write, and write about what many thought was a biographical novel of Peggy's life. But, she never admitted it to be so. When Peggy presented the 1037 page historical novel to her publisher he had but only one change. The leading lady who has had all of the experiences could not have a name of Pansy. That would never do. So, John and Peggy put their minds together and came up with a new name for the leading lady of this epic novel ... Scarlett.
- Mike introduces us to a story about the employees at Randall's Grocery Store on September 16th, 1989. On this day a bigwig was visiting the nearby space center and wanted to see the store. The store was fully stocked and the aisles were spotlessly cleaned. The visitor was impressed with the store, but the sight of frozen Pudding Popsicles left the visitor in utter disbelief. The visitor's world had been turned upside down in an instant from his visit to this store. The man who visited Randall's had just been elected to the highest office in the land. He returned home, resigned from his party and started making reforms. Just two years later, under his presidency, the Soviet Union would dissolve. The man's name was Boris Yeltsin. Mike and Matt discuss this, along with reiterating that President Ronald Reagan told Mikail Gorbachev to tear down the wall. Matt relates that he was in Mikael Gorbachev's office working on another project and was told that the things that Boris Yeltsin had seen indicated that the Soviet Union was destined to collapse. In this 2018 meeting Gorbachev admits that he feels God intervened to bring Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev together.
- Eugene masters various skills from childhood, he becomes successful in makeup, writing, TV, real estate, politics, music, marries a Playboy bunny. Now worth $300M, he wonders "What's next?".
- This story is about Tommy the tuba player. Not just any tuba player, but considered the best tuba player of the time. Tommy was a nice man. He won the lifetime PTA award and was the teacher every parent wanted their teenage to get. He played those eight notes for Bart Simpson and the four notes known as the Price Is Right Loser's theme. But, in 1975 he became the "bad guy" where he was expected to play "out on the thin branches" to scare us with only two notes with his tuba, repeated over and over. Tommy succeeded.
- Madeline had her anxious client in the car a little after 3 pm. His audition was at four, but his meeting was at six and he was not happy. Madeline tried and tried to calm Jerry down telling him that the part was just for him. After the stage, silver screen and countless commercials where he kept hearing the same thing, he didn't want to hear it all over again from his manager. At the audition there were nine other actors ahead of Jerry and he really wanted to be going to the church where his meeting was held. When it was Jerry's turn there were two producers sitting in the seats and they introduced themselves. After some small conversation Jerry was asked if he really wanted to be here and Jerry said he had a meeting that he needed to get to. One of the producers, Bob, knew exactly what was going on in Jerry's mind because many years ago he too had taken the same pledge that Jerry had taken. Madeline was not pleased with how quickly he was done, but she got Jerry to the church with a couple minutes to spare. That night Jerry couldn't stop talking about how much fun he had at his Cub Scout meeting. But, just then the phone rang and the part was offered to Jerry because the producer wanted a boy who would rather be a Boy Scout than an actor in his upcoming television show to be titled ... eh, check out this episode to see what show.
- We meet Percy, a Raytheon supervisor in an engineering laboratory, trying to decide what type of snack to purchase on his way to work. Eventually deciding he wrapped the morsel in a paper napkin and put it in his pocket. Later that afternoon he reached into his pocket for his tasty pick-me-up only to find melted chocolatey goo. Percy was determined to resolve this issue and set off inventing an enormous 750 pound piece of equipment, which cost $52,000 and made popcorn. But, within a year Percy had the weight and size, but more importantly, the cost way down. And his invention would sell 30,000,000 units a year and generate over $100,000,000,000 in sales. We owe Percy a vote of gratitude for changing the way we cook. Or maybe just reheat.