114- Ten Thousand Years

From99% Invisible

Start listening View podcast show

114- Ten Thousand Years

From99% Invisible

ratings:

Length:

29 minutes

Released:

May 13, 2014

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

In 1990, the federal government invited a group of geologists, linguists, astrophysicists, architects, artists, and writers to the New Mexico desert, to visit the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. They were there on a mission. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) … Continue reading →

Released:

May 13, 2014

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture. From award winning producer Roman Mars. Learn more at 99percentinvisible.org.

Skip carousel

99% Invisible-06- 99% Symbolic: Before I moved to Chicago in 2005, I didn’t even know cities had their own flags. In Chicago, the city flag is everywhere. It’s incorporated into all different aspects of city life and the design elements are used on businesses, … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-14- Periodic Table: Everyone knows it when they see it. The classic “castle with turrets” periodic table is a beautiful and concise icon that contains a great deal of amazing information, if you only know how to read it. And even if you … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
6 min listen
99% Invisible-23- You Are Listening To + Radio Net: youarelistening.to appeared online on March 6, 2011 and I was hooked instantly. The combination of the police scanner and ambient music is an intriguing, and distinctly live, experience (unlike most of the time shifted audio I tend to consume). by 99% Invisible
20 min listen
99% Invisible-18- Check Cashing Stores: A few years ago, journalist Douglas McGray learned that the largest chain of check cashing stores in Southern California, Nix Check Cashing, was being bought by the nation’s largest credit union, Kinecta. The credit union thought it had something to … ... by 99% Invisible
6 min listen
99% Invisible-19- Liberation Squares plus NY Dick: In a recent piece from Urban Omnibus, Vishaan Chakrabarti (Professor at the Graduate School for Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University), wrote about how urban open spaces contribute to political change, by 99% Invisible
11 min listen
99% Invisible-11- 99% Undesigned: Almost everything in modern life is designed to waste energy. The whole system evolved on a false premise that petroleum is cheap and plentiful and will be that way forever. The awesome Lisa Margonelli, author of Oil on The Brain … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-08- 99% Free Parking: It’s weird how much anxiety comes from parking in a city. Beyond the stress of looking for parking, you must contend with the frequently unreliable meters. The signage can be indecipherable. As a point of interaction with your municipality, by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-02- 99% 180: In the beginning, former AIA-SF president Henrik Bull and the Transamerica Pyramid did not get along. The building was an affront to late 1960’s modernist ideals. It was silly. It looked like a dunce cap. Its large scale had no … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-03- 99% Reality (only): There’s not much that we can do about all the physical matter that’s been designed and built by someone else. It is the way it is. But with the advent of portable devices with GPS, a compass, and a network, … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-12- 99% Guilt Free: “Sustainable Design is a design philosophy that seeks to maximize the quality of the built environment, while minimizing or eliminating the negative impact to the natural environment.” -Jason F. McLennan, The Philosophy of Sustainable Design I like McL... by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-07- 99% Alien: Humans need a few basic things to survive- air, water, food, heat, shelter- but just surviving isn’t really enough. We also need familiarity, a little comfort, interaction, a small place of our own. When it comes to designing space habitat … Continue r... by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-25- Unsung Icons of Soviet Design: There’s something that links most of the everyday objects presented in “Made in Russia: Unsung Icons of Soviet Design.” But it’s hard to tell exactly what that is just by looking at this collection of wobbly dolls, drinking glasses, by 99% Invisible
8 min listen
99% Invisible-01- 99% Noise: This episode of 99% Invisible is all about acoustic design, the city soundscape, and how to make listening in shared spaces pleasant (or at the very least, possible). It features an interview with Dennis Paoletti from Shen Milsom & Wilke. by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-09- 99% Private: Privately Owned Public Open Spaces, or POPOS, are these little gardens, terraces, plazas, and seating areas that are private property, but are mandated for public use. City planners require developers to add these little “parks” to their buildings to m... by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-09X-99% Doomed: 99% Invisible Extra! NASA is figuring out how to take the next great leap into space. The difficulty is, if we leap to Mars, we might not make it back. This is a story I produced last year (Summer 2009) … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
12 min listen
99% Invisible-05- 99% Forgotten: At the top of Mt. Olympus in San Francisco, on what was once thought to be the geographic center of the city, is a pedestal for a statue that isn’t there. There’s no marker. You can just make out the … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-20- Nikko Concrete Commando: In 2001, Delfin Vigil was walking the streets of San Francisco and ran across the name “Nikko” carved into the concrete sidewalk. After seeing Nikko once, Delfin began to see the name everywhere. One block after another, there he was … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
7 min listen
99% Invisible-27- Bridge to the Sky: There are rules that dicate what you can build and how. Rules of physics and rules of men who sit on various bureaucratic boards and bodies. These rules dictated that if silk magnate John Noble Stearns wanted to build one … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-39X- The Biography of 100,000 Square Feet: United Nations Plaza sits in the center of San Francisco. Most people consider it a complete failure as a public space. Its central feature, at the entrance of the plaza, is a unique fountain that was designed by Lawrence Halprin … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
32 min listen
99% Invisible-17- Concrete Furniture: The New City Hall, designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell, was the first modern, concrete, civic building in Toronto. When it opened in 1965, it stood out very prominently in the traditional Victorian fabric of the city. by 99% Invisible
7 min listen
99% Invisible-10- 99% Sound and Feel: Chris Downey explains it like this, “Beethoven continued to write music, even some of his best music, after he lost his hearing…What’s more preposterous, composing music you can’t hear, or designing architecture you can’t see? by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-15- Sounds of the Artificial World: Without all the beeps and chimes, without sonic feedback, all of your modern conveniences would be very hard to use. If a device and its sounds are designed correctly, it creates a special “theater of the mind” that users completely … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-04- 99% Details: It’s a stick with bristles poking out of it. It doesn’t even qualify as a simple machine, but the careful thought and design that went into the creation of the modern, angled bristle, fat handled toothbrush shows just how much … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
5 min listen
99% Invisible-26- Chicago’s Jailhouse Skyscraper: The Metropolitan Correctional Center, or MCC, is a federal jail right in the middle of downtown Chicago. It’s a triangle-shaped skyscraper, 27 stories, with tall, super-narrow, irregularly-spaced windows up and down each wall. by 99% Invisible
8 min listen
99% Invisible-47- US Postal Service Stamps: Somebody might be able to do a great painting that’s 20 x 30 inches, but you take that down to 1 x 1.5 inches, and it’s a challenge to make it work. -Ethel Kessler, Art Director for USPS Stamp Services … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
13 min listen
99% Invisible-35- Elegy for WTC: I want to be careful not to overstate what it means for a building to die. A building’s worth is an infinitesimal fraction of the worth a person’s life. Even two buildings don’t even move the needle in comparison to … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
7 min listen
$99% Invisible-35- Elegy for WTC: I want to be careful not to overstate what it means for a building to die. A building’s worth is an infinitesimal fraction of the worth a person’s life. Even two buildings don’t even move the needle in comparison to … Continue reading →$
99% Invisible-29- Cul de Sac: When people critique cul-de-sacs, a lot of the time, they’re actually critiquing the suburbs more generally. The cul-de-sac has become sort of like the mascot of the suburbs– like if suburbia had a flag, it would have a picture of … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
12 min listen
99% Invisible-16- A Designed Language: The idea is simple and quite beautiful: if we all shared a second, politically neutral language, people of all different nations and cultures could communicate freely and easily, and it would foster international understanding and peace. by 99% Invisible
6 min listen
99% Invisible-37- The Steering Wheel: If I asked you to close your eyes and mimic the action of using one of the simple human interfaces of everyday life, you could probably do it. Without having a button to push, you could close your eyes and … Continue reading → by 99% Invisible
8 min listen
99% Invisible-36- Super Bon Bonn: Cities are pretty robust organisms, they tend to survive even when put under tremendous stress and strain. Local industries rise and fall, people immigrate and emigrate, but most of these changes happen over decades. by 99% Invisible
10 min listen

More Episodes from 99% Invisible

Skip carousel

580- Mr Yuk: Our pal Gillian Jacobs takes us through the history of poison control and the yucky face meant to warn children about the dangers lurking in their kitchen cabinets by 99% Invisible
56 min listen
579- Towers of Silence: How the loss of vultures in India has put an ancient burial tradition in crisis by 99% Invisible
71 min listen
The Power Broker #04: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Featuring the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and covering the second section of Part 4, chapters 16-20. by 99% Invisible
160 min listen
578- Anything's Pastable: Eat Sauté Love: Dan Pashman embarks on an epic trip across Italy in search of lesser-known pasta dishes — and to learn about the evolution of pasta more broadly. by 99% Invisible
45 min listen
577- The Society of Ambiance Makers and Elegant Persons: Bright, flamboyant central African fashion by 99% Invisible
35 min listen
576- Chambre de Bonne: The history of the chambre de bonne, the tiny French apartment type that may be, finally, on the way out. by 99% Invisible
33 min listen
Roman Mars Describes Athens GA As It Is: A 99pi guide to some of our favorite design features of Athens, Georgia. by 99% Invisible
37 min listen
575- Autism Plesantville: How to accommodate autism in the built world by 99% Invisible
33 min listen
574- The Monster Under the Sink: The garbage disposer and the dream of a garbage-free city by 99% Invisible
27 min listen
The Power Broker #03: David Sims: Featuring Blank Check co-host and The Atlantic movie critic David Sims covering the first section of Part 4, chapters 11-15 by 99% Invisible
127 min listen
573- Toyetic: The constant and sometimes fraught back and forth between cartoons and toys, as exemplified by Transformers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by 99% Invisible
39 min listen
572- WARNING: This Podcast Contains Chemicals Known to the State of California to Cause Cancer or Other Reproductive Harm: Understanding the clunky Prop 65 warnings on products by 99% Invisible
43 min listen
Roman Mars Describes Santa Fe As It Is: A 99pi guide to some of our favorite design features of Santa Fe. by 99% Invisible
33 min listen
438- The Real Book [rebroadcast]: Since the mid-1970s, almost every jazz musician has owned a copy of the same book and originally it was a totally unlicensed publication by 99% Invisible
42 min listen
Significant Others: A Sneak Peek at the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal: It’s been said that history is written by the person at the typewriter. But who did the person who made history depend on? by 99% Invisible
7 min listen
571- You Are What You Watch: How much film and television shapes us as individuals and as a society, far beyond what we give it credit for by 99% Invisible
31 min listen
The Power Broker #2: Jamelle Bouie: Featuring New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie covering Part 3. by 99% Invisible
105 min listen
570- The White Castle System of Eating Houses: How White Castle invented fast food by 99% Invisible
43 min listen
569- Between the Blocks: The interblock parks of Sofia, Bulgaria that are caught between old failed communism and new hyper capitalism by 99% Invisible
34 min listen
568- Don't Forget to Remember: There are memorials to lost fishermen, lost astronauts, even lost members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. What should a COVID pandemic memorial look like? by 99% Invisible
40 min listen
Roman Mars Describes Chicago As It Is: A 99pi guide to some of our favorite design features of Chicago by 99% Invisible
37 min listen
567- The Double Kick: The design evolution of the seemingly simple, but not all that simple, skateboard by 99% Invisible
52 min listen
Power Broker #01: Robert Caro: Featuring author Robert Caro covering The Introduction, Part 1, and Part 2. by 99% Invisible
93 min listen
566- Imitation Nation: The fake villages and role players used to train US soldiers by 99% Invisible
35 min listen
565- Mini-Stories: Volume 18: Upside-down construction, the linguistics of filler, and a fire that has been burning...and will burn... for decades. by 99% Invisible
35 min listen
470- Another Visit from the Three Santas of Slovenia: Mapping the long history of Slovenia onto the three "Santas' that visit each year by 99% Invisible
39 min listen
564- Mini-Stories: Volume 17: We have a year-end mix of short stories about a rogue architect, spooky kitchens, a hundred year old music streaming service, and the crazy way the French tried to make telling time less crazy by 99% Invisible
48 min listen
563- Empire of the Sum: The storied evolution of pocket calculation by 99% Invisible
34 min listen
562- Breaking Down The Power Broker: Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan are starting The Power Broker book club that will run through all of 2024 as bonus episodes. This introductory episode features Conan O'Brien. by 99% Invisible
44 min listen
344- The Known Unknown [rebroadcast]: The tradition of the Tomb of the Unknown goes back only about a century, but it has become one of the most solemn and reverential monuments. by 99% Invisible
45 min listen

Related podcast episodes

Skip carousel

Biosphere 2: The Theater of Utopia by Nice Try!
51 min listen
Biosphere 2 | 41 by History of the 90s
38 min listen
The Andromedans and Mentoring Humanity - Alex Collier by EXOPOLITICS TODAY with Dr. Michael Salla
88 min listen
Nick Redfern: How Antigravity Built the Pyramids: Discover the Lost Secrets of the Ancients and the Time When Stones Floated High over Egypt Throughout history, folklore, and mystery, tales have circulated of massive stones being moved through the air effortlessly by sound. Bizarre? Well, yes, it... by Earth Ancients
81 min listen
Teaser: Operation Morning Light - Series Premieres November 14 by Operation Morning Light
3 min listen
Short Stuff: The Mars Rock with Signs of Life? by Stuff You Should Know
15 min listen
Fossils: Learn about fossils in a Kids Crew field trip to a secret fossil quarry in the mountains outside of Albuquerque, as well as in a chat with New Mexico Natural History Museum educator Mike Sanchez. Will we become fossilized too? by Podcast Archives - The Children's Hour
56 min listen
News and Discoveries that Made 2014 a Year to Remember: News and Discoveries that Made 2014 a Year to Remember 2014 was filled with new archaeological discoveries and revelations which changed our prospective of the world. In this special program, I’ll be joined by noted authors who’s books and writings... by Earth Ancients
105 min listen
Ep. 139: What If Aliens Landed in the Wild West?: In 1947, something crashed in the New Mexico desert, just outside Roswell New Mexico. Many said it was an extraterrestrial craft carrying the bodies of several alien creatures. Whether or not you believe the story, by Fascinating Gadgets, Gizmos, and Gear Based Technologies
53 min listen
Ep. 139: What If Aliens Landed in the Wild West? (Video): In 1947, something crashed in the New Mexico desert, just outside Roswell New Mexico. Many said it was an extraterrestrial craft carrying the bodies of several alien creatures. Whether or not you believe the story, by Fascinating Gadgets, Gizmos, and Gear Based Technologies
54 min listen
ALIEN: The Falcon Lake Incident: In 1967, Stefan Michalak went to Falcon Lake for a weekend prospecting trip, where he encountered what has become the best-documented UFO in Canadian history. by Supernatural with Ashley Flowers
40 min listen
Michael Cremo: Forbidden Archaeology: Hiding our Past at Hueyatlaco Mexico: Hueyatlaco is an archeological site in the Valsequillo Basin near the city of Puebla, Mexico. After excavations in the 1960s, the site became notorious due to geochronologists' analyses that indicated human habitation at Hueyatlaco was dated to ca.... by Earth Ancients
126 min listen
Max Nicholson: Sue Lawley's castaway is ornithologist and conservationist Max Nicholson by Desert Island Discs
41 min listen
Volcano Disaster Prepping by Third Pod from the Sun
20 min listen
186: What's more powerful than a dinosaur with Dr. Noviello: Dr. Jessica Noviello tells us a story about the power of interdisciplinary science: the time geologists, physicists, archeologists, chemists, paleontologists, and petroleum engineers all came together to solve a big mystery. This story focuses on a... by Spacepod
30 min listen
Philosopher NICK LAND | Ai as Demon From the Future Pulling Our Strings | Tech Acceleration as RETVRN to MythicTRADition? by Scott Mannion's Metalore
145 min listen
Preserving an Important Historical Island with Nature-Based Solutions: This episode starts with a story. In 1604, 79 members of an expedition from France, including Samuel de Champlain, came to Saint Croix Island off the shores of Maine and New Brunswick to set up a colony in the new land. They called it l’Acadie—Acadia.... by EWN - Engineering With Nature
52 min listen
Episode 137: Tanis: The end-Cretaceous mass extinction was a cataclysmic asteroid impact that ushered in the end of the non-avian dinosaurs and forever changed the course of evolution on Earth. But what can we say about the timing of the event, other than it happened 66... by Palaeocast
61 min listen
A Toxic Turkey Day: November 24, 1966. Millions of spectators flood Broadway in New York City to watch the Macy’s Day Parade on Thanksgiving morning. The iconic floats – Superman, Popeye, Smokey the Bear – are set against a grey sky that can only be described as noxious. ... by HISTORY This Week
23 min listen
Why Would We Mine the Sea?: Oceanographers have discovered trillions of polymetallic nodules on the Earth’s ocean floors, but how can we get to them without harming the environment? This week Noel and Jacob weigh the pros and cons of seabed mining, the problem with misinformation i... by The Biofriendly Podcast
39 min listen
70 - Steve Brusatte on The Golden Age of Dino-Science! by FUTURE FOSSILS
77 min listen
The Hubble Space Telescope: When it began sending images back to Nasa they were out of focus - Mike Weiss fixed it by Witness History
9 min listen
Wandering Turkey with The Snake Brothers - Nov 4, 2023: Seriah is joined by the Snake Brothers to discuss, among other things, their recent investigations in Turkey. Topics include heavy metal music and its psychological effects, Gobekli Tepe, Graham Hancock, tourism, an interactive experience for visitors, early archeology vs current archaeology, the disastrous earthquake and flood in Turkey, Turkish museums, Karahan Tepe, a massive pile of modern-style gravel with things hidden in it, the Giza pyramids, unexplained ancient construction, Uncharted X, preservation of ancient important artifacts, purposes for hiding ancient secrets, the “Derelict” and “Fathom” fictional podcasts, “The Dresden Files” podcast and TV series, the Biblical Nimrod vs bad king Nimrut Dagi, assumption of tombs vs evidence of hidden chambers, the “Stone Hills” and buried sites, megalithic stone circles, midden mounds, T pillars, fertile soil atop barren mountains, occupation layers, archaeologist Jens Notroff, t by Where Did the Road Go?
20 min listen
Palaeontology Lecture Series — Spring 2022 by Fossil Huntress — Palaeo Sommelier
8 min listen
Moon Rocks: Learn more about moon rocks, one of the most valuable substances on Earth by Everything Everywhere Daily
14 min listen
Destiny: Carole Nervig, The Petroglyphs of Mu: • Shows how the archetypal symbols of the Pohnpaid petroglyphs have exact counterparts in other ancient cultures throughout the world • Provides evidence that Pohnpaid is closely related to--yet predates--neighboring Nan Madol • Includes... by Earth Ancients
74 min listen
Carole Nervig: The Lost Legacy of Lemuria: • Shows how the archetypal symbols of the Pohnpaid petroglyphs have exact counterparts in other ancient cultures throughout the world • Provides evidence that Pohnpaid is closely related to--yet predates--neighboring Nan Madol • Includes hundreds of... by Earth Ancients
102 min listen
J. Douglas Kenyon: Ghosts of Atlantis: An intensive investigation into the evidence for a forgotten fountainhead of civilization lost at the end of the last ice age • Reveals evidence of advanced ancient technology, anomalous ancient maps, time travel, crystal science, ancient Armageddon,... by Earth Ancients
85 min listen
Methane on Mars and Meeting Astronauts: The Space Boffins meet British astronaut Tim Peake at the British Interplanetary Society, and discuss Martian methane, the future of the British Interplanetary Society and Enceladus' icy plumes. by Space Boffins, from the Naked Scientists
34 min listen
Methane on Mars and Meeting Astronauts: The Space Boffins meet British astronaut Tim Peake at the British Interplanetary Society, and discuss Martian methane, the future of the British Interplanetary Society and Enceladus' icy plumes. by Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists
34 min listen

Discover this podcast and so much more

114- Ten Thousand Years

114- Ten Thousand Years

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from 99% Invisible

Related podcast episodes