a black and white photo of a man in overalls working ALT: a black and white photo of a man in overalls working

Whoops, seems like there was a malfunction at the This Thing Rules factory this week - hopefully we’ll be back soon with another new episode 🙏

The carrot cake empire is evolving 🥕

#ThrowbackThursday 🔎

Are magnifying glasses secretly OP?! Max is on the case:

an isometric illustration of a gumball machine by amy lynn hee ALT: an isometric illustration of a gumball machine by amy lynn hee

You know what rules? Capsule toy machines! Come hear Brian and Max talk about the best way to win random baubles and trinkets:

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6zUS...
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/t...
YT: youtu.be/uh5v_0ee_-E?...

#Podcast #CapsuleMachines #Toys

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🪀

The single largest gachapon machine on record was constructed at Singapore’s Marina Square shopping mall for a pop-up event in late 2022. It measured nearly 5 meters tall(!) and was only available to costumers that spent at least $180 at the mall.

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🪀

Why are gachapon machines called "gachapon," anyway? It's actually an onomatopoeia: the "gacha" part is meant to evoke the sound made by the machine when spinning its crank, and the "pon" is the sound of an item plopping out of it.

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🪀

The first Gachapon machine was invented in 1965 by entrepreneur Ryuzo Shigeta. Shigeta wanted to improve upon the haphazard way American vending machines dispensed their contents, and so he set up a machine in his Tokyo-based shop that dispensed items inside plastic balls.

an isometric illustration of a gumball machine by amy lynn hee ALT: an isometric illustration of a gumball machine by amy lynn hee

You know what rules? Capsule toy machines! Come hear Brian and Max talk about the best way to win random baubles and trinkets:

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6zUS...
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/t...
YT: youtu.be/uh5v_0ee_-E?...

#Podcast #CapsuleMachines #Toys

By some miracle, for the second time in ten months I got to sit down with Shigeru Miyamoto, this time at the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto.

As always, he was an absolute delight:

www.ign.com/articles/ill...

#ThrowbackThursday 🤖

The question of a generation: can the Liquid Terminator turn into a dog?

FYI: Max Scoville will be taking part in "Answer For It" - the LIVE all-star trivia showdown from James Willems - on Saturday, March 21st at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco!

Learn more (and grab your tickets) here: cafedunord.com/tm-event/ans...

#ThrowbackThursday 💈

Are longer haircuts better? Critics are divided:

a man in a suit and tie is waving his hand in front of a white background ALT: a man in a suit and tie is waving his hand in front of a white background

Hey folks - a heads up that there will be no new episode this week; time slipped through our fingers again and dropped into the drain, so we’re taking time to recharge our (metaphorical) batteries so we can fish it back out 🎣

We’ll return in due course with more Things That Rule!

FYI: Max Scoville will be taking part in "Answer For It" - the LIVE all-star trivia showdown from James Willems - on Saturday, March 21st at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco!

Learn more (and grab your tickets) here: cafedunord.com/tm-event/ans...

#ThrowbackThursday 🏊‍♂️

You never know what those water animals will do to you when you go for a sweeeeem

a cookie monster is sitting on a kitchen counter next to a measuring cup that says rachael ALT: a cookie monster is sitting on a kitchen counter next to a measuring cup that says rachael

You know what rules? Sneakers! And Cookies! And also...yard work?! Come hear Brian and Max talk about all three!

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0BvQ...
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/y...

#Podcast #Cookies #Sneakers

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🍪

The world record for the single biggest cookie of all time was achieved in May of 2003 by North Carolina's Immaculate Baking Company, which baked a monster-sized, 101 foot-diameter chocolate chip cookie that weighed in at over 40,000 pounds (18 tonnes)!

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 👟

New Balance was originally founded by William J. Riley in 1906 as the "New balance Arch Support Company." Its first product featured an insole with three support points, a then-innovative concept that Riley came up with after studying chickens' three-pronged feet.

On the most recent episode of This Thing Rules, @brianaltano.bsky.social recommended adding white miso paste to my cookie dough for a little extra “oomph” and so I made both peanut butter and choco chip cookies with the stuff to test it out; the former was so-so, but the latter was pretty tasty!

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🌾

The lawnmower was invented in 1830 by Edwin Beard Budding, a mechanic from Stroud, England. 19 inches wide and encased in a wrought iron frame, it originally required two people to operate - one to push it from its back, and another to pull it from its front:

a cookie monster is sitting on a kitchen counter next to a measuring cup that says rachael ALT: a cookie monster is sitting on a kitchen counter next to a measuring cup that says rachael

You know what rules? Sneakers! And Cookies! And also...yard work?! Come hear Brian and Max talk about all three!

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0BvQ...
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/y...

#Podcast #Cookies #Sneakers

kermit the frog and fozzie bear are sitting in a car ALT: kermit the frog and fozzie bear are sitting in a car

You know what rules? Road Trips! Come hear Brian and Max talk about the joys of hitting the open road in a motor vehicle:

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2jbY...
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

#Podcast #RoadTrip #Trips

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🚙

A 2023 study by OpenPoll found the most popular road trip snack among adults to be chips, with 47% of those polled expressing they'd pack a bag of that crisp, salty goodness. Cookies came in second place with 44%, while candy came in third with 42%.

Trio Drives to All 48 Contiguous States in 86 Hours, 19 Minutes, Shattering Record The team drove through every one of the lower 48 U.S. states over 3 days, 14 hours and 19 minutes, beating the previous record by more than 8 hours.

If you're down for some further reading, the story of how they managed this insane feat is quite the tale:

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🚙

The current record for driving through every contiguous US state as fast as possible is 86 hours - a blazing-fast feat that was accomplished in 2021 by a trio of tech executives in a Mercedes-Benz, who used their computer science know-how to plan the shortest-possible route.

Bertha's trek saw her travel between the cities of Mannheim and Pforzheim, and took just over twelve hours to complete; the route she drove is now a designated scenic route called the Bertha Benz Memorial Route.

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🚙

The first-ever long-distance road trip in a combustion engine vehicle was undertaken in 1888 by Bertha Benz (wife of automobile pioneer Karl Benz), who traveled 106 kilometers in Germany using one of Karl's early "Motorwagens" as a publicity stunt to promote said vehicle.

Road Trips Rule! YouTube video by This Thing Rules

YouTube:

kermit the frog and fozzie bear are sitting in a car ALT: kermit the frog and fozzie bear are sitting in a car

You know what rules? Road Trips! Come hear Brian and Max talk about the joys of hitting the open road in a motor vehicle:

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2jbY...
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

#Podcast #RoadTrip #Trips

#ThrowbackThursday 🐊

There's nothing cooler than hanging out with alligators - so long as they're not hungry!