Pod Insights Endless Thread Chiveman and a mountain of margarine About this episode Endless Thread serves up two of Reddit's most absurd food sagas. First course: Chivegate, in which a Redditor vows to chop a cup of chives daily until the kitchen confidential subreddit declares perfection, only to be accused of fraud. Second course: A Reddit user desperately seeking advice on how to quietly move 13 two-thousand-pound pallets of margarine.
Show Notes:
u/occasionallyvertical's post on r/UnethicalLifeProTips https://www.reddit.com/r/UnethicalLifeProTips/comments/1odgtdd/ulpt_i_need_a_way_to_move_13_2000lbs_pallets_of/
r/kitchenconfidential https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/
This episode was produced and co-hosted by Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson, and edited by Meg Cramer. Production assistance from Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.
Transcript 4,863 words · 12 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 Support for this podcast comes from Is Business Broken?, a podcast from the Marotra Institute at BU Questrom School of Business. A recent episode explores how AI is reshaping our schools. Stick around until the end of this podcast to preview the episode.
0:17 Speaker 01 Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start. This year, I've been layering in some styles from the new Lululemon fall drop because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it. Lululemon's fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces, so I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece, and head out, knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me. Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at lululemon.com.
0:47 Speaker 02 When you shop Kroger delivery, you can expect the savings you love and fresh groceries delivered right to your door. From delicious produce to everyday essentials, enjoy the convenience of delivery and the trusted selection you've come to know from Kroger. Because bringing you fresh, quality groceries is what we do best. Right now, enjoy free delivery on orders of $50 or more with your digital coupon. Restrictions apply. See site for details. Kroger. Fresh for everyone.
1:18 Speaker 02 WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
1:28 Ben Brock Johnson? Emery Sivertson, how are your knife skills?
1:31 Amory Sivertson? Really timid. Really quite-
1:34 Ben Brock Johnson? Timid?
1:34 Amory Sivertson? Yeah. Yeah, that's not the way you want to be around a knife. But, you know, even, even the people on Chopped and stuff would, would slice themselves open. So I'm, I'm doing fine. I have yet to do that, knock on wood. Great fear of mine, though. How about you?
1:52 Ben Brock Johnson? I'm a rustic cook, we could say. Like, I like things kind of rough around the edges. But, you know, we don't work in the food industry, and a lot of people do. You've by now have heard, surely, of the chive challenge, chive gate, et cetera, et cetera, right? The chive chopping- Frenzy that has overtaken the Kitchen Confidential subreddit.
2:21 Amory Sivertson? I, I know just a little bit about it. I know one chive, chopped chives worth of information.
2:29 Ben Brock Johnson? A sprinkle of chopped chive. Okay. So Kitchen Confidential is supposed to be for food industry professionals. That's what it's supposed to be for. Obviously, it's, you know, it's not, I don't think it's as hardcore as Ask Historians or some of the other subreddits that like, sort of like require or, you know, require you to, to.
2:54 Amory Sivertson? Like a certification, no certification necessary?
2:57 Ben Brock Johnson? Yeah.
2:58 Amory Sivertson? Yeah.
2:58 Ben Brock Johnson? So it's not like these other subreddits that require you to be certified or positively ID'd as somebody who works in the food industry. So when you look at the history of this subreddit, you know, because it's for food professionals, there are the sort of like, hey, I chopped this thing. How'd I do? Hey, I cooked this thing. How, how'd I do? It's like people asking for feedback from, from their peers. Right? And so I should say that like this chopped chive craze that has taken over. It's not brand new. Like people have chopped chives before and asked for their peers on the Kitchen Confidential subreddit to
3:41 Ben Brock Johnson? tell them how they did. A user named F1exican, so maybe like Flexican?
3:49 Amory Sivertson? Okay.
3:49 Ben Brock Johnson? Something, there was a Mexican reference in there. I'm not sure what the, the choice is for this username. But this person, when they started chopping chives, chopping it up, if you will, and asking for feedback, they really committed. They're basically going to do it every single day and tell the subreddit, people in the subreddit, tell the user that they're perfect.
4:17 Ben Brock Johnson? So this person is like already setting themselves up for like to, you know, for to be scrutinized, to be, you know, criticized, uh, you know, for this to turn into a silly thing, right? And I think they're basically referencing past posts of people chopping chives and saying, how'd I do? And, um, the likelihood of the, of other redditors saying, eh, you missed a spot, right?
4:43 Amory Sivertson? How many chives are they chopping?
4:45 Ben Brock Johnson? Oh, let's say a, a couple of handfuls.
4:49 Amory Sivertson? A couple handfuls, every day.
4:51 Ben Brock Johnson? But essentially what starts to happen is this person starts to chop the chives every day, post the chives that he's, that they have chopped, I think it's a he, that they have chopped every single day and ask for input. And of course, you start to see redditors actually take the image, zoom into the image of this like incredibly tiny, delicate vegetable that has been chopped in an incredibly tiny, delicate way and find chives that just weren't quite chopped right.
5:22 Amory Sivertson? Oh, my God.
5:23 Ben Brock Johnson? Little pieces of chives.
5:26 Ben Brock Johnson? Look.
5:26 Amory Sivertson? Just like the level of investment on both sides here of this person who's gonna chop chives every day, wants to know if they're perfect, and then the, the other redditors who are going to take the time to zoom in like a map or something to make sure that it all checks out.
5:42 Ben Brock Johnson? Listen, anything to give us a break from?
5:46 Amory Sivertson? The real world.
5:47 Ben Brock Johnson? The real world. And if it's chopping chives, so be it.
5:51 Amory Sivertson? Yep.
5:55 Ben Brock Johnson? You see this image?
5:56 Amory Sivertson? Oh, that's an imperfect chive. That's too thick.
6:01 Ben Brock Johnson? Perfect chive, right?
6:02 Amory Sivertson? It's far too thick.
6:03 Ben Brock Johnson? Far too thick, whereas the, all the others are beautifully thin, completely chopped.
6:09 Amory Sivertson? Not, I mean, I like this style. It's not totally uniform. So if uniformity is what we're going for, I give this, this a fail on that, but it's perfect to me. To me, these chives are perfect.
6:21 Ben Brock Johnson? Oh, by the way, I should say that the amount is actually pretty specific, cutting a cup of chives every day.
6:29 Amory Sivertson? That's just a cup.
6:30 Ben Brock Johnson? Reddit says they're perfect. That is just a cup of chives.
6:33 Amory Sivertson? That looks like a lot.
6:34 Ben Brock Johnson? This person essentially completely took over the subreddit with this exercise. People are memeing it. They're they're focused on it. This post that I just sent you, it has 9,000 upvotes and 424 comments. And that's like little, that's like small potatoes to how it's gone since then. I mean, this thing has really blown up. We've gotten to the place where it's it's a thing that everybody's talking about. This person is doing it every single day. Everybody's like losing their minds over it. 55,000 upvotes on day 34, for instance. But here's the thing, there's controversy. Controversy pops up.
7:19 Ben Brock Johnson? Something happens. So first, the user Flexican or F1 Exican, they don't post for one day. And everybody like freaks out. What happened to Flexican? What's going on? Like, what's, he didn't post today. What's the deal?
7:36 Amory Sivertson? Too many chives. Death by too many chives.
7:39 Ben Brock Johnson? Well, and Flexican, you know, Flexican just like got a little bit over his skis, I guess, and and didn't post that day. But then
7:47 Ben Brock Johnson? it comes back and posts and then people realize he's posted the same photo twice.
7:53 Amory Sivertson? The exact same photo?
7:55 Ben Brock Johnson? The exact same photo, which you wouldn't realize unless, like many Redditors have been doing, you are zooming in on the photo and like looking for imperfect chives. It's sort of a Where's Waldo leads to the discovery of chive fraud, if that makes any sense.
8:10 Amory Sivertson? I was kind of picturing, you know, when you post the exact same photo of almost anything else, you would know right away, except when it's like a person in their kitchen using maybe the same cutting board and knife and it's the same amount of chives that are being chopped, that you wouldn't necessarily know that that's the same picture.
8:29 Ben Brock Johnson? Yeah. So then Flexican has to come clean because Redditors have called him out. He has to come clean. He says, look, guys, I had some car trouble.
8:41 Ben Brock Johnson? And I made a bad choice. I made a bad decision.
8:45 Amory Sivertson? I couldn't pick up more chives.
8:47 Ben Brock Johnson? I just couldn't get my chives together and chopped on this day because I had some car trouble. But anyway, Flexican is back. They're cutting chives. The merriment and ridiculous continues. Reddit, the main Reddit administrators posted about the fake chive post. This has really gone mega viral and people are like, you know, people are asking like, what is chive gate? What is this? So someone came in from Kitchen Confidential, Ahmad, and responded and said, answer, hi, Casey Mod here. Guy started cutting chives a month ago, stated he wanted to improve knife skills in the kitchen, turned into a very popular post,
9:30 Ben Brock Johnson? spawned its own memes. He missed a day a couple of days ago. He was on the verge of missing yesterday too, and made a made a poor judgment call to repost a week old picture and call it that day's effort. Other users, users exposed his behavior and that became its own mega thread as people called him a fraud. A lot of people are still salty about it, but mostly he seems to be forgiven. We'll see how much longer this saga continues.
9:57 Amory Sivertson? Wow.
10:00 Ben Brock Johnson? There you go. Now you know what chive gate is, who chive man is, as he is now being called. And by the way, yes, brands, Emery are already capitalizing. Philadelphia cream cheese has made posts referencing chive man and the whole fiasco. And the chive chopping and memeing, it continues for now.
10:22 Amory Sivertson? All right. Well, when we come back, I have another very inconsequential, very heated topic of discussion that also has to do with food in a minute.
10:46 Speaker 00 Support for this podcast comes from Is Business Broken?, a podcast from the Marotra Institute at BU Questram School of Business. How should employers measure real skills in the age of AI?
10:58 Speaker 05 Instead of observing the final artifact, instead of observing the final essay or the final program, observe the entire process of creation.
11:07 Speaker 00 Follow Is Business Broken? wherever you get your podcasts and stick around until the end of this podcast for a preview of a recent episode on rethinking academic and job assessment when AI can do the work.
11:25 Speaker 01 Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start. This year, I've been layering in some styles from the new Lululemon fall drop because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it. Lululemon's fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces, so I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece, and head out, knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me. Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at lululemon.com.
11:55 Speaker 06 Ugh, I hate Mondays.
11:56 Speaker 07 King's Hawaiian cinnamon swirl bite?
11:58 Speaker 06 Uh, Taylor Hansen? Sure, I'll try one. Mmm.
12:04 Speaker 08 Hey, let's get back to work, please.
12:05 Speaker 06 But Taylor Hansen's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites.
12:10 Speaker 08 Taylor Hansen? Nice. Try one. Mmm.
12:17 Speaker 09 King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. There's nothing like it.
12:29 Ben Brock Johnson? Hit me. Hit me with the goodness.
12:31 Amory Sivertson? Okie dokie. Well, uh, we'll start with a subreddit that, that I know you have heard of, which is Life Pro Tips, LPT.
12:42 Ben Brock Johnson? Sure. Are we talking ethical or unethical?
12:45 Amory Sivertson? That was gonna be my next question, so I had never heard of unethical Life Pro Tips.
12:50 Ben Brock Johnson? Oh, that's where I live, baby.
12:53 Ben Brock Johnson? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I know a bit, but I don't. I don't spend that much. I'm not looking at unethical life pro tips. No, no, no, I didn't.
13:01 Amory Sivertson? Sure, sure, sure, sure. Okay, well, for the uninitiated, according to the subreddit, an unethical life pro tip is a tip that improves your life in a meaningful way, perhaps at the expense of others and/or with questionable legality.
13:17 Amory Sivertson? So it was a post in this subreddit that made it to best of that then got endless thread tagged by someone who said endless thread, come get your story.
13:30 Ben Brock Johnson? You know, we can't resist that when we get the cajoling finger of a fellow redditor drawing us towards a story.
13:38 Amory Sivertson? It was so delicious to see. Okay, so the title of the ULPT or unethical life pro tips post that they tagged us in is ULPT, I need a way to move 13,200 pound pallets of margarine side to side and then down into a six foot hole and then cover it with dirt.
14:02 Ben Brock Johnson? What?
14:06 Ben Brock Johnson? What? Okay, I've got a thousand questions.
14:10 Amory Sivertson? All right. Well, I'm going to let you do the honors of reading the body of the post, which I just, which I just sent to you.
14:16 Ben Brock Johnson? Okay, this, this user's occasionally vertical is the user's name, which I think is kind of interesting considering the, the fact that they have to like wiggle, wiggle this margarine into the ground.
14:29 Amory Sivertson? Yep, yep.
14:30 Ben Brock Johnson? Okay. It must be quiet and fast. I'm not opposed to renting heavy machinery, but they must be quiet and able to be operated in low light conditions. For the record, I don't think there's anything unethical about this, but it was recommended I post here and I'm desperate. The margarine cannot be harmed. No melting or changing its shape of any kind. Afterwards, I will dig it up and whatever is left, I will need to either dissolve in some kind of acid or burn it some way that has little cleanup. Thank you.
15:08 Ben Brock Johnson? This is, this is AI engagement bait. Come on.
15:12 Amory Sivertson? Well, uh, this got a lot of response. It continues to get a lot of response. There are a lot of comments on this post and a lot of people, you know, basically just being like, what? Where, what are you doing? And is this legal? And every time the response is something like, oh, just moving some margarine. Like, nope, nothing to see here. Just,
15:40 Amory Sivertson? I just have some, I just had some extra lying around, the OP says sometimes. So, uh, one commenter did link to a news story from 2011 about a guy in Iowa who stole a trailer full of margarine, $50,000 worth of margarine and asked, is this you? The OP responded, no, it's mine. Period.
16:03 Amory Sivertson? So yeah, so this is ridiculous. Uh, I, I reached out to Occasionally Vertical, like, like we do. But in the meantime, I also started doing my own digging into this. There's a post that this user made in the Heavy Machinery subreddit that has a, a very funny diagram that I would love for you to describe for us. I'm sending it to you now.
16:27 Ben Brock Johnson? I'm see, I'm like scrolling through the comments and seeing these posts from the OP like months and months and months ago, I feel like.
16:34 Amory Sivertson? Yeah.
16:35 Ben Brock Johnson? Asking for help with the same problem.
16:39 Amory Sivertson? Yes. So there's a post in, um, they did the math. How much margarine would it take to power an average off-grid house if you burned the oils and fats inside of it and used it to make steam and spin turbines to power a generator? And these posts, like, they have some pretty serious responses. That one in particular, probably because it is they did the math. It's like, it has people taking this very seriously and trying to help this person solve.
17:06 Ben Brock Johnson? Yeah.
17:07 Amory Sivertson? Whatever this margarine, uh, problem is that they have.
17:14 Amory Sivertson? Do you see the Heavy Machinery post that I sent you?
17:17 Ben Brock Johnson? Yeah. I mean, this guy's, this, he looks, they, the OP is drawing diagrams that, you know, are pretty close to what my eight-year-old would draw.
17:34 Amory Sivertson? My favorite part is like, there's like margarine and arrows going right and left. And then at the bottom it says, "machine" in parentheses, "quiet."
17:44 Ben Brock Johnson? And then what's this thing on the left? It's looks like it's either like a tank of water or it's like a little, or it's the Declaration of Independence? Or like, what is this thing?
17:54 Ben Brock Johnson? It's got squiggles on it.
17:55 Amory Sivertson? Yeah, it kind of looks like maybe that's a, I don't know, like a vent? I mean, none of this really makes that much sense. There's another post in Ask Chemistry that asks about the possibility of dissolving the margarine, quote unquote, "without a trace." And below the diagram, another very silly diagram, it says, "I'm getting desperate and I'm running out of time. I cannot liquefy the margarine as I cannot risk damage to it."
18:22 Amory Sivertson? Yeah, it's pretty wild. There's another post in the Diet subreddit that asks, "What might happen to someone if they were to consume, say, three pounds of margarine every day for a month?"
18:35 Amory Sivertson? But the body of that post says, "Just have some extra margarine lying around that I'm hoping to put to good use. If not three pounds, how much could I eat a day and still be okay? Thank you."
18:44 Ben Brock Johnson? I mean, I'm, I'm getting worried about this person. Like, is this like a mental illness thing? Or is this, is it legit? You know what I mean?
18:54 Amory Sivertson? It's very hard to know. And, and I, I did a lot of digging into their post history to try to get more context. There's obviously a lot about the margarine. But then there's a collection of posts that are maybe illuminating in some way.
19:09 Ben Brock Johnson? Okay.
19:09 Amory Sivertson? Related to some extent. So there's a post in the Off Grid subreddit made around the same time as these margarine, some of these margarine posts. The post says, "What kind of struggles do newbies face when starting off grid?" So this is a person who's considering living off the grid, away from society. There's a post inquiring about heavy equipment machine rental in San Gabriel, California. There's a post in the Death Valley National Park subreddit. What's the most beautiful area in Death Valley? In a comment, they say, "I really enjoy spending some time on some good, deep dirt. Something about the vibes of it is refreshing when there's no one else around. Are you allowed to be there at night?"
19:53 Amory Sivertson? So people are like, is this guy gonna dig in Death Valley and bury some margarine there? The OP also posted to the Side Hustle subreddit about a month ago, saying they were trying to find a side hustle that would give them an extra like $500 to $1,000 a month. And someone recognized the OP's username in that subreddit and said, "I know a guy trying to get his hands on a shit ton of margarine if you know where he could find some." And the OP just said, "It's mine." So not try to sell the margarine.
20:31 Ben Brock Johnson? Okay.
20:31 Amory Sivertson? They've said before, money is not an issue in terms of trying to solve the problem. So they maybe have some money to play with here. They have certainly obscene amount of margarine. And they also have a lot of questions for Reddit, which like, if you're really a mastermind trying to orchestrate some, I don't know, discreet heist burial, storage, something, they're really relying on Reddit to be able to hold their hand through it.
21:04 Ben Brock Johnson? Okay.
21:05 Amory Sivertson? I'm not the only one who went down the rabbit hole on this margarine quest.
21:09 Speaker 10 I spent, oh goodness, two or three hours probably going through all of this user's post history through the last year or so, just looking for more information. What could I glean? And the answer is, not very much.
21:32 Amory Sivertson? This is Autumn Olson. Autumn spent some time as a linguist in the air force, speaks Arabic, and now has a consulting firm. So Autumn has a wide variety of skills and has been on Reddit for a long time and knows that sometimes people use Reddit as an attention gathering playground, which did cross Autumn's mind with Occasionally Vertical's posts.
21:56 Speaker 10 The easiest thing to say is to write it off as a creative writing experiment or some kind of troll post, but as I dug deeper into Occasionally Vertical's post history, I found that more and more difficult to believe.
22:13 Amory Sivertson? "And difficult to believe," Autumn says, "because this is not just one or two posts," as we've noticed. "This is a jigsaw puzzle of posts that all seem to be part of the same puzzle and yet do not seem to go together."
22:27 Speaker 10 And the fact that they are instead turning to multiple Reddit threads, looking to be spoon-fed the answer, I just, I don't have a lot of faith in them.
22:40 Amory Sivertson? So after this hours-long deep dive, Autumn left this comment on Occasionally Vertical's unethical life pro tips post, which is my top comment, shall we say. This is my favorite one that I've seen, and Autumn read it for me.
22:55 Speaker 10 "This has been an issue for you for at least a year, OP. You've asked about eating it, dissolving it in acid, burying it, and moving it. You've stated that it can't be damaged, but you've also looked for ways to dispose of it. The amount has increased from one pallet to multiple. You lived in eastern Washington, but now are working to hide this margarine in SoCal/west Arizona." You've made a post trying to find out the health risks associated with only eating margarine or supplementing with vitamins and protein. There's also a post about wanting to purchase 200 acres of land, and if it's possible for a commune of people to live off of said land.
23:40 Speaker 10 Then there's also the post of you recently buying your first Glock. To put this plainly, you, as an individual, are not going to be able to do whatever it is you're trying to do. You've been unsuccessful for a year and have stated that the deadline you have is approaching quickly. I would love to help you. I really would. I think a lot of people here would, especially for the right price. But without more information, I don't think anyone can help you, and you certainly can't do it yourself. So I have to ask, what the fuck is going on here?
24:21 Amory Sivertson? So I mentioned I did reach out to Occasionally Vertical. They have not gotten back to me. But they do respond to comments sometimes, as we've seen in these posts. So Autumn and I found a post that had some pretty recent engagement on it, despite the fact that it was made six months ago. It's a post in the subreddit Anarchy Rice that reads, "The time is near, brothers. Be ready." So even though this was made six months ago, someone commented just two weeks ago saying, "Where is it now?" Occasionally Vertical says, "Near." So Autumn and I decided this is the post to comment on, and here's Autumn's thinking on how we should proceed.
25:06 Speaker 10 I wonder if adding something, you know, matching the tone of the other posts in this single thread to be like, you know, are we to take this as success, brother? Or something like that?
25:21 Amory Sivertson? What if I say, "Will we know when it happens, brother?"
25:25 Speaker 10 I like that.
25:26 Amory Sivertson? I'm gonna hit send. I'm gonna hit comment.
25:27 Speaker 10 Okay.
25:33 Amory Sivertson? I got a response very quickly.
25:35 Ben Brock Johnson? Ooh.
25:36 Amory Sivertson? Occasionally, Vertical just said, "Everyone will know." Which is similar to things that they've written on other comments, saying like, someone said, "I'd love to write a book about you." "What's the deal here?" And, and occasionally, Vertical wrote something to that being like, "When this is all over, you won't need a book to know. People won't need a book to know who I am and what I've done. Everyone will know." So, yeah.
26:03 Ben Brock Johnson? I think, I think we're gonna go with marketing ploy. Yeah, final answer, marketing ploy.
26:08 Amory Sivertson? You'd think I would have thought of that sooner, given the, that Soylent episode that we did forever ago.
26:15 Ben Brock Johnson? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:16 Amory Sivertson? And maybe this is big margarine. I like the theory that this is a marketing ploy, because that, that turns all of us into the experiment here. Like, we are, we are the ones.
26:25 Ben Brock Johnson? Could be a hell corporate situation.
26:28 Amory Sivertson? Yeah, yeah. Or, you know, maybe they're gonna bury it. Maybe they're gonna lift it up 55 feet. Maybe they're gonna...
26:35 Ben Brock Johnson? I'm looking at you, Earth Balance.
26:37 Amory Sivertson? Maybe they're gonna...
26:37 Ben Brock Johnson? I've got my eye on you, Earth Balance. I may, I may use you every day, because you're delicious. But I, I wouldn't put it past him to try to slide, slide this one in, if you know what I mean.
26:53 Amory Sivertson? So, we'll see. The time is near. Everyone will know.
26:56 Ben Brock Johnson? But how near is it?
26:59 Amory Sivertson? Will we know, brother?
26:59 Ben Brock Johnson? That's what you're trying to find out, right?
27:02 Amory Sivertson? I mean, I'm just, I'm just seeing if I can get any kind of response, you know, like...
27:06 Ben Brock Johnson? You got one once already, and you asked when, right?
27:10 Amory Sivertson? I said, "When, will we know when it happens?"
27:13 Ben Brock Johnson? Oh, that's right.
27:14 Amory Sivertson? And they said, "Everyone will know." So, everyone will know, and in the meantime, we're all, this, this, this redditor is becoming a Reddit legend. We're watching a Reddit legend be born before our very eyes. You'll start seeing references to margarine, margarine person, everywhere you go on, on Reddit now.
27:35 Ben Brock Johnson? Oh, boy. All right. Well, I mean, listen, chives and margarine go together pretty well, so...
27:42 Amory Sivertson? Get your chives, get your cup a day, get your stick of margarine a day, three cups a day that you're gonna eat, and cook them all together, and...
27:53 Ben Brock Johnson? I mean, I'll, I'll join a commune that lives off that.
27:58 Ben Brock Johnson? Marjorie and chives. That sounds good. Just straight margarine. I'm a little skeptical, but if you toss some chives in there, hmm, sounds delicious.
28:07 Amory Sivertson? All right. Well, we got to get a flexicin and occasionally vertical to team up.
28:12 Ben Brock Johnson? And when we find out more, we promise to update you, dear listeners, on what the heck is happening with either and both of these things. Stay slippery.
28:33 Ben Brock Johnson? Endless Thread is a buttery production of WBUR in Boston. This episode was shucking and chiving thanks to the production work of Rough Chop Man, that's me, Emery Sivertson, and Grace Tatter. It was mixed and sound designed beautifully like butter by our production manager, Paul Vikes. It was edited by Meg Cramer. The rest of our team is Dean Russell, Emily Jankowski, Franny Monahan, and our managing producer, Sumit Joshi. Endless Thread is a show about the blurred lines between online communities and whomever did chivegate. That would be F1 exicin or flexicin. And also, margarine, man, if you want to talk, just let us know, man, we're here. If you have an untold history, an unsolved mystery, or another wild story
29:16 Ben Brock Johnson? from the internet or about the internet that you want us to tell, you can hit us up [email protected] .
29:36 Speaker 00 Support for this podcast comes from Is Business Broken?, a podcast from the Marotra Institute at BU Questrom School of Business. Follow Is Business Broken? wherever you get your podcasts, and listen on for a preview of a recent episode featuring Janet Kang, Executive Director of the Just Horizons Alliance, on who stands to benefit from AI in education.
29:58 Speaker 11 I am absolutely in favor of AI in learning in the right context.
30:03 Speaker 08 And just to explain why you're excited about it.
30:05 Speaker 11 Oh, my gosh, individualized support, right? Personalization, and to be able to scale quality education in places where it was historically impossible. So for certain kinds of learners with different kinds of learning styles and disabilities, for example, speakers of different languages, there are amazing ways AI can boost learning. It just has to be with the right context. And age appropriateness is something we do a lot of work in because it is very different depending on where in that maturity cycle you are in terms of how your brain develops.
30:36 Speaker 00 Find the full episode by searching for Is Business Broken wherever you get your podcasts and learn more about the Marotra Institute for Business Markets and Society at ibms.bu.edu.
30:55 Speaker 01 Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start. This year, I've been layering in some styles from the new Lululemon fall drop because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it. Lululemon's fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces, so I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece, and head out, knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me. Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at lululemon.com.
31:25 Speaker 02 When you shop Kroger delivery, you can expect the savings you love and fresh groceries delivered right to your door. From delicious produce to everyday essentials, enjoy the convenience of delivery and the trusted selection you've come to know from Kroger. Because bringing you fresh, quality groceries is what we do best. Right now, enjoy free delivery on orders of $50 or more with your digital coupon. Restrictions apply. See site for details. Kroger, fresh for everyone.
Previous Fryders and Alligator Alcatraz tours: When trolls get inventive Next Episodes we love: Sandwiches of History Page updated November 1, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated