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What the HELL Were You Thinking?

What the HELL Were You Thinking?

Written by: Dave Bledsoe
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 All the things that made the world the way it is now. Welcome to the podcast takes your nostalgia, tells you the history behind it and makes you ask What the HELL Were You Thinking. Host Dave Bledsoe takes the history, politics and pop culture of the past fifty years and explains what it was like to live through it and why it is still ruining the world today. So join Dave, his hapless Producer Gavin St James every Monday for time capsule of truth! Find us at whatthehellpodcast.com, @whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social and the show name on Facebook.Copyright 2023 © Dave Bledsoe. All rights reserved Art World
Episodes
  • Episode 519: Future So Bright, Gotta Wear Shades

    Episode 519: Future So Bright, Gotta Wear Shades
    Feb 23 2026
    Show Notes Episode 519: Future’s So Bright, Gotta Wear Shades This week Host Dave Bledsoe passed out in a Waymo Taxi and woke up in Albany owing $1700. (He charged to the network credit card. Again.) On the show this week we wrap up our exploration of the foundation myths of the Baby Boom with how the Atomic Age and the Space Race influenced pop culture and how pop culture influenced them. (In cartoon form.) Along the way we discover that Dave’s formative years were basically reruns and cheap plastic toys. (You can tell.) Then we dive into speculative fiction (speculating on whether Dave will ever get to the point) and how it really isn’t all that speculative. Then we examine how the movies shifted after Sputnik and how television pretended the world wasn’t changing by imagining the future was exactly like today but space ships. Finally, we explore the most influential television of the 1960s and how it shaped our vision of the future and our relationship with technology, also it had a talking dog. (Forget flying cars, where are our talking dogs?) Our Sponsor this week is Whuffo Toys Spaceman Space Toy for Boys because only boys go to space. We open with Major Matt Mason and close with Jason Armstrong for whom things are going great! Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense The Show on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/ Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq Our Website: https://www.whatthehellpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music: https://youtu.be/478dy8NMO6w?si=m-mX0riEWEFlxd0j Buy Our Stuff: https://www.seltzerkings.com/shop Citations Needed: Wikipedia: Speculative Fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction Science Fiction Before NASA https://auxiliarymemory.com/2018/07/17/science-fiction-before-nasa/ 50 Years of the Jetsons: Why The Show Still Matters https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/50-years-of-the-jetsons-why-the-show-still-matters-43459669/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    37 mins
  • Episode 518: Crazy About A Mercury

    Episode 518: Crazy About A Mercury
    Feb 9 2026
    Show Notes Episode 518: Crazy About A Mercury This week Host Dave Bledsoe attempted to join a small group of elite performers dedicated to pushing the boundaries of human endurance in pursuit of knowledge. (He was in a drinking contest. He Lost) On the show this time we head back to the heady days of Steely Eyed Missile Men reaching out to the face of God. (And the boobs of every Cape Cookie on the coast) as we cover the Space Race and the Mercury Program! Along the way we discovered that Dave was never going to make it into space. Then we dive right into the people that made NASA (Nazi Scientists.) Then join the Space Race already in progress as the Soviet Union launches Sputnik and America launches a public relations campaign. We meet the Mercury Seven, the heroes who launched the program in the United States, and their long suffering wives. (Astronauts: not good husbands) Finally we examine what the space program really gave us. (A massive flying homage to Jeff Bezos’ dong!) Our Sponsor this week is Paperclip Consultants, focusing on the job, not the problematic people doing it! We open the show with NASA lying to us and close with Keith, who is crazy about Mercury! Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense The Show on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/ Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq Our Website: https://www.whatthehellpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music:https://youtu.be/05HZb6-i7zE?si=q_WhScXqzfypjRTK Buy Our Stuff: https://www.seltzerkings.com/shop Citations Needed: Wikipedia: Operation Paperclip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip Wikipedia: Mercury Seven https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Seven Rendezvous with Destiny https://web.archive.org/web/20070618053311/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864563,00.html Respected Astronauts Who Were Awful People https://www.grunge.com/127628/respected-astronauts-who-were-awful-people/ Being a Celebrity Astronaut Is Tougher Than It Sounds https://gizmodo.com/being-a-celebrity-astronaut-is-tougher-than-it-sounds-1548988589 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    32 mins
  • Episode 517: Atom Bomb Baby

    Episode 517: Atom Bomb Baby
    Jan 26 2026
    Show Notes Episode 517: Atom Bomb Baby This week Host Dave Bledsoe goes into his laboratory to work on his experiments. (His lab is a bar and he is mixing toxic cocktails to drink alone. Again.) On the show this week we examine the second leg of the Boomer Tripod, which explains why Boomers are the way they are. (Standing in line at the Walmart return counters muttering racisms at an audible level.): The Atomic Age. Along the way we learn WAY TOO MUCH about Dave and his youthful “nocturnal emissions”. (Eew. Just Eew!) Then we dive right into those heady years following World War Two when America was in love with the Atom. We explore all the ways people tried to make the bomb work in civilian applications and all the things people imagined we would power with a nuclear reactor. (We could have had atomic cars!) Then we take a look at the atom in pop culture. From atomic beauty queens to atomic labs under the Christmas tree, the atom was cool until it wasn’t. (Funny how nuclear war can ruin a good time!!) Our Sponsor this week is The Junior Manhattan Project Home Set, the future bright because it glows from atomic radiation! We open the show with a little cartoon explaining the atom and close with Unexpected Visitors who sing us a little love song! Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense The Show on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/ Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq Our Website: https://www.whatthehellpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music:https://youtu.be/FNYCq452aEA?si=zjYQBx7QQf_ZKFr2 Buy Our Stuff: https://www.seltzerkings.com/shop Citations Needed: The Manhattan Project an Interactive History https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945-present/public_reaction.htm The Atomic Automobile https://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobile/ America’s Crazy Attempts to Build Nuclear-Powered Aircraft https://nationalinterest.org/feature/americas-crazy-attempts-build-nuclear-powered-aircraft-13352 Atomically Bad Ideas for the Atomic Bomb https://www.ripleys.com/stories/atomic-bomb-ideas How Uranium Fever Shaped the 1950s Southwest https://yesterdaysamerica.com/how-uranium-fever-shaped-the-1950s-southwest/ 4 Atomic-Themed 1950s Beauty Queens https://www.mentalfloss.com/culture/fashion-beauty/4-atomic-themed-1950s-beauty-queens Comics and the atomic bomb from 1945 to 1955 https://www.tcj.com/comics-and-the-atomic-bomb-from-1945-to-1955/ Pop Music and the Bomb https://thebulletin.org/2018/12/pop-music-and-the-bomb/ Toy Geiger Counter by Bell Products (1955-1956) https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/toys/bell-products-geiger-counter.html 7 Retro Toys From the Atomic Age https://www.mentalfloss.com/fun/toys/retro-atomic-age-toys Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    40 mins
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