These days, snowboarding is really popular in the colder climates, and of course everyone knows what it is. But it’s actually a relatively new sport, especially when compared to traditional snow skiing.The very first snow skis are dated all the way back to around 8000 BCE, and were found in northern China. They were basically long pieces of wood, like 6 feet, which is about 2 meters, and were covered with horsehair.Snowboards, on the other hand, have come about much more recently.Jake Burton is known as the “father of snowboarding”, and he recalled back when he discovered there was this new, unconventional way to move on snow. Those first primitive things were called “snurfers”.The first ski resort to even allow snowboarders to share the mountain with skiers was in Vermont, and that was just in 1983. Snowboarding has continued to grow in popularity, and it just became an Olympic sport in 1998.My guest today is Evan, and he loves to snowboard. He and his wife Kahlynn lived in northern California, they’re young and athletic, and they would go several times a year. It was pretty much their favorite way to spend a weekend outdoors.But there was this one Friday morning on the mountain that Evan remembers in detail, because he almost didn’t come home.You can contact Evan by email: Evan@userevidence.comThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.This episode is sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EMTs and other first responders see a lot of things. Sometimes, they arrive on scene and find a situation that they never expected to see.In Port Orange, Florida, paramedics were called to the scene of a car accident on Interstate 95. Only one car was involved. When they arrived, they discovered that something had crashed through the windshield of the car and hit the driver in the head. That “something” was still inside the car. It was a large turtle. The driver of the car survived, and surprisingly, so did the turtle.And then there are a lot of situations where first responders show up, and there’s nothing they can do. Accidents happen, and people die in a large variety of ways.Chrissy is a Paramedic, and she has a video where she talks about the variety of calls she has been on. Some of the things she’s seen are pretty traumatizing. You can see her full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2svI1Ofr9ASo paramedics are pretty much trained to expect the unexpected. But still, there are some things you would never even dream of happening.My guest today is Kennedy, a teenage girl from Idaho. She was in a rollover car crash, and while the car was rolling she was thrown out. That in itself is not really that unusual – when you’re not wearing a seat belt, it’s very likely that you’re going to be flung out of the car with great force.What makes Kennedy’s story very different is where she ended up.Kennedy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_kickitkenny_9/Kennedy on Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_kickitkenny_9This episode is sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT.This episode is also sponsored by the Jordan Harbinger Show, a podcast I’ve subscribed to for years – JordanHarbinger.com/START. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Content warning - this episode includes descriptions of sexual violence and domestic abuse. Listener discretion is advised.Here in the United States, slavery is illegal. The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 and it was ratified later that same year.That amendment reads in part “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”But the fact that it’s illegal doesn’t mean it’s non-existent. The more common modern-day term for it is human trafficking.The numbers for this are staggering. Hundreds of thousands of people are forced into sexual exploitation just here in the US. And many of them are children.Ashton Kutcher is an actor, and he’s a father. He’s also become a major activist in the fight against human trafficking, through his foundation and the software that his team has created. There’s another person who’s also very active in this fight. Her name is Jill. She knows about human trafficking because she was a victim of it. She’s had some truly horrifying experiences – things that no person should ever have to go through. But she’s still here, and she’s doing everything she can to help put an end to it. And part of that fight is telling the story of what it’s like – from the inside.I wanted to mention one thing that you might notice while you hear Jill talking about what happened to her. She laughs. She might be describing something that was truly terrifying, but part of talking about it is laughter. She and I actually discussed this, and she is aware of it. It’s not because she looks back on what happened and actually thinks it’s funny. Each of us relates to trauma differently, and a little bit of nervous laughter is just her way of coping as she talks about her experiences. Jill’s podcast: https://anchor.fm/boughtbythehourThis book is a good resource to learn more: Forced Sex Trafficking: What It Is and How You Can End It by Christopher Armitage https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09X5XX94N/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=This episode is sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I live in a wonderful little town in Florida, called Safety Harbor. It’s in the Tampa Bay area. And one of the things that people love about this place is that there are lots of big, shady trees.There’s one particular tree that everyone knows about. It’s a huge oak tree, called the Baranoff Oak, and it’s named after one of the early property owners here. This tree is estimated to be over 300 years old, and it’s huge – the diameter of the trunk is around 20 feet, which is almost 7 meters. And experts have estimated that it weighs around 800 tons.If you do a Google search for Baranoff Oak, you can see pictures of it and you’ll see why it’s so special. You can also read about how, a few years back, the city took action to try to protect it, and in doing so, they almost killed it. It’s still there though, and I get to see it almost every morning.My guest today is Tessi. When she was younger, she had a job working outdoors. And by outdoors, I mean in the deep forest. So she and her co-workers were literally surrounded by trees – really BIG trees – all day. Some were over a hundred feet tall.Working in the forest is physically demanding, and Tessi loved being out there for days at a time. But things changed when one of those huge trees came crashing to the ground.If you would like to contact Tessi, she can be reached by email at tessiquane@aol.com. This episode is sponsored by the Wake Me Up Podcast – start your day with mindfulness, meditation, and motivation – WakeMeUpPodcast.com.This episode is also sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT.This episode is also sponsored by the Jordan Harbinger Show, a podcast I’ve subscribed to for years – JordanHarbinger.com/START.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I find it so interesting that sometimes we can take what seems to be a really small action, but it ends up being something really big.Back in 1998, I was living in Maine with my wife and our two young kids. I was working at a regular office job. Then one day, I needed to have some printing done. This was before the days of the high-quality inkjet printers, so it was common to go to a local print shop and get whatever you needed to have printed.While I was paying for my stuff, I noticed a small piece of paper on the counter. Someone had left a little note that said “I need tutoring in Microsoft Word. If you can help, call this number.” And I thought, yeah I know Word, maybe I can help. So I took the note and called her later. I ended up going over there and we spent a couple of hours going through the various functions of Word, and how to do things. And she paid me.So I thought, maybe this is a sort of side hustle that I could do in my spare time to make a little extra money. That’s how my computer business, called The Computer Tutor, got started. And it turned into a full time job doing computer instruction and computer repair, for over 20 years. And that whole thing started just by me happening to notice that little piece of paper on the counter in that print shop.Today you’ll hear my conversation with Jessica. Back in 2011, she was on the phone with one of her co-workers. During that conversation, she made a decision that she wasn’t all that comfortable with. And at the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal. But that seemingly small decision ended up changing the whole direction of her life.Jessica’s book, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Sixhttps://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Odds-audiobook/dp/B00CJCVR6S/ref=sr_1_1Surviving Survival by Laurence Gonzalez https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Survival-audiobook/dp/B00COR27P8/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1Jessica’s podcast “We Should Talk About That” https://www.westatpod.com/Jessica’s website: https://www.jessbuchanan.com/Speaking engagements: https://www.jessbuchanan.com/speakingJessica on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-buchanan-tedx-speaker-nyt-bestselling-author-05ba7364/Jessica on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jessicacbuchanan/This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.This episode is also sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like a lot of people these days, I work from home. And I really enjoy that. But many years ago, I had a more traditional job where I worked in an office building with other people. And there was a thing I liked to do that some of my co-workers thought was a bit odd.We got an hour off for lunch each day. And sometimes I’d go to the breakroom and eat, or maybe a few of us would get together and go have lunch at a local restaurant. Pretty common stuff. But what I did some days is get in my car, maybe eat a sandwich while I’m driving, and go to the Sixth Judicial Court building. In this building are generally two types of people. There are those who are there voluntarily, because they work there. And the others are there, not because they want to be, but because they have to appear in court before a judge. These proceedings are pretty much open to the public. It’s just not something that a lot of people think about doing, unless you’re an oddball like me. I’d get there and quietly slip into one of the courtrooms where court was in session, and sit in what’s called the gallery. This is the open seating section where you might see family members of the person on trial, or newspaper reporters covering a case. Or people on their lunch hour with a weird curiosity about these things.Most of the time, the gallery is mostly empty. One time when I went in and sat down, the judge noticed me, and stopped what he was saying, and asked me why I was there, or how I was connected to this case. I told him I was just there to observe, and he continued with the proceedings.One of the times that kind of stuck with me was when I watched a sentencing hearing. The defendant had already been found guilty; I don’t remember what he had done. But he was there in the courtroom, in the orange prison jumpsuit, appearing before the judge. And I watched as the judge sentenced this person to spend ten years in prison. There was just something about that, that to me was really intriguing.And if that’s the kind of thing that YOU find interesting, I think you’ll enjoy this episode. My guest today is Jami. She lives in the Los Angeles area, and a few years ago she was opening her mail and found that she had been summoned for jury duty. And the case she was assigned to was a murder. Content warning for this episode – this story includes descriptions of violent domestic abuse, and murder. So please be aware of that going in.In the first half of our conversation, Jami explained the details of the case so you’ll know what happened. Then she’ll go through what she experienced as a juror – not only during the trial, but afterward when she was contacted personally by one of the family members of the murderer. Contact Jami through her podcast website (Murderish.com) or on Instagram (@MurderishPodcast).Jami’s NEW podcast is called Dirty Money Moves: Women in White Collar Crime. This show deep dives into cases involving a more rare type of criminal, women who commit financial crimes. In season one, host Jami takes listeners on a journey to investigate Mary Carole McDonnell, a self-proclaimed heiress and the CEO of a TV production company based in Los Angeles. This new podcast launches April 21, 2022.This episode is sponsored by the Wake Me Up Podcast – start your day with mindfulness, meditation, and motivation – WakeMeUpPodcast.com. This episode is also sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT. This episode is also sponsored by the Jordan Harbinger Show, a podcast I listen to all the time – JordanHarbinger.com/START. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you remember the movie called The Fugitive? It came out in 1993, and it starred Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, who was unjustly accused of murdering his wife. Throughout the movie, he’s working to find the REAL killer. But at the same time, he’s the target of a nationwide manhunt, led by a seasoned US Marshal – played by Tommy Lee Jones. It’s a really good one. In a scene from that movie, probably the most famous scene, Dr. Kimble is being chased through a tunnel in a dam and gets to the end, and stops – because it opens to a drop off of hundreds of feet down, into a huge amount of rushing water. The US Marshal catches up to him, and the chase is over for Dr Kimble, because there seems to be no way of escape. He has no way out. But then, he does the unthinkable – he jumps. The story you’re about to hear kind of made me think of that kind of scenario. My guest is Adam, and he was out on a mountain hike, enjoying the scenery and having fun. But suddenly, in a split second, he was in a precarious spot that he never expected to be in.  And he saw no way out. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS. This episode is sponsored by Babbel – language for life – purchase a 3 month subscription, and get 3 months free: go to Babbel.com and use the promo code WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Right now, I’d like you to take a minute, and imagine this scenario.I live in Florida, in the southeast area of the United States. I like it here. We have good weather most of the time, which means I can get out and bike almost every morning year round. My area is highly populated, so anything I need is readily available – grocery stores always stocked with food, lots of doctors and hospitals for medical care, and paved roads so I can drive my car anywhere I want. And if I need to go any distance, I have a major international airport about 20 minutes from my house. And like most Americans, I tend to take all these things for granted.Then one night, a large group of rebel fighters, heavily armed, lands on Clearwater Beach. They start going through the residential neighborhoods, throwing rocks through windows and setting houses on fire. People wake up in confusion, not understanding why they are hearing explosions and gunfire. Parents grab their children and run outside to escape their burning home, only to be shot to death in their front yard.News spreads quickly, by social media and by friends and family members calling to warn each other about what is happening. I get a phone call and realize we need to get out of the area as quickly as possible. My mom lives close by, so I call her and tell her quickly what’s happening and that we’ll pick her up in about 10 minutes.Then we frantically try to decide what to bring. For me, this would be very difficult. Whenever I go on a trip, I have a checklist of things way ahead of time, to make sure I don’t forget anything. Now I have just a few minutes to decide what to grab. Our dogs, obviously. My laptop. Some clothes, a toothbrush…but how do you even decide what to bring, when you don’t know where you’re going, or how long you’ll be gone? I don’t even know how much gas is in my car.But we’re able to escape, and we drive north. After about 7 hours in the car, we get to Atlanta. What we find is a large area where makeshift tents have been set up for the people who were forced to flee the state of Florida. This is where we live now. Our life is a tent community of Florida refugees, and we can never go back to where we used to live.For Americans, this sounds pretty far-fetched. We don’t really think about a situation like this, because it just doesn’t happen here.But for my guest today, Dee, it’s not just a made-up story. Dee lived with his parents and his siblings in a refugee camp in a village called Gatumba. This is in the country of Burundi, in Africa. Their community was attacked one night, and the violence that was carried out was so vicious, it made worldwide news. Even to this day, that massacre is what the village of Gatumba is known for. Dee witnessed some horrific things that night, and he was only 5 years old.And a note about listening. Dee speaks fluent English, but he still has that strong African accent. If you’d like to listen while reading the words on the screen, you’ll find the full transcript of our conversation at WhatWasThatLike.com/102.If you’d like to contact Dee, his email is dee0644@gmail.com. Want to discuss this episode with other listeners? Join us at Community.WhatWasThatLike.com. This episode is sponsored by Babbel US – language for life. Buy a 3 month subscription and get 3 months free by visiting Babbel.com, and use the promo code WHAT.This episode is sponsored by The Jordan Harbinger Show – fascinating conversations with amazing people – JordanHarbinger.com/START. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deral Dean Ritter. Probably not a name you’ve heard before.In 1986, Ritter was 34 years old, and he was living in Waurika, Oklahoma. In fact, he was living in the Jefferson County jail. He was serving a 7-month sentence. The crime that landed him there sounds kind of silly, by today’s standards. He was convicted of possession of marijuana. Medical cannabis is now legal in Oklahoma, and there’s currently a strong push for the legalization of recreational marijuana as well, so that’s probably going to happen at some point. But back in 1986, getting caught with a baggie of weed in your pocket meant you were going to spend some time in jail.Well, Deral Dean Ritter was not happy about that, and he decided he was not going to stay. So he came up with an escape plan. At the Jefferson County jail, the cell doors were electronic. At night, a guard could flip one centrally-located switch, and all the doors would lock automatically. Well, one night, before the cell doors were all locked for the night, Ritter jammed a wad of paper in his door, which prevented it from being locked. He also made up his bunk to make it look like someone was sleeping there, so the guards wouldn’t suspect anything when they made their rounds overnight. I know, this sounds like a plot to a really low-budget movie.But Ritter’s plan actually worked. He was able to sneak out of his cell, and escape from the jail. Chances are he had been there a few times before this, so it helped that he knew the layout of the place. The next morning, he was discovered missing. Assistant District Attorney Glen Hammonds made a public statement to announce that they had an escapee, and that authorities were on the hunt for him.Of course, he was soon captured and brought back to the jail to finish his sentence, with some more time added because of the escape. And you’d think that maybe after that he’d get things figured out and start making some smarter decisions about his life. But 11 years later, he was back in the news. My guest today, Garrett, had an unexpected encounter with Deral Dean Ritter. And neither of them could have predicted how it would end.Want to discuss this episode with other listeners? Join us at Community.WhatWasThatLike.com.Garrett on Instagram: https://Instagram.com/ExtantPapaGarrett’s music: https://soundcloud.com/garrett-bollig-731380998This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.This episode is sponsored by The Jordan Harbinger Show – thought-provoking conversations with amazing people – JordanHarbinger.com/start Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Remember back in the day, when everyone got up on Monday morning, and went to work?I’ve worked from home for a long time, but I do remember having jobs with that kind of routine. Wake up, take a shower, have some coffee and breakfast, drive to work, and come back home at the end of the day. Next morning, you do the same thing.In the past couple of years, because of the pandemic, a lot more people are working from home instead of going into an office. But still, even if you don’t leave your house, your work process means that there are things you do each day, day after day. To some extent that can get kind of boring. But in some ways, there’s a certain comfort in the routine, because you know exactly what to expect. When you go to work, you know – for the most part – what’s going to happen.My conversation today is with Jeff. He had a job that pretty routine. It was manual labor, not very enjoyable, but he knew what to expect. He knew each day what was going to happen when he got to work.Except one day.When he arrived at work on this particular day, he had no idea that this would be his last day working at this job. He also would never have guessed that even though he arrived at work that day with two arms, he would leave with only one.Golf video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INTwcIOZudoMore about Jeff:Website: https://JeffBardel.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbardel4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffbardel/This episode is sponsored by: DIE-ALOGUE: a true crime conversation – the thinking person’s true crime show. Listen at podfollow.com/diealogueThe Jordan Harbinger Show – thought-provoking conversations with amazing people – JordanHarbinger.com/startBabbel – language for life – purchase a 3 month subscription, and get 3 months free: go to Babbel.com and use the promo code WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices