Vivian Le

1 month ago | 99percentinvisible.org | Vivian Le

If you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling with your tax forms today, you’re not alone. Even Albert Einstein allegedly found income taxes to be “the hardest thing in the world to understand.” But how did our tax system become so complicated? From Revolution to Revenue: The Birth of American TaxationAmerica’s relationship with taxes has been fraught from the beginning.

2 months ago | 99percentinvisible.org | Vivian Le

Episode 616 ROMAN MARS: This is 99% Invisible. I’m Roman Mars. In the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district of Berlin, there’s an enormous concrete structure that sits across the street from a supermarket. It’s obscured by trees, surrounded by residential apartments, and gently flecked with German graffiti. VIVIAN LE: Okay. Check one, two, one, two. It is 8:34 AM. I am quite possibly the most jet lagged I’ve ever been in my entire life.

May 7, 2024 | 99percentinvisible.org | Vivian Le

If your parents or grandparents grew up in the United States in the 1950s, there’s a decent chance that they know the theme song to The Howdy Doody Show. The Howdy Doody Show is one of those pieces of 1950s ephemera that has come to symbolize mid-century American childhood. For over a decade, every weeknight at 5pm, kids all across the country would sit down in front of their parents’ tiny televisions and take in the wild west adventures of Buffalo Bob and his puppet sidekick Howdy Doody.

Jun 6, 2023 | 99percentinvisible.org | Vivian Le