1. Did Covid-19 Kill the Handshake?

Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. Remember me? Back when No Stupid Questions started in the pandemic spring of 2020, I co-hosted the show with Angela Duckworth. We made nearly 150 episodes together, and then I moved out and our mutual friend Mike Maughn moved in and the two of them made another 70 plus episodes.

But now the show is ending production. Five years is a long time in podcast land. So we're proud of the work we've done and grateful for the amazing community of listeners, of which you are one. We've heard from many listeners who were sad to hear that the show had ended, so we've decided to do something about it. We are going to replay

the series from the beginning, right here in the NSQ feed. So today you will hear the very first episode that Angela and I made. Back then every episode had two questions, not one. Some other things changed over the years, but I'm not gonna just tell you. There will be a quiz at the end, so I suggest you listen carefully.

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (39 minutes, 7,192 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 5 episodes for $3.49, and monthly plans are cheaper still.