This is 99% invisible.

I'm Roman Mars.

So tell me why this isn't a repeat.

Look man, in the first story, we talked to Dr. Kew.

Okay, in the first story we talked to Dr. Kew at MIT and he told me how America used to be all about the

Serpentine line that first come first serve cue.

This is where one line serves all the available registers like the

way the airline ticket counter used to be. Or Wendy's. But when I asked him if the priority

cue might be changing the American experience of waiting in line, he said that I was on

to something. A priority line is where you pay to get to the front of the line, or you pay to get

to an exclusive, shorter, faster moving line. All right, I think that's good, right?

That is Benjamin Walker.

They hear all about Q Theory and Design.

Check out episode number 49 of 99% invisible.

Benjamin Walker is Q obsessed. He also did a half hour radio

documentary on priority cues for the BBC. I took a trip across the country and I

visited highways, amusement parks, community colleges to see who was using these

priority cues and how they work.

But the other thing I found out is that cues can actually help us understand all the fighting that's going on over the internet.

You mean like on a message board?

No, I'm talking about the internet internet and the Pipes.

Where do we start?

...