Anne Levine Show
Funny, weekly, sugar free: Starring "Michael-over-there."
Anne Levine Show
Death, Cats, and Ice Cream: My Life of Crime
Here's what happens when someone fakes their own death to avoid wedding costs, and will a librarian leaving $2 million to her cat change your perspective on loyalty? These stories and more await in our latest adventure through the strange corners of human experience.
We kick off with birthday celebrations featuring Canadian musician Jacob Moon and his lovely wife Ally, along with their impossibly fluffy sheepadoodle Huckleberry. The celebration led to unexpected indulgences at Holy Cow Ice Cream in Dennisport, where we discovered "Ritzy AF" – a mind-blowing flavor loaded with Ritz crackers that creates the perfect sweet-salty-buttery combination. This sparked a heated debate about dessert preferences and why raisins in cookies might just be "sadness in a wrinkled coat."
The conversation takes fascinating turns as we explore the growing trend of dangerous cosmetic procedures, from paralyzing back-alley Botox to TikTok's disturbing DIY plastic surgery kits. We're equally captivated by the digital revolution where AI influencer Sienna Blue – entirely fictional – has secured deals with multiple fashion brands, leaving human influencers fuming. Meanwhile, young people are embracing "Victorian Mourning Fashion" complete with black veils and jet jewelry under hashtags like #grievechic.
Perhaps most sobering is our deep dive into Thomas Midgley Jr., dubbed "the most dangerous man in history." His dual inventions of leaded gasoline and freon (the first CFCs) caused unprecedented environmental damage before he died tragically, entangled in another of his own inventions – a mechanical bed. Finally, from Ethel's brutally honest 90-something advice hotline to a centenarian recreating his 1954 mugshot, we celebrate the wisdom and humor that come with aging authentically.
Listen now and join our exploration of life's beautiful absurdities, tragic coincidences, and unexpected connections. Be sure to check out our tribute to Colorado Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson, whose final poem reminds us that "dying is the opposite of leaving."
Intro: My Life of Crime - Jacob Moon
Outro: New Star - Jonatha Brooke
Find our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447251562357065/
Hello, hello, welcome to the Ann Levine Show. It's Tuesday, july 22nd 2025. I'm Ann Levine and I'm joined by Michael over there.
Speaker 4:Hello, and I'm joined by Michael over there.
Speaker 3:Hello, we're coming to you from WOMR 92.1 FM in Provincetown.
Speaker 4:That's right, and WFMR 91.3 FM Orleans and we're streaming worldwide at WOMRorg and we're doing it 24-7.
Speaker 3:That's right, we're listening to jacob moon, my life of crime. This is a live recording and I was there, and you can actually hear me hooting At the end of this. This was 2002 or something.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, it was a 2022 when some people who may be listening to this now Heard him singing Ed at pale met.
Speaker 3:That's right, yeah well, jacob and his wife ally were here this week. That's right, yeah, staying with us for like a and it was dreaming and it was my birthday present to myself.
Speaker 4:Yeah, In a way.
Speaker 3:To have them here, michael and I adore both of them and I've known Jacob. I met Jacob in Canada in like 1998, 1999. Something like that, yeah, a long time ago. Anyway, what's better on your landmark birthday than opening your door on a beautiful sunny Cape Cod morning and Jacob is standing there with a guitar next to Allie and singing Happy Birthday.
Speaker 4:Yeah, to me At your front door, at my front door.
Speaker 3:Pretty great yeah, it was amazing. Yeah, then we went to sit in the Apple Tree Lounge, which is a private lounge.
Speaker 4:That's right. Invitation only.
Speaker 3:Yeah, steps from our front door. And we played music trivia. We played all kinds of music games.
Speaker 4:And Jacob has got a pretty killer, stevie Winvie winwood oh yeah, that was really good. Stevie winwood and he did, he did michael michael michael mcdonald, however, and he did it really well, except it sounded way too easy, see, because michael mcdonald sounds like he can hardly get it out, you know.
Speaker 3:Right, so I mean Jacob, he's doing his best to get anything out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there's strain. You can hear the strain.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Jacob's just like.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he doesn't quite have that strain in his voice.
Speaker 3:No, no, but it was the best thing in the world and we had plans to go out. Yeah, we were going to be more of us, and then a couple of them dropped out. Long story short, it ended up being just the four of us and I don't know. It was like around four o'clock, michael was napping and I thought, oh, let me text you know two rooms over and see what they're saying. They're like it's your birthday, right?
Speaker 3:yeah, and I was like yeah, but I've already been fetid with cards and presents and yeah, you're feeling pretty good about it so far, yeah and the facebook cavalcade, the whole thing, and they were like, okay, maybe we should make it an at-home night or an. I knew that they yeah, they weren't interested, so we ended up watching. Am Bradley is Missing.
Speaker 4:Correct yeah.
Speaker 3:Which is on Netflix.
Speaker 4:It's a documentary on Netflix.
Speaker 3:It's three episodes and you can't help binging it. We watched one episode.
Speaker 4:Right the first night. And then, the final night, we watched two.
Speaker 3:The final night. We watched the last two and you should watch it. It's riveting.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and there's a lot going on. Yeah, there's really a lot going on.
Speaker 3:There's a whole lot going on Like, as this gets distributed and watched by more and more people, a definitive answer may come up. I don't know, yeah, who the heck knows? Yeah, we're going to find out. We'll find out. Definitively. Right In this, you're left with sort of one or two paths, although really one path, I don't know. Watch it. You tell us Now. I received beautiful gifts for my birthday. Thank you, thank you to my husband. I'm not going to say what he got me, but it's fabulous, it's perfect. And I got beautiful presents from others who sent me things. Jacob and Allie got me some amazing presents, yep, and one of the biggest presents now, I didn't have a birthday cake, right? I had birthday ice cream. Yeah, and, as you may know, I don't eat sugar.
Speaker 4:Right, you don't really do either one of those two things normally.
Speaker 3:Oh, no, yeah, Definitely. And. But Jacob and Allie went to Holy Cow Right, which has the best.
Speaker 4:Oh my goodness folks, but Jacob and Allie went to Holy Cow Right, which has the best?
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness folks, if you've never been there, and this is obviously. It's not an advertisement. But if you've never been there, go. Or if it is an advertisement, holy.
Speaker 4:Cow Ice Cream in.
Speaker 3:Dennisport, feel free to give us ice cream money, whatever you want, so they have a flavor there.
Speaker 4:They have wonderful combinations of things that you don't really expect in an ice cream shop.
Speaker 3:No, and that may not sound right to you off the bat Right, so like baklava ice cream that was so good To god that is one of the number one things in the world yeah, yeah which I mentioned that was the first thing I ever got there I don't, I think I want those things
Speaker 4:separate. Yeah, which I understand that, but he hasn't tried them together well now.
Speaker 3:I think he'd be more likely to try it yeah, because the other one I told them about is called ritzy af yeah and that is loaded with ritz crackers.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and then the there's they make like a chocolate, they make like a bark out of it.
Speaker 3:So it's that sweet salty thing. But then you get the buttery Ritz cracker situation in the background and, if you like, salted caramel, meh Forget about it this is what you want.
Speaker 4:That is exactly what you want, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, they brought home a pint of that.
Speaker 4:They did Happy birthday.
Speaker 3:And yes, yes, say I. And they also got me a candle, a gorgeous candle, my birthday candle, and I had my delicious birthday treat, which I'm still dreaming of, because our dinner also the whole thing was cuckoo.
Speaker 4:None of it was anything. I ever eat pizza. I never eat any of that I never eat sugar.
Speaker 3:I never. No, it's like plant-based diet and no sugar. That's kind of my jam. Well, anyway, I lost it on my birthday. Yeah, but it was pretty good, though it was so fun. Birthday yeah, it was pretty good though it was so fun. And the you know I am not a chocolate fan, like if I have a choice of say, chocolate rugelach versus cinnamon I'm going cinnamon okay, yeah, all Okay yeah all right, same thing.
Speaker 3:Babka Right Same thing, most things right. I'm going like the cinnamon nut raisin root. So if Holy Cow or whichever ice cream emporium the smuggler Sunday School Ice Cream Emporium the Smuggler Sunday School I was going to go to on Cape Cod was offering a really delicious rum raisin situation, yeah. I might be going there.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That might be, or mint, right Right. Yeah, I love mint ice cream Sunday.
Speaker 4:School occasionally has no sugar frozen pudding, which is, you know, rum raisin. That's another. Yeah, exactly, I love that.
Speaker 3:I love that and those would always be my picks over chocolate. Yeah, yum. And there's something that I've been devoted to, and this whole thing last night with Ritzy AF from from holy cow, it made me realize something. Now I've been a devotee of an oatmeal raisin cookie over an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Either way, I want the base to be the oatmeal cookie.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think that's a better choice right there Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, you know, there's something I thought of last night. Okay, you know, when you get an oatmeal raisin cookie and I've got some from Levain, yeah, yeah, hello, yeah, hello.
Speaker 4:I mean, those are insane they are really, and that is my ridiculously good quote favorite levain, and I still have some in the freezer.
Speaker 3:Yep, because my friend sean sent me some. I can't remember why something was going. My friend sean sent me a huge box of Levain cookies. Yeah, and one is enough to last you like a week. You could live off one of their cookies for a week on a desert island.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I bet you could yeah. On a desert island not just any island, that's right. Yeah, it could be dessert desert, it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 3:Just one of these cookies and you're good but I was thinking about ritzy af and my. What would I think if there were raisins in there instead? Of chocolate I see, because you know, an oatmeal raisin cookie looks exactly like a chocolate chip.
Speaker 4:Oh, I don't know it certainly can, you are right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and there's that golden exterior. Yeah, the chewy, promise. And you think, oh, this is going to be warm and sweet and it's going to taste like love, yeah, okay. But you bite in and it's raisins, yeah. And then you realize it's the taste of disappointment.
Speaker 4:Oh, I love raisins and cookies. It's the taste of disappointment. Oh, I love raisins in cookies.
Speaker 3:It's the flavor of regret.
Speaker 4:And it's like surprise, I'd rather not have a chocolate chip in an oatmeal cookie.
Speaker 3:I used to be a grape, but now I'm just sadness in a wrinkle coat.
Speaker 4:Oh see, that's what a raisin is All of the grape goodness concentrated into a much smaller yeah, well, that's how I used to feel until last night.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, raisins and trail mix. They changed your mind right then.
Speaker 3:You don't want it pretending to be. You certainly want to know before you bite in that it's going to be sadness in a wrinkle coat.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:And not warm love.
Speaker 4:You might be able to. You know, depending on how good your nose is, you might sniff it out and be able to tell before you take a good bite of it.
Speaker 3:You know bite of it. You know well, you know. And if I want dry fruit in a dessert, yeah, I can like rum, raisin ice cream cry into a fig, or I can a date dates.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, you know.
Speaker 3:Add dates to anything Sticky toffee pudding. Why aren't there oatmeal date cookies? Now see that. That would outstrip Raisins and chocolate. You're right. Alright, we'll get to work on that.
Speaker 4:Okay, I'll come up with it. Well.
Speaker 3:I think I said all my birthday stuff. Did I say all of it? I just want to say To tie a bow on this. I think I said all my birthday stuff.
Speaker 4:Did I say all of it? Was that all your birthday stuff? I just want to say it.
Speaker 3:It was fun. You had a good day, didn't you? To tie a bow on this, having Jacob and Allie here, oh, wait, wait hold on Jacob and Allie and. Yes.
Speaker 4:Oh, huckleberry. Huckleberry, their dog, who was also here with us, and he's a sheepadoodle or something. He's sheepdog, full-size poodle mix. And boy, he's big, he's huge. Yeah, he's cuddly, he really is, yeah.
Speaker 3:He's got like three inches thick of fur and he doesn't look real. The curly hair.
Speaker 4:No, he looks more, you know, he looks more like the sheep dog Than anything else. So he's got the hair in his eyes and even though he's just had a haircut you know he's had a lot cut off, but he's still got that gorgeous sheep dog- he's huge paws and he's a gentle giant.
Speaker 3:I mean, this dog is so big and so sort of un-self-aware. Do you know what I mean? Oh, yeah, he doesn't realize how large he is and he knocks things over by mistake.
Speaker 4:yep, just by walking through well, you know I mean it's. It might be a con, a thing that a lot of dogs have, because rosie's kind of like that too. Rosie wants to. Sometimes she literally thinks she's a pocket dog and she's 50 pounds right. She tries to get in your lap or tries to get in your pocket.
Speaker 3:You know she's trying well, huckleberry is what a great dog name, right? Yeah, huckleberry is 80 something pounds and about a foot taller than rosie yeah and when you bump into him. Uh, he doesn't move no, it's, that's a little. It's a fluffy wall, yeah, and so I I don't even know how to describe this dog.
Speaker 4:He was a really great dog.
Speaker 3:Well, the funniest thing is our dog yaya, all 11.2 pounds of her, totally running with huckleberry. Oh yeah, who could just eat her as a snack, um, but he is not at all so inclined. No, you know, and she was growling at him, yep, she was giving him a hard time and she scared him away very, very mellow dog. That's right, yeah, so anyhow, we loved having, yeah, so the three of them, the three of them, yeah, no, huckleberry was definitely a third member.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, he hung out with us the whole time. That's right, yeah.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I want to tell you about a British man who tried to fake his own death. Oh good one To wait to avoid paying for his wedding. Oh, my God, really. Out his own obituary, yeah, and funeral invitations to avoid marrying his fiancee and, more importantly, to skip paying for the reception oh my god.
Speaker 4:he's like, okay, I can do this, but I can't tell her, I'm just going to die.
Speaker 3:I'm going to die, and then my down payment on the reception my full payment that's gone.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That will be refunded Anyway. Wow, he created, he made up a fake grieving cousin and sent an email to guests.
Speaker 4:I see yes and saying poor Skippy or whatever his name was.
Speaker 3:What's his name? Um, his name is not mentioned in this article.
Speaker 4:Earl, let's call him Earl.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. Um, anyway, so the plan unraveled. So the fake cousin sent the email and the plan unraveled because he forgot to log out of his what's up app account and the bride-to-be received a message from him about this whole rigmarole I see yes so charges pending.
Speaker 4:Love is dead or at least, oh my yeah. Yeah, that's what it's on life support here, that's for sure.
Speaker 3:Well, he's dead. I mean, and warning to any woman out there who's thinking of picking up this flag and running with it- yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, just don't.
Speaker 4:Yeah, don't do it no.
Speaker 3:Stay away, do it? No, stay away. Now we've talked a lot about, uh, the plastic surgery situation. Oh yeah, yep, well, there are. Now there's another level here.
Speaker 4:Okay, so I'm going to recap. We kind of talked about this a little bit last week and we were talking about some of the crazy stuff that people are doing now, but up to and including like late teens and 20-year-olds that are doing this ridiculous stuff. So what new have they decided to?
Speaker 3:come up with now. Well, and we were also talking about that there are these like fly-by-night kind of that's right, these back alley, right Back alley Botox places, yeah. Remember the back alley COVID vaccines, yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, this is similar Like there's a woman who went and got a face full of botox at a bargain price from someone in a shed and it paralyzed.
Speaker 4:Paralyzed her face, the whole face, her whole face.
Speaker 3:Oh good, yeah great, I thought it was just the one side. So, and who do you sue?
Speaker 4:right, yeah, right yeah, you sue, no one. Yeah, the woman who's doing this out of her truck, you sue yourself for being a complete jackass seems reasonable.
Speaker 3:And then there was the woman who was so desperate to have cosmetic procedures that she used fake id and stolen credit cards oh, that's right finally got got busted right as her butt lift was being.
Speaker 4:Right, she was recovering from that surgery, BBL surgery and so she gets carted off to jail with stitches. With stitches in her. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Stolen or behind idiot. Well now, so you take out the middleman, this one diy plastic surgery kits oh no, are selling on tiktok, oh my god, and they're viral kits that now include nose shaping clamps. Oh, wow. Jawline enhancers, chin sharpening tape, all with instructions, with warnings, like not for serious use, unless you mean it.
Speaker 4:Uh-huh Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and of course, once again dermatologists begging teens to stay away. In the animal world, I love this one. So in Maine, a retired librarian has a 15-year-old tabby named Agatha. Now this librarian left her entire estate to her cat To Agatha, yes, okay, which reminds me a little bit of Leona Helmsley Mm-hmm, yeah, and her lawyer says that this is 100% okay. I mean Leona Helmsley's family, of course. She left tens of millions.
Speaker 4:Right, if not hundreds of millions.
Speaker 3:Yeah, To her dog. I think it was To like her Yorkie Mm-hmm. And so her family, you know, jumped all over that.
Speaker 4:Right, of course.
Speaker 3:But this woman didn't have anyone or anything she wanted. She wanted to leave two million dollars to. You know, I would think nice, maybe she would have left it to an animal rescue, you know, or to a library right or to some sort of you know, national or international library thing or book thing right, no, okay agatha, a 15 year old cat, right, yeah?
Speaker 3:and she said in her well, that agatha is the only creature who never let me down. Oh wow, and take that, relatives. Yeah, I mean, that's what that's all about, right that is, isn't it, yep?
Speaker 4:yep so that's exactly what that's about, so yeah it's uh what? Uh? They started calling a teachable moment a few years back. Right, yeah, pound, yeah, pounded that one to death, didn't they?
Speaker 3:Oh gosh.
Speaker 4:Every single conversation had someone said teachable moment.
Speaker 3:You know, that's become like woke a little bit. It's like, oh, don't even say that.
Speaker 4:That doesn't mean anything anymore. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I agree, yep Nothing means anything anymore. Oh, I agree, yep, nothing means anything anymore.
Speaker 4:Oh, I know that song. Nothing really matters. Anyone can see. Nothing really matters to me.
Speaker 3:What's that? Oh nothing really. Queen, Queen, yeah, Gotcha. Now here's another cat story that I'm obsessed with. Okay, okay, here's another cat story that I'm obsessed with. Okay, okay, okay. This is another one in Kentucky but it involves a Maine Coon. Okay, and the Maine Coon is named Mr Pickle.
Speaker 4:He sure as hell is.
Speaker 3:Mr Pickle.
Speaker 4:He sure as hell is Now.
Speaker 3:I am obsessed by this.
Speaker 4:You're obsessed with Mr Pickle.
Speaker 3:Yes, because this woman is in Portland. Did I just say that.
Speaker 4:You said in Kentucky.
Speaker 3:So it's no this you did say Maine Coon in Kentucky. I know I did, but what I'm trying to say is that Mr Pickle belongs to a woman in Portland and the story doesn't tell me whether we're in Maine or in Oregon, and the story doesn't tell me whether we're in Maine or in Oregon. I don't know, I'm thinking it's Maine.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah, I don't know A Maine coon, so let's go with that.
Speaker 3:Well, take the Maine coon out of this. Well, now it's. She went and she brought a paw print Mr Pickle's paw print to a tattoo artist as a memorial to her beloved cat, mr Pickle.
Speaker 4:Mr Pickle.
Speaker 3:And said I want this paw print tattooed onto me, right, okay, this paw print tattooed onto me Right Okay. Well, six weeks later and I don't know how this happened, but she discovered she'd accidentally submitted a random image from Google.
Speaker 4:Oh no.
Speaker 3:And this paw print, not Mr Pickle's paw paw print, it's birdie in kentucky and the paw print belongs toa name bertie in kentucky oh no, that's too bad.
Speaker 4:Yeah, now, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 3:you got another cat's I would be paw print, I would be really, really upset. But she has no one to blame but herself and possibly AI, because I think she tried to. Obviously she tried to input something and it outputted something else.
Speaker 4:Right, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's not like the tattoo artist decided to give her a different paw print.
Speaker 4:Right, I'm going to give you the exact replica of a cat's paw, print from Kentucky Right.
Speaker 3:But here's the thing she has since connected with Birdie's owner. Uh-huh. And they now quote co-parent symbolically on Instagram. What's wrong with everybody? Okay Well, they co-parent symbolically on Instagram. What's wrong with everybody? Okay well, they co-parent.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, whoever Birdie's parent is, they're very nice people. So they're like okay, this woman's a little whacked, We'll just go along. You know it's not harming anybody. She doesn't know where we live, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm thinking about. Now that I think about this, I'm wondering if I want paw prints of all our animals.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:But then am I going to get a tattoo of a paw print? I've never gotten a tattoo of anything.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:And I'm not a tattoo enthusiast. Yeah, I'm not a tattoo enthusiast, certainly not for myself, for some people it actually looks really great. It all depends but no, I don't think we're candidates for that as far as would that look good on me? Absolutely not, you know and what in the world would I tattoo on myself, and why? Right because you're just gonna end up. It's not forever, okay, it's not eternal. I'm just saying yeah think about it yeah well, here's one of my favorite things my stupid story from stupid instagram okay tiktok the whole.
Speaker 4:Thing okay, it's stupid.
Speaker 3:Social media yeah well an ai influencer. Ai influencer.
Speaker 4:Okay, an AI influencer, that's right. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So this is an influence, an influencer created by AI, by someone created it on AI. Her name is Sienna Blue. Okay, has been signed by three fashion brands. Oh my God, really. Signed by three fashion brands, oh my god, really. So she now, sienna blue, has deals with a shapewear brand, a skincare brand and a vitamin brand, all while being 100% fictional.
Speaker 4:That is ridiculous.
Speaker 3:Well, you know what though? Human influencers are really angry, I'll bet they are. Which you know I—.
Speaker 4:I'll bet they are. They love this AI stuff. But it's like, uh-oh, is it taking my job?
Speaker 3:Oops, it's plumping my lips and it's narrowing my waist and now it's getting my checks and my swag. I do want swag from Holy Cow. I'm just mentioning that again. Okay yeah, holy cow. I'm just mentioning that again. Okay, yeah. And then there's a new trend, of course, because we've got to have a fashion moment on the Ann Levine Show. Yes, and of course this is peak Gen Z and I've seen a lot of this and I hate it. It's called Victorian Morning Fashion, m-o-u-r-n-i-n-g.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 3:Now morning. Jewelry has been extremely popular in the antique jewelry business, yeah, popular in the antique jewelry business.
Speaker 4:Yeah, for as long as there's been an antique jewelry business, it's been popular, but the number of people involved in the buying and selling of it aren't that? I mean it's not a huge number of people well, the stuff has it's exorbitant.
Speaker 3:It's different. Yeah, I mean certain kinds of pieces like the hair jewelry hair jewelry.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's coming back.
Speaker 3:So much but the piece is the georgian morning rings and it's always a beautiful woman under a weeping willow. Yeah, I love them. I've always wanted one, um, but they cost too much. Yeah, anyway, that um, memento mori stuff is now so popular that these influencers are wearing black veils, corsets, jet jewelry which is your closest approximation and anything inspired by Victorian mourning attire. Okay, and so they're all walking around like 1860s widows.
Speaker 4:Like the Munsters.
Speaker 3:While they're sipping matcha.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And complaining about the rent in the city, and so popular hashtags are hashtag grieve chic uh-huh and hashtag widow core. Yeah and slay, but sad, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 4:Well, speaking of stuff, very sad that you can buy online yeah from ebay, from etsy, from whatever okay, from the places that you can buy online from Well this caught me up pretty short.
Speaker 3:Okay, because this is something very close to something I did when eBay first. When did eBay first?
Speaker 4:Oh boy, I don't know, I'll look it up 97? I'm going to say the late 90s.
Speaker 3:Well, this is something very similar to something I did, and this entire category has gotten quite crowded, okay, so, yeah, now, that lines up perfectly with when I would have been doing this, which would have been 96, 97, 98 in there, all right. This man, all right, launched a business. This is on Etsy, offering personalized cursed objects on Etsy, and this is not as far as I went. For $49.95, you can buy a handcrafted cursed object complete with a backstory, a cryptic symbol and a warning note written in Victorian calligraphy.
Speaker 4:Very nice, sounds spooky.
Speaker 3:Well, listen, you will realize immediately that we can make a fortune doing this. Okay, they're made from doll heads. Oh, antique spoons, mm-hmm. Old piano keys.
Speaker 4:Oh, very nice, we even have an old piano.
Speaker 3:And one review is my haunted spoon keeps moving. Five stars.
Speaker 4:Does it go from the dishwasher to the drawer or something?
Speaker 3:It just on its own. It just hops out of the drawer into the dishwasher basket. The seller insists that the curses are ethically sourced. What does that mean?
Speaker 4:No one was forced, no one was harmed in the performance of cursing In the sending of this spoon. I guess In the shipping of this spoon, I guess.
Speaker 3:In the shipping of this piano key Right. Yeah, Well, you know, no dolls were. Well, that's not true.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's not true. No, those dolls are messed up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and in fact we created partially some of it was already, but Michael put together a very famous freaky doll head cursed not cursed, I would say blessed doll head sculpture that looks cursed. Yeah, that is owned by a listener, a friend of the show yeah, kate in Brooklyn.
Speaker 4:It's a masterpiece, isn't it? It is a masterpiece actually.
Speaker 3:I was just looking at pictures of it recently.
Speaker 4:That little person Made up of fish bones and barnacles, and moss and a doll head and driftwood Antique busted up doll head. Yeah, it's pretty great.
Speaker 3:Gosh, it's awesome. Anyway, I used to do this on eBay and this is the late 90s, so eBay wasn't anything like it is now. Yeah, 90s, so ebay wasn't anything like it is now. Yeah, you would take, I would take. And this is because I learned a bunch of stuff from a native american medicine woman in canada who lived in the wilderness and she taught me a whole bunch of stuff about blessings, curses and spells, incantations, I see, and I thought how fabulous would it be to put together little spell kits, and I did.
Speaker 4:Oh, I see.
Speaker 3:So I would put in thread to make witch's knots, right. I would put in a feather Feather. I would think, yeah, you light a candle depending on what you want. So if you're looking for money, you light green, right.
Speaker 4:Okay, If you're looking for money. You like green.
Speaker 3:Okay, if you're looking for love you like red, so I would have the different spells for what you wanted to manifest and I would put a little incense.
Speaker 3:Don't ask, I went crazy. And then I would write the spell and I don't remember what I was selling these things for. But what a shame that I didn't expand on it, because I really could have, if I had stayed committed, made a fortune. Yeah yeah, these could be selling all over the world. I mean, you know, there's that store, uncommon Goods. Right, there are stores everywhere where I could have been selling these.
Speaker 4:That is true, yeah. But Well, there's a store down the road from here, that has you know. Yes, that would love items like that, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I should consider once again. Anyway, this would be easier. It sounds like way less. You just throw some antique. You know what I'm thinking? China.
Speaker 4:Oh right Cursed.
Speaker 3:Cursed China.
Speaker 4:Right, I can sit and curse at every piece it's already cursed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know that is true. So here's a saucer for 85 bucks and it's cursed. It is cursed. Give this to your ex Yep, you know. Put a candle on it, whatever.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But yeah, we could just sell it off one piece at a time and ascribe some characteristics to it. That's right, all right.
Speaker 4:Well, I've now destroyed our base you have, oh, okay, well, let's bring them back, because we are the most educational radio program on the air at this time.
Speaker 3:So it's time that sounds like.
Speaker 4:It's time to learn a new thing. Okay, yeah, and this is something I've never known, but we should all know. It's about the most dangerous man in the world, the one man that has done the most to harm the human race. His name is Thomas Midgley Jr. Is he a Brit? No, he's an American, okay, and he was born in Ohio, I think, mm-hmm, and he's one of the guys, one of the primary guys, who developed leaded gasoline.
Speaker 4:Oh Lord To get rid of the knock in the engine which created, you know, yep, the whole smog world.
Speaker 3:Right, when was this? I mean, he's got to be long gone, right?
Speaker 4:Well we'll talk about that too, okay yeah. He died in 1944. Right, but after he did that, okay, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:Well, obviously I don't think he invented leaded gasoline from the afterlife.
Speaker 4:No, no no no, no, but he invented leaded gasoline. But he had another invention as well, and freon. Oh, the first cfcs that have destroyed the ozone layer. Yeah, yeah, this is the guy.
Speaker 3:This is incredible, uh-huh what a horrendous. He won all kinds of awards, was lauded for years Did he make insane amounts of money.
Speaker 4:Well, no, not really. I mean he had more than 100 patents granted to him. However, he contracted polio in 1940 and he was left disabled, but he was an inventor, so he created a device that would allow him to get out of bed unassisted, and one day he was found caught up in the device.
Speaker 3:Did he die of his own patent? He did. That is just horrible. Yep, everything about that story is horrible.
Speaker 4:It's rumored that he accidentally was killed by his own invention, but his death by the coron corner was ruled a suicide. So anyway, yeah, and you know, the biggest part with leaded gasoline, you know where the first problem lied in was in the creation of it. People died by the buckets full, and those that didn't die went insane or had no other brain right, heavy metal poisoning?
Speaker 3:yes, yeah. Well, the um. The other thing is, a lot of people took their own lives. Yes, yeah, that way. And they've changed something about the formula of the emissions. That don't make it as easy, haven't they?
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, oh, it's very different from what it was Right.
Speaker 3:So you can't just like turn your car on in your garage and come to a peaceful sleep. Well, you might still be able to do that. Not as easily, it's a little harder to do Right and come to a peaceful sleep.
Speaker 4:Well, you might still be able to do that Not as easily. It's a little harder to do, yeah, anyway, so, yeah. So this guy, yeah, freon and Leaded Gas, one man, and he has been called the one person that's had the single greatest impact on the planet, Good Lord. Well, actually here it is. Had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history.
Speaker 3:Oh, well, you know, as I said, yeah, recently, so we're all going down the drain. Well, we learned something, though, you know. Yeah, we're all. There's a, there's a circling. I'm not gonna call it a culling there's a circling I think there's gonna be a.
Speaker 4:there's gonna be a movie terence winter. I is writing a movie about this guy Wow, Called Midge.
Speaker 3:I wonder who's going to play Midge.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's a good question, Will it?
Speaker 3:be Jeremy Irons? No, he retired. Will it be? What's his name? Killiam.
Speaker 4:I don't think so.
Speaker 3:Eddie Redmayne, I don't know. So, eddie Redmayne, I don't know. Yeah, oh, an American maybe. No, that doesn't happen anymore. Why would you do that? Come on. All right, so there you go.
Speaker 4:So you've been educated, thank you.
Speaker 3:Thomas Midgley.
Speaker 4:Jr Wow, wow.
Speaker 3:I have a few stories, as an homage to my birthday, about people aging, or actually people who've already aged.
Speaker 4:I see Aged people.
Speaker 3:Aged people. Woman arrested because she checked out the book a tree grows in brooklyn in 1965 and when the local library automated their system it flagged the book and she was arrested by a deputy. And she's now a library ambassador and it says she's not returning anything without snacks. Oh, that's, right Well yeah, so 60 years overdue. 92-year-old woman she was gently arrested. 92 year old woman she was gently arrested um a retirement home, which this reminds me of the the tv series land man, if you haven't watched it, get a going of florida.
Speaker 3:of course senior center's A Florida. Of course senior center's drag queen bingo brunch got so popular that it bumped the Wednesday chair yoga class. Oh no, Leading to a passive-aggressive battle over room bookings in the senior center room bookings in the senior center and into this came the issue, of course, of snacks.
Speaker 4:Well, yeah, yeah, and thermostat control, oh okay, yeah, I understand that that's important.
Speaker 3:The yoga class wanted it warmer. Drag queen Bingo Brunch wanted it cooler. And so they co-hosted a wildly successful event. That's how they put it Very good Called Downward Drag.
Speaker 4:I like it. I do too. I like the title that's good, called Downward Drag. I like it. I do too. Yeah, I like the title, that's good.
Speaker 3:And now here's another one. This is in New Orleans.
Speaker 4:Okay, been there a few times.
Speaker 3:An assisted living center added Tattoo Day and immediately regretted it, because residents were ordered free temporary tattoos from local artists I see yes well what happened? 17 people insisted they wanted real ones instead. So there's a waiting list for and this is true matching cryptic frogs Okay.
Speaker 3:And hot nana in script and one woman said if I can't't drive, I might as well shock my grandchildren. And now see, this is when my tattoo story, like my questions about why should someone, why should we get them? Yes, this is why. Okay, we can shock our friends, that is true, yeah, we actually horrify our friends.
Speaker 4:Imagine and um, I mean, we kind of do that anyway sometimes. Well, that's true.
Speaker 3:Um here's a man who turned 100 and celebrated by recreating his mugshot from 1954. Oh my God, wow. So for his 100th birthday, a former quote troublemaker, now long reformed, recreated the mugshot he got for stealing a police horse as a drunk college dare.
Speaker 4:That is hilarious. Oh wow, I never would have even thought of trying to steal a police horse.
Speaker 3:I can just see it as a college dare, especially in the 50s.
Speaker 4:Yeah yeah, as a college dare, especially in the 50s. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And the caption on his. He wore the same shirt and made the same face as best he could from his mugshot, of which he's always been very proud.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And the caption read still not sorry, still faster than you. I want a copy of that. Oh yeah, yeah, I of his mugshot. You know, in in these times I feel like getting myself an actual mugshot mock-up which I can see doing. Oh yeah, for something I did. I don't know that it's past the statute of limitations right okay, that could go so wrong. Yeah, really, you know it really could. You got to be careful you really do yeah now I got another one. A woman in her 90s opened an advice hotline.
Speaker 4:Okay, Now this seems reasonable. I know who else, who's better equipped? I wish I had done it. Yeah, well, before you turn 90,. You mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, tomorrow I should start this, you should. Yeah, tired of hearing everyone complain, she put her number on a flyer. Now I don't know where the heck this would have like had put some up in town or like at the post office or something Right on a phone pole.
Speaker 4:Right on a phone pole.
Speaker 3:Right on a phone pole. Yeah, and she put her number and it says call Ethel, I'm not busy. Advice hotline. Ethel, by the way, was what they called the first leaded gasoline Ethylene, pam yeah, polyethylene.
Speaker 4:Ethylene. Pam Call back to Midge there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, good call back yeah. And so thinking they're going to get sweet ethyl woman in her 90s advice hotline You're calling a landline, okay, I'm expecting sweet advice, yeah, okay. So they're expecting kindness. And here is one of the responses that someone got to put up a complaint about Ethel Right, and she called about her boyfriend and Ethel said he ghosted you Good by a mirror. Oh my goodness, she is nasty, naughty, snappy. Oh my yeah, she's one of those. And the merch is selling like crazy.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's nuts. Yeah, that's hilarious.
Speaker 3:What would Ethel say? What would Ethel do? Wwd.
Speaker 4:Oh, I got to go check out Ethel yeah.
Speaker 3:Check out Ethel. Yeah yeah, the advice hotline.
Speaker 4:All right, so we got two kinds of Ethel on this show. Even we do.
Speaker 3:You're calling back again.
Speaker 4:Well, I was just thinking that's a record for Ethels on the show.
Speaker 3:Well, I got more. Oh, do you have another Ethel going? Yeah, do I have time for more?
Speaker 4:No, oh, Not yeah. Do I have time for more?
Speaker 3:No, oh, not really, not really Nah.
Speaker 4:I mean, the music's going to start in, you know like 15 seconds.
Speaker 3:All right, so Well, there's an 104-year-old woman who credits her longevity to being nosy and a little mean.
Speaker 4:Oh.
Speaker 3:People who bottle things up die early. I say what I want and I eat butter.
Speaker 2:I say what I want, and I eat butter.
Speaker 3:So I'm taking that advice. I think I'm already there. I think I've been nosy, mean and eaten enough butter to last a while.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, butter is good.
Speaker 3:I want to say a few words about someone we lost this week. Colorado's Poet Laureate from 2023 to her recent death in 2025, andrea Gibson, whose voice resonated with raw emotion and unwavering truth, and their poetry was rich with themes of gender identity, queerness, politics, social justice, mental health, love, illness and mortality, health, love, illness and mortality. And they were a safe haven for countless listeners. And Andrea was lauded by so many for her spoken word, for her live performances, and you can see if you go look this up. Andrea had ovarian cancer, which was diagnosed in 2021 and died on July 14th 2025. And she kept writing about the experience of dying and about death and the afterlife, and Andrea's final poem, love Letter from the Afterlife, is extraordinary. Letter from the afterlife is extraordinary and there are videos of Andrea reading it to their wife, meg, and it's a mind-blowing work and pain was turned into this incredible thing. Andrea wrote dying is the opposite of leaving. So for the late, extraordinarily great Andrea Gibson please put a light on Tonight tonight.
Speaker 2:My new star in heaven Tonight, it's when I'm gone. I'll shine bright for you. My new star in heaven Tonight. My new star in heaven tonight, guitar solo. There's my new star in heaven tonight. My new star in heaven tonight it's when I'm gone. I'll shine bright for you. My new star in heaven tonight when I'm gone. I'll shine bright for you. My new star in heaven tonight.
