When the Koala Slippers Come Off

Summer is waning on Cape Cod, and Anne Levine and Michael are feeling it. As the days grow shorter and the distinctly un-summery weather continues, they reflect on how climate patterns have shifted over the years, creating what feels like one amorphous season rather than the distinct four they once knew.

Television recommendations take center stage as Anne enthusiastically champions "Fisk," an Australian comedy series starring Kitty Flanagan as a contract lawyer whose life spectacularly unravels. With only two seasons of meticulously crafted dialogue where "everything everybody says has some other meaning," the show represents comedy writing at its finest. They also discuss "Untamed," a crime drama starring Eric Bana where Yosemite National Park is arguably the true star with its breathtaking, non-CGI landscapes.

Local Cape Cod stories bring colorful characters to life: a driver who crashed through power lines, burned down a house, and fled in koala slippers; scientists testing wastewater in Nantucket to track drug consumption trends; and Shark Week becoming all too real with hammerhead sightings and paddleboarders having close encounters with great whites they've affectionately named "Steve."

The conversation takes a more serious turn when discussing America's healthcare crisis. From the comedian whose insurance paradoxically increased his ambulance bill from $600 to $1,300, to Venus Williams joking that her tennis comeback at 45 was motivated by needing COBRA benefits, the hosts unveil a system that's fundamentally broken. With Congress leaving for vacation without addressing expiring ACA tax credits, millions of Americans with chronic conditions face potential premium surges of thousands of dollars.

Plus Michael rambles on about a True Crime story that took place in the same town he was living in.

The show concludes with a tribute to Tom Lehrer, the mathematical satirist who recently passed away at 97, featuring recordings of his clever songs that blend humor with academic precision. His unique ability to make calculus and sociology entertaining offers the perfect counterpoint to an episode that weaves together local charm, cultural commentary, and critical examination of our healthcare system.

Find our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447251562357065/

Transcript

Welcome to the Anne Levine Show

Speaker 1 0:17

Hello, hello, welcome to the Anne Levine Show. Welcome to the Anne Levine Show. It's Tuesday, july 29th 2025. I'm Anne Levine and I'm joined by Michael over there.

Speaker 2 0:37

Hello.

Speaker 1 0:39

We're coming to you from WOMR 92.1 FM in Provincetown.

Speaker 2 0:47

That's right, and 91.3 FM WFMR Orleans and we're streaming worldwide at WOMRorg and we're doing it right now.

Speaker 1 1:00

Yes, we are.

Speaker 2 1:01

Yes, we know.

Speaker 1 1:02

Streaming as we speak.

Speaker 2 1:07

This very moment.

Speaker 1 1:08

This very second.

Speaker 2 1:10

Very technology forward here.

Speaker 1 1:13

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, way ahead.

Speaker 2 1:16

Way forward. Yeah, well, we've got. You know, we've got some pretty cool stuff around here, so, yeah, yeah, we do. Not the least of which is dr doctor from the thompson twins absolutely and their hair, well, you know, because that's a big part of it, I just want to put that out there like flock of seagulls no no, that's not fair?

Speaker 1 1:43

I I don't think it's fair to compare them to the flock of seagulls. You don't Well maybe it is, I don't know. I just know that I love Thompson twins.

Speaker 2 1:52

Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:54

And don't love flock of seagulls.

Speaker 2 1:56

Oh, okay, I see. I like them both, but you know.

Speaker 1 2:02

This is a very old song now.

Speaker 2 2:04

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 2:05

It's what 30, 40?.

Speaker 2 2:08

It's the 40th anniversary, no 42nd.

Speaker 1 2:12

No, yes, no 42 years. Wow, well, I don't know who that person was in that 42 years between then and now.

Speaker 2 2:24

Yeah, who was that?

Speaker 1 2:24

Ann Labine? I don't know. Yeah, know who that person was in that 42 years between then and now. Yeah, who was that? Ann Labine? I don't know yeah but she doesn't remember.

Speaker 2 2:31

No, no, anyway I mean she wasn't born yet, obviously well, yeah, yeah, I am.

Speaker 1 2:43

I'm loving hearing this song. I don't think we've ever played this on our show. Ah, okay, we've played some other Doctor-themed songs, but I don't think this is one of them.

Speaker 2 2:55

True, true, this is one we've not. Yeah.

Speaker 1 2:59

Well, anyway, it's been quite a week here on Cape Cod Summertime.

Speaker 2 3:08

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 3:09

Starting to get darker earlier, which is not working for me.

Speaker 2 3:13

Yeah, I imagine people it's actually at a noticeable point now. Yeah, right, yeah, last week wasn't, you could maybe tell if you're really sensitive, but this week it's like oh no, it's definitely darker earlier.

Speaker 1 3:27

You know what's horrible that I am starting to wonder. I'm starting to feel like if I see an ad for a summer garment, something that I would generally like say yeah, I'm feeling like no, that's not, it's, that's over now.

Speaker 2 3:53

Oh, that's right yeah. Because the summer will be. I mean, yeah, it's been a weird summer around here. I mean where we are. To begin with it's been very strange, but and not very summery, really no we've had this totally bizarre like kind of late spring, early fall weather yeah, and a couple days where it's been very warm and and that's mostly it maybe a week total, yeah, where it's been really warm so it's been ridiculous.

Summer on Cape Cod

Speaker 1 4:27

So we're we're getting, we're starting to work into where we have one season, because our winters have been not very wintry, summer's not very summery I don't know what's going on.

Speaker 2 4:40

Yeah, this past winter was almost nothing and then we have seen uh, 28 inches of snowfall overnight and like 10 foot drifts in our you know in the yard before but haven't seen that in a decade and that was once that you saw that well, yeah, but the 28 inches was uh, that was like 2012, it was before that snow and it was gone in a couple days.

Speaker 1 5:08

Yeah, yeah, it's whatever. I have a new thing, a new obsession.

Speaker 2 5:15

What is it?

Speaker 1 5:15

Which is too brief, so it's already gone.

Speaker 2 5:18

I see.

Speaker 1 5:19

It's an Australian show.

Speaker 2 5:21

It's the show, yeah.

Speaker 1 5:23

Called, fisk, yeah, and itisk yeah. And it's on Netflix and, oh my God.

Speaker 2 5:32

Yeah, that's a funny, funny show.

Speaker 1 5:34

It's hilarious. It's a woman named Kitty Flanagan who is an amazing comedian, amazing physical comedian.

Speaker 2 5:44

Yeah, there's a lot of physical comedy.

Speaker 1 5:46

So funny and she plays this character, helen Tudor Fisk, a contract lawyer, and her life unravels. She gets a divorce, she quits a job in Sydney and lands in Melbourne in a wills and probate firm called Gruber and Gruber, which, as Michael pointed out, can only make him think of Hans Gruber.

Speaker 2 6:17

Or McGruber from SNL. Mcgruber, yeah, but mostly Hans Gruber, yeah, I see him falling out the building every time I hear the name, right.

Speaker 1 6:30

So it's only two seasons, which is a total of 18 episodes, and they're slightly under 28 minutes each.

Speaker 2 6:41

Yeah. So, the dialogue is nonstop.

Speaker 1 6:45

It's so good, so funny and it's fun, it's clever and it's what it's brilliant yeah, I agree, I'm serious the way the dialogue is written.

Speaker 2 7:00

It's one of those shows that I really love, because you can tell they worried about every word yeah you know, it's not like they just threw something up and threw it out there. No, I mean, everything everybody says has some other meaning to it.

Speaker 1 7:18

That's slightly funny and kitty flanagan did a lot of the writing. So, um, it's all. It's focused. Like you, it's got a point of view yeah, it's, it's hilarious, well the characters. I mean, you know, you've got your tech guy right your Asian tech guy with this crazy mullet in a bad tie and jacket. He's up front. What are those cats called?

Speaker 1 7:50

uh neko with a good, a good look cat on the desk that's always waving yeah and then there's roz, who's, I don't know, there are five distinct characters and Kitty's parents, fisk's parents well, it's, her father is gay, so it's her father and his partner.

Speaker 2 8:21

Right.

Speaker 1 8:22

So that's one you just incredibly or very very worried about her right exactly um and well, anyway, it's just yeah, it's brilliantly set up to be hysterical, yeah, and Fisk is like kind of a no-nonsense person going through life with all this.

Speaker 2 8:56

Right into an absurd life. Right.

Speaker 1 8:59

But mainly, everything going on around her is cuckoo Yep and she just keeps it going Anyhow, watch it and it's depressing because it's over as soon as you get into it.

Speaker 2 9:15

Well, maybe there'll be more right.

Speaker 1 9:17

There have to be more and there have to be more. I mean it's kind of like the Office, like a little version of the Office.

Speaker 2 9:25

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 9:27

It could go on forever.

Speaker 2 9:30

Agreed.

Speaker 1 9:31

You know there's no end to it, doesn't come to some sort of logical end.

Speaker 2 9:38

Right, yeah, it could be picked up again at any time. Yeah, kind of thing.

Speaker 1 9:42

Right yeah, so it's amazing.

Speaker 2 9:45

Well, so we saw that on TV. Yeah, kind of thing, right. Yeah, so it's amazing. Well, so we saw that on TV. We finished watching Untamed we finished that and that is.

Speaker 1 9:51

I don't know if we talked about it already.

Speaker 2 9:53

I think a little bit, but not really much.

Speaker 1 9:59

It's a six episode limited series, also on Netflix with Eric Bana.

Speaker 2 10:04

Yeah.

Speaker 1 10:04

It's an all Australian actor cast folks as usual playing Americans in Yosemite Sam Neill, sam Neill yeah. And then Very funny. Yeah, You've got Lily Santiago, Rosemary DeWitt, Wilson Bethel, and it's an investigative crime drama and it's six episodes. But what I say is the real star and I'm not alone in this is Yosemite.

Speaker 2 10:37

I was about to say that myself. That is the real star of this show. It is so gorgeous. The scenery is just drop dead.

Speaker 1 10:45

guess what?

Speaker 2 10:46

michael no cgi how about that, even with the climbing?

Speaker 1 10:52

that's right that's incredible so it's pretty amazing. Um just to see this which sounds. It sounds trite, but it's really gorgeous oh yeah, it's worth seeing just for seeing yosemite and, as I mentioned, you're seeing inside, you know you're, you're walking through the forest, you're right down inside, not?

Speaker 2 11:20

the normally touristy tramped parts of the park yeah.

Speaker 1 11:26

And it's just fantastic. Yeah, it's very, very cool, so I recommend it. It's not the most satisfying thing I've ever seen, I mean when it wraps up, but it's good, it's entertaining.

Speaker 2 11:43

It's beautiful. It was certainly worth the watch absolutely.

Speaker 1 11:46

It's a mystery, watch it. It's's good, it's entertaining.

Speaker 2 11:49

It's beautiful. It's certainly worth the watch Absolutely. It's a mystery. Watch it, it's really good, I love. Eric Bana's character, Kyle Yep. He was really. He's a messed up guy and he did it and he did it really well. I mean, it was not over the top, it was very, I thought, real.

Speaker 1 12:04

Well, that's the thing it also deals with. I mean, you know, besides the fact that it's a crime, investigation, um the, the setting is just extraordinary and also they're dealing with some intense stuff. Personally, yeah and there are things that a lot of people go through in life, right, so you can relate to it. Trust me, it's really good yeah, it was, it was.

Speaker 2 12:31

It was pretty good.

Speaker 1 12:32

I'm glad we saw it I am too, and um, that happened because of jacob moon how about that yeah? I just finished watching and listen people, I am all about spoilers. Like I give spoilers, I give good spoiler. So if you have not finished watching the bear season four, I'm gonna ruin it oh yeah, so everybody out so I finished watching the bear season four, and here's what I have to say about the bear season four okay I liked it the least of the four seasons I see okay and the way this wraps up.

Speaker 1 13:30

And you know, in the other three seasons there was a certain plotting of it. It went on. You know each episode, each episode was thorough.

Speaker 2 13:46

Okay, I'm starting to understand where you're going with this, yeah.

Speaker 1 13:50

And had a particular arc and they'd hook you at the end to come and see the next one. But you were involved, you were deep in it with them. This season it felt like, okay, here's how this show works, here's what we do. We make thorough episodes that are plotting without being boring, right? Only they were boring and now it sounds.

Speaker 2 14:23

Now it seems formulaic rather than.

Speaker 1 14:26

I thought so yeah.

Speaker 2 14:27

I understand what you're saying and I found it thoroughly unsatisfying. And I don't disagree with any of that. Yeah.

TV Show Recommendations

Speaker 1 14:34

And when you get to the end of this season and we've been waiting for They've been winding us up for this- yeah, for a particular thing for since season three, what's gonna happen with the bear? Well, what happens with the bear? Is you keep thinking sydney's gonna leave? Maybe go work at that other restaurant right, the shapiro, or this one, or that one's going to leave, or whatever, or they're going to get shut down because of fiscal matters. No, carmi leaves.

Speaker 2 15:14

Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:16

And that's what all that stuff at the end was building up to, where he would like say no, well, do it your way, do it your way.

Speaker 2 15:24

Right. To each of the chefs yeah, and anything he says Because he's like here, get used to doing it your way, because my way is not going to be here.

Speaker 1 15:33

Well, of course, that's what we find out in the end, yeah, and I feel like I'm gone. They lost me.

Speaker 2 15:41

You know it was kind of a trick because you thought, oh wait a minute. For some reason he's like loosening up a bit here and it's going to get a little. You know, the atmosphere is going to change a little in the kitchen. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 16:02

And but that's. Yeah, it's going to change, but not for the reasons. We thought it was a trick and it was a good one. Well, I think Jeremy Allen White probably has an offer to do some big movie that's going to pay whatever $30 million, which wouldn't surprise me at all, and maybe he is leaving the show. Unfortunately, he is the show.

Speaker 3 16:28

Yeah, unfortunately he is the show.

Speaker 2 16:29

Yeah, he is the bear, he is and we love sid.

Speaker 1 16:32

We love these characters, but we love them as a family and I have no interest in, unless you know they could be setting us up for something else where Carmi does stay in it and he can't leave, and yadda, yadda, yadda.

Speaker 2 16:49

Yeah, right, which I sort of expect right.

Speaker 1 16:53

Right.

Speaker 2 16:54

Because picking it up and moving stakes to another place with an all-new group of people, that's not smart.

Speaker 1 17:02

Right.

Speaker 2 17:03

Yeah.

Speaker 1 17:05

So well, anyway, that's my what I've been watching.

Speaker 2 17:09

Gotcha.

Speaker 1 17:10

Let's see Story Now. One little thing I've got to mention here. It's so stupid. This happened locally. This was in Centerville, when you get the best pies. Oprah's favorite pies.

Speaker 2 17:30

Okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 17:33

So a Dodge Charger Plowed through a power line which sparked a fire and, tragically, took out a house. Oh no, yeah sparked a fire and tragically took out a house. Oh no, yeah. But what did the driver do? What any person in Cape Cod would do Ran away, oh God. Ditched the car and literally ran away, oh wow, and he was found.

Speaker 2 18:05

Oh, no, kidding yeah.

Speaker 1 18:06

In a hole somewhere.

Speaker 2 18:08

Wow.

Speaker 1 18:10

Wearing koala slippers.

Speaker 2 18:13

Well, no wonder he didn't want to be caught.

Speaker 1 18:15

Exactly, and that's the whole story, right there.

Speaker 2 18:19

Okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 18:20

It's. Some guy got in his car in koala slippers.

Speaker 2 18:24

Right.

Speaker 1 18:26

Now. I want koala slippers now. Okay, I mean, I guess you can have bunny slippers, you can have koala slippers, right. You sure can yeah, Anyhow like that.

Speaker 2 18:41

Yeah, like that Wow. Wow, that's weird, weird, that's very weird really they're doing.

Speaker 1 18:49

This happened in new york at some point. Now this is happening in nantucket. They're drug testing the sewer pipes oh, yeah, yeah and so they are charting seasonal drug trends. Ah so what are we finding in our wastewater in Nantucket?

Speaker 2 19:13

A lot of cocaine.

Speaker 1 19:14

Cocaine, fentanyl, meth and nicotine.

Speaker 2 19:18

Okay.

Speaker 1 19:20

You and I were just talking about cigarettes. Yep, yeah, and what it costs to smoke now 75 bucks a carton.

Speaker 2 19:28

Absolutely insane, right yeah?

Speaker 1 19:30

And people do it. And then I was thinking wait, that would have been at the peak of my smoking horror 150 bucks a week.

Speaker 2 19:39

Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:40

And I'm thinking gosh, that doesn't sound. I hate to say this, but that doesn't sound so horrible. I mean $150 is.

Speaker 2 19:54

It's not the same now as it was back then.

Speaker 1 19:56

No, that is for sure, it's dinner for two.

Speaker 2 19:59

Yeah.

Speaker 1 20:00

Things are ridiculous.

Speaker 2 20:01

Yeah. Yeah, it is not at all the same.

Speaker 1 20:06

All right. So Shark Week? Yeah, okay, they're here. Whatever I played down, it's not that I played down, I don't get into like shark talk on Cape Cod, yeah yeah, I think it's just so overblown and I think that if you're wise, right and you swim where you're supposed to, yep, stay away from where the seals are, if you see them I mean swim in the bay yeah you know, and if you're going to go to the ocean, don't swim out far, don't get on a paddle board.

Speaker 2 20:52

And don't go.

Speaker 1 20:53

I personally say stay away from Long Island Sound.

Speaker 2 20:58

Or once again.

Speaker 1 20:59

If you are going there, be wise.

Speaker 2 21:01

Well, Long Island Sound is a nursery for great white sharks that's correct so and this july they have found that out, that is, I mean, they're breeding them. They're like crazy.

Speaker 1 21:14

That's where they're coming from, a big chunk of them well, this happened off nauset, okay, so on the lower cape there were a group of hammerheads that appeared.

Speaker 2 21:31

No way.

Speaker 1 21:33

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:34

Oh, wow, how cool.

Speaker 1 21:36

And not far behind them there was a great white pinged. It had been tagged 13 feet.

Speaker 2 21:50

Wow.

Speaker 1 21:51

So we're getting some serious shark situations.

Speaker 2 22:02

Last year, I think it was we had an orca around the neighborhood too. Too, that was cruising down ended up being seen around Chatham.

Speaker 1 22:10

Right.

Speaker 2 22:11

Yeah.

Speaker 1 22:11

Well, that's your seal, that's where you want to stay away.

Speaker 2 22:15

Yep.

Speaker 1 22:17

Now, michael, you will love this, because there was a paddleboard panic at Woods Hole. And two college students and I told you stay off the darn paddleboards.

Speaker 2 22:28

Yeah.

Speaker 1 22:28

They were paddleboarding off Woods Hole and they ran into a great white. Great yeah, and they, fortunately it was feet. The dorsal fin it was feet away. The dorsal fin was like feet away.

Speaker 2 22:48

Wow.

Speaker 1 22:49

From their boards, but they paddled back safely, which is a miracle, because sharks love them. A paddle board.

Speaker 2 22:57

Well, that shape looks just like a seal.

Speaker 1 23:00

Yep.

Speaker 2 23:00

From underneath.

Speaker 1 23:01

But they nicknamed him what. I'll give you one guess.

Speaker 2 23:06

Bruce.

Speaker 1 23:07

Steve.

Speaker 2 23:08

Steve.

Speaker 1 23:12

Oh, that would have been my next guess. And so it's like you know what. The waters around here are looking more and more like vineyard vines or nautica. It's like dorsal fins everywhere.

Speaker 2 23:26

Wow, oh, I would have loved to have seen hammerheads. Yeah, that would have been so cool.

Speaker 1 23:33

Well, you would need to go back to the beach with your darn camera and do it again.

Speaker 2 23:41

Yeah, well, you know that's one of my favorite beaches in the world too. Well, why aren't?

Speaker 1 23:46

you there first thing in the morning before all the lunkheads show up.

Speaker 2 23:51

Oh, I don't know yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 23:53

All right, one of my favorite things Do you know who Chris Flanagan is? You tend to know these things. He's a state rep okay um and he represents, like dennis, yameth and bruster all right, yeah, okay, yeah well he was. Have you heard about this? He was indicted for federal wired fraud no, oh man siphoning hba member funds 36 grand towards personal expenses, including his mortgage credit cards oh man and psychic services oh, lord services. Oh Lord so.

Speaker 2 24:45

Oh, I've seen him before.

Speaker 1 24:47

Do you know this guy?

Speaker 2 24:48

I've seen him on TV. I don't know if I've met him in person, but yeah, and I think.

Speaker 1 24:55

I voted for him. Oh great.

Speaker 2 24:56

Yeah.

Speaker 1 24:56

That's great, Michael. So yeah, Psychic hotline tips.

Speaker 2 25:00

Yeah, I didn't know. Yeah, because he said he's a Democrat. So I, you know, I'm running, that's the side I'm voting on and, um, wow, Well, that's terribly disappointing.

Speaker 1 25:13

Yeah, um it is.

Speaker 2 25:16

Yeah.

Speaker 1 25:17

But you know nothing.

Speaker 2 25:19

I mean it goes to show you you can't really demonize anybody for their political party. You know what I mean, because they're all. We're all. People are just. They can be awful, no matter who they are, no matter what they espouse.

Speaker 1 25:34

People are people.

Speaker 2 25:36

Yeah people.

Speaker 1 25:48

Yeah, on my birthday. A woman in centerville woke up at 2 30 am to a strange man standing silently in her bedroom.

Speaker 2 25:52

Oh nice, very. Oh, that's a very nice way to wake up and he took off.

Speaker 1 26:00

She, you know, sat up, flicked on the legs, started yelling whatever, whatever, and he took off.

Speaker 2 26:11

Wow, okay.

Speaker 1 26:13

And called the police and, of course, when they got there, you know, no one knows who he was, what he doing or where he went well that's the part of this I hate that's so weird and apparently there was an unlocked window. Huh that he got in.

Speaker 2 26:39

So, yeah, that explains why you sleep with your attack dogs and your cats, I'm sorry this was the windows I know, but you still, you can't do it well your guests can. I guess leave their doors open. Right.

Speaker 1 27:03

And we encourage that, you know, because it's not private.

Speaker 3 27:08

We want to get in. That's true, yeah.

Speaker 2 27:14

I mean, if you want to be in a room, you are going to have to go in.

Speaker 1 27:18

Well, yeah.

Speaker 2 27:19

And eventually come out.

Speaker 1 27:22

Now, do you know this comedian, robbie Witt?

Speaker 2 27:26

Nope.

Speaker 1 27:28

He's a California comedian. This is true. He had a bill, for his daughter had an emergency and she had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Speaker 2 27:47

Okay.

Speaker 1 27:49

And so he showed proof of insurance for the ambulance ride. This is on a video he did.

Speaker 2 27:57

Okay.

Speaker 1 27:58

His final bill, after he showed proof of insurance, went from $600 to $1,300.

Speaker 2 28:07

After insurance.

Speaker 1 28:09

So he ended up paying more because he was insured.

Speaker 2 28:14

That is insane.

Speaker 1 28:16

Yep.

Speaker 2 28:18

Oh my God, Yep.

Speaker 1 28:20

Oh, my God so the whole thing now in this country is beyond crazy.

Speaker 2 28:27

Yep, I agree.

Speaker 1 28:29

Venus Williams.

Speaker 2 28:33

Yeah, I saw her the other day Made a comeback at the.

Speaker 1 28:35

DC Open and she's 45.

Speaker 2 28:40

And she was playing women's singles Playing doubles right, oh, singles okay.

Speaker 1 28:44

When asked why she was making this comeback at age 45, she winked and said she needed the long-term coverage via COBRA.

Speaker 2 28:58

Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 29:00

Oh my God. Oh my god. She said, health insurance is still the real trophy.

Speaker 2 29:06

Wow, oh wow. That is so sad because I absolutely believe that IG too.

Speaker 1 29:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 29:13

Oh my god.

Speaker 1 29:15

Here's another one in case you didn't notice, this is a segment about stuff.

Speaker 2 29:21

Yeah, a stuff segment In.

Speaker 1 29:23

America.

Speaker 2 29:24

Yes, okay.

Speaker 1 29:25

Insurance.

Speaker 2 29:26

Yes.

Speaker 1 29:27

Yeah, ergo, doctor, doctor. Right, yeah, you know we think out every little nook and cranny of this show.

Speaker 2 29:35

Oh, we do, don't, we Don't think.

Speaker 1 29:37

There are no coincidences here.

Speaker 2 29:39

Oh, no, no, it's no, no, no, no not at all If you listen to it all together you might be able to understand the grand scheme.

Speaker 1 29:48

You might see a thread. Yeah, you might, you might not.

Speaker 2 29:52

I mean, we have some listeners out there who have, or have, come pretty close anyway to understanding the whole thing we do. Oh, yeah, okay, like Silver Lake, he's listened back to episode one.

Speaker 1 30:09

I think he's been through the whole catalog twice.

Speaker 2 30:12

Yeah.

Speaker 1 30:12

Although I haven't heard anything. John Baker, we're in a show together and I need you to get to me about our costumes for next week, all right. So Congress is battling right now because the ACA tax credit is expiring and they call this a pandemic era. Tax credit, now era. Really, we're done. Now. I have a very close friend who just had a horrendous COVID what do you call it? She had a bout with COVID.

Speaker 1 30:59

It's not like covid's over no, absolutely not and when they say pandemic era, like it was this time in the past right no, it's still the pandemic era well, whatever, yeah well, what it's so it's four years ago. Is that what we're talking about, when it was peaking?

Local Cape Cod Stories

Speaker 2 31:20

2020, 2021, yeah.

Speaker 1 31:22

Yeah, four years ago. That's not an era, I'm sorry. Whatever, anyway. So there was a tax credit on health insurance that's supposed to expire at the end of 2025. And with that renewal, millions of Americans with chronic illness hello could see premium surge.

Speaker 2 31:48

Do you know what the bill is?

Speaker 1 31:50

Go ahead.

Speaker 2 31:51

I don't know. Do you know what it is? Because I will tell you they have gone home until September.

Speaker 1 31:58

Uh-huh, Well, you know vacay and they need it.

Speaker 2 32:04

They work so darn hard. Oh, they left so that a vote wouldn't come up about the Epstein files. They shut it down, so they're all at home now. Yeah.

Speaker 1 32:17

Getting much needed rest.

Speaker 2 32:18

So if they didn't do this before they left, you know we might see maybe something by the end of the year with it. But you know hard to tell.

Speaker 1 32:25

Well, of course, it's insurers and hospitals in a tug of war with Republicans. Yeah, and premiums, as I was starting to say, are supposed to surge by thousands of dollars.

Speaker 2 32:41

Yep.

Speaker 1 32:44

Now, I can't do that, can you? No, not something I can do. Physicians nationwide are warning that prior authorizations and insurance denials delay critical scans and procedures. Happens all the time, yeah, and literally kill people.

Speaker 2 33:12

Yep absolutely. And the constant red tape shows insurers prioritize profit over lives, calling it a death sentence often I saw a tiktok from a microsurgeon yesterday who said that the uh, you know that someone needed some surgery on their brain and they needed two surgeries. And the insurance company said well, you know, they can have the one. And they said uh, and they said okay, go ahead and do it. And then they called and said nope, nope, nope, we're gonna want you to wait another couple months yeah, and they had already done it and the microsurgeon is like wait a minute, I am the one who schedules right

Speaker 1 33:53

I know when this is supposed to schedule.

Speaker 2 33:55

Yeah, I'm the one who says when this happens and the insurance company says, well, we ain't paying for it. Yeah, it's insane, they're practicing medicine.

Speaker 1 34:07

Oh, no, they're not. No, oh, you mean the insurance companies are practicing. Yes, they are. It's absolutely beyond, beyond. There were things that earlier in my life that I had to deal with and I would think, oh, someday it'll be better.

Speaker 2 34:29

No, it was better then. Yeah, some things.

Speaker 1 34:33

When I think about my insurance policies and what I paid a month. Yeah $1,300, which I thought was outrageous. Mm-hmm. Now, that would be a bargain If that's what I paid per year, right. Yeah $1,300 a month covered everything. No.

Speaker 2 34:56

No, not so much, not now yeah.

Speaker 1 34:58

No Oof, and now there's. Do you know about CrowdHealth?

Speaker 2 35:05

I don't know.

Speaker 1 35:05

All right, this is fun and you know, of course, comes as no surprise. Crowdhealth is a startup and it's community-funded medical plans and it's community funded medical plans. And members pay 55 bucks a month and chip in for others medical bills Right. So it's, it's this, basically you're paying into a, a pool that everybody can use for their medical expenses when they have to Right.

Speaker 2 35:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1 35:44

So you know, welcome your neighbor to your neighbor paying for your hernia surgery, provided you are under 40, a non-smoker with no allergies.

Speaker 2 36:01

Uh-huh.

Speaker 1 36:03

That's a lot of it.

Speaker 2 36:04

Yeah, yeah, that knocks most people out.

Speaker 1 36:09

Oh, it knocks out everyone. I know.

Speaker 2 36:12

Yeah, because I know very few people who don't have an allergy of some kind.

Speaker 1 36:16

Right and who are under 40. Yeah, also true yeah, oh, my God of some kind right and who are under 40? Yeah, also true, yeah, yeah, oh my god. So this show, the pit. Do you know that show? It's? What is his name? It's noah w right and so, and physicians are raving about it because they're saying it includes real life. I've watched all of this. I'm waiting for the next season. Real-life details, like doctors holding pee having to pee while saving lives and, in some cases, not being able to hold it anymore.

Speaker 1 37:11

Uh-huh yeah, so there are scenes of doctors wetting themselves in the pit.

Speaker 2 37:19

If you want to see that, yeah it's not really high on my list of want to see that. Yeah, yeah, it's not really high on my list.

Speaker 1 37:24

It's not Of things to see.

Speaker 2 37:25

No People peeing themselves. Sorry.

Speaker 1 37:31

Yeah.

Speaker 2 37:31

Okay, I mean I'm sure it's got an audience, but I'm not. I'm not it, not for that particular element anyway.

Speaker 1 37:38

Well, it's not like that's the whole show. Okay, it's a bunch of doctors trying to hold it in?

Speaker 2 37:44

Yeah no.

Healthcare and Insurance Crisis

Speaker 1 37:46

It's a great show with Noah Wiley. Watch it. Yeah, okay. I'm just saying yeah, all right.

Speaker 2 37:53

Okay, we got to get to the point I wanted to make here.

Speaker 1 37:56

All right, go ahead, we have our educational stuff we've got to do on the show Okay.

Speaker 2 38:02

We have to do it because we're the most educational show on the radio right now. Do you remember what was called the Tylenol murders?

Speaker 1 38:13

No.

Speaker 2 38:14

This was in 1982 in Chicago. Somebody put capsules of potassium cyanide into bottles of Tylenol and sent them all around the city of Chicago and 11 people died and the people that own Tylenol had to pull everything off the shelves everywhere. It cost them $100 million to do that and to start it up again, to get it back going again. And a few years later, in Seattle in 1987, it happened again. That's where I came in. I was telling you I'm peripherally involved in this because the whole country wasn't put on lockdown for the Tylenol thing then, it was just our area. But it was really, really nerve-wracking because we had a murderer running around killing people with cyanide and one lady who died. Her name was Sue Snow and she was the first one who was taken to the hospital and when they did a, an autopsy they didn't really find anything but her symptoms were of cyanide poisoning.

Speaker 2 39:45

Another man died and he his name was. What the heck was his name? Bruce, bruce, nickel. What the heck was his name? Bruce, bruce, nickel. And Bruce was a party guy. He was a heavy equipment operator, he was an alcoholic, he was married to a woman named Stella in 1976. And all they did together was party. But after a while, bruce had to get sober, so he quit. Had to get sober, so he, so he quit and, and you know, had to try to live in his life without booze. And his wife didn't like it. She didn't like that at all.

Speaker 1 40:31

This is weird yeah.

Speaker 2 40:34

So she put cyanide in his Tylenol and then a couple other bottles around the city of Auburn, washington, and she killed him and she got away with it. During the autopsy the person assisting the coroner said I smell bitter almonds. The coroner couldn't smell it.

Speaker 1 41:07

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2 41:08

But his assistant could Uh-huh, so they tested for cyanide.

Speaker 1 41:13

Right.

Speaker 2 41:17

And they found it. And then they also, because Sue Snow had the same symptoms, they tested her. She was jacked full of cyanide as well. Anyway, the whole point is this woman, stella, said to the cops I think my husband died by the same thing. Okay, and that's what got her caught.

Speaker 2 41:48

she's in prison for uh, 90 years now oh yeah, so I guess she, she's not gonna be able to do the crowdfunding she won't be able to do the crowdfunding thing, no, so I mean, that's mean, that's unfortunate, but yeah, and this is actually just, I think, in 20. Yeah, she's never going to get out, ever, ever, ever.

Speaker 1 42:06

Well, yeah, one would assume.

Speaker 2 42:08

Her daughter may have also been involved, however.

Speaker 1 42:12

Was she your girlfriend?

Speaker 2 42:14

No.

Speaker 1 42:14

Okay, no, no.

Speaker 2 42:16

My peripheral involvement was just in the fact that I actually lived in that area and not in the Seattle area, in the Auburn area, where all of this happened at the time, and it was freaky, it was really weird, but yeah, and they took all the Tylenol off the shelves again, but they kept it to Washington, at least at first, until they found out all this happened, and this happened because she pointed it out to the cops herself. I'm that he died this Because they ruled his death emphysema until they did the autopsy.

Speaker 1 43:05

Right.

Speaker 2 43:08

So she was getting away with it.

Speaker 1 43:11

Right Wonder why they did an autopsy.

Speaker 2 43:13

Because she mentioned it to the cops that he might have been poisoned by the cyanide killer. I don't understand.

Speaker 1 43:19

She was. Yeah, she mentioned it to the cops that he might have been poisoned by the cyanide killer. I don't understand she was, didn't she kill him?

Speaker 2 43:24

She killed him Right and pointed it out to the cops that he might have been killed by that cyanide killer. That's correct. She did exactly that.

Speaker 1 43:37

So she's a moron.

Speaker 2 43:38

Well, yeah, so she's a moron. Well, yeah, or you know, there's there's a lot of ego, and you know I, I can get away with this, I can pull this off, I'm smarter than all these people kind of things going on there too, and it didn't.

Speaker 1 43:50

It didn't work out that way for her I don't think most people who kill someone want to, or are in a position to, simply pick up where it left off and keep going through their lives.

Speaker 2 44:11

Well, there's at least one, because the original killer who tainted those bottles in Chicago has never been found. They don't have a suspect.

Speaker 1 44:25

Right. That doesn't mean that whoever this person is is simply. I think once you cross the Rubicon, something happens. Maybe you don't end up spending the rest of your life in jail.

Speaker 2 44:45

Hopefully not. Hopefully not Well, yeah, don't do it, and then you won't spend your time. You know you won't be in jail.

Speaker 1 44:52

No, but I mean, even if you do it and you don't get caught, you know something, you're unhinged, you're a lunatic. Killing someone isn't just a thing I know, but that you, some people do yeah, but for some people it is no, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 45:12

Yeah, I think a psychopath would not have any of the reactions you're expecting someone to have and I think most of them end up caught. A lot of them certainly do. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 45:24

They do Well.

Speaker 2 45:27

So how about that? How?

Speaker 1 45:30

about that.

Speaker 2 45:31

That's insane, isn't it? How about this, stella Nichols?

Speaker 1 45:35

So you know about.

Speaker 2 45:38

Hey, I just wanted to mention we don't have a lot of time left, by the way, Just so you know, yeah.

Speaker 1 45:44

I was going to tell you about the man who actually grew a brain worm.

Speaker 2 45:52

Which one? Robert Kennedy.

Speaker 1 45:53

No One who ate raw bacon.

Speaker 2 45:57

Oh, a German, oh one who ate, raw bacon, oh a German. And actually a worm did grow in his brain. Yeah, I know raw bacon, at least you know in the 80s when I passed through there and I had friends who were stationed there that would be on their breakfast.

Speaker 1 46:17

Great Ground up Great.

Speaker 2 46:18

Ground up.

Speaker 1 46:19

Great yeah.

Speaker 2 46:21

Not for me. I could never do that.

Speaker 1 46:24

This week we lost a real treasure, and he was 97 years old.

Speaker 2 46:35

Tom Lehrer.

Speaker 1 46:36

And gosh a long time ago.

Speaker 2 46:40

I have had the. I've been fortunate enough to see him in concert.

Speaker 1 46:46

You're kidding when.

Speaker 2 46:47

At Folklife Festival in Seattle many years ago. Yeah, it was awesome, I was so thrilled.

Speaker 1 46:53

Was Nichols there? Was she there? I don't think so, but it was in that area. Yeah, I don't know, she might have been there. Your friend.

Speaker 2 47:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1 47:02

Susan Nichols.

Speaker 2 47:05

No, Stella. Stella Susan Snow was one of the people she killed.

Speaker 1 47:08

Oh, I get them mixed up every time. Well, here's Tom Lehrer, who we lost this week doing Vatican rag.

Speaker 3 47:20

And that's the same day as the birthday of Stephen Sondheim.

Speaker 1 47:23

Andrew Lloyd.

Tom Lehrer's Mathematical Songs

Speaker 3 47:24

Webber and Richard Wagner. I hope you astrologers will have fun with that one, anyway, yeah, so okay, I guess I can see over this, that's fine. So Bob Austin would call me to see if I would dig out some of the exhume, some of the old math songs from the old old days. So I came up with four and one more recent one, the. I first intersected with Cap in the summer of 1943. I took two courses from him at Harvard. He was then let's see, it was 54 years ago, so he would have been 26, and I was four. And one of them was algebra, which, as I recall I may be wrong, but I don't think you could call it algebra then, because that was like a high school subject, like civics, but they called it higher algebra or, in the case of Berkhoff and McLean, modern algebra. So I think now they have post-modern algebra. I think I haven't kept up with that. So anyway, that didn't lead to any songs For one thing, nothing rhymes with algebra, does it?

Speaker 3 48:33

Is there anything that rhymes with algebra? I've never been able to find one. But this is a challenge. Think about that tonight.

Speaker 3 48:40

But the other one was freshman calculus, and that did lead to a song which is here somewhere. It was set to a tune which, fortuitously enough, is this is the definition of the derivative, and the tune, fortuitously enough, is called There'll Be Some Changes Made, 1923. You take a function of x and you call it y. Take any x naught that you care to try. You make a little change and call it delta x. The corresponding change in y is what you find next. And then you take the quotient and now carefully send delta x to zero, and I think you'll see that what the limit gives us, if our work all checks, is what we call dy, dx. It's just dy, dx, it's just the y, the x. Okay, see, it all wasn't worth it.

Speaker 3 49:46

Then, a little later, we got more sophisticated and got into deltas and epsilons, and so that prompted another song called there's a Delta. For it varies a lot. When I move my head, what should I do? Sing like that? All right, I'll try and keep my head down. This is called there's a Delta for Every Epsilon. It's a political song. There's a delta for every epsilon. It's a fact that you can always count upon. There's a delta for every epsilon. And now and again there's also an N. But one condition I must give the epsilon must be positive, a lonely life. All the others live In Otheorem. A delta for them. How sad, how cruel, how tragic, how pitiful and otheragic, tis that I might mention. The matter merits our attention. If an epsilon is a hero Just because he is greater than zero, it must be mighty discouraging to lie to the left of the origin. This rank discrimination is not for us. We must fight for an enlightened calculus where epsilons all, both minus and plus, have deltas to call their own. Okay, then a bunch of us, when I was a graduate student, did a show called the Physical Review. It was supposed to be the last class of an elementary physics lecture and the professor played himself. I changed the words a little bit to fit mathematics. Not much, I suppose. Nowadays, when people think of Harvard and mathematics, they naturally think of Ted Kaczynski, but in those days. Okay, this tune for this. If there's any non-Gilbert and Sullivan buffs here, the tune is King Gamma's song from Princess Ida by Gilbert and Sullivan buffs. Here, the tune is King Gama's song from Princess Ida by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Speaker 3 52:08

If you give me your attention, I will tell you what I am. I'm a brilliant mathematician, also something of a ham. I've tried for numerous degrees In fact I've one of each. Of course that makes me eminently qualified to teach. I've tried for numerous degrees In fact I've one of each. Of course that makes me eminently qualified to teach.

Speaker 3 52:21

I understand the subject matter thoroughly, it's true, and I can't see why it isn't all as obvious to you. Each lecture is a masterpiece, meticulously planned, yet everybody tells me that I'm hard to understand and I can't think why. And I can't think why. My diagrams are models of true art, you must agree, and my handwriting is famous for its legibility. Take a word like. I've got to do this minimum. It's always one of my favorite words to write on the Fourier series. Okay, where was I? Take a word like minimum. To choose a random word For anyone to say he cannot read. That is absurd. The anecdotes I tell get more amusing every year, though, frankly, what they go to prove is sometimes less than clear, and all my explanations are quite lucid, I am sure. Yet everybody tells me that my lectures are obscure and I can't think why. For example, take differentiation. It's as simple as can be, like finding the derivative of tangent x. Let's see, it's tangent squared. No, no, no, secant squared, no, no, it's just secant. I'll bet the sign in front is plus or is it minus? I forget? Well, it does have a derivative Of that. There is no doubt. All these formulas are trivial if you only think them out. Yet students tell me, I have memorized the whole term through Everything you've taught us, but the problems I can't do and I can't think why. He can't think why? That's it. Okay, that's the nice one, right? Okay, that's a nice. Oh yeah, the.

Speaker 3 54:26

For nine years I taught in the political science department at MIT, believe it or not, teaching the quantitative courses. Those were the days of mathematical models and statistics. Those were the days I think it still is true when social science was trying very hard to justify the word science. One of the ways you do that is by introducing jargon which nobody can understand. You know, if this young man expresses himself in terms too deep for me, then what a singularly deep young man this deep young man must be. And the other is to use mathematics and that's what they were trying to do, and I think there's still people who are laboring under this delusion in social sciences anyway, that you can make it into a science, however.

Speaker 3 55:05

So I wrote this song. It's a parody called sociology. Now, mit did not have a sociology department that hadn't sunk that low, but they sociology was included in political science and that was a better title for a song. So this is a song about that phenomenon of trying to mathematize social science. It's called Sociology. The tune is a song called Choreography which was sung by Danny Kaye in a movie called White Christmas by Irving Berlin. Movie called White Christmas by Irving Berlin. Strange is the change they are trying to arrange today in sociology. Fanatics in their attics are learning mathematics just for sociology. Persuasion by equation, they all feel, is much more satisfactory.

Speaker 3 56:18

They in an ivory steeple far away from all people they do research in sociology. Guys who wrote lies now present them in disguise. A cinch in sociology attract quite abstract without one single fact is blended sociology. Birds who used words now all talk in terms of X and Y and Z. They can take one small matrix and really do great tricks all in the name of sociology.

Speaker 3 56:54

Joes who wrote prose now write algebra. Who who knows it may be sociology. They're Everywhere full of Sigma and chi-square and full of sociology. They consult, sounding occult, talking like a mathematics PhD. They can snow all their clients by calling it science although it's only sociology.

Speaker 3 57:31

Okay, now, what else do? I have One more here I found in the files. Oh, this is a fairly recent one. Actually A number of years ago the Children's Television Workshop decided to have a program to teach math to little kids and it was going to be called Best Mathematics, and I wrote a song for it. They changed the title, however, to Square One TV and they didn't use the song. So it went back in the trunk.

Speaker 3 57:58

And then, 1993, for the Ferma Bacchanal, bob called me and said do you have anything? And I dug this song out and they wouldn't allow us to use the tune which was for the song called that's Entertainment by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Deeds. So I had to write another tune, tune, and I also added a little verse about Andrew Wiles to make it appropriate called that's Mathematics. It's for little kids, remember, except for the Andrew Wiles part.

Speaker 3 58:29

Counting sheep when you're trying to sleep, being fair, when there's something to share, being neat, when you're folding a sheet, that's mathematics. When a ball bounces off of a wall, when you cook from a recipe book, when you know how much money you owe, that's mathematics. How much gold can you hold in an elephant's ear? When it's noon on the moon, then what time is it here? If you could count for a year, would you get to infinity or somewhere in that vicinity. Oh, when you choose how much postage to use, when you know what's the chance it will snow, when you bet and you end up in debt, oh, try as you may, you just can't get away from mathematics. Andrew Wiles gently smiles, does his thing and voila.

Speaker 3 59:37

QED. We agree and we all shout hurrah as he confirms what Fermat jotted down in that margin which could have used some enlarging. Tap your feet keeping time to the beat of a song.