Cheese, Chickens, and a Jackpot

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Your cheese might be hiding more than flavor. We dig into new research showing widespread microplastics in dairy—why aged cheeses often carry higher particle counts than fresh, how packaging and processing contribute, and a few low-effort habits (like switching to glass for hot foods) that meaningfully shrink daily exposure without forcing you to give up the foods you love. This isn’t alarmism; it’s practical steps to reduce a dose we’re all already getting.

Then we pivot to a branding shocker: Long John Silver’s leaning into chicken and reworking its logo. We unpack what a seafood chain’s clucking signal means for fast-food identity, how market gravity pulls legacy brands off course, and why a logo only works if the menu and experience back it up. If nostalgia made you love the golden fish, can a spicy chicken plank earn the same loyalty—or does the switch dilute the promise? We talk product quality, rollout timing, and the tightrope between evolution and confusion.

Finally, we head to the foothills of Altadena, where Powerball winner Edwin Castro is buying wildfire-scorched lots with plans to rebuild single-family homes. We explore what responsible redevelopment looks like: fire-resistant materials, defensible space, modern codes, and design choices that foster real community rather than speculation. Money can speed permits and framing, but trust depends on transparency, fair deals with sellers, and homes that add safety and belonging.

Along the way, we share a quick weekend recap, shout out a favorite performer, and leave you with a seasonal prompt to join the conversation. If you enjoyed the ride from kitchen to curb to community, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review—then tell us: which story changed how you’ll eat, shop, or build next?

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Well, happy Tuesday, and I hope y'all had a great
three-day week, a three-dayweekend.
Some of y'all may have had afour-day weekend, but anyway,
welcome back to the podcast.
Today I have three stories foryou.
Of course I do.
Has nothing to do with what'sgoing on in the mainstream media
news.
You know how I work.
I give you or try to search andgive you the news that no one

(00:24):
else is talking about.
But I will say this.
How about that, Donald J.
Trump?
How about that?
Good for him.
Thank you, Donald J.
Trump.
All the hostages are home.
Now let's go to work.
If you know what I'm saying, andI think you do.
Alright, first story up here.
Uh let's see.
Your cheese is teeming, and theyspell teeming T-E-E-M-I-N-G with

(00:51):
microplastics.
Which kinds are worst?
That's what the headline reads.
Now, I'm sure you've heard aboutall this microplastics in
everything these days.
We've switched from ourTupperware.
Well, I have, I switched myTupperware to glass.
We still use the Tupperware forsome things, but uh when you're
putting warm stuff in or heatingstuff up, we're using glass.

(01:14):
Now, I mean that's a smallchange.
I don't know if it really helpsor not.
I don't know.
But now we're talking aboutcheese.
Now I like cheese.
A study out of Italy found thatnearly all dairy products
contain microplastics.
Well, there's one reason to getrid of dairy.
Although I love dairy.
I love me a good glass of milk.

(01:35):
I love chocolate milk, which nowI have to not give chocolate
milk to the child anymore, tothe uh to the grand cam.
And there are way more in cheesethan regular old milk.
But not all cheese is createdequal.
Some varieties have moreparticles than others.
Let's find out which one withouthaving to go through this whole

(01:57):
article, because you know howthey are.
They expand and repeateverything.
Researchers at the University ofPadua analyzed 28 dairy samples,
including milk and severalcheeses, and discovered
microplastics in all but two ofthem.
The most common kinds ofmicroplastics were PET, all
right, here we go, polypolyethylene and polypropylene,

(02:20):
which are often found in foodpackaging.
But the authors note that that'snot the only way plastic might
be seeping in.
And then it goes on and tellsyou how other things, you know,
other ways that it can get in.
Packaging, uh, cartons andwrappers, some possible sources
suggest, you know, the feed thatthey feed the cattle, the
milking equipment, blah, blah,blah.

(02:42):
And the type of dairy you choosecan make a big difference in how
microplastics you're ingesting.
I love that because they justassume we're all the ingesting
microplastics.
Milk was found to have just 350particles per kilogram, way less
than over way less than the over1,000 particles per kilogram

(03:05):
found in cheese.
Well, there you go.
And fresh cheese is lesscontaminated than ripened
cheese.
Was just 1,280 particles perkilogram compared to ripens,
1,857, but it's still a lot.
Fresh cheese is made from yeah,we know what fresh cheese is
made from.

(03:26):
Well, you can finish, you can goread that.
Take it for what it's worth.
Be careful with your cheeses,okay?
All right, let's move on to thenext article that I have for
you.
And it is Long John Silvers haschanged their logo.
Can you believe this?
I don't know if this is a realstory.
I don't know.
I'm gonna have to drive by ourLong John Silvers to see if

(03:48):
they've changed their logos tosee if this is real.
This is crazy because Long JohnSilvers is a fish restaurant.
They've changed the logo from afish to a chicken.
Come on.
Long John Silvers just ditchedits fish logo because fried
chicken has taken over fastfood.
What the cluck?
That's what they start off with.
Ordering chicken at a seafoodchain may sound like a real fish

(04:12):
out of water scenario, unlessyou're at Long John Silvers,
apparently.
As fried chicken continues toreign over the fast food world,
the 56-year-old fast seafoodjoint has opted to update its
brand from surf to turf.
Famous for its old-fashioned frybaskets, Long John Silvers has

(04:33):
dropped the golden fish emblemfrom its logo and swapped it
with the chicken.
What in the world?
They also added the phrasechicken and seafood to the
rebranded logo.
In the c why then you're notLong John Silvers anymore.
Long John Silvers is supposed tobe a fish place, not chicken.
What are you doing?

(04:54):
In the coming months the newlogo will roll out across
properties and materials, thoughit has already been changed on
Long John Silver's officialwebsite and social media
accounts.
Well then we can go find outthat for ourselves if they've
really done that.
And I wonder if they're gettingany backlash yet.
The change comes as therestaurant undergoes product

(05:14):
testing at the flagship locationin Louisville, Kentucky, which
has recently featured severalnew poultry dishes alongside
their classics, chicken planks,including spicy Nashville hot
chicken.
Oh, so they're just changing.
They're gonna be a competitionfor a KFC maybe?
I don't know.
A spokesperson for Long JohnSilvers told the post that the

(05:35):
new branding and refresheddesign will be used moving
forward to highlight our chickenofferings.
What are you doing, Long JohnSilvers?
You're I mean, whatever.
Not that I've ever I haven'teaten in a Long John Silvers in
probably over a decade.
I mean, really.
And I'm still not gonna eatthere just because they offer
chicken.
No, I did like their fried chicktheir fried fish when I did eat

(05:58):
there.
I don't know.
Of course, it's totally bad foryou, but anyway.
Moving on to the next story.
This one, the headline I foundreally interesting.
I haven't read the article, sowe're gonna read it together.
But the headline itself is whatgot me.
So let's see.
No, we gotta wait for an ad.

(06:19):
Your content will resume in 12seconds.
Okay, so sorry about theadvertisement that popped up.
Uh, I hope you all had a goodweekend.
We went to Tunica.
Uh we did our regular thing leftFriday afternoon.
Okay, here we go.
Ready?
Okay, Powerball winner EdwinCastro is spending millions

(06:39):
buying lots that were torched inthe LA wildfires.
Wow.
Okay, I don't know how what tothink about this.
When Edward when Edwin Castrostepped out of the shadows as
the winner of the largestPowerball jackpot in the U.S.
history, he stayed mostly quiet,letting his new multimillion

(07:02):
dollar homes and collection ofvintage Porsches do the talking.
But in the wildfire ravagedhills of Altadena, California,
the quiet didn't last.
Castro, who won a record twopoint billion powerball jackpot,
has spent roughly 10 millionbuying up fifteen fire torched

(07:25):
properties in his hometown ofAltadena with plans to rebuild
homes where thousands once stoodbefore January's wildfires
devastated the Foothillscommunity.
This is for a family that wantsto move in, Castro told the Wall
Street Journal on a recent walkthrough one of the neighborhoods
reduced to ash.

(07:46):
Those are the those are thepeople that need to be looked
out for right now.
So apparently he's using it forgood.
The 33 I thought he was gonnasay he bought up all the lots
just to put up, you know, cheapwhatever.
The 33-year-old former Boy Scoutand architecture consultant who
once rented a room in Altadinabefore his lottery win, now

(08:10):
finds himself among the largestprivate landowners in town.
He's planning to build mostlysingle family homes, which is
good, including a personalresidence he described as Willy
Wonka-esque, complete withsecret underground rooms.
Oh, that doesn't sound good.
I want to have kids likeyesterday, he told the journal.

(08:31):
It's about family.
Family is important.
Castro is one of the severalinvestors purchasing lots from
displaced residents who opted tosell rather than face the
multi-year challenge ofrebuilding.
Well, there you have it.
Alright, moving on to thequestion of the day.
I guess I need to finish aboutour weekend.

(08:51):
Uh it was just a normal weekendthat we went to Tunicids like we
always do.
We get free room, free food.
We just pay for the gas moneyover there and whatever the gent
spends on playing cards one dayuh the the that were there.
We had fun playing jackpot, youknow, playing uh, you know what
they call them.

(09:11):
Oh my gosh, I can't think.
Slots.
Oh my gosh, what is wrong withme?
Um, and then we had we got tosee some entertainment.
There's a band over there thatwe like to see when we're over
there.
He is his name is Phil Vaught,V-A-U-G-H-T.
Look him up online.
He's a good good guy, good, goodconservative value guy.

(09:31):
And his voice is amazing.
I don't know why he's not biggerthan anybody is.
Uh, he's a really good singer.
All right, so uh that's it fornow.
We gotta go.
I gotta go.
So thanks for listening.
Oh, I guess I need a question ofthe day, don't I?
All right, question of the day.
Alright, so Halloween is comingup.
What was your favorite Halloweencostume when you were a kid?

(09:53):
I know I've probably asked thisquestion before, but there you
have it.
I'm also gonna ask thisquestion.
I want to take uh the grandcamtrick-or-treating this year, but
I want to dress up with them andI want the gent to dress up with
us too.
So what could we go as?
I'm thinking men in black andhave the grandcam being being

(10:14):
the alien and the gent and Icould be the men in black, but
that means the gent would haveto go buy a suit, and we don't
want to have to do all that.
Uh, because he's you know, he'sfunny about wearing suits and
his certain sizes and stuff.
Um, and we don't want to have todo all that now.
So what is an easier what's aneasier costume that we could do?

(10:34):
Okay, I gotta go.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.