Useless Information Podcast
Podcasting since 2008! - It really is all true! Quirky, bizarre, and unusual stories from the Flip Side of History.
Episodes
May 18, 2023 • 51 mins
Something NEW! for the podcast: A look at advice columns and how they have evolved over time. Have the questions and responses changed over the past century? Some of the responses are sure to make you laugh.
Images, links, and transcripts for this podcast can be found at https://uselessinformation.org/dubious-advice-podcast-197
The Useless Information Podcast is a member of the Airwave Media podcast network. Visit https://www.airwa...
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May 3, 2023 • 35 mins
Frasier was a decrepit old circus lion whose best days were far behind him, or at least that was what his caregivers believed. While he wasn’t much to look at, he proved popular with the lionesses. Frasier showed the world that it was better to be a lover than a fighter by surprisingly fathering 35 cubs during the last 18 months of his life. His virility made him famous worldwide. Fan clubs, Frasier merchandise, songs, and a movie ...
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April 19, 2023 • 42 mins
In this episode: a train that derailed and then jumped back on the track, a man who claimed ownership of nearly the entire universe, a bet in which the loser would have to eat 1 million peas, and much more!
Link to the auction of the Einstein letter: https://bit.ly/3LazYrx
Images, links, and transcripts for this podcast can be found at https://uselessinformation.org/retrocast-17-podcast-195/
The Useless Information Podcast is a mem...
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April 3, 2023 • 29 mins
In 1923, Kathleen Morrell was arrested by Chicago police for having five children out of wedlock. She was an excellent mother, but as an unmarried woman, she was charged with contributing to the delinquency of her own children. Would a judge really place her kids in an orphanage? Listen to learn more.
The survey discussed in the podcast can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/airwave
Images, links, and transcripts for this p...
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March 20, 2023 • 31 mins
In this episode: a man who recorded the location of buried treasure on a record, a girl who swallowed 200 rocks, a color-blind plumber, the history of McDonald’s Big Mac, and much more!
Images, links, and transcripts for this podcast can be found at https://uselessinformation.org/retrocast-16-podcast-193/
The Useless Information Podcast is a member of the Airwave Media podcast network. Visit https://www.airwavemedia.com/ to listen ...
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March 6, 2023 • 27 mins
Ouch!!! The ghastly true story of Bertha Boronda who, in 1907, took a straight razor and sliced off her husband Frank’s penis. During her trial, the courtroom was packed, and all the regional newspapers followed the story closely. She was the Lorena Bobbitt of her day.
Images, links, and transcripts for this podcast can be found at https://uselessinformation.org/bertha-boronda-podcast-192/
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February 14, 2023 • 30 mins
In this episode: A man who eats match heads, a wife receives a frozen baby elephant for Valentine’s Day, every kiss supposedly knocks 3 minutes off of your life, a couple who waited 60 years to marry, a 10-year-ban is proposed to curb the spread of tuberculosis, and much more!
Link to the survey discussed in this episode: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/airwave
Images, links, and transcripts for this podcast can be found at https://...
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February 2, 2023 • 25 mins
The crazy true story of Marty, a mouse who was stealing marijuana and other drugs from the evidence room of the San Jose police department in 1974. He was placed on trial for his crimes and then sent off to a lab for testing. Protestors rallied to free Marty. Bumper stickers were printed, Free Marty tee-shirts were sold, there was a Marty fan club, and Marty Mouse awards were handed out at a banquet.
Images, links, and transcripts ...
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January 19, 2023 • 28 mins
In this episode: A man claims his wife snores in Morse code, a student runs away after his teacher tells him not to return until he brings his textbook, a man hitchhikes after his car is stolen and is picked up by his own vehicle, the AMA recommends those over 40 not do the Twist, and much more!
Images, links, and transcripts for this podcast can be found at https://uselessinformation.org/retrocast-14-podcast-189/
The Useless Infor...
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January 9, 2023 • 36 mins
Inflation in the United States hit 20% shortly after World War II. The government couldn’t get it under control, so the businessmen of Newburyport, Massachusetts came up with their own plan. Soon, other towns and cities were doing the same. Did it work? Could it work today? Listen to find out.
Images, links, and transcripts for this podcast can be found at https://uselessinformation.org/the-newburyport-anti-inflation-plan-podcast-1...
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December 20, 2022 • 22 mins
Ten true, long-forgotten stories from Christmas past! A man pays for 41,000 student accounts at a closed Pittsburgh bank, a Christmas cactus theft epidemic, a wife serves her husband golf ball hash, two boys are contacted by Santa via their walkie-talkies, and much more!
Links to the text of each of these stories can be found at https://uselessinformation.org/christmas-retrocast-podcast-187/
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December 15, 2022 • 36 mins
In this episode, my wife Mary Jane joins me to review the 1947 classic Christmas movie "The Bishop’s Wife," starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven. Released just one year after the classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” we discuss whether this movie is of the same caliber. And even if it isn’t, is the movie worth seeing?
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December 5, 2022 • 61 mins
December 24, 2022, marks the bicentennial of the classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas. Pamela McColl, author of the new book Twas the Night, The Art and History of the Classic Christmas Poem, joins me to discuss the origins of the poem, the debate over who truly wrote it, and how it has gone on to be the most published and most often recited poem in the library of English literature.
Transcript, images, and links for this e...
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November 18, 2022 • 66 mins
In this third and final segment, 93-year-old Marvin Lautzenheiser discusses his reasons for leaving the FBI, his 17 years consulting with the Pentagon to model future nuclear wars, his patents that are still used today for computer storage, plus you will get to hear music being played on his monster-sized theater organ that he installed in his home.
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November 3, 2022 • 56 mins
In this second segment, 93-year-old Marvin Lautzenheiser discusses his time as an FBI field agent in Charlotte, how his team finally deciphered the hollow nickel message after years of numerous failed attempts, how he avoided testifying at Rudolph Abel's trial, and offers up his opinion on the Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies.
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October 21, 2022 • 60 mins
93-year-old Marvin Lautzenheiser was the lead cryptanalyst for the FBI team that deciphered the microfilm message contained in the Hollow Nickel (Podcast #168) and was asked to testify at the trial of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. In this first segment, Marvin discusses growing up during the Great Depression and how a chance question at his college graduation led him to the FBI.
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October 7, 2022 • 35 mins
The long-forgotten story of a major battle that took place over Los Angeles just a few months after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was but a brief blip in the global conflict, yet the US used all its might in an attempt to shoot down the enemy planes that were detected overhead. The sky was set ablaze with exploding shells as searchlights focused their beams and tracked the enemy aircraft high above.
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September 22, 2022 • 82 mins
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was a tragic day for the United States. But what else was happening on November 22, 1963? This first episode of the Useless Information YesterCast explores the rest of the happenings of that day, including the top movies, songs, and TV shows.
Included are a number of quirky and offbeat stories, including that of a man who took an ad out in the newspaper seeking an elephant, a man who m...
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September 7, 2022 • 58 mins
In this episode, my wife Mary Jane joins me to review the 1944 classic movie "Gaslight." Starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotton, and Angela Lansbury (in her film debut), it is from this movie that the term “gaslighting” originated. It’s a psychological thriller in which the viewer is witness to a woman being intentionally driven to madness by her husband so that he can carry out his sinister plan.
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August 15, 2022 • 91 mins
Russell Sage was once one of the wealthiest men in the world. He was ruthless in business and was said to hate philanthropy, upper education, and women. When he passed away in 1906, his wife Olivia got even by giving away nearly every penny of his fortune to the causes that Sage despised. Historian Kathy Sheehan joins me to tell the true story of Russell Sage.
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