Interesting If True

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that gives you a proper fright… and that’s before we get to the ghost stories.

I'm your host this week, Aaron, and with me is Shea!

I'm Shea, and this week I learned that people taking livestock medicine do so, because they want to be in stable condition.

This Week’s Beer

307 from Black Tooth Brewing

* Aaron: 7* Shea: 6

We're Ready To Believe You

Ghost Stories

Of the 18th and a half century... Duck Dodgers could only wish they were this cool.

The search for specters has long enthralled the world. That glimpse, however brief, beyond the vale. To rest assured in the knowledge that there is an afterlife — and that you can exploit it for quick fame and financial favor. To look upon the infinite unknown and say to yourself "yeah, I can probably use this to throw rocks at people"...

'Tis a time honored quest you know.

And so it was in 18th century, in the Southeast Australian State of Victoria anyway...

Common amusements of the era, ghost stories became a cultural focus in Australia following a June 9th, 1860, lecture at the Mechanics Institute in Melbourne. A packed house had come to see Archibald Michie speak on the subject of ghosts and hauntings. He argued that while a man "may be wiser", having "read physiology, … studied insanity and the various forms of delusion springing from morbid action of the brain" such a man,

has lost forever the supernatural shudder, the terrifically delicious creeping of the hair, and the heart coming up into the mouth, attendant on his listening to, or reading of, for the first time, a good authentic, and by justices of peace attested, ghost story. Waldron, 2014Archibald Michie

Basically, his take was that, while only a credulous idiot would buy into such obvious superstition, ghost stories as campfire entertainment... well that was down right delightful.

Soon after, David Blair, also of Melbourne gave a talk titled ‘A Plea for Ghosts’. His take was significantly more... Ghost-Hunters meets Christendom.

He was followed shortly thereafter by Dr. Hickson at the Mechanics Institute on 2, September 1864, whose talk boiled down to a ye-oldie smart-guy's version of "electricity is f*^&ing magic and might be ghost-force ya'll".

While I don't know if he was part of an eco-terrorist cell, living in Australia during the terrible times definitely makes him tuff enough to join Avalanche!

Still, Mako energy aside, ghosts remained entirely the stuff if the imagination and the public was enthralled because even literally nothing is more fun that watching your milk leg curddle. Stories of ghosts, apparitions, and other unexplainable phenomenon ran rampant and were the cornerstone of any good evening or social gathering.

For example, the story of a headless ghost animal that prowled the night, stocking victims in lonely alleyways, intent on making them its next, gruesome meal... throat-meal I suppose, being headless and all. That is, until the fearless night-watchers finally capture the beast, revealing it to be a cat with its head trapped in a lobster tin, which, dispassionately, was only cursed by way of not being able to put the video to ye-oldie YouTube. [Waldron, 15]

Or perhaps you prefer the story of a Castlemaine stockman terrified by the night-time violences visited upon travelers by a rule-63 Headless Horsewoman...

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that will help you lose weight… by making you lose your appetite.

I'm your host this week, Shea, and with me is:

I'm Aaron, and this week I learned that sex dolls are also alive in the Toy Story universe…

This Week’s Beer

Hitachino Nest Beer - Redrice Ale RR

* Aaron: 10* Shea: 10

Wicked Weightloss

Through a combination of poor self-care and anxiety, I have been able to lose quite a bit of weight over the pandemic. So much that I have had to add holes to my belt and have trouble keeping my pants up, I’m not bragging because I know that as soon as I start taking care of myself that weight will come back. But my baggy pants got me thinking, what are some other stupid ways to lose weight?

Whether it involves eating "miracle" foods or eating very little food there are various reasons why some of these diets are just the absolute worst. Alas, science proves time and time again that watching what you eat and moving more are the real miracle workers. Still, that doesn't prevent many—and we do mean MANY—fad diets from cropping up, sweeping the nation, and then disappearing into oblivion when they're rooted out as the false prophets they are. These diets attained the title of the absolute worst.

If you happen to live in close proximity to a swamp, your obesity might not be your fault. At least according to 17th-century writer Thomas Short who, (inexplicably) observed in his amazingly titled treatise, The Causes, and Effects of Corpulence, that fat people mostly live near swamps, and that moving away from said swamps would cause a decrease in body weight. Crazy? Probably. But it does explain Florida.

I’m sure you have all heard of the master cleanse where you drink lemon, honey, and cayenne and pretty much dehydrate yourself skinny, or the cabbage soup diet where you just eat cabbage soup until you're really sad and skinny but have you ever heard of the tapeworm diet?

The tapeworm diet works by swallowing a pill that has a tapeworm egg inside. When the egg eventually hatches, the tapeworm will grow inside your body and eat whatever you’re eating. The idea is that you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight because a tapeworm is eating all your “extra” calories.

There are a few different kinds of tapeworms, but it’s the beef tapeworm or, Taenia saginata, that is usually used in these sorts of quick weight-loss schemes. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, advertisements touted “easy to swallow,” “sanitized tapeworms” as a weapon against fat – “the ENEMY that is shortening your life,” as one vintage ad recently showcased by the National Women’s History Museum's website reads.

Capsules sold in the past by snake oil hucksters, and online today, likely contain the microscopic head of a Taenia saginata. When people would order from snake oil medicine kinds of people a weight loss pill, it would be the head of a Taenia saginata … and it would develop into a 30-foot-long tapeworm in your body, the worm would get into your gut – it’s got little hooks on the head – and it would grab onto your intestine and start growing. And, technically, this parasitic infection, called taeniasis, does cause weight loss. Tapeworms will cause you to lose weight because you have this huge worm in your intestines eating your food.

Diet historian Susan Yager, "just cannot believe" people would use tapeworms to shed pounds. Yager, who studied the history of diets in America for her 2010 book, “The Hundred-Year Diet: America’s Voracious Appetite for Losing Weight,

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that terrifies you with the miracle of birth!

I'm your host this week, Aaron, and with me are Shea, Jenn, and Steve!

I'm Shea, and this week I learned that if our ass was split horizontally, it would clap when you ran down the stairs.

And I'm Steve, and instead of reading the script, I'm going to yank on Shea's crumb-catcher.

I'm Jenn, did you know that Freddie Mercury was raised in the Zoroastrian faith? Also, go see Bohemian Rhapsody.

The dangerously stupid: it just gets worse and it’s BREEDING.

* http://bit.ly/2TdxvzI* http://bit.ly/2TjqA7Y* https://thebea.st/2Tiw7M4* http://bit.ly/2TgezQX* http://bit.ly/2TgTdTC

I’m beginning to find the GOOP quaint and almost helpful the more I learn about alternatives to alternative medicines. You know, fine, put some potentially harmful shit in your vagina, spend $800 on holistically harvested micro-ingredients to make a smoothie with no flavor, irritate everyone you encounter with your smug self-righteousness and BMI of 17. Just do you. I’m now currently here for it.

So why the slight change of heart? Why have I softened a bit on the GP? Let me explain this latest manure pile of fucking terrible I stumbled into and I think you’ll understand: I’m here to introduce you to the Freebirther movement, and the Free Birth Society specifically.

What exactly is freebirth? Freebirth, or ‘home birth without assistance’, is a still-rare but increasingly popular practice in the U.S. Thanks in large part to social media, the phenomenon has gone from a back-of-the-cab accident to a conscious “lifestyle choice”. In blog posts and viral videos, its adherents extoll the benefits of birthing at home or even ...ahem...in the wild. There are entire podcasts dedicated to freebirthing, with women discussing the “ecstatic” experience of giving birth in a snowed-in yurt or on a remote Hawaiian island.

One quick note: this is NOT about medically supervised home births. Those events can be a safe and positive experience if you're into the kind of thing that involves making another person. Per Bruce Young, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the NYU School of Medicine, roughly 80% of home births “go smoothly”, and for the remaining 20% midwives and doulas are on hand, and outside emergency care is sought when needed.

Back to the Free Birth Society: What is it? It’s an online group of adherents of this frightening nonsense that was started by Emilee Saldaya (a former home-birth midwife’s assistant turned “radical birth keeping” coach; more on her later). Per her lack-of-historical-health-context and understanding-of-irony website:

Free Birth Society is a movement of women reclaiming their autonomy during pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. You’re here because you’re an independent thinker and you know there is more to pregnancy and birth than what has been offered to you by the obstetrics and midwifery systems. You’re here because there’s a whisper (or a scream) inside you; a deep knowing that that(sic) there’s more to childbirth than the formulaic, generic, and regulated “care” that has become normalized in contemporary culture...

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that’s pretty sure you’re a witchy woman… yoo-hoo witchy woman…

It’s a written joke. About chocolate milk. Patrons will get it...

I'm your host this week, Aaron, and with me is Shea:

I'm Shea, and this week I learned that you can legally kill uninvited guests on your property in Texas but they wont let you get an abortion… This is weird because they are basically the same thing.

Single Fermented Belgian Golden Ale - Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat NV

Donated by Steve E

Style: Blonde Ale - Belgian

Ranked #6

* ABV: 6.8%* Score: 88* Aaron- 9* Shea- 9

Thanks to long-time listener, Steve-E!

Seriously, if you’re Steve-E this is episode like… 400...

Witchy Brewer

We talked about women being, historically speaking, the brewers of our species until very recent history. And we talked about sexist assholes assholing it up assholishly in print. This week, we're talking about medieval brewing and why it makes you a witch. A brew witch. Not the origin of "brew wench" so, sadly, no corsets in the patron section, but lots of beer fun... if you're a guy. So sign up for that... I guess.

A few weeks ago, 57 I think, we talked about sexism in brewing and at some point we talked about how brewing used to be "women's work" but like... in the not-degrogitory way.

That is, until the industry was stolen from them wholesale by the patriarchy.

And I'm even kidding. I talked before about the fact that it happened, today I'm going to talk about one of the tools in the sexism-brewer's tool belt: calling ladies witches!

So, for nearly 5500 years women have been brewing along just fine. Brewsters, as they would come to be known went from being the tribal matriarch, to the village's sole source of water that didn't make you shit yourself to death.

In the 1300's the women of a home considered brewing one of their key house-hold duties. It was related to food, and therefore "women's work", ugh. Around this time they were also called Alewives, a common term for the women who also made beer for other households like Mr. and No-one Incel down the street.

By the 16 and 1700's what was once for domestic consumption had become a consumer industry. Brewsters were often the center of the town, certainly the market, and it was steadily becoming a profitable position if done at scale.

With that realization came competition. And with competition came... "business practices" not all terrible... yet anyway.

Some of these practices were created by the women. Such as wearing ever-taller hats to stand out in the market. Or using broomsticks above the doorway to signal that a home was also an alehouse. Signs often included the image of large boiling cauldron, an indicator that beer was made therein. They used symbols like a 6-sided star to indicate the highest quality ale. And of course cats were a necessity to prevent the grains from being eaten by mice.

Hopefully, you're starting to get what I'm laying down. If not, take a look at your phones... tell me Mother Louse there isn't a bride of Satan, I dare you!

Add to all of this, of course, that the church hates everything fun and booze makes people happy and want to fuck, and you've got a perfect recipe for accusing someone of being a witch!

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that’s pretty sure you’re a witchy woman… yoo-hoo witchy woman…

It’s a written joke. About chocolate milk. Patrons will get it…

I’m your host this week, Aaron, and with me is Shea:

I’m Shea, and this week I learned that you can legally kill uninvited guests on your property in Texas but they wont let you get an abortion… This is weird because they are basically the same thing.

Single Fermented Belgian Golden Ale – Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat NV

Donated by Steve E

Style: Blonde Ale – Belgian

Ranked #6

* ABV: 6.8%* Score: 88* Aaron- 9* Shea- 9

Thanks to long-time listener, Steve-E!

Seriously, if you’re Steve-E this is episode like… 400…

Witchy Brewer

We talked about women being, historically speaking, the brewers of our species until very recent history. And we talked about sexist assholes assholing it up assholishly in print. This week, we’re talking about medieval brewing and why it makes you a witch. A brew witch. Not the origin of “brew wench” so, sadly, no corsets in the patron section, but lots of beer fun… if you’re a guy. So sign up for that… I guess.

A few weeks ago, 57 I think, we talked about sexism in brewing and at some point we talked about how brewing used to be “women’s work” but like… in the not-degrogitory way.

That is, until the industry was stolen from them wholesale by the patriarchy.

And I’m even kidding. I talked before about the fact that it happened, today I’m going to talk about one of the tools in the sexism-brewer’s tool belt: calling ladies witches!

So, for nearly 5500 years women have been brewing along just fine. Brewsters, as they would come to be known went from being the tribal matriarch, to the village’s sole source of water that didn’t make you shit yourself to death.

In the 1300’s the women of a home considered brewing one of their key house-hold duties. It was related to food, and therefore “women’s work”, ugh. Around this time they were also called Alewives, a common term for the women who also made beer for other households like Mr. and No-one Incel down the street.

By the 16 and 1700’s what was once for domestic consumption had become a consumer industry. Brewsters were often the center of the town, certainly the market, and it was steadily becoming a profitable position if done at scale.

With that realization came competition. And with competition came… “business practices” not all terrible… yet anyway.

Some of these practices were created by the women. Such as wearing ever-taller hats to stand out in the market. Or using broomsticks above the doorway to signal that a home was also an alehouse. Signs often included the image of large boiling cauldron, an indicator that beer was made therein. They used symbols like a 6-sided star to indicate the highest quality ale. And of course cats were a necessity to prevent the grains from being eaten by mice.

Hopefully, you’re starting to get what I’m laying down. If not, take a look at your phones… tell me Mother Louse there isn’t a bride of Satan, I dare you!

Add to all of this, of course, that the church hates everything fun and booze makes people happy and want to fuck, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for accusing someone of being a witch!

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that helps you lose weight through the proper application of diet, no exercise, and radiation!

I'm your host this week, Aaron, and with me is Shea!

I'm Shea, and this week I learned that The Joker movie is the Passion of the Christ for Juggalos.

This Week's Beer

Twisted Lemon Wheat - River Rat Brewery South Carolina

Donated by Steve-E Style:Wheat Beer - American Pale

* Ranked #275ABV:5.2%Score:82* Ranked #53,967Avg:3.7 | pDev: 15.14%* Aaron: 7* Shea: 8

Speaking of show beers, we’re getting close to running low. So if you have a suggestion, or want to make a donation, let us know! We can’t always find every beer out there, but we sure can accept them in the mail, so send us a message on the site, facebook, or at 513-760--0463!

Atomic Brewing!

No, not Atomik, we already did that story in episode 56!

Long-time listeners will recall some of my stories about people living, brewing, and for patrons, gardening, with radiation.

It was the "light" in your delighting watch-face. The bomba in your very nearly Earth-shattering Czar. And, the nuka in your cola.

Which is where we're at today - can you really nuke that cola and survive it?

Nuka-Coors!

Ah the 1950's. It was an age of wonder... wondering if you were going to explode in a rain of nuclear fire that is. But don't worry, between blasts Uncle Sam had you best interests at heart. He even made sure that the post-apocalyptic wasteland his armed forces were so keen to deploy had certain creature comforts... like beer!

What would Mad Max-world beer taste like? Would it still be carbonated? Would it give you bone cancer? These are the hard hitting questions that Alex Wellerstein found the answers to after unearthing a 1957 U.S. Government study called *The Effect Of Nuclear Explosions on Commercially Packaged Beverage," because we'd run out of other meaningful science to do, but we still had all those darn nukes and they weren't just going to sit around and collect dust if the 50's had anything to say about it.

Written by executives, of course, from the Can Manufacturers Institute and the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute for the Federal Civil Defense Administration. So... the most critical members of team "don't get blown up" I'm sure.

The study isn't clear on weather or not the executives were super duper sure that their special tins could withstand a nuclear blast or if they just had one too many bombs laying around and it was the can-people's turn to set one off, but either way they somehow got permission to place cans of soda and beer next to an atomic test site.

And, because it was the U.S. Department of Energy in the 1950's it needed a cutiesy name like, just spitballing here, but how about "Operation Teapot" on the count of no tea actually being used it's the perfect ruse to keep those pesky Redcoats off your radioactive trail!

Operations Teapot, somehow, managed to detonate 14 nuclear bombs with a straight face. And, as part of those tests, on at least two occasions, they blew up someone's Friday Afternoon Club.

Operation Cue was part of Teapot. Cue, was an "open" project. Meaning that the press was allowed to see the government blow up a "survival town" or a town made of mannequins like the one Indiana Jones survives in the my Mystery of The Crystal Skull's Inability to Write a Script. Or whatever it was called.

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that remembers to air previously referenced stories way after the fact.

With me are my co-hosts Shea, Steve, and your host, Jenn!

Ghost Girls

A morbid footnote in the history of the fight for workers’ and women’s rights, from the ‘good ole days’:

* https://www.buzzfeed.com/authorkatemoore/the-light-that-does-not-lie

* http://theradiumgirls.com/the-girls/4593781028

* https://www.thehorrorzine.com/Morbid/RadiumGirls/RadiumGirls.html

* https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/radium-girls-kate-moore/515685/

* https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/curies-isolate-radium

* http://theradiumgirls.com/

And we’re gathered together again for me to tell a story from history. This one is not as weird as much as it’s mind boggling and terrible, but it’s also fascinating and was extremely important in the fight for safer American workplaces and basic human regard for women. It’s also tragically unknown.

If you’re like me, when you hear or read someone lamenting the loss of the ‘good ole days’, you know immediately they a.) have no knowledge of history b.) are a straight white man or c.) both. Things are much better for most people in the United States currently than they have ever been. Perfect? No way. But better. Also, some government oversight into things like, oh, large corporations, is imperative. And this story proves it (as does our current administration).

I’m here to present the story of the Ghost Girls. But before I dive in, I need to give some backstory for historical context, as well as a quick chemistry lesson refresher:

In 1898 science power couple Marie and Pierre Curie discovered the elements radium and polonium while breaking down the components of pitchblende (which is a form of the mineral uraninite occurring in brown or black masses and containing radium; it is also the favorite mineral of Satan). Now, even if it has been a few years since high school chemistry, I bet everyone knows a little something about radium and polonium, and for the first, a hint is right in the name.

That’s right! They are both highly radioactive. Which, as we all know, is pretty dangerous to us bio-lifeforms. But, as scientific knowledge is often based on trial and error experimentation, the Curie’s were not aware at first what long term repercussions resulted from close contact. It took until 1900 for the dangers to really begin to make themselves known, when a colleague of theirs, Antoine Becquerel, carried a tiny amount of radium in his waistcoat for about 6 hours and was dismayed to find over the following weeks his skin burned, ulcerated and refused to heal. That didn’t deter Marie and Pierre, however, and by 1902 Marie had successfully isolated the element radium.

In addition to a doctorate in science and a Nobel Prize for this discovery, Marie also received a dose of radiation high enough to cause her death by aplastic anemia in 1934. (Had Pierre not been accidentally killed by being run over by a horse-drawn cart in 1906, I bet he would have also had radium on his list of causes of death.)

But 1934 is getting ahead of my story, which begins right around the start of World War I, so 1915-ish. The setting is industrial America, and serious changes are on the horizon. Much like what Rosie the Riveter came to symbolize for WWII, as the US came closer and closer to entering The Great War, women were called upon to do their part for the war effort. In this instance it involved women flocking to jobs in factories, plants and other work facilities that had previously been mostly denied to them.

It’s at one of these factories where my story truly kicks off. We are in Orange, New Jersey at a company known as the USRC, which at this time sees their production of clocks, dials,

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that tries to wash clean the stains of Catholicism only to suffer the pruney fingers of failure to fallacious French fielty.

I'm your host this week, Aaron, and with me are:

I'm Shea, and this week I learned that oftentimes, men will have a lower antibody count after receiving the vaccine than women, but have a higher unclebody count.

This Week’s Beer

The Rise Guys P1 Pilsner - Thomas Creek Brewery

Donated by the awesome Mr. Bible Pants

* No BA Score…

* Pilsner

* 5% ABV

* Aaron: 8

* Shea: 7

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2454/401299/

Reasonism

Today I'd like to talk about the religion of science and rationality.

You know, "scientism" or whatever evolution-denying idiots call it. More accurately, it's "the Cult of Reason" or originally Culte de la Rasion, their motto, two scoops of la rasions in each theory.

So, let's visit France in the late 1700s. Some of you might be aware that it was a terribly boring time in human history. Everyone just sat around eating cake and teasing baby Napoleon about his inability to defend the tiny island nation of Pulau-Pulau from the Daring Dragoon.

All in all, it was a boring time so the French sought to spice things up by taking a break from bread-theft to kick the Roman Catholic Church out of their glorious republic.

And so, we can introduce revolutionary minds like Joseph Fouche—who I think still practices medicine in Washington, smart guy; Jacques Hebert—not the author of all-time best selling sci-fi series Dune, lame; Antoine-Francuis Momoro—a pioneer in name hyphenation; and Jean-Paul Marat, a bath-time trailblazer.

Jean-Paul, who was still nearly 200 years from becoming Pope, spent his idle time eating cheese in his bathtub and working on L'Ami du Peuple, or "Friends of People". According to historian Jeremy D. Popkin, it was "the most celebrated radical paper [of the time]", presumably because of its excellent coverage of the early X-Games.

Jean-Paul was himself a fan of the half-pipe. So much so that he spent almost the entirety of the last three years of his life in his bathtub perfecting his sweet, 720* slip-splash maneuver, now called, to use the jargon of the sport, *le Dermatitis Herpetiformis" — you'll have to forgive the pronunciation, my French is pretty rusty. The maneuver apparently required the liberal application of vinegar to the forehead followed by a series of bath-time spins until the "perennial" region was properly red, blistered, and itchy. He really suffered for his art. But it was this selfless dedication to his pursuits that, in 1795, led him to become the face of the Cult of Reason.

Literally, they replaced crucifixes in Paris with bust sculptures—because, living in a tub no one had ever seen him below the collarbones—of Jean-Paul.

Still, weird water sports aside his writings would spark a fire in the bellies of the anti-clearicalist francophones and, in 1792, Antoine-Francois Momoro founded the Cult or Reason as a replacement for Catholicism.

The conversion saw famous sites like Notre-Dame's Cathedral being converted to a Temple of Reason, complete with a new altar inscribed "To Philosophy". A number of churches were similarly converted all over France as the Church of Reason became the official state-sponsored secular religion.

Venerating philosophers the temples were decorated with ornate busts of history's best thinkers... well... those who were considered history's best thinkers by drunks in 1794, but still, better than pedophiles. Speaking of Catholic Priests, many were rounded up and informed their services were no longer needed.

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that has a gay old time. If Jim were here it would be old gay time…

I'm your host this week, Shea, and with me is:

I'm Aaron, and this week I learned that despite June being Pride Month, mommies Proudest boys really don’t like celebrating it… weird.

And since we're in the studio again… It’s beer time!!

If you were a 4Wrath listener you may remember this draft, with it being Pride month I thought it could do with a re-taste.

This Week’s 1st Beer

Don't Be Mean To People (A Golden Rule Saison)

Ponysaurus Brewing Co. in Durham, NC

* Style: Farmhouse Ale - Saison

* ABV:6%

* Score: 86

* Aaron: 10

* Shea: 10

This Week’s Show

With this month being Pride month I wanted to make sure we took a show to learn you some of the amazing things members of the LGBTQ+ community have done to further their acceptance into society. These are people who have faced an uphill battle for their entire lives, they are fighting for the same basic rights all other humans should be privy to.

I’m sure this month you have seen a number of rainbow flags flying, whether in your home towns or in various national ad campaigns. Have you ever thought about where that flag comes from? I did, and it’s a pretty empowering story.

Before the rainbow-striped Pride flag was created, the gay community tended to use the pink triangle as a symbol, adapted from the badge that gay prisoners were forced to wear in Nazi concentration camps. During World War II, Nazis forced gay men in camps to wear a downward-pointing triangle, with around 100,000 estimated to have been held prisoner and 65,000 thought to have been killed. The pink triangle was most famously adapted by the HIV advocacy group ACT UP.

There was also some use of the Greek symbol lambda, green carnations, blue feathers, ace playing cards, and a purple handprint. Lambda represents energy and balance and was primarily used by the Gay Activists Alliance in the 1970s. Green carnations first appeared when Oscar Wilde adopted them for his entourage in the late 1800s.

The purple hand can be traced back to a protest in 1969: After the San Francisco Examiner printed a homophobic report on gay bars, locals protested outside the paper’s offices. Employees dumped ink onto the protestors, who then used the ink to slap hand-prints along the building to show that they had been there.

None of those symbols was particularly widespread in modern times, however.

The history of the Pride flag can be traced back to Harvey Milk, the famous San Francisco city Supervisor, and his friend Gilbert Baker. Harvey Milk, for those that don’t know, was a visionary civil and human rights leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. If you haven’t seen the movie Milk starring Sean Penn I definitely recommend it, you can get a feel for how terribly the LGBTQ+ community was treated but also the inspiring hope they all managed to keep.

Gilbert is on the right in his international flag gown.

Anyway… In 1970, a self-described “geeky kid from Kansas” named Gilbert Baker came to San Francisco as an Army draftee. After an honorable discharge, he stayed in San Francisco, free to pursue his dreams of being an artist. He learned to sew, making all the fabulous 70s clothes that he wanted but couldn’t buy.

In 1974, Baker’s life changed forever when he met Harvey Milk, who showed him “how action could create change.” Three years after they met, Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk,

Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that wins at every game it plays… and refs

I'm your host this week, Aaron, and with me is:

I'm Shea, and this week I learned

This Week’s Beer

Brown Eyed Squirrel - RJ Rockers Brewing Company

Donated by the fantastic Mr. Bible Pants!

* https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4408/131530/

* ABV: 5.6%

* Brown English Ale

* 81/100 BA Score

* Shea: 7

* Aaron: 8

A League of My Own

Following up from episode 22 — see, I told you we'd revisit stuff — it's time for another exciting round of sports!

With the Tokyo Olympic Super-Spreader Event just weeks away I thought I'd review some of the finest sports to ever grace the... well... not Olympic stadium, I'd say for most of these we're shouting about "local pub" level.

Cocking It All Up

Last time we sportsed we talked about pulling one's goose. Typically, by the head. Until it fell off.

Well, today's installment of contact sports you can play with a bird isn't much better.

It's Cock Throwing or Cocky-skying, which I gotta say sounds like two wildly different activities separated by a wild gulf of willingness to show people your dick.

Sometimes called throwing at cocks, the more apt name, this sport is simple. We'll go by the official rules found in a 1737 edition of The Gentleman's Magazine. But don't worry, that's the last time "gentle" and anything else will appear in this story because Cock players certainly weren't.

First, you get a rooster and tie it to a post, because it's ye-oldie times and cruelty to animals was what got people out of bed in the morning. Then, contestants took turns throwing "coksteles", a special weighted stick make for the game, at the rooster until it dies.

So that's terrible.

The game is said to have come from the British people's anti-Gallican cultural phase. That is, that one time when they didn't like the French, which is, according to Wikipedia, over now but... I'm not sure that's a true.

The game was especially popular for kids because they're all little narcissistic sociopaths—especially back in the day.

Other variations include Goose Qualling, which is the same but with a goose, cock trashing, or cock whipping, in which the rooster was put in a pit and given the piñata treatment. And the hard-mode of the group, a variation for Sussex that hangs the rooster from a four or five-foot rope so it can move about.

In 1660 there was an attempt by Puritan officials in Bristol to forbid the game (as well as cat and dog tossing) on Shrove Tuesday. After the multi-day riot ended, the sport became closely tied to Shrove Tuesday, or the day before Ash Wednesday, the day when people who believe in zombies put dirt on their foreheads. But hey, at least they're not beating animals to death... anymore.

Cock throwing's popularity slowly waned in England, as social values changed and animal welfare became a concern. William Hogarth depicted it as a barbarous activity, the first stage in a "slippery slope", in The Four Stages of Cruelty in 1751, and Nathan Drake credited this in part for changes in public attitudes to the sport. The Anglican divine and political economist Josiah Tucker also dismissed the sport as a "most cruel and barbarous diversion' in his 'Earnest and Affectionate Address to the Common People of England Concerning their Usual Recreations on Shrove Tuesday' (1753), drawing attention to the suffering and 'lingering tortures' of a 'poor innocent creature'. From the middle of the 18th century,