Out Of My Mind

This Christmas story of a shepherd has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the raconteur, radio host and improvisational storyteller Jean Shepherd. If you know Shepherd at all it might be as the voice of the adult Ralph Parker in the 1983 film "A Christmas Story." If, like me, you grew up within the sound of New York's WOR radio you might know Shepherd as that guy who talked for hours, without notes, spinning stories of a Midwest childhood and big-city angst. In this episode, podcast host Jay Douglas got two Jean Shepherd experts together for a lively discussion of Shepherd, his art, his frustrations and his battle with his own ego over "A Christmas Story."

Oh the curse of unintended consequences. Little did Albert J. Parkhouse know when he twisted a pair of wires into a fancy hook to hang up his winter coat that he set humankind on a course of frustration. In Episode 63 of the Out Of My Mind podcast, host Jay Douglas tells the story of the origins of the simple wire coat hanger, the omnipresent contraption that Parkhouse never received official credit, or royalties, for. And Jay turns to Scott Franklin, professor of physics at Rochester Institute of Technology, to help us understand the tangled world of coat hangers and why the odds are we'll never be able to set things straight.

Maybe the Hansom cab driver was having a bad night. Or he was a crook. Or he honestly didn't know how to do multiplication. At any rate, his attempt to cheat businessman Harry Allen had the most unexpected results. The obliteration of the Hansom cab business. In Episode 062, Out Of My Mind podcast host Jay Douglas tells the story of James Hansom, inventor of the two-wheel, horse-drawn cab, businessman Harry Allen and that fateful night that put Allen in the cab business and the Hansom cabs out of it.

You think about a friend you haven't seen in years. Suddenly, the friend calls you. "What a coincidence," you think. Ah, yes, another demonstration of the cosmic forces of the universe at work. If, that is, you consider science and math cosmic forces (which is quite possible depending upon how much attention you paid in high school). In Episode 061, Jay Douglas, host of the Out Of My Mind podcast throws a party to tell the story of how coincidences are the results of our mind at work and not some glitch in the Matrix.

What started out as a simple idea --- tell the story of Bac*Os, the first true mass-market meat substitute made from soybeans --- took a surprising turn. Out Of My Mind podcast host Jay Douglas uses Episode 60 to tell the story of a simple idea with a twist you won't see coming, including a cast of characters --- okay, one character --- you'd never expect to find wandering through the history of Bac*Os.

During the Rock and Roll era six disc jockeys, the WMCA Good Guys ruled the New York City airwaves. They combined hipness with New York grit. They got what it was like to be a teenager. And, unlike DJs at other stations, they were a team. They went to events together, hosted concerts together, they even sang on the air together. In Episode 59, Out Of My Mind podcast host Jay Douglas tells the story of the person behind their success --- a person totally out of time and place for the 1960s.

Long before Silicon Valley figured out ways to disrupt familiar businesses, John Houghtaling invented a device that literally shook the motel industry. In Episode 58, Out Of My Mind podcast host Jay Douglas traces the rise and fall of an American icon and symbol of the freedom of the open road.

On her way to becoming a June bride, many a young lass was favored by her lover who, upon finding an appropriate tree, used its trunk as a canvas on which to carve their initials inside a heart (replaced today by a text message and a photoshopped emoji). That the familiar heart shape looks nothing like a human heart is obvious to anyone who's ever taken high school biology. But why? In Episode 57, Out Of My Mind podcast host Jay Douglas tackles 2500 years of history to find the mistake that led to a shape that has no connection to reality.

The third most-often sung song in America is so misunderstood that virtually no one singing it knows the words. How can that be? In Episode 56, Out Of My Mind podcast host Jay Douglas takes a trip to Tin Pan Alley for the story of how this song, whose popularity puts it right behind the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Happy Birthday," made the trip from New York City's old Ninth Avenue El to the vaudeville stage and then into music (and sports) history.

In one form or another, marijuana use is currently legal in over half the states, and you can expect that number will be getting higher. So will Baby Boomers. After 30 to 40 years of abstinence, Boomers are returning to marijuana use in increasing numbers. But, there's a catch. In Episode 55 of Out Of My Mind, podcast host Jay Douglas --- along with his guest, marijuana activist Patti Gordon --- tells the story of what you should know before you take another puff of the magic dragon. And why getting high in your sixties won't be the same as getting high in the sixties.