Episode 154 of the Still Spinning Podcast begins with fall weather, torrential rain, and Riot Fest turning a Chicago park into several inches of mud. Dan and Nicole wonder how many shoes were sacrificed, what might be found with a metal detector, and who gets stuck with the world’s worst post-festival job: emptying the portable toilets.

Then Dan explains how Ed Sheeran’s concert tour became a logistical nightmare because of his opening act, Macklemore. This leads to a larger conversation about the responsibilities of an opening act, respecting the headliner’s audience, and how Dan has apparently been boycotting Macklemore for years without even realizing it.

Merriam-Webster has added 1,400 new words and phrases to the dictionary, so Nicole quizzes Dan on everything from “trash panda” and “vibe coding” to “Sunday scaries,” “California sober,” and “cuffing season.” Things take an unfortunate turn when Dan hears the phrase “Asian buns,” and somehow they end the episode investigating whether AsianBuns.com is available. It is not. Please do not visit it.

Also this week, a collector buys a painting at a Michigan estate sale for $30 and discovers it may be worth $250,000. This is excellent news for anyone who believes the next garage sale will finally deliver their retirement fund. The story also leads Dan to reveal that he owns Civil War letters written by a Wisconsin soldier who later died at Andersonville Prison, while Nicole reveals that her household owns more than 1,400 Funko Pops. These collections may not have equal historical significance.

Finally, a moviegoer gets pepper-sprayed for using his phone during a film. Dan does not endorse the pepper spraying, but he understands the sentiment. He also shares his firsthand experience with both pepper spray and a Taser before proposing a new system in which every American receives three “attitude adjustment” tasings per year.

It’s Episode 154 of the Still Spinning Podcast with Dan and Nicole: muddy festivals, dictionary quizzes, accidental treasures, questionable collections, and the enduring mystery of Asian Buns.

Dan loses his audio ten seconds before going live (again), so Nicole flies solo for the intro while he wrestles his own computer into submission. Once he's back, the two dive into a genuinely rough week for celebrity deaths and somehow land on Tim Curry trivia neither of them saw coming (we won't spoil it, but "It" will never be the same).

From there it's straight into the AI spiral: a deeply unsettling "ChatGPT and Grandma" commercial, Dan's ongoing feud with chatbots that gaslight him mid-argument, and his real-life horror story about Amazon letting itself into his garage. Yes, you read that right. Then things get truly unhinged with "Oreo Gate," the kindergarten mom-group scandal currently breaking the internet, before Dan closes things out with a bedtime story about a doctor, a dream, and a bat that nobody asked for.

Buckle up, it's a bumpy, hilarious ride back into orbit. Catch up at stillspinningpodcast.com, and note: no live show next week for Labor Day, but a "lost" bonus episode drops Wednesday.

Episode 151: Twelve Dispensaries, One Cage, Zero Regrets

Nicole and Dan are back from an unannounced summer sabbatical, and they have receipts. Nicole hit Aspen, Wisconsin, and San Diego. Dan drove to Michigan. Repeatedly. Buckle up.

This week: Google Maps quietly reroutes Dan onto a pitch-black back road in the middle of nowhere, where he discovers twelve pot dispensaries in a row with nothing else around them, all lit up like casinos. He also waited fifteen minutes at a McDonald's counter to order a single Diet Coke, which he got for free, so arguably he won. Meanwhile in Hurley, Wisconsin (population 1,500, strip clubs 6), Dan spots a sign advertising cage dancing next door to a taco place called The Munch, and immediately proposes a five hour road trip. Nicole's only conditions: significant others come along, and Paul is non-negotiable. She's also still waiting on her Munch t-shirt.

Then the actual topics, allegedly:

Illinois is about to require most retailers to accept cash on purchases under $500, and the gang is genuinely torn. Consumer freedom versus getting your ATM ripped out of the wall at 3am. Also settled once and for all: every cash-only business is definitely hiding something. Yes, including Dan's massage place. No, he does not want anyone touching him.

A woman sent $310,000 to a fake Kenny Chesney she met on LinkedIn, then sued the real Kenny Chesney for not stopping her. A judge has finally weighed in. Public service announcement: no celebrity is DMing you for bus fare to Springfield, Massachusetts.

A toddler on a Porter Airlines flight refused to sit down, the plane went back to the gate, everyone deplaned, and the runway curfew killed the whole flight. Dan and Nicole propose a modest solution involving financial liability and a lifetime ban for the entire family.

And in Alaska, Dan Sullivan is running against Dan Sullivan, and has been endorsed by Dan Sullivan. Nicole calls for a boxing ring. Dan calls for a blind taste test.

Plus: the World of CD-ROM in Kalamazoo, the cobbler shop mystery, why two mattress stores can face each other and both survive, and the shocking revelation that Episode 150 was recorded but never published. It's out there. Somewhere. Not Penny's boat.

New episodes weekly, or whenever they get back from Michigan. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Dan and Nicole are back and choking on Canadian wildfire smoke. This week they dig into the air quality mess blanketing the Midwest (PM 2.5 readings over 600 in Chicago and a jaw-dropping 1,200 in Duluth), why nobody can get a straight answer about who's to blame, and Dan's ongoing need for a "Facebook monitor" to stop him from correcting strangers' grammar in the comments.

From there it's a full grab bag: Sebastian Bach canceling his Waukesha County Fair set, the great "where do you think the air in the barn comes from" debate, and vacation planning gone sideways (sorry, Canada, the beef tastes weird and the Starbucks milk is off).

Also on the docket: United's new Economy Plus row that turns the middle seat into a shared table, garbage trucks that finally pull their own weight (now with AI cameras snitching on your overgrown lawn in Cape Coral), the booming gig economy of professional line sitting and the legend of Franklin Barbecue, a surprise love letter to John Cameron Mitchell and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and a deep dive into Flock license plate cameras: fantastic crime-solving tool or creepy government database?

Next week is the big one hundred fifty. The sesquicentennial. Buckle up. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Watch us record live Monday nights on Facebook, and find us on YouTube, Instagram, and X. Hit subscribe.

Dan and Nicole are back! After a longer-than-planned hiatus (life happens), the dynamic duo returns for Episode 148 with plenty to catch up on and a loaded lineup of stories to dig into.

First, Nicole comes in hot off a week-long stay at a charming little hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey (right down the street from the Stone Pony, for the Springsteen fans out there), and that trip sparks a full-blown conversation about hotel room hygiene. A Southern Living article confirms what many frequent travelers already suspect: decorative pillows almost never get washed, the drinking glasses are a gamble, and the ice bucket... well, there's a reason you use the liner. Dan and Nicole compare notes on their Clorox wipe routines, debate whether pricier hotels are actually cleaner (spoiler: not necessarily), and remind you to look at the air vents if you want to ruin every future hotel stay.

From there, the conversation takes a detour into the best kinds of videos on the internet, including human statues pranking unsuspecting tourists, dogs crunching their food, and animals giving idiots exactly what they deserve. Which leads naturally into a story about a 65-year-old grandfather at Yellowstone who got launched eight feet into the air by a bison, despite minding his own business. Dan and Nicole weigh in on buffalo body language (tail up means get out), why this guy probably doesn't belong in the "idiot tourist" category, and why that still shot absolutely needs to be his Christmas card.

Then it's time to talk food labels. California has banned "sell by" dates, replacing them with standardized "best if used by" and "use by" labels in an effort to cut food waste. Dan goes on a very reasonable tangent about how California's regulations have a funny way of becoming everyone's regulations, whether you live there or not.

Finally, the episode wraps up with a legitimately baffling airline story. A United Airlines passenger flying from Los Angeles to Managua, Nicaragua somehow ended up six hours into a flight to Tokyo before anyone told him. The debate over who's at fault, what signs he missed, and whether $2,500 in compensation is too much (Dan says yes) rounds out the episode nicely.

New episodes drop Wednesdays. They also record live on Monday evenings around 7pm Central, so come find them there if you just can't wait. Subscribe wherever you listen, and catch old episodes at stillspinningpodcast.com.

Episode 147 -- Keep Spinning (Just Maybe Not Scrolling)

Dan was "sunburned". Nicole was ready. And somehow we ended up covering deep fakes, boner pill ads, and the future of flying -- all in one episode.

We kicked things off with breaking news: the British Prime Minister announced plans to ban social media for anyone under 16, going further than any country has gone before. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, X -- all off limits for kids. Nicole walks through what makes this different from Australia's version and why enforcement is the real question.

Then Dan brings the stats on America quietly breaking up with alcohol. The percentage of Americans drinking dropped from 62% in 2023 to 54% in 2025 -- a massive shift in a very short time. Gen Z is leading the charge, and the beverage industry is scrambling to keep up with non-alcoholic spirits, THC drinks, and whatever a dirty Mountain Dew is. Dan accidentally ordered one. He did not enjoy it.

Nicole drops a topic that had Dan immediately claiming he called it years ago: electric air taxis are officially happening this month under a federal pilot program. Planes that take off like helicopters, land in 150 feet, and could eventually make regional air travel look like an Uber. Dan has opinions. 

Dan also has a DJI Mavic and a parachute man, and those things turned into a whole other story.

And yes, Dan accidentally listened to a very different kind of performance anxiety meditation on the Calm app before a post-prom trivia show. A month of interesting ads followed. You'll understand when you hear it.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts -- we drop new episodes every Wednesday. Until next time, Spinners. Keep spinning.

Dan and Nicole are back after a few weeks away, and they're jumping right in. After a quick catch-up on birthdays, anniversaries, and Nicole's notable failure to remember either of Dan's, the conversation takes off in all directions.

First up, Dan's been reading "Unreasonable Hospitality" -- the fascinating (and slightly creepy) story of one of the world's most celebrated restaurants and the lengths they go to make guests feel like they're the only person in the room. Hint: they know more about you before you walk in than you'd probably like. The gang also digs into the tasting menu experience and whether a $500-a-plate dinner with no choices is brilliant or just insane.

Then things get scary. AI-powered travel scams have officially gone next-level. Scammers are now creating fake hotel listings -- complete with AI-renovated photos that make dingy motels look like boutique resorts -- and some travelers are arriving to find no hotel at all. We're talking paid-in-full reservations that simply don't exist. Dan breaks down how it works, how to protect yourself, and why the advice to "just book direct" is easier said than done.

And finally: are you still paying $200+ a month for cell service? Dan made the switch to Mint Mobile and has some thoughts. Some very enthusiastic, slightly evangelical thoughts. It's good to be back. Come hang with us.

Episode 145: We Miss Spirit Airlines Now That It's Dead

Spirit Airlines vanished overnight (and a TikToker wants you to chip in $1.75 billion to bring it back). Survivor hits 50 seasons with MrBeast and Billie Eilish making cameos. AI chatbots are now inventing diseases that don't exist. And the guy who invented the Roomba wants to sell you a robot pet with bear-cub ears that drags you off the couch.

Plus: Dan survives post-prom trivia in small-town Minnesota, Nicole confesses her goth-era Winona Ryder phase, and we settle whether Jeff Probst is underpaid at $60 million.

New episodes every Wednesday. Live Mondays on Facebook.

Dan and Nicole are back for EP144 and the wallet is taking hits. Gas prices have hit a four-year high (Dan's now coasting home in neutral), Minnesota became the first state to ban "nudification" apps (and yes, it's as dystopian as it sounds), McDonald's is quietly killing the self-serve soda fountain (RIP, suicide drink), and an 82-year-old Minnesotan named Anita just got the "Grandparents Happy Hour Bill" passed so nursing homes can serve booze. Plus: the public habit France is now FINING people for. It's called bare-beating, and your first guess is wrong. We promise.