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 Information Podcast is a member of the Airwave Media podcast network. Visit https://www.airwavemedia.com/ to listen to more great podcasts just like this one.

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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-188/

The Useless Information Podcast is a member of the Airwave Media podcast network. Visit https://www.airwavemedia.com/ to listen to more great podcasts just like this one.

Please contact [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

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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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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 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 episode: https://uselessinformation.org/200-years-of-twas-the-night-podcast-185/

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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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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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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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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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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 mistook a boy for a squirrel and shot him, a bank robbery in which the bank earned money, an escapee who had been in jail nearly the entire time he was supposedly on the run, and so much more.

Images, links, & transcript: https://uselessinformation.org/yestercast-1-november-22-1963-podcast-180/

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