Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!There's a lot that's been uncovered about the first Thanksgiving. Based on the research of Dr. Louis Pazgassian, a professor of Colonial North American and U.S. History and chair of Georgetown University’s history department, we're sharing the totally true facts of the holiday's origin, including a cast that includes Squanto, Massasoit, William and Mary Brewster, Edward and Susan Winslow, and the unheralded hero of the day, Olaf Dijksgeffen. ...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!Super heroes are great, but it's the super villains who make those stories so compelling. Thinking about super villains brought me to the James Bond franchise from Ian Fleming, and specifically a villain who made his debut in Thunderball - Ernst Stavro Blofeld. So, where did the total truth of this villain's character come from? I did a deep dive and found the source, and some startling true facts about his progeny, who is making a name for h...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!Back in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, a flying saucer crash landed in the desert. The Air Force secured the spacecraft as well as a handful of surviving aliens, including a petulant toddler alien, and the government decided to make the event a social experiment. Problem is, it became entangled with Bugsy Siegel, Roy Cohn and a mechanic who is now telling all. DISCLAIMER - Totally True Facts episodes are parodies. Let me say that again – p...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!We're introducing a new series for You Don't Say... It's called Totally True Facts. One of the things that alternate facts have caused is a whole lot of unnecessary violence, strife and mischief. Alternate facts have made the world a very stressful and dangerous place. So I decided to create Totally True Facts. These vignettes will offer a grain of truth or reality about what actually happened either in current times or times gone by, bu...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!All we need to do is to turn on the news and we see stories of septuagenarian and octogenarian politicians and judges whose time is well past. It’s like opening a dumpster and catching a good whiff of all the rot inside it. Term limits are long overdue, and in the 2024 presidential cycle, it's never been more clear that age limits also need to be imposed on our office holders. Here are some common sense ideas on how to change things, as well ...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!I woke up, went off to the gym, then to work, like any other day. I imagine for a lady named Valsa Raju out in Yonkers, New York, her day started in an ordinary way. September 11, 2001 would not be just another day. I recently visited the 9/11 Memorial and it was as moving as you might expect. I met someone there. Someone who, I also imagine, was a lot like me, her name was Valsa Raju, and now I remember her every day.LinksThe 9/11 Memorial &...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!When fire strikes, here's what you need to know...My sister, Amy Wagner, lost her family home of nearly 30 years to a fire in the spring of 2020. She's sharing her story of loss, community support, and rebuilding, and how that experience drove her to pay it forward by founding The Wagner Family Fire Fund. The Fire Fund is a non-profit supporting families and individuals who lose their homes to fire.Links The Wagner Family Fire FundFundra...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!I recently visited both The National Baseball Hall of Fame and The Pro Football Hall of Fame. The difference in the feel of them was like going to a family reunion versus a corporate Powerpoint presentation… I'll tell you why.Links The National Baseball Hall of FameThe Pro Football Hall of FameThe Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard BryantBlack Diamonds PodcastThe Negro Leagues Baseball MuseumSubmit Your Story Idea!Keep the ...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!I'm past being tired of gun violence. So much that I'm also past being on board with the 2nd Amendment. In this episode I'm laying down facts and data on the most common arguments gun owners make in defense of their guns. But that's not all, I'm also providing what I believe are logical solutions that might allow a gun owner to have a shootin' iron, while controlling a lot of the problems of gun ownership. LinksMurders by Weapon UsedChi...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!Keep the episodes coming! Support YDS today: Support on Venmo l Support on Paypal This Episode Sponsored by: Squarespace – LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing – Constant ContactMark Wicks grew up in the same neighborhood as the Grimes sisters. As a former investigator, when he started to look at the details of the case, an inconsistency in a person of interest’s account made him dig deeper… and zero in on the prime suspects.&...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!A journey of nearly 80 years leads Elizabeth, a transgender woman, to finally being comfortable in her skin and welcoming people into her truth. Links National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Transgender Resources The Trevor Project Trans Lifeline Who Is Lia Thomas? Trans Swimmer Breaking College Records Sparks Debate Amid trans athlete debate, Penn’s Lia Thomas loses to trans Yale swimmer Stripped of women...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!If Muhammad Ali lived in these times, he would be canceled… which would deny us his greatest gift. Canceling people who dissent or drop vile comments and perspectives doesn’t solve anything. Maybe it’s time to cancel cancel-culture. Links Gruden’s Emails Were Collateral Damage in Washington Football Inquiry - New York Times, 10.12.21 Jon Gruden emails, explained: Raiders coach resigns following release of da...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!Once upon a time a kid opened a gallery in her parents’ garage. Her neighborhood supported her by buying her work and encouraging her. Now she’s returning the favor by leading the way to support and foster the arts in her own back yard.Links Raziah Roushan WebsiteTualatin Valley Creates (TVC) TVC ArtPass (launching 9/20/2021) Nonprofit Association of Oregon 2D4D 2D4D's La Strada dei Pastelli annual chalk art festival&...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!I recently re-discovered Strat-O-Matic baseball, after nearly 40 years. The game – and the one played on The Field of Dreams - has reignited my love for baseball. It’s also made me realize that the one constant through all the years really is baseball. Links Strat-O-Matic BaseballTerence Mann…the one constant, Field of Dreams speechShoeless Joe by W.P KinsellaThe Natural by Bernard MalamudEight Men Out by Eliot AsinofBill Veeck: Bas...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!We have a compulsion… getting more stuff. Now we pay for stuff, and we don’t even care what’s in the box. I’ve got a better idea! Plus, an update on my new dog, Lucy! Links George Carlin on StuffWisdom Panel Doggie DNA TestingDaily Affirmation with Stuart SmalleySubmit Your Story Idea! This Episode Sponsored by: Squarespace (SAVE 10% on your first website subscription when you enter PARTNER10 at checkout!) – Insta...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!When losing a loved one, whether a pet or person, there’s no such thing a closure. I recently lost my dog, Nub, to cancer. It came quick and wasn’t expected. I’m sharing my thoughts on that experience and working through that grief and loss. But there’s hope and Nub’s example reminded me how to cope with it. Links 20 Keys to Heal After the Loss of a Pet, Mar. 10, 2018 - Humane GoodsWhy Losing a Pet Hu...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!I’m talking with a former Catholic nun, my aunt, Reneta Webb, about her own story and the source of faith in a messy world.Organized religions are empty corporate entities. For most of my life I’ve not had any faith in them. My aunt, a former nun, and I talk about that. We also talk about her journey, going into the convent at 13, then leaving the sisterhood after 29 years. And most importantly what the source of our faith is, and it’s not in...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about where we live, and I’ll bet you’re wondering about this place too.I’ve always been patriotic, which is why I’ve been doing a lot of wondering about our country over, well, the last couple decades, and specifically the last few years. I just don’t know about us anymore… is it time to turn over the keys? And, oh yeah, where the hell has humor gone?Links Ep. 44 – How People Buy Into Batshit CrazySubmi...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!Sensei Miwako Sakabayashi helps young minds blossom by teaching the abacus.In1992, an immigrant comes to America from Japan. She could read and write, but not really speak the language. So, what happens next? In 2000 she launches a Japanese Abacus school of course. Today Sensei Miwako Sakabayashi has made a huge impact in the lives of hundreds of students… it just adds up. Links JAMS – The Japanese Abacus Math SchoolJAMS Facebook P...
Send us feedback or a suggestion for a new episode!Detective Jim Sherlock chases down a 40-plus-year-old cold case In January 2021 the book, Murder in Canaryville was released. It’s the story of the murder of teenager John Hughes in the spring of 1976. The murder was covered up by Chicago Police, politicians, and judges. I’m talking with Detective Jim Sherlock who’s investigated the cold case for years, about how it happened and where it goes from here.Links Murder in Canaryville – ...