Strange Country Ep. 230: Biosphere 2
Strange Country
Could we actually replicate the biomes of Earth on other planets? In September 1991, eight intrepid explorers entered Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert to spend two years seeing if humans could sustain life in the same way biosphere 1, the Earth, does. And it wasn’t so great, unless you’re heavily into mites, cockroaches, Steve Bannon and pot-bellied pigs. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly discuss this failed experiment and why it might more sense to fix this planet than try to ruin other ones. Theme music: Big White Lie by Cite your sources: Bruck, C. (2017, May 1). How...
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Strange Country Ep. 229: Margaret Sanger
Strange Country
Where do you fall on the abortion debate? Some people like to believe that if you are pro choice, you must idolize Margaret Sanger. But wait. . . do you even know who that is? Listen today, dear Dash Hounds, as we hear who this outspoken woman was. A thumbs up or a thumbs down? Is Margaret worthy of her name being on the building or her name being taken down? Your call. We do our best to give you some info. As we seem to keep learning on Strange Country, people are complicated, the world is complex, and hang on, we are about to experience everything all over again. $10 please for your fortune....
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Strange Country Ep. 228: Gordon Kahl
Strange Country
Nothing is certain but death and Strange Country’s guarantee of exquisitely-designed mousepads. Oh, and taxes. But some people really don’t like paying taxes and take their ire too far. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly discuss Gordon Kahl, an avid anti-government pro-Posse Comitatus fan who took his anger to the extreme when he killed two US Marshalls in 1983. Luckily, we’ve seemed to address domestic terrorism now…oh wait. And sorry about the little audio glitch midstream. Theme music: Big White Lie by Cite your sources: Cameron, L. (2019, May 28). During the 1980s farm...
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Strange Country Ep. 227: Recovered Memory Therapy
Strange Country
Our memories are fallible and malleable. In the 1980s and 1990s, recovered memory therapists convinced patients they had been sexually abused in some cases by satanic cults and repressed all memory of it. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly discuss the trial of George Franklin who was convicted of murder based solely on the testimony of his daughter who “recovered” memories of witnessing him kill her childhood friend. Theme music: Big White Lie by Cite your sources: Carpentier, M. (2021, Oct. 8) Where Is Eileen Franklin, Whose Recovered Memories Convicted Her Father, Now? ...
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Strange Country Ep. 226: Dismantling of Roe v. Wade
Strange Country
On this episode of Strange Country, Ofterry and Ofbryan talk about the U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion dismantling women’s reproductive freedoms. Forced birth advocates are rejoicing. The rest of us, not so much. Theme music: Big White Lie by Cite your sources: Campoamoar, D. (2022, March 18). New tennessee bill would allow rapists' families, friends to sue if victims have an abortion. Today. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://www.today.com/parents/pregnancy/Tennessee-bill-rapists-sue-abortion-rcna20581 Chamie, J. (2021, March 3). America's single-parent families. The Hill....
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Strange Country Ep. 225: Mildred Fish Harnack
Strange Country
In a time when democracy ruled, women had all the freedoms, people went to college and news sources were plentiful and trustworthy Wisconsin native Mildred Fish Harnack and her husband, Arvid, chose to begin their newlywed lives in the fun city of Berlin. Have you heard of it? Beth may have mentioned she has been there. That was Berlin in the 1920’s. Things were about to change. Laws were passed to keep certain people down, the rich and poor gap was widening, Mildred got let go from her professorship, and two men, Hitler and Goebbels, were really making a name for themselves talking about...
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Strange Country Ep. 224: Jeane Dixon
Strange Country
Do you believe psychics can predict the future? in the later half of the 20th century, Jeane Dixon was one of the best known psychics. Her astrological star rose when she “predicted” the assassination of JFK. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly, in what is predicted to be the greatest podcast episode according to a Snapple bottle cap Beth found on the sidewalk, talk about Dixon and the Jeane Dixon Effect. Also includes a recipe! Theme music: Big White Lie by Cite your sources: Christy, M. (1970, March 11). Greensboro Daily News , p. 5. Available from NewsBank: America's...
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Strange Country Ep. 223: Left-handedness
Strange Country
One hundred years ago, there were fewer left handed Americans than there are now. Why the change? Obviously the indoctrination of public schools…or maybe it became more accepting to be left handed and so more people feel comfortable using their dominant hand. Weird how that works. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about the stigma once attached to left-handedness and relate it to today’s anti-trans legislation being pushed by trash people. Theme music: Big White Lie by Cite your sources: Adeleke, Y. (2021, September 20). Left-handers once experienced severe stigmatization...
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Strange Country Ep. 222: Melvil Dewey
Strange Country
Dear Dashhounds, are you one of the 75% (15% according to Beth) who know the term, Dewey Decimal System? Do you care? You will today as Strange Country hosts Beth and Kelly discuss the life and times of Melvil Dewey, which really encompassed a lot of misogyny, racism and antisemitism. Yet still he was lauded as a library great. How do we handle these people of the past, and how should we handle them now? The answer lies within a sweet song that you won’t be able to get out of your head. Always, thanks for listening it is an act of love which is the opposite of fear. Theme music: Big White...
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Strange Country Ep. 221: Critical Race Theory
Strange Country
Things seems super chill around education these days. Wait—do they? Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about the current state legislation being passed to ban the instruction of Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools, something that isn’t happening. So since it’s not happening, what is happening instead is banning the instruction of anything associated with race or racism. As the Brooklyn 99 folks like to say, cool cool cool cool cool. Theme music: Big White Lie by Cite your sources: ABC4 Utah. (2021, May 4). What you need to know about Idaho's new critical race theory law....
info_outlineOn Dec. 21, 1954, the world was supposed to be flooded, and true believers taken aboard flying saucers to safety. When that didn’t happen, the Seekers tried to excuse away the no-show aliens, and thus cognitive dissonance entered the American psyche. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly discuss how Leon Festinger put his theory to the test by pretending to be a true believer to study how followers managed their cognitive dissonance when the world kept spinning.
Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands
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Barnes, J. E. (2021, November 24). Pentagon forms a group to examine unexplained aerial sightings. The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/us/politics/pentagon-ufos.html?searchResultPosition=1
Beck, J. (2016, January 4). The christmas the aliens didn't come. The Atlantic. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/12/the-christmas-the-aliens-didnt-come/421122/
Festinger, L. (1966) When prophecy fails : a social and psychological study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world. Harper.
Gabbat, A. (2022, February 5). 'something's coming': Is America finally ready to take ufos seriously? The Guardian. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/05/ufos-america-aliens-government-report
Liddell, E. (n.d.). Apocalypse Oak Park: Dorothy Martin, the Chicagoan who predicted the end of the world and inspired the theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Chicago Magazine. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/may-2011/dorothy-martin-the-chicagoan-who-predicted-the-end-of-the-world-and-inspired-the-theory-of-cognitive-dissonance/