Carolina Snowflakes Podcast

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we’re celebrating Biden’s massive package. No not that package, the other massive one involving cash. The $1.9 trillion stimulus package was recently signed into existence and most Americans, us Snowflakes included, are set to receive a $1,400 check. Grandpa Joe is makin’ rain!

We begin this week’s episode with how we each intend to spend our Biden checks and Jason poses a question for our listeners to help him decide how his money is best spent. Be sure to listen to hear the options because you get to vote. We’re a democracy, dammit!

As we mulled over how to spend our government cash, we found ourselves wondering what else Biden included in his massive package. It wasn’t all just payments to individual Americans like us.  We’ll give you a quick and dirty breakdown of who the other recipients of this $1.9 trillion are, as well as what the republicans in congress thought of these additional recipients.

Spoiler alert: despite being adamant supporters of reopening our country’s schools, republicans would rather save money than spend an extra buck to keep our children safe. Why are we not surprised?

This week also marks 9 months of the Carolina Snowflakes churning out weekly episodes. When we began making this podcast we weren’t sure anyone would care to hear what we had to say, but we’ve had far more support than we could have ever imagined. This past year hasn’t been easy, but having a weekly “outlet” for our thoughts and musings has been a beautiful experience and we want to say “THANK YOU” to our listeners. We have a lot in store for future episodes and some new marketing ideas to get the word out that we’re here and we’re Snowflakes. Did we mention NEW STICKERS?! Stay tuned!

We wrap up this week’s episode with a segment we’re calling Covid Confessions. Now that there appears to be light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, we’re choosing to reflect on the past 12 months with honesty in terms of the not-so-bad (dare we say good?) things to come from life in lockdown. For starters, this podcast exists in large part due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There have been several ways in which the pandemic has improved different aspects of our lives and we’re willing to share those with our listeners. We’re also willing to bet we aren’t the only ones to experience some glimmers of light within the darkness.  Feel free to share with us your own Covid Confessions and we’ll read them in an upcoming episode.

P.S. check out our 'Forged in Fur' parody video on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/P55C7KkNtTs

Well those pesky Dems have gone and done it again. RUINING EVERYTHING GOOD IN THIS COUNTRY LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO! Now they want to take away our precious and beloved Dr. Potato Head. The nerve!

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we’re exploring the intersection of politics and cancel culture. For starters, what even is a culture of cancel? To be honest, we’re perplexed by the whole thing. Who sets the rules on what gets cancelled? And what exactly is cancellation supposed to achieve? Is redemption even possible (or desired) after someone is effectively cancelled? Who is in charge here?

We do our best to answer these questions plus more as we satirically examine the ins and outs of recent “cancel culture” targets. To us it seems the chosen targets and corresponding efforts often don’t make much sense. Is Eminem deserving of the same “cancellation” as someone like Bill Cosby? Does removing “offensive” episodes of popular sitcoms like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Golden Girls somehow fix our country’s very real problems of racism, sexism and transphobia? What happens when we remove everything deemed offensive? Is it possible to go too far?

Better yet, what are the political consequences of the far right now using the term “cancel culture” in lieu of “fake news”. In case you hadn’t noticed, that’s what they’re doing these days. The rest of us know that neither Mr. Potato Head nor Dr. Seuss have been cancelled by anyone, but tune into Fox News and you’ll hear a very different spin. It seems to us that the perceived culture war is the only thing unifying the splintered Republican Party. That’s all they’ve got. The good news for us lefty lefts is that while the conservatives are ranting about injustices towards plastic potatoes and cats in hats, we’re getting things done in Washington.

So tune in and prepare to have a chuckle as we share our Carolina Snowflakes musings on our own interpretations of cancel culture and the fallout it often creates.

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we examine the captivating world of the psychic medium. What exactly is a psychic and how do they just seemingly know so much? Most importantly, is any of it real or is it all a sham to make a quick buck?

To begin this epic journey, we take a trip back to the mid 90s (a pivotal time for our impressionable young minds) to visit our pals at the Psychic Friends Network and along the way give a nod to tarot-reading, Jamaican-accent-wielding Miss Cleo. Call me now! We take a look at what happened to these “psychic networks” and where are they now.

Not only did the 1990s witness the rise of the telephone psychic hotline, but also the ever-present TV celebrity psychic. For a while it seemed talk shows went hand-in-hand with psychic guests. In fact, The Montel Williams Show regularly featured famed psychic Sylvia Browne. Browne was a no-nonsense kinda psychic who gave readings to members of Montel’s audience. Her career spanned multiple decades and at one point during the early 2000s, her telephone psychic readings boasted a 4-year wait time!

One of the things we quickly discovered when digging into the world of psychics is that for every psychic there exists an equally skilled and determined group of skeptics chomping at the bit to take them down. Folks like Houdini and James Randi practically made careers not only out of their own feats of magic and illusion, but in proving psychics to be frauds. Hear how today’s technology and social media have influenced methods used by these groups of skeptics in their unique “sting-style” missions to debunk and take down their psychic targets.

While venturing into the mysterious and freaky worlds of psychics we decided to stop by a notorious place called the Dolphin House. In the 1960s NASA funded a bizarre study involving teaching dolphins to communicate with humans, both verbally and telepathically. Aided by a sensory deprivation chamber and a few dozen hits of acid, Dr. John C. Lilly attempted to communicate with a curious dolphin named Peter. What happened instead was an embarrassment to science and downright weird.

We wrap up this crazy journey, with a short clip from an episode we recorded and published back in November 2020 called Parler Tricks. In the Parler Tricks episode we made a handful of predictions about what we thought was going to happen with the censor-free, Trump-loving “safe space” of a social media app, plus we shared insight into what we thought users of the app were capable of.

Turns out our predictions were right.

How did we know what was going to happen? Were our predictions simply good guesses or are we actually…Psychic Snowflakes?

References:

Hitt, Jack. (2019, February 26). Inside the Secret Sting Operations to Expose Celebrity Psychics. The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/magazine/psychics-skeptics-facebook.html

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we examine the complex existence of nerdy money. What happens when the world of technology collides with capitalism and systems are manipulated to benefit a select few using computers, cell phones and apps? We are by no means investment analysts, but we do find much of the recent news surrounding stocks (i.e. GameStop) and their ups and downs very interesting.

Arguably the nerdiest of nerdy money is Bitcoin. Strap in for an extraordinary tale of the history of Bitcoin and how the cryptocurrency came to fruition, plus hear where we think it’s going next. And not to brag, but we’re offering our listeners one of the best and most palatable explanations of blockchain technology. You don’t have to be a techy genius to follow – we’re breaking it down in simple terms because that’s how we roll.

And what better way to explore the collision between tech and capitalism than by taking a look at how phone farms have become a means to make a quick buck for some real (and not so real) artists? Tune in to hear how Justin Bieber allegedly used phone farming to manipulate and boost his ratings on Spotify. Dirty. Biebs, what the heck man?

Lastly we take a look at the battle currently brewing between Facebook and the entire country of Australia. Looks like Australia grew a set and told old Zucc to quit stealing (and profiting from) their news. But what’s going to happen next? Will Australia straight up ban Facebook? YIKES!

So much nerdy money, so little time. Tune in to hear it all!

In part 6 of our Black Lives Matter series, we take a look at efforts currently being made to ensure the Covid-19 vaccine is distributed equitably—particularly after it was quickly realized that white people were getting vaccinated at significantly higher rates than Black citizens. We also take a look at how historical medical-mistreatment of Black citizens by the United States government is at least partly to blame for their hesitancy in getting vaccinated against Covid-19.

Much of the distrust towards the government and CDC is rooted in a whole lot of very real mistreatment and abuse of Black Americans at the hands of doctors and scientists, all while being paid for and condoned by the United States federal government.  In fact one of the most egregious examples of this type of racially motivated abuse was the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.

In 1932, 600 Black men from Macon County, Alabama were recruited to take part in the study. These men were not informed of what the study was for or why they were recruited. Those who had syphilis were not only kept in the dark on their own diagnoses, but they were repeatedly prevented from receiving treatment.

The study, which was initially slated to last for 6 to 12 months, wound up lasting for 40 years. It likely would have continued even longer had it not been for a whistleblower named Peter Buxton. When the study was terminated in 1972, only 74 of the original syphilis-positive men were still alive. 28 had died of syphilis, 100 had died of related complications, 40 wives of the men had been infected and 19 children had been born with congenital syphilis; all at the hands of the United States government.

The study was both medically unjustified and morally bankrupt. It was a racist undertaking from start to finish and did permanent damage to the relationship between government-run public health and our country’s Black citizens.

As a result of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, congress passed the National Research Act, outlining policies and procedures for conducting human trials in the United States.

Prior to the act, no standards existed preventing the abuse of marginalized and vulnerable Americans from being harmed in the name of science. Although the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is the most extreme example of this type of violence, it wasn’t the only one that took place. There were many, many more.

We close this episode with a look at a few of these other “studies” and we examine the steps currently being taken to assure Black Americans (and essentially all Americans) that the Covid-19 vaccine is safe, effective and vital for the well-being of our public health.

We hope it will be enough.

Resources:

McGhee, Heather. (February 2021) “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together”.

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we’re wondering where have all the Trump flags gone? When something blasts your retina for 4 years straight it’s more than a little jarring when suddenly it disappears. We once were blind, but now we see. We ponder this question as well as give our thoughts on the recent second impeachment trial for our country’s former president. The good, the bad and the unfortunate; we poke it all with gloved hand and a long stick.

We also take a moment to check in on the current state of the free speech sanctuary and alt-right safe haven known as Parler. Spoiler alert: there’s not much to see, but there’s plenty to laugh at.

And lastly, we offer up a new and unique way to sway your conservative buddies into supporting the liberal agenda in a new bit called “How to Trick Your Cuckservative Friends into Being Liberal”. This week’s topic is how immigration will be the only thing to save social security. How do we spin it? Tune in to find out.

So break out your 70 ft Biden flag and spray paint “Kamala RULES” across your bass fishing boat cause in the meantime we need something to fill the visual void left from all the missing Trump merch.

References:

“If You Were on Parler You Saw the Mob Coming”. January 31^st, 2021.  Kara Swisher, Sway Podcast. https://www.radio.com/podcasts/sway-43436/if-you-were-on-parler-you-saw-the-mob-coming-354028236

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we talk about one of our favorite recreational activities. Gaming! When we aren’t recording this epic podcast or working our regular 9 to 5 jobs, we like to cut loose and play video games. This has especially been the case for us during the last 12 months.

In fact, we aren’t the only ones who have increased our time spent gaming during the past year. Much like the pandemic, the increase in gaming and game-related purchases world-wide is global in scale; to the tune of $180 billion in revenue.

What’s interesting is that as the revenue stream continues to grow, so does the variety in gaming options. There’s literally something out there for everyone, no matter age, gender, etc. It’s simply a matter of finding what you like. Whether it’s Monopoly on the Nintendo Switch or League of Legends on PC or a sandbox game such as The Sims, there are so many choices available.

And since we’re doing what so many others are doing around the world, we figured why not talk about it? Even if you’re not an avid gamer we think you’ll appreciate hearing how each of us found our way to the world of gaming and what we discovered along the way. We also cover some fascinating stats related to the rise of E-Sports and professional gaming. Did you know there are college scholarships for gaming? So if little Billy tells you he wants to be a professional gamer when he grows up, it might be worth hearing him out.

Tune in to hear all this and more cause this week We Got Game (Video)!  

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we take a look at the current state of recycling in the U.S. and critically examine what’s working and what isn’t.  What’s the point of dropping recyclables in the blue bin if they’re not actually being recycled?

Since the 1990s there’s been a massive push through the use of marketing and propaganda to get Americans on board with sorting out our recyclables from household trash. Remember all those “save the Earth” commercials with seagulls stuck in plastic wrap and turtles choking on bottle caps? They were brilliant sources of media and they worked to motivate! Many of us do in fact take the time to recycle and that’s a plus. Recycling is a good thing and it happens to feel good too.  

After all, we’re doing our part to protect the environment, right?

The short answer is yes, but also no. We as the end consumers may be doing our part, but the folks responsible for all that marketing, who coincidentally are also responsible for creating much of the problem in the first place, aren’t doing their part. Guess what else? They never really intended to do their part at all despite spending millions of dollars in advertising to make us believe otherwise. That’s right, we were lied to. 

So join us as we discuss what lies were told and what materials in the U.S. are actually being recycled. Spoiler alert: it might not be what you think.

References:

Sullivan, Laura. September 11, 2020. “How Big Oil Misled the Public into Believing Plastic Would be Recycled”. NPR: Morning Edition. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we’re tipping our hats to all things British as we embark on our quest for knighthood. Our understanding of attaining knight-ness is you must first be epic for England and thus appealing to the Queen.

We figure there’s no better way to demonstrate our worthiness than by sharing how British history and pop culture has influenced who we are as Snowflakes. Yes we attempt accents and we’re sure you’ll enjoy it.

From our adoration of Robin Hood to our love of Mary Poppins and our nerding out over The Canterbury Tales, we salute our neighbors across the pond and hope they’ll give us a wave or a nod or something….knighthood perhaps? Are we doing this right?

We also discuss a very special British-Carolina connection with the locals living on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. Descendants of Blackbeard’s pirates, the residents of Ocracoke still speak a unique dialect called Hoi Toider, which is comprised of old Elizabethan English and pirate slang. The Hoi Toider dialect isn’t found anywhere else in the world and we do our best to share a few words and phrases one might hear when visiting.

So grab a spot of tea and tuck into this week’s episode as we hail the Queen and all things British.

This week on the Carolina Snowflakes Podcast we take a trip back in time to 1898 when America’s only successful coup d’Etat occurred in Wilmington, NC.

A group of armed white supremacists violently overturned Wilmington's local government in a riot not dissimilar to the one seen recently in the Nation’s capitol.

Through gross media manipulation, physical intimidation, abuse and even murder, the group chased thousands of Black citizens out of the North Carolina town and took control of what they believed was rightfully their own.

No one was ever prosecuted or held legally responsible for the acts that occurred in Wilmington and for over 100 years the story was either obscured (whitewashed) or downplayed by the media and government institutions.

Considering recent events in the U.S., the story of the Wilmington Massacre has seen a resurgence of interest. It should be no surprise that today’s events tend to parallel the ones of 123 years ago. As they say, history repeats itself. They also say when we remain ignorant to the truth, we are doomed to repeat history over and over again.

The story of the Wilmington Massacre is fascinating, but also angering when we (The Snowflakes) admit that we were blissfully unaware of it. How did we not know something so historic happened in the state where we reside? This wasn’t taught in our history courses. Was it taught in yours?

References:

Consider This Podcast/NPR. (January 8, 2021).  “Race and the Capitol Riot: An American Story We’ve Heard Before”. https://www.npr.org/2021/01/04/953286955/race-and-the-capitol-riot-an-american-story-weve-heard-before

Randle, Aaron. (October 7, 2020). “America’s Only Successful Coup d’Etat Overthrew a Biracial Government in 1898”. https://www.history.com/news/wilmington-massacre-1898-coup

Lafrance, Adrienne & Newkirk II, Vann R. (August 12, 2017). “The Lost History of an American Coup d’Etat”. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/wilmington-massacre/536457/