Maryland’s Zebras, Slow Baseball, & The Vikings Kill Columbus
Kathleen opens the show drinking a Packerland Pilsner from Hinterland Brewery and eating delicious Henning’s cheese curds from Green Bay. She gives an overview of her weekend in Green Bay and Minneapolis, having a blast touring Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packers’ pro shop, drinking Guinness at St. Brendan’s Inn, and sampling delicious beer and MORE brats and cheese as detailed on her social media.
“GOOD BAD FOOD”: In her quest for new and delicious not-so-nutritious junk food AND in continuing her search for the best Ranch, Kathleen samples Cookies & Scream M&M’s, which don’t taste anything like M&M’s but she thinks that kids will love them. She moves on to taste Lay’s Doritos Cool Ranch flavored potato chips, which she compares to any sour cream & onion flavor (and nothing like Ranch.) Kathleen finishes her tasting with Olive Garden’s Parmesan Ranch dressing, which she loves and recommends dunking your unlimited breadsticks in it (or anything else.)
UPDATE ON KATHLEEN’S QUEEN’S COURT: Kathleen provides an update on the Court, reporting that Queen Stevie has recorded a duet with Sir Elton John called “Stolen Car,” which was released on The Lockdown Sessions album released in October 2021. Queen Tanya Tucker has announced that she won’t return to the road until 2022 so that she can properly recover from hip surgery, and Queen Dolly’s Holiday collection in collaboration with Williams Sonomahas released new items including wreaths and cookie mix.
UPDATES: Kathleen provides updates on Pablo Escobar’s hippos, the IPO of WeWork finally takes place and its founder Adam Neumann celebrates inappropriately with former employees, a 3rd juror is dismissed in the ongoing Elizabeth Holmes trial after she is found playing Sudoku instead of focusing on the deliberations, and the Bellagio’s 11 Picasso paintings were auctioned off for more than $100M.
REMNANT FELLOWSHIP CULT: Kathleen discusses whether Remnant Fellowship Church outside of Nashville is a church or a cult after watching the HBO documentary “The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin.” The church has been marred with scandal and controversy for decades, from Shamblin’s teachings that extreme weight loss will bring a parishioner closer to God, to their general abuse of children that has been documented by local authorities. Shamblin and 6 others died in a private plane crash outside of Nashville in June 2021.
BITCOIN SETS ANOTHER RECORD: Kathleen is thrilled to read an article announcing that Bitcoin recently climbed above $60,000, pushing the digital coin further toward its all-time high as traders speculated U.S. regulators would clear the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund.
BLUE EYED PEOPLE RELATED TO COMMON ANCESTOR: Kathleen’s Irish heritage links her to a large population of blue-eyed people, so she is interested in the findings of a study released by the University of Copenhagen proving that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. Scientists have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6,000-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.
THE “NEW” FACEBOOK: As listeners know, Kathleen holds distain for Mark Zuckerberg and his perceived lack of care around monitoring the content of Facebook, and is appalled when reading an article announcing that Facebook is rebranding and changing its company name as soon as November 2021, according to The Verge. Apparently, the social media giant will have a new name that will reflect its focus on creating a metaverse.
PHIL COLLINS’ ALAMO OBSESSION: Kathleen laughs as she reads an article about drummer Phil Collins’ obsession with the Alamo. Collins donated his trove of Alamo-related artifacts to Texas in 2014 with the stipulation that the state open a museum at the landmark to house them by 2021. With the museum currently finalizing its curating of the exhibits, there is debate on whether the museum “should be focused on celebrating the small group of leaders who played key roles or reflect a broader, more complicated tale,” referring to the Tejanos, Native Americans, and Black indentured and enslaved people that are rarely noted in the history of the Alamo.
VIKINGS DISCOVERED AMERICA: Kathleen reads some breaking historical news confirming that Vikings had settled in a remote corner of northern Newfoundland by AD 1021, establishing for the first time a precise date for the earliest European habitation in the Americas — exactly 1,000 years ago. In A.D. 993, a storm on the sun released an enormous pulse of radiation that was absorbed and stored by trees all over the Earth. Now, that solar event has proved a critical tool in pinpointing an exact year the Vikings were present in the Americas before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
ROYAL CARIBBEAN’S ULTIMATE WORLD CRUISE: Kathleen prefers other types of vacations to those on cruise ships, and is amused at the response to Royal Caribbean’s announcement that their new Serenade of the Seas will sail around the world in 80 days, and passengers can book a 274 night cruise that will visit more than 150 destinations. The ship will embark on what the line is calling the “longest and most comprehensive” world cruise scheduled to depart in 2023.
MARYLAND ZEBRAS: Kathleen reads an article advising that 5 zebras escaped from a private farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland on August 31st, 2021. 3 of the 5 animals are still loose, and local authorities and zoo experts have weighed in their opinions on how to go about catching the creatures.
SPEEDING UP PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL: Kathleen is a massive St. Louis Cardinals fan, and agrees that the game would be MUCH more exciting if changes were made to speed up how the game is played. She’s excited to read a recent article announcing that MLB is using the Atlantic League as a test league for changes that could potentially speed up the play of game and add more drama. Stay tuned, baseball fans ☺
106-Year-Old Credits Beer With Longevity: Kathleen is thrilled reading an article from Pennsylvania where a 106-year-old woman credits a Yuengling Lager a day with her longevity. The brewer heard about her endorsement before a Philadelphia Eagles game and send Margaret Dilullo a truckload of the beer as a thank you for her decades of support.
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK: Kathleen recommends watching the HBO documentary “The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin.,” on HBO Max, and “Succession” on HBO.