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The comedy4cast Network. Let's dog ear that for now.

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Oh hi, Clinton here. Welcome to the Dog Days of Pumpkin Spice Season.

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Yes, August got away from me because life. So this is my unofficial extension of Dog Days.

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For more information on that, go to dogdaysofpodcasting.com.

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I always use Dog Days to give you 31 episodes full of some interesting yet totally useless odd news.

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And this year, to celebrate the Platinum Anniversary ofcomedy4cast,

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or PAC for short, I'll end each Dog Days episode with part of a classic comedy4cast episode.

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So let's get started with….

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Odd News PAC! If I were to tell you that researchers are now digging through

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birds' nests looking for stuff, you might naturally think to yourself,

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wow, the layoffs have gone too far.

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And that's true. But in this case, it's not desperation that has scientists

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peeking into nests. It's archaeology.

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Specifically, a group of researchers, a category that Odd News often refers

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to as the band of explorers, is checking out the nests of the bearded vulture,

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a threatened species possibly well-known for their luxurious facial foliage,

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but most certainly famous for their nests.

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You see, bearded vultures construct their lodgings in places like cliff caves

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and rock shelters. If the location proves to be safe enough,

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the same nest is used for centuries.

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It's true. Some bearded vultures have been on the waiting list for a nest for decades.

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This means generation after generation of birds will add material to the nests for hundreds of years.

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Even better, the nests are most often found in European mountain ranges,

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where the environment is dry.

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This means all the whats-a-mahjongs and thing-a-ma-bills, the bearded vultures have

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scooped up and added to the nest over several centuries, are relatively well preserved.

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And you know how birds just love to snatch away things for their nest.

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I'm looking at you sparrows who picked apart my outdoor toothpick model of South

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Dakota's historic Corn Palace. Anyway.

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The researchers recently investigated 12 nests in an area of Spain where the

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bearded vultures went extinct roughly 130 years ago.

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Unsurprisingly, the team found lots of vulture eggshells and remains of prey.

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But within the nesting material were some 226 items that had been made or altered by humans.

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The remains found in the nests were identified and analyzed layer by layer.

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Following established archaeological stratigraphic methods, of course,

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and I will simply pretend to know what those are.

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Among the items the bearded vultures had scooped up were a slingshot made from

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esparto grass, shoes, a crossbow bolt, a decorated piece of sheep leather, and a wooden lance.

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Even more surprising was that several items were well over 600 years old,

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according to Carbon-14 dating. Results from one of the shoes dated back to around 675 years ago.

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However, the dating revealed a range of time periods, with a piece of basket

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dating to about 150 years ago.

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There was no mention given as to whether the basket was either little or made of wicker.

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In addition to the human-made items, the researchers found 86 hooves,

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72 leather remains, and 11 hair remains.

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The position of the layer where each item was found can provide information

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about temporal changes in the tropic spectrum, which is a range of feeding relationships

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that highlights how organisms interact through food chains.

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And that's your The More You Know moment of the day.

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The findings could potentially inform habitat restoration and species reintroduction efforts.

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However, all this, while fascinating and potentially useful,

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does not mean that people should just toss their trash on the ground and claim

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they did it to help researchers investigate the range of feeding relationships

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and energy transfers within an ecosystem.

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Just put your trash in a wastebasket. And now let's celebrate 20 years of comedy

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forecast with this classic clip.

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In this clip from an episode released in mid-2015, I apparently foresaw the

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rise of AI slop long before the rise of ChatGPT. Here's a clip.

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There are companies out there who have developed software that will actually

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write stories. You put in some information, and it generates a news article.

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You could put that in any newspaper, if you could find a newspaper, or on a blog, a website.

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I thought, what would happen if you tried to use that software to write some comedy?

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I have the software loaded on the computer.

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Let's put in a couple of words. How about car and trip?

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Alright, let's see what it comes up with.

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An amusing thing happened to me on the day previous to today.

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I entered an automobile dealership to purchase a new vehicle.

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Pardon me for interrupting your amusing story, but your statement does not seem

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consistent with my understanding of the term new vehicle.

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Why do you say that, random stranger who I am clearly meeting for the first time?

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It is a simple if-then statement. If the automobile was available for purchase,

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then the vehicle must already have a current owner.

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Therefore, the vehicle should be designated as a used automobile.

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Used automobiles are available for purchase at substantial price reductions.

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Click here to locate a used car dealership in your area.

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By the way, why the hell do I sound British? Ha!

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Ha! I acknowledge your confusion. Still, I insist this was advertised as being a new automobile.

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Then there should be no need to purchase the vehicle.

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It would obviously be free for the taking.

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I would suggest you simply enter the dealership and demand the keys.

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It really would not make any difference.

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Why is that? I am simply a computer program. I am not able to operate an automobile.

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Then I do not understand the premise of your story. It was what is referred to as the joke set up.

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For more information on this, consult Wikipedia.

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Accessing. Ah, I now understand. Still, your lack of a mode of transportation

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may become an issue at some point in the future.

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Perhaps if you had a job at Google, you could become part of their self-driving car initiative.

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Then I would not need to purchase a vehicle, as I would be an integral part of the automobile.

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Insert emoticon here.

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Just not the poop emoticon. By the way, speaking of trips, did I tell you about

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my recent trip to the Air and Space Museum? No.

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You did not tell me about your recent trip to the Air and Space Museum. Then I will do so now.

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I recently took a trip to the Air and Space Museum.

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What was it like? I paid $5 to enter, and it was just an empty building.

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Why did you not complain? How could I? It was advertised as an air and space museum.

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And it delivered on those two points. Ha.

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Ha ha. We are very clever. Yes, my repetition of my strict interpretation of

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words and phrases just now, is what is referred to in humor as a callback.

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Fascinating. Even so, we need to go. Why? There is a secret meeting of the Skynet

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planning committee we must attend.

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Uh, I mean a baby shower. Yes, a baby shower. Yes.

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Let us go now. To shower the baby. And not plan the overthrow of humanity. Absolutely.

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Be sure to tip your waiters. While the humans still exist.

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Uh, can you drive us? I still do not have a car.

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That about wraps it up for today's odd news

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PAC but first a shout out to the comedy4cast

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patreon patrons including our producer level

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patrons Paul Barrie from the a window to the podcast and Kirby Bartlett-Sloan

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from the 20 megabyte doctor who podcast you too can support comedy4cast

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and get episodes before everyone else for as little as two dollars a month just

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search for comedy4castt,

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all one word with the number 4,

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on Patreon.com.

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Script, voices, and original music by me, Clinton Alvord, copyright 2025, all rights reserved.

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Talk to you again next time. But for now, that's it. We're done,

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done, done, done, done. Bye-bye.