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

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This is comedy4cast,
episode 876, Socks It To Me.

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It's time once again for the August
Dog Days of Podcasting Challenge.

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For more information and to
hear shows from all the participants,

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go to dogdaysofpodcasting.com.

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comedy4cast is taking this time to
provide you with some interesting yet

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totally useless odd news.

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In fact, two odd news stories
that we think deserve each other.

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So, let's have some fun with
Odd News Times Twos.

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For our first story, we're jetting off
to South Hadley, Massachusetts,

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and the Mount Holyoke College
Botanic Garden.

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Great. Now let's get to the
college's Talcott Greenhouse.

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It houses about 2,000 plant species,

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but we're here to witness
the rare blooming

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of one particular species,
and we don't have much time.

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However, before we do that,

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we need to head to Annapolis,
Maryland for our second story.

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[ ELECTRONIC WHOOSH ]

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I'm beginning to appreciate The Doctor
a bit more every time I do that.

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Anyway, we're here on the vernal
equinox, the end of winter/beginning

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of spring, which means we're just
in time for an annual spring festival held

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right here in Chesapeake Bay.

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Well, not in the bay, that would
be very wet, but on the beach.

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If you look over there, you can see
the Naptown Brass Band and the Eastport

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Oyster Boys getting set up on the bandstand.

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Oh, and speaking of oysters, a couple
of thousand have already been shucked

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for the festival, with more to come.
Of course, festivals on the beach are

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nothing new, but this one is unique.

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It commemorates and reenacts an event

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that happened here in
the harbor nearly 50 years ago.

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Back in 1977, at the end of a prolonged
cold winter, boat builder and sailing

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enthusiast Bob Turner had become very, very,
very tired of wearing his heavy winter socks.

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So much so that he finally took
matters and his socks into his own hands.

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Yanking the covers off his feet,

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he doused the fabric with 
lighter fluid and set the socks aflame.

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Vowing to not wear another
pair until the following winter.

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And that event is now immortalized 
by way of the Annapolis Oyster Roast and

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Sock Burning Festival, a highlight of
which is the reading of the Ode to the

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Equinox, which concludes with these lines.

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So if you sail into the harbor on the 20th
of March and smell a smell like Limburger

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mixed in with laundry starch, You'll
know you're downwind of the Eastport docks,

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where they're burning
their socks for the equinox.

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Oh, that's beautiful. With the poem
concluded and the fire pit ready,

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festival attendees begin tossing
unlucky socks into the flames.

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Dozens and dozens of colorful, worn out, and
yes, often unwashed, socks go up in smoke.

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It's quite a sight to behold,
if you're upwind of it, that is.

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It's also a practice that has spread to
other port towns from the Pacific Northwest

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to New England.
New England? Oh, that's right.

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We need to get back to
East Hadley, Massachusetts.

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[ ELECTRONIC WHOOSH ]

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Here in Mount HolyokE's TalbotT
Greenhouse, a rare tropical plant,

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Amorphophallus titanum, 
nicknamed Pangy, is blooming.

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That's a big deal, because
the timing is difficult to predict,

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often preceded by years of dormancy.
The plant is large.

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Pangea's green, vase-like lower half
is about the size of a two-gallon bucket.

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Over the past six weeks, the other part
of the plant has grown rapidly up from

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this base, at times shooting
up several inches in a day.

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It looks like…Well, it kind of resembles…
Look, just consider the fact that

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the name of the plant is
Amorphophallus titanum, okay?

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Now that the plant has bloomed,
everyone wants to take a look.

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But it's really the plant's scent that
has drawn everyone to this event.

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And strangely enough,
it's also driving them away.

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Because the more common name of
Amorphophallus titanum is the corpse flower.

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It's native to the rainforests of Sumatra,
and when it blooms,

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it releases a rather pungent scent.

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People here to sample the aroma describe
it in glowing terms like a stinky diaper

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baking in the sun, or evoking
memories of dissecting a dead bird.

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But that is the plant's plan. The scent
is meant to mimic decaying flesh and

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attract pollinators such as flies and
beetles. The plant only flowers for a

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brief period, then it gradually
deteriorates and collapses.

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But Pangy can survive underground
and may bloom again in a few years,

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ready to stink up the place again.

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So what did we learn today? I think
it's that these events help us remember

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to stop and smell the roses.

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Oh, and do the laundry.

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[ "END THEME" IN AND UNDER ]

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That about wraps it up for
today's Odd News Times Twos.

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But first, a very special shout-out to
my Patreon patrons, including producer-level

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patrons Paul Barrie from the 
A Window to the Magic podcast,

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Kirby Bartlett-Sloan,
Chuck Tomasi from the Technorama podcast,

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Kyle Nishioka,
Brian Martsolf, Amy Murphy,

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and Steve Ng from steveng5.com.

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That's S-T-E-V-E-N-G, the number 5, dot com.
You too can show your support.

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Just search for comedy4cast, all one 
word with the number 4, on Patreon.com.

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Original script, voices, and original
music by me, Clinton Alvord. Copyright 2026.

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All rights reserved. Talk to you
again next time. But for now,

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that's it. We're done, done,
done, done, done. Bye-bye.