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

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This is comedy4cast,
episode 882, Cashless Concerns.

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

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Yeah, August got away from me again.

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So this is another edition of my unofficial
extension of Dog Days of Podcasting.

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

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This year, I'm providing you with
even more totally useless odd news.

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

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So, let's have some fun
with odd news times twos.

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For today's first odd news
story, we're headed off to London.

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East London, actually, and
the riverside town of Barking.

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Local highlights include
the Barking Museum, Barking

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Town Square, Barking Park,
and the Barking Abbey Ruins.

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That's a lot of barking.
Must be hard to sleep at night.

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But right now, we're here, in the relative
quiet of the home of Anthony Kalejaiye.

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Anthony is getting ready to attend a
family celebration, preparing something he

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will need so he can participate in a
Nigerian custom popular at such affairs.

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Meanwhile, his three-year-old
daughter, Amelia, is in the

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living room, happily working
on an arts and crafts project.

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When Anthony walks back into the living
room, he freezes, in shock at what he sees.

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Ooh, did Amelia color outside the lines?

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Squeeze glitter glue into her hair?

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Build a rudimentary yet
fully articulated version

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of the tower bridge out
of construction paper?

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Before we find out what actually
happened, I'm afraid we have

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to jet off to South Korea again
for our second odd news story.

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If you've ever been on an e-commerce
site and made an impulse purchase,

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you probably felt great about the whole
thing while you were shopping. But then,

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a few minutes after hitting that Order Now
button, ah, regret started to set in.

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Now sure, it may have something
to do with the fact that you don't even

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have a backpack that's compatible
with that portable table napkin dispenser,

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but psychologists say that the
ritual involved in buying things

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online is enough to get your
brain to release a dopamine hit.

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That's why you feel great.

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At least for a while.

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But then, the stimulant wears off.

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Oh no!

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And sometimes, you're
right back online again,

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spotting a ceramic VHS
tape caddy that's on sale.

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8% off!

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And the whole cycle begins again.

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But what if you could get those
dopamine hits without spending any money?

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That's the idea behind so-called
dopamine sites in South Korea.

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I know, it sounds illegal.

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But no!

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These are websites that are designed
to mimic actual online retail sites.

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There are hundreds of products,
reviews, filters, and even sale items.

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Take your time!

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Browse!

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Add this, that, and the
other thing to your cart.

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When you're all set, select
your method of payment,

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fill in a delivery
address, and order away.

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Except, of course, the products never show up.

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And there's no actual
charge to your credit card.

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Younger users find the
experience so close to the

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real thing, they get an
identical surge of dopamine.

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Of course, there is some danger.

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Some experts warn that even though
the shopping is fake,

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use of a dopamine site reinforces behavioral
patterns that make online shopping addictive,

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whether or not real items are involved.

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So, let's close that browser tab and put away
the credit card for now.

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And head back to Barking!

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[DOGS BARKING]

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Barking, England.

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When we left, which seems like
just a few minutes ago, doesn't it?

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Anthony Kalejaiye had just walked
into the living room and found

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his three-year-old daughter,
Amelia, working on an art project.

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But instead of applying finger paints
or markers to bring life to her unicorn

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coloring book, Amelia had used
something else to make her artistic statement.

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She had cut up nearly $1,800 in U.S.
currency $100 bills and was in the process

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of pasting Benjamin Franklin's head
onto the mythical creature's bodies.

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As avant-garde as that may be, the money
was something Anthony had stashed away for use

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during Nigerian family celebrations, where it
is often customary to shower guests with cash.

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Fortunately, several of the bills were
readable enough to be exchanged

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at a local bank for new currency,
which is not always the case.

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Anthony says the whole incident taught him to
keep a closer eye on where he keeps his cash.

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That bank where you exchanged the
bills might be a good option, Anthony.

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Just saying.

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So, what did we learn today?
I think is that

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it's hard to believe that doing pretend
shopping online may not teach you the value

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of money, but doing an art project involving
unicorns and Benjamin Franklin will.

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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

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producer-level patrons Paul Barrie
from the A Window to the Magic podcast,

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Kirby Bartlett-Sloan,

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Chuck Tomasi from the Technorama podcast,

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Kyle Nishioka,

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 Brian Martsolf,

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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.

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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.

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Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

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Talk to you again next time.

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But for now, that's it.

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We're done, done, done, done, done.
Bye bye!