Friday Randomness ~ Radio Edition

I listen to the radio once in awhile, but what I’m talking about here is in my case partly radio, partly podcast versions of radio programs that have already aired, and I listen to them later, when I’m out for a walk or whatever.  Within the last few weeks, I’ve heard a few stories that struck me, and I thought I might share them with you.

1. From an actual radio program (meaning, I heard it on the radio whilst driving in the car), “Here and Now” interviewed Bill Bryson on The Eventful Summer of 1927.  There was talk about that eventful year, but I was hopping in and out of the car, delivering meals for Meals on Wheels, so I only heard snippets.  The snippet I heard shocked me.  Bryson claims that during prohibition, the government actually poisoned alcohol, sometimes blinding and sometimes killing people who found their way to this illegal substance.  What?  WHAT?  I mean, WHAT?   Can you imagine?  Then later, the same day I heard this, I was listening to a podcast that I enjoy (also available via NPR), This American Life, where the story was only slightly about the government tainting people with LSD in the 50s.  Giving it to Johns who frequented whore houses, but without their knowledge.  WHAT?  This stuff is crazy.  No wonder no one trusts the government.  I mean, I don’t.  I trust big business even less, so I’m a democrat, but it’s because I believe in the ideals they speak, not the deeds they do.
2. I found an old podcast of To the Best of Our Knowledge on my iPod, about Mariana Chapman, a woman who was abducted from her family in Columbia at the age of 4 (almost 5), and dumped in the jungle.  She lived there for 5 years with no interaction with people, just a group of capuchin monkeys.  She lived there, until she came across some monkey hunters, thought the woman amongst them looked kind, and went to her.  Not kind.  Sold her to a brothel to live her teens as a prostitute.  Luckily, she was so feral that she was useless as a prostitute, so she was a slave cleaning instead.  She ran away and lived on the streets, and then was taken in by another family, who also enslaved her and forced her to clean for them.  Finally, the neighbors of this family heard all of the yelling and abuse, and took her in with them, where she was treated as a person for the first time since she was 4 years old.  She grew up, moved to England, married and had children of her own.  It’s a fascinating story, which you can hear here.  Her resilience is amazing.  There are those who question the authenticity of her story.  Sadly, what they question is the possibility of a 5 year old living with monkeys and surviving, not the cruelty of the people she encountered later.  That part is all to easy to accept.  At the end of the To the Best of Our Knowledge interview, they question some experts about the possibility of a human child, that young, surviving for so long with moneys in the jungle.  They said it was possible.  Extremely unlikely, but possible.  Another possibility is that she is lying, which I doubt.  A more likely possibility is that she believes that this was her childhood.  It could be that her childhood was so traumatic, that she has blocked it out and replaced her memories with these.  It could be that from this true belief, she learned to climb to the tippy-top of trees, quickly, catch wild rabbits easily, and enjoyed spending hours grooming her children by picking through their hair.  I doubt these things could come from an absolute lie.  But they could come from the truth, or from her belief that it’s the truth.
3. Lastly, I heard on This American Life of the dangers of overdosing on Acetaminophen. I had known that taking too many Tylenol, especially if you drink alcohol, can cause liver damage. I didn’t really know how little it can take to kill you. To be fair, a LOT of people take more than the recommended dose of Tylenol, a lot of people combine it (unknowingly) with other over-the-counter drugs that also contain Acetaminophen, and they are fine. For a lot of people, it is fine. However, it is the MOST DANGEROUS over-the-counter medication out there. (Let’s assume that alcohol and tobacco are no medications, OK?)

Over 150 Americans die from Acetaminophen overdose every year, which is tiny compared to drownings in swimming pools, or car accidents, or gun accidents. But for an accidental overdose of something that we presume is safe? It’s crazy. It was an interesting story to me, because what they said was, used as directed, Acetaminophen is safer than Ibuprofen or Aspirin, which can cause stomach bleeding when used correctly. But only a tiny bit of extra Acetaminophen can cause serious damage, hospitalize you with liver damage, perhaps kill you. I was reminded of a time when Maya and I were in Portland, visiting my parents, and Maya fell and hit her head very hard in the window hole by the cellar (I know, that’s not the word…there’s a cellar, there’s a window, and outside, there’s a hold in the ground outside of it, letting the light in. What’s that called?) So I wanted some pain killer to help her out, but she was too young to take the adult stuff. I didn’t even want to risk my dad going to the store by himself to buy something, because the dosing was so weird on those things. HUGE difference between infant Tylenol and childrens’ Tylenol. Hearing this story, I’m glad I went. Not that my dad would have brought home the wrong thing, not that I would have GIVEN her the wrong thing, but what if we did? Ugh. Serious stuff.

So that’s what I’ve learned listening to the radio lately. Not related to one another, but all really interesting to me. Have you learned anything interesting on the radio lately, besides my husband sounds great (he does traffic and news on the radio locally), Congress is full of idiots, and Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me is hilarious? (Because it is)