Episode #1032: So Much Electricity
First Broadcast: 9/22/25
Would you listen to a podcast that completely consists of voices generated by A.I.? Is it really easier or cheaper to create a podcast with A.I. than to have one created by actual human beings? Can anyone trust the opinions of a podcast in which no human created the opinions? Are A.I.-generated podcasts the audio equivalent of all the spam A.I.-generated "books" clogging up Amazon? Is this life imitating the "Army of Robots" song by Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer? Don't people have enough problems with chatbots making them psychotic? Doesn't A.I. already use too much water and too much electricty, and by that contributing to global warming? Is more nuclear power from fission reactors really a solution, when we still don't really know where to put all their radioactive waste? Won't someone think of the cats???
Episode #1033: Bag of Potato Chips
First Broadcast: 10/6/25
On September 28, 2025, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams officially announced that he was suspending his re-election campaign for Mayor (even though, like independent candidate Jim Walden, his name will still be on the ballot), effectively ending his chances for winning another term in office, and he did not endorse any of the remaining candidates in the process (although who would want his endorsement at this point is still an open question). Are we going to miss him and all his scandals, not the least of which was the time one of his campaign workers handed a reporter an envelope full of cash that was hidden inside a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips? Probably not. Will Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa stay in the race like he's promised, or will he eventually drop out too in order to make this a two-man race between Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and ex-Governor Mario Cuomo? Probably not either, but who knows? Will House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer--both New York City residents--ever get around to endorsing the candidate whom voters of their own party chose to nominate for mayor of their own city? Tick, tick! How much more money will President Trump extort from companies to build his unnecessary ballroom at the White House? Is Trump really going to tax all films made outside the United States, and how would he even do that? Don't ask me, I just live here...
Episode #1034: Hidden Feature
First Broadcast: 10/13/25
The latest entry in the long list of dead establishments in New York City that I will endlessly miss is Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream Parlor on Houston Street and LaGuardia Place, which served its last scoops on Sunday, October 12, 2025. I enjoyed so many cones and cups worth of dessert there, and I can say with certainty that their ice cream was the best in New York while they existed. No doubt my taste buds will continue to pine for their food long into the future, just as I'm constantly jonesing for the cupcakes at Jon Vie, or the steak sandwiches at Zozo's, or the babyback ribs at Georgia's, just to name a few of the many long-gone places that I've missed over the years. While I was talking about that, I found the time to go off about the lack of stores where one can buy new CDs in New York as well, which seems especially weird to me in a time when both vinyl records and audio cassette tapes are currently having a renaissance. I'm glad that physical media and "old school" technology are finding lots of new fans out there, but surely there has to be someplace besides Barnes & Noble where I have a chance to buy a new release in a brick & mortar store when it comes out? After all, it's much more fun to watch a movie off a DVD or a Blu-ray than on your phone, isn't it? (And no one paid me to say that!) By the way, are hidden tracks still a thing? "What year is this?"
Episode #1035: Auto Parts
First Broadcast: 10/20/25
This week, we're preoccupied with a statistic that first caught our eye via Fortune, in a headline that read thusly:
Lay's drastically rebrands after disturbing finding: 42% of consumers didn't know their chips were made out of potatoes
After recovering from the initial shock at the thought of nearly half the people out there not knowing that potato chips contain POTATOES, despite "potato" being in the name--indeed, the FIRST WORD in the name--we, of course wanted to know more about how Lay's arrived at this number. Fortune's article mentioned that this result came from "a 2021 survey", but contained no link to said survey, nor any other information about it. A press release from Pepsico (the corporate parent of Lay's) contained the assertion, "42% of people who enjoy Lay's don’t realize they're made with real, farm-grown potatoes," which seems to be a narrower part of population than the "42% of consumers" from the Fortune piece. This raises more questions about just who was surveyed to get this number, but again there were no links, or any other information about this survey, to be found in the release. A Wall Street Journal article about the 42% number quotes "chief executive of PepsiCo's U.S. food business" Rachel Ferdinando as saying "That really was the wake-up call," but, again, doesn't provide any other links to the survey where this number came from. The Today show was apparently the only media outlet that took a greater interest in finding out more about the source of this result, but even they weren't able to uncover the secret of its origins:
Wait ... what?
Lay's doesn't reveal in the release how many people were surveyed or what exactly they were asked. It also begs the question: What do those folks think Lay's chips are made of?
There is a lot of online chatter on this specific detail of the announcement, particularly on Reddit.
"there's literally a potato on the package," one Reddit user noted.
"I really want to know the details of this study, because there's a lot of stupid people but I frankly don't believe that that many people don't know potato chips are made out of potatoes," another user wrote.
"The official announcement doesn't even cite a study," added one more.
Lay's did not immediately respond to TODAY.com's request for comment on the survey.
So, we're still left with a lot of obvious questions, such as: Who gave this survey? Where was it given? Was this online or in person? Who took this survey? What questions were asked? Was it multiple choice or open-ended? What did these people think potato chips were made of? Did they perhaps think that potato chips were all like Pringles "crisps", which are made from a combination of potatoes, corn flour, cornstarch, and rice flour, among other ingredients? I'm sure there are even more follow-ups that we could ask, but those are the basics, and we're no closer to answering them now than we were when we first started looking into this, so we're at a dead end. Do you know anything more about this? Were you part of this survey? Do you have access to any part of it, or have any information about its methodology? Tell us! Enquiring minds want to know!
Episode #1036: People Are Pissed
First Broadcast: 10/27/25
On October 18, 2025, the second "No Kings" protest took place in thousands of locations throughout all 50 states and beyond, with an estimated 7 million people participating worldwide (and at least 100,000 in New York City alone, with no protest-related arrests), making this the largest mass protest in American history, surpassing the first "No Kings" protest in June (attended by 5 million people), "Hands Across America" in 1986 (also with 5 million participants), the 2017 Women's March (involving 3.3 to 4.6 million people), and the "Hands Off" protests in April (with up to 5 million participants). It's quite telling that 4 of the 5 largest protests in U.S. history have happened during President Trump's time in office, and three of them happened this year, which makes us wonder: what does that mean for the rest of Trump's second term--assuming we all live that long? Some of the message must be getting through to Trump, since he keeps denying that he's a king; but if that's true, then why do he and his sycophants keep posting memes that picture him as a king? Here at Free New York, we might tolerate a king of cheese, or a king of burgers, but a king--or someone who acts like one--running government is the whole reason why we had a revolution in the first place, so no more of that, please! And that reminds me: Remember to vote!