This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
Eczema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with F-glist. a once monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase, about four in ten people taking EBGLIS achieved it for late and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. EBGLIS, Libriquizumab, L-EKZ, a 250 milligram per 2 milliliter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies.
EBGLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to EBGLIS. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems.
You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with EBGLIS. Before starting EBGLIS, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about EBGLIS and visit ebglis.lily.com or call 1-800-LILIRX or 1-800-545-5979. You're listening to a podcast.
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$1 a day premium based on 2024 average new policyholder data for accident and illness plans pets age 0 to 10. This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports, and from business to history. And we've got a well of a tale to bring you right now. Jesse Edwards can explain.
On November 9th, 1970. A 45-foot-long, 8-ton sperm whale washed ashore on the central Oregon coast. Just outside the town of Florence. After all these years, it's amazing that this thing has come back to life again. But every once in a while, it pops up.
It's an aroma that still lingers. It was one of the worst smells I've ever encountered. Words cannot describe the smell. It was in my nostrils for a solid week. The whale carcass remained rotting on the beach for over a week, and nobody knew what to do about it.
It was too big to bury, and stunk too much to cut into smaller pieces. In burning it. was out of the question. At the time, Oregon beaches were under the jurisdiction of the state's highway division, which, after consulting with the United States Navy, decided to remove the whale using Dynamite. George Thornton.
was the engineer in charge of the operation.
Well, I'm confident that it'll work. The only thing is we're not sure just exactly how much explosives it'll take to disintegrate this. thing so the scavengers, seagulls and crabs and whatnot can clean it up. Is there any chance it might be more than a one-day job? Uh if there's any large chunks left and uh We may have to do some other cleanup, possibly set another charge.
Thornton was chosen to remove the whale carcass because his supervisor had gone hunting that day. A charge. of half a ton of dynamite was selected. As word spread across town, Crowds began to gather. I'm thinking we got big trouble here.
20 cases of dynamite. Walter Umenhoffer, a military veteran with explosives training, happened to be in the crowd. He warned the crew. With the 20 cases of dynamite, was an overkill. Twenty sticks would have sufficed.
But his advice went unheeded. This guy says, anyhow, he says, I'm going to have everybody up there. On the top of those dunes, far away. And I said, yeah, and I'm gonna be the furthest SOB down that way. They made a big spectacle of waving their hats, their hard hats in the air and clear everybody away and all this, all clear.
The dynamite was buried under the whale on the leeward side so that most of the mammal would be blown towards the sea. The crowds of people that had come to see the whale be blown to bits were pushed back a quarter of a mile to safety. The dynamite was detonated at 3:45 p.m. What you're hearing are the chunks of rotten whale blood raining down on the spectators. Yeah, come back.
Walter Ummenhofer saw it all happen. And they touched that sucker off and let me tell you, that thing went up and it was the biggest mushroom cloud you ever seen. And it was red and white and black and it was nothing but guts and blood and gunk. Carried by strong coastal winds, a cloud of putrid whale fluids moved inland.
So everybody all of a sudden start realizing that, oh my God, here it comes in this mist. We were covered, we were permeated with redness. And the smell. Those who witnessed the explosion agree that the next few moments seemed to last forever. It soon became apparent.
that what should have been little pieces of whale Turned out. To be big ones. And this stuff starts hitting the ground. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And all of a sudden you realize, my god, I could be killed by whale blubber here.
And I'm watching this one piece. There's a big piece up there. It's kind of flubbering and floating around. And we ran. We literally ran and it just absolutely stopped.
and it came flat down. A cup. Right on top of Walter Amenhoeff's 1969 Oldsmobile. It was a neat car. I just got it from Dunham's and it was a Regency.
And like I say, the funny thing about their slogan is it was a whale of a deal.
Well, I got a hell of a whale of a deal. Yeah. Within two days, the state of Oregon wrote Walter a check for the full retail value of his car. The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds, yet only some of the whale was disintegrated. The majority of the whale carcass remained on the beach for the Oregon Highway Division to clean up.
Due to damage that was caused to local property, Whales that are found beached in Oregon are now buried where they're found. And you may be wondering what happened to the man who decided it was a good idea to use 1,000 pounds of dynamite to blow up the beached whale, George Thornton. Is there any chance it might be more than a one-day job? Uh if there's any large chunks left. In his official report back in 1970, He declared the operation a success.
Which helps to explain what happened to his career just six months later. He got promoted. For our American stories, I'm Jesse Edwards. And great job, as always, to Jesse Edwards, who always manages to find these quirky and yet ultimately American stories. And I just loved hearing the voices and the sound effects.
My goodness. I just keep thinking about the smell. The Exploding Well of Florence, Oregon. That story here. on our American story.
Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again. Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It helps us keep these great American stories coming.
Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage.
Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Eczema. as unpredictable.
But you can flare less with ebb glist. a once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase, about four in ten people taking EBGLIS achieved it for late and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. EBGLIS, Librikizumab, LBKZ, a 250 milligram per 2 milliliter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies.
EBGLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to EBGLIS. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems.
You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with EBGLIS. Before starting EBGLIS, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about EBGLIS and visit ebglis.lilly.com or call 1-800-LILIRX or 1-800-545-5979. I'm U. S.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Yeah. The sound of a seatbelt. It's one of the most important sounds in our car. It means everyone is ready and everyone is safe.
The more our kids see us put on our seatbelts, the more natural it is for them to put theirs on too. Make it a priority. Buckle up every time. Hear the sound? Make it a habit.
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