Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that is back after a wee bit of a break…  I'm your host this week, Shea. I'm Aaron, and this week I learned I should be doing my homework... This week's drink: Space Bloody Orange from Ace cidery  Crazy Headlines of 2022 May: Pecker Plants  Apparently, back in May, the Cambodian government asked people to stop picking a rare carnivorous plant and if the poaching continues this plant has a very real chance of going extinct. The reason behind the carnivorous bouquet is the flowers' unique appearance of male genitalia, Nepenthes holdenii also called the Penis Fly Trap. Cambodian environment ministry wrote on Facebook: “What they are doing is wrong and please don’t do it again in the future. “Thank you for loving natural resources, but don’t harvest them so they go to waste.” https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/southeast-asia/penis-plants-cambodia-nepenthes-b2081969.html June: See ya later Alligator  The end of last June in a tiny town in southern Mexico, Mayor Victor Hugo Sosa sealed his nuptials to an alligator with a kiss. The age-old ritual in San Pedro Huamelula, now mixed with Catholic spirituality, involves dressing the alligator or caiman in a white wedding dress plus other colorful garments. "We ask nature for enough rain, for enough food, that we have fish in the river," said Sosa. The seven-year-old reptile, referred to as a little princess, is believed to be a deity representing mother earth, and her marriage to the local leader symbolizes the joining of humans with the divine. As trumpets blared and drums provided a festive beat, locals carried the alligator bride in their arms through village streets as men fanned it with their hats. "It gives me so much happiness and makes me proud of my roots," said Elia Edith Aguilar, known as the godmother who organized the wedding. She said that she feels privileged to be entrusted with carrying out the ceremony, and noted she spent a lot of time fretting over what the bride would wear. "It's a very beautiful tradition," she added with a smile. https://nypost.com/2022/07/03/mexican-mayor-weds-princess-alligator-in-age-old-tradition/ July: I turned 35 and that sucks.  August: Captain Maryland He wields a mallet, carries a crab-shaped shield and wears a belt of Old Bay. Some say he is quicker running sideways than forward and has a super pinch grip! It’s Captain Maryland!! Clark Rogers, “Defender of Maryland” and superhero in disguise, has always been fascinated by cosplay. Ever since he was a young boy, he could be found at countless comic conventions, watching as his favorite television personalities strode by, capes billowing and costumes gleaming. As Rogers, a recently retired firefighter, grew older, he wished to create a superhero of his very own — one on a much smaller scale, dedicated to his beloved home state of Maryland. Thus, Captain Maryland was born. Every superhero needs an origin story, and Rogers explains that Captain Maryland gained his superhero powers after eating radioactive crabs from the Chesapeake Bay near the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. The seafood gave him the powerful pinch of a cra...