Latest / The Daily Sarcast / September 17th, 2026: A New Prison Scam, Paris Syndrome And Things I've Learned From Constant Travel

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September 17th, 2026: A New Prison Scam, Paris Syndrome And Things I've Learned From Constant Travel · The Daily Sarcast

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  Today's episode is brought to you by the Re-Entry Service.
• 0:04
  Have you recently returned home after traveling and no longer recognized your own apartment?
• 0:09
  The Re-Entry Service can help.
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  Their highly trained specialists treat the most common symptoms of post-travel re-entry.
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  And if you spend so long sleeping in a hotel room that you're uncomfortable
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  now sleeping in a house by yourself, they can send a stranger into your apartment
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  to make unnecessary noises in the next room, the re-entry service.
• 1:11
  After being away for long enough, sometimes you just forget how to be a person in your own home.
• 1:17
  I am not familiar with that organization. Stephen Colbert on Jimmy Kimmel the
• 1:22
  other night when asked if CBS called to congratulate him on his seven Emmys.
• 1:27
  Insert theme song here. This is the Daily Starcast. I give you the news and maybe a laugh.
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  I'm Lindsay Verdick and today is September 17th, 2026.
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  It's officially feeling like fall of New York and it's freaking me out.
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  I feel like summer wasn't long enough, but summer is never long enough.
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  Yeah, that's all I have to say about that.
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  Okay, in real news, prison inmates are trying to figure out how to work remotely now.
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  So, apparently inmates across the country are using illegal cell phones inside
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  prisons to run elaborate phone scams on people outside of prison.
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  They'll pose as bail bondsmen, court workers, or other officials,
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  and they'll call people and tell them that their loved one is in jail and urgently needs money.
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  One guy in South Carolina was contacted by someone claiming his estranged son
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  was in jail and needed help.
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  So the dad texted back, not my problem. He wished me dead. So I am. My God, dad.
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  That is not technically the response you want from a parent in an emergency,
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  but is definitely a strong opening negotiating position.
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  Eventually, the guy was convinced the situation was real and lost almost $12,000.
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  The investigators have eventually traced the scam back to inmates using contraband
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  phones inside Georgia prisons.
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  Some of these phones are apparently getting into prisons through drones,
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  visitors, and, like, corrupt staff.
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  So the prison contraband economy has evolved. It started as cigarettes,
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  and now it's smartphones, identity theft, and I guess Venmo, too.
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  Technology has really changed things.
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  Okay so if you've ever wanted to go to Paris and you get there and you're like
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  oh this isn't as exciting as I thought it would be.
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  There's a name for that now it's called Paris syndrome it's when tourists arrive
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  in Paris and are so disappointed that they experience things like anxiety dizziness
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  and in some cases hallucinations I'm not kidding this is like a new thing now,
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  and honestly I had Paris syndrome too but like not to this extent but like I
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  was definitely disappointed when I went, but this is also like 10 years ago
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  when it was not the best time to be there.
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  But anyways, so Paris syndrome was coined in the 1980s by a Japanese psychiatrist
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  who noticed the reaction among Japanese tourists visiting France.
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  Like, everyone thinks that it's, like, this, like, beautiful,
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  romantic city where you just, like, sit outside and eat a croissant in a cafe
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  and, like, magically fall in love and, like, no bad things ever happen there.
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  But people get there and realize that it's just another city and there's traffic
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  and you don't always fall in love.
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  And also, French people can be, like, really, really mean.
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  Okay now i would like to introduce new york syndrome which occurs when someone
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  moves here expecting to become the effortlessly chick woman from sex in the city,
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  and six months later they're eating trader joe's over the sink and googling
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  is my landlord allowed to do this.
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  Japan has entered its grandma as outliving everyone era japan has now more than
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  a hundred thousand people who are more than 100 years old or older.
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  The exact number is 107,677 people are more than 100 years old in Japan.
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  And that number is up almost 8,000 people from last year.
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  And almost 88% of them are women. Okay, sorry, these are just like a lot of
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  numbers I'm throwing at you.
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  So there's just a lot of people that are really, really old in Japan.
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  Japan's oldest living woman is 114 years old. Like, what?
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  And the Japanese government celebrates these people by sending them a letter
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  from the prime minister and a silver sake cup.
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  Oh, my God. Our government would never. If we lived in the United States until
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  over 100, they'd be like, all right, like, you can kill yourself if you want. Like, you guys can go.
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  You don't need to be here anymore. Like, we need the space that you're taking up.
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  Japan is saying that this big increase is due to medical advances, diet, and lifestyle.
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  So if you want to live to 114 too, you should eat well, stay active, and live in Japan.
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  In Lindsay life, I feel so cool bopping around New York City with my little
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  Ritz-Carlton Maui hat because I look like I'm really cool,
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  and fun and fancy, but in reality, I barely have enough money to pay rent,
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  and I work freelance, and I went to the Ritz for work.
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  So, but you know, looks can be deceiving.
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  Oh, and the other one is perception is reality. So, you know, whichever one you want.
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  Things I've learned since coming home from three weeks of constant travel.
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  The more overweight your bag is at the airport the more you have to take out,
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  and schlep around with in another bag.
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  Cooking for yourself and eating exactly what you want and how you want it is
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  a huge luxury flying on a charter plane will forever change how you feel about flying commercially,
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  it's easier to go on your body's clock instead of the time zone that you're currently in,
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  and there truly is no place like home.
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  Cooking tip of the day. If you're not going to eat your leftovers in like a
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  couple of days, either throw them out or put them in the freezer,
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  but like actually eat them. Don't like keep them in the freezer because it takes up space.
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  Feedback, comments, questions, a nice Jewish boy looking for a date,
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  email me at lindsay at thedailystarcast.com.
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  Thank you so much for listening, and I'll talk to you guys tomorrow.