Squaring the Strange

Ben Radford, Celestia Ward and Pascual Romero
  • 4,8 (91)
  • CULTURE ET SOCIÉTÉ
  • TOUTES LES 2 SEMAINES

Not just another "skeptical" podcast, it's a show about critical thinking and evidence-based analysis, using science and critical thinking to examine the world around us, from the mysterious and paranormal to the mundane.

  1. 6 DÉC.

    Episode 268 - Daniel Reed on Vegetable Man and Gray Barker

    First, Ben and Celestia ruminate on past Key Bridge conspiracy theories, RFK Jr.'s latest efforts to destroy public health, rage bait and the "Cártel de los Soles." Then for our main segment Daniel Reed, founder of the West Virginia Skeptics Society, joins us to discuss the Vegetable Man, a cryptid/alien one-hit-wonder. This blood-sucking, fiber-rich fiction is part of Gray Barker's menagerie -- Barker was a colorful character who loved a good story and had a few skeletons in his own closet, one of which led to the creation of the modern "men in black" mythos. Daniel has done his homework and culled heaps of information from the reams of original correspondence in Barker's archives.

    1 h 23 min

  2. 22 NOV.

    Episode 267 - Billionaire Boogeymen with Brian Dunning

    First, Ben and Celestia go over the latest CDC website shenanigans, an unfortunate update on a Human Barbie, some voodoo accusations in the world of soccer, the true cost of a Thanksgiving dinner, and a djinn committing crimes in Pakistan. Then Brian Dunning joins us for a discussion on billionaires and why we all seem to hate them. Should we? Would the world be better off without them? Brian brings some economic research on the "two types of billionaires," and we also examine some tropes and memes -- folklore, that is -- about how billionaires hoard resources. Do they? Can they? Is money imaginary? It's a complicated topic, and we're not approaching it as economists, but we agree on a few things that might surprise you.

    1 h 37 min

  3. 8 NOV.

    Episode 266 - Jon Michael visits, plus corporate lore and legends!

    Celestia is fresh from the Very Vegas SkeptiCamp, and a week earlier Jon Michael presented at the West Virginia SkeptiCamp, so he visits to compare notes and then chat about will o' the wisps, RFK's "walkback" on Tylenol, J.D. Vance speculating on UFOs being supernatural, and the resurgence of the Welfare Queen boogeyman. For our main segment, Ben and Celestia take a tour of legends involving brands, corporations and products. Anyone in marketing will appreciate the merging of folklore, commercial design and crisis communication all these stories bring to light. From Tootsie Pop contests to the allegedly Satanic imagery in the Proctor & Gamble logo, there's a lot to dig into. Did a Coke "magic can" kill someone? Did Pepsi have to give some teenager a military jet? Are secret symbols stamped into Oreo cookies, turning these delicious dunkers into a devilish communion wafer? And what was the real origin story behind Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer?

    1 h 46 min

  4. 24 OCT.

    Episode 265 - The Alleged ghosts of the Territorial House, with Cody Polston

    First, Celestia and a voice from the past discuss a hat trick of rat stories (maybe a rat trick?). Then Ben chats with author, ghost story enthusiast and former ghost hunter Cody Polston about the historic Territorial House in Corrales, New Mexico. Cody led an investigation there, and Ben worked there as a teenage busboy, so their points of view collide as they talk about what they've heard about the venue and what they'd experienced in person. From moving chairs to lit cigarettes, people have reported strange phenomena, attributing the experiences to restless spirits, perhaps those who died on the enormous "hanging tree" out front. Built in the 1800s and converted to the Territorial House restaurant in 1903 and then later the Tea House, the building (destroyed in 2012 by a fire) was indeed the scene of a handful of murders over the years. The discussion branches off into a few things common to many ghost stories, the nature of folklore and the psychology of ghost hunting itself.

    1 h 24 min

  5. 10 OCT.

    Episode 264 - SCAMPOCALYPSE with Brian Brushwood

    We've got a bushel of SWAYSOs first! Chocolate is disappearing, an ongoing "psychic study" tries to recruit Ben, Las Vegas tries to recruit a random ghost hunter, Trump tries to find Amelia Earhart files, and Netflix releases "The Truth about Jussie Smollett?" Then at 43:12, we bring on Brian Brushwood, who Celestia cornered while he was visiting Las Vegas for Scoopfest. We talk about his many shows -- Scam School, Scam Nation, World's Greatest Con, Modern Rogue, Great Night, and NatGeo's "Hacking the System -- as well as his current work in deceptive role play, or "wolf-masking." Brian talks about anxiety being mankind's greatest superpower and the terrifying fact that AI makes even small-dollar scam targets worthwhile.

    1 h 31 min

  6. 26 SEPT.

    Episode 263 - The Tylenol Presser and Sailing Stones with Brian Dunning

    Much of our intro segment is spent with Celestia gnashing her teeth about the recent Trump-RFK-Oz press conference that unveiled a purported link between acetaminophen and autism. It was . . . not good. Then Ben and Celestia are joined by Skeptoid's Brian Dunning to discuss his lifelong love of Death Valley and his part in the solution to a longtime mystery there: the sailing stones of Racetrack Playa. These heavy rocks have, for decades, mystified visitors (and apparently park rangers too) by leaving long, winding trails behind them when no one was looking. The remote location would seem to rule out hoaxing, so it had to be some natural phenomenon -- and no, it was not magnetic fields or vortexes. Note: Celestia mistakenly calls Nevada's Three Kids manganese mine a mercury mine, but because it bothered the heck out of her she looked it up right before typing these notes!

    1 h 20 min

  7. 12 SEPT.

    Episode 262 - Bigfoot Tracks with Matt Crowley

    Bigfoot prints . . . do they track? So many questions! First, we discuss skeptic offerings at Dragon Con, then muse about Florida wanting to get rid of vaccine mandates for public school and RFK Jr. rolling back access to the COVID-19 shots just as we enter respiratory virus season. Seasoned Bigfoot enthusiast Matt Crowley ("Bigfooter of the Year," 2005) joins us to discuss all aspects of the main, namesake evidence for Bigfoot. Those huge honkin' tracks of his (or hers). We go into the competitive subculture of Bigfootery and nuances like dermal ridges and toe flexion. How do believers reckon with the lack of consistency across different footprints, when it comes to number of toes and such? Is it proper to call Bigfoot prints, and casts, a type of folk art? Matt recommends many good books on the topic, and we learn our way around the many names, experts, and hoaxers in the scene since the 1950s.

    1 h 34 min

  8. 28 AOÛT

    Episode 261 - Hobos, Swingers and Masons: Secret Signs in Plain Sight

    First, Ben and Celestia discuss the needle-spiking panic fallout, missing kids in Virginia, screw worms, radioactive shrimp and seeing double in Las Vegas. Then our main segment is secret signs and signals! Real or legendary, these signs and markers are throughout human history to tell "those in the know" what to expect (food, sex, danger). From secret codes sewn into quilts to help the Underground Railroad effort to rock cairns and inukshuks, there are many tales of people making an effort to show others a safe path. We also look at the ancient bro code known as Masonic symbols, which manly men have been putting on their erections for generations. And of course we must touch on the world of swinger symbols, where anything from pineapples to a toe ring might be sending signals -- or just giving people a laugh.

    1 h 24 min
Tout afficher (271)

4,8
sur 5
91 notes

À propos

Not just another "skeptical" podcast, it's a show about critical thinking and evidence-based analysis, using science and critical thinking to examine the world around us, from the mysterious and paranormal to the mundane.

Informations

  • Création
    Ben Radford, Celestia Ward and Pascual Romero
  • Années d’activité
    2017 - 2025
  • Épisodes
    271
  • Classification
    Contenu explicite
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2017-2025, Two Heads Studio LLC all rights reserved
  • Site web de l’émission
    Squaring the Strange

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