Fascinating Nouns

Daniel J. Glenn
  • 4.9 (15)
  • Personal Journals
  • Updated Biweekly

The galaxy’s most trusted source for incredible people, places, things, and ideas

  1. 9h ago

    Ep. 279: Unmasking the Zodiac Killer

    What if the Zodiac Killer never existed? In this episode of Fascinating Nouns, host Daniel J. Glenn sits down with former Port Authority NY/NJ officer, 9/11 first responder, and author Eddie McNamara to dig into his book Zodiac Actually: The True Story of a Fake Serial Killer — and the case he makes is more convincing than you might expect. Eddie McNamara spent years tracking down court records, interviewing criminals, and piecing together what the actual evidence says about the Zodiac killings — and what he found is that the five canonical Zodiac murders, when examined individually rather than as a connected series, look a lot less like the work of a criminal genius and a lot more like a series of unrelated crimes that got stitched together by bad police work, credulous media, and the human desire for a better story. They dig into the Lake Herman Road murders — where a likely suspect named Dave Magris confessed to being present, drove the right car, owned the right gun, and was already on death row for another murder — and how the police essentially looked away because a drug dealer wasn’t as exciting as a supervillain. They also explore the Lake Berryessa stabbing, where a 250-pound man in a hand-sewn executioner’s hood with sunglasses clipped to the outside decided to stab two people in broad daylight instead of using the loaded gun in his hand — and then drove 27 miles to call the wrong police department. Plus: the Kitty Genovese myth, the Vietnam spitting story, Woodstock liars, a vegetarian cookbook with the greatest title ever, and whether Eddie won a film festival award over Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room”. Eddie on Social Media Instagram Purchase “Zodiactually” Fascinating Nouns on Social Media Facebook Twitter YouTube

    Ep. 279: Unmasking the Zodiac Killer

  2. Aug 3

    Ep. 278: The Unhinged Thoughts of Plants

    *Disclaimer* This episode goes blue. You’ve been warned. What do a rubber chicken, a Tibetan singing bowl, and a hula girl figurine all have in common? They all have deeply, deeply messed up thoughts — and Elisabeth Saake is here to tell you exactly what they are. In this episode I sit down with author and associate publisher Elisabeth Saki to dig into her two wildly funny books: House Plants and Their F*cked Up Thoughts and Tchotchkes and Their F*cked Up Thoughts — and to figure out exactly what is going on inside her head. They talk about why house plants hit a cultural nerve that Tchotchkes couldn’t quite match (spoiler: it’s because they’re alive), the anonymous co-author hiding behind the pseudonym Carlyle Christoff, the one aloe plant entry that walked the line perfectly, and why a rubber chicken that understands advanced particle physics but can only say “squawk” might be the most poignant thing in either book. They also get into why people take joke books way too seriously, the surprisingly vulnerable experience of being an author, the therapeutic value of dark humor, and whether Elisabeth’s next book — P is for Perimenopause — is actually a children’s book alphabet or something far more unhinged. Elisabeth on Social Media Website Instagram X Purchase “Houseplants and their F*cked-Up Thoughts” Fascinating Nouns on Social Media Facebook Twitter YouTube

    Ep. 278: The Unhinged Thoughts of Plants

  3. Jul 20

    Ep. 277: Stephen King’s Secret Archive

    What happens when the first and only person allowed into Stephen King’s private archives sits down to talk about what she found? In this episode of Fascinating Nouns, host Daniel J. Glenn sits down with Dr. Caroline Bicks, author of Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King, for a wide-ranging conversation about horror, language, childhood trauma, and the secret sauce behind one of the most prolific writers in history. Dr. Bicks — a Shakespeare scholar and the University of Maine’s Stephen A. King Chair — was given unprecedented access to King’s full manuscript collection, including handwritten drafts of Carrie, The Shining, Salem’s Lot, Pet Sematary, and Night Shift. She shares what she found: margin notes revealing King’s obsessive attention to word sounds, the moment he almost put Pet Sematary in a drawer forever, how a concrete gravel liner changed the entire moral weight of the novel, and why the famous line “sometimes dead is better” was originally “sometimes death is better” — and why that one word change made all the difference. We also get into whether kids should be reading Stephen King (spoiler: it’s complicated), why Stephen King hated the Kubrick Shining, how Shakespeare and King are more alike than you think, the ghost question, and why Francis Bacon might actually be Stephen King. This one goes everywhere — and it’s a blast. Caroline on Social Media Website Instagram Facebook Podcast “Everyday Shakespeare” Purchase “Monsters in the Archives” Fascinating Nouns on Social Media Facebook Twitter YouTube

    Ep. 277: Stephen King’s Secret Archive

  4. Jul 7

    *Bonus* – NDE’s and Mystical Time Cessation

    In this bonus episode, Steven and I explore the more strange and mystical elements of time expansion, including spiritual awakenings and near death experiences.  With both of these, time can seem to stop or cease completely.  We also talk about life reviews, their relation to precognitive events, and how that relates to the block universe!  Yeah, we pack quite a bit into these 10 minutes.

  5. Jul 7

    Ep. 276: How To Expand Time

    What if you could slow down time — without getting into a car accident? In this episode of Fascinating Nouns, host Daniel J. Glenn sits down with psychologist and author Dr. Steven Taylor to explore one of the most fascinating phenomena in human experience: time expansion. We dig into the science behind why time seems to slow to a crawl during car crashes, emergencies, and near-death situations — and why that’s not just a trick of memory. Dr. Taylor shares his own dramatic highway accident, the story of a pregnant woman dodging bullets in slow motion, and a cyclist who calculated how to survive being run over by a truck — all in a matter of seconds. We also break down Taylor’s four laws of psychological time: why time speeds up as we get older, why new experiences stretch time, why absorption makes hours vanish, and why altered states of consciousness can make seconds feel like hours. Plus — how elite athletes like Ted Williams, Lionel Messi, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan may literally experience time more slowly than the rest of us, and how meditation and martial arts can help ordinary people access the same ability. This episode will change the way you think about every second of your day. Topics Covered: What are time expansion experiences & how common are they? The science of time slowing down in accidents & emergencies The hypermemory hypothesis — and why Dr. Taylor is skeptical The four laws of psychological time Why time speeds up as we age New experiences, flow states & the zone Elite athletes and slowed-down time perception DMT, psychedelics & altered states Meditation & martial arts as tools for time control Near-death experiences & awakening experiences Steven on Social Media Website Instagram X Purchase “Time Expansion Experiences” Fascinating Nouns on Social Media Facebook Twitter YouTube

    Ep. 276: How To Expand Time

  6. Jun 22

    Ep. 275: The Crazy Eddie Story is INSANE!

    He was more famous than the mayor of New York — and one of the biggest fraudsters in American history. In this episode of Fascinating Nouns, host Daniel J. Glenn sits down with author Gary Weiss, author of Retail Gangster: The Fall of Crazy Eddie, to unravel the wild true story of Eddie Antar — the man behind the iconic “his prices are insane!” commercials that dominated New York airwaves in the 70s and 80s. We dig into the origins of the Antar family’s Syrian-Jewish immigrant roots, the cultural practice of “Nehkdi” (profit skimming) that became the gateway to massive fraud, and how Eddie built his empire on stolen sales tax, bait-and-switch sales tactics, and rigged co-op advertising deals. We trace the company’s rise through its 1984 IPO, the inventory fraud that inflated its stock price, and the family betrayals — including Eddie’s own cousin and CFO, Sam Antar, who eventually became the key witness against him. Finally, we cover Eddie’s dramatic downfall: insider trading, a hostile takeover that exposed empty filing cabinets, his international manhunt and capture in Israel, and one truly wild detail — a former Crazy Eddie salesman who went on to become a street boss in the Bonanno crime family. This is one of the craziest true crime business stories you’ll ever hear — equal parts immigrant success story, family betrayal, and Wall Street fraud. Topics Covered: Who was Crazy Eddie? The man behind the commercials Syrian-Jewish immigrant roots & the “Nehkdi” tax skim Stolen sales tax, bait-and-switch & “lunching” scams Co-op advertising fraud The 1984 IPO & inventory manipulation Family betrayal: Sam Antar & the cousin who brought him down Insider trading & the hostile takeover that exposed everything Tracking Eddie down in Israel The Bonanno crime family connection Gary on Social Media Website Website 2 Purchase “Retail Gangster” Fascinating Nouns on Social Media Facebook Twitter YouTube

    Ep. 275: The Crazy Eddie Story is INSANE!

  7. Jun 8

    *Bonus* – Giggles in the Trees

    In this episode Amelia and I go beyond the science and discuss the more supernatural elements of communicating with animals, which include animal psychics and prescient dreams.  And it all starts with a distinct giggling in the trees…

  8. Jun 8

    Ep. 274: The Science of Animal Communication

    Since before the publication of Dr. Doolittle, we have been obsessed with communicating with animals.  Whether it’s out pet dog or the squirrel he’s chasing in the backyard, we would love to know what these creatures are thinking.  That is exactly what motivated Amelia Thomas to write her book ‘What Sheep Think about the Weather’, which documents her attempts at understanding how animals try to communicate with us, and each other.  She and I discuss how she spent a day sniffing the world with her dogs, which earwigs have the best personality, and how many different dialects fruit flies have.  We even discuss the Great Ape Gesture Dictionary, which *Spoiler* is way more intuitive than than you think. Amelia on Social Media Website Facebook Instagram Purchase “What Sheep Think About the Weather” Fascinating Nouns on Social Media Facebook Twitter YouTube

    Ep. 274: The Science of Animal Communication
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About

The galaxy’s most trusted source for incredible people, places, things, and ideas

Information

  • Creator
    Daniel J. Glenn
  • Years Active
    2012 - 2026
  • Episodes
    382
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Glennco 2013 - 2023
  • Show Website
    Fascinating Nouns