Episode 113 - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Myths & Misinfo, Plus a Virus Lesson from Doctor Dan
Release Date: 02/14/2020
Episode 196 - News Grab Bag and Ben's Time in Malawi
Squaring the Strange
We were inundated with news this week, so first we cover prehistoric bugs in Arkansas, the Desert Monkey King glyph in Southwest Las Vegas, the folkloric accuracies in Netflix's "Troll" movie, a new report on Havana Syndrome, and alleged gas poisonings of schoolgirls in Iran. Then Ben recounts his time late last year in Malawi, where he was able to spend time with an activist and reporter covering the latest case of witchcraft persecution and lend some moral support to those on the front lines defending people accused of witchcraft.
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Episode 195 - The Bible Code Resurfaces, with David Thomas
Squaring the Strange
Ben and Celestia discuss the nostalgic sense of deja vu when hearing about UFOs and cults these past weeks. Then we are joined by David Thomas, who investigated author Michael Drosnin's notions of a code hidden in the text of the Hebrew Bible and how cracking that code could foretell the future. These ideas were popularized in a series of books published over 20 years ago, but the same number games are resurfacing today in the form of gematria, a type of numerology advocated by QAnon conspiracy theorists. Dr. Thomas discusses the data-mining programs he wrote in order to demonstrate how...
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Episode 194 - The Missing 411 with Kyle Polich
Squaring the Strange
First we nosh on some interesting tidbits about a long-dead casino magnate, a mysterious fortune teller with a prophecy about rom-coms, and a prematurely dead Simon Cowell. Then Kyle Polich of the Data Skeptic podcast joins us to talk about the Missing 411, a concept pushed by several books and movies produced by David Paulides. What or who are the Missing 411, and how are Bigfoot and UFOs involved? Is there a coherent theory about what's going on, and is it based on actual happenings or fabrications? And how does misunderstanding (or completely ignoring) data analysis come into play?
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Episode 193 - Coke + Folklore = Cokelore!
Squaring the Strange
It turns out the all-American fizzy sweet cola is also a veritable cornucopia of myths, rumors, urban legends and misinformation. We're not just talking about the explosive properties of Pop Rocks or Mentos. Can a Coca-Cola douche prevent pregnancy? (It can't, please don't even think about it). How many mice ended up sealed into bottles of Coke? Does Santa owe his whole look to Coke's ad agency? We go over these and many, many more tales involving the most popular carbonated beverage in the world.
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Episode 192 - Romance Scams with Wendy Hughes
Squaring the Strange
We discuss a surprise paleoanthropological development from the past week and weigh some falsehoods coming from a new member of Congress. Then for our main topic we do an overview of romance scams, from the Spanish Prisoner Swindle a few centuries ago to the online catfishing scams that are presently fleecing Americans to the tune of $500 million a year. Longtime grassroots skeptic volunteer Wendy Hughes kindly joins us to discuss her courageous and candid article "A Skeptic Trips Over a Romance Scam" and talks about what she learned in hindsight and how her skeptical toolkit helped her turn a...
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Episode 191 - Predictions, Mistakes and Films
Squaring the Strange
As we wrap up another year, we make a few predictions for 2023 and then answer some listener questions on what has fooled us in the past. Then for our main segment we dish on films that were right up our strange and skeptical alley. There was some brilliant folklore-inspired work involving Djinn and a puppet come to life, as well as some fantastic documentaries -- and also some absurd stuff disguised as documentaries, like Netflix's recent "Ancient Apocalypse."
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Episode 190 - Vile Vans and Sinister Sedans: Vehicular Vernacular in Folklore
Squaring the Strange
Ben titled this episode. In which we speak of all the reasons why you should think twice about renting a monochrome, windowless van in unfamiliar territory. From cursed vehicles to the average person's psychological priming that led police off the trail of the Beltway Sniper case, we look at the role vehicles have played in urban legends, dangerous rumors and real-life crime. How have the most common vehicles in our environment also become the most feared? Buckle up!
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Episode 189 - "AI Cryptid" Loab and Lesser-known Lake Monsters
Squaring the Strange
First Pascual and Celestia examine a mysterious woman "haunting" AI art, dubbed "Loab." Then we dip into a selection of the less famous lake monsters. There are literally hundreds. We talk about how they've spawned from either high-profile sightings/photos or questionable “news” stories from the period of yellow journalism. And even how some people have claimed copyright over a few of them for merchandising purposes! From Champ’s cousin George (who lives, predictably, in Lake George) and Tahoe Tessie to Lake Erie Larry and the Canadian monsters Cressie and Memphre, we'll go over...
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Episode 188 - Reading between the Ley Lines
Squaring the Strange
Ben has returned from adventures, so we hear about some of his travels and then discuss the Twitter blue checkmark brouhaha. In our main segment we look at Ley Lines, a literal game of connect-the-dots played on the surface of the earth. Somehow these evolved from simple common routes noticed by an early 20th-century landscape photographer to a catch-all mysterious network that affects dowsing, psychic energy, nodes, vortices and crop circles. Called holy lines by Nazis and dragon lines by writers inserting them into ancient Chinese culture, these supposed energy lines are slippery to pin...
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Episode 187 - The Curious Case of Dr. Melba Ketchum's Bigfoot DNA, with guest Sharon Hill
Squaring the Strange
This week, after we take a moment to tally exactly how many kids were killed by rainbow fentanyl passed off as Halloween candy, we bring Sharon Hill on to speak about the excitement around a decade ago when Dr. Melba Ketchum announced she had tested and confirmed Bigfoot DNA. Ben sets the stage in terms of Bigfoot evidence timeline and the rise of genetic technology. Once a vacuum became apparent, it seemed inevitable that someone would eventually become a self-taught geneticist, open an unaccredited lab, and find some genetic evidence for our big hairy friend.
info_outlineWe made time to record a special bonus episode this month! Due to the late-breaking nature of the Wuhan/novel coronavirus (now officially named COVID-19), Ben has gathered the latest misinfo and disinfo in order to break it down in terms of recurring folklore, distrust of foreigners, and the psychology of why people grasp for simple memes over complex medical science. Then Doctor Dan Ketterer goes over some of the nuances of viruses and how we treat them. Influenza and HIV provide useful models to how infectious disease doctors can disarm and contain viral outbreaks. There's a lot we don't yet know about COVID-19, but the quarantines and other public health measures should be making us feel safer, not create more panic.