
How Corn Took Over America
The US is a corn superpower. Over the past few decades, corn has infiltrated all sorts of things, from soda pop and snacks to your own gas tank. But how did it get this way? In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel dive deep into the strange world of agribusiness conspiracies in what just may be their corniest episode yet.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
6 Sep 20231h 15min

CLASSIC: What is Predictive Programming?
What if everything you encounter in your day-to-day interactions is somehow prescient? Are the games you play and the films you watch meant to normalize genres of experience -- and, if so, to what end? Ben and Matt explore the idea of weaponized mass media from the early days of deification to a startling story by Edgar Allan Poe and beyond.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
5 Sep 202349min

Strange News: Flannery Associates Revealed, A Hunt for Nessie, and Worms Move Into Brains
The mysterious group buying thousands of acres around Travis Air Force Base turns out to be a group of tech luminaries and investors -- and they plan to build a new city. A woman in Australia survives the removal of a live roundworm from her brain. Scotland recently hosted the largest-ever search for Nessie, the infamous Loch Ness cryptid. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
4 Sep 202350min

How To Build An Urban Legend
From ghostly hitchhikers to tales of insidious alien conspiracies, everyone loves a good spooky campfire story. But where do modern legends come from? Why do they all seem to have certain common threads? In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel don't just break down how these stories work: they teach you, step by step, how to build your own -- and, most importantly, how the same storytelling process has been weaponized against you, with dangerous results.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1 Sep 202352min

Listener Mail: Divine Intervention, Smoking Wet, Billionaire Names and Deadly Mushrooms
Nightshift calls in with a stunning tale of a harrowing brush with death. Anon wants to become a billionaire named Poo-poo-pee-pee Hands (and there's a good reason for it). An update on the Australian mushroom case. The guys finally get an explanation about 'smoking wet.' All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
31 Aug 202353min

Is Reality a Computer Simulation?
What if the world we experience isn't ...well... real? The question has haunted countless human civilizations since antiquity, and we continue to wrestle with the dilemma in the modern day. From Plato's allegory of the cave to gnosticism and the Matrix trilogy, it appears tons of people are convinced there's more to the story of reality than meets the eye. And, just a few years back, one philosopher may have cracked the code. Tune in to learn more about reality as a computer simulation.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
30 Aug 20231h 12min

CLASSIC: DNA and Crime: The Original Night Stalker
It’s official -- after decades of dead ends, tantalizing theories and frustrating leads, justice has finally caught up with The Golden State Killer, also known as The Original Night Stalker. 72 year old Joseph James DeAngelo seemed set to quietly disappear from history, known only as a grandfather with a weird temper problem -- one of the cranky old men so common in neighborhoods across suburban America. But new DNA analysis leveraging the massive, growing databases in both federal and private hands led law enforcement down a trail they'd long thought had grown cold. Tune in to learn more about how justice finally caught up to the Golden State Killer.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
29 Aug 202355min

Strange News: Wagner Leaders in Plane Crash, Fyre Festival, and Modern Moon Missions
Leaders of the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner are believed to have died in a plane crash north of Moscow just a few months after what appears to have been a rebellion against Russian president Vladimir Putin. Fyre Festival returns, with no sign of Ja Rule. In a big week for space, both India and China attempt moon landings. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
28 Aug 202351min