Between The States

What if reincarnation is real, robots are secretly judging us, and the only thing separating humanity from the apocalypse is a Snickers bar?

This week on Between the States, Dan, Noel, and Jared welcome back returning guest Nick for another completely unhinged conversation that starts with cardboard sculptures and RC cars before spiraling into secret second families, horror movies, artificial intelligence, reincarnation, psychedelic hallucinations, and the possibility that reality itself is one giant simulation.

We kick things off with Nick's latest artistic endeavor, turning Cheez-It boxes into sculptures, before discovering that the real American Dream might be making enough money to afford a secret second family. Naturally, this leads to questionable financial advice, disappearing electricians, economic collapse, and the realization that some of us can barely afford the family we already have.

Then things get weird.

The crew dives into 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the disturbing limits of horror movie gore, and whether zombies could be rehabilitated with recreational drugs and proper nutrition. We debate Tom Cruise's best movies, the creepy behavior of Amazon Alexa, robot rights, and whether our increasingly intelligent appliances are preparing to turn against us.

But the real rabbit hole begins when we start asking what happens after death.

Is reincarnation real? Could animals remember their past lives? Is Earth a prison planet? And what if psychedelics actually let people see the hidden code of the universe?

From DMT entities and machine elves to mysterious mushrooms, LSD experiments, quantum consciousness, and simulation theory, we explore some of the strangest ideas about reality, consciousness, and the afterlife. None of us are qualified to explain any of it, but that certainly doesn't stop us from trying.

In this episode:

• Cardboard sculptures, hobby-grade RC cars, and expensive hobbies
• Secret second families and the true meaning of financial freedom
• 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Bone Tomahawk, and extreme horror
• Tom Cruise movies, superhero fatigue, and streaming service frustrations
• Alexa, creepy technology, artificial intelligence, and robot discrimination
• Reincarnation, past-life memories, and choosing your next life
• Prison planet theory and the possibility of an endless reincarnation cycle
• DMT machine elves, psychedelic mushrooms, and shared hallucinations
• LSD, simulation theory, quantum consciousness, and the hidden code of reality

Whether you're fascinated by reincarnation theories, psychedelic experiences, artificial intelligence, horror movies, or absurd comedy podcasts, this episode has something for you. Just don't expect us to stay on topic.

🎙️ Between the States is an unfiltered comedy podcast where friends tackle bizarre questions, pop culture, conspiracy theories, and the everyday absurdities of being alive.

Join the conversation: If you could be reincarnated as any animal while keeping your human memories, what would you choose?

👍 Like, subscribe, and share if you enjoy unscripted conversations, ridiculous hypotheticals, and comedy that goes completely off the rails.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

The garage is back in session, and this week the conversation goes completely off the rails.

Dan, Noel, and Jared catch up on expensive home improvements, squirrel-proof bird feeders, broken cars, Helldivers, and Dan’s dangerously addictive attempt at building his own idle game. From there, the guys dive into Swimply, backyard stock-tank pools, Apple Vision Pro, increasingly ridiculous school pickup lines, abandoned schools turned into dream homes, and the absolute terror of a smoke detector going off in the middle of the night.

They also get into TikTok community guideline violations, simulation theory, the Wilhelm scream and recycled Hollywood sound effects, outrageous gas and heating-oil prices, Costco gasoline, childhood fundraisers, siphoning gas, and some questionable headlines and internet rumors involving FBI hiring standards that send the episode somewhere nobody expected.

Basically, it’s another normal week on Between the States.

🎙️ Between the States is a weekly comedy podcast featuring Dan, Noel, and Jared talking about culture, technology, everyday life, weird internet stories, and whatever else manages to derail the conversation.

🌐 BetweenTheStates.com
🎧 New episodes weekly
▶️ Subscribe for full episodes and clips
💬 Let us know in the comments: What’s the most ridiculous school fundraiser you remember having to do?

#BetweenTheStates #ComedyPodcast #Podcast

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

Why do Americans measure everything in football fields, school buses, blue whales, and Olympic-sized swimming pools instead of just using actual units of measurement?

This week on Between the States, we dive into the weirdest ways people describe size, distance, weight, and volume, and attempt to make all of them even more useful by converting them into the internet’s greatest unit of measurement: bananas for scale.

How many bananas long is a school bus? How many bananas tall is the Empire State Building? How many bananas fit into an Olympic-sized swimming pool? We work our way from blue whales, elephants, football fields, and the Eiffel Tower all the way down to human hairs, lice, and microscopic viruses.

Along the way, we get sidetracked by the size of the Hubble Space Telescope, asteroid measurements, the deepest point in the ocean, how much gold humanity has mined, walking around the Earth on a path made of LEGO bricks, what liquid you would fill an Olympic swimming pool with if you had to swim through it, and whether the speed of light actually works the way Noel thinks it does.

It’s an episode about weird American measurements, bananas for scale, the metric system vs. imperial system, strange units of measurement, internet measurement memes, football field comparisons, Olympic swimming pools, school buses, blue whales, the Empire State Building, and why humans will use almost anything as a unit of measurement except a ruler.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

Season 4 of Between the States is here, and the guys are kicking things off from their glamorous new location: a cramped garage that may or may not look suspiciously like a basement.

Dan, Noel, and Jared catch up on everything from Connecticut flooding, broken lawnmowers, lawn envy, school pickup lines, Facebook Marketplace, and the bizarre idea of renting a stranger’s swimming pool through Swimply. Then things take a technological turn when Dan tries the Apple Vision Pro, leading to a discussion about virtual reality, spatial video, ridiculously expensive VR headsets, and whether the podcast could eventually exist entirely inside the Matrix.

From there, the conversation spirals into social media rabbit holes, AI agents, digital currency, conspiracy-level fears about becoming brains in a data center, and whether artificial intelligence will eventually control our money. Somehow, this all leads to giant genetically modified grapes, cotton candy grapes, raisins, prunes, dates, alien fruit, and the realization that the show desperately needs a fruit scientist.

It’s the first episode of Between the States Season 4, combining comedy, technology, parenting, VR, AI, social media, lawn care, weird food conversations, and the kind of completely unnecessary arguments that made us start this podcast in the first place.

#BetweenTheStates #ComedyPodcast #AppleVisionPro #VirtualReality #ArtificialIntelligence #SocialMedia #FacebookMarketplace #Swimply #TechComedy #Podcast 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

What exactly is the manosphere, and how do people end up falling down the red-pill rabbit hole?

This week on Between the States, Dan, Noel, and Jared dive into the strange, toxic, and sometimes completely absurd world of manosphere culture. We break down terms like alpha males, beta males, incels, red pill, hypergamy, MGTOW, looksmaxxing, softmaxxing, hardmaxxing, mewing, bone smashing, pheromone maxxing, semen retention, and more, while asking why these ideas have become so appealing to some young men online.

We also look at some of the biggest manosphere influencers, including Andrew Tate, Andrew Wilson, Pearl Davis, and Myron Gaines, and examine how misogyny, traditional gender roles, dating resentment, self-improvement content, social media algorithms, and online communities can combine into a pipeline that keeps pushing people toward increasingly extreme ideas.

But underneath all the ridiculous terminology and questionable dating advice is a much more serious issue: male loneliness, isolation, insecurity, and the disappearance of real-world communities. We discuss how legitimate struggles can be turned into easy answers, scapegoats, outrage, and eventually a business model built around selling courses, memberships, supplements, content, and the promise that one more "secret" will finally fix your life.

We also discuss the South Korean 4B movement, healthier alternatives to toxic masculinity, how pop culture stereotypes about men and women feed these beliefs, and what escaping the red-pill/manosphere cycle might actually look like.

Can the manosphere genuinely help struggling men, or is the entire thing just another internet grift designed to turn loneliness and anger into money?

Probably exactly where you think we landed.

#Manosphere #RedPill #Incels #AndrewTate #Looksmaxxing #ToxicMasculinity #MensMentalHealth #OnlineRadicalization #DatingCulture #SocialMedia #4BMovement #Podcast

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

What happens when the world’s most famous cryptids go head-to-head with creatures from fantasy and folklore?

This week on Between the States, we’re settling the matchups nobody asked for but everyone deserves to see. Bigfoot takes on a Forest Troll, the Chupacabra battles a Red Cap Goblin, Dogman faces a Werewolf, Mokele-mbembe goes up against a Swamp Ogre, the Mongolian Death Worm meets a Sand Worm, and the Jersey Devil fights a Harpy.

We break down each monster’s strengths, weaknesses, weapons, intelligence, questionable supernatural abilities, and chances of surviving the fight. Then we compare our picks with the verdicts from several different AI models to see whether humans or machines have the better understanding of imaginary monster combat.

Finally, we throw the surviving creatures together into a cryptid and fantasy creature Royal Rumble to decide which unlikely monster team would come out on top.

If you’re into Bigfoot, cryptozoology, mythical creatures, folklore monsters, werewolves, Chupacabra sightings, the Jersey Devil, Dogman, Mongolian Death Worm stories, fantasy creatures, paranormal legends, or ridiculous hypothetical battles, this episode is for you.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

Bigfoot may be famous, but can he survive a cryptid power ranking against the Chupacabra, Dogman, Mokele-mbembe, the Mongolian Death Worm, Mapinguari, and the Jersey Devil?

In this episode of Between the States, Dan, Jared, and Noel dive into cryptozoology, legendary creature sightings, folklore, footprints, physical evidence, and the blurry photos that supposedly prove these monsters exist. Each cryptid is rated on strength, speed, durability, intelligence, aggression, special abilities, and combat versatility as the hosts build a bracket for an upcoming cryptids-versus-fantasy-creatures showdown.

Could Bigfoot use portals? Is the Chupacabra more dangerous in a pack? Can the Mongolian Death Worm really spit acid and generate electricity? Why does Mapinguari smell so bad? The guys answer none of these questions responsibly, decide which cryptid they would rather fight, and eliminate one creature from the competition.

It is cryptozoology meets superhero power rankings, with plenty of ridiculous theories along the way.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

What really happens when you win the lottery? From Powerball jackpots and Mega Millions to scratch-off tickets, lottery taxes, and lump sum versus annuity payments, Dan, Jared, and Noel explore the surprising reality behind America’s favorite get-rich-quick fantasy.

The guys break down the record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot, how much winner Edwin Castro actually took home after taxes, and why an advertised jackpot can be wildly different from the cash payout. They also discuss lottery odds, scratch-ticket superstitions, states without lotteries, where Connecticut Lottery revenue goes, and whether the popular claim that most lottery winners go broke is actually true.

Then things get personal. Would you quit your job immediately? Take the lump sum or yearly payments? Pay off your friends’ mortgages, buy a ridiculous car, open a free auto repair shop, or purchase your former boss’s company just to fire him? The answers get progressively less responsible.

Plus, an uncomfortable Niagara Falls tour, questionable financial decisions, and a surprise scratch-ticket ending.

If you have ever wondered how lottery winnings are taxed, whether lottery money really funds schools, or what you would actually do with a billion dollars, this episode of Between the States is for you.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

Are ghosts real, or are paranormal encounters just sleep paralysis, grief, coincidence, and an overactive imagination? Guest Stephanie joins Dan and Noel to share her strangest unexplained experiences, including a shadowy cowboy, a balloon that appeared to follow her through a haunted Victorian home, a mysterious ball of light, and security cameras that stopped recording at exactly the wrong moment.

The conversation becomes a hilarious debate between believers and skeptics as they explore real ghost stories, haunted houses, supernatural evidence, life after death, and why modern cameras still cannot seem to capture a decent ghost video. They also tackle the important questions: Why do ghosts wear clothes? How can they walk through walls but stand on floors? Can a spirit haunt a TV remote? And what kind of petty ghost would each of them become?

Whether you believe in ghosts, love paranormal stories, or just want to hear three friends completely rewrite the rules of the afterlife, this episode of Between the States has something waiting for you in the dark.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates

Technology keeps getting smarter, but it also keeps getting creepier. In this episode of Between the States, Dan, Noel, and Jared examine four technologies that could change how we are watched, hired, and charged for everyday purchases.

The conversation begins with Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers, including how law enforcement uses them, the potential benefits of locating missing people, and the serious privacy concerns created by widespread surveillance. The hosts then explore electronic shelf labels, personalized pricing, and the possibility of stores changing prices while customers are still shopping. They also discuss AI hiring tools, automated applicant scores, discrimination allegations, résumé screening, and why qualified job seekers may never reach a human interviewer. Finally, they consider Meta smart glasses, hidden recording, AI training data, and whether augmented reality could make the privacy tradeoff worthwhile.

Along the way, the guys also find time for spilled maple syrup, a motorcycle trip through New England, polo confusion, beer-free river tubing, and the surprisingly important question: What would Jared do?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Episodes available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTheStates

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Between-The-States/61574045351917/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/betweenthestatespod/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betweenthestates

BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/betweenthestates.bsky.social

Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetweenTheStates/

Comments, questions, or suggestions can be sent to: [email protected]

Best way to support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/BetweentheStates