As humans continue to sprawl into every known corner of the world, reproducing at a unsustainable rate, more and more we are invading on turf currently occupied by wild animals.  You may encounter these guys while walking to the garbage, or may even see them IN your garbage, depending on the time of day.  I take a few more minutes to talk to Rachel about opossums, raccoons, and coyotes.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy the outdoors.  Hiking can be a fun past time, but depending on where you go there is always a chance that you could run into a dangerous animal.  So what do you do?  Are you supposed to look intimidating or play dead?  Do you run to climb a tree or do you charge the creature to show it who’s boss.  Luckily Rachel Levin had those same questions, and decided to write a book about it.  Listen as we discuss how to handle a bear, what it takes to outrun an alligator, and why a moose is described as “A serial killer with a loaded shotgun”.  Plus we tell why punching a shark in the nose is your best option when they are circling.

Fascinating Nouns Ep. on Shark Attacks w/ Walter Wyatt

Cyber Squirrel One

Website

Facebook

No one knows how it all will end.  Will we blow ourselves up in a fiery nuclear explosion?  Will an asteroid smash into the Earth giving us the dinosaur treatment?  Will some new virus wipe out humanity before we have a chance to counter its spread?  While we can’t see the future, we can chronicle the possibilities, which is exactly what Darrel Perkins did in his new book “The End Is At Hand“.  I sit down with this doomsday prophet and discuss the times the world ended in the past, wonder it it is ending now, and we take bets on what may happen in the future.  We talk about doomsday cults, Mouse Utopia, Chicken Little, and how we are 9 missed meals from total anarchy.

Fascinating Nouns Ep. on The Church of Type w/ Kevin Bradley

Website

Facebook

As the center of the hippie movement, California has a long history of cults and communes.  In this bones episode, we tell the story of how religious groups helped popularize the modern Vegetarian movement, as well as the sordid background of the beloved Kettle Chips.

When it comes to spiritual belief, the United States is very unique.  Since religion is protected by the first amendment, the country has been fertile ground to many spiritual groups, cults, communes, and other religious groups.  Some have taken an isolation approach, and if your group is remote, you will have to grow and make your own food.  That is where today’s story takes place, right at the intersection of food and religion.  In her new book “Holy Food“, Christina Ward walks us through how a lot of our modern food movements have been influenced by religious groups.  Thanksgiving?  Religious holiday.  Little Debbie’s and Kellogg’s corn flakes ?  Made by a religious organization.  Check out the Pastafarians, they are literally a group that worships a sentient bowl of spaghetti.  Come take a cult-fueled culinary journey with us.

Fascinating Nouns Ep. w/ Tea Krulos

Christina’s Website

Facebook

When it comes to the UFO phenomenon, we have discussed a lot of it on this show, including The Battle of Los Angeles, Betty & Barney Hill, Roswell, the Jackie Gleason/Richard Nixon alien encounter, and John Dover’s experiences on the Navajo Nation.  This is a lot, but can you believe there’s more?!  This week I sit down with Marc Hartzman and discuss his new book “We Are Not Alone”, which chronicles the history of UFO and alien encounters in the U.S.  I bring us back to the “War of the Worlds” broadcast in 1938, and we go through the most recent congressional hearings of 2023.  We even make a stop in 1999, where Marc interviewed Vanilla Ice about aliens for his zine “Backwash”.  This is a tour through history you don’t want to miss.

Fascinating Nouns Ep. on Betty & Barney Hill

Article on disclosure by Chris Mellon

Website

Facebook