You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. We’re back this week with part two of “How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found,” by Doug Richmond. The “how” is interesting enough, but not enough people are asking “why.” If you’re thinking about destroying your life and disappearing to create a new fake identity somewhere else, one thing you might try first is a little thing called “therapy.”

This work is was published by Loompanics Unlimited in 1986 and is still protected by copyright. We are presenting selected excerpts in the spirit of fair use in order to stimulate public discussion. Why not buy a copy for yourself? It’s for sale, among other places, at https://www.rizzolibookstore.com/product/how-disappear-completely-and-never-be-found?srsltid=AfmBOoq62MWmsIraEpsie8GK1cgYbw2d2e9XS3xWMNZHql_92uMw4Cs1

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

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You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. If you want to hear the worst, most depressing advice ever, you’re in luck today. We’re covering “How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found,” by Doug Richmond. Here’s how you can destroy your identity, disappear, and create a new, fake life to inhabit. This might have worked in 1986, but in 2025? Forget about it.

This work is was published by Loompanics Unlimited in 1986 and is still protected by copyright. We are presenting selected excerpts in the spirit of fair use in order to stimulate public discussion. Why not buy a copy for yourself? It’s for sale, among other places, at https://www.rizzolibookstore.com/product/how-disappear-completely-and-never-be-found?srsltid=AfmBOoq62MWmsIraEpsie8GK1cgYbw2d2e9XS3xWMNZHql_92uMw4Cs1

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. We’ve sure got an old weird one for you today! This is a selection from “Democracy is Self-Government” by the esoteric philosopher Harold W. Percival. We’re reading the chapter ‘Money, Or the Idolatry of the Dollar,’ a good old-fashioned rant about how we shouldn’t be slaves to money.

This work purports to be copyrighted 1952 by Harold W. Percival, and copyrighted 1980 by The Word Foundation, Inc., but I believe this is actually in the public domain. I downloaded this for free from The Word Foundation’s website, to my knowledge this is free to distribute. Why not download and read it yourself? https://thewordfoundation.org/hlib/index.html

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re learning how to “Be Your Own Bodyguard” with this 1999 safety manual published by Peaceful Paths LLC. The best way to keep yourself from being a victim is to identify and avoid dangerous situations. And the best way to do that is to be aware.

This company may be defunct and the following contact information might no longer be effective. But this document states: “This document may be duplicated and distributed freely on the condition that it is accompanies by our company name and contact information.” The contact information for Peaceful Paths LLC is as follows: (303) 233-8279 / [email protected] / www.peacepath.com

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is our first look at “Porkopolis” by Alex Blanchette. This book is definitely not an easy read, but it is really fascinating and we strongly recommend it as a first-hand look at an incredibly normal, ordinary, unremarkable part of modern American capitalist life. Today we’re reading an edited-down set of excerpts from the section on artificial insemination of pigs on an industrial scale. Ever wondered how the sausage is made?

This work’s copyright is owned by the Duke University Press (2020). We are presenting some text from this work in the spirit of fair use. Check out the Duke University Press’s website to buy a copy for yourself: https://www.dukeupress.edu/porkopolis.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re checking out “Food in War Time” by Graham Lusk, written in 1918, right at the tail end of World War One. Eat your greens, drink your milk, and try to lose some weight.

This book is in the public domain. You can download it for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32472.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re dipping back into “The Book of Swindles” by Zhang Yingyu (夔衷). Another grab-bag of sneaky schemes and dirty tricks. Beware of eunuchs! This time we’re reading: “Handing Over Silver Before Running Off With It”; “Using Broom Handles to Play a Joke on Sedan Bearers”; “Three Women Ride Off on Three Horses”; “A Eunuch Cooks Boys to Make a Tonic of Male Essence.”

This (Chinese) work is itself public domain, but we’re reading from the English transaction, which is from Christopher Wray and Bruse Rusk in 2017, and is copyright of the Columbia University Press. We are reciting the text in the spirit of fair use. Check out the Columbia University Press’s website: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-book-of-swindles/9780231178631/.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re checking out a stone-cold classic: “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville. But don’t worry, we’re only reading Chapter 9 this time; the show is called ‘Short and Interesting,’ not ‘Famously Long and Boring.’

This book is in the public domain. You can download it for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2701.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re checking out a tabletop role-playing game about colonizing space – and so much more. It’s called ‘60 Years In Space,’ and it’s as big a repository of brilliant ideas as you’re ever likely to find. Today we’re reading its list of all the different types of governments you might have in your space colonies. Can you think of any other types of government not on this list? I’m not sure I can. Which do you live under? Which would you rather live under?

Sixty Years In Space is the core rules for the officially licensed tabletop RPG of the board game High Frontier. Sixty Years in Space is written by Andrew Doull, copyright 2015-2023, all rights reserved. This reading is from This Space Intentionally, a supplement written by Andrew Doull, copyright 2015-2023, all rights reserved.

Check out and buy 60 Years in Space and its various supplements at https://half-apress.itch.io/60-years-in-space. Thanks to Andrew Doull for giving us permission to read this.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re covering fashion – specifically millinery. It’s the 1921 book “Make Your Own Hats” by Gene Allen Martin. Find instructions on how to make a little velvet sailor hat decorated with ribbons and pom-poms, or maybe a classic, Napoleon-style bicorne.

This book is in the public domain. You can downoad it for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19740.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at podcast.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortandinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at [email protected]. All other inquiries received at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.