Squaring the Strange

Ben has been on a cruise, and brings back an interesting story on how quickly rumors and conspiracy theories can form in that environment. We pay tribute to Joe Nickell, a truly versatile skeptic and investigator, and go over the Stand Up for Science marches that took place last week. Then we turn to current events wrought by the Trump administration: the kerfuffle over "transgender mice" is more complicated than you think; RFK's faint praise of the MMR vaccine; and the CDC's planned study on vaccines and autism.

First, Ben and Celestia discuss an angler fish and a kayak-curious humpback whale in the news, as well as the measles outbreak, some cryptid legislation in California, and an update on the drone panic. Our main segment guest is Gail De Vos, who discusses the world of furries. Far older than most realize (around for 50 years now!), furries have been built into a political boogeyman and garnered a reputation of sexual degeneracy that is hard to shake. With similarities to both masquerade balls and biker gangs, furries are simply a community -- one that often raises money for charitable causes. Oh, and there are two legitimate reasons why a school might purchase bulk quantities of kitty litter, and neither involve furry-friendly litter boxes!

First Ben and Celestia discuss the unending slew of bad news for skeptics, and our hopes that science and public health can survive this onslaught. And, do we all have a spoonful of plastic in our brains? Then we tackle love fortune telling, love languages, and aphrodisiacs. From apple peels to blood type, people just love prognosticating about love. And what is the allure of an aphrodisiac? The notion of a forbidden (or just expensive) food or spice that puts people in the mood is so common that just about everything, at some time or in some place, has been said to have this power.

We start with some observations (ok, rants) about the press conference on the recent aircraft collision in D.C., the hearings to confirm RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the silencing of vital science and health institutions. Then we talk to eminent psychologist Stuart Vyse about his career and a handful of pop psychology topics. He weighs in on the Telepathy Tapes podcast and facilitated communication, the notorious Milgram experiment, and why baseball is rife with luck rituals. What is luck? It's an ever-present paranormal concept that most people don't associate with the paranormal at all. Because we humans are terrible at judging randomness, we ascribe all sorts of things to luck -- whether it's a person being "lucky" their whole lives, or a lucky seat at a poker table, or a flowing luck field that comes and goes... in other words, the way normal variation works.

First Ben and Celestia discuss the LA fires (and a few of the many, many conspiracy theories already cropping up), and remember Jimmy Carter's clear-headed skepticism and humanitarianism. Then, since it's January and we're all trying to work on self-improvement, we talk about BMI -- which happens to be in the news this week for what turns out to be not really news. The Body Mass Index began almost two hundred years ago as a pet project by a Belgian statistician, but has evolved into one of the most accessible health metrics around. The average American can assess their BMI at home, for free, with the only inconvenience being having to use the metric system. Many of the criticisms of BMI as a tool are what Ben categorizes as straw man attacks, and he explains how doctors and public health officials use the metric. Along the way, we see many parallels with how people fail to think skeptically (or understand how metrics work) and end up losing faith in medical science on a greater scale.

For the first show of 2025, Ben and Celestia go over some of their favorite shows, the highlights and lowlights of the past year, and some stories we never got a chance to tell. Ben discusses the men who recently lost their lives on a Bigfoot hunt, and Celestia goes down a rabbit hole about children supposedly getting sex change operations and how different outlets report on that issue. But first, we kick off with a tour of new year rituals--most of which have to do with food (and we don't mean eating healthy).

We recap some news items, including Kreskin passing away, a witchcraft-motivated massacre in Haiti, and of course the Drone panic (?) over the Eastern U.S. Then Ben and Celestia dive into tales and urban legends with a Christmas theme. From playful punisher characters who will gleefully slit open German children's bellies to more modern urban legends about Nativity plays gone wrong or a deadly Dad prank. How did the storied Christmas truce of 1914 really play out? And what mysterious things do cows start doing on Christmas night? Would you bet your life to find out? Oh yeah, and Christmas spiders too!

Ben recounts his adventures in Australia at Skepticon, and then Celestia brings up bird flu-infected raw milk, a closing Bigfoot museum, and ghosts that pay rent. Our main guest is esteemed cybersecurity expert, deceptionologist, folklorist, magician, and author Perry Carpenter. He discusses topics from his new book FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation and AI-Generated Deceptions. We talk deepfakes versus cheapfakes and how AI is similar to cold reading. We learn the three H's programmers aim for (helpful, honest, harmless) and how they don't always hit the mark. And Perry describes "the Liar's Dividend" and "Emergence," and how they relate to our near future if not already our present.

This week Pascual is back, talking to Celestia about the Onion's purchase of Info Wars, shady testosterone offers, and a list of things we maybe should be worried about as Trump rounds out cabinet picks. Then Ben welcomes Gail de Vos, author of the just-released Watkins Book of Urban Legends, to talk about wildfire conspiracy theories in Canada. The politically charged stories that spring up in her home of Alberta, Canada resemble conspiracies that have followed wildfires everywhere -- Texas, California, Hawaii, and even ancient Rome! Why does fire often make people think something more sinister than nature is afoot? And how are these conspiracies tied to other conspiracy theories, like the "15-minute city" idea? Gail goes over the importance of education before such ideas set in, as once conspiratorial beliefs take hold they can be almost impossible to reason people out of.

This is sort of a rush episode, in the wake of this week's election results. While we don't like mixing our skepticism with partisan politics, Trump has been such a unique outlier in the realm of science denial, conspiracy theories, folklore, panics and rumor-mongering that it warrants an episode. Early indications that Robert Kennedy Jr. might be in charge of public health could mean an unthinkable turn against vaccinations and other clearly proven, routine measures. Ben and Celestia give their immediate thoughts and reactions, and Ben reminds us that Trump is more a hollow man than a boogeyman -- while he has no moral center and is deftly unpredictable, he simply does not have the power to truly end life as we know it. We then lay out a few tips on the grassroots-level skeptical activism we will need in the coming months and years. Starting with, I can't believe I'm typing this, educating people on the fact that the fluoride in our water is not a dangerous toxin.