Fascinating Nouns

In this bonus episode, Steven and I explore the more strange and mystical elements of time expansion, including spiritual awakenings and near death experiences.  With both of these, time can seem to stop or cease completely.  We also talk about life reviews, their relation to precognitive events, and how that relates to the block universe!  Yeah, we pack quite a bit into these 10 minutes.

What if you could slow down time — without getting into a car accident? In this episode of Fascinating Nouns, host Daniel J. Glenn sits down with psychologist and author Dr. Steven Taylor to explore one of the most fascinating phenomena in human experience: time expansion. We dig into the science behind why time seems to slow to a crawl during car crashes, emergencies, and near-death situations —...

He was more famous than the mayor of New York — and one of the biggest fraudsters in American history. In this episode of Fascinating Nouns, host Daniel J. Glenn sits down with author Gary Weiss, author of Retail Gangster: The Fall of Crazy Eddie , to unravel the wild true story of Eddie Antar — the man behind the iconic “his prices are insane!” commercials that dominated New York airw...

In this episode Amelia and I go beyond the science and discuss the more supernatural elements of communicating with animals, which include animal psychics and prescient dreams.  And it all starts with a distinct giggling in the trees…

Since before the publication of Dr. Doolittle, we have been obsessed with communicating with animals.  Whether it’s out pet dog or the squirrel he’s chasing in the backyard, we would love to know what these creatures are thinking.  That is exactly what motivated Amelia Thomas to write her book ‘What Sheep Think about the Weather’, which documents her attempts at understandi...

If you know the name Dan Meyer, it is because he is the world’s foremost expert on sword swallowing.  He has had several appearances on America’s Got Talent, he has a famous Ted Talk, and he even has an IG Nobel Prize for his work documenting injuries sustained while swallowing swords.  What people don’t know is that for as impressive as this body of work is, it pales in comparison to his lifelong...

How far back do your memories go?  Do you remember your kiss with little Susie in second grade?  Can you remember your Kindergarten teacher’s name?  What do you remember about the day you were born?  My guess is, even if you CAN remember any of these things, the details are pretty fuzzy.  Not so for today’s guest Rebecca Sharrock.  She has a rare condition called Highly Superior Autobiographical M...

Italian mobsters were not the only ones who wanted to control an entire musical genre.  Rap Mogul Suge Knight followed the formula of the Mafia by controlling the lives of up-and-coming rappers, and beating/killing the competition.  Just ask Vanilla Ice.

Today, it is a given that Rock ‘N Roll is still one of the most popular and lucrative music genres in the world, but this was not always the case.  In the 1950’s, it was an upstart musical movement that was nothing like the contemporary songs of the day.  It needed a push, and that push came from an unlikely source:  The Mafia.  The Mob realized the potential of this new music, and they made it th...

There is nothing more ubiquitous in human existence than waste.  To live is to produce refuse.  And there are so many kinds of waste:  Human, household, digital to name a few.  But what is waste really?  Turns out, the definition is pretty fluid.  In this episode I talk to John Scanlan, author of “ The Idea of Waste ” to get to bottom of this garbage pile.  What I find there is shocking.  We discu...

Initially I wanted this episode to come out during spring training this year, but now that the Cubs have clinched a playoff spot, this is a much better time to discuss Al Yellon’s new book “Chicago Cubs Firsts”.  We discuss the great players like Ernie Banks and Ryne Sandberg, as well as broadcasters Harry Caray and Vin Scully.  We also explore early baseball rules, how the Cubs got their name, an...

Henry and I talked for an hour about how the downfall of the human race was not only inevitable, but imminent.  Or is it?  In this bonus episode, Henry breaks down his plans for saving the human race.

Way back in the bonus episode to ep. 201, Henry Gee and I discuss his article on how the human race is in decline.  A better term would be free fall.  Well, he expanded that article into an entire book, and we finally get to discuss it!  It turns out, as soon as Homo sapiens dominated their competition, and emerged from Africa as the apex predator on Earth, their fate was sealed.  With no one to c...

In a quiet theater, you sit and stare at a scene unfolding before your eyes, the participants unaware of your presence.  This excites you, and you just can’t seem to pull your eyes away.  That is because you, like everyone else who watches movies, is a voyeur, someone who loves to watch when others can’t see them.  This is essential to cinema, and Jimmy and I will discuss how this came...

No matter what movie you are watching, there is a high likelihood that some form of mental illness will be presented there.  Whether it is a masked psychopath in the latest horror movie, or an OCD partner in the new buddy cop film, humans seem to be unable to look away from crazy.  But how accurate are these portrayals?  Psychiatrist and closeted cinephile Dr. James “Jimmy” Charney wal...

Almost every culture on the planet has stories of some sort of “Wild Man” creature, whether it is Sasquatch, Yeti, Skunk Apes, Yowie, Wendigo, Yeren, etc.  Here in The States we call this creature “Bigfoot”, and proof of their existence is elusive at best.  Almost as elusive as John O’Connor, who’s book “ The Secret History of Bigfoot ” details his t...

The way we live with dogs has change significantly over the past few decades.  Our pets are a part of the family, and as such, we want to give them every advantage possible, including a great education.  Dr. Brian Hare has been studying dog cognition for years, and his recent project involves monitoring the cognitive development of puppies starting at nine weeks.  He calls it “Puppy Kinderga...

The election has come and gone here is the states, and while we don’t get political on this show, we do love movies, so I decided to have Tea Krulos back on the show to discuss his research tying popular cinematic monsters to the political party who wins the White House. Democrats are tied to Vampires while Republicans are represented by Zombies. There is one shocking aberration to this theory, bu...

As promised, Noah and I discuss the “Three Goddesses” story, one of them being the Baba Yaga, who is the prototype for our modern conception of the witch.  She has a big nose, long chin, a house on chicken lags, and for some reason there is a focus on her saggy breasts.  On, and she doesn’t ride around a broom, but it is involved.

It is Halloween again, and what is more iconic at this time of year than vampires, werewolves, and witches?  I thought it was about time we dedicate a whole episode to them, so Noah Charney is back on the show to discuss their origins.  It turns out that these creatures first appear in Slavic myths around the 4th century and the werewolf & the vampire are actually the same creature!  It wasn&#...

With a few more minutes I talk to Jeff about Gigolos, Showgirls, and the man behind The Waffle King.

Los Angeles should be known as “Celebrity City”, since this is where so many live.  If you are an everyday person, and you happen to also live in Los Angeles, there is a small chance that you could run into one of these larger-than-life personalities and get sucked into their orbit.  You see, once you reach a certain level of fame you require a LOT of people to maintain your world.  Fa...

Project Blue Book was supposed to be the U.S. Government’s official investigation into UFO’s.  The science advisor was a man named J. Allen Hynek.  He was the one responsible for the infamous “Swamp Gas” Explanation.  Well Blue Book was really a disinformation campaign, and Hynek went from professional debunker to believer.  He scientifically analyzed all the sightings, and...

Let’s be serious:  The Gong Show was a national phenomenon!  Unfortunately like a lot of things in the 70’s, once a movie was made, the fad was over.  This is true of The Gong Show Movie which was really a therapy session for creator and host Chuck Barris.  So was his book “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” which became a movie as well.  It is safe to say that Chuck used Hol...

If you didn’t grow up in the 70’s,  you have no concept of just how popular “The Gong Show” was.   This was a daytime show that destroyed the ratings, and was unlike anything on television.  It was basically a reverse talent show where the draw was a parade of terrible acts.  They had some ringers sprinkled in, but the wild stunts are what is remembered to this day.  And it...