A conversation with paranoid family members prompts Saturday Mourning Cartoons to ask whether the government really does tap people's phones. Bro Dude Man searches for more information about the Reedley Biolab. RJ shares some thoughts on Fyre Fest, and asks where to hang out in Atlanta. All this and more in this week's listener mail.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener Mail: Did the government tap your phone? The seedy Reedley Biolab, Fyre Fest and Atlanta Recommendations

While casinos work around the clock to create a glitzy, glamorous, spontaneous feeling, it turns out they are some of the most tightly-controlled environments on Earth. Every possible variable is accounted for. Every conceivable psychological tendency is leveraged -- even the geography of the casino has been the subject of intense research. This is all done to keep you there, playing, for as long as possible. Because the longer you play, the more money the casino stands to win. In tonight's special live episode, Ben, Matt and Noel dive deep into the Stuff Casinos Don't Want You To Know.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Stuff Casinos Don't Want You To Know: Live in Vegas

Google -- or, more properly, Alphabet -- is a huge company, and is at the bleeding edge of numerous technological innovations. So, while it wasn't necessarily a surprise that Uncle Sam wanted Google's help building AI, it certainly disturbed a great many people, some of whom were Google's own engineers. So what exactly happened? Join Ben and Matt as they dive into the strange story of Project Maven in this classic episode.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CLASSIC: Google, the Pentagon and AI

Azerbaijan wages war against Armenia -- and from the US to Europe, from Russia to Iran, it seems no one will intervene to protect civilians. The US loses and later recovers an out-of-control fighter jet. In Los Angeles, two suspicious deaths cause locals to wonder whether there is an active serial murderer on the loose. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strange News: Armenia Under Attack, A Missing Jet and Murders in LA

Have you ever been convinced you heard a voice -- shout, a whisper, someone speaking directly to you -- only to turn around and realize no one was there? This experience is more common than we might comfortably imagine. For millennia, people who heard voices in their heads were considered prophets, lunatics, or vessels of infernal forces. In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel explore the nature of this particular paracusia -- ultimately learning modern science still struggles to understand what may well be a conspiracy within your own brain.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Hearing Voices Works

Sam Hill recounts a disturbing story of Chinese forces buying up family farmland in the United States, prompting a conversation about the multibillion dollar shady practice of international real estate. Anon asks for help figuring out what appears to be a case of meditative, multiversal travel. Rice asks whether it's possible to voluntarily trigger the release of adrenaline through thought alone. All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener Mail: Astral Travel, Real Estate as Crime, Voluntary Adrenaline

How does the internet get information from across the planet to your house? While many people might guess it's a matter of satellites and synchronous orbits, they'd only be partially correct -- the vast majority of data zipping around online moves through a network of undersea cables. In tonight's episode, Ben and Matt explore how these cables work... and why more people should know about them.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Underwater Internet

For years residents of Windsor, Ontario have been haunted by a strange, disruptive noise. Sometimes compared to a truck idling or distant thunder, numerous residents say the noise has damaged people’s health and quality of life, But what exactly is the Windsor hum? Join the guys as they dive into the mystery.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CLASSIC: What is the Windsor hum?

The FDA concludes the primary active ingredient in over-the-counter decongestants may be nothing more than the placebo effect. A retired secret service agent goes public with his recollection of the JFK assassination in advance of his upcoming memoir. Ben dives into the news from Mexico, asking: Why did the Mexican Congress hold a hearing to examine purported alien corpses, knowing the people making these claims have an established track record of hoaxing the public? All this and more in this week's strange news segment. They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strange News: Secret Service Agent Speaks Out on JFK, FDA Calls BS on Decongestants, Mexican Congress Views (Alleged) Alien Corpses

With Yevgeny Prigozhin and the rest of Wagner leadership apparently confirmed dead in a suspicious airplane explosion north of Moscow, the merc army Wagner finds itself adrift. So what happens next? In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel dive into the speculation, analysis, and numerous conspiracies surrounding the "complicated fate" of this notorious PMC... and why what happens next will affect people across the planet.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Wagner Update

Harvard luminary Avi Loeb rocks the world with his discovery of bizarre, tiny objects off the coast of Papua New Guinea -- objects that don't just appear to be from outside the solar system... but may have been created by an intelligent force. An update on the European version of superpigs -- spoiler: radiation. Over in the US, there may be a massive auto recall on airbags. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strange News: Harvard Astrophysicist Finds 'Spaceship Wreckage,' Rise of Superpigs Update, Massive Auto Recalls on the Horizon

For thousands of years groups of humans have each told their own religious and social narratives, building a past that attempts to explain the present and the future. And, unfortunately, since the dawn of recorded time these groups have also sought to make sure their version of history is the 'real' one. In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel dive into the strange practice of controlling the past -- and why this conspiracy continues, unabated, in the modern day.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Future of The Past: Who Will Control History?

It's a common trope in film and TV -- a police department at their wits' end calls in a favor and makes contact with a genuine psychic, someone in tune with the greater mysteries of life, death and the universe. In works of fiction these individuals often do possess some spark of extraordinary ability, but what about in real life? Join the guys as they delve into the world of true crime and allegations of ESP to discover whether any real-life psychics have solved actual crimes.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CLASSIC: Have psychics solved any actual crimes?

Nemesis updates his fellow Conspiracy Realists on the growing difficulties of remaining anonymous online. Pink Fairy Angel calls in to relate an immensely disturbing series of murders, kidnapping and robberies centered around the Brooklyn Mirage. Gracie shares not just an urban legend -- but a tale of first-hand experience in Disney's Haunted Mansion. Join Ben and Matt as they explore these stories and more in this week's listener mail segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener Mail: Can You Be Anonymous Online? Murders at the Brooklyn Mirage. A Haunting Story From Disney's Haunted Mansion.

It's a wide, beautiful, and at-times terrifying world -- and, these days, it may seem more connected than ever. However, make no mistake: it's also full of place you cannot go. In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel explore some of the world's most forbidden places -- and why certain forces conspire to keep you away.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oh, The Places You Can't Go

A listener asks the gang for more information about Ghost Weddings. GP Scoothe writes in to tell the tale of Bob Berdella. A story about a burgeoning proxy war in the Maldives, one of the first countries that may lose itself to the rising ocean. And a few letters from home. All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener Mail: Ghost Weddings, Bob Berdella, Maldives and A Proxy War

The US is a corn superpower. Over the past few decades, corn has infiltrated all sorts of things, from soda pop and snacks to your own gas tank. But how did it get this way? In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel dive deep into the strange world of agribusiness conspiracies in what just may be their corniest episode yet.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Corn Took Over America

What if everything you encounter in your day-to-day interactions is somehow prescient? Are the games you play and the films you watch meant to normalize genres of experience -- and, if so, to what end? Ben and Matt explore the idea of weaponized mass media from the early days of deification to a startling story by Edgar Allan Poe and beyond.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CLASSIC: What is Predictive Programming?

The mysterious group buying thousands of acres around Travis Air Force Base turns out to be a group of tech luminaries and investors -- and they plan to build a new city. A woman in Australia survives the removal of a live roundworm from her brain. Scotland recently hosted the largest-ever search for Nessie, the infamous Loch Ness cryptid. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strange News: Flannery Associates Revealed, A Hunt for Nessie, and Worms Move Into Brains

From ghostly hitchhikers to tales of insidious alien conspiracies, everyone loves a good spooky campfire story. But where do modern legends come from? Why do they all seem to have certain common threads? In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel don't just break down how these stories work: they teach you, step by step, how to build your own -- and, most importantly, how the same storytelling process has been weaponized against you, with dangerous results.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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