Listener Mail: Raccoon Penis Toothpicks, FNU LNU, Rigid Airships

In this week's listener mail segment: Xevious Wrecks hips Ben and Noel to 'hillbilly toothpicks', a euphemism for raccoon penises, inspiring the guys to never see the internet again. Uncle Bosco explores how you can hack encounters with police by using the alias 'FNU LNU' (spoiler, you get in situations). Jameson reveals a conspiracy afoot with the world's standing record for IQ tests. Sergeant Will proposes that at least a few UFOs are obscure, spooky rigid airships. In our Letters From Home, Trogoldyte shares a phenomenal real-life encounter with rutabagas.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.

Nowadays, everyone knows lead is toxic. Yet for thousands of years, it was treated as a miracle substance. Ancient Romans used it in everything from water pipes to wine sweetener -- an ubiquity that may well have contributed to the fall of the Empire as the civilization's collective IQ decreased due to lead exposure. And in the U.S., lead was also widespread until relatively recently. There's fascinating -- and disturbing -- speculation about how lead exposure in childhood may have created a spike in crime in the 1960s and 1970s. And, as Ben, Matt and Noel discover in tonight's episode, some experts take the theory one step further: Could lead exposure have created a boom in serial killers?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.

In this week's Classic episode, Ben, Matt and Noel explore some extremely weird dudes known as the Founding Fathers of the United States. They're memorialized in monuments, museums, currency, holidays -- the list goes on. For more than a century they were deified, held up as paragons of statecraft. Yet the way they've been portrayed in textbooks often skips over details that ran counter to the shining image sold to generations of school children. You see, the Founding Fathers had secrets... so many, in fact, that we had to make this a two-part 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.

In this week's strange news segment, Ben, Dylan and Noel explore the story of the legendary Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto — and how the New York Times may have finally discovered his real identity. Also, scientists studying microplastics forgot to account for their plastic gloves! A kid finds a human skull during an Easter Egg hunt. All this and more in today's Strange News.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.

Humanity has been obsessed with the idea of death well before the dawn of modern Homo sapiens -- civilization knows what happens to your body when you die, but still has yet to agree on what, if anything, happens to that intangible part of you called the soul. In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel explore a profound and disturbing rabbit hole: Will modern technology allow us to literally bring back the dead? If so, how? Most importantly, should we?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.

In this week's listener mail segment: Neek the Greek prompts Ben, Matt and Noel to explore AI in live sports commentary. James weighs in with a Mormon perspective on Ben's earlier confirmation of intelligence agencies prioritizing LDS members. Inconspicuous asks the guys for more information about drones. Tune in for the segment, which may inform actual episodes in the future.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.

Ben, Matt, and Noel love folklore. After all, stories are one of humanity's first technologies -- and they continue to shape the world today. Most of the modern world accepts that tales of the undead, spirits, oracles and so on are just that: stories. Yet as the guys discover in tonight's trippy thought experiment, there's a growing argument that modern technological breakthroughs aren't just leading to new advancements: when you think about it, technology is increasingly making some of these legends, in practice, real.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.

Food is one of the few things that unites the human species -- so it's no surprise the world of food is chock-full of conspiracies. In today's episode, the guys return to the world of conspiracy and cuisine, fielding some of the strangest, most disturbing urban legends and rumors about everything from fast food to livestock and more.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.

In this week's strange news segment: Ben, Matt and Noel discover their old conspiracy about VPNs might actually be true. Ben introduces the crew to the latest troubling updates on an orgasm cult. Noel explains how a Kit-Kat heist leaves more questions than answers. Matt shares news about the White House 'ballroom' construction drawing more attention, as it turns out Ben was *not* joking about a secret bunker. Kash Patel sure got hacked. All this and more in our weekly 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.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, Ben, Matt and Noel explore ongoing claims that the Russian government may possess secret "superweapons" capable of changing the course of war. How much of this is sound and fury, signifying nothing? How much of this may lead to new, world-threatening tools of horror? Ben here: it turns out what we mean by "super".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.