The World Is Full of Mysterious Holes

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Ben, Matt and Noel have a special, spoiler-filled episode just for you, fellow Conspiracy Realists! You see, something strange happened over recent years: Santa, Rudolph and all the usual characters of Christmas have been joined by a new entity... a little Elf, hanging around your house from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, and reporting your behavior to Santa Claus every single night. At first blush, this is wholesome and delightful. But... why are so many parents, experts and journalists concerned about the Elf on the Shelf? Is the Elf normalizing an Orwellian surveillance state?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.

For most of modern history, the world has run on oil. In the US and abroad, the price of gasoline is often the subject of intense concern, and prices at the pump vary widely. The difference of a few dollars per gallon can incite widespread unrest. But there's a question rarely asked: How much should gas actually cost?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.

Remember when chatting about the weather used to be nothing more than small talk? Those days are long gone. As the climate becomes increasingly chaotic, powerful interests have returned to the controversial -- at times, conspiratorial -- concept of weather modification. In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel dive deep into the bizarre, outlandish and occasionally dangerous plans to leverage science in a last-ditch Hail Mary to save civilization. Problem is, these same solutions may also end up destroying the planet. So... should humanity hold its breath and roll the dice?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 the wake of the death of Rob Reiner and his spouse Michele, Ben, Matt and Noel share some of their memories working with Rob and return to their classic interview with him, from 2023: Sixty years ago this week, US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas. In tonight's conversation, Ben, Matt and Noel join the legendary director, actor, writer, and activist Rob Reiner to explore the assassination -- in his newest project, Rob finally answers the question: Who killed JFK?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, Noel and Dylan explore how a human gut biome may predict linear future. Conversations about social media ephemera. Ben cops to his "missing: boomerang" posters, shouts out The Daily Zeitgeist, and asks Noel to explain "6-7." Dylan shares a weird story about returning to the United States as the U.S. asks to read your phone at the border. All this and more in this week's strange news segment -- tune in!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.

Tonight's episode: Ben, Matt, Noel and Dylan ask: How many planets exist? According to current astronomical research, a lot of speculation and tons of conspiracy theories, there may be more to the solar system.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.

If you're not from Nova Scotia, you may have never heard of Africville -- it was a small community in Halifax. The larger government of Halifax seemed content to pretend Africville simply didn't exist. After the infamous Halifax Explosion of the early 1900s, the government changed their tactic, and aggressively conspired to erase Africville from history.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.

Located in the eastern Pacific ocean, thousands of miles from other civilizations, Rapa Nui is home to an enduring mystery: hundreds of giant, stone sculptures called maoi. For centuries, outsiders had no idea how these were built, when, why or -- most importantly -- what happened to make the construction stop. In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel dive deep into hidden history and the latest research... and just may, finally, find the answers.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 can a star disappear? As Ben, Matt and Noel learn in this evening's Classic episode, there's more than a bit of weirdness involved: a few years back, an enterprising group of astronomers and astrophysicists found themselves transformed into full-on space detectives when a cursory observation of a luminous blue variable star located in the Kinman Dwarf galaxy revealed the star had simply... vanished. This is, according to what our species understands, impossible. Something this big should leave some sort of trace. So what happened? Join Ben, Matt and Noel as they explore the ongoing cosmic conundrum, exploring the story of this galactic noir mystery -- and, ultimately, attempting to learn what led to its untimely disappearance.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.

It's almost the end of the year -- Disclosure looms, raccoons and humans alike pull heists, folks are housing Faberge eggs, fungi evolves in Chernobyl and pretty much everyone is trying to survive. Ben, Matt and Dylan want to tell you a joke at the beginning of this week's strange news segment. Stay tuned for the upcoming episodes inspired by this 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.