Just in time for Halloween: A look back at a classic Squaring the Strange show! We begin with a look at the continuing danger of online rumors igniting mob violence and the Google engineer who is in the news for his belief that the AI in development there has...
Archives
Squaring the Strange # 179: Deviant Death Rites and Bizarre Burials
New episode of Squaring the Strange is out! This week we dug up some strange ways people have sent off their deceased loved ones. As a medieval person, how would you keep Aunt Edna from coming back as a vampire or a bitey undead plague-spreader? Or in the Victorian...
Squaring the Strange #173: Alien Implants!
For those who missed it, on the episode of Squaring the Strange we discuss implants--of the alien kind! Advanced tracking technology? Splinters? Or something more sinister? Check it out!
Revisiting the ‘Mystery Missile’ Scare of 2010
This month is the anniversary of one of the highest profile—and best documented—UFO reports in modern American history, with hundreds of eyewitnesses and reasonably clear (albeit nevertheless ambiguous) video footage. Despite the (at-least-temporarily) unidentified...
The Skeptic Zone Podcast Fallacy List
One important facet to critical thinking is recognizing (and hopefully avoiding) logical fallacies. There's a bunch of them, and Richard Saunders has assembled a nice overview in bite-size chunks... check it out!
Bloody Mary, Anyone?
One of the fun things about writing for Discovery News was that my editors were great and I could sometimes sneak in a touch of satire. I recently revisited an article I wrote on the Bloody Mary legend and was pleased to see that my disclaimer is still there.
‘Why Are You Asking?’ Reporting The Black Santa Story
In a previous blog I discussed my research into an ugly episode of racial hatred that tainted the 2016 holiday season. The Mall of America hired its first African-American Santa Claus, an Army veteran named Larry Jefferson. A local newspaper, the Minneapolis Star...
Why Old News Is Often Fake News
We’ve all seen it on social media, especially Facebook. Some friend, or “friend,” or friend of a “friend,” posts a news story. Because it’s social media, the story is often selected (by human nature and algorithms) for its outrage factor. Amid the kitten videos and...
Squaring the Strange #115: The Bermuda Triangle Mystery
For those who didn't see it: A recent episode of Squaring the Strange revisited a classic mystery: The Bermuda Triangle! The Bermuda Triangle is a perennial favorite for seekers of the strange; Ben still gets calls regularly from students eager to ask him...
Sylvia Browne’s Bogus Coronavirus Prophecies
In recent weeks there’s been many rumors, myths, and misinformation about the current coronavirus pandemic, Covid-19. One of the most curious is the recent resurrection of a posthumous prediction by psychic Sylvia Browne. In her 2008 book End of Days,...