Co-host of the hit podcast, No Such Thing as a Fish, Dan Schreiber is a radio producer living in the UK who also co-created the BBC Radio 4 panel show, The Museum of Curiosity. On Friday night's show, he tackled some of the world’s most mind-boggling, thought-provoking, and downright hilarious theories and questions from his book, The Theory of Everything Else. "The book is a love letter to all the weirdnesses that we have as humans," Schreiber said.
Some of the questions posed in his book have no answers, including how the Australian accent developed and why shower curtains billow in toward the showering person. "We don't know the answer to that... there's four competing theories at the moment," Schreiber revealed, noting there is no consensus among researchers. He reported on how British entrepreneur Richard Branson was influenced by the book The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart. Branson would roll dice to determine if he should sign a band to his Virgin Music label, Schreiber disclosed.
He spoke about what he called a 'Rough Corner,' which is a Zen concept that a garden should keep a patch of wild untouched land to remind the gardener of how the universe intended for the garden to look without human interaction. "I think we all need a 'Rough Corner' in our brain," he said. Schreiber recounted a strange story about Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis, inventor of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Mullis claimed to have had a bizarre experience the same year he invented PCR. One night as he was going to his outhouse he was confronted by a glowing English-speaking raccoon that abducted him into a spaceship, Schreiber explained, adding Mullis went missing for four hours.
Schreiber also shared curious accounts about John C. Lilly whose research to teach dolphins to speak English was funded by NASA, how multiple exorcisms from his grandmother contributed to Ringo Starr's drum sound, and the time office plants were involved in the investigation of a murder case.
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Open Lines followed in the latter half of the program. Brendan in Austin, Texas, commented on remarks from NASA about an upcoming solar storm that could cause people to lose internet access for months or even years. He said the space agency is working on AI models of solar storm data in order to develop an early warning system that could potentially give the planet 30 minutes notice before being struck by a devastating solar storm.
Stan from South Florida told George about what he considers were miraculous events in his life. Stan recalled the time he was a victim of an attempted murder at the sub bay at Pearl Harbor. "The only thing I can think of is the one guy's mother must have been praying for him," Stan said, noting his assailant inexplicably stopped beating him with brass knuckles and let him up. Twelve months later, Stan was operating in Vietnam. "We got dosed with Agent Orange so heavy that I could chew it, and about six days later I came down with a fever of 108," he reported. Stan credited the ship's doctor with efforts that ultimately saved his life.
Tim from Arizona phoned in to share a poem he wrote about George and Coast to Coast AM. Below is part of the poem Tim read on air:
"There's a man named George tender and kind, He sings like an angel to the heart and mind,
He listens and cares and is righteous and true, And hosts Coast to Coast AM which I love to listen to,
His guests are always interesting and open of mind, Some I'm in tune with and some for another time,
I love to call in and share my thoughts, For appealing to my soul so why would a not,
To the Great Beyond to the Deep Within, To where it all ends and to where it all begins..."
The final half hour featured a replay from 1/20/2020 when paranormal investigator Mike Ricksecker talked about Shadow People.
News segment guests: Heidi Hollis / Kevin Randle