Stuff To Blow Your Mind

In this batch of Stuff to Blow Your Mind listener mail, Robert and Joe catch up on Jim e-mails, Krampus talk and Leshy feedback. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, but is Santa Claus merely a magical entity or does he rise to the status of a god? In this pair of STBYM episodes, Robert and Joe discuss the general attributes of a deity and consider the awesome, reality-warping powers of the one we call Kris Kringle, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas and of course Santa Claus. (Originally published 12/19/2019 and 12/24/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The shopping mall is a centerpiece of American holiday traditions -- cathedrals of consumerism, if you will. So in this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe venture into “Chopping Mall,” the 1986 sci-fi horror film that pits teenagers against deadly security robots, “where shopping costs you an arm and a leg.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nope, “Heavy Water” isn’t the new bottled beverage for headbangers. It’s actually an alternate form of water called deuterium oxide that plays a key role in nuclear power plants and the creation of nuclear weapons. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe get to know heavy water. Can you drink it? Why did the Nazis want it? Find out… Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM's The Artifact, Joe talks about a strange class of tongue-shaped rocks that were believed to have magical and medicinal powers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once more, Stuff to Blow Your Mind leans into the holidays -- this time for an invention-minded episode about some of the technologies that bring the winter holidays to life. Join Robert and Joe as they discuss electric Christmas tree lights, tinsel and angelic tree toppers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Time for more listener mail, with your thoughts on antimetaboles, pole dancing, gravy, weird movies and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“You are what you eat,” the saying goes -- but does that apply to memories as well? In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, join Robert and Joe on a journey through the world of Planaria worms, controversial research, regeneration, behaviorism and even the machinations of the Unabomber. (originally published 11/21/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time for some early 90s cyber-panic! In this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe discuss 1993’s “Ghost in the Machine,” in which a serial killer is zapped into the Internet and terrorizes Karen Allen and her painfully cool 90s son. So jack in, get virtual and become one with the screensaver. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You might consider spinning around in a circle either great fun or a one-way ticket to barf town, but spinning and whirling are also tied to childhood development, artistic expression and the pursuit of meditative states. Join Robert and Joe as they explore the spin on Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.