The Colin McEnroe Show

Fear of sharks spiked last summer after a great white fatally bit a 26-year-old surfer off the coast of Cape Cod. The fever still runs high as reports of great white sightings coincide with people heading to the beach. Yet, we have a higher risk of getting hit by lightning than killed by a great white shark. The myth of the great white, exacerbated by the 1975 megahit Jaws, is false. Great whites are not the aggressive creatures still perpetuated in popular media. We're more likely to survive a shark bite simply because sharks don't like the way we taste. They spit us out if they accidentally mistake us for a seal.   The convergence of globally warming waters off our east coast and the repopulation of seals and great whites after a previous panic nearly wiped them out, means we'll have to learn to share the ocean.  Instead of pursuing shark repellents like sonar buoys, electric shark shields, and seal contraception, should we consider how we can co-exist with the creatures of the sea? Besides, whose ocean is it anyway?  The fish were there first. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Belushi, John Candy, Rick Moranis. Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Beverly Hills Cop, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, ¡Three Amigos!, Funny Farm, Spaceballs, Stripes. We maybe didn't properly appreciate it at the time, but the 1980s were one of the most fertile periods ever for screen comedies and screen comedians. This hour, a look at the mavericks who shaped a whole comedy aesthetic and at some of the most popular movie comedies ever made.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A photo of people inching their way up a snaking line to the peak of Mount Everest last month has drawn attention to a number of problems, one of which was the jostling at the top of the mountain to take social media-ready selfies and photos. That got us wondering if other people were risking their lives for that perfect photo. It turns out that more than 250 people worldwide have died while taking selfies in just over the last decade, according to a study published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. Drowning, transport, and falls are the top reasons for death. Today, we talk about how a social media-driven visual culture is shaping how we work, play, and experience life. Are we willing to die for that perfect photo? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're shopping for groceries. Out of the blue your heart starts to race, your knees feel week, you feel like you can't breathe, like you might be having a heart attack. You wonder if you're losing your mind -- but you're not. You're having a panic attack.  About 1 in 4 people have had at least one panic attack during their lives, yet few like to admit it. Because panic manifests through physical symptoms that can mimic a heart attack, a lot of people feel shame when they go to the ER and find there's nothing wrong with them. In the absence of a test that defines panic, a lot of people worry they might be losing their mind.   Also this hour: Panic ensued in Times Square in early August when a motorcycle backfired. Fear of being caught in the crossfire of gun shots has led to a collective panic of loud noises in public places. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In early 2017, The New York Times uncovered a program at the Defense Department which investigated unidentified flying objects. Then, at the end of May, the reporters published another article, getting navy pilots to talk on the record about their encounters with unidentified flying objects.  In November 2018, the chair of Harvard's Astronomy Department, Avi Loeb, co-wrote a paper about an interestellar object, 'Oumuamua, writing, "Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that 'Oumuamua may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization." What does this all mean? And does it matter that these aknowledgements are coming from a paper like The New York Times, or a scientist from Harvard?  This hour, we'll talk to Leslie Kean and Avi Loeb about their research, and we'll hear from people who have believed in extraterrestrial life all along about what it's like to see this news. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We want to hear your thoughts on what it's like to be "living in a Trump salad," on this all-call Monday. (Colin coined the term.) First, there's #sharpiegate. Last week, President Trump unleashed on the media for reporting his error tweeting  a warning about Hurricane Dorian that included the state of Alabama. To prevent mass evacuation, the National Weather Service corrected his error. Alabama was not in danger.  It led to his doctoring of a weather map with a black Sharpie, and two government agencies and a FOX senior White House correspondent backing the president's misinformation. Mocking memes under the hashtag #sharpiegate rose in response to the president's efforts to alter the truth.  His volatility also led to an impetuous decision to break off peace talks with the Taliban, and questionable U.S. Air Force expenditures at an airport that benefits a Trump property in Scotland. Last week, Vice-President Pence stayed at a Trump hotel while on a taxpayer-funded trip to Ireland. It would be funny if these incidents didn't serve to further normalize the president's war on truth, the media, and his ability to divert the country's attention away from trade wars, talk of pending recession and other important news.  What are we to make of all of this? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's hard to believe, but The Matrix is 20 years old this year. And its influence is all over the culture with bullet time and red pills and the "woah" meme and so much more. We take the question of whether we're living in a simulation much more seriously than we did 20 years ago. We're much more attuned to the allegory for the trans experience that The Matrix might well have been. And with John Wick 3 released this spring, Toy Story 4 out this summer, Cyberpunk 2077 out next year, and Bill & Ted 3 just finalizing production, the Keanussance is upon us.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we've started our second decade on the air. Over the first ten years, we did some number north of 2,000 shows. And every one of those shows was intended, more or less, to be about some... thing. Towels or Trump or toast or television or whatever. This hour we do the opposite thing: a show not about a specific something -- tapirs. Note: Today's show features Chion Wolf's performance of "Let's Not Talk About Tapirs," with lyrics by Colin McEnroe and music by Chion Wolf. Also note: We're idiots. Don't let the fact that we're idiots prevent you from finding tapirs as fascinating as we actually do. If you're able, you might consider supporting the Tapir Specialist Group, which "strives to conserve biological diversity by stimulating, developing, and executing practical programs to study, save, restore, and manage the four species of tapir and their remaining habitats in Central and South America and Southeast Asia." GUESTS: Carmen Baskauf - A producer for Where We Live; occasional host of The Carmen Baskauf Show on WNPR Kimberly Hyde - A keeper at the San Diego Zoo; she handles the zoo's tapirs in its Elephant Odyssey habitat Betsy Kaplan - The Colin McEnroe Show's senior producer Jonathan McNicol - the producer of this very episode of The Colin McEnroe Show Carlos Mejia - WNPR's digital producer Mike Pesca - Host of The Gist Josh Nilaya - Producer, The Colin McEnroe Show Susan Piver - Meditation teacher, speaker, and long-time Buddhist practitioner Patrick Skahill - WNPR's science reporter; producer emeritus of The Colin McEnroe Show Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The American criminal justice system has become less 'just' over recent decades and prosecutors bear much of the responsibility. The tough-on-crime culture of the 1980's and 90's shifted power away from judges and juries and toward prosecutors who embraced their new power to wield mandatory sentencing laws to rack up the convictions demanded by the constituents who elected them.  The problem is they never let go of that power or the culture that rewards it, even as crime rates have plummeted to historic lows that are almost 50% below their peak in the 1990's. They continue use sentencing to extract plea bargains from almost 95% of the people who come before them, even without evidence of guilt. Some impose draconian bail and probation conditions monitored by for-profit companies that extract a premium.  Others run modern day debtors' prisons, jailing people for misdemeanor crimes like shoplifting because they can't afford bail.   Yet, there's cause for hope. A new breed of DA's are using prison as a last resort, focusing instead on "diversion" programs that offer a second chance instead of long prison sentences that research shows make worse criminals.   Is it time to rethink who belongs in prison? GUESTS:  Emily Bazelon - Staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, co-host of Slate’s "Political Gabfest," lecturer at Yale Law School, and the author of two books, most recently, Charged: The New Movement To Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration (@emilybazelon) Tony Messenger - Metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Commentary. (@tonymess) Samara Freemark - Reporter and senior producer of "In the Dark," an investigative podcast from APM Reports, a division of American Public Media. (@sfreemark) Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 22, 2019.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've got no guests today. It's you and Colin and whatever is on your mind. There's a lot we could talk about. There's the 2020 election, why President Trump isn't sure what a Category 5 hurricane is, whether gun control measures beyond the introduction of the death penalty will come from this weekend's shootings in Texas, both top seeds are out of the US Open, and why a Tennessee school wants to ban Harry Potter books.  But we're interested in what you want to talk about. It could be very different. To some degree, this is an experiment to see if we're focusing on what's really important to you. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.