2014 ARCHIVES
HABITABLE UNIVERSE THEORY
Guest: Avi Loeb - Harvard University's Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science & Chair of the Dept. of Astronomy
Our universe is about 13 billion years old, and for roughly 3.5 billion of those years, life has been wriggling all over our planet. But what was going on in the universe before that time? It’s possible that there was a period shortly after the Big Bang when the entire universe was teeming with life. Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb calls this period the “Habitable Epoch,” and he believes that its existence changes how humans should understand our place in the cosmos.
OPERATION PAPERCLIP: AMERICAN NAZI'S
Guest: Annie Jacobsen, journalist, contributing editor at LA Times Magazine
Book: Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America
In the chaos following World War II, the U.S. government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg. Drawing on exclusive interviews and primary sources, Annie Jacobsen follows one of America's most strategic, and disturbing, government programs, and shows just how dark government can get in the name of national security.
WHY SCIENCE DOES NOT DISPROVE GOD
Guest: Amir Aczel, mathematician, science writer, author
Book: Why Science Does Not Disprove God
The best-selling author of Fermat's Last Theorem, Amir Aczel, masterfully refutes the overreaching claims of the "New Atheists" that they've disproven God, and profoundly demonstrates that science has not, as yet, provided any definitive proof refuting the existence of God. Why Science Does Not Disprove God is his brilliant and incisive analyses of the theories and findings of such titans as Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin, all of whose major breakthroughs leave open the possibility— and even the strong likelihood—of a Creator.
JFK ASSASSINATION ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
Guest: Ed Souza, former LA cop; Professor of Criminal Justice
Book: Undeniable Truths: The Clear and Simple Facts Surrounding the Murder of President John F. Kennedy
To many, the murder of President John F. Kennedy was the defining tragedy of the 20th century. In Undeniable Truths, former LA cop and current Professor of Criminal Justice, Ed Souza, applies modern investigative techniques and theories to present the clear and simple facts surrounding this infamous murder. We explore some of the murder's most enduring mysteries: Why was President Kennedy really murdered? Who really did-and did not-want Kennedy eliminated? Why-and how-was Oswald chosen as the scapegoat? Through the use of time tested police strategies, the author puts decades of professional research to the task of solving one of history's most enduring unsolved crimes.
COLD WAR CHILD EXPERIMENTATION
Guest: Dr. Judith Newman, Penn State Professor
Book: Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on Children in Cold War America
During the Cold War, an alliance between American scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and the US military pushed the medical establishment into ethically fraught territory. Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on Children in Cold War America reveals the little-known history of unethical and dangerous medical experimentation on children in the United States during the Cold War. Based on years of archival work and numerous interviews with both scientific researchers and former test subjects, this is a fascinating and disturbing look at the dark underbelly of American medical history.
GMOs: MONSANTO vs. MICHAEL WHITE
Guest: J. Somerville Park, journalist
Book: Seeds of Reprisal: Monsanto vs. Michael White
Michael White, a seed merchant and fourth generation farmer, had a good life on Alabama’s Sand Mountain. But it disintegrated into a nightmare soon after he spotted a man from Monsanto spying on him. In short order, White was sued by Monsanto for patent infringement regarding its genetically modified seeds and threatened with financial ruin. Refusing to buckle, he chose to fight. And that’s when the conglomerate’s spies—using tactics that would embarrass the KGB—decided to teach him a lesson he would never forget. A classic David vs. Goliath saga, this is a testament to the indomitable human spirit and phenomenal courage one person can muster when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. It’s also a cautionary tale about the future and safety of our food supply.
THE BEATLES' ARTISTIC EVOLUTION
Guest: Kenneth Womack, award-winning novelist, lecturer, & professor
Book: Long & Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles, & The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four
In Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles, Kenneth Womack brings the band’s story vividly to life—from their salad days as a Liverpool Skiffle group and their apprenticeship in the nightclubs and mean streets of Hamburg through their early triumphs at the legendary Cavern Club and the massive onslaught of Beatlemania itself. By mapping the group’s development as an artistic fusion, Womack traces the Beatles’ creative arc from their first, primitive recordings through Abbey Road and the twilight of their career.
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR DISASTER
Guest: David Elliott, Co-Director of the Energy and Environment Research Unit at The Open University
Book: Fukushima: Impacts and Implications
The Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011 led Japan, and many other countries, to change their energy policies. In Fukushima: Impacts and Implications, David Elliott reviews the disaster and its global impacts, looking in detail at public and governmental reactions as the scale of the disaster became clear, and at the social, environmental, economic, technological and political implications in Japan and worldwide. He asks whether growing opposition to nuclear power around the world spells the end of the global nuclear renaissance.
THE REAL WATERGATE STORY
Guest: Phil Stanford, journalist & true crime writer
Book: White House Call Girl: The Real Watergate Story
Phil Stanford, journalist & true crime writer, discusses his most recent book White House Call Girl: The Real Watergate Story, which is the true story Heidi Rikan, who was an ex-stripper working for the mob in D.C. A call girl operation she was running led to the 1972 Watergate break-in and the downfall of the President Richard Nixon, Many of the book’s most important revelations are, in fact, based on Stanford’s recent discovery of Heidi’s little black book. This is not part of the Watergate story that has come down to us over the decades.
PHILOSOPHY OF PULP FICTION
Guest: Mark T. Conard, PhD, Professor of Philosophy Marymount
On the 20th Anniversary release of Quentin Tarantino's classic Pulp Fiction, TME sits with Mark T. Conrad and discusses one of the most influential American movie of the 1990s. Conard reveals the film's metaphysical truths about the film explored in his Philosophy Now article "Symbolism, Meaning, & Nihilism in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction." He'll argue that the meaning of the film is American nihilism, the philosophical belief maintaining extreme skepticism that nothing in the world has a real existence.
AMERICAN PRISON SYSTEM
Guest: Jonathan Simon, Prof. of Law at the University of California, Berkeley
Book: Mass Incarceration on Trial: A Remarkable Court Decision and the Future of Prisons in America
For nearly forty years the U.S. has been gripped by policies that have placed more than 2.5 million Americans in jails and prisons designed to hold a fraction of that number of inmates. The prisons are not only vast and overcrowded, they are degrading. Mass Incarceration on Trial examines a series of landmark decisions about prison conditions—culminating in Brown v. Plata, decided in May 2011 by the U.S. Supreme Court—that has opened an unexpected escape route from this trap of “tough on crime” politics. This set of rulings points toward values that could restore legitimate order to American prisons and, ultimately, lead to the demise of mass incarceration.
BIRTH OF BASEBALL'S GOLDEN AGE
Guest: Robert Weintraub, Author, Writer, & Producer
Book: The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball's Golden Age
In 1945, Major League Baseball had become a ghost of itself. Parks were half empty, mediocre replacements roamed the fields, as hundreds of players, including the game's biggest stars, were serving abroad in WWII. But by the spring of 1946, the war was finally over, and as America's fathers and brothers were coming home, so too were the sport's greats. America witnessed the birth of the game's golden era.
BABE RUTH'S CALLED SHOT
Guest: Paul Aron, historian
Book: Did Babe Ruth Call His Shot? & Other Unsolved Mysteries of Baseball
In remembrance of Babe Ruth’s called shot almost 82 years to the day. TME speaks to historian Paul Aron about his book, Did Babe Ruth Call His Shot? And Other Unsolved Mysteries of Baseball. Carefully researched and entertainingly presented, the book gives fans answers to some of the game’s enduring questions and debates. We peered into two categories: those with definitive, factual answers; and ones with open-ended, opinion-fueled responses. Find out who the original Jackie Robinson was, Did Babe Ruth really call his shot, and more.
UFO CONSPIRACIES & COVER-UPS
Guest: Kevin D. Randle, retired Army Lt. Col.
Book: Alien Mysteries, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups
Retired Lt. Colonel Kevin D. Randle who served over 27 years and is an expert on military matters with four degrees including a Ph.D. in psychology and a Masters in Military Studies sat down to converse about his most recent book “Alien Mysteries, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups.” The book reviews historical and government documents and in person interviews, and chronicles more than 100 sightings, events, discoveries of alien encounters, and government conspiracy.
OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES (OBE'S)
Guest: Graham Nicholls, Author, Artist, & OBE Expert
Book: Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience: Radical New Techniques
Experience the insights and joys of astral projection with Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience—a personalized, accessible, science-based guide from a top authority in the field. Drawing on more than twenty years of study and countless OBEs that he has brought about in himself and others, Graham Nicholls shares proven techniques for leaving the body and teaches you how to move past limiting beliefs and deepen your level of self-understanding so you can achieve your astral goals.
HIDDEN HISTORY: HYPATIA
Guest: Prof. Bruce J. MacLennan, PhD
Book: The Wisdom of Hypatia: Ancient Spiritual Practices for a More Meaningful Life
Hypatia was one of the most famous philosophers of the ancient world. The mix of classical philosophies she taught to Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the 4th century forms the very foundation of Western spirituality as we know it today. The Wisdom of Hypatia is a hands-on guide to using the principles of philosophy as a spiritual practice meant to help the seeker achieve a good life and maintain mental tranquility. Discover the techniques described in the historical sources, and put into practice the profound insights of the world’s greatest minds.
ANCIENT ASTRONAUT THEORY SECRETS
Guest: Paul Von Ward, Interdisciplinary Cosmologist
Book: Lost Secrets of the Gods & Children of a Living Universe
Paul Von Ward about his essay from "Lost Secrets of the Gods," which delves into ancient mysteries explained by some of the world's most intrepid and knowledgeable researchers. The old paradigms of history are being radically transformed as we discover more evidence of little-known cultures and what they achieved. Paul’s excerpt “We Are The Aliens,” describes the many ancient cultures that spoke and wrote of visitors who gave them knowledge and helped shape their societies. Who were they, and where did they come from?
PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS
Guest: Joshua P. Warren, author & investigator
Book: It Was A Dark & Creepy Night: Real-Life Encounters with the Strange, Mysterious, and Downright Terrifying
There were only three rules when Joshua P. Warren began collecting these stories from around the world: they had to be true, they had to be short, and they had to send a shiver down your spine. It Was a Dark and Creepy Night presents a wide variety of weird and spooky tales about ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, angels, demons, ESP, interdimensional contact and more. Some tales are too odd to easily categorize, but each one simple or complex transformed an ordinary person's life, revealing a facet of those uncanny phenomena that still leave us wondering…what if?
MAGICK OF THE GODS & GODDESSES
Guest: Jean-Louis de Biasi, Freemason, philosopher, lecturer
Book: Rediscover the Magick of the Gods and Goddesses - revealing the Mysteries of Theurgy
Philosopher Jean-Louis Di Biasi converses about his upcoming book release Rediscover the Magick of the Gods and Goddesses: Revealing the Mysteries of Theurgy. The philosophical roots of much of Wicca and Paganism, as well as Western ceremonial magick, come from ancient Egypt. Jean Louis shares the history, evolution, and practices of the Western Mystery Tradition – the theurgic tradition. You’ll find out how-to instructions for discovering the presence of the divine in the world and achieve higher levels of consciousness. Philosophy, Ancient Wisdom, Mysticism and more
DMT & THEONEUROLOGY
Guest: Rick Strassman, M.D.
Book: DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: A New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible
After completing his groundbreaking research chronicled in DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Rick Strassman was left with one fundamental question: What does it mean that DMT, a simple chemical naturally found in all of our bodies, instantaneously opens us to an interactive spirit world that feels more real than our own world? Examining medieval commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, Strassman reveals how Jewish metaphysics provides a top-down model for both the prophetic and DMT states, a model he calls “theoneurology.” Theoneurology bridges biology and spirituality by proposing that the Divine communicates with us using the brain, and DMT--whether naturally produced or ingested--is a critical factor in such visionary experience.
HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2014
TME celebrates Halloween with a trio of guests to help us cross the veil. In the first hour, Bob Cranmer, former Army intelligence officer & county commissioner, will converse about his experiences living in a haunted house detailed in The Demon of Brownsville Road. Afterwards, afterlife "expert" Roberta Grimes will discuss what happens after we die and how to communicate with the dead. featured in The Fun of Staying in Touch: How Our Loved Ones Contact Us and How We Contact Them. In the final hour, Dr. Supernatural Joshua P. Warren, will send shivers down your spine by retelling "true" ghost stories from his latest It Was A Dark & Creepy Night: Real Life Encounters with the Stranger, Mysterious & Downright Terrifying
