The Colin McEnroe Show

There's a theory that ours isn't the only universe. That there are, actually, infinitely many universes.That there are, then, infinitely many yous.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gustave Whitehead became a household name in Connecticut in 2013 when the editor of the highly-respected aviation magazine IHS Jane's All the World's Aircraft, declared Gustave Whitehead had been treated "shabbily by history." This comment came after Australian historian John Brown found a picture of a plane he alleged Gustave Whitehead flew in Bridgeport two years before the Wright brothers got their 1903 Flyer off the ground. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why is there something rather than nothing? This has been described as perhaps the most sublime philosophical question of all. Today, on The Colin McEnroe Show, we answer it. But as we do, we realize that it's not just a philosophical quandary; it's a scientific, cultural, and theological one as well.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump will make an announcement on December 15 that he will leave his business "in total" to focus on the presidency. This will likely mean he is transferring management responsibilities to three of his five children: Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric. But a transfer may be nearly impossible, given the wide-ranging and deep entanglements Trump's children have in his business. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many Americans were surprised by the results of the presidential election last month. During the early morning hours of November 9, half of America celebrated the ascension of the man (and not the first woman) that championed the needs of Americans who felt betrayed by those in power. The other half feared the election of a man with no experience in government and a stated desire to dismantle much of President Obama’s legacy.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine if you couldn't speak and had no capacity for learning language as we know it. You couldn't choose words to communicate your feelings and desires and needs. You wouldn't know words that help others understand the world in which you live.This isn't like vacationing in a country that speaks a different language where the words are different but still convey universal concepts. It's so difficult to understand a world without words, that we block the signals sending us non-verbal cues every day. This is completely foreign to most of us. What would you do? How would you communicate? How would you survive? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As social creatures we know that isolation can be emotionally difficult, but research shows that it can be psychologically damaging as well. So why then, would anyone live this way by choice? This hour, we hear two such cases of isolated living. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jerks. Jackasses. A-holes. Some people are just... the worst. Aren't they? But so: Why? And what do we do about it?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The charged language used by President-elect Donald Trump this election season may have emboldened people with open hostility toward blacks, gay people, Muslims, Mexicans, Jews, and women.How do we respond to incidents of hate and people who feel emboldened to hate? How do we teach our children to respond? How do we begin to see bigotry through a wider lens?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the last 18 months, we've kind of all seen Donald Trump's possible presidency as, well, implausible. As funny on its face. But guess what. It's a real thing that's going to actually happen.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why do we vote the way we do? The easy answer, of course, is that we pick the politician whose values, beliefs and opinions most closely resemble our own. But while that does play a part, there are other, less obvious influences as well.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin is back, and we've got some questions, and we're guessing you do too.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the men of Apollo 11 returned home to ticker tape parades, the women who made their journey possible worked quietly behind the scenes. Since its founding in 1958, NASA has been heavily reliant on the skills of such women, many of whom have gone unrecognized for their bravery and hard work.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are few genres of entertainment more American than the Western. But for a genre so steeped in the iconography of our past, its accuracy in portraying historical event leaves much to be desired. Many argue that the Western is more myth than reality, and that this myth is akin to revisionist history.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What can you say about the sun? It sits not only at the center of our solar system but has, over time, been at the center of religions, scriptures, songs, art and countless other aspects of our culture.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What makes a great audiobook? What makes a great audiobook narrator? (And, for that matter, what makes a not-so-great audiobook and audiobook narrator?)Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may have heard there was an election last week. You may have heard that the outcome... surprised some people. You may have heard that the press made some mistakes, here and there, in its coverage.This hour, we look at this election season's media winners and losers.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Okay, this show comes with a trigger warning.We talk about things people eat, and some of those things are not for the squeamish. This is a conversation about disgust, and specifically, how our reflexive response of disgust may get in the way of things we probably need to think about doing.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Patti Smith wasn't seeking fame when she landed in Manhattan in 1969.  She was a fan of the greats of the day - like Dylan, Mapplethorpe, Pollock, Ginsberg - who she followed and emulated, hoping to find her own creative space next to those she most admired. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The one thing we knew for sure was that by the time we got to today, yesterday would be over.And it is.And we have a new President-elect.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're all a little tired of this election. I vacillate between excitement, fear, anger, fatigue - sometimes all in the same hour. What will become of the country after this election?Will we accept the results? Will there be 'revolution?' Will Congress come together to legislate in the best interests of the country? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

American democracy is limping to the finish line this election week, dehydrated and injured from many stumbles during this race. Can it recover before Americans lose faith that America has the will or ability to help them? Can it recover before foreign friends and foes alike lose faith in America's sanity and stability? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He's an Academy Award winner, a Golden Globe winner, a BAFTA Award winner.He's the star of American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, What About Bob?, Mr. Holland's Opus, W., Madoff, and many more movies and TV shows.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

George Leonidas Leslie robbed the Manhattan Savings Institution of $3 million in 1878. At the time, it was considered one of the safest buildings in the world. He made detailed models of the bank and its vault from blueprints he charmed from a bank employee. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amidst the increasing concern over a nuclear armed North Korea, it's easy to forget the nearly 25 million citizens who live there. Their stories, while not matters of national security,  do reveal valuable insights into the secretive nation they call home.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FBI Director James B. Comey wrote in a Friday memo to Congressional leaders that "the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation" of Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server. The memo sparked a firestorm that rages hotter by the day, resisting all attempts to contain its damage. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Leonard Cohen's 14th studio album, You Want It Darker, dropped last Friday. Coupled with a new David Remnick profile of Cohen in The New Yorker, the reviews have been pretty gushing. The Nose's take isn't quite as one-note.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ira Glass -- host of This American Life, creator of Serial, professional dancer -- used our show as his prime example in "a principled defense of fun on public radio." And then he called the kind of failure that we aim for many days of each week "where you'll find the future."We want to know more about all that stuff.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Capone told everyone who asked him what he did for a living that he was a "property owner and taxpayer in Chicago." He was really a powerful multimillionaire in 1920's Chicago who made money from the illegal sale of alcohol during Prohibition and the vices that usually accompanied it: gambling and prostitution.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everybody loves a bulldozer. In fact, we all grew up loving bulldozers, didn't we? From Benny the Bulldozer to Katy and her big snow, from all the Tonka toys to all the die cast model Caterpillars, the bulldozer is more of an icon in American popular culture than we maybe realize.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Against Everything is a book about self-improvement. Before you tune out, I ask you to challenge your notion of 'self-improvement.' Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's just by happenstance that we ran into three short films this week that are both remarkable and newly available online. One of them is really something, and because of that, you have to figure, it won this year's Oscar for Best Live Action Short. One of them is merely clever and well done. And the last is an animated short that will utterly defy your expectations of an animated short.And the best part is: You can watch all three of them in just 27 minutes.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump met in Las Vegas last night for their third and final debate before the November 8 election. "I will look at it at the time. I'm not looking at anything now...I'll keep you in suspense. Okay?" This was Donald Trump's response to Chris Wallace asking if he would honor the outcome of the election. His answer is unprecedented in the history of American politics. His answer dismisses the privilege Americans enjoy by the seemingly benign transfer of power that occurs with each presidential election. Stop for a moment and think about the violence in countries where people die to vote or where their vote doesn't matter because a leader won't step down. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A lot of you reading this are familiar with the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder because you watched the popular "Little House on the Prairie" television show that ran from 1974-1983.But the television show came long after Laura Ingalls Wilder began sharing the story of her family's journey through the open frontier. She shared her memories in a series of beloved Little House books that spanned a life of pioneering both before and after the government declared the frontier closed. She speaks in simple and intimate prose of everyday life that fascinated millions of young readers who wanted to live like Laura. Fans today still want to believe in the absolute truth of every word. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

History and literature are filled with their antics. From the Renaissance's Triboulet to Shakespeare's Feste from "Twelfth Night," jesters and fools have delighted us for centuries with their subversive humor and quick wit. But while comedy was their brand, there existed hardships for these characters as well.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump spent the recent days creating an alternate reality filled with 'global conspiracies' against him he claims are led by Hillary Clinton and the global elite. This is in response to several women who came forward last week to accuse Donald Trump of sexually harassing and/or assaulting them after a 2005 tape was released on which Trump was bragging about how easy it was for him to "grab" women as he pleased. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've never sent a Nose panel to a play before. So this week, we figured we'd try it out. So we've all gone to see Steve Martin's world premiere at the Long Wharf in New Haven: Meteor Shower.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I wasn't sure anyone would show up for a live, on-stage discussion about this year's election. I mean, no one's starving for content about this. We're all bombarded. But show up, they did! We got about 200 people and packed the amphitheater, and I think that says something about our  basic human need to be together as bodies, talking and relating in a very humanly embodied way, especially in these troubling days. I should tell you that we taped this right before the hot mic incident and all that followed. It was a more innocent time. But everything we said still holds.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If Anthony Bourdain and Wes Anderson were to ever collaborate, chances are they'd end up creating something like Atlas Obscura. The founders of the website -- dedicated to strange, forgotten and hidden wonders around the world -- are now out with a new book featuring 700 of their most spectacular examples.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The job of the media is to inform voters on views and behaviors that relay how a political candidate will behave once elected to office. Fair and honest treatment does not necessarily lead to equal coverage. In the case of Donald Trump, it can lead to asymmetrical coverage of a candidate whose behavior appears to undermine the standards of democratic discourse. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone was wondering how Donald Trump would handle the 2005 tape of him talking with Billy Bush about sexually-assaulting women because "you can do anything" when you're a star. Republican support wavered this weekend under the strength of the video, with many Republicans in Congress calling for Trump to relinquish his spot at the top of the GOP ticket.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

HBO's new 10-episode western sci-fi thriller remake of the 1973 movie "Westworld" took an awfully long time and a big old pile of money to see the light of day. But it looks like it might've been worth it.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Neonaticide is a hard concept for most of us to wrap our heads around. Yet, the CDC estimates that "a baby born in the United States is ten times more likely to be killed during its first day than at any other time of life. And for the first week, a baby's killer is likely to be its mother."Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the more than six years that it's been on the air, we've never taken The Colin McEnroe Show to the Peabody Museum before. (Crazy, right?) And: In the more than six years that it's been on the air, we've never done a Colin McEnroe Show about dinosaurs before. (Crazy! Right!?)Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marie Antoinette's breasts were believed to inspire the design of the shallow French champagne coupes we see on the shelves of the local Pottery Barn. Mae West noted in her 1959 memoir, Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It, that she regularly rubbed cocoa butter on her breasts and spritzed them with cold water.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump's horrible, terrible week got worse after the New York Times released three pages of Trump's 1995 tax return this weekend. They show he lost nearly $916 million in a year when the economy was thriving. But, that's another story. He may have used legal loopholes in the tax code to make more money off his loss and avoid paying federal income taxes for the next 18 years. Did he? He won't tell. But, he did note at last week's debate that he would be smart if he did. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everybody hates cargo shorts. Except the people who don't. And more than that, everybody keeps talking about whether or not they hate cargo shorts. It's even come up on our show in the past.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So here's what happened. Lucy Nalpathanchil got a pitch from some PR person about covering David Ortiz's retirement at the end of this baseball season. And she forwarded it to Colin and me and said it sounded like our kind of show.And Colin (a Red Sox fan) said that I (a Yankees fan) "would [expletive] hate that." And he's right. I would [expletive] hate that.And so here we are doing that show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three guests, Peter Sagal of WWDTM, Maria Konnikova of The New Yorker, and Robert Evans of Cracked, take you on a tour of vice. They talk everything from casual sex to marijuana to greed and ostentation to coffee to beer to pornography. Peter and Colin also discuss what the next declared vice will be. Possibly sitting.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Free will, individual responsibility, and the pursuit of happiness: Fundamental tenets of, wait for it... Satanism. While the word conjures up images of fire and brimstone, the truth is a bit more complicated. So why does a religion which celebrates so much what Americans profess to hold dear get such a bad rap?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.