Fat, French and Fabulous

Nuclear waste will last for thousands and thousands of years before it is finally safe. How do we communicate this danger to future generations, who may not share our language, symbols, or scientific understanding?

Nuclear power is gaining popularity worldwide, but despite its long history, we haven't actually decided where to put the highly dangerous byproducts of nuclear power production. Maybe we should get on that.

1820, at the height of whaling, the Nantucket whale-ship Essex suffered an unheard of tragedy - being attacked and sunk by an 80 foot sperm whale. But unlike the book it inspired, this was far from the end for the captain and crew.

A major distinction between different types of serial killers - and different types of Angels of Death - is motive. Traditionally, male serial killers are more likely to be motivated by sex and female serial killers more motivated by material comfort. However, that it not always the case... particularly not when it comes to killers like Jane Toppan.

We expect nurses and doctors to provide knowledge, health, and most of all, safety. But medical professionals compose a distinct subset of serial killers, known as Angels of Death.

For hundreds of years, Canada and the United States have been each others closest neighbours, strongest allies, and largest trading partners... except for all the times they were at each others throats. The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Pork and Beans War, and the Pig War -- 50% actual wars, 50% backwoods hijinks. This past is one far more recent than one might think, including two declassified documents from the early 20th century -- Defense Scheme One and War Plan Red.

Lizzie Borden, despite being acquitted of all charges, has remained the primary suspect in her parents double-homicide for over a hundred years. Was she really the killer? And is there any way to know for sure? Absolutely not.

Lizzie Borden took an axe Gave her mother forty wacks When she saw what she had done She gave her father forty-one [Citation Needed]

The quest for the Northwest Passage -- a navigable sea route through the Canadian arctic -- was long and dangerous. Even so, when Sir John Franklin led two ships, the Erebus and Terror, on a last mission to complete mapping of North America's icy archipelago, there was every reason for confidence. The Terror and Erebus were last seen by European whalers off the coast of Greenland in the summer of 1845, after which they simply disappeared into the frozen north.

In 1921, Roscoe Arbuckle was one of the most famous men in the United States and among the wealthiest actors in the nascent Hollywood. That all ended when a lurid murder trial for the death of Virginia Rappe led to him being a persona non grata, his films banned all around the English-speaking world.

Before Leonardo DiCaprio, before Rock Hudson, before Clark Gable, before even Charlie Chaplin, the biggest star in American television was none other than Roscoe Arbuckle. A larger than life character from the age of silent film, Arbuckle was a talented performer, dancer, and singer who made hundreds of popular (and profitable) movies. He was better known, however, for his immense size, which earned him the name "Fatty" Arbuckle. All that came crashing down thanks to a lurid scandal which has obscured his legacy to this day.

There have historically been two kinds of phenomena known as ghost ships -- the first, a mysterious apparition crewed by the souls of the damned, and the second, the sudden and unexplained disappearance of a ship's very real human crew. The Mary Celeste, an entirely normal American shipping vessel began as the latter when her crew vanished on a routine crossing of the Atlantic, but her story slowly morphed into the former over the next century. The true fate of the Mary Celeste's crew is likely far more mundane and far more disturbing.

Built in the waning days of the 19th century, the Eiffel tower was erected as the entrance arch to a world fair and survived two world wars to become a towering beacon of Parisian resilience and French resistance. As a modern icon of romance, every day, dozens upon dozens of couples pose and propose in front of the tower as a symbol of their love. In the early 20th, century, however, the Eiffel tower was seen as something of a tacky, modernist eye-sore -- a dangerous pile of rubbish and rust. To con artist Victor Lustig, however, the tower was much more: the perfect scam.

In the early 20th century, Georgia Tann was perhaps the most famous, most beloved figure in American social work, even receiving a personal invitation to the inauguration of President Truman. But as the reports of stolen children and advances in standards and statistics brought more in more scrutiny on the Tennessee Children's Aid Society, the house of cards she built could only stand for so long.

Adoption has always existed as a human practice, but our modern understanding of adoption, where a child is taken in by complete strangers who legally incorporate that child as a member of the family, is relatively new, originating in the 20th century. One woman did more than any other to normalize the practice: social worker Georgia Tann, the beloved head of the Tennessee Children's Home Society. It was only later that questions would be asked as to how she acquired these children and the fate of many who wound up in her care.

Timothy Dexter was born poor in 1747. At 8 years old, he dropped out of school to become a farm laborer, then a tanner's apprentice at 16. At 22, he married a rich widow, then invested her money in various business ventures -- primarily based on the malicious advice of other wealthy men who absolutely hated him.

If there's one thing we associate with the British, it's tea. But for most of their history, the British lacked access to tea except through their highly contentious and often one-sided trade relationship with the far-off nation of China. That relationship only began to change with the mass smuggling of opium into China by British traders -- as well as the theft of the secrets of making tea by the Scottish botanist Robert Fortune.

The family living at the Bavarian homestead of Hinterkaifeck had their share of dark secrets. All were overshadowed, however, by their gruesome deaths at the hands of an unknown attacker -- who had likely been living for several days, unnoticed, in the family's attic.

Mishima Yukio was a complicated man -- a successful author, celebrity, committed family man, repressed homosexual, and budding fascist paramilitary leader. His attempted overthrowal of the elected government of Japan walks a fine line between failed coup and conscious act of suicide. He lived as an international literary icon, but died as a controversial nationalist figure, forever complicating his legacy.

Mishima Yukio was a celebrated and prolific 20th century actor, director, model, poet, playright, and especially author. To this day he is considered one of the most important Japanese writers of the era, though many of his works remain untranslated in English. He was even three times in contention for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But what he is perhaps best known for is dying by his own hand after an attempted coup against the democratically elected government of Japan. How did Mishima go from famous author to failed cult leader? Listen to find out.

Joan Risch was in many ways your average 60s housewife -- beloved wife, doting mother, and trusted neighbor. She was intelligent and well-read, as a writer and former secretary, and she intended to return to work when her children were older. No evidence was ever found that she was in any way unhappy. There are many theories about what happened to Joan Risch: Murder, Suicide, or an Intentional Disappearance. None fully explain the evidence she left behind.

In 2013, 44 year-old former drug addict David Sullivan attacked and repeatedly stabbed his elderly mother. In 2015, 19 year-old former high school rugby star Thomas Chan brutally murdered his own father. Both suffered severe psychotic breaks that led to their violent actions, but due to a quirk in Canadian law, both were convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. The successful appeal of these cases was reported as the court legalizing intoxication as a defense for sexual assault, resulting in a massive public backlash largely unrelated to the ultimate fates of two innocent men. Maclean's Article: https://www.macleans.ca/longforms/thomas-chan-supreme-court/ Legal Analysis from the Saskatchewan Review: https://sasklawreview.ca/the-constitutionality-of-section-33.1-a-never-ending-story.php

When the munitions ship, the Mont Blanc, exploded in the Halifax harbor, thousands died in an instant, while thousands more were injured, tens of thousands left homeless or buried in the rubble. The devastation took Halifax decades to fully recover from. For two generations, many Haligonians refused to even discuss the tragedy, meaning their stories died with them. Join us for our second episode on the Halifax Explosion, discussing the terrible consequences of a single unlucky accident.

During WWI, the deep natural harbour of Halifax, Canada was the most important seaport in North America. All neutral merchant traffic, military convoys, and army recruits coming and going from the eastern seaboard came through Halifax first, including shipments of munitions intended for the European front. December 6, 1917, 9:05:35 A.M., the realities of war would have tragic consequences for the people of Halifax and Dartmouth with the biggest accidental explosion the world has ever known.

In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton, veteran polar explorer, announced his most daring expedition to date: a land crossing of the Antarctic continent. The journey would be perilous, but fame and fortune would be his likely reward should he make it back alive. However, even before they set ashore, they found themselves trapped by sea ice, adrift, certain of only one thing: help wasn't coming.

The year is 1907 when the household maid of a wealthy family living on well-to-do Park Avenue in Manhattan suddenly grows ill. Soon after, the family's only daughter likewise grows sick and dies. The cause? Typhoid, a disease associated with poverty and poor sanitation. Upon investigation, signs pointed to the recently hired head cook -- Mary Mallon, a perfectly healthy woman who had never before had the disease. Her story would become the go-to case study for asymptomatic disease transmission and would earn her both decades in medical isolation and the cruel nickname "Typhoid Mary".

Before the Cold War race to the moon between the USA and the USSR, there was the purely peaceable race to the South Pole between the British Empire and the recently independent nation of Norway. The Norse were led by Roald Amundsen with his traditional, low-tech approach of sled dogs and skis, while the British were led by Naval stalwart Robert Falcon Scott and his experimental strategy of motor sledges and horses. Join Jessica and Janel as they discuss frostbite, dog cannibalism, and H.P. Lovecraft's deep fear of penguins.

At the turn of the 20th century, two teams of experienced explorers raced to be the first to plant their flag at the southernmost point of the globe for the sake of personal and national glory. They were well financed, well trained, and well equipped, but the harsh conditions of the Antarctic, the final unexplored continent, could be deadly and any mistake could be their last. Join us today as Jessica and Janel discuss the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration and the leadership of Robert Falcon Scott, as Jessica likewise Goes Off about vitamin deficiencies.

Nyleen Marshall was a typical little girl who vanished on a warm Saturday in June, 1983 from Helena National Forest in Montana. Despite a robust search effort, she was never found. Evidence soon emerged, however, that she may not have simply disappeared, but rather she may have been taken. Join Jessica and Janel as they discuss the motivations of stranger kidnappings, the odd coincidences associated with the Marshall case, and the proper care and feeding of Mormon missionaries.

Two centuries before the coining of the term "transgender", a genderless former Quaker preacher claimed power of prophesy and attempted to lead their followers to create an enclave in the rough country of western New York. They also claimed to be a reanimated corpse, which is probably weirder. Hard to say.

The École Polytechnique massacre remains to this day the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history, but beyond the deaths of 14 women and the later suicide of two survivors, the massacre had a massive and lasting impact on Canadian politics and policy. It marks the beginning of the divergence of Canadian and American gun control laws.

Canada is a relatively peaceful nation. Low violence. Low crime. Compared to their neighbours to the south, Canada rarely experiences American-style mass gun violence. However, that hasn't always been the case. Ten years before Columbine. Nearly two decades before Virginia Tech. Montreal Polytechnique was the scene of a misogyny-fueled terrorist attack that yet ranks among the deadliest school shootings of the modern era, with 14 women dead. Part of the story lies with the personal history of the killer: Marc Lépine, Noted Woman-Hater and Fucking Loser.

The life of a wartime spy behind enemy lines is often nasty, brutish, and short with the most dangerous positions carrying an expected lifespan of weeks or months. A spy, once burned, risks death should they return to the fray. Which isn't to say that none of them do.

Virginia Hall was a woman of talent and frustrated ambition -- denied again and again from a position as an American diplomat, first on account of her sex and second on account of her status as an amputee. In a different world, she would have remained nothing more than an over-qualified secretary, but as with the advent of the Second World War, she became something more: one of the most successful and adaptable intelligence agents working inside Vichy France.

In 1932, during the waning hours of prohibition and the dawn of the Great Depression, a group of unscrupulous criminals, headed by speakeasy owner Tony Marino, came up with a dastardly plot to come up with some quick cash: to take out three life insurance policies on a haggard, homeless drunk named Michael Malloy. They figured Malloy wasn't far off from the grave, and they wouldn't need to lift a finger to send him on his way. But it turns out that Iron Mike Malloy was a lot more durable than they ever suspected.

During the second World War, U Boat Wolf Packs stalked the Atlantic, harassing and sinking various Allied military and merchant vessels, threatening the vital resource lines supplying Britain. A long swath of ocean lay outside the range of land-based anti-submarine aircraft, known as "the Gap". Then, British inventor Geoffrey Pyke had an idea: a giant unsinkable aircraft carrier constructed entirely out of ice.

Cave diving is among the most dangerous of extreme sports, where the smallest mistake can prove fatal, even for experienced, knowledgeable divers. So when a overconfident young diver goes missing, last seen entering the treacherous Vortex cave system, there seems to be an obvious conclusion as to his ultimate fate. However, not everything is as clear cut as it might seem.

After years of terrorist bombings throughout the Canadian city of Montreal, members of the militant separatist group, the Front de Liberation du Quebec, plotted their most audacious attack yet: the kidnapping of prominent diplomat, British Trade Commissioner James Cross. What followed was a crisis that rocked the country and resulted in Canada's very first peacetime enactment of martial law.

1960s Montreal was a growing, industrious city and cultural powerhouse -- the site of numerous festivals, the 1967 World Fair, and a massive wave of bombings, riots, and armed robberies. Several cells of the FLQ, a group of francophone separatists, carried out independent terror campaigns, with Montreal at their very centre.

The 1960s in the Canadian province of Quebec was a time of vast cultural, political, and economic change. A peaceful revolution in the way that French Canadians lived, worked, and defined themselves as a nation within a nation. In the midst of this changing world, a group of young Quebeckers decided that they would free their homeland from English Canadian tyranny by any means necessary, and they founded the Front de Liberation du Quebec.

13 year old Megumi was far from the only foreign nationals stolen by the North Korean state -- known and suspected victims of abduction include a Romanian artist, a Mormon Elder, and an absolutely ludicrous number of South Korean citizens. The reasons for these abductions vary and remain shrouded in mystery, as does the ultimate fate of Megumi and her fellow abductees.

November 15, 1977 Megumi Yokota, a 13 year old girl who lived in a small Japanese village, was supposed to come home directly after badminton practice. She never arrived. Police immediately suspected that she had been kidnapped, but no ransom note was ever delivered. Decades later, the truth of Megumi's disappearance would finally be revealed. She had indeed been kidnapped on her walk home through her peaceful little village -- by the nation of North Korea.

Back in the frantic days of WWII, the National Defense Research Committee of the United States government had a policy of accepting civilian submissions for how to achieve military success against the Axis Powers. Most of these suggestions were never used, as they were likely ineffective, unworkable, or otherwise profoundly stupid. Sometimes, however, simply being obviously dumb was no barrier to being accepted or enacted, as is the case with Project X-Ray.

How does a famous woman, surrounded by people who would recognize her on sight, disappear in the middle of a bright December afternoon from one of the busiest streets of one of the most densely populated places on the planet? Fucked if we know.

It takes courage to walk into the heat of battle, where death dogs your every step. No sane man seeks war, but then again, Jack Churchill was no sane man. Join us for archery, anachronisms, and a short stint as a male model on this week's Fat, French and Fabulous.

What do the Miracle on the Hudson, the Gimli Glider, and British Airlines Flight 5390 have in common? Well first of all, nobody died (outside of a few unfortunate geese) and they really, really should have. Join us for bird strikes, measuring mishaps, and freak accidents at 17,000 feet. *Picture credit to Wayne Glowacki of the Winnipeg Free Press

His true name unknown, his eating habits legendary, and his hunger unending, the man known only as Tarrare remains a medical mystery to this day.

With American intelligence drawing ever closer to the Cambridge ring, a plan is hatched to exfiltrate Donald Maclean -- a plot in which Guy Burgess had a key role. The revelation of the depth of Soviet infiltration would shake the very foundation of trust and cooperation between the the great western powers of the age.

We continue the story of Guy Burgess, Old Etonian and Communist Spy. Burgess rose within the ranks of elite British Society, whitewashing his colourful political history, and collecting information on behalf of the USSR. Meanwhile, Jessica and Janel enjoy the many silly names of early 20th century Britain and openly fantasize about women in red rubber body suits.

On the cusp of the Second World War, a privileged son of the British middle class made the fateful decision to begin a secret double life -- spying on his home country for the USSR. An ideological communist with little else in common with the Soviet Union, Burgess' motivations in serving a country in which he had little interest and less affection remain inexplicable to this day.

Teenage runaways tend to share several key characteristics -- unhappy family lives, histories of victimization and substance abuse, past encounters with the law. Happy kids rarely run away. So why did Andrew Gosden, a smart kid with a loving family and no real troubles, walk out of his house on the morning of September 14th, 2007 never to return?