In an episode years in the making, we finally tackle the question of what prison abolition is and whether it would actually work, with the help of "The Leftist Lawyer" Sheryl Weikal! But first, Corrigan tells the true story behind the legend of John Henry and how it ties into the modern prison industrial complex.

[0:00] Corrigan tells Marko and Sheryl the true history behind the legend of John Henry
[39:52] We learn about Sheryl's work as a Pay-What-You-Can lawyer and talk about prison abolition

• Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, The Untold Story of An American Legend by Scott Reynolds Nelson
• The Muddled Distinction Between De Jure and De Facto Segregation
• Racial covenants, a relic of the past, are still on the books across the country
• When Authorities Dunked Outspoken Women in Water
• The Legend of John Henry: Talcott, WV

Boffin Eileen is back! This time she's perfectly adequately (read: AMAZINGLY) answering Marko's burning questions about what the nukes can do to us, and addressing Corrigan's skepticism about regulating our nervous systems! Plus, an impromptu tribute to Catherine O'Hara.

[0:00] Eileen talks about the truly horrific effects of radiation sickness
[58:40] Eileen explores how much we can regulate our own nervous systems, and what it really means to be "dysregulated"

1. Harry Daghlian - Nuclear Museum

2. May 21, 1946: Louis Slotin Becomes Second Victim of “Demon Core” | American Physical Society

3. Scientist of the Day - Harry Daghlian

4. How a careless slip killed a physicist

5. The Slotin Accident: Inside the Archives – Los Alamos Historical Society

6. Medical Studies of the Demon Core Victims

7. The Los Alamos Accident, 1958

8. The Cecil Kelley Criticality Accident9. https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-health-effects

1. 
   Autonomic Nervous System: What It Is, Function & Disorders
2. Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): What It Is & Function
3. Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS): What It Is & Function
4. Stress, Adaptation, and Disease: Allostasis and Allostatic Load - McEWEN - 1998 - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - Wiley Online Library
5. The Window of Tolerance: What It Is and Why It Matters
6. Expanding the Window of Tolerance: 6 PDFs & Worksheets
7. What We Get Wrong About the Nervous Syste...

A miscommunication leads to us having to wing this episode, and it sure goes all over the place! Corrigan revisits the claims of the Killer in the Code podcast, Marko discusses nuclear war, and we preview the next two REALLY COOL episodes we've got coming.

[0:00] Corrigan gives an update on the Killer in the Code podcast
[32:08] CoRri was a pukey child and we discuss pukey Garbage Pail Kids,
[41:50] We preview some incredible episodes we have coming up the next two weeks!
[58:28] What we watched: Feast, Man Bites Dog, Taxi Driver, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Train Dreams

The snow in New Jersey this weekend is magical... so Corrigan brings the mood down by talking about a field trip that turned deadly during a blizzard on Oregon's Mt. Hood.

[0:00] Corrigan tells Marko about an ill-fated field trip to Oregon's Mt. Hood
[53:34] We talk like youth pastors, discuss this week's current events
[01:08:40] Book club things and don't forget to mark the weekend of August 8th on your calendar for the UK meetup!
[01:21:00] What we watched! (A House of Dynamite, Chain Reactions, A Hole in the Head, The Rip, Beast of War, Phantom of the Paradise)

• Deadliest Avalanches In History
• Mt. Hood Climb Observance Day
• Mount Hood's Deadliest Disaster
• In 1986, 9 died on Mount Hood. Now, Oregon private school irked that parent wrote about it
• TWO CLIMBERS MAY HAVE SURVIVED BECAUSE OF POSITIONS IN SNOW CAVE
• Improper Decision — Failure to Turn Back, Fatigue, Exposure, Hypothermia, Inadequate Equipment, Weather, Failure to Follow Route, Oregon, Mount Hood
• Peace and pain 30 years after Oregon Episcopal School's Mount Hood disaster
• A Hole in the Head (1998)

Hard to believe it's only the 10th of January after the week the U.S. has had. We have a talk about it, but not before Marko talks about a people who revere death, we discuss death in kids' media, and we dig into whether there's a conspiracy to make people scared of normal weather in the U.K.

[0:00] Marko tells Corrigan about the Toraja people of Indonesia, who have an intimate relationship with death
[29:57] Mark thinks the UK media is making everyone freak out about the weather, which leads to a discussion of the attention economy and studies on what short form video is doing to our brains, and questions about why the Daily Mail has it out for deadly Asian hornets
[54:30] Marko tries to understand American field sobriety tests
[01:05:40] What we watched: Poltergeist, Man Finds Tape, 9-1-1, Aliens, Predator: Badlands
[01:33:35] What the fuck is going on in the U.S.?

Why not start out the year inspired? This week Corrigan tells Marko the story of Hannie Schaft and the Oversteegen Sisters, teenage badasses who seduced and killed Nazis. Plus, for good measure, we answer some burning listener questions!

[0:00] Corrigan tells Marko the story of Hannie Schaft and Truus and Freddie Oversteegen
[39:50] Momentous occasions in what we watched! (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Greener Grass, Gremlins, Anaconda (2024), Fantastic Planet
[01:10:06] Answering listener questions!

• Seducing and Killing Nazis by Sophie Polderman (book)
• As Teenagers, These Sisters Resisted the Nazis. Here’s What They Taught Me About Doing the Right Thing
• Hannie Schaft, the redheaded girl
• Meet Hannie Schaft, The World War II Resistance Hero Who Terrified The Nazis
• The Most Want­ed Woman in WWII Nether­lands: Han­nie Schaft
• This Teenager Killed Nazis With Her Sister During WWII
• The Fascinating Story of The Teenage Girls Who Killed Nazis: Freddie and Truus Oversteegen
• Remembering a Dutch Partisan

On our last JoAG of 2025, Marko explains the corporate playbook for profiting off stuff they know is bad for us, Corrigan sees a volcano, and we discuss the credibility of the recent revelations that the Zodiac and Black Dahlia murders may have been committed by the same guy!

[0:00] Marko tells Corrigan the corporate playbook for profiting from our misery and poor health
[51:30] We chat about practical effects and learn some Marko marriage lore, and Corrigan saw a volcano erupt
[01:09:54] What we watched: Keeper, The Running Man, They Live, The Void, Scrooged, Shaun of the Dead
[01:41:45] Have the Black Dahlia and Zodiac killings been solved??

• The Zodiac killer and Black Dahlia murderer were the SAME man: Explosive investigation unmasks single suspect behind two of America's darkest murders
• Killer in the Code (podcast site w/ details)
• The Zodiac and Black Dahlia killers may have been the same person, Marvin Margolis, according to a new decoding of a Zodiac code (Reddit)
• An amateur codebreaker may have just solved the Black Dahlia and Zodiac killings

To close out our vacation episodes, we're sharing this month's episode of the JoAG Fancave, normally available exclusively on our Ko-Fi. But first! Marko is soliciting your questions for a JoAG AMA!

This month’s film was 2020’s The Wolf Snow Hollow written, directed and starring Jim Cummings and before you ask, no, not the voice of Winnie the Pooh Jim Cummings. The other one. The movie follows the small town police force of Snow Hollow as they are hit with a slew of super violent murders that come with a lot of blood and a lot of missing body parts.

[0:00] Marko solicits your questions
[01:47] We unpack Death by Lightning on Netflix and the Apple podcast Unicorn Girl
[44:00] We talk about The Wolf of Snow Hollow and a brief history of lyncanthropy