This week we talk with historian, author and all-round great guy Dr Bob Curran about Vampires! Yes, that's right...VAMPIRES! ...sorry, got a little excited there. Bob is the author of 'Vampires: A field guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night', so who better to talk to about my favourite mythological beasties! We discuss the many and varied Vampires myths around the globe, as well as the origins of our favourite blood suckers. Featured song this week is a clip from 'Act II' by the awesome Sontaran Experiment, which is to be released soon, Expect chaos! Background music from Four Tet Dr Bob Curran Biog: Dr. Bob Curran is a native of Northern Ireland, born and raised in the Mourne Mountains area of County Down, a region steeped in folklore and legend. Throughout a varied life, he has worked in many fields—as a gravedigger, professional musician, journalist, and civil servant. He is now a history teacher and well known throughout Ireland and beyond as a writer and broadcaster. He has written extensively, in English and several other languages, on various aspects of history and folklore and acted as advisor to the Cultural Committee of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly. He currently lives in Coleraine, County Derry, with his wife and family. Enjoy!

Yay! We are back tomorrow after a brief summer-sabatical with the amazing Dr Bob Curran. Bob has written many books on strange topics, but tomorrow we will be grilling him about Vampires! Following this episode will be an interview with the writer Taylor Ellwood, returning the show to the realms of the occult. We'd all like to thank you guys for your kind emails and support, we really do appreciate it and as long as you keep listening, we'll keep releasing!

I've often pondered as to the disposition of the Pope Benedict's wardrobe manager; I say 'wardrobe manager' as today the pope himself confirmed my suspicions that he was not to blame for some of the god-awful (no pun intended) clothing decisions we have witnessed thus far. Reuters reports that whilst dining with Pope Benedict, a group of kids from Orange County, California, presented him with Mickey Mouse hat, a California Angels Baseball and a stress-ball. Much to the chagrin of the reporters, the Pope REFUSED to don the legendary Disney product, and instead handed it to one of his aides...though he did give the stress-ball a quick squeeze. So as not to disappoint, Right Where You Are Sitting Now presents you with what we believe the Pope will be seeing in the mirror the moment he gets home. I like to think that the reason the Pope decided against the public 'donning' of the hat was his ever-present concern with the delicate balance between religious and corporate interests...however, he may just have not liked the hat.

—————————————————————————————— A couple of geology professors were working in Alaska when they came to realize that its surface is much like that of Mars. After trekking to the formations of "fans" for evaluation, professors Craig Kochel and Jeffrey Trop came to the conclusion that avalanches were the cause of the similarity. A photo of the first avalanche on Mars was captured shortly after by request, confirming the theory. For full article, click here. On a similar note, scientists are debating just what turned off the magnetic field on Mars. There is speculation over a powerful asteroid collision which "may have powered a dynamo by pulling on the fluid in Mars's core." photo credit: NASA —————————————————————————————— A woman anonymously recounted in an article recently about having relations with her brother for years and having only pleasant memories-- an interesting perspective into the taboo and the responses are intriguing as well to get a feel of its reception. —————————————————————————————— The artist from London known as "Slinkachu" has been leaving tags on snail shells. He made sure to use non-toxic paint when he added graffiti to the little mollusks, and sometimes lets passengers have a lift too. For more pictures, click here. —————————————————————————————— A ...

Week-and-a-halfly news, more like. My apologies for the tardiness; my laptop has been sent off for 10 business days and I've been experiencing erratic power outages and preposterous PC fickleness. Enjoy! ————————————————————————————————————————— Mercury is shrinking! The Nasa Probe Messenger photographed Mercury recently and noticed this was because of its contracting core. The little planet had not been studied in close proximity since the 1970s and more is yet to be learned of it when the MESSENGER enters orbit March 18, 2011. ————————————————————————————————————————— According to Think Progress.org, US President George W. Bush's new economic stimulus package has proved to have done wonders for the porn industry! The Adult Internet Market Research Company reported in a press release, "An independent market-research firm, AIMRCo (Adult Internet Market Research Company), has discovered that many websites focused on adult or erotic material have experienced an upswing in sales in the recent weeks since checks have appeared in millions of American's mailboxes across the country." So much for the "War on Porn!" ————————————————————————————————————————— For all you Pastafarians out there, the top ten pictures of the flying spaghetti monster. ————————————————————————————————————————— Seen any of THESE recently? These are the "Faceless People" who are being used by Lotus as promotion for the launch of a new ...

This week we chat to one of our journalistic heroes, Jon Ronson, about: conspiracy theorists, 9/11 truthers, MI5 agents becoming the son of God and just why people believe silly things. We also witness Jon attempting to train his dog Wolfie (or is it Woofy...i'm worried I have his name wrong now), which only furthers my belief that people really don't realise how much of a pain in the ass dogs actually are!...i'm a cat person. (Editor: DAMN! It is 'Woofy') Joining me this week to grill our guest is our re-occuring charecter, Raymond Wiley! For those studious listeners out there (no pun intended), Raymond appeared as our guest on episodes 1 and 6, and like me, is a big jon Ronson fan! This weeks musical Interlude come courtesy of Mothboy's 'X in his Territory', background music from Amon Tobin!..sorry we didn't mention in the ep...our mistake. Jon Ronson Biog: Jon Ronson is a writer and documentary film maker. His books, Them: Adventures With Extremists and The Men Who Stare At Goats were international bestsellers. He's also the author of two collections, Out Of The Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness and What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness. For Channel 4, ...

Greetings all! Starting this week, we will have a Weekly Weird News feature First up- Disney and Pixar's WALL*E which premiered in theaters last Friday seemingly offers interesting commentary on waste accumulation. After garbage has amassed over the planet, humans take to the stars while the lonely robot continues to pack trash into his compressor compartment and spit it out for stacking. A floating trash mass named the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" twice the size of Texas was discovered several years ago in the Pacific Ocean, accumulating garbage due to ocean currents.600 WALL*E watches were given, however, for every movie print. Is it just me, or does this seem incredibly wasteful. I'm guessing a good deal of these watches are going to end up in the garbage within several weeks. On a different note, posters on imdb.com mentioned a subliminal jab at George W. Bush, noticing that a character in the film urges humans living in orbit to "stay the course" rather than return to Earth, which is by then purported "unlivable." The phrase brings to mind Bush's rhetoric and repeated expression that we must "stay the course in Iraq. Among more interesting responses were that ...