Episode 332: Havana Ray Beaming

What the HELL Were You Thinking?

Episode 332: Havana Ray Beaming

This week Host Dave Bledsoe angrily complains that someone is using a “sonic weapon” to cause his aching head and churning stomach instead of blaming the hangover. (Again) On the show this week we head on down to Havana Town to investigate what is making American spies and diplomats so sick? (Apparently, not guilt over American Imperialism)

Along the way we learn that Dave was a connoisseur of imaginary weapons as a child. (Imaginary like the friends he had to play with. Sad.) Then we dive right into the so-called Havana Syndrome that is causing Americans around the world to have a headache and Congress to do something ineffective and unnecessary about it! (You know, the usual stuff!) From there we talk about all the ways that you can’t really use a sonic wave as a super secret weapon and all the ways that a microwave is really only good for heating up a burrito on the outside and leaving it ice cold on the inside. (It is called the Hot Pocket Effect.) Finally we use science and reason to explain what is REALLY going on with this Havana Syndrome and why that makes spies so angry. (Reality often hurts)

Our Sponsor this week is Brian’s Beam Weapons, they probably aren’t real but they are FUN! We open the show with the L.O.O.K.E.R. Gun and close with Judson Hair chilling out.

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Closing Music: https://youtu.be/kIj1p7KBZJc

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Citations Needed:

The Sounds That Haunted U.S. Diplomats in Cuba? Lovelorn Crickets, Scientists Say

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/science/sonic-attack-cuba-crickets.html

Medical Records Can’t Explain “Havana Syndrome,” A Buried CDC Report Says

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/cdc-investigation-cuba-havana-syndrome

Vienna Is the New Havana Syndrome Hot Spot

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/vienna-is-the-new-havana-syndrome-hotspot

Was It an Invisible Attack on U.S. Diplomats, or Something Stranger?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/15/magazine/diplomat-disorder.html

Mass psychogenic illness Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness

An Open Letter to the Diplomats With "Havana Syndrome"

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/its-catching/201911/open-letter-the-diplomats-havana-syndrome

Uncited Additional Reading:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-is-havana-syndrome-symptoms-causes.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana_syndrome

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/us/politics/cia-officer-suffers-havana-syndrome-symptoms.html

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