I have to be completely honest here. Book research is not something I do terribly effectively well, and it's one of the reasons I spoke with mystery author Jeffrey Eaton. His Dalton Lee mystery series has a phenomenal hook. His protagonist is an architect, and so each book revolves not just around the murder but the art and architecture of the city, as well. The first book, Murder Becomes Manhattan, takes readers through the major buildings and structures in the city, which provides the...

The disappearance of Tara Calico back in September of 1988 remains one of the most bizarre and unsettling true crime cases of the last forty years. It's one of those situations that shouldn't lead to someone going missing. Calico, a 19-year-old student at U of NM, went for a typical 36 mile bike ride. Only, she didn't return. Her mother was supposed to go look for her at noon if she didn't return, and when her daughter didn't turn up, Calico's mother called the cops. All they were able to...

Betsy Aardsma was a young, talented, socially-conscious woman in 1969, when her life was cut tragically short in the Pattee Library at Penn State University. It was the Thanksgiving holidays, and most students had gone home to be with family. Aardsma was working on a paper and had ventured to the library to get some research done. Between 4:45 and 5:00 in the evening, Betsy was approached from behind in the stacks of the library and was stabbed a single time in the chest with a hunting...

The Hinterkaifeck Murders remains one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in the modern (or modernish) era.  Six people, including two children, were murdered on a farm in Germany in 1922, and yet that alone does not make the case bizarre. The fact that it was never solved doesn't even make it bizarre. The fact that the murders were perpetrated with a pickaxe almost does it. But no, the weird thing about the Hinterkaifeck murders has to do with the fact that the killer appears to...

Boy, is this story a doozy. The Mysterious Deaths of the Sodder Children on Christmas Eve, 1945, is one of the most bizarre cases you'll ever hear of, guaranteed. At first, it seems to be a pretty straightforward case. A house fire in Fayetteville, West Virginia ends with the unfortunate deaths of five children. However, if you only dig a little bit further -- unintended pun -- you'll come up with the facts in a story that just never can be squared up with reality.   Here are the Outline...

This week, The Principled Uncertainty Podcast will be releasing one episode per day to celebrate Halloween, and to kick things off, we present: The Mysterious Death of Elia Lam. This one is really bizarre. Elisa Lam, a Canadian tourist, checks into the Cecil Hotel on January 26, 2013. She's originally paired with someone else in a hostel-type room, but due to some odd behavior, she is moved to her own room. Lam disappears shortly thereafter. A few weeks later, guests at the Cecil Hotel...

William Desmond Taylor was a big deal. A director in the pre-talkie era of Hollywood, Taylor was a giant in the film industry. He worked with the likes of the greats of that time: Mabel Normand, Mary Pickford, Jack Pickford, Wallace Reed, and Douglas MacLean.  In February of 1922, the houseman found William Desmond Taylor murdered. He had been shot to death, and the resulting furor over his passing went well beyond the tabloids of the era. In context, the murder of William Desmond Taylor was...

You wouldn't believe how many people would like to start a podcast but absolutely don't know how. Of those people, the ones who actually get to the point of hitting 'Publish' have no idea how they got there. Me, for example. I started podcasting in 2010 after discovering The Nerdist Podcast, the Giant Bombcast, and the Gamers with Jobs Podcast. I was in grad school at the time, and I suddenly decided I wanted to do it. I had no idea what I was doing, so I made A LOT of mistakes. Lots and...

A brief introduction to what is to come from the Principled Uncertainty Podcast in the looming months.

The yearly re-imagining of the marathon episode.

This week, Tyler managed to score an interview with Stuart Thaman, writer of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fiction, for a discussion about marketing and advertising self-published or small publisher books. Stuart is the author of The Goblin Wars Part One: Siege of Talonrend, The Goblin Wars Part Two: Death of a King, For We Are Many, and Vatican Massacre. He's also a constant presence at book and / or sci-fi fantasy conventions, and he's written several helpful guides on how to market books,...

Tyler and Tommy get together to chat about the newest Ghostbusters trailer. Recriminating Twitter blasts have labeled the film as being chock full of stereotypes, and so the PUPodcast crew discuss whether or not the charges are based in reality or not. Theme: "Ten" by DJ Sun.

The fact that a Kurt Cobain murder conspiracy still exists 22 years after the singer's death / suicide / murder is kind of confounding and kind of amazing. It's an interesting hypothesis, backed up mostly with circumstantial evidence about one detective's interactions with an aloof and largely drugged-out Courtney Love. Tyler discusses the issue in-depth, offering supporting evidence and counterevidence to combat the documentary's main thesis. Either way, "Soaked in Bleach" is a really...

This one gets weird. Tyler, all by himself, discusses his impressions of the "so wonderful you can't be hyperbolic about it" The Staircase, which details the trial of novelist Michael Peterson. It's a 10-part series available for streaming on  This ain't your normal murder trial. It has so many interesting twists and turns -- all of them bizarre -- that you won't be able to quite believe everything about it. But it's all true. In 2001, Michael Peterson was accused of murdering his...

Just Tyler this week. He drinks club soda and discusses some of the finer points of self-publishing, though not in a listicle sort of way. If you want to hear about his personal issues in self-publishing, you can. Tyler discusses Createspace, KDP, Amazon Kindle Self-Publishing, KDP Kindle Countdown Deals, and pre-orders and how they may be affected by your decision to self-publish. He also discusses the game Oxenfree, now available on Steam for PC. The PS4 version will be released somewhat...

Tyler and Tommy (@thisisastub) discuss their top video games of the year. What starts off as a discussion of Mortal Kombat X and Evolve turns into a wide-ranging talk about mobile games...and a whole lot of Super Mario Maker. Other games discussed: SOMA Pillars of Eternity Alto's Adventure Adventure Capitalist Her Story

Jeremy (@lopezradio) stops in to discuss the mega sleeper hit, Star Wars. Or was it Star Trek? Either way, they talk about science fiction, among other things. Star Wars: The Force Awakens has already toppled Titanic and Jurassic World at the box office and is looking to be the highest grossing movie of all-time. Recommendations include Netflix's groundbreaking documentary series "Making a Murderer," which Tyler thinks about pretty much non-stop these days. (Note: There be spoilers in the...

Jeremy (@lopezradio) joins the podcast to discuss his decision to forgo the console wars at this point in time. He was thinking of buying an XBox One but decided to hold off. We discuss why. We also talk about the Rousey-Holm neck kick. As is always the case when Jeremy is on, the podcast goes into deeply uncharted territory, and the duo discusses plenty of brain-stretching topics. Check out Lopez Radio on the site or elsewhere online. Dude has a corner on the MMA market right now, so if...

Tyler finally joins the ranks of the, well, not the masses, really, but the medium-sized ranks of Wii U owners. He discusses his relatively short time with both Splatoon and Super Mario Maker, along with some FallOut 4. Tommy talks BattleFront, and he's got a better opinion of it than most, which gives Tyler an inkling to get with the force. That's the saying, right? May you get with the force? Either way, it's a solid episode, but it's not Episode VII. Theme -- "Dropping Out of School" (by...

Tommy and Tyler discuss the ins and outs of Comcast's new attempt to gouge consumers via ridiculous data caps.  There's also some Walking Dead: Season Two discussion and other video game talk. In addition, this episode, recorded before the release of Fallout 4, manages to discuss what it might be like to play a game that's already out. Theme: "Dropping Out of School" (By Brad Sucks)

A little late but otherwise intact. The newest episode of the Principled Uncertainty Podcast tackles a few topics that are weeks late. Still, Tommy and Tyler have a good time, so no harm, no foul.  Theme: "Dropping Out of School" (by Brad Sucks)

The podcast took a small sabbatical over the last few weeks, but the Principled Uncertainty Podcast is BACK! Tommy and Tyler discuss idle games, like AdVenture Capitalist and Time Clickers, along with Until Dawn and a few other games.  It's actually kind of a "lost" episode, because Tyler thought he had released it, but it was found "in the vault" after the recording of episode 227. Theme: "Dropping Out of School" (by Brad Sucks)

Hey, the podcast is back! We've taken a momentary sojourn, but we'll be back to our normal weekly shenanigans.  Great thing, too, because this episode is a special one. Friend of the podcast Shannon (@SideShowShan) joins Tyler and Bryan (@bryncntr) this week to discuss all things Faith No More. You see, Shannon is THE Faith No More fan. If Faith No More were a astrophysics, he'd be its Neil Degrasse Tyson.  We discuss not just the newish album, Sol Invictus, available on Amazon and...

The podcast is back! We recorded this episode a few weeks ago, but it's just now coming out. The crew talks Bloodborne, the Sony / SNES mashup that almost was but wasn't.  Theme: "Dropping Out of School" (Brad Sucks)

Tommy and Tyler discuss comic book movies and lots of other weird things. They talk about Tyler's book, Boogie House -- shameless plug -- and the infinitely interesting game 'Her Story.' There's also talk of the horror element of Five Nights at Freddy's, which Tyler can't seem to stop talking about. Theme: "Dropping Out of School," by Brad Sucks.