Episode 163: Unravel the World Then Weave a New One with Professor WHAM
“Unravelling” Mixed media collage by Barbara Fisher. 2026
This episode is all about the current Apocalypse in Progress. Or World War III. Or, perhaps, The Entropic Eschaton. Or, my own personal favorite, The Neverending Nightmare of Nonsense.
The world has gotten weird, but not in a particularly fun way. It is certainly strange, and while it is though there is darkness all around, and insanity seems to reign, Professor WHAM and I hope to bring a little clarity, some light and a modicum of hope in this episode. There are even a few laughs in here. We talk about so many things, that it took me a while to title this—-but the name came in the last few minutes of the episode.
WHAM refers to a Pete Seeger song at the end of the episode—which turns out to be two different songs. I’m going to put the lyrics to both here because they are very appropriate to the days in which we live.
Oh, Had I a Golden Thread
Pete Seeger
Oh had I a golden thread
And a needle so fine
I would weave a magic spell
Of rainbow design
Of rainbow design
In it I would weave the courage
Of women giving birth
And in it I would weave the innocence
Of the children of all the earth
Children of all the earth
Won't you show my brothers and sisters
My rainbow design
'Cause I I would bind up this sorry world
With hand and my heart and mind
Oh hand and heart and mind
Oh had I a golden thread
And a needle so fine
I I would weave a magic spell
Of rainbow design
Of rainbow design
Oh oh oh
My Rainbow Race
Pete Seeger
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more?
And because I love you I'll
Give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die
Some folks want to be like an ostrich
Bury their heads in the sand
Some hope that plastic dreams
Can unclench all those greedy hands
Some hope to take the easy way
Poisons, bombs, they think we need 'em
Don't you know you can't
Kill all the unbelievers?
There's no shortcut to freedom
Onе blue sky above us
One ocеan lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more?
And because I love you I'll
Give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die
Go tell, go tell all the little children
Tell all the mothers and fathers too
Now's our last chance to learn to share
What's been given to me and you
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more?
And because I love you I'll
Give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more?
The book WHAM talks about in this episode is Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America by Jane Borden.
The other books are Forbidden Science, Vols 1-6 and Messengers of Deception, both by Jacques Vallee.
The film mentioned by WHAM is Cast a Deadly Spell.
