FULL EPISODE: Trapped by Your Millions of Followers - February 23, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
unfiltered discussions unexpected guests no topic is off limits from sex and relationships to the human condition personal anxieties and so much more the only talk show of its kind in the world world this is the last show with david cooper
What horrors lie within a typical urban snowbank in New York City?
Hi, pull up a bar stool. It's the last show. We'll cover a lot of things tonight. And here are some of the things you'll learn on the program. Consider this scenario. You buy yourself a camera. You start putting videos on the internet. You hope you succeed and you do, but suddenly you're trapped by it all. Your massive social media following comes with expectations.
What psychological burdens come with having a large social media following?
When researchers looked at internet famous people, they found a hidden psychological cost to it all. In 10 minutes time, we'll explain to you why going viral isn't always winning. Then after that, snakes. Many people fear them, but are you hardwired to hate these reptiles? Or when you were young, did your mom whisper ew when seeing a snake and seal your fate? Halfway through the hour, we're asking whether fear of the slither is instinct or inherited. Okay, those are some of the topics on tonight's show. There will be more. You will learn more. But it's snowed where I'm at today.
How do early childhood experiences shape fears of snakes?
And where there's snow in a city, there's disgusting snow piles. And with that, let's dive into the show. Want to be part of the last show with David Cooper? Call us and join the conversation. 1-888-505-6644. I live in New York City where it dumps snow today. And for those living in an urban environment that gets snow, here's an all too familiar scene. At first, it's pristine. It's lovely. It's white.
What insights does Caitlin Green share about pop culture and mortality?
Then it gets shoveled and plowed to the side and gradually turns into an absolutely horrifying pile. It's got road grit. It looks sort of brown, gray. not to mention people throwing their dog poop in it. I could go on, but first I want to introduce my guest, a geologist and senior technical advisor at Pure Earth. His name is Gordon Binkhorst. Gordon, welcome to the program. Thank you for having me, David. I want to talk urban snow piles. First off, if I melted a chunk of horrifying urban snow into a delicious cocktail, why might I not want to drink that? Well, let's start with the snow that's falling right now, David, because the snow right now is pretty pristine. And if you collected that and tested it, that you wouldn't find all that horrible stuff you've been discussing.
However, as it sits there and more and more salt that the city puts on, the sand that the city puts on, the dog poop, the dirt, the grime, the paint flecks, everything that gets mixed in and it gets concentrated as that snow melts into that black, disgusting, ugly stuff that we see. So I heard lead, I heard salts, I heard paint chips. What exactly is in the average urban snow pile? Well, all of that and a lot of bacteria to boot. I mean, the city puts down literally millions of pounds of salt to clear our roadways, which we're very thankful for. They also put down sand from whatever source they get it for to help with traction. And then there's more sort of like, I don't want to call them naturally occurring, but for New York, it's kind of natural.
Can pets truly communicate with their owners using buttons?
It's a dirty city. We have dirt and, you know, and grime and grease from cars, old leaded gasoline deposits in the soil, paint flecks that come off and get spread everywhere. There's a natural, very high urban lead concentration in soils in New York. Didn't something happen with the aqueducts in Rome or something? Like, shouldn't we not be using lead? Didn't we know that like thousands of years ago? Why is there lead paint chips in the snow? No, we did. We did ban lead in paint in 1978 in this country. Yet there is still plenty of historic paint out there with lead in it on buildings and bridges and exterior and interior.
What does research say about learning to say no to unfair advantages?
And it's a continual battle. And our kids still were being lead exposed and come down with lead poisoning because of the paint. Here we're talking just what gets deposited in the snow. I grew up in Canada and I recall the snow piles in Toronto not being quite as bad, but being bad.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:25
2
What horrors lie within a typical urban snowbank in New York City?
0:25–0:48
3
What psychological burdens come with having a large social media following?
0:48–1:25
4
How do early childhood experiences shape fears of snakes?
1:25–1:55
5
What insights does Caitlin Green share about pop culture and mortality?
1:55–3:27
6
Can pets truly communicate with their owners using buttons?
3:27–4:08
7
What does research say about learning to say no to unfair advantages?
4:08–4:55
8
How does moving in together impact happiness in older couples?
4:55–1:20:10
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