Ask A Genius 1280: Donut Shop

Rick Rosner: I was trying way too hard. I’d sell a few people donuts on a Sunday morning, and I was allowed to eat as many day-old donuts as I wanted—so I limited myself to four. So, donut shop. Then I decided to return to high school and switch families, moving to Albuquerque. My dad—my …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1280: Donut Shop

Ask A Genius 1279: What about James Bond working out and training?

Rick Rosner: They never showed James Bond working out. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: He’s got all these skills. Rosner: It’s true. He doesn’t practice. Jacobsen: You never see him practicing anything. Rosner: Many of his skills are improvisational—he takes advantage of things in his environment. But he still has to fight people and dodge bullets. Jacobsen: …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1279: What about James Bond working out and training?

Ask A Genius 1277: USAID, DoE, Not DoD

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What do you think about Elon Musk essentially taking over finance in America? Rick Rosner: Elon Musk is—I don’t know. I don’t like him holding as much power as he does. Trump is letting him mess with entire federal agencies. We talked about this last night—the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1277: USAID, DoE, Not DoD

Ask A Genius 1276: Bathwater Ode, “I Like it hot”

Rick Rosner: All right. People think it's weird and gross, but I’ll reuse my wife’s bathwater. She gets in the tub and makes it hot. She likes it hot and is not in there long—she doesn’t clean herself there. She soaks to get warm in the winter. By the time she gets out, it's still …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1276: Bathwater Ode, “I Like it hot”

Ask A Genius 1275: Anonymous, Protests, Biff Tannen, and Errol Morris

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: The Twitter account at your "Anon Central" tweeted, "The U.S. has fallen. ItJust doesn't know it yet." But there is no verifiable evidence that Anonymous issued this tweet on February 1, 2025, or that it received 10.5 million views. Rick Rosner: Let's put this in a less histrionic framework. Recently, some have …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1275: Anonymous, Protests, Biff Tannen, and Errol Morris

Ask A Genius 1274: ‘Sex Tricks’ and Time for Bed

Rick Rosner: Richard May—the guy you've talked to a lot. He's a completely reasonable person, not weird in any way. He's got a wicked sense of humor and behaves like a normal guy. For every Keith Raniere serving a life sentence for running a sex cult and committing financial exploitation (often described as stealing tens …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1274: ‘Sex Tricks’ and Time for Bed

Ask A Genius 1273: How did we get on Kevin Bacon again?

Rick Rosner: What should I ask next? I haven't had many direct experiences. Still, I've had brief contact with so many people in show business that it feels surreal—almost like I'm playing the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game. What do you think about that? I'm probably only two degrees away from most famous people. …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1273: How did we get on Kevin Bacon again?

Ask A Genius 1272: Naked at Night, Redux

 Rick Rosner: We missed our session last night because I was busy with our show, which is now called Naked at Night—although it's really "Lance versus Rick." We've been doing it since mid-2017—around eight years now, with a couple hundred episodes under our belt. I'm a liberal, while Lance is fully MAGA. I started the …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1272: Naked at Night, Redux