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No Such Thing As A Fish
No Such Thing As A Fish

No Such Thing As The Otters Circling

November 05, 2026 • 53m

Summary

⏱️ 6 min read

Overview

The No Such Thing as a Fish team explores surprising food facts, from crisps containing unexpected salt levels to zebras with spots instead of stripes, musicians in missile defense, and the origins of weighted blankets. The episode weaves through topics including flavor science, genetic mutations, military engineering, and textile history with their signature comedic style.

The Great Crisp Salt Conspiracy

Anna reveals a shocking discovery about crisps: cheese and onion flavored crisps contain twice as much salt as salt and vinegar crisps. The team investigates this counterintuitive finding across various Walker's flavors, discovering that even ready salted crisps contain more salt than salt and vinegar. This leads to a broader discussion about flavor perception, the crisp industry, and international variations in snack flavors, including prison-exclusive crisps in America and region-specific spice levels.

  • Cheese and onion crisps contain 1.2 grams of salt per 100 grams, double the 0.6 grams in salt and vinegar
  • Ready salted crisps have the highest salt content at 1.3 grams per 100 grams
  • Golden Wonder originally made cheese and onion crisps in green packets, while Walker's uses blue
  • Potato Chipper magazine in post-WWII America featured Miss Potato Chip beauty pageants
  • The Whole Shebang crisps were exclusively available in American prisons for decades
  • Switzerland is the only country with genuinely spicy chili Dorito crisps
" Cheese and onion crisps contain twice as much salt as salt and vinegar crisps. "
" The packets of course should be green because that's the colour of the shoots of onions. "

From Rock Star to Rocket Scientist

James introduces the remarkable story of Jeffrey 'Skunk' Baxter, a guitarist who played with Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers before becoming chair of the congressional advisory board on missile defense. His expertise in music technology algorithms translated unexpectedly well to military applications. The segment explores other musicians in unusual roles and discusses various missile defense systems and historical military communication failures.

  • Skunk Baxter went from playing with bands like Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers to advising on missile defense
  • Baxter wrote a five-page document on defense technology that got him recruited into military advisory roles
  • During the Cold War, Britain's plan for nuclear response involved AA drivers using phone boxes and reversing charges to Whitehall
  • In 2006, the US accidentally shipped nuclear fuses to Taiwan instead of helicopter batteries and didn't notice for 18 months
  • Military fuses are spelled F-U-Z-E to distinguish them from recreational F-U-S-E, a convention established in 1920
  • Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 suggested using drones emitting time signatures to locate Saddam Hussein
" Is this the guy from Raytheon or the guy from Boeing? No, sir, this is the guy from the Doobie Brothers. "
" The plan was if the Soviets were going to attack during Macmillan's prime ministership that the driver would go to an AA phone box, they would reverse the charges, speak to someone at Whitehall and then say yes or no to send the fire on nukes back. "

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