WEBVTT - Listener Mail: The Neurons Have Fired 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.120 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.240 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind Listener Mail. 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:14.440 My name is Robert. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:18.239 Lamb and I am Joe McCormick, and hey folks. As 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.000 you probably heard on the past few weeks on the show, 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.800 we are trying something a little bit different with our 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:29.120 listener mail offerings. For the past few years, we've been 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.919 doing listener mail every week on Mondays. Right now we're 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.280 trying out a schedule where we wait a few weeks 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.280 and let the mail bag accumulate a bit in between 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.960 listener mail episodes, which we'll run in a Tuesday or 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.640 Thursday episode slot instead of Mondays. This is how we 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:48.000 used to do listener mail back in the day before 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:50.760 we went to daily publication on Stuff to Blow Your Mind. 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:53.840 And for the time being, while we're trying this out, 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.960 we're going to be running Weird House Cinema Rewinds on Mondays. 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:00.280 But hey, I think one thing we see sort of 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.800 half promised at some point was that our beloved mail 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.880 bot Carne would he would have to return again if 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:09.760 we were going back to the old school way of 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.480 doing listener mail. We never intended to neglect Carne. He 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.560 just sort of, I don't know. Over time, in the 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.440 busyness and hectic schedule of every week, we sort of 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.800 forgot about him, and he became less of a thing 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.280 and more of an idea. And so I think it 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.160 is only fitting that upon returning Listener Mail to a 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.880 Tuesday Thursday slot, that Carne the mail bot should become 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:38.520 incarnate once again. So arise, Carne, Arise from your crypt 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:43.119 of incorporeality and become a being. Become flesh, become circuits. 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:51.400 Beautiful, beautiful. We have unpuffed the magic dragoned him. Now 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:53.680 he is here once more to guide us through Listener Mail. 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:58.200 Glistening look at that. Oh, another thing to address here 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.320 at the top of this listener Mail episode. We have 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.960 gotten a number of emails asking us about the reason 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.640 for the change, like, oh, do you not have enough 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:11.000 messages to read? Etc. So I'm going to address all 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:14.280 of those questions right here at the top. No, we 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.000 usually do have more email than we can get to 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.119 in a week, though it varies from week to week, 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:20.840 so like every now and then we have a week 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:22.760 where we come up a bit short, which makes things 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.840 a little bit difficult. I would say The main reason 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.000 is we're just trying to have a bit more time 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.160 to devote to our core offerings. Our weekly production schedule 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.600 has been a lot to handle, and we just wanted 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.079 to see if backing off on weekly mail episodes would 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:39.960 give us a bit more breathing room and allow us 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.480 to focus more time on core episodes. 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:45.480 That's all, yeah, because I don't know if we drive 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.440 this home a lot or enough. But when it comes 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.200 to the actual just production of the show, it's a 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:56.680 three person team. It's Joe, it's me, it's jj We're 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.720 the only three people working on the production of the show. 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.440 That's not counting anybody that's involved in ads and you know, 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:07.080 the larger corporate structures around us. But in terms of 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.040 making stuff to blow your mind, it's just the. 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:11.080 Three of us. Yeah, that's right. I mean sometimes we 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.359 get messages from people who seem to assume we've got 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.840 some kind of like command center worrying in the background, 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.400 where we have a large like army of workers who 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.200 are going out and selecting topics and doing research and stuff. 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:23.760 So nope, it's it's just the three of us on 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:24.760 the content side. 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.520 And now Carne. If we consider Carne a person, then 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.480 I guess that's right. I'd say it's four. But he's 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.079 very specialized. He does only one thing, and that is 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.120 fetched listener mail for us, but. 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.560 He does it so well, and so Carney, we're glad 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.400 to have you back in the flesh. Oh and of course, 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:43.920 if you out there listening would like to get in 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.760 touch with us, you can always do so by writing 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.800 our email address, which is contact at stuff to Blow 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.720 your Mind dot com. Of course, if you have thoughts 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.560 about listener mail itself, and you know how you what 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.360 your ideal schedule would be, you know, if you like 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.240 it the old way, you like it the new way, whatever, 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:03.480 you can write to us at contact at stuff to 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.360 blow Yourmind dot com. But you can also write with 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:06.840 any kind of message about the show. If you have 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.640 feedback to a recent episode, if you have a correction, 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.680 if you have just something interesting to add to a 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.719 topic we've talked about. All of that's fair game. Contact 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:18.800 at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.520 Yeah, if you want to join the Discord server, that's 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.760 also that's also how you can you can join it. 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:26.720 Just email us and ask for the link and we'll 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:27.200 send it to you. 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:29.520 All right, I thought maybe we should kick things off 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.240 today with a message that's less about an episode and 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.680 more on a personal note, Rob, you recently took a 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.760 family vacation to Japan, and our frequent correspondent Renata got 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:41.760 in touch about that. 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:49.200 Oh yeah, this is a fun one, r'naa Wrights, and 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.040 it says, Hi, Robin Joe, what a coincidence. Ben and 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.480 I are just returning from Japan as well. Not sure 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:56.960 if our trip overlap with yours. Rob. We got there 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.880 on June eighteenth, and we are returning today. 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.040 Not sure what day this email came in. I did 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:07.000 not make a note of that, but Renata does attach 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.080 a picture that looks like it was taken in the airport. 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:10.120 We'll get to that in a minute. 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.440 Renata continues, I'm curious if you made it to the 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:19.880 Miyoshi manonok Yokai Museum. We visited it and it was delightful. 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.640 The whole town of Meyoshi had a wistful, quiet, small 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.280 town vibe. At the end of the museum, you can 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.040 color yokai drawing, then scan it, and your yokai joins 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.320 with all the others on a display on the wall, 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.919 and you can touch the yokai and make them dance. 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:38.240 My drawing was a kappa. My favorite yokai, however, is 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:42.320 Kasa Obaki, the umbrella Yokai. I just think he's the 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.200 goofiest and Japan is so full of umbrellas that it's 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.120 fun to imagine all the umbrellas turning into yokai at 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.320 night and having a party. We bought a huge yokai 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.920 book among numerous other souvenirs at the museum, currently still 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.960 in the plastic, and I guess this is a picture 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.720 they included of the beautiful cover to this book. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.720 I don't know what creature this is, but it looks 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:08.040 like an elephant made out of dirty laundry with these huge, bloodshot, 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:09.040 bulbous eyes. 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.920 Well, it might be the Baku. Remember we talked about 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:17.679 the paku a little bit. This is more purely pachadermical, 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.040 I guess than some of the depictions I've seen of 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.320 the baku. But uh that's my my my initial guess. Anyway, 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:26.240 it could be something else. 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:28.560 I can't read the text on the cover, but the 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.960 illustration absolutely makes me want to open this book and 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:33.320 see what see what's inside? 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.120 And now it continues, Can we expect you know some 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.919 Yokai related episodes coming up. I haven't listened to your 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:41.560 latest Japan episode yet, so maybe you already got into 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.760 it all the best for not well, Yeah, I have 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.680 to say that that museum sounds awesome. My family and 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.000 I we packed as much into our trip as possible, 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:54.760 but sadly we didn't make it to Hiroshima, and we 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.800 we looked into another Yokai museum that proved to be 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.120 just too far out of the way at least this 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.920 trip it was even like even further south. But I 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.400 hope to return to Japan in the future and check 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:08.760 out more of the southern sides for sure, maybe some 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.600 of the northern sides as well, I don't know, And 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.440 of course just more Tokyo, because there's so much of 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:17.400 it one cannot cannot get quite enough of it now. 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.640 As for more Yokai episodes, I think one way or another. 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.000 Certainly we've discussed doing one of the many Yokai movies 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:27.120 for Weird House, and I can easily see there being 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:31.040 more Yokai Monster Fact episodes and core episodes are even 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.600 a major possibility. They're also just going to probably continue 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.480 to sort of pop up in unexpected ways. Just because 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:42.480 ultimately the Japanese Yokai, they cover a lot of ground 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.960 that they you know, they touch on occasionally things that 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.040 we could discuss from a scientific perspective. They certainly touch 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.360 on things we can we can discuss from historical and 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.080 cultural perspective. So I'm sure the okai will be back. 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:59.840 Oh and then we're not responded to a reply that 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.920 that I sent sent their way with My favorite Yokai 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.520 movie for what it's worth is Yokai Monsters one hundred Monsters. 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.960 But probably because Kasa Obaki is a central. 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:12.880 Character, that's the umbrella Yokai. 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.440 Yeah, this is one that is on our list of 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.440 potential episodes. We actually considered doing it for our one 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.120 hundredth episode, but we did. What do we do instead? 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:24.360 I can't? I mean of Weird House Cinema. 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.520 Of Weird House Cinema, Yes, yeah, yeah, one hundredth episode 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:31.120 of Subsible of Your Mind that ships long, long sale. 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:33.679 I'm not sure when that would have been, but yeah, 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:35.960 on the on the number of films that we've covered 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:37.800 on Weird House. Let's see what are we up to now? 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.400 I can easily check by going to letterbox dot com 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.560 and going to our profile weird House. I can see 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:47.120 how many films we've covered, and the count is up too, 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.800 one sixty nine. It's going to be one seventy tomorrow. 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:53.959 Entry number one hundred was Jason X. 0:08:54.040 --> 0:09:01.440 That's perfect. Yes, well, maybe we'll do Yochai Monsters one 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:03.400 hundred monsters for our thousandth episode. 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:04.439 Oh there you go. 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:09.040 Yeah, okay. Should we do some responses to our series 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:14.520 on the Ninja? Yes, this one is from Mike. Of course. 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.000 We talked about many things in this series, about history, 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:22.240 about alleged technology and gadgets, a bit of ninja physics 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.600 and science, but also just about the pop culture ninja, 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.880 the international ninja, and the ninja craze of the eighties 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:37.000 and nineties. So Mike writes in on that subject and says, 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.160 Robin Joe, I really enjoyed the first part on the 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.440 Ninja when you were talking about some of the odd 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.880 American family friendly ninja movies of the eighties and nineties, 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.480 like Three Ninjas. I was reminded of a movie I 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:51.880 hadn't thought about in years, Surf Ninjas. This was an 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.560 odd little snapshot of society at the time. Nineteen ninety three, 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.760 you had a thirty year old Rob Schneider playing a teenager, 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:03.200 Leslie Nil Wilson as a cyborg warlord who couldn't get wet. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:08.400 I assume that would negatively affect his cyborginess, a game 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.200 gear with the power to show the future, and Tone 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.800 Loake as a wise cracking detective. I was thirteen at 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.400 the time and truly loved this movie. Can't imagine it 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.400 holds up all that well thirty years later. Love the show. 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.719 Thanks for resurfacing this movie in my memory, Mike. I 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:27.760 don't think I ever saw this one, but it's the 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:29.599 kind of movie I saw lots of. 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.160 Yeah, I didn't see this one either, and I have 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:34.680 to admit I think I get it kind of mixed 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.760 up in my head with the nineteen eighty seven film 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:41.880 Surf Nazis Must Die. It's like Surf Nazis Surf Ninja's. 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.439 I haven't seen neither film, so they neatly combine into 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.160 one unseen film for me, though, imagine they're rather different 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.520 because Surf Nazis Must Die as a trauma. 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:54.480 Picture, probably not as family friendly. Yeah, now, just looking 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.599 at the plot summary, one thing that stands out to 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.800 me is that it appears that the game that can 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.839 predict the future or control some kind of has some 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.959 divination power. Is like an actual branded game gear. It's 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.079 not a case where you have some spray painted piece 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.520 of technology masquerading as something else. You know, like in 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:16.920 all these scenes where there's a there's like a robot 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.160 that's actually just like a component from a Beta max 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:21.240 player or something like that. 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:23.600 Or the power glove and into no power glove as 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:25.800 part of a cyborg's interface system. 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.560 Yeah right, No, this seems more like it's that movie 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.160 where the power glove is a power glove and it 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.000 has powers. This this looks like it's a game gear 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.720 that is a game gear and can control time. 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.319 Wow, so this movie was game gear's big moment, right 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:41.520 It was really sink or swim for them? 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:43.800 Funny you should say that because what's right here on 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.000 the poster it looks like a cyborged up Leslie Nielsen 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:51.520 sinking into the waves failing to swim anyway, Thank you, Mike. 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:53.760 All right, now, this next one comes to us from Nathan, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.680 and I believe this one came in after we recorded 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:02.079 and published part one, but before we published subsequent episodes 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:06.640 that got into more detailed discussions of Ninja swords and 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:08.359 alleged ninja swords. 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.000 Right, I think there was a question of talking about 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.640 movies in which you see a ninja carrying a katana 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:15.280 or something. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:24.800 Yes, anyway, Nathan writes hello again the late eighties, pre 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.000 teen pedant in me is compelled to point out that 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.640 samurai carried katana with a curve blade and round handguard, 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.839 while ninja wielded ninjado with a shorter, straight blade and 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:39.200 square handguard. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was perhaps the most 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.199 egregious example of confusing the two, as Leonardo's signature weapons 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.160 were always called katanas, despite at least in the original 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.080 black and white mirage comics, being depicted as the more 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:54.040 angular ninjada. However, as I only learned relatively recently, and 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:55.760 this is where we're getting into something that we would 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.079 talk about on the show and the subsequent episodes, much 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.079 like the mythical modern ninja, ninjado seems to be a 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:04.920 twentieth century invention. The wiki best sums up the controversy here. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.280 By the way, I think pluralizing any of the above 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:10.800 words with an S is totally fine, as they've been 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:14.240 anglicized and as such only a dorc would pronounce ninja 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:19.600 as ninja, though for the record, I only ever knew 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.400 one kid like that. I enjoyed the short Netflix series 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.880 from a few years ago called Age of Samurai, but 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.960 even more enjoyed commentary about the finished product from several 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:33.079 featured consultants found in two parts here, and they included 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.040 a couple of episodes, and they had I'm pretty sure 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:38.640 your guy Turnbull is among them. 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.000 Turnbull is one of the authors we cited in the 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.199 Ninja series, having written a serious historical investigation of the 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.720 ninja in the historical basis of the and the development 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:50.439 in the mythology. 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.680 Yeah, and he's also highly cited in other ninja books, 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:55.360 like he was cited in the book that I was 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.920 referencing a lot for those episodes. Anyway, they continue great 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.360 topic and great coverage. As always, gentlemen, I think the 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.079 only film franchise worth adding to those mentioned would be 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:06.800 American Ninja. 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:08.480 I know nothing about that. 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.040 I had to look it up. This is one that 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.240 I don't think I've seen, but I'm familiar with the title. 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:21.200 It stars Michael Dudakov and co stars Steve James. This 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:26.520 was nineteen eighty five. I mainly remember the VHS box 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.000 art because it is quite stellar. A picture of you 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:33.280 will an American flag, a black clad ninja, and then 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:39.320 a camo clad GI locking samurai swords or Cadanna or 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.640 I don't know, the swords against the backdrop of the 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.080 American flag, and then there's your title, American Ninja. 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:53.080 It's a little known fact that Benjamin Franklin was a ninja. Yeah. 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.640 I don't think I've seen this one, but maybe it 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:02.920 bears a closer analysis. I'm not sure. Anyway, they continue. 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.360 The arcade version of Ninja Gaiden in my memory was awesome, 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.880 but I thought maybe I had imagined it until recently 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:13.000 finding a playthrough a series of games called tin Chu 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.560 Stealth Assassin is really cool, where players are rated higher 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.320 for undetected kills, similar to the more recent Shinobi games. 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.640 The AI has increased since PS one Days, to the 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:25.880 point that the player now finds it necessary to hide 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.760 victims bodies to avoid raising alarms. I do love a 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.440 good stealth game where you end up spending say like 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.200 fifteen minutes of a time hiding in a locker to 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:41.600 keep a xeno more from eating you or random enemies 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.760 from finding you. I don't know you've done right. They 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:44.960 can be very engaging in it. 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.000 You're referencing Alien Isolation, which is one of my favorite 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:51.480 horror games of recent years. That one is really great. 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:55.600 But the one downside I really recall from the game 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.920 play is that you would spend so long not moving 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.480 because you'd get scared to move, and then you just 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:02.640 sit there and sit there. 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:05.600 Yeah, yeah, and then you're like, Okay, it's gone, and 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:07.800 then I know it's coming back. All right, now another 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:09.920 five minutes in here should do it. But this is 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.240 where the skill of the Shinobi comes into play, right, 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.200 This is the patience and pressverance. That's right, yeah, all right. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:20.040 Nathan continues on the White Ninja. My recollection is foggy 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.240 on this, but I think how did this get made? 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.000 Covered Ninja three? The domination and mock the notion of 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.480 bright colors on a stealth killer an audience member positive 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.040 a theory that makes as much sense as anything. A 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.000 true master could defy the shadows and where white in spite, 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.880 and this master could boast defeating enemies unscathed, as the 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.360 white would show bloody evidence of any wounds. Looking forward 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.240 to the next installment. Thanks again, you guys are the 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:44.960 best tape them. 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:49.960 Now, what a corniacopia of twentieth century international ninja lore. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.720 I do like that that view of the white ninja. 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:56.840 You could I mean, you could basically have a naked 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.880 ninja like and he doesn't even need clothes, even if 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.360 he is just obviously naked. 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:05.520 Well, to come back to the Michael Dudikov theme, you 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:09.080 could have a ninja wearing an American flag as his costume. 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:19.760 There you go. This is from our discord, but it 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.280 has to do with ninja's and ninja turtles, so I 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.040 thought i'd read it really quickly. This one comes to 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.639 us from Fletch. Fletch writes, You Only Live Twice was 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.600 definitely my introduction to the concept of ninja. It was 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.320 the first Bond movie I ever saw. Must have been 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:34.679 sometime in the early eighties. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:35.720 In the UK. 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.520 In the late eighties there was a moral panic around 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:44.040 ninja and martial arts weapons, shuriken, nunchucks, etc. That resulted 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:47.720 in teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles being shown on UK TV 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.720 as teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:53.200 Is this real? 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:54.520 I don't know. 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.399 I'm seeing some articles about a ninja moral panic in 0:17:58.480 --> 0:17:59.679 the eighties nineties Britain. 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:04.120 Yeah, yep, you're I see references to this that European 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.920 regions in general sometimes called it teenage mutant hero turtles. 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.439 I was unaware, but so I was astounded to hear. 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:15.560 This is amazing, But it makes sense too, Right when 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.000 you think about the things ninjas do in films and 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.640 even in Dja teenagemutant Ninja Turtles, you could see where 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:26.080 a moral panic could easily rise up around something. You know, 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:32.200 moral panics also typically revolve around something that is either 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.920 actually imported from outside of a culture or or or 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.960 are interpreted as being such, So you could imagine that 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:40.120 factoring into it as well. 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.640 Yeah, but what it's funny the way it would manifest as. 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.600 It's not like we can't show shows on TV that 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:51.200 have cartoon violence in them. It's that you can't call 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.159 it ninja. Like they can still have the weapons and 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:56.080 fight the bad guys, but you have to call them 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:57.200 hero not ninja. 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.439 That's true. It doesn't sound like they're actually changing content, 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.840 just this one word that would somehow make it less 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:03.760 dangerous for everyone. 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.240 Okay, this next message is in response to our series 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.520 on cicadas. This is from Jeremy, and it's not only 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:15.600 responding to our series on cicadas, but it's also replying 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.480 to a listener male episode that I did by myself 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.680 in June, and to refresh everyone in that episode, this 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.600 listener Jeremy wrote in to tell us about another species 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:31.400 of insect that rivals the cicada in the loudness contest. 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.320 This was an insect called the lesser water boatman or 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:40.480 Micronecta Schultze, which a study in Plus one from twenty 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:45.080 eleven found was the loudest animal on Earth relative to 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.760 its body size, so not strictly the loudest on Earth, 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:51.280 but compared to how small it is, it could make 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:54.920 the loudest sound. So this insect is about two millimeters long, 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.880 and the mail of the lesser water boatmen makes its 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.600 characteristic sound by rubbing one of its twin sexual organs 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:07.200 called parameters, against its abdomen. In some media, this was 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.840 described as the insect rubbing its penis against its abdomen 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:14.600 to make this incredibly loud noise. Whether that's a fair 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.639 characterization or not, I don't know. Insects have slightly different 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:21.040 kinds of sexual appendages, but it was a protruding sexual 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:25.200 appendage rubbing against its abdomen, and it gets incredibly loud. 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.720 This achieves roughly a seventy nine decibel sound pressure level, 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:31.320 with peaks of ninety nine to one hundred decibels when 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.879 measured at a distance of one meter. Also in that 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.320 email where Jeremy shared this information, he alluded to the 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.600 idea that there are no cicadas in Europe. That, of 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:44.359 course isn't true. There are plenty of cicadas in Europe. 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.240 And in his follow up here, Jeremy clarifies that he 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.040 meant to say there were no periodical cicadas in Europe, 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.360 only annual species, which as far as we know, is correct. 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.600 But after clearing up all this, Jeremy writes in about 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:04.680 something new, Jeremy says, on to my new point. In 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.840 your recent vault rerun of the Evolution of the Horse's 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.920 hoof Part two, you mentioned the medical diagnosis trope of 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:16.480 if you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras. Please 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:19.359 see attached and comment on how this would be interpreted. 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:23.720 And so Jeremy attaches a photograph. What are we looking 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:27.399 at here? So it's a pasture surrounded by a fence 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:30.720 with horses grazing in the distance, and one of the 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:35.439 horses is wearing what looks like a zebra patterned overcoat. 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:38.840 It's like a blanket that extends from just behind the 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:41.760 horse's ears all the way to its tail, and it's 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.520 draped over the horse's back so that it falls over 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.800