WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Mood Rings

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. Josh and Chuck here,

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<v Speaker 1>Jerry's there too, Dave's here kind of and this is

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<v Speaker 1>short stuck.

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<v Speaker 2>This I think is sort of why we started short Stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the perfect little bite size topic and this one.

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<v Speaker 2>The articles that I used to cobble this together were

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<v Speaker 2>from houstuffworks dot com and the Chicago Tribune and one

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<v Speaker 2>of our old favorites Atlas Obscura. Hey, oh, let's talk

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<v Speaker 2>mood rings.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so if you were alive in the mid seventies

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<v Speaker 1>and probably over the age of eight, there's a good

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<v Speaker 1>chance that you had a mood ring.

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<v Speaker 2>Chuck, I did not. I believe my sister did though.

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<v Speaker 1>Sure of course your older sister, right.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, six years older. So that was right in the wheelhouse.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And they just kind of came out of nowhere

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy five. There's a couple of theories of

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<v Speaker 1>who came up with it. As we'll see in a

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<v Speaker 1>few months, forty million mood rings sold. And then, just

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<v Speaker 1>like everything else that was a fad in the seventies,

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<v Speaker 1>pet rocks, well, pet rocks, it was just gone as

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<v Speaker 1>fast as it came along.

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<v Speaker 2>Key parties, cocaine, all that stuff went away.

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<v Speaker 1>Sure.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's amazing how fast and how lucrative this flash

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<v Speaker 2>in the pan was invented. And there's a couple of

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<v Speaker 2>stories here about who introduced this thing. Most people point

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<v Speaker 2>to in nineteen seventy five Maris Ambats and Josh Reynolds

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<v Speaker 2>as the inventor's. Reynolds, as the story goes, at least

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<v Speaker 2>was a Wall street worker and was very stressed out

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<v Speaker 2>with that high stressed job. Said I'm going to I'm

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<v Speaker 2>going to drop out. I'm gonna start getting into biofeedback.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm going to open a meditation center. It's called the

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<v Speaker 2>q Tran Ltd or q Tran Limited. I guess, sure,

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<v Speaker 2>And he said, I got a ring that actually produces

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<v Speaker 2>mood feedback. So the idea is that you can you

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<v Speaker 2>can see how you're doing literally by looking at the

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<v Speaker 2>ring on your finger, and then know where you are

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<v Speaker 2>if you're anxious, if you're upset, if you're chilled out,

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<v Speaker 2>and what you need to do, like you might need

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<v Speaker 2>to meditate or come and pay me money to come

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<v Speaker 2>to my center.

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<v Speaker 1>Sure, And there's actually like legitimacy to that with biofeedback

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<v Speaker 1>in particular, where if you can recognize what emotional state

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<v Speaker 1>you're in, you can actually take steps to get out

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<v Speaker 1>of it. If it's a negative emotional state, you can

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<v Speaker 1>sure purposely relax your muscles, like your neck muscles. You

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<v Speaker 1>can try breathing exercises that slow your heart rate a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit, like it's And that's the point of it.

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<v Speaker 1>It's to be aware of your emotions. And so exactly,

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<v Speaker 1>and what he was coming up or you could do

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<v Speaker 1>some cocaine. Sure, what he was coming up with was

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<v Speaker 1>this ring that you could just look to and be like, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>that's my mood. I need to like, I'm actually anxious,

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<v Speaker 1>so I need to do.

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<v Speaker 2>Some yoga, yeah exactly, which is pretty smart. Yeah, so

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<v Speaker 2>that's one. Maybe we should. Now let's go ahead and

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<v Speaker 2>talk about the next guy. Okay, before we take our break.

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<v Speaker 2>The other story, which doesn't have a whole lot around it.

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<v Speaker 2>Like on the internet, almost everyone points at Josh Reynolds

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<v Speaker 2>and Maris Ambats, But Marvin Wernick was a jeweler, and

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<v Speaker 2>some people say he invented the mood ring kind of

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<v Speaker 2>the same year, basically nineteen seventy five, because he saw

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<v Speaker 2>a doctor put a thermotropic tape to the forehead of

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<v Speaker 2>a child to measure their temperature, and thought, hey, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>that's a great idea. If we could just measure our

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<v Speaker 2>body temperature and sort of see it, you know, beyond

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<v Speaker 2>like a readout but see a color. I could market that.

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<v Speaker 2>And he didn't get a patent. And I don't think

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<v Speaker 2>we said earlier Josh Reynolds didn't get a patent. It

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<v Speaker 2>takes a while to do that. And like we said,

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<v Speaker 2>this thing was a really quick flash in the pan.

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<v Speaker 2>And so by the time any of these guys tried

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<v Speaker 2>to get a patent, it was kind of over.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there was one guy who has a patent, Chinese

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<v Speaker 1>inventor who patented it in nineteen ninety seven.

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<v Speaker 2>I love that.

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<v Speaker 1>But even still, like by the time that I mean

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<v Speaker 1>just by the time Josh Reynolds tried it, it was

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<v Speaker 1>over nineteen ninety seven. It's like, why would you even

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<v Speaker 1>waste your money on that?

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<v Speaker 2>But well, I think that's not too dumb though, Like

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<v Speaker 2>it could come back in a do in different way, okay,

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<v Speaker 2>and then this dude holds the patent. Not a bad idea, okay, fine, especially, oh,

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<v Speaker 2>I could see doing that because the seventies were in

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<v Speaker 2>again in the nineties. Yes, some you can retrend hats

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<v Speaker 2>off unnamed Chinese inventor, like I am the patent to

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<v Speaker 2>parachute pants.

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<v Speaker 1>That would be lucrative.

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<v Speaker 2>I bought that in the nineties and everyone's like, what

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<v Speaker 2>are you doing?

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<v Speaker 1>Man? Did you ever have parachute pants in the nineties.

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<v Speaker 2>No, I was, you know, we didn't have a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of money to buy like the bachetable stuff, and that

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<v Speaker 2>was never in the the uh. I never can remember

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<v Speaker 2>the name. But whatever the thing is where your shoelaces

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<v Speaker 2>have one too many eyes, or your zippers backwards or whatever.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh the like factory seconds. But there's another name.

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<v Speaker 1>For him too, factory rejects.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know. But anyway, that's where I was shopping, right,

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<v Speaker 2>and the parachute pants never came through there. I probably

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<v Speaker 2>would have gotten them had I had the opportunity.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I had some and they sure something else you

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<v Speaker 1>were rich. They were not like, these were not really

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<v Speaker 1>nice high They weren't like Arimez parachute pants or anything

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<v Speaker 1>like that.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't even know what that is.

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<v Speaker 1>Ames is a very high end luxury brand, okay, and

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<v Speaker 1>I don't think they ever made parachute pants. And now

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<v Speaker 1>that a joke sucks because I had to explain the

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<v Speaker 1>whole thing.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh no, let's go to break. You should have say Gucci. Alright,

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<v Speaker 2>let's go to break, all right, Charles, I know what

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<v Speaker 2>Gucci is.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I should have said Gucci.

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<v Speaker 2>Or Polo.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, that joke is in the rear view about cost.

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<v Speaker 1>So we're talking mood rings, after all, and not just

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<v Speaker 1>mood rings. They came out with like mood pendants, mood chokers,

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<v Speaker 1>mood bracelets, anything to show you what your mood was.

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<v Speaker 1>And if you kind of start diving into mood rings

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<v Speaker 1>or what later became called like mood jewelry biomod biomood

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<v Speaker 1>jewelry or truth jewelry, there's an actual like function of

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<v Speaker 1>those rings. It's not a stone. It's not magic or

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<v Speaker 1>anything like that. Well, it's magic if you find science magical.

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<v Speaker 1>But there's a pretty easy explanation for it.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Like, and before we get to that, like the

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<v Speaker 2>question is do mood rings work? And the answer my

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<v Speaker 2>Chuck's answer after reading a lot about this is kind of.

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<v Speaker 1>I have the same answer kind of kind.

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<v Speaker 2>Of Yeah, they're definitely not They're definitely not bs or bunk.

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<v Speaker 1>No. But at the same time, I think a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people who think that they're real think that it's

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<v Speaker 1>actually sensing your emotion. It's not. It's just sensing minute

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<v Speaker 1>changes in temperature on your skin.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. So how these work is is it's got

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<v Speaker 2>a sometimes a little hollow glass container mounted in a ring.

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<v Speaker 2>Sometimes it was like a clear glass stone on a

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<v Speaker 2>little thin sheet of these liquid crystals. And inside the

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<v Speaker 2>clear glass container were these thermotropic liquid crystals.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, which I looked up and I cannot make heads

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<v Speaker 1>or tails of what they're used for specifically or it's

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<v Speaker 1>everything about it is like all nothing but science direct,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's all our cane.

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<v Speaker 2>I wonder if what's it called when you can like

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<v Speaker 2>predator heat sensing.

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<v Speaker 1>Thermal imaging.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, has that got anything to do with it?

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I don't think so. I saw that

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<v Speaker 1>it's used in displays, but I didn't see how or

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<v Speaker 1>what kind of displays.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, well, liquid crystal displays. I geah, LCDs, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>I guess so LCD sound System, Sure.

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<v Speaker 1>They use thermotropic liquid crystals.

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<v Speaker 2>Sure, but at any rate, as my friend Josh would say,

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<v Speaker 2>the upshot is these liquid crystal molecules are just super sensitive,

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<v Speaker 2>and they are very sensitive to temperature in particular, and

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<v Speaker 2>when temperature is affecting these crystals, they will twist around,

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<v Speaker 2>they'll move positions depending on that temperature. And what happens

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<v Speaker 2>then is when they're twisting around, they are affecting the

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<v Speaker 2>light spectrum. And that is why it is literally color.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Like they twist one way, they reflect blue, so

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<v Speaker 1>the thing looks blue. They twist another way because of

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<v Speaker 1>a change in temperature, they reflect black or green or

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<v Speaker 1>something like that. I think amber is another one. And

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<v Speaker 1>so the reason that this isn't actually bunk is because

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<v Speaker 1>your skin does undergo minute temperature changes when your mood changes. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>And what they did was they basically calibrated the temperature

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<v Speaker 1>of an emotion, your skin temperature when you're experiencing some

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<v Speaker 1>emotion or a kind of neutral emotion, and figured out

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<v Speaker 1>what color that creates in the thermotropic liquid crystals. And

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<v Speaker 1>then they basically said, well, if your mood ring is

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<v Speaker 1>this color, you're probably experiencing this emotion. So it's they

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<v Speaker 1>cobbled together like a bunch of different things that are

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<v Speaker 1>real and put them together in something that it's kind

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<v Speaker 1>of real.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. I think it's kind of cool that they

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<v Speaker 2>came up with an average on the color scale, which

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<v Speaker 2>is green, based on your average body temperature. So that

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<v Speaker 2>makes sense. And then you know, we can go through

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<v Speaker 2>the colors here. Sure, green is normal. Like I said,

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<v Speaker 2>if you go up on the scale you go to

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<v Speaker 2>the bluish green, that means you're kind of relaxed. If

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<v Speaker 2>you are blue, you are calm slash relaxed. And then

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<v Speaker 2>if you're dark blue, if it really goes blue, that

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<v Speaker 2>means you're feeling like really good. You're like maybe passionate

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<v Speaker 2>about something a little romantic or super happy. And then

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<v Speaker 2>it goes down the scale from amber to gray to black,

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<v Speaker 2>from you know, nervous or anxious to very nervous or

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<v Speaker 2>anxious to just really feeling super stressed.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, and so again it kind of makes some sense.

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<v Speaker 1>When you are feeling passionate, you're probably a little bit flushed, sure,

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<v Speaker 1>and so your skin temperature is going to increase. When

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<v Speaker 1>you're anxious, you actually start to feel a little bit cold,

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<v Speaker 1>and your skin temperature decreases. I'm not sure if it's

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<v Speaker 1>calibrated so accurately that you could divide it like that,

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<v Speaker 1>but right, sure, it's possible. It's not like completely out

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<v Speaker 1>of the realm of possibility. The point is it doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>matter anymore because mood rings aren't really around.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right, and there are a lot of other things

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<v Speaker 2>that go into your emotional state beyond the temperature of

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<v Speaker 2>your skin. So that's why I firmly land on it

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<v Speaker 2>kind of works.

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<v Speaker 1>I think that's great and another.

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<v Speaker 2>For a teenager in the seventies to buy it exactly.

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<v Speaker 1>Chuck delivered as verdict on mood rings, which means short

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<v Speaker 1>stuff is out.

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<v Speaker 2>Stuff you should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For

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