WEBVTT - 9 Hilarious Monuments (probably) not worth the Road Trip

0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.640
<v Speaker 1>Guess what, mango? What's that? Well, so, I know I

0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:05.000
<v Speaker 1>asked you if we could cover today's topic, but I

0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:07.520
<v Speaker 1>didn't tell you exactly why, And that's because I wanted

0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:10.240
<v Speaker 1>to save this story for you. So, uh, this actually

0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:13.880
<v Speaker 1>happened in a town a Silicaga, Alabama, my home state

0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.320
<v Speaker 1>of Alabama. And so this happen in nine A woman

0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.840
<v Speaker 1>named An Hodges was taking a nap on her couch

0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.120
<v Speaker 1>when a softball sized chunk of meteorite crashed through her roof,

0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.520
<v Speaker 1>came through the ceiling, bounced off a radio, and smacked

0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.400
<v Speaker 1>her right in the thigh. That is that but funny

0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:33.360
<v Speaker 1>the same Why is it so much funnier that hit

0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.519
<v Speaker 1>her in the thigh? It is, isn't it? Yeah, I

0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.080
<v Speaker 1>can't handle it anyway. There are photos online of this

0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:41.360
<v Speaker 1>giant bruise if you if you want to check this out.

0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.960
<v Speaker 1>But so, there was an astronomer from Florida State. His

0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.560
<v Speaker 1>name is Michael Reynolds, and he was talking about how

0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.800
<v Speaker 1>rare this occasion would be. Says, you have a better

0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.120
<v Speaker 1>chance of getting hit by a tornado, a bolt of lightning,

0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.120
<v Speaker 1>and a hurricane all at the same time than getting

0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.840
<v Speaker 1>hit by a meteor RTE. That's amazing. And apparently there

0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.320
<v Speaker 1>was a ton of controversy see after the fact about

0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.160
<v Speaker 1>who got to keep this rock. So so the public

0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.759
<v Speaker 1>demanded that the government give the rock back to Anne,

0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.600
<v Speaker 1>and they finally complied, but then they were sued by

0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.800
<v Speaker 1>the landlady, who claimed it was her since it fell

0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.120
<v Speaker 1>on her property. What kind of person does this, This

0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.959
<v Speaker 1>woman's been hit by a meteorite. I am right, And

0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.760
<v Speaker 1>so Anne's argument was, though, that God intended for it

0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:24.720
<v Speaker 1>to hit me. After all, it hit me, That's what

0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.319
<v Speaker 1>she said. And so they settled out of court, and

0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:30.280
<v Speaker 1>the meteorite was eventually donated to the Alabama Museum of

0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.880
<v Speaker 1>Natural History and it's still on display there. So I'll

0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:35.880
<v Speaker 1>admit I had heard this story before, but what I

0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:38.400
<v Speaker 1>didn't know is that there's actually a monument to it.

0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.039
<v Speaker 1>It commemorates the whole bizarre happening, and it's in front

0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.959
<v Speaker 1>of the town hall in Silicago. And so that's why

0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.319
<v Speaker 1>we decided to do today's episode on nine weird statues

0:01:47.360 --> 0:02:08.320
<v Speaker 1>and monuments around the world. Let's get started, he their

0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:11.040
<v Speaker 1>podcast listeners, welcome the part time genius. I'm Will Pearson

0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:12.800
<v Speaker 1>and as always I'm joined by my good friend man

0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.200
<v Speaker 1>Guesh Ticketer and the man on the other side of

0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:18.520
<v Speaker 1>the soundproof glass who's been standing perfectly still for what

0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.119
<v Speaker 1>like the last forty five minutes. I think I even

0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.799
<v Speaker 1>I saw him blink once, But that's about it. That's

0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:28.000
<v Speaker 1>our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And also joining us

0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.000
<v Speaker 1>by phone today is our researcher Gabe Lousier. Gabe, how's

0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.600
<v Speaker 1>it going going well? Thanks for having me back guys.

0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:35.520
<v Speaker 1>All right, Gabe has been trying to claim that the

0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:39.080
<v Speaker 1>weather in l A today is is Chris. I'm not

0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.359
<v Speaker 1>buying it. Yeah, I don't think they've ever experienced Chris.

0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.880
<v Speaker 1>But alright, Gabe, So you've done your research on some

0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.560
<v Speaker 1>some monuments and statues around the world. Do you want

0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.160
<v Speaker 1>to take the first one? Yeah? Sure, Actually I have

0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:56.280
<v Speaker 1>another statue from Alabama to go along with yours. You guys,

0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.800
<v Speaker 1>bizarre statues out there, I guess, um. And this is

0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:04.560
<v Speaker 1>that it's a bullweevil monument in Enterprise, Alabama. And so

0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:06.960
<v Speaker 1>this is a marble statue of a Greek woman holding

0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.640
<v Speaker 1>a bowl above her head, and in the bowl there's

0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:14.600
<v Speaker 1>this fifty pound bronze bull weevil and the bull weevil

0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.560
<v Speaker 1>was actually added about thirty years ago after the statue

0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:22.320
<v Speaker 1>was originally dedicated, and it was erected because bullweevils have

0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.440
<v Speaker 1>this history of, you know, destroying cotton crops in the South,

0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.400
<v Speaker 1>which back in the day it forced local farmers to

0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.080
<v Speaker 1>kind of branch out and try a new crop instead,

0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:35.320
<v Speaker 1>and that was peanuts. So Coffee County in Alabama became

0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.440
<v Speaker 1>the largest producer of peanuts in the US. And it

0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.760
<v Speaker 1>also ended up planting and prospering from potatoes, sugarcane, sorghum,

0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.720
<v Speaker 1>and tobacco. And that's thanks in part to the bull

0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.080
<v Speaker 1>weevil kind of you know, disrupting the cotton trade. So

0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:53.240
<v Speaker 1>the dedication on the monument actually reads in profound appreciation

0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.360
<v Speaker 1>of the bull weevil. And as far as anyone knows,

0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.600
<v Speaker 1>it's the first and probably only monument to honor and

0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.720
<v Speaker 1>add a cultural pest. And this is one I have

0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.120
<v Speaker 1>actually seen. I can verify this one. So if you,

0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.200
<v Speaker 1>if you ever happen to be passing through Enterprise, Alabama,

0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.760
<v Speaker 1>make sure to check out the bowl weevil statue. Alright,

0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.760
<v Speaker 1>so two facts about weird statues or monuments from Alabama. Mango,

0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:18.560
<v Speaker 1>do you have one from Alabama, No Russia, Okay, club, alright,

0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:21.479
<v Speaker 1>what you got. So obviously there are a lot of

0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.840
<v Speaker 1>monuments out there that celebrate you know, great men, tyrants, ballplayers, whatever.

0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.160
<v Speaker 1>But I don't know if that many monuments that are

0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.760
<v Speaker 1>there to bring warmth and comfort. But that's exactly what

0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.400
<v Speaker 1>local artists intended when they created this monument to the

0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:39.680
<v Speaker 1>radiator in Samara, Russia. Apparently it's in Russia because Russians

0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.000
<v Speaker 1>claimed the quote hot box, as the radiator was originally called,

0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:45.880
<v Speaker 1>was invented in St. Petersburg by this guy in eight

0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:48.479
<v Speaker 1>before he took it to Germany and then the US.

0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:50.320
<v Speaker 1>But the best part of the whole thing is that

0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.000
<v Speaker 1>the sculpture isn't just some radiator on a pedestal. It

0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.359
<v Speaker 1>also has a cat sprawled out on a giant window

0:04:55.360 --> 0:05:00.640
<v Speaker 1>sill over. Russians also invented cats, so they yeah, I

0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.400
<v Speaker 1>didn't know that fact. That's really good. That's also not true,

0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.640
<v Speaker 1>all right, I've got one coming from Paris. So this

0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.760
<v Speaker 1>is a huge three D molding of the sculptor Caesar

0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.280
<v Speaker 1>Baldachinie Thumb, and this was put up in nineteen sixty five.

0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:18.880
<v Speaker 1>It's over forty ft tall and weighs eighteen tons and

0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:20.919
<v Speaker 1>it's so out of place because it's actually right and

0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.320
<v Speaker 1>kind of the business district there in Paris. And then

0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.200
<v Speaker 1>you just turn the corner and there's this giant thumb. Well,

0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.080
<v Speaker 1>it turns out it's not the only one of baldachinie

0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.600
<v Speaker 1>thumbs out there in the world. Turns out you can

0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.200
<v Speaker 1>find one at Olympic Park and Soul. There's another one

0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.640
<v Speaker 1>in Germany, and a couple others, you know, of different

0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.240
<v Speaker 1>sizes and uh and colors all around the world. Baldacinie

0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:45.200
<v Speaker 1>thumbs just waiting to get hitchhiked exactly, alright, Gay, what

0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.080
<v Speaker 1>you got next? Alright, So for this one, we got

0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.280
<v Speaker 1>a head over to Riverside, Iowa, which is a real

0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:54.279
<v Speaker 1>town that has a monument commemorating the future birth of

0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:58.000
<v Speaker 1>the fictional character Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek

0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.560
<v Speaker 1>so I. According to the official Star Trek website, Kirk

0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.640
<v Speaker 1>will be born in Riverside, Iowa, on March twenty two,

0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.680
<v Speaker 1>in the year two thirty three. But that's kind of

0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.520
<v Speaker 1>invented by the town itself, because the creator of Star Trek,

0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.600
<v Speaker 1>Gene Roddenberry, he only ever specified that Kirk was born

0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.719
<v Speaker 1>in a small town in Iowa. Riverside took advantage of

0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.400
<v Speaker 1>that vague reference to you know, claim him as their own.

0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:25.760
<v Speaker 1>And so if you go into the town, there are

0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:29.040
<v Speaker 1>plaques denoting where Captain Kirk will eventually, you know, grow

0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.760
<v Speaker 1>up and do this or that, and even where he

0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.640
<v Speaker 1>will be conceived. Apparently this is this is a joke

0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.920
<v Speaker 1>from a local bar owner. Wow, all right, that's pretty good.

0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.360
<v Speaker 1>All right, mango, what's your next one? So? I wanted

0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.880
<v Speaker 1>to talk about this Abe Lincoln statue. And obviously they're

0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.400
<v Speaker 1>Abe Lincoln statues all over, but this one special because

0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.760
<v Speaker 1>it's called Abe Lincoln talks to Perry Como. That's the

0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.440
<v Speaker 1>name is as well. Actually it's not the statue's real name.

0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.279
<v Speaker 1>The real name is the Return Visit. And the statue

0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:57.760
<v Speaker 1>is looking outside the place where Lincoln spent the night

0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.159
<v Speaker 1>putting his finishing touches on the Gettysburg address. But the

0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.279
<v Speaker 1>whole idea of behind the statue is to show a

0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.680
<v Speaker 1>cool Lincoln chatting with modern day tourists. So the dude

0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:08.880
<v Speaker 1>he's talking to is wearing a white cable knit sweater

0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.360
<v Speaker 1>and a collared shirt and khaki cordroy is you know,

0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.920
<v Speaker 1>the common man and Lincoln's just talking his ear off.

0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:16.760
<v Speaker 1>But the dude looks like a young version of that

0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.400
<v Speaker 1>singer Perry Como. So that's how the statue got nicknamed

0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.080
<v Speaker 1>that ice. That does sound so cool. Actually, I have

0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.920
<v Speaker 1>a Lincoln statue fact as well. This is weird alright.

0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.360
<v Speaker 1>So this one is the Lincoln Watermelon Monument in Lincoln, Illinois.

0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.400
<v Speaker 1>And actually in nineteen fifty three, former Congressman Abraham Lincoln,

0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.040
<v Speaker 1>he had not been president yet, he visited a town

0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.560
<v Speaker 1>in Illinois to help christen the town name, which was

0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.880
<v Speaker 1>to be Lincoln, of course, and it was actually the

0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.360
<v Speaker 1>only town to be named after Lincoln while he was

0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.280
<v Speaker 1>still alive again, and this happened before he was even president.

0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:50.200
<v Speaker 1>But while he was visiting there, he poured watermelon juice

0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.120
<v Speaker 1>on the ground to baptize it. I don't really know why.

0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.360
<v Speaker 1>There are other reports that he spit watermelon seeds on

0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:58.480
<v Speaker 1>the ground to christen it. I've never heard of using

0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:03.600
<v Speaker 1>water homies to do this, but anyway, in nineteen sixty four,

0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:07.120
<v Speaker 1>the local kawanas and Lions and rotary clubs all united

0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.240
<v Speaker 1>in order to commission this steel sculpture of a watermelon

0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.480
<v Speaker 1>in order to mark this historic event. It's such a

0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:15.680
<v Speaker 1>strange things and I want to check this out. Soide,

0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.640
<v Speaker 1>that's pretty great, alright, Gabe, your last fact of the day.

0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.040
<v Speaker 1>What do you have? Al Right? So this this was

0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.480
<v Speaker 1>a really weird one. And uh, it's a monument to

0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.840
<v Speaker 1>rats and mice that have been used in DNA research.

0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.040
<v Speaker 1>And uh, it's it's found over in Russia and it

0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.560
<v Speaker 1>was made by an artist named Andrei Karkovitch. And the

0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:38.800
<v Speaker 1>statue it depicts an anthropomorphic mouse wearing glasses and a

0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.920
<v Speaker 1>little lab coat and he's he's knitting with strands of

0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:46.640
<v Speaker 1>DNA and uh it sits near Russia's Institute of Psychology

0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.840
<v Speaker 1>and Genetics, and the institute actually collected fifty thousand dollars

0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.400
<v Speaker 1>and donations to fund this statue. And according to them,

0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.280
<v Speaker 1>it commemorates lab animals who have been killed as a

0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.720
<v Speaker 1>part of our ongoing attempts to understand the nature and

0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.200
<v Speaker 1>workings of d N. A. Wow, that's very sweet to

0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.120
<v Speaker 1>remember them in that way. And he said this is

0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.720
<v Speaker 1>in where where did you say it is in Russia? Uh? Yeah,

0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:16.280
<v Speaker 1>I didn't say on purpose, but no votes Cerberus. Okay, Well,

0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.760
<v Speaker 1>that was a good final fact. From you, Gabe. Okay, Mango,

0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.400
<v Speaker 1>you got one more? Yeah, definitely. So I guess we're

0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.480
<v Speaker 1>all on some sort of Russia kick because they have

0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.040
<v Speaker 1>the best statues. But have you guys ever heard of

0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:30.200
<v Speaker 1>the Enema statue? And Zella's no votes? I have not.

0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:35.600
<v Speaker 1>But the Monument to Animals features a giant animal bulb.

0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:39.880
<v Speaker 1>It's five ft and eight hundred pounds of bronze. Uh,

0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.839
<v Speaker 1>and it's held up by three tiny angels. And so

0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.600
<v Speaker 1>the angels are based off this bott of Chelly painting.

0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.319
<v Speaker 1>And while the sculpture claims the work was designed with humor,

0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.920
<v Speaker 1>the spot director who commissioned it disagrees, and if arts

0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.280
<v Speaker 1>in the eye of the beholder, there's no irony hiding

0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.880
<v Speaker 1>and all that bronze. Wow, so we we We've covered

0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.880
<v Speaker 1>one that was dedicated to the radiator, and then the

0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.720
<v Speaker 1>and gay did with about the the lab mice and rats,

0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:07.040
<v Speaker 1>and and now the Enema. Wow. What a collection of statues.

0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.440
<v Speaker 1>That's that's pretty great. All right? Well, my last one

0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.680
<v Speaker 1>happens to be about one statue that is in the

0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.400
<v Speaker 1>world's largest sculpture park, or at least the world's largest

0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.520
<v Speaker 1>sculpture park made by a single artist. There are two

0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:23.320
<v Speaker 1>hundred and twelve bronze and granite sculptures there in the

0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:27.160
<v Speaker 1>Vigilance Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway. Now there is one

0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.240
<v Speaker 1>specific one that's worth looking up, and it's called man

0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.000
<v Speaker 1>attacked by Genie. And I actually didn't know the plural

0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.679
<v Speaker 1>of genie. Just has two eyes at the ends, you

0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:37.679
<v Speaker 1>know this. I didn't even know how to pronounce it

0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:38.960
<v Speaker 1>at first when I was looking at it. But this

0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.080
<v Speaker 1>is why you need to look it up, because it's

0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.240
<v Speaker 1>apparently this guy that's being attacked by these genie. But

0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.719
<v Speaker 1>at the same time, what it really looks like is

0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.040
<v Speaker 1>just this naked man heroically fighting off four toddlers. So

0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.840
<v Speaker 1>you're gonna have to check this out. So anyway, well

0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:56.679
<v Speaker 1>those are facts of the day. But before we go,

0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.680
<v Speaker 1>we need to decide decide who's one today. What do

0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.520
<v Speaker 1>you guys think that meteor in the thigh? I think

0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.719
<v Speaker 1>just the word thigh, I think. Okay, I'm gonna give

0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:09.640
<v Speaker 1>it to myself on this. Yeah, you can take the

0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:11.800
<v Speaker 1>crown home. That's right, all right, Well, thank you guys

0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.640
<v Speaker 1>for listening. We'll be back with a full length episode tomorrow.