WEBVTT - Listener Mail: The Memory of Trees 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:08.160 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:12.520 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. Listener mail. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:14.080 My name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.319 And I am Joe McCormick, and today we're bringing you 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.800 some responses to recent episodes of the show. You all 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.800 have been writing in about squirrels. You've been writing in 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:27.120 about pretend play, you've been writing in about Christmas, trees 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:29.800 in the ocean, all kinds of things to get into. 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:32.839 So Rob, unless you have any business to address right 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:34.760 here at the top, I say, let's jump right into 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:35.360 the messages. 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.400 No business here, let's do it, Okay. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.800 I think I'm going to start with this message from 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:43.879 Hugh in response to our sort of revival of the 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.360 squirrel topic. So refresher here if you don't recall. Many 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:52.200 years ago, we did a series of episodes on the brutal, 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:57.120 largely unknown side of squirrels, including scientific observations of squirrels 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:01.400 eating the flesh of other animals scavenger, sometimes even killing 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:06.040 live prey, as well as legends of squirrel on squirrel castration, 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.600 anecdotes of squirrel attacks on humans with varying levels of 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:16.440 evidence behind them, in plausibility etc. Then, just earlier this month, 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.800 we returned to the topic of squirrels because of a 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.120 newly published paper from December twenty twenty four. A lot 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:24.880 of you got in touch with us to let us 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:29.360 know about this, a paper that extensively documented a population 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:34.040 of California ground squirrels roughly northeast of the San Francisco area, 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:40.120 systematically hunting and eating live adult voles, which seemed to 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:43.520 be related to a concurrent explosion in. 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:45.679 The vole population. Vole meat got. 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.040 Cheap, essentially, so squirrels were like, why not, let's eat 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.560 them anyway. After covering this, we heard from many listeners 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:57.320 with thoughts about squirrels, sometimes about their surprising ferocity or 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:01.160 their lesser known tendency to eat meat. So, first of all, 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:09.919 this message from Hugh reads, Dear Robert and Joe and JJ, 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.720 happiest of New Year's toe you all. I have to 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.680 agree with Rob's view of squirrel kind. Rob, maybe you 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.560 can remind us what this view was after you hear 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.679 Hugh's thoughts. Hugh says, I once saw a big, furry 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.799 orange tomcat get hold of a gray squirrel in an open, 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.840 sunny patch of lawn. I lost track of what was 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.400 happening for a few seconds due to the Looney Tunes 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:37.600 esque mailstrom obscuring the action. But when the dust and 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:41.360 fur had settled and a mostly orange rocket had disappeared 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.240 over the horizon, I could tell that the paradigm had 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:49.160 shifted for that cat. Squirrels are expletive metal. You're all 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.520 still doing a great job. I love your work, Hugh. Well, 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:53.720 thanks for the message, Hugh. 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:54.280 Yeah. 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.600 I don't know if I've ever seen this particular thing happen, 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.760 like the squirrel sends the larger predator running, but I 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.200 can believe it. Rob, do you do you know which 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:05.240 of you of yours this is conforming to? 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.280 We had just that they're for a grappling hooks. They're fierce, 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.760 their tree lions and matches up. We have the story 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.959 that I told about one chasing off a hawk in 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:21.400 my backyard, a girl doing squirrel business. A hawk moved 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:25.640 in to interfere with that business in some manner or fashion, 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:27.560 and the squirrel was having none of it, and the 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.679 hawk was like, okay, fair enough, I'll go pest or 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:30.239 something else. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.320 That makes sense. Now you referred to them as grappling hooks. This, 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.000 of course is giving me the image of an expanded 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:41.360 movie Ninja tool Kit where the ninja from their belt 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.720 draws a squirrel on a line and makes you know, 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:47.240 unthinkable use of it. 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:53.720 There is a Marvel superhero named squirrel Girl. My kid 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.960 has several comic books of squirrel Girl. Very fun character, 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.000 but it's usually played up for cuteness I believe. I mean, 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.640 she's fearce and strong in her own right. But I 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:07.680 don't know if they completely embrace the unholy ferocity of 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.520 the squirrel, because squirrel Girl could be very metal, and 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.680 maybe she is very metal in some installments. If not, 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:20.200 I hope comic book artists out there embrace the beastly 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:21.760 nature of the squirrel at some point. 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:24.240 All right, Rob, you want to do one of these 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:25.159 following messages? 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:34.960 Yeah, here's one from Carl titled Squirrel's Return Dear Robin Joe. 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:39.159 Without intent, I've apparently created a squirrel paradise in my backyard, 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.600 which is great. Their acrobatics entertain and fascinate me and 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:47.040 my retriever Australian sheep dog Roxy. They are minimally destructive 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:51.040 while they go about their lives making families, building their nests, harvesting, 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.279 hickory nuts and covorting in the woods outside my kitchen 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.360 window and off the deck. Of all the creatures there, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.359 the squirrels and birds are the least destructive, paired with 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.440 the chipmunks and rabbits that destroy plants and gardens. So 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.520 I really enjoyed this episode. I haven't seen my squirrels 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.240 dining on other animals or insects, but they might. There 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.479 are plenty of them out there too. It would be 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.320 interesting and very useful if my squirrels would develop an 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.640 appetite for rabbit. Here's do a great new year, Carl. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.839 Best of luck to you, Carl. I mean, I don't 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:26.919 think there's a way to engineer that. Maybe we wouldn't try, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.440 just leave it, let nature take its course there, because 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.080 that sounds like the beginning of a horror story. You 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.719 remember old Carl there. Oh yeah, he tried to teach 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.120 his squirrels to eat rabbit meat. Now they only eat 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:40.040 manfold meat. 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:45.000 Yeah, the backstory to Night of the Squirrels. Okay, on 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.120 to the next squirrel message. Two comments before reading this one. 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.920 One of them is context for the message Rob when 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.880 we were I think, both in the original series and 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:57.800 in the follow up episode we talked about your story 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:03.320 of encountering aggressive squirrels at Grand Canyon National Park and 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.800 how this related to the people feeding the animals at 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.560 places where human and humans and wildlife interface. Do you 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.080 want to what were the deats on that? 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.120 Oh, I mean it just gets into the basics of, 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.680 you know, a fat animals, a dead animal. If you 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:21.800 feed any wild animals of you know, varying wildness and 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:26.239 overt danger to humans, if they associate humans with food, 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.400 then they'll just get closer, and the closer they are, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.080 the more likely it is to end and bites, scratches 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.839 and so forth. We want them to remain wild, wild 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:37.760 and away from us. Yeah, that's right. 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.520 And your direct experience was that what did a squirrel 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.680 basically climb you or your wife trying to get food 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:45.359 out of your hands? 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:47.520 Yeah? Yeah, it's all a snack bar and made a 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.479 play for it and we had to essentially like swatt 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.000 it away with a hat. Wow. Okay, all right. 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.279 And then the second comment before reading this is I 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:59.000 want to make absolutely clear that we are not advocating 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.000 the behavior the list is about to describe in this message, 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.279 but I did think it was worth sharing to discuss 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:07.840 and maybe get some feedback from people who work professionally 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:09.960 in parks and wildlife or other places where there's a 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.640 lot of interface between humans and wild animals. So this 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:23.880 is from Ben, subject line trolling wildlife. Hello, gentlemen, your 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.400 recent episode on squirrels was fascinating and entertaining, as is 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:28.640 all your excellent content. 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:29.400 Thank you Ben. 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.200 The discussion at the end of the episode around feeding 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.000 wildlife brought to mind the fun game I play with 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:40.040 excessively bold wildlife. When I encounter small animals that seem 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:43.280 to be accustomed to getting food from humans, I approach 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.520 them and mimic the action of giving them food. For 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.920 ducks at the local park, I toss pretend bread to them. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.680 For the finches at the Trailhead parking lot at a 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.120 nearby provincial park, I hold up a handful of imaginary 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.760 bird seed. For the squirrels that live in my town 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.520 home complex, I hold out a theoretical peanut. Then, when 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.920 the animal approaches to a closer distance than they reasonably 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.800 should get to a human, I jump and shout and 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.480 startle them. I like to believe I'm doing my part 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.440 to ruin the trust they have developed for humans. Thanks 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.560 for the Great show. Ben Okay, Ben, Well, thank you 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:19.880 for the message, and maybe you can see why I 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:21.960 wanted to read this but also wanted. 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:23.720 To caveat it. 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.680 I see the reasoning here, like, of course, it's not 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.680 usually good for wild animals to be desensitized to the 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.440 presence of humans. We want them to avoid us, we 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.160 should avoid them. But part of me also does kind 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:38.920 of recoil at the idea of intentionally scaring wild animals. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:41.520 So I want to be clear again that I'm not 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.240 recommending this as a good idea without knowing more. However, 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:47.360 I know we have a lot of listeners who do 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.360 work in parks and wildlife for an animal conservation. I 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:53.920 would love to hear your thoughts those listeners about this 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.320 kind of thing. Is this actually a good thing to do, 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.720 or is there a better strategy that accomplishes the same 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.000 goal without needlessly scaring wildlife. Is it best to just 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:07.200 avoid interacting with wildlife as much as possible, even if 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:10.199 the animals are brazenly approaching you for food. 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.720 Should you just run away? What should you do? 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.439 I don't really know, but I would love to hear 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:18.559 from people who have professional expertise contact that stuff to 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:19.760 blow your mind dot com. 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.640 I mean, I know that when it comes to things 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.880 like bears and parks, there will often be you know, 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:31.480 people in official capacity rangers doing things like you know, 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:35.200 firing off a gun, creating a loud noise to scare 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.760 them away and try and you know, drive home the 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.320 idea that humans are scary and you shouldn't get too 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.640 close to them. So, like I said, I see both 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.440 sides of this. Yeah, what I'm cautious about would be 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.320 the idea of engaging in both behaviors at the same time, 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:55.600 of like mimicking bringing an animal in close only to 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.280 scare them away. I suspect, and I am no expert. 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.440 Of course, you're better off just going with the scare, 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:06.120 like you're better off like leaving your home and just 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.320 scaring all wildlife that comes close to you. So like 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.000 when I go outside, if there's a squirrel too close 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:15.680 to me, I'll clap my hands, I will make a noise, 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.800 and not because they're approaching me, but because like maybe 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:20.839 they're just a little they're lingering a little too long 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:22.880 on the fence, and I'm like, I don't want you 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.640 any closer to me, you know, you furry shackle just 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.280 go ahead and get on out of here. I don't 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:34.640 know that the mimicking the feeding is actually going to 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.160 be helpful in this scenario, but I could be wrong. Yeah. 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.240 So once again, people whose job it is to study 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:43.360 how to protect wildlife and try to try to sever this, 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.560 this link or this desensitization, please write in let us 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:46.960 know your. 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:51.640 Thoughts, all right. We also received more feedback about Hearts 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.439 and Fireplaces. That was a multi serious episode. We did 0:10:55.440 --> 0:11:00.199 what in December holiday themed, But you can listen to 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:01.840 him any time of the year. I mean, it's hearts, 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.280 it's fireplace, It's good winter listening for sure. This one 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:13.040 comes to us from Megan. Megan says, Hi, guys, your 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.559 episode on Hearts was intriguing and it made me think 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.320 of a couple of personal experiences. You mentioned that some 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.760 animals used chimneys as habitat. My family moved houses a 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.560 couple of years ago in July, and the chimneys had 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.360 been left unused and clothes for a while. I noticed 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.040 a tuneless squeaking in the living room ever so often, 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.080 which I assumed was air moving through a pipe. Well, 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.240 did you ever see dark bat like birds swooping around 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.319 on a summer evening in an urban neighborhood and catching insects. 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.880 Those are chimney swifts, which are dependent on chimneys for 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.160 roosting and raising their young. They used cliff faces and 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.560 old trees before the arrival of Europeans. For about a month, 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.840 I listened to the chimney swift babies chirping loudly every 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.280 time their parents returned with food, and abruptly one day 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.880 I realized that the chimney was silent the nestlings fledged. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.079 I never saw the nestlings, just the adult population darting 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.120 around the neighborhood, and then the adults and fledged juveniles migrated. 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:11.920 They returned last July. By the way, I'm afraid of 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.880 opening up the chimney and discovering the old nests glued 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.760 with saliva to the brick walls and many years of 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.880 bird waste. But that's for a future professional cleaning. Maybe 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:24.240 you guys want to cover that topic in the show 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.760 Animals and plants that have accidentally come to depend on 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.480 human settlements. Also, the description of hunter gatherers around a fire, 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:34.120 telling stories and entering a different mental space resonated with me. 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:36.720 I realize it's not the same thing as sitting around 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.720 a fireplace, But it seems that bars and restaurants replicate 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.640 something of that social experience by turning the lights down 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.360 and setting out candles or, in the case of a 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:50.160 sports bar, operating lots of glowing TVs. And indeed, it 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:51.719 may sound funny, but if you didn't listen to the 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.200 episodes we did talk about how the TV is essentially 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:59.120 the modern hearth. So, yeah, I mean as personally annoying 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:01.880 as I find a whole bunch of glowing TVs in 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.520 a restaurant or bar. Yeah, it could be what they're 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.800 doing anyway, Megan continues, if I'm not getting tipsy and 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.280 experiencing lowered social inhibitions from drinking, I find that the 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.320 ambiance has a similar effect. Thank you as always for 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:16.040 keeping us engaged and entertained. 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.040 Thank you, Megan. Yeah, interesting thoughts as to the last 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:23.360 thing about the lowered inhibitions and the different sort of 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.960 mental space you get in with different light regimes. That 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.760 is something we talked about, springboarding off of thoughts in 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.960 an anthropology paper we were looking at. Yeah, that did track, 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:36.720 like how conversation was different in environments that were ruled 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:41.760 by firelight versus daylight versus electric light, and the firelight 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.560 conversations were noticeably different, at least within this example of 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:50.640 these one people. And so, yeah, I can definitely see 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:54.360 how the different light conditions can lead us to not 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.520 only think differently, but relate to other people differently. And 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:01.360 one thing we hypothesized was like, wonder if lower light 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:06.240 conditions make you less aware of being observed and also 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.640 make you less minutely observant of the kind of micro 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:13.880 expressions of other people, and there is something possibly disinhibiting 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:15.240 about that, But that was just kind of a. 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.200 Gas Yeah, and I'll had one more thought about multiple 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:21.200 bars and intelligence, multiple multiple TVs in a bar rather, 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.160 is that one of the things we talked about is 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.520 like the hearth as this centerpiece, this this focal point 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.720 that draws in the attention of multiple individuals. And granted, 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.520 especially in a restaurant or bar, you could have multiple 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.560 focal points because you ultimately may have multiple different sort 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:42.200 of social groups. But I wonder sometimes and with some 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.880 seating positions in a bar restaurant, there isn't there's that 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.440 it can be a struggle to find a focal point 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.200 because everywhere you look there is a tele vision you know, 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.120 everywhere you look it's a different or it's the same 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:58.160 football game or pharmaceutical commercial, and then you and it's 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.680 also maybe drawing each person at a given table off 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.240 in a different direction. There's no like central thing that 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:06.440 they're both vibing on. 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.240 So I'm also not a huge fan of a lot 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.960 of TVs in a restaurant or bar. But one thing 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.040 I'll say is, even though I don't follow sports, I 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.120 prefer sports to the other option, which is when people 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.680 have the news on in a restaurant. 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:21.520 What are you doing? 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.360 We're sitting here like trying to have tacos, and then 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.960 up on the screen there's like a body outline or 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.360 just like pictures of police cars with the lights on, 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.240 Like what, I don't understand that. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:34.600 Yeah, I'm not a fan of that. I'm also not 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.480 a fan of it just being like a net like 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.600 open Netflix, like not playing anything but just the Netflix menu. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:42.840 It's like, fine, okay, if you're gonna play a movie 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:45.720 on Netflix, play a movie on Netflix, or they're you know, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:47.720 there are four good choices on there these days, so 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:51.600 put one of those on. But yeah, oh well. 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:53.800 The other option though, is playing old movies, which I 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.560 I mean, there are places in Atlanta that are own 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.080 for they will project like Santo movies on the wall 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.600 or that's yeah, thumbs up, thumbs out to that. 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:04.520 That's my preference. And I think Netflix has three or 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:06.960 four old movies. Maybe it's not to two. I'm not sure, 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:08.880 but you know, there's still some good stuff they could 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.880 be playing. And I do realize that, you know, from 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.000 a business standpoint, most of these places do have to 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.600 have some televisions. Like it's enough, customers are going to 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:19.880 want that, you're going to need to have the sports. 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:24.160 On that being said, you can overdo it. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.320 Seems like a reason to revive the old like smoking 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.520 non smoking division, except you just have a TV non 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:32.280 TV section of the restaurant. 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.760 Yeah. Yeah, I would be all up for it or 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:37.200 the other way Santo non santo. 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:51.040 Right, anyway, thanks again, Megan, great email. Okay, this next 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.360 message is the first one for today that's going to 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:58.960 get into our episodes on Pretend Play and Imaginary Friends. Now, 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:00.880 we got a bunch of response to that. We're not 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:02.560 going to be able to cover them all today. I'm 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.880 sure that will extend into our next listener Mail episode 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.280 whenever that is. But this first message is from Liz. 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.560 Liz says, Dear Robert and Joe. I've been enjoying the 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:16.720 recent series on Play, especially this last episode about imaginary friends, 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.320 which as a child I called clear people. 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:23.040 Hmmm, oh, I love that. 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.720 I guess I equated imaginary with invisible and invisible with 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:31.440 seathrough several years ago now, I read a short story 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.280 called A Day with Cyrus Mayer by Alex Pugsley, where 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:39.600 the child narrator describes, quote the imaginary kid, a character 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:43.000 in my own private mythology who ran along the side 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.040 of the highway keeping pace with my family's car on 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.919 road trips, and I had this moment of recognition. I 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.280 used to imagine my clear people doing that, or sometimes 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.760 zipping along power lines on tiptoes to keep up looking 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:02.159 forward to the next episode. Liz, that's amazing, and I 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.640 want to come back to that. But Liz has a PS. 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.840 Also PS. I've been meaning to write with this weird 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.680 house cinema suggestion for years, ever since my mom, now 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.480 in her sixties, told me about this bizarre movie she 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.919 watched at a sleepover in high school. It seems to 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:22.680 have gone by two different titles. That's I don't know 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:24.760 I'm looking at this, is that seven S's in a 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:30.840 row amazing title or four s's at the beginning snake. 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.040 I have no idea how difficult it would be to 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:35.800 stream or get your hands on a copy, but it 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:41.200 sounds nice and weird. Well, thank you so much, Liz, Yeah, great, 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:45.879 great comments throughout. First of all, this is funny because 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.800 it's like this is making me question my own memories 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:54.240 of childhood. I don't recall ever really having an imaginary friend, 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.080 as I said in the episode. But when you talked 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:01.159 about the imaginary friend running outside along the highway to 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.679 keep up with the car or zipping along through the 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:05.959 air to keep up with the car, that that was 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.000 like a lightning bolt in my brain. It was like, 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.719 I remember that, and yet I don't remember having an 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.320 imaginary friends. So I don't know what this is. Maybe 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:16.600 this is just spurring a false memory because of the 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:21.040 vividness of it. But this, yeah, I felt this rumbling 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:22.000 in my in my heart. 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:28.440 Yeah, vaguely stirs something in my recollection as well. Maybe 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.080 something going on early as we adjust to the weirdness 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:34.760 of writing and high speed vehicles and then we lose 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.680 the novelty of it. As as we grow older. Now, 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:44.040 as for yes, this is a this is a pretty 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.639 fun movie. There was a MSG three K treatment of 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.880 this many years back, and that's the only way I've 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.840 ever seen it, but I remember it within that context 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.440 is being pretty fun and it's got I think Red 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:58.640 Brown's in it in a supporting role, so it's got 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.920 that going for it. Perfect that snake man. 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.320 I've been thinking that at some point we need to 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:10.040 do like a month of Reb Brown, because you know, 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.960 we've done themes before. We've done like tiny People movies 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.439 back to back, and I think we could do a 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.080 Reb Brown theme. I've definitely been wanting to do one 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:23.199 of the non MCU Captain America movies, and one of 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:24.399 them stars Reb Brown. 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:25.000 There's another. 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:28.240 Then there's the other one directed by Albert Payune in 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.480 like nineteen ninety or whatever. I've seen the latter, not 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.119 the former, but I want to talk about them both. 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:37.760 Yeah, they're a number of Reb I don't we haven't 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.640 done a Reb Brown film, have we. I don't recall. 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.280 I think he's just come up in Connections. But yeah, 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:46.680 I mean so many strong, strong film choices there, including 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.719 of course Space Mutiny, You're the Hunter, from the Future. 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.240 That's right, We've never covered it on the show, but 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.439 I know I've talked about Your Hunter from the Future 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:58.119 many times. I think it is my favorite leather diaper 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:02.640 barbarian movie. So it's got all the barbarian tropes. It's 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:04.959 got him in the in the you know, speed out 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.359 in the leather speedo killing dinosaurs with a sword. But 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.560 it also is Star Wars. The villain of Your Hunter 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:13.200 from the Future is Darth Vader. 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:19.640 Well, you know is actually Red Brown's cinematic debut. Yeah, 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:21.600 seventy three amazing. 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:24.679 Yeah, well I have to Okay, we're gonna watch it. 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:24.880 Then. 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:27.879 I've never seen the MST so I'll be coming and clean. 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.200 Yeah, I vague clear, ma, I just remember the creature mostly. 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:33.720 All right, Rob, you want to read one of these 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:36.119 next messages on Pretend to Play. I think we got 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:36.920 a couple more here. 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:39.879 Yeah, here's one from David. David rides in and says, 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:42.359 dear Robin, Joe, I was listening with interest to your 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:45.080 episodes on Pretend Play. I am currently through part two. 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.040 My kids are now young adults at college or working, 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:50.760 but my recollection of their Pretend Play. My older son 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.040