WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Twinkies Work 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:03.960 Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Stuff 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:08.080 You Should Know Saturday selects Mr Chuck here, Charles W. 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:12.119 Chuck Bryant one half maybe one third of Stuff you 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.320 Should Know, It depends on the day. I'm gonna go 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:18.319 this week with how Twinkies Work from July nine, two nine. 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.840 This was a fun one. I like my uh or 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.520 rather our pop culture editions. I like our food episodes, 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:28.240 and it all kind of came together with Twinkies, that 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:33.600 magical little a little little snack that no one quite 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.280 understands and knows what it really is. Is it cake? 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.199 It's cakey? Is it creamy? It's creamy? But what is 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.160 it really? Where did they come from? Is it true 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:48.920 that twinkie will last for a thousand years? We get 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.800 the answers to all this and how Twinkies work right now. 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.440 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.960 dot com. Hey, and welcome to arguably the most important 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.399 podcast Chuck Bryant and I will ever record. I'm Josh Clark. 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.200 This is Stuff you Should Know, and brother, I am 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:22.600 jacked up me three you're ready? Yeah, I'm speaking for Jerry. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:25.759 So she's the Marcel Marcel of our group. Yeah, she's 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.160 she's always wears the white gloves. I hate mimes. I 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.080 actually don't hate moms. It's just a cliche to say 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:35.360 you hate mimes. Mimes are cool. It says who that 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:39.520 mins are cool? Yeah, I just said it, jerk. Chuck 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:41.839 and I have clearly been eating far too many twinkies 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:46.960 in preparation of this. Yes we have, yeah, Chuck, Yes, 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.760 what do you know about the twinkie? Let's talk about twinkies. 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.760 Let's talk about twinkies. Everyone knows the twinkie is a 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:58.400 popular junk food snack cake. Yes, legendary junk food snack cake. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:00.840 I would say, I would say ten day as well. 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.640 I'm glad we're doing something light like this. Yeah, just 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:09.800 lighting sponge. Yeah, yeah, Chuck. How long is it twinkie? 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.400 Twinkie is uh four inches long? How wide is it? Twinkie? 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.680 Inch and a half? Did you know that originally it 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:21.399 was first invented it was made with banana cream filling. Indeed, 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.040 let's get into this, buddy. Okay, those are just some teasers, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.679 all right, So the twinkie was first invented in the 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.320 nineteen thirties. Yes, Continental Bakeries. Yeah, they're the vice president 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.240 of Continental Bakeries, which is already doing business as Hostess, 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.280 which we know and love, is the maker of Twinkies 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:38.600 and what I consider to be the greatest snack food 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:42.160 of all time, the crumb cake. Oh really, you a fan? 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.280 I like the nutty bar, the little Debbie nutty bars. 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.760 We're not we're talking host is here, buddy? Yeah? Um, 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:54.080 they will assassinate you. What are those They're like pink balls? 0:02:54.120 --> 0:03:01.320 What are those snowballs? Chuck? Alright, So back in the 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.000 vice president of Continental Bakery, he's a guy named James 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.519 what is it, James Dooer. James Dooer not a Scotch maker. 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.959 His brother could have been. Um. He decided that the 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:18.799 company's idle machinery that was used to make a strawberry 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.079 filled little shortbread fingers was the brand name UM could 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:25.320 be put to better use. Well, the machines were idle 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.720 because seas, yeah, seasonal, because strawberries only grow certain times 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.160 of the year, right, so the rest of the year 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:33.079 that they would just sit there and this bug doer 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:34.920 and he decided to do something about it. So he 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:39.040 came up with a little, uh, little yellow cake filled 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.520 with creamy filling. Jammy frosting if you were that could 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:46.720 be made year round. Um. And apparently on his way 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:50.920 to a marketing meeting for this snack cake, he passed 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.280 a billboard for twinkletoe shoes, which I gotta tell you, 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.400 I would never buy shoes called twinkle toe shoes. Sure 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.840 you would, you dream sailor totally. Uh. And that was it. 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.280 He had the name right there, and twinkies were born. Yeah, 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.400 there's always a cute story behind names like that. Anytime 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:09.840 the words twinkle and toes are put together, it's a 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:14.480 cute story. Yeah. Um, so twinkies were born. And uh, 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.560 as I said, they were made with banana cream filling, 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:21.200 right for a while. Yeah, until World War Two. Yeah, 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.320 I didn't this. I thought this was pretty interesting. They 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:27.200 quit doing that because there was a shortfall of bananas 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.279 during the war. Yeah, I had no idea. No, I 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.760 can see rubber and and you know, iron steel and yeah, 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:36.760 I know, men, maybe it's from all the banana bombs 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:41.679 we were dropping confetti missiles. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, so 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.919 that they replaced the banana with vanilla frosting, right, and 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.600 it's stuck. Yeah, it definitely stuck. Although um, every once 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:53.960 in a while Hostess released the banana flavored Twinkie and 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.520 like the limited run, and every time they did they 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:00.520 noticed sales increased, which is pretty substanti toll. And now 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:05.160 it's permanent as of two thousand seven. Yeah, let's talk 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.200 about the early twinkie and the pure goodness that was 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.760 the early twinkie. Yeah, it was in the early days, Josh. 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.200 It was made with eggs, milk, butter, as you would 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:17.359 expect it to be because it was cake, right, and 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.280 it had a shelf life. The problem there was had 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:21.600 a shelf life of what like two days two days, 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.119 so the salesman had to rotate the stock every two days. 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.360 And that was cool because they tasted good. But Doer said, 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.880 you know this isn't I'm not making as much money 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.200 as I could, Chuck. Can you imagine how divine a 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:38.400 twinkie made with like real butter and milk and eggs 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.880 would be. It's called it's called cake. Well, yeah, but 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.479 take with like real vanilla frosting and in that shape too. Yeah, 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.719 that would be great. I would love for someone to 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.880 make and send me a real original twinkie. That would 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.040 be awesome. Yeah. I just zoned out for a second 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:57.440 thinking about that. I know, seriously, you just glazed over. Okay, 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.000 So these days it's actually up to the nine ingredients, 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.480 and most of them come out of labs, right, Yeah. Unfortunately, 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:06.080 there's a lot of chemicals going on there. You've got 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.000 like yellow number five. There's still sugar in it, plenty 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.000 of sugar, just corn syrup of course, our old friend. 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:17.800 And uh, there's also bleached wheat flour. I think sugar 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.640 and flour the two biggest ingredients in it, right right. Uh. 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:26.080 Monoglycerides and diaglycerides have replaced the eggs, yeah, which act 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.880 as emulsifiers. Smulsifiers, they stabilize the cake batter and enhance 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.359 the flavor. Yeah. Apparently for the filling they use to 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:39.599 achieve the same and polyscerbate sixty, which does much It 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:44.320 emosifies the frosting. Same thing. Yeah, And there's hydrogenated shortening 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.839 instead of butter, although there is artificial butter flavor and 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:51.000 artificial vanilla flavor, and both of those are actually made 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:55.080 from petroleum. Yeah. When I read that, I was I 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.600 was a little taken aback, to be honest. Yeah, I'm 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.400 not a big I mean, do eat twinkies now anymore? Well, 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:02.600 you know, I don't eat at all, but I do 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.000 occasionally enjoy a twinkie, for sure. I haven't had a 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.080 twinkie in a long time. Did you treat yourself? And 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:09.960 I'm not opposed. I mean, I'll down the Ben and 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.040 Jerry's and I'm not opposed to eating fattening goodness. I know. 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.880 I think part of it is twinkies are associated with youth. Yeah, 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:18.840 i'd agree with that. I'm telling you, go back and 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.160 eat a twinkie. You'll love yourself. Well, you know, my 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:26.680 mom used to make um strawberry shortcake with twinkies. Nice. Yeah, 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:30.080 it was a good move, very nice seventies dessert too. Yeah, 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:32.240 you know, before the key party, load the kids up 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.360 with a twinkie strawberry shortcake. And apparently she's not the 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.960 only one to experiment with twinkies. I have a Twinkies 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.800 cookbook at home, actually sorts of crazy stuff in there. Yeah, 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:43.880 you should have brought that in. I should have. I 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:45.840 don't have the kind of foresight that you expect me 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:48.600 to have. You had the deep fried twinkie. I used 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:50.880 to make them and sell them at this beer festival 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.480 the last couple of years. Oh dude, I can make 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.880 a fried twinkie like you would not believe. How do 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.880 you do that? It's incredibly simple. So you have like 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.720 a vat of oil. I think peanut oil. Maybe peanut 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:04.280 all is the best. It's the worst for you, but 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.600 it tastes the best. Um. And you just take like 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:12.640 pancake batter or fry batter, right, um, and you make 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.960 the batter up better up and uh you you just 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.200 dip the twinkie in the batter, throw it in the 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:23.000 deep fryer. I just throw it in there. Wow, man, 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.280 that sounds good. Pull it out, throw some powdered sugar 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.360 on there. Oh my god. Actually you'll see. God, it's 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.680 like a funnel cake. Turbo funnel cake is what it 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:36.040 really is. No, not at all, not at all. It's 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.920 like it's like a funnel cake with a twinkie inside. 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:41.880 It's the greatest thing you'll ever have. And I can 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.120 make a good fried oreo too. Really, Huh. You never 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.600 cook for me. I will sometimes you'll have to come over. 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:52.720 We'll shave some years off our life. Seriously, Uh, excuse me? 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.400 Should we talk about the the process of how they 0:08:55.480 --> 0:09:27.840 make it in the factory. It's kind of cool. M h. Yeah, so, Josh, 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.960 we're in the Twinkie factory. This is Jerry's big chance 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.360 to add some sound things. Okay, we're in the we're 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.040 in the Twinkie fact you look good in the hairnet. 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:36.920 By the way, I appreciate that. What they do is 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.280 they have these metal pans in the shape of Twinkie 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:43.000 shape molds upside down. Twinkies are baked up what you 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.960 would consider upside down. The golden brown bottom is actually 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.960 upside it's brown. There's a lot. I actually used to 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.480 hear that they weren't, in fact baked brown, and that 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.880 was added color. Not true. They are baked brown on 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.520 the bottom. Indeed. Yeah, you talked to the widow of 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.080 James dowert about that. It didn't you did that, spoke 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.840 to her personally. So they throw the battery in there. 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.560 It's baked at a cool three fifty fahrenheit for nine 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:14.319 to twelve minutes. Cool. Uh. The after after cools, they 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:16.719 you know the famous three holes in the in the 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.559 bottom of the twinkie. Those are from the manufacturing process. 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.920 They're cream filling injectors. Yeah, and they stick those three 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.960 things in there and squirt in the cream, which I 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.240 wish they just scort that in my mouth. So you 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:30.839 just want to lay down on the conveyor belt and 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:33.640 go down the twinkie line, have the stuff sported in 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.640 your mouth straight from the the try injection. Yeah, how 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.600 that sounds good, does So that's pretty much it. Man. 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.480 They seal it air tied in the package, and um, 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:48.720 apparently the ceiling process is really where the preservation comes in, right, 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:53.199 because Chuck, if there's anything that everyone agrees on with Twinkies, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.400 it's that they will last indefinitely. Not true, No, it isn't. 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.720 And actually there's only one ingredient in the twinkie that's 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:05.000 added specifically to preserve it, and that's sorbic acid right there. 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.000 There are there are some preservative properties of some of 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:12.280 the other ingredients, um, but ultimately there's only one added 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.160 ingredient that's meant to preserve it. And it's actually, like 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.439 you said, the air tight package that makes a twinkie last. 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.840 And there are all sorts of urban myths about the 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:24.760 one I like best is that they're still selling the 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.320 original run of Twinkies, which actually is is clearly a 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:32.640 lie because they would be banana flavored. Um. But the 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:35.160 Hostess Company says that twinkies have a shelf life of 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.720 twenty five days. Yeah, not twenty five years, no, say no, 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.319 but yeah, there there have been some experiments that indicate 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:47.040 the contrary. Um. There's actually these kids who very recently 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.080 this last school year out in uh what is it, 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:56.720 Wallowa County, Oregon, two little kids, Logan Waldron and c. J. Horne. Um, 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.600 we're talking about whether or not twinkies could last in 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.520 definitely how long they could last? Um. And they have 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.960 a very encouraging bus driver who I must say, based 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.320 on this picture, is the arguably the best looking and 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:13.120 most stylish bus driver on the planet. And her name 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.440 is Lisa Morrise. And she said, you know what, why 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.080 don't you guys do a scientific experiment. That's that's a 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.640 bus driver. I know it's quite a babe, I know, 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.000 I must say, I know. Um. She encouraged them to 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:28.120 uh to to conduct their own experiments. So they put 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:32.280 a double pack my favorite kind of Twinkies in a 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:34.959 mayonnaise jar, closed it and put it in a rock crib, 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.520 which I'm not sure what that is, but they basically 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:40.559 buried it. And the kids were planning on doing it 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.880 until they were eighteen but they just you know, they're 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:48.520 like nine exactly. But she kept encouraging him and to 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:50.240 wait at least until the end of the school year, 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.720 and they did so. Nine months later, they popped it open, 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.160 eight the twinkies, one each. They both said they were fine. 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.040 One kid said he got a belly ache from it. 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.080 The other kids said he was fine. So they are 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.840 now encouraging teachers around the country science teachers to conduct 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.800 similar experiments. But yeah, so as far as these two 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.680 are concerned, a twinkie shelf life is at least nine 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.480 months greater than days. Yeah, well, I know you just 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.360 mentioned the double pack. I know. I like the double 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:19.880 pack because there's two of them. No, because of the 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.360 little cardboard in there, and you can scrape the little 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.040 uh cakey goodness off the cardboard and eat it. I 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.160 just lick it off the cardboard. It's like the cheese 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:33.400 paper and a on a cheeseburger. Do you really eat 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.920 all that stuff? Oh? Dude? Who doesn't take the paper 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.680 from a McDonald's cheeseburger and scrape the cheese off of 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.120 it and eat it? People who want to live? Ye, 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:46.000 shut up, you've had McDonald's in your day. Pow Twinky Man, 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:50.640 Twinky the Kid. Let's talk about Twinkie the Kid. I 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:52.719 just totally shocked you with that. Yeah. I had a 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.480 Twinky the Kid T shirt when I was one of those. 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.000 It was awesome. I wish I still had it. Yeah, 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.080 I'm sure there's still out there. Yeah, I wonder what 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:03.880 why Twinkie the Kid. It's famous. Uh if you've never 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:05.840 seen it, and I'm sure everyone has, it was a 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:10.160 cowboy motif, also lasso on a hat and boots. And 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.280 I saw a dude online today that had a Twinky 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:15.680 the Kid tattoo. That's a pretty cool tattoo, my friend. Yeah, 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.760 that definitely beats tazz or a dolphin or a turtle, 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:24.240 sunburst barbed wire around your arm night. Yeah, so Twinkie 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.080 the Kid. Cool tattoo, even cooler T shirt. I remember 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:32.120 seeing Twinky the Kid ads in between acts of thunder 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:36.080 the barbarian right in hanker for a hunk of cheese. 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.200 Remember that? What was that house rock? H No, it 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.960 was like, yeah, the nutrition people, Yeah exactly, I got 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.120 a hanker for a hunk of pocket full of something. Yeah, 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.760 because hunk of cheese is really healthy for you. That 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.880 was clearly the Dairy Association. So Chuck, let's talk about 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:57.680 twinkies and pop culture. Yeah, this is good stuff. Well 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.120 they're not pop culture, real culture. Yeah his Yeah, my friend, 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.880 have you heard of Twinkie Gate? Yeah, go ahead and 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:05.640 break that one down. That's good. So there was a 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.560 guy who was seventy one back in five was running 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.080 for a place on the Minneapolis City Council. His name 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:18.320 was George Bellair, and he was actually indicted for bribery 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.920 because at a I guess a candidate for him. He 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:22.720 was the lone candidate for it. I guess it was. 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:28.360 He hosted it, he provided, he he provided coffee, kool 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:34.080 Aid and twinkies for these senior groups that were there. Um, 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:38.200 and he was indicted for bribery trying to bribe constituency. 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.600 They didn't call it kool Aid Gate, no, And I 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:45.160 was thinking about that too there. I think kool Aid 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:52.000 had its run one pop with Jonestown. Oh sure, yeah, 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.320 we'll forever be enshrined with I mean a drinking the 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:59.360 kool aib um that's in Alexicon now, drink the kool Aid. Definitely, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.640 it's got it's own thing. Sure, twinkies are much more versatile. 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:07.880 You know. Um, it's such an ironic twist to crime, 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:10.880 you know, but that's not the only crime that they've 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.400 been associated with. Well, can I cover this one please. 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.160 In the nineteen seventy nine, Dan White UH of San 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:21.760 Francisco famously shot and killed Harvey Milk, who was was 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.560 he a city councilman? He was and a and a 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:29.080 supervisor and the first, yeah, supervisor, the first openly homosexual 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.360 public officeholder in the country was Harvey Milk. And the 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.000 mayor also got capped too. Mayor also got capped, and 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.760 Dan White is who did the deed, and the famous 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:42.200 twinkie defense was used in his case because they said 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:46.120 he was under severe depression at the time and as 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.520 evidence they used the fact that he uncharacteristically was wolfing 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:55.000 down Twinkies and junk food. Junk food. Apparently twinkies was mentioned. 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.200 It does show up in the in the court transcripts, 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.840 but it was one witness who used the impassing and 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:03.360 I actually ding Dong's and ho hoes were mentioned way more. 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:09.720 But yeah, the guy was apparently, um homicidal depression brought 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:13.640 on by a poor diet and it actually worked. Rather 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.520 than first this is premeditated murder. He got manslaughter and 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:20.760 eight years that was that, and that the media ran 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.840 with it in the twinkie defense. Speak you still here 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:24.760 it again? Why not the ding dong defense? It's even 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.879 funnier the ho ho defense. Sure that that would be 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:31.040 confused with Santa Claus probably you know why, because twinkies 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:37.080 are an American icon, me and you and former President 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:41.760 Bill the Lady Killer Clinton. Really yeah, he actually selected 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:44.439 a Twinkie to be placed in the Millennium time capsule 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:48.720 in alongside the complete works of Louis Armstrong that works 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:52.000 at William Faulkner. The state flag of Hawaii. There's a 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.760 twinkie in there too, So in a hundred years people 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:56.680 will really be able to find out just how long 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.640 the shelf life is for twin case, how about half 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.320 a twink That was my Clinton that even though it 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.280 was a little yeah you got the thumb out your teeth. Uh. 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.119 So that is the twinkie defense. And um, Harvey mill 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.960 that was the Millennium capsule. Oh yeah, we've moved Millennium falcon. 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.080 Thanks for thanks for coming, Chuck. Uh should we talk 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.960 about the t w I n k I E S Project? 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.520 I can't wait? Pretty cool these got and this is 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.439 very right. Yeah, Rice University. It was kind of a 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.960 while ago. These students, as college students, are so fun. 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.679 It was called the test with inorganic noxious cakes with 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:40.240 a K in extreme situations, which spells out twinkies. And 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:41.679 let's let's go over a couple of things that they 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.119 did with twinkies. You tell them yours first, Okay, let me, 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.439 I want to do the water test. Uh. What they 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:50.919 wanted to do was, um, see what happened when you 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:54.280 put it twinkie in water? Straightforward enough, let's sit there, 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.640 and they said this, and this is on their website. 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:58.880 As soon as the twinkie was placed in the water, 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.399 it's swelled to a extimately twice it's normal size. A 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:05.960 quick tactile observation indicated that the twinkie immediately began to 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.560 lose its structural integrity. The color of the twinkie paled 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.080 to an off white color, while the water below the 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:15.600 twinkie turned a dark yellow brown, while the water above 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:19.200 the twinkie remained clear, which is interesting, and they showed pictures. 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:21.639 So basically they left it in there for forty eight hours. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.439 They said the creamy filling somehow oozed out of the 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.919 center and collected on the surface of the water, and 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.960 basically it turned into a lump of goo by the 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:36.720 end of it. So that was the water inclusion the conclusion. Actually, 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.399 I don't have the observation. I think the observation was 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.040 it turned into a lumpy goo of mess in the water. 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:46.040 You got my other favorite one, my second favorite dropping 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.600 off the building. Did you print that out? No? You 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.120 do that one? I got another one? Okay, Yeah. They 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.800 did the gravity test on two twinkies get to find 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:57.200 out whether or not Twinkies or subject to gravity. I 0:19:57.240 --> 0:19:59.479 think they would float up when then been cool. So 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.280 they released twinkies off the sixth floor and I like 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:06.280 the picture of the twinkie circle and drop. And they 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:09.240 said that upon impact there was a loud splut sound, 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:12.080 a small crack opened on one side of the twinkie. 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:15.399 There was no noticeable change in the control. So they 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:17.960 dropped the twinkie again, the same split sound was heard. 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.800 Then they dropped the same twinkie. Yeah, and this is 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.040 I love this line. The fissure in the side of 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:28.960 the twinkie widened again, no noticeable change, and basically the 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.360 twinkie and the control Twinkie didn't really completely split upen 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:34.480 It just kind of some of the stuff oozed out. 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:38.040 But they are affected by gravity. I did have the 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:40.960 conclusion in this one, however, the reaction on impact is 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.200 much smaller than expected, and they maintain maintain a good 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:46.920 deal of structural integrity from such a lofty fall. Yeah, 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.920 six stories, Yeah it's not bad. And my favorite actually 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.240 um was that they wanted to find out whether Twinkies 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:55.959 were sentient or not, and they decided to run this 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.360 test last because they had killed a lot of Twinkies, 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.520 as they put it, and they didn't want to know 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:04.200 that they were sentient while they were dropping him off 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:08.520 six you know story buildings. So they actually administered the 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.600 Turing test, which is normally used to test whether or 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.400 not a computer has developed an artificial intelligence. Right, if 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:17.680 you put a person in a computer in another room 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.000 or whatever, and you direct questions to both of them 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:24.440 simultaneously and both answer. If you can't tell the difference, 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.960 then the computer has developed artificial intelligence. So they conducted 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:33.240 a turn test or turning sorry test on a sophomore 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:36.480 at the college and a Twinkie, and they put them 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:40.560 behind a sheet you couldn't see who's who, and they 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:44.920 asked certain questions. Um, like they asked the twinkie in 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:49.000 the students. Yes. So question one was what would you 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:53.040 describe as the purpose of your existence? And uh, subject B, 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.440 which was the guy. Uh the answer was to wou 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:00.560 women and subject A in parentheses no answer, And it 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:03.080 just kind of goes on like that, like, um, they 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:05.639 wanted to know how the both of them felt about 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:09.399 their mother. Um, they did some free association, like the 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:14.359 word health prompted the answer sex for free association from 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:19.600 subject B. Um, the the word spam prompted no answer 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:21.879 from subject A, and so on. So they determined that 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.199 twinkies are not in fact sentient, that they do not 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:29.200 have intelligence. That is a relief. Wouldn't that be unnerving? Yeah? Yeah, 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:31.359 as a vegetarian, I think, or a vegan, you would 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:33.760 have to stop eating twinkies. Oh I'm not a vegan, No, 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.040 of course not. Okay, you're beefeater, Yeah, I am definite, 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:03.679 So chuck. Most twinkies ever eaten by a person? You 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:07.440 want to guess who it is? Uh, Jerry our producer, 0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:11.639 She's close. Okay, she's very close. Um. Actually there is 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:15.159 a guy who is eighty nine, and I believe he 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:18.320 lives in Indiana and his name is Lewis Browning. He's 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:21.600 been eating a twinkie day since nineteen. He's up the 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:27.520 twenty thousand wow dwarfed by the creator of the twinkie, 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:30.600 James Stewart. Oh really, he lived to be eighty eight 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:34.000 and he ate an estimated forty thousand twinkies in his life. 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:37.480 While not bad, not bad at all. So it hats 0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:39.600 off to both of those men. And I actually I 0:23:39.640 --> 0:23:41.639 was thinking maybe I should start eating a twinkie a 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:43.480