WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Time Crabs 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:11.240 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:15.440 Listener Mail. This is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:17.840 and it's the first listener mail of the new year. 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.319 It's two and the mail bag overflow it We have 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.479 a lot of messages to catch up on, so some 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.560 of these will go back a little bit into December. 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.800 But you know that's what we gotta do. Yeah, yeah, 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:38.320 let's do it. Okay. I think maybe I'm gonna start 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.239 with a message from Tom. This was in response to 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.599 the couple of episodes we did about the history of 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.800 time travel, thought and so a refresher on on what 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.600 Tom brings up. In particular. In these episodes, we talked 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:58.400 about how languages generally conceptualized time using metaphors based on space. 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.200 So we talked about time like it's a type of space. 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.360 You know, you arrive at home, or you can arrive 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:08.480 at four uh, And how for English and many other 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:14.319 modern languages, we picture that time, that spacelike time, with 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.319 the future situated in front of us, in the past 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.080 behind us. And in part two of that episode, we 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.280 discussed one uh one previous piece of listener mail, where 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.280 somebody got in touch to say that this spatial orientation 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:33.200 is reversed for Cantonese speakers. That for Cantonese speakers, the 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.400 future is behind you and the past is in front. 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.199 And so Tom picks up on this by saying, Hi, guys, 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:43.080 I just finished listening to Time Traveler zero part two. 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.119 The Cantonese example of a reversed spatial metaphor for time 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.800 orientation reminded me of something from an introductory book about 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.480 linguistics which I have attached. According to this guide, the 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:59.720 ancient Greeks oriented themselves in time linguistically, just as it 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.560 is in Cantonese. The past, being visible and known, is 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.880 perceived as in front or ahead, whereas the unknown slash 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.440 invisible future is behind. I have no idea if this 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:13.880 is still true of the Greek language of today. The 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.600 book is Linguistics, a Graphic Guide by Trask and maybelin 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.800 Thanks love the show, Tom. Uh So, I found this 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.440 really interesting, and I actually I looked this book up 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.200 and uh and found a PDF of it where I 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:29.680 could look at the couple of pages in question here. 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.560 And according to these authors, it is indeed as Tom says, 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:37.840 but there was another interesting thing about it, which is that, Uh, 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:42.160 at first I imagined that the distinction here was that 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:46.040 the spatial metaphor for time among future in front people 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.040 like like English speakers like us, uh, the future in 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:52.680 front people that their metaphors would be based on travel. So, 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.839 for example, if you're walking forward, the place you will 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:59.519 occupy in the future is in front of you, Whereas 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.680 whereas I assume sort of the difference was that future 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:07.440 in back people would not be thinking about travel or movement, 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.960 but instead would have spatial metaphors for time based on 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.200 looking at things in space rather than moving through space, 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.520 in which case it totally makes sense that the future 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.760 is hidden behind you in the past is visible in front. Yeah, 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:23.639 you know. And I think one of the things that's 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.280 interesting about this is if you if you think about 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:29.040 some some of the things we've actually discussed in the 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.399 show recently, if you think about the power of nostalgia, 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:37.280 if you you think about the power of um, of myth, 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.800 and you think about such concepts as a future shock, um, 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.000 it makes sense that the future would be the thing 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.520 overtaking us moving from behind, not the thing that we're 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:53.320 we're boldly and accurately moving into Oh well actually yeah, 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.480 in stating that, so you've gotten ahead of me here 0:03:55.560 --> 0:04:01.120 the uh behind you? Right? Um, So what I was 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.000 saying was I initially assumed that the difference was based 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.920 on a moving versus looking distinction, but at least according 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.040 to the way Trask and Mabelan presented in this book, Actually, 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:16.360 both ways of conceptualizing time as space have some kind 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.280 of idea of movement through space. It's just a question 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.640 of what is doing the moving. So in this book, 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.120 the way they present it is that while modern English 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:29.920 speakers imagine ourselves moving forward through time toward the future, 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.360 so the timeline is like a fixed space and we're 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:37.680 traveling through it, the ancient Greeks would have imagined themselves, uh, 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:42.240 standing in place and the timeline itself being the thing 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.839 that moved. So you're standing still, looking out over the 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.279 past as it recedes away from you, and the future 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:53.520 rushes towards you and overtakes you from the rear. Yeah. Yeah, 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:56.280 I mean, like I said this, this seems like it 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.040 would be more in keeping with the way a lot 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.520 of us actually experienced change, rather than how we we 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.600 think we anticipate change. I agree. I think that there's 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.000 a lot that's useful to that kind of metaphor, and 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.800 it's clear that many languages apparently still largely look at 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:14.360 it this way today. Uh so, yeah, how does that 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.719 change the way you think about, you know, planning in 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.200 your life and all kinds of things. If the timeline 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.120 is what moves like a river that flows around you 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.440 and you are standing there facing downstream, uh yeah, and 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.120 it raises all kinds of questions like, for example, if 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.240 the ancient Greeks, if some ancient Greek author had come 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:35.640 up with the idea of a time machine, would they 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.120 be likely to think of that as a vehicle like 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.840 a you know, a chariot that travels through time. Maybe not, 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:43.920 I mean maybe they'd be more likely to I don't 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.480 know how they conceptualize it's something that that changes the 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:50.479 flow of the river or something. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.599 mean we would have to to think, I guess about 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.880 the what sort of of of metaphors they would lean 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:00.279 heavily on and thinking about time And so in action 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.719 to this, I started looking around for other examples of 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.719 of other languages that think about time like this with 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.520 the future in back in the past, in front. And 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.120 I did find some other examples. So, for example, I 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.200 came across a book chapter by a German, a syriologist 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.719 named Stephen M. Mall. I don't know much about him otherwise, 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.279 but in this book chapter he at least talks about 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:26.000 how ancient Mesopotamian languages like Acadian and Sumerian did the 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.880 same thing. They framed time as the as situated with 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.760 the past in front of you and the future behind you. 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:36.960 And in this chapter Mall links this two elements of 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:40.520 ancient Mesopotamian culture, which he claims were strongly focused on 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:44.360 the past and on tradition. And I also came across 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.440 a claim where I wasn't able to hunt down the 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.080 original source of this, So so I'm not a certain 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:53.080 about it, but at least the claim that some Pacific 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.480 island people's also conceptualized the past is in front and 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.359 the future behind. Yeah, and come back to you know 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:01.760 what one of them we're talking about in those episodes, 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.880 the idea of mythic time, you know Alioti's treatment of 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.720 of mythic time. Uh, you know, it would it would 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.000 make sense. You have these ancient cultures that are that 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.320 are that are more focused on what came before the 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:17.240 important time that birthed what we are today. So one 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.480 thing I would be really interested in now, and in fact, 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.440 i'd be kind of surprised if somebody hasn't already done 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.800 this work and I just haven't come across it yet, 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:29.040 would be sort of establishing a family tree of of 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.520 spatial time conceptualizations, because we have pretty good ideas of 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.080 what languages are descended from which ancestral languages today just 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:39.720 kind of like we can make family trees for organisms, 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.720 you know, And so I would be interested to see 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:47.320 the historical flows of like where different spatial time metaphors 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.720 come from and how they trickle down into the different 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.680 language groups today. Do any of these, uh, languages or 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.240 cultures have more of a crab based idea of time 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.679 that you're moving sideways? And yeah, I'm for the president. 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.280 What a perfect call back? Yeah, great question. I don't know. 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:11.680 All right, here's when it comes to us from Josh 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.000 Josh rides Hi. Guys, first, you three are my pandemic 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:19.520 survival kit. This cannot be overstated, neither can the gratitude 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.320 I feel now. It seems to me that the timing 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.720 of time travel machines corresponds to the fact that machines 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.840 were in fact responsible for time dilation. If your friend 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.560 lives a day's horse ride away, and now a train 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.040 or car can get you there in a couple of hours, 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.240 the machine has essentially transported you back in time. You 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.760 leave in the morning and somehow arrive in the morning 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.480 instead of that night. One can imagine someone pondering this 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.560 at the time to think, what if machines get better 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.120 and better at this trick until you were arriving before 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.120 you have even left. The speed of travel has decreased 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.760 the association between space and time. Imagine what would happen 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:00.719 if someone built a shiny met a box that could 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:06.000 transport you at eight miles per hour. Thanks Josh, Yeah, 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.240 I think that's a very plausible idea about where a 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:11.320 lot of these time travel stories come from in like 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.480 the late nineteenth century. Now we know that there were 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.040 some time travel stories before them, but it really picks 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:22.160 up with time travel via a device or machine in 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.600 like the eighteen eighties and nineties. Yes, yeah, so you know, 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.080 I have to admit any time I'm on a long 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.280 flight that goes across time zones, I can't help but 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:34.839 think about time travel a little bit, you know, you 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:36.600 know the idea that you might get on a multi 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:41.520 hour flight, but due to time zone shenanigans, you're actually 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.880 only traveling, you know, like maybe one hour or two 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.440 hours through clock time. Then don't get me started about 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:52.600 flying backwards across the International day line or wait, is 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.240 it forwards or backwards? That makes I'm not sure, it 0:09:55.320 --> 0:10:04.480 depends if you're flying Greek air or not. All right, 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:08.640 let's turn to some messages about music and memory. So 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:13.760 we got a number of messages about different musical mnemonic 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.520 devices that people learned in school, since that came up 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:20.200 in the episode, about what whether or not music helps 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.960 people memorize verbal information, and if it does do that, 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.439 how does it do that? What why, and how does 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.559 it work? So I'm not going to read all these, 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:30.760 but I did want to know that long time correspondent 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:32.880 Jim in New Jersey got in touch to say that 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:37.120 when he was in school, he learned a great little 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.600 little sing song verse about how to how to learn Latin, 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.920 and it included all of like conjugation and declension and stuff. 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:46.839 But I wanted to read another one. This one comes 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.640 from John John says, Dear Robert and Joe. Just a 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:52.880 few minutes into your episode on music and memory, a 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:57.080 very particular tune popped into my head. Pop Goes the Weasel, 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.880 except the lyrics weren't those of the nursery rhyme, but 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:04.840 the variables of the quadratic formula. If you'd like to 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:08.280 sing along, all over to A is the replacement lyric 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.319 for Pop Goes the Weasel? Uh? Can I sing this? 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.000 Or is the let's see as Pop Goes the Weasel 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:18.400 under under copyright enforcement. I think you're probably okay. Isn't 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:24.000 this like fair use or educational? We're gonna the big 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.960 Pop Goes the Weasel? Lawyers after us. Okay, So I 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.480 think it would go something like this, Please don't pillory 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.679 me if I if I say something wrong here, Um, 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.120 it would be like X equals negative B plus or 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.400 minus the square root of B squared minus four A 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:45.280 c all over to A. I think you nailed it. 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.760 I think you nailed it. I think it almost fits 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:49.880 the rhythm. It's a little difficult with the minus four 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:54.920 A c Unlet's I misunderstood that somehow. Anyway. John goes 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.760 on to say, my only remaining memory from this particular 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.080 high school math classes. That is, the teacher singing the 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.520 equation to the class, then the class responding with laughter 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.640 over its absurdity, and then the teacher's assurance that we'd 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:12.040 never forget the quadratic equation again. Well, nearly two decades later, 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.960 the jokes on us. Uh, thanks for being my second 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.960 favorite podcast in my Spotify one wrapped, but number one 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.320 in my heart. John, Oh, that's nice. Oh, and John 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.840 also says, ps, I can also still name all the 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.240 American presidents in order thanks to a song we were 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:34.560 taught in elementary school music and memory. It's a thing. Huh. Yeah, 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.440 I wonder what the tune was. I vaguely remember something 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:39.720 about that, but I don't think it's stuck with me. 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.120 So I've actually thought about this a good bit since 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.040 we did the music and Memory episode, like if music 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:49.679 does indeed aid with the formation of memory or the 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:54.000 with cementing verbal memories, Uh, why does it do that? 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.720 And I think I've got a pretty tentative take on this, 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.040 but obviously I'm still open minded about it. But I 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:05.400 think the two main reasons music probably helps people memorize 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.600 verbal information would be, first of all, something we talked 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.480 about in the episode, which is that? Uh? Which is 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:15.240 that music? The verbal content in music is structured, meaning 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.760 that lyrics have meter and rhyme, and they occur within 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.480 a regular structure, usually so like you know, you'll know 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.960 that the verse in this song has four lines, and 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.160 there this long, and then the chorus has this many 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:29.400 lines in there this long, and that structure is what 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.560 helps you complete a half formed thought or find the 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.680 next thought. So it might not be so much the 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.640 tune or the melody that helps you remember the words, 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.800 but the fact that when words are presented in music, 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.640 they're organized and structured in a way that helps you 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:50.320 fill in gaps. And then the second thing I think 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:56.160 is that you're probably more likely to spontaneously rehearse verbal 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.920 information that's set to music than you are too spontaneously 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.679 rehearse verbal information on its own. Uh. And and I 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.679 think this would tie into the idea that music is enjoyable, 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.240 Like we like music and when we and we want 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.840 to repeat it to ourselves. And so the pleasure in 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.720 the tune or the melody is like the inherent incentive 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.760 to sing it repeatedly to ourselves. And when you sing 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.520 it repeatedly to yourself, this has a side effect of 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:35.640 memory reinforcement through repetition and rehearsal. So that's my vibe. 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.320 All right. Well here's another one. This thing comes to 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.560 us from Matt. Matt says, Hey, Robert and Joe, with 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.360 regard to your discussion in your recent episode on music 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:48.360 and memory, I have an experience and some thoughts I 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:52.040 would like to share with you. First the experience one day, 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.280 when I was around thirteen or fourteen years old, I 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.200 was playing Metroid two on my game Boy while my 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.840 older sister was watching her then favorite show Dawson's Creek, 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.920 a show I was not particularly interested in by any means. Now, 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.320 this may seem like an odd, random fact to just 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:09.800 mention like that, but years later I went back and 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.080 decided to play the same game again, and wouldn't you 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.520 know it, when the music started playing, it was like 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.080 the show Dawson's Creek was playing again in the background. 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.560 I would even recall specific lines that I overheard during 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.480 that first play through. I thought you might find this 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:28.160 experience interesting, specifically because music seemed to be tied to 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:32.160 recalling information that I wasn't even paying attention to in 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.920 the first place. Anyways, onto my other thoughts. I was 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:40.600 thinking about one reason some may more readily recall verbal 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:44.200 information when put to music when compared to without could 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:46.040 be less to do with the music itself and more 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:47.760 to do with the fact that we generally enjoy the 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.400 experience of music far more than we do just hearing 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.080 words being repeated. I think it's safe to say when 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.400 we are engaged in something we enjoy, our brains are 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:59.280 also in turn more engaged than otherwise. More engaged brain 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:03.120 equals or retention. This brought on another thought. When we 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:05.520 try to use music in our studies, we typically have 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:07.920 some hand in the creation of the song we use. 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:09.920 I have heard that one of the best ways to 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.160 maintain a memory of something is to modify it in 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:16.280 some way in your mind, even as simply as restating 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.720 the information in a different way, such as thinking two thousand, 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.840 one thirty seven versus two one three seven. This is 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.000 essentially what we are doing when we are putting the 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.160 information we are trying to remember to music. It usually 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.680 involves some level of changing the phrasing or order of 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:36.720 the information to make it fit the music. At a minimum. Anyways, 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.480 love the podcast, keep up the fantastic content flowing into 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:46.120 my ear holes. Thanks Matt, Well, thank you, Matt. Uh yeah. 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.840 Regarding your point about modifying information to remember it better, 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.440 I've never looked into the empirical research on this, but 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:58.440 it certainly seems true from my first hand experience. Uh So. Obviously, 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.680 like you mentioned, the simplest version is just rephrasing something 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:05.639 and putting putting, say a an explanation or a summary 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.520 of some events or something into your own words. I 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:12.520 think definitely at least helps me remember it better. But also, 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.879 like you say, you know, putting something to a song 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.160 that that's doing something similar. You're forming like different levels 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.080 of connections with bits of information that seemed to help 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:24.720 but stick more. Another big one I think is making 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.760 puns about something like if you're trying to remember names, 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.800 if you make jokes about the names while you're trying 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.680 to memorize them, I feel like they stick a lot more. Yeah, yeah, 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.040 I mean another thing that it comes to mind is 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.679 like not Yeah, not can be a pretty complicated thing 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.120 to toutt h to to pull off. You know, there's 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.200 a lot a lot going on there. You're engaging your 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:49.879 you know, different memory systems here, and what do we 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.400 often do well, we end up um taking a little 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.200 narrative and applying it to it where we're not so 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:58.240 so much concerned about Okay, where's the left end go? 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.399 How do I what do I hold down this? No, 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.679 we talked about where does the rabbit go? And and 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.240 into what hole and so forth. What's the one Quin 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.119 says in Jaws that you comes out of the hole, 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.400 goes into the cave, goes around the poll, goes into 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:13.800 the cave again. Oh, that's a good one. I forgot 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.280 all about that part. Not too good, is it? Chief? 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.920 But as to the first half of your message, I mean, yeah, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:25.000 clearly it sounds like you're forming um memory associations between 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.919 between like a video game or video game music, and 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:32.760 then some other environmental content, in this case Dawson's Creek. 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.080 But yeah, I feel like I probably have memories like that. 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.040 I can't call a specific one to mind right now. 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.120 But if I were to to fire up the game 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:41.280 Boy I played in you know when when I was 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.119 a little kid, and hear that, uh, you know, super 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.359 Mario Land music, I'm sure I would do well. I 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.119 think what I would think of is like being hot 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.520 in the backseat of the car. Did they leave you 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:56.280 in there just like a long you know, long car rides. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.919 I think that was the primary Game Boy time. Okay, 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.280 but still I'm guessing like stuck to that kind of 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:06.400 um uh like, like like sweaty flesh, just just adhered 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.439 to the seat. They have to peel you out at 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.480 the end, still playing the game Boy. The Naga Hide, 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:16.840 the Naga Hide was was key. Oh yeah, yeah. Did 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:18.359 you know, by the way, I can't remember if we 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:20.440 were talked about this, did you know that the Nauga 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.520 Hide as a brand, had had its own mascot monster, 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.800 the Nauga Oh my goodness. I just looked this up 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.399 and no, I till this moment, I did not know 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.240 they had their own monster. But this is awesome. Look 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:34.119 at him. He's like a like the backside of a 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.679 Naga Hide chair. Yeah it's he's made out of Nauga hide. 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:39.879 But he's just all He's just a little toothy gritter 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.760 and he's a Naga, or at least that's what the 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:46.080 ad copy I'm I'm reading here is Naga the beast 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.920 from which we derive Naga Hyde. I I can only 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.159 imagine their extinct. Now, no Naugas were harmed in the 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:56.200 making of this Naga Hide. The company seems to still 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:57.840 be around, but I don't. But you go to their 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.800 website and there's no Naga monster aywhere, which seems like 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:03.520 a massive misstep. Well no, wait, there he is. He's 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:05.680 still on the website. I take it all the good God, 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.760 Oh my goodness, you can actually this. Maybe we'll have 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:10.720 to cut all this, but now I'm even more excited. 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:15.840 You can buy a Naga. They sell nagas. You're telling 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.520 me I can buy a Nauga. I have bought a Nauga. 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.560 My wife has bought for her. What color is it? 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:26.080 I think it's sort of teal. Oh nice, nice, good 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.600 Naga choice. Oh my goodness. This is one of those 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:31.680 moments where I feel like I've crossed over into another 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:35.160 dimension because this just seems like information I should have had. 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:38.840 I should have been been all about these Naugas. And 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:42.440 look at this, going to Naga hide dot com looking 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:47.600 at Naga Naga's for different seasons for oh my goodness, 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:52.159 that maybe this is what they do. Now you just 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:54.080 look at that cute toothy face and you think it 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:56.240 would not be so bad for my thighs to be 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:59.160 stripped of flesh as I'm peeled off of this creature. 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:09.320 Oh man, Okay, you ready for this next message about 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:13.440 time and crabs? Yeah? Bring it on. Okay, this comes 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:16.439 from Scott. Scott says, Dear Robin, Joe, I've been a 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:18.320 big fan of the podcast for several years and have 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:20.359 been looking for an excuse to write in. After a 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:24.159 recent catchup binge, I now have several first Towards the 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:26.960 beginning of the episode Time Traveler zero, Part one, Joe 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:31.000 seemed to suggest that the metaphor killing time wasn't especially 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:35.160 evocative due to it being an overused cliche. I refute 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:40.080 this stance wholeheartedly. Okay uh. To this day, I cannot 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:42.760 hear this phrase without bringing to mind the scene from 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:46.159 the book The Phantom Tollbooth where the main character Milo 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:50.880 explains to talk a literal watchdog that he is just 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:56.360 killing time, which naturally infuriates the canine chronometer. If you're 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.440 unfamiliar with the work, it is a strange, meandering journey 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.679 through the achning of a board child's curiosity and wonder. 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.359 I highly recommend it to young readers. I've actually never 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:09.000 read it, but I've heard of it many times. Yeah, 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:11.439 I've never read it either, though it's it's been recommended 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:14.000 to name um, and it's been recommended as something for 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.880 young readers. But I think my son read a little 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:19.080 of it. I don't. I don't know if he's stuck 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:21.200 with it. But we're about to get to the part 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:24.080 of this email for which we must bring out the 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:28.399 dishes of drawn butter, because Scott says. Secondly, in a 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:31.960 recent Listener Mail episode, another writer suggested that the tarrask 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:37.200 from Dungeons and Dragons was actually a Godzilla sized crab. 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:40.679 A little later, you were lamenting the giant crabs of 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:45.199 Dungeons and Dragons low intelligence score, and you wondered if 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.960 somebody had home brewed the crab monsters from Attack of 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:52.160