WEBVTT - STBYM Listener Mail: The Bog 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:06.040 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:13.119 Hey you, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. Listener Mail. 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:15.000 This is Robert Lamb. 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.160 And this is Joe McCormick again. Listener mail, of course, 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.159 is what it sounds like. This is the type of 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:22.319 episode we do where we get into the stuff that 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.160 comes into our email address. If you are a listener 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:28.400 to the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast, or your 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:30.680 fan of even any of our subshows. If you like 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:34.159 Weird House Cinema, you can write in any time and 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:36.920 you may get your message featured on a listener mail 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:40.519 episode like this one. 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Dot com. 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.200 All right, let's dig into the old mail bag here. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.400 All right, This first message is in response to our 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.640 series on Manta rays. Rob, would you like to take 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:20.400 this or should. 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.240 I sure I can do it? This one comes to 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:30.280 us from Graham. Graham says, Hi, Joe, Rob and the team. 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.240 After listening to your Manta ray episode, I had a 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:35.840 couple of very quick thoughts for you both. Joe, you 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:38.800 tried to recall a film with a glowing manta ray 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.720 tighte being. Could you have been thinking of the creature 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.560 in The Abyss? I seem to remember that being ray shaped. 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:50.240 Well, Graham, absolutely, that is exactly what I was thinking of. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.600 I was thinking of the I think it's sometimes called 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:57.200 the NTI, the non terrestrial intelligence in James Cameron's The Abyss. 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.720 This is, of course the sort of the top shelf 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.760 of was it nineteen eighty nine, the year of the 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.480 Underwater movies, where that we also got Leviathan and Deep 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.080 Star six and like all came out at the same time. 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.520 But this was like the biggest budget of them and 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:16.480 probably the most the most serious minded of them. This 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.400 was a James Cameron film that I don't know, I 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.360 think is remembered less than like the Terminator movies and 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.680 Aliens and some of his other stuff, but it has 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.000 a lot of virtues. There's good stuff about the Abyss. 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:28.160 Yeah, I've been meaning to check it out. Last time 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.519 I really got into nineteen ninety nine underwater films. I 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.679 don't think it had been released on Blu ray, or 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.240 if it had, it was just like standard blue ray. 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:37.680 And I think it's received a little bit better treatment 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.560 since then anyway. 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:43.040 But yes, Graham, I looked up this image and there 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.640 is one of the glowing underwater entities is absolutely manta 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.040 ray shaped. Rob. I put a picture of it here 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:50.880 in the outline for you to look at that. That 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.440 is one hundred percent what I had in mind and 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:54.440 couldn't remember. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:03:01.000 Yeah, yeah, it's very mantilike. Obviously they're jellyfish shades to 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.080 it as well. It's illuminated. It's great. I do not 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:09.000 really remember it that much though. Anyway. Graham continues and says, Rob, 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.760 have you tried bog Snorkeling? Could be a fun day 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:17.480 out for the family. Images attached all the best Graham 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:21.440 from the South Dorset coast in the UK and the 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.400 images here, And I believe these are now that I 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.600 look at the tag on and these are Getty Images shots, 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:32.200 and they are of people snorkeling in an English bog, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:37.200 so very brown water, not unlike the brown water sho'll 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.800 encounter in non bog environments such as many lakes and 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.560 so forth. So I've you know, I've definitely gone swimming 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.480 in waters this murky looking before, but I did not 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.119 even know that bog snorkeling was a thing. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.040 We talked about this in another episode, and I think 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.320 we were a little confused at first, like is this 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.240 a joke. It sounds contradictory, because I rob, you're the 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:03.360 snorkeler here. I don't know what I'm talking about, really, 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:08.440 but I assumed snorkeling was primarily a sight seeing activity 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:11.000 that like, while you're snorkeling, you are, you know, you 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.040 have the mask on and the snorkel on so that 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.960 you can keep your eyes fixed underwater and look around 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.280 and take in the sights of what's happening down there. 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.280 Is that the basically your experience. 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.080 That's my experience, that's the way we do it. And 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.760 I I like a lot of sunlight. I like being 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.160 able to see all the colors and if it gets 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.440 a little flolly, you know, I'm kind of like, well, 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:33.120 maybe it's time to get out of the water. But 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:35.080 I also have to realize there's a lot of different 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.000 types of snorkeling evidently, and a lot of different types 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.000 of diving. Like I hear when I go do these 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.080 these excursions, will end up chatting with divers, and I 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.320 hear about some of the crazy places some of these 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:50.240 divers go diving, and and so I'm surprised but not 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.080 but also not surprised that there is bog snorkeling. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:55.320 But so yeah, so if you look up bug snorkeling, 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.120 you will see people with snorkel and mask on, face down, 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.159 swimming in a trench cut in a peat bog and 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:03.760 rob if I can correct you, I think this is 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.760 not in England. I think this is in Wales. But yeah, 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.440 so it's in like there's one main place where I've 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.240 seen like the multiple videos of this happening. I don't 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.479 know how more widespread it is. It might be in 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.039 other places too, but in this like Welsh competition, they've 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:21.840 got this trench dug and it's just this gross looking 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.200 muddy water in the trench and people are snorkeling. They're 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.360 essentially racing, so that's the answer to like, why would 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.320 you snorkel in this bog. They're not actually seeing the sites. 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.760 They're not trying to like glimpse the life at the 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:37.919 bottom of the trench, because that would be impossible. The 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:42.240 water is totally opaque. It's a racing activity that seems 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.599 to be done with some lightheartedness, like it looks like 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:50.160 a cheese rolling kind of kind of spirit thing. The 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:53.880 people are dressing up in costumes doing interviews beforehand. We 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.960 watched a video of people who were doing I think 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.719 it was like the twenty twenty four Bog Snorkeling Chainchampionships, 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.640 and so there were people dressed up as shrimps and 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.440 people dressed up as Kermit the Frog, and one guy 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.520 who was like towing a big banana float. It seemed 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.240 only like half serious as an athletic competition and mostly 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.400 like a chance to get out and have fun and 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.719 do a kind of yurukyara spirit type activity. 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.480 My family and I recently traveled to Wales. Nobody mentioned 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:26.000 this to us, and we did not, of course think 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.159 to ask about snorkeling in Wales. But when you do 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:32.360 a search for Welsh snorkeling, this is the main thing 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:32.960 that comes up. 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.200 Yeah, I guess the Welsh coast is not known for 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:39.000 like its blue water coral reefs. 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:40.400 I believe. 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:40.520 So. 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:42.440 Now if I look a little deeper, I do see 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.000 some other things popping up that are not bog related. 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.640 So I think there is some scuba diving and snorkeling 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:52.240 in Wales that is not in a bog. But this 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.159 is a new area for me, so I'm gonna have 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:54.760 to learn more. 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:58.560 So to answer the question, is this a joke? No, 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.880 but it's jokey like it is a real thing that 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.160 people do. But it seems there's a lot of humor 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.400 involved in the in the doing of it. 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:07.880 Yeah, it seems gleeful. 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:10.120 All right, you ready for the next message? 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:11.600 Yeah, let's see what we are. 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:15.120 This one comes from Michelle. This is a response to 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:19.920 a long ago Invention episode on Spoons. I barely remember that. 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.640 Michelle says, Hi, Robert and Joe, I wanted to say 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.960 thank you for a probably unanticipated parenting tip from a 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.040 very old episode many years ago, I think during the 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:39.440 Invention days. During an episode on Spoons, Robert mentioned that 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.760 he has a competition between various items in his dishwasher. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:47.240 I have been listening since the five minute episode days 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:51.160 and had and have no idea why this particular tidbit 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.480 stuck in my mind, but it has proved extremely helpful. 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.840 My recently turned four year old seems to have moved 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.720 out of the phase of wanting to quote hell, but 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.760 it's gotten more interested in counting. I remembered the dishwasher 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.960 competition and have implemented it with my daughter, who will 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.600 now happily empty the silverware caddy to count forks, knives, 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.040 and spoons to see who will win. I'm starting to 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.160 introduce some simple math with it, like how many more 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:21.400 spoons than forks. It's not as much of a competition 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.520 now that it's hot an ice cream season has it, 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.200 but she still enjoys it. Thank you again for the 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:32.040 unintended parenting hack, Michelle rob I barely remember what this 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:34.439 is responding to. What's this competition thing? 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:37.280 Ah, this is the thing that I used to do it, 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:38.719 and I guess I still do it every now and then, 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:43.200 where in order to sort of get through the boredom 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.160 or tedium of emptying the dishwasher in the morning, I 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.760 will think of it as a competition which are there 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:54.400 more spoons or more forks or more knives in the dishwasher. 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:59.880 Whichever team has the most representation in the dishwasher has won. 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:02.760 So it's just the way of sort of keeping tabs 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:07.079 as I loove the dishwasher and mildly amuse myself with 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:09.880 who's winning. And then if you think deeper about it, 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:11.719 it's like you then you ask yourself, well, why did 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.000 the spoons win? What did we have to eat yesterday? 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:16.760 What did we have for dinner? Did we have a 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:20.160 dessert that required spoons? And so forth. We do use 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.680 a lot of spoons in our households. So on average, 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.480 team spoon was the winner, but occasionally you know that 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:32.160 the team knives would come out ahead, or even team forks. Yeah, 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.360 you never know exactly what's going to happen in this sport. 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:37.440 I feel like it would be boring at our house 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.360 because it would always be spoons. We just always have 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:41.280 more spoons in there. 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.600 It's just I prefer the spoon. I used the spoon 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.760 when I should use the fork. But I'm glad that 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.719 not only was someone else able to find some amusement 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.360 in this practice, but they were able to employ it 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:55.040 in their daily life. 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:59.240 In fact, I would say I probably used chopsticks more 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.679 than forks. I think my ranking would go spoon, chopsticks fork. 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.760 Yeah. Yeah, we do use a lot of chopsticks, and 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.199 I'm sometimes inclined to use chopsticks when some might think 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:14.120 I shouldn't. But it I don't know if Team Chopstick 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.240 ever won because that, you know, you have to have 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.120 to build up a lot of chopsticks. Really, I don't 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.080 know if we have enough chopsticks to beat Team Spoon. Also, 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:25.000 there's a I don't know, you can get really casual 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:27.840 and even cavalier whether you use of spoons. At least 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:29.800 I find myself doing that. You know, you get a 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.360 spoon out, single use and then he goes to the dishwasher. 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.000 You're cooking, you need to taste what you've been cooking, 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.720 while you just whip out a spoon, use it for tasting, 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.200 and now you know, I'm not going to double dip, 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:40.800 I'm going to put it in the dishwasher, and so 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.640 by the time I'm done, it's like that's five spoons 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:44.400 just from cooking. 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.120 Yeah, Rachel and I were talking about exactly this just 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.680 the other day, about how like we'll be cooking and 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.360 find ourselves in need of a spoon and realize we 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.480 just dropped a spoon in the in the dish pile 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:59.160 like four seconds earlier. I don't know, there's this habit 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.320 to instinct to get rid of it when you're gonna 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:03.320 need it again almost immediately. 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.199 You know. And I like putting peanut butter on things, 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:07.520 but sometimes there's nothing to spread it on. I am 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.040 not too proud to take a spoon, put it in 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.800 the peanut butter and then just have the peanut butter plane. 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.440 But again, I'm not going to double dip. I'm going 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:17.680 to get a fresh spoon, even if it means that 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:19.960 I'm going to go through five spoons just in the 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.200 course of a snack. And I'm not going to use 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:25.200 a knife. And what lick the knife? Gary oldman? Vampire 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:29.040 style bloody peanut butter. 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.400 All right, let's see. You want to get into some 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:34.440 of the responses about ice skates. 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.520 Yeah, let's do take your pick. All right, let's see, 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:40.120 we'd just start at the top here. This one comes 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.600 to us from Quinn on the subject of ice skating 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:51.120 on frozen lakes. In your ice skate episode, you pondered 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:55.080 about skating at a slower speed on frozen water bodies 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.080 because of a fear of going through the ice. 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.640 Yeah, we were wondering about that because we didn't know, 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:03.120 like if there is more of like a variable thickness 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.000 in the ice on a lake, and like, would there 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:06.839 be a danger that would make you kind of have 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.080 to tread more carefully, like slow down because you don't 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:11.959 know what's ahead of you. We didn't know because we 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.760 don't have experience ice skating on natural bodies of water. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.120 Well, Quinn chimes in here and says, most of the 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.559 time this is not a factor at all. Ice s 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.680 gets deep in cold places fairly quickly after freezing over, 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.960 and you can clearly see how deep it is, similar 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.880 to the way ice cubes crack when dropped into water, 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.719 but do not come apart. Lake ice cracks. If you 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.480 see the cracks go three inches deep, you're good to go. 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.120 Most of the time, it's more like ten plus inches plus. 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.080 Pickup trucks dragging ice fishing houses on the lake are 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:47.199 very reassuring. Pressure ridges can make local danger zones, But 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.559 I have skated for miles without such obstacles. I'm fairly 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.959 comfortable on skates, but lack sharp turning and fast stopping 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.439 skills displayed by hockey and figure skaters. So the wide 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:00.280 open spaces of a whole lake means I am not 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:04.120 impeded by slower ice skaters and constant turns that are 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.640 normal at indoor rinks, so I can skate faster. Lake 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.280 skating is not, however, easier. It is quite rare that 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.679 the ice forms without any wind. The result is little 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.960 ripples that you do glide over, but with a little 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:22.400 chatter that is not as efficient as smooth ice. Also, 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.040 it is common to have thin collections of snow that 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.599 you can usually skate through, but with more drag, and 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.640 occasionally those snow spots are deep enough to bring you 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.840 to a quick but manageable stop. Of course, there can 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.280 be exceptions to the normal. Once the lake had frozen deep, 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.360 then there were a few warm days with rain before 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.680 going cold again. The rain mostly smoothed out the lake, 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:48.600 but here and there were puddles that had not quite 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:51.600 frozen through to the base layer of ice. Hit one 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:55.120 of those and your skate breaks through The ice blade 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.760 then has to either rip through the top ice sheet 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.240 or come to a sudden stop. The ice would generally 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.800 not give way. If you were on one skate, you 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.480 could stumble through to solid ice, but if both stopped 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.800 at once, there was nothing you could do to prevent 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.000 going down. On a totally different note back on the 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.040 cotton candy episode, you commented that cotton candy is not 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:19.520 that great tasting, as it is always the same sickening 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.640 sweet flavor. There is a local vendor who shows up 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.720 at my kids after school events who has a full 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:28.360 menu of flavors. Not liking standard cotton candy that much, 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.560 I have tried both chaiki and earl gray flavors. Sweet, yes, 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:34.440 but quite enjoyable. 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.520 Oh thanks, Quinn. I'm honestly having a hard time imagining 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:40.280 a tea flavored cotton candy. 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.000 Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it does make sense 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:45.560 that it would still be sweet. I mean, I don't 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.400 think you can have anything but sweet cotton candy. 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:51.360 As it made of the sugar. 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:56.080 Yeah, having savory cotton candy, but but yeah, I hadn't 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.560 really thought about there being any additional flavor profile to it, 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:01.440 So I don't. No, I don't know if it's enough 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:05.280 for me to actually try cotton candy again. But I 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.840 don't know if there was somebody doing upscale bespoke cotton candy, 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.280 I guess I would perhaps give into the temptation cotton candy. 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:13.640 Earl Gray hot. 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:15.040 Oh. 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.760 But also thank you Quinn for the feedback on what 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.120 it's like to skate on lake ice. Yeah. Yeah, we 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.400 have no experience here, so that's interesting. And we have 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:27.560 another message on this subject from Taylor, who says a 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:36.800 subject line here the freedom of lake ice. Hello, Robert 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.520 and Joe. I enjoyed your recent episode on the Invention 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.360 of ice skating, just as I've enjoyed all your episodes 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:45.520 for the past six years or so. In the episode, 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.720 Joe speculated that a skater might feel more confident on 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:51.400 a rink than on lake ice because the danger of 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:54.720 thin ice is controlled. I have found just the opposite 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.480 to be true. I grew up in Utah, where I 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.240 only had access to a handful of ice rinks, and 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:04.640 these were always thoroughly congested with skaters. My experience with 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:08.840 ice skating was stalled permanently in that always remembering how 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.400 it's done zone, and consisted mostly of trying to stay 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.440 vertical and not run into anybody on the densely packed rink. Frankly, 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.400 I found ice skating miserable and never understood the appeal. 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.640 Then last year, my wife and I moved to Minnesota. 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:26.080 In Utah, I was a big downhill skier, but have 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:29.080 traded my mountains for lakes. I have had to find 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.600 a new way to stay active and enjoy the outdoors 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.840 in the long winter months. My wife and friends suggested 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.720 ice skating, and at first I was hesitant, having only 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:41.560 had my packed like sardines Utah rinks to inform my experience. 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.560 But eventually I relented and tried my first skate on 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:49.960 lake ice. It was a completely different experience. Without being 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.600 crowded by bodies on every side, I felt free to 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:54.800 explore my movement on the ice in a way I 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.840 had never been able to on a public rink. I 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.400 progressed rapidly past the plateau skill I'd always been stuck 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:05.040 at before, and experienced the euphoria of gliding fast and 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.359 frictionless over frozen water. Now granted, these experiences were on 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:13.359 well tested, thoroughly frozen lakes with little danger of falling 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.840 through the ice. Many lakes in Minnesota also have sections 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.880 conditioned by small hand pushed to Zamboni's to smooth out 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:24.639 the skating surface. But if you have never experienced skating 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.119 on an open lake and you have the opportunity to 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:30.159 do so safely, I would highly recommend it. I am 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.600 thoroughly snobbish about rinks now and will shamelessly say that 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.080 the experience doesn't even compare as always. Thank you for 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:39.200 filling so many hours of my life with your thought 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:42.040 provoking ruminations. I get a little spike of joy every 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.640 time I see a new Mainline or Weird House episode 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.840 in the feed, Thanks tailor ps. I think the big 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.879 factor here is the alleviation of social pressures created by 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.000 a rink. If you take a spill on a rink, 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.359 at best you embarrass yourself and inconvenience others, and worst 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.320 you injure someone else. But on a lake you have 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.600 enough space that messing up only means hurting yourself. That 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:09.440 freedom to fail allowed me to enjoy the sport in 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:10.879 a way I never could before. 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.760 Hmmm, Oh that's a good point. 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.600 Yeah, thanks Taylor, great perspective. I can totally see that. 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:24.040 Yeah. Like when I have I skated recently here in Atlanta, 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.440 it is not only the fear of falling down, but 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:32.960 falling into people or in front of people. And the 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:34.520 only kind of ringks, to my knowledge that we have 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.840 around here that we get during the colder months are 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.240 going to be just your basic going around in a circle. 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:41.640 And yeah, there are going to be a bunch of kids. 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:43.280 Many of them are going to be using those little 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:48.560 trainer props you know, which can is good. It helps 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.239 kids from falling down, but it also creates this kind 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.520 of like additional obstacle that you might crash into. 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.840 In my experience, and I've gone in circles before. 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:02.240 I mean it's going in circles is great once you 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:06.040 get it going though. Oddly enough, now coming back to Wales, 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.720 when we were when we visited Wales, we did see 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.520 some ice outdoor ice rinks there that were a lot 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.760 more elaborate, like almost they kind of reminded me of 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:17.480 some of the race tracks for hot wheels or whatever, 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.480 the motocross, Yeah, that sort of thing, and I was 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.959 really impressed. We did not really have time to check 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.240 it out, but I was like, man, I kind of 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.240 wish we had ice skating like this back home. All right. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.920 This next one comes to us from l and this 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.159 again is in response to our episode on roller skates. 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.960 The listener here begins by mentioning that they were listening 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:39.840 to our show. Then they listened to a different show, 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.919 and then they came back to ours, and they were 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.600 delighted to see that we had an episode on roller skates. 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.879 And they have the following to share. Personally, I remember 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.480 going to roller skating rinks as a summer camp excursion 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.600 in the very early nineties and always feeling a sort 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:00.879 of dread whilst attempting to skate upon tiny va. The 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.280 stopping mechanisms were always completely beyond my comprehension. Later, I 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:09.280 remember roller skating rink birthday parties being a mild fad 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:13.199 in late elementary school. I actually really enjoyed them because 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.719 I was then wearing far more intuitive roller blades, as 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.000 they seem to function more like ice skates. Anyways, the 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.920 main reason for my male is to bring to light 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:27.080 a weird Shakespearean reference. Towards the end of the episode, 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.320 you read a passage from Ja Harwood's Rinks and Rollers 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.680 in which he states these violent beginnings have violent ends 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.879 fifty eight to twenty. I include the time stampley the 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:38.119 detail this. 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:40.160 Are you a librarian well. 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.080 Or perhaps a podcaster? Yeah themselves. This is a reference, 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:49.720 perhaps unintentional, to Romeo and Juliet, when the character Friar 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:53.879 Lawrence says these violent delights have violent ends, commenting on 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:58.120