WEBVTT - Sticky Law

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of

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<v Speaker 1>the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all

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<v Speaker 1>of these amazing tales are right there on display, just

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<v Speaker 1>waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

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<v Speaker 1>Stop me if this sounds familiar. You are sitting at school,

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<v Speaker 1>paying attention to, or struggling to pay attention to, your teacher,

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<v Speaker 1>not really taking notes. Your hands wander across your desk,

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<v Speaker 1>feeling its edges, and then without thinking, sliding underneath the drawers.

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<v Speaker 1>Almost immediately, you find a lump down there, hard as

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<v Speaker 1>a rock, stuck firmly to the lacquered wood, like a

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<v Speaker 1>barnacle on the hull of a ship. It's a piece

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<v Speaker 1>of chewing gum that some other student planted there after

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<v Speaker 1>it lost its flavor. Maybe as recently as earlier this week,

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<v Speaker 1>or as long ago as the start of the semester,

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<v Speaker 1>you aren't really sure, but whatever the case, you are disgusted.

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<v Speaker 1>Chewing gum is just one of those things. It's commonplace,

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<v Speaker 1>but if you see it outside of its wrapper, it

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<v Speaker 1>immediately goes from being a candy to a nuisance. It

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<v Speaker 1>sticks to the bottom of your shoes, gets caught in

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<v Speaker 1>the grooves of your cars tire.

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<v Speaker 2>The fact that it inspired a.

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<v Speaker 1>Whole term of phrase, gumming up the works, says everything

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<v Speaker 1>we need to know about chewing gum's reputation. But if

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<v Speaker 1>chewing gum is an annoyance to us, it has been

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<v Speaker 1>a public menace to others. In nineteen eighty three, in Singapore,

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<v Speaker 1>the Minister of Foreign Affairs raised this problem before their

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<v Speaker 1>local government. It seemed that leftover gum was everywhere they

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<v Speaker 1>looked in the country, on mailboxes, street signs, public restroom,

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<v Speaker 1>to the point where it started to take a toll

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<v Speaker 1>on the very infrastructure of Singapore itself. The largest problem

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<v Speaker 1>occurred in Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit or MRT. Occasionally, chewing

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<v Speaker 1>gum stuck to the door sensors of MRT trains would

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<v Speaker 1>cause the doors to fail to close and the whole

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<v Speaker 1>train would be stuck at the station until someone removed it.

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<v Speaker 1>And even after it was removed, the residue would cause

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<v Speaker 1>problems of its own. Beyond that, chewing gum on elevator

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<v Speaker 1>buttons in public buildings also became a smaller version of

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<v Speaker 1>the same problem. It prevented people from going to their

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<v Speaker 1>destination unless they were willing to endure the indignity of

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<v Speaker 1>touching someone else's used gum.

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<v Speaker 2>Throughout the nineteen.

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<v Speaker 1>Eighties, the government of Singapore started to take measures to

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<v Speaker 1>control the literal and figurative spread of chewing gum. The

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<v Speaker 1>Singapore Broadcasting Corporation largely stopped showing advertisements for gum shops

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<v Speaker 1>near schools were instructed not to sell gum to students anymore.

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<v Speaker 1>But that was not enough, which is why on January

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<v Speaker 1>third of nineteen ninety two, almost a decade after the

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<v Speaker 1>Foreign Affairs Minister's proposal, chewing gum was officially banned in Singapore.

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<v Speaker 1>Anyone caught with it would be fine, and those who

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<v Speaker 1>manufactured or sold it could face jail time. Convenience store

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<v Speaker 1>owners had to get rid of all of their remaining stock.

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<v Speaker 1>And you probably don't need me to tell you that

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<v Speaker 1>this legislation provoked an immediate backlash. The public understandably felt

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<v Speaker 1>like this was an overreaction. Many people suggested that there

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<v Speaker 1>should just be harsher fines but no ban, but the

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<v Speaker 1>law remained on the books. In spite of the controversy,

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<v Speaker 1>though the law does seem to have worked.

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<v Speaker 2>In a year, average reported.

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<v Speaker 1>Cases of chewing gum vandalism went down from five hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and twenty five each day to just two, and because

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<v Speaker 1>of this, the band held firm from nineteen ninety two

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<v Speaker 1>until two thousand and four, where it underwent a sudden revision.

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<v Speaker 1>As part of a new trade agreement with the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>the government of Singapore agreed to relax the chewing gum ban.

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<v Speaker 1>Now there were carve outs for gum that had medicinal benefits.

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<v Speaker 1>This included a wide range of gums, anything between sugar

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<v Speaker 1>free dental hygiene gum and nicotine gum, but any approved

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<v Speaker 1>gum had to be approved by a doctor or a dentist,

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<v Speaker 1>and the chewing gum law remains in place to this day.

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<v Speaker 2>In its revised.

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<v Speaker 1>Form, Now it only really affects sellers of the product,

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<v Speaker 1>rather than those who just happened to be possessing chewing

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<v Speaker 1>gum or bubblegum. Tourists coming to the country with a

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<v Speaker 1>small amount of gum won't face any prosecution so long

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<v Speaker 1>as they dispose of it safely and not in a

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<v Speaker 1>public space. So if you're planning to go to Southeast

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<v Speaker 1>Asia anytime soon, Just keep this in mind. What you

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<v Speaker 1>may think of as a harmless candy might change legal

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<v Speaker 1>status on the plane over, transforming from a treat to

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<v Speaker 1>a public sanitation menace in waiting. Just a little something

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<v Speaker 1>for you to chew on. In February of twenty fourteen,

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<v Speaker 1>five finished divers were preparing to do the unthinkable. They

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<v Speaker 1>were standing on the ice at Pleura Lake in Norway,

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<v Speaker 1>cutting a hole in the surface and diving down below.

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<v Speaker 1>They weren't fishing or looking for treasure, though, they were

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<v Speaker 1>cave divers who wanted nothing more than to explore the

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<v Speaker 1>subterranean caverns connected to the lake. Now, before we move on,

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<v Speaker 1>there are a lot of difficult to pronounce finish names

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<v Speaker 1>in this story, and so to make it easier on

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<v Speaker 1>me and also on you to keep track of everyone,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just going to refer to them by their first names, Patrick, Yari,

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<v Speaker 1>h Vesa, Yari, You and Kai. Now they were a

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<v Speaker 1>group of male friends with many diving hours under their belts.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, Patrick and Kai had been the first to

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<v Speaker 1>discover the very caves that they were now about.

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<v Speaker 2>To act floor.

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<v Speaker 1>So they cut a hole in the ice with chainsaws,

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<v Speaker 1>checked their masks and oxygen canisters, and began the freezing plunge.

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<v Speaker 1>Patrick and Yari h went first. The others wouldn't follow

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<v Speaker 1>them for two whole hours, and this was to prevent

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<v Speaker 1>traffic jams in the caves and also allowed time for

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<v Speaker 1>any silt that was kicked up by the first two

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<v Speaker 1>to settle so that the following divers visibility wouldn't be reduced.

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<v Speaker 1>Patrick and Yari made their way through the two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty meter first passage of the cave.

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<v Speaker 2>This was the easy part.

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<v Speaker 1>Eventually the water gave way to air pockets where magnificent

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<v Speaker 1>limestone caves rose above the divers. They took it all

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<v Speaker 1>in and then prepared for the worst part. You see

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<v Speaker 1>now they would have to dive deeper than ever, a

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<v Speaker 1>straight vertical drop of one hundred and thirty two meters

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<v Speaker 1>below where they had started on the lake surface. They

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<v Speaker 1>dove down, and down and down. Eventually they reached the bottom.

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<v Speaker 1>At this point, the cave turns and begins to rise

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<v Speaker 1>back up, but the diver's ascent had to be very controlled.

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<v Speaker 1>If they rose too quickly, they would risk decompression sickness.

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<v Speaker 1>The effect where nitrogen bubbles build in the bloodstream when

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<v Speaker 1>pressure drops too quickly. But at these low depths, the

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<v Speaker 1>body is also working harder to maintain equilibrium, so carbon

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<v Speaker 1>dioxide is building in the bloodstream as well. Divers have

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<v Speaker 1>to remain very calm so that they don't breathe too

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<v Speaker 1>fast and increase the build up. Patrick and yari H

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<v Speaker 1>rose slowly, but after a few minutes, Patrick turned around

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<v Speaker 1>to realize yari H was no longer behind him. He

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<v Speaker 1>swam back and found that some of his equipment had

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<v Speaker 1>gotten stuck on the cave wall. The two divers were

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<v Speaker 1>staring into each other's eyes, trying to communicate. Yarih was panicking,

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<v Speaker 1>breathing too fast and using up his oxygen. Patrick tried

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<v Speaker 1>to give him more, but as yuri H swapped his mouthpiece,

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<v Speaker 1>he took in big gulps of water. Patrick watched in

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<v Speaker 1>horror as his friend drowned. Even more disturbing. He now

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<v Speaker 1>had to remain calm, acting like nothing happened, or else

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<v Speaker 1>risk his own demise. He had to continue the slow

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<v Speaker 1>journey to the surface another cave on the opposite side

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<v Speaker 1>of the tunnel that opened back up onto dry land.

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<v Speaker 1>Patrick eventually reached safety and waited anxiously for the.

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<v Speaker 2>Other divers to surface. First was Vesa.

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<v Speaker 1>He saw yari H's body and was able to squeeze past.

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<v Speaker 1>He didn't know what had happened to the others. Vesa

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<v Speaker 1>had risen too fast and was now suffering the effects

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<v Speaker 1>of decompression sickness. They had no choice but to head

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<v Speaker 1>back down to their camp. After waiting for what felt

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<v Speaker 1>like an eternity, they finally saw a headlamp emerge through

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<v Speaker 1>the dark and snow. It was Kai, diver number four,

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<v Speaker 1>but yari You wasn't with him. Yari U, diver number five,

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<v Speaker 1>had seen yari H dead in the tunnel, panicked himself

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<v Speaker 1>and also become stuck, and now both Yari's were dead.

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<v Speaker 1>Kai had turned around and come back up through the

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<v Speaker 1>cave entrance. Patrick was devastated. He refused to leave his

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<v Speaker 1>friend's bodies behind. The Norwegian authorities forbade him from going

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<v Speaker 1>back down, and in fact banned diving in the caves altogether.

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<v Speaker 1>But forty six days later Patrick arrived with a team

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<v Speaker 1>of dozens of support divers and his other expert diver

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<v Speaker 1>friend Sami. They set up camps on both sides of

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<v Speaker 1>the cave so that they could attempt the body rescue simultaneously.

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<v Speaker 1>They spent days before having support divers leave gas canisters

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<v Speaker 1>at different depths, and they also set up a decompression

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<v Speaker 1>chamber six meters down on one side. It was an

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<v Speaker 1>airtight chamber where they could rest and even eat underwater safely.

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<v Speaker 1>Patrick entered from the lakeside, diving down and finding Yarih,

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<v Speaker 1>the friend that he wished he could have saved. He

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<v Speaker 1>cut him loose and attached his body to a small

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<v Speaker 1>propulsion vehicle, and then continued the journey that Yarih would

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<v Speaker 1>have in life to the other side of the cave.

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<v Speaker 1>The next day, Sami entered from the other side, finding

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<v Speaker 1>yari You. He sent him to the surface as well

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<v Speaker 1>and retrieved any remaining diving equipment. It was a curious

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<v Speaker 1>case of friendship loyalty. In places like Mount Everest's bodies

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<v Speaker 1>are left behind all the time, but these Finnish friends

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<v Speaker 1>prove that amongst their countrymen, no one is left behind.

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<v Speaker 1>I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet

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<v Speaker 1>of Curiosities. This show was created by me Aaron Manke

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with iHeart podcasts researched and written by the

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<v Speaker 1>Grim and Mild team and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn

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<v Speaker 1>more about the show and the people who make it

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<v Speaker 1>over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find

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<v Speaker 1>a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book,

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<v Speaker 1>available in bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook.

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<v Speaker 1>And if you're looking for an ad free option, consider

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<v Speaker 1>joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without

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<v Speaker 1>the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and

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<v Speaker 1>sign up over at patreon dot com slash Grim and Mild,

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<v Speaker 1>and until next time, Stay curious, m HM.