WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Fire Burn and Caldron Bubble 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.280 My Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:14.159 your Mind. Listener mail. My name is Robert Lamb and 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:16.840 I'm Joe McCormick, and it's Monday. So we're bringing you 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.440 some messages that have come into the show mailbox over 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.160 the past few weeks. Let's see, we are still getting 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:25.440 messages about the vegetable lamb of Tartary. People never give 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.760 up on that one. Lets people love the vegetable lamb. 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.920 People love it. They're constantly coming up to us saying, 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.760 why aren't we getting more vegetable lamb? Uh? Rob? Do 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:37.560 you want to do? This? One? From me? In or sex? 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:47.240 Dear Robert and Joe, I'm about six weeks behind on episode, 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.040 so apologies if someone already wrote in about this, but 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:52.159 I was listening to your episode on the Lamb of 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:54.800 Tartary and it was reminded of a group of plants 0:00:55.200 --> 0:01:00.080 that does grow itself an animal. The ophrisk genus of 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.480 orchids are known as b orchids, and each one grows 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.760 flowers that are little replicas of the female be or 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:10.200 other pollinator. The flowers not only look and feel like 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.720 the female, but also release the sex hormone of fertile females. 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.559 This fac similar lures in males to try to mate 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:22.000 with the flower, thereby transferring pollen and fertilizing the orchid. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.600 Each species of this orchid is adapted to lure in 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:30.479 males of only one particular pollinator species, though rarely individuals 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.320 of a closely related species will be duped as well. Amusingly, 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.920 males do eventually learn to distinguish between the flowers and 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.880 true females of their species, so it tends to be 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.360 the younger, inexperienced males that are tricked. It actually makes 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.400 me feel a little bad for it. This is obviously 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.400 a far cry from the fully functioning mammal on a 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:54.000 tether of the lamb of chardary, but is nonetheless a 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:58.279 fascinating example of very specific evolutionary pressures causing a plant 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.720 to grow a kind of animal. It's stem as always, 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:03.880 thanks for your wonderful show, and please keep up the 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.320 good work. I well, that is ah, that is a 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.960 great example. Ian and actually, um, I while we were 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.520 recording those episodes, or maybe shortly before, I went to 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.800 the Atlanta Botanical Garden and I was walking around like 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:21.079 looking particularly at ferns, thinking I might see some sort 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:25.000 of wooly mass that resembles a sheep, but also looking 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.600 at a lot of orchids, and yeah, there's so many 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:32.120 fabulous um forms in the orchids. Uh some that at 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.680 least to the human imagination may look like like little 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:40.320 creatures or a little little humanoids little angels at times. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.000 And yeah, this is a great example of of a 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.080 a targeted uh mimicry that is employed by the flower. 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:50.240 Rob do you know about the orchid that looks kind 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.000 of like a sinister clown? I don't know this one. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.200 It looks kind of like like the violator from Spawn 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:03.480 or something, So look up uh Ophrius ariadne or the 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:08.760 species name is A r I A d in a E. Oh. Yeah, 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.080 this is this is interesting looking. I don't know. I 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.120 don't get as much of a spawn feel from this 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.800 as more it looks like some sort of uh A 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:21.480 fluffy winged Pokemon type of creature. Okay, but I like it. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.200 I mean, I guess it depends exactly how the pattern 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:26.200 works out and if you squint when you're looking at 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.600 it and stuff. But I can sometimes see like a 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.000 like a like a mean looking kind of rotund clown 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.440 that's telling me I'm going to go to hill. I 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:39.480 don't know. I see like a slightly burly little fella 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.520 with very fuzzy arms or wings. H it almost looks 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.240 like I can see two eyes for sure, and almost 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.240 kind of like a beak going on there. It's kind 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:51.320 of making a Muppet face like kind of you know 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.320 when when Kermit the Frog is a little perturbed like that, 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.720 kind of like scrunched in face. Oh yeah, I know 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.080 what you're talking about, the kind of when the when 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.200 the puppet bind. Yeah, oh one o. The But the 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:08.640 clown orchid is in the same genus, the Ophrius genus, Okay, yeah, yeah, 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:10.960 Well it's a it's a remarkable looking specimen. I don't 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.000 know that I've seen one in person, though, to be clear, 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.520 I don't think it's officially called the clown orchid. That's 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:17.800 just what it looked like to me. All Right, Well, 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:22.760 we've we've got the last of the vegetable Lamb listener 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.040 mail out of the way. What's next on the on 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:29.120 the schedule? Here's so so many listeners got in touch 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:34.520 about cauldrons, uh, specifically about our segment on the ceramic 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:39.760 cooking cauldrons of the Joeman culture and prehistoric Japan. Now 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:44.000 you remember these these were ceramic pots that were used 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.400 for cooking by these hunter gatherers who lived in Japan. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.560 Uh and these pots had intriguing features. For example, they 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:55.800 had decorative textures that were made by pressing ropes into 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:57.960 the wet clay um, so you see kind of a 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.600 fibery texture along the the outside of the finished pots. 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:07.000 But also a mysterious fact that we discussed was that 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:11.600 the earliest pots in this pottery school appear to be 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.880 rounded on the bottom rather than flat. So these were 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.159 cooking vessels that would not stand up by themselves on 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:27.120 a flat surface. So onto the messages addressing that this 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.400 first one comes from Cat, and she says, just listen 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.880 to episode one of Cauldrons, and I have some clues 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.680 to throw your way regarding questions you posited in the episode. First, 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.840 why were the earliest cauldrons rounded rather than flat bottomed? 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.919 Speaking as a crafter, I answer for strength. Angles in 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:49.240 pottery are weak points and frequent points of failure. Speaking 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.400 as a cook, I answer for evenness of heating throughout 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.760 the same reason why Chinese and Japanese cooking still makes 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:57.880 use of the walk, you can get a lot more 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.360 control of temperature in a rounded vest. All speaking as 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.360 someone who has to wash her own dishes for ease 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:08.520 of maintenance, food scraps don't have corners to cling in 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.200 after the cooking is done, and so the pot can 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.920 last longer before the accumulated residue of previous meals begins 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:18.440 to be evident in the background flavor. And speaking as 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:23.320 someone who backpacks portability and travel security, you can stick 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.160 a rounded pot upside down on a backpacks protrusion and 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.000 be reliably sure it will stay there without needing to 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.920 be tied down or risking the weak point of some 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:36.040 kind of handle. That last point is really interesting, Cat, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:39.279 because as we talked about it, you might have expected 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.279 that pottery was invented by people who had already settled 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.760 down into a stable like uh fixed existence in geography 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.800 and started practicing agriculture. But no, the evidence is that 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:54.400 the Joman culture was making pottery for cooking in while 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:59.120 they were still hunter gatherers. Cat continues, Also, I would 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.560 like to know if the upper rims of these really 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.839 ancient pots have been found or not, because it could 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.280 well be that they were hung or suspended over fires, 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.520 as later metal cauldrons came to be, in which case 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:15.280 the rounded bottom definitely allows for even heating throughout the contents, 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.240 as opposed to the scorching that a flat bottom pan 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.520 gives when hung over fire. This is me speaking as 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.960 a camp cook, by the way. Next, I want to 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.920 deposit a scenario. A tribe of gatherers makes their seasonal 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.680 camp on a river bed in a fertile valley. In 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.000 the months since they were last there, the river has 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.520 flooded somewhat, and they discover that the hollow pit where 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.000 they had made the communal fire they kept going for 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:43.280 months to ago last year was sort of washed out 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.680 by the current. But here's the thing. The clay bottom 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.680 of the pit where the coals had sat that earth 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.120 is still solid, hollowed out on one side, but like 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:56.360 a rounded rock when someone knocks on it with their knuckles. 0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:59.760 Now imagine that this happens every year when they come back, 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:02.800 a new fire pit in the bottom land clay, a 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:06.160 new hollowed out rock where no such rock existed before. 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.600 Maybe eventually a flood that's a little tamer than the 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:12.800 others and only washes out half of the hard baked clay, 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.560 and suddenly some woman for it's reliably the women spending 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.200 all of their days that these fires after all, works 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.680 out what happened and maybe how to do it on 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.800 purpose too. In short, my theory is that the first 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.680 pottery came about, as most all human innovations did, just 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.680 to see if a natural effect could be done deliberately 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.520 the uses to which they would put it. I figured 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.720 that happened later once the new hardened hollow rock that 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:42.040 the first lady crafted came out of the fire intact. Anyway, 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.520 thanks for your time, for your fascinating research, and for 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:48.520 your podcast. Cat, very good points. Cat, Yeah, yeah, I 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.720 love all the personal experience with with camp cooking and 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.280 stuff as well. I can't remember did we talk about 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.560 the idea that these pots may have been suspended over 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:00.520 fires by by ropes or fibers or leather straps or 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:02.160 I don't. I don't know if we got into that 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.640 as much, but certainly when you when you look back 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.920 at the early history of this style of cooking, yeah, 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.840 you're you're dealing with like even even if even in 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:16.480 the period before h pottery, Yeah, you're talking about either 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.239 cooking in the ground or cooking suspended above the fire, etcetera. 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.800 So very much something to take into account. Yeah, that 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:25.719 that does seem like a possibility to me, and that 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.160 that would explain why it could be rounded on the bottom, 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.280 or it could be that it sat in some kind 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:38.840 of holder. All right, This next to when it comes 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.720 to us from Sean. Sean writes, Hi, Joe and Rob 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:45.800 just finished The Cauldron Part one episode and had three thoughts. 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.080 Number One, you mused about the transition from open flame 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.440 cooking to wet cooking. Perhaps there was a noticeable decrease 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.400 in sickness and death among those whose liquid was solely 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:59.040 or mostly from soup or broth, since boiling would kill 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.600 microbes in the water, So perhaps it was adopted partially 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.720 because it seemed to be safer. That's an interesting idea, 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.280 and so my brain immediately went to, like, well, wait 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.920 a minute, if you're eating soup, does that necessarily mean 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.160 you need to drink less water? But then I guess 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.680 I'm probably thinking about like a soup that is salty 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:22.640 to a modern canned soup extent. If if you're eating 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.679 like suit you know, largely liquid based food, soups and 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.359 broths that are not heavily salted. Yeah, that's probably replacing 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.960 a huge amount of the need for water you would 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.880 need to drink otherwise. So yeah, you could be essentially 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:40.600 turning your water needs into into mostly or entirely cooked water, 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.120 which would lower the risk of water boarn illness. Yeah. Plus, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:45.880 I think we touched on like you go into the 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.960 history of tea, for example, and you know, you go 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.400 back far enough and the line, the dividing line between 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:56.840 drink and soup and broth becomes a little less clear. Alright, 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:00.000 Seawan's point number two. Have you heard of the iron 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.599 and fish? You can read about it on Wikipedia, But 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:08.000 essentially impoverished Cambodian women are anemic. Studies were conducted that 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:12.160 found adding an iron ingot to the soup increased iron, 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.120 but it wasn't until the fish shape, supposed to be 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:19.520 lucky was widely adopted. Not exactly rock cooking, but that's 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:21.679 where my thoughts went. So I guess the the idea 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.559 here is a piece of iron shaped like a fish 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:27.160 that goes into your pot. Yeah, I looked this up. 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.240 So this would be a situation where when you're making 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.280 a soup, you put the iron fish into the pot 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.760 and it leaches iron into the food, increasing your iron intake. 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.679 And I haven't looked into this deeply, but just at 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:43.200 a glance, it looked like this was useful in helping 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.600 people whose anemia was related to dietary iron deficiency, but 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.400 it was not useful in helping people who's anemia had 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:51.600 other causes. It would be interesting to see if there 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:56.319 any studies out there about making like non food items 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.400 or sort of marginally food items animal shaped and effect 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.840 that has on our psychology. Like I think about the 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.839 Swedish fish, for example, the red candy that has shaped 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:10.000 like a fish does not contain fish. Uh if memory service, 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.760 it's actually vegan um, But there's something about it being 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:16.520 shaped like the fish makes it more okay. If it 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.120 were just shaped like a coin, I would be less 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.439 inclined to eat it somehow, and I can't explain why. 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.360 That is. You are right, I thought, surely the Swedish 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.640 fish contains gelatin, which would not be vegan, but I 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.280 looked it up. That is, you are right, it is vegan. Yes, 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.960 I've known vegans to swear by it. I'll still eat 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:39.560 the occasional Swedish fish, all right. And then point number 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:43.480 three from Sean. Lastly, Disney's The Black Cauldron does not 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.360 do justice to the books, but the art is wonderful 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.680 and the backstory is amazing. You can find lots on YouTube. 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.959 I went down the rabbit hole over a week or so. Anyway, 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:57.439 thanks for the fascinating topics and wide ranging discussions. Yeah, 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.240 I've never actually watched The Black Cauldron all the way through, 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.640 and I can't get the boy interested in it, and 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.800 I haven't pressed him hard on it because I've always 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.520 heard this that it's kind of a lackluster Disney film, 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.160 even though it does have some cauldron imagery in it, 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.600 and you have that with the Horned King that plays 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:16.679 an important role in it, that is a very cool 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:28.360 looking villain. Yeah, I've never seen it either. Okay, Ethan says, hello, 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.880 Robin Joe. I'm Ethan from Indiana. Longtime fan of the 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.560 show and listen to it almost every day. I was 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.560 listening to this this week's episode on the Cauldron and 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.080 the topic of stone boiling, and it immediately brought to 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.880 mind a video I had seen of about traditional nomadic 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:50.480 Mongolian food. In this dish called bodog, they cut the 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.120 head off of a goat gut the organs they don't want, 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:58.240 and then fill the inside of the goat with broth, vegetables, 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.440 and various other soup ingreedy. It's through the severed neck 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.720 of the goat. The final edition is a handful of 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.360 searing hot stones from a fire that are dropped into 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.160 the neck, which is then tied off to create a seal. 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.600 Once tied, they will shave slash skin the body, opening 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.320 up the neck every now and again to release pressure 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.920 or to stir the inside. In the episode discussion, stone 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:25.720 boiling seemed like such an ancient and bygone day method 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.160 of cooking, so I found it fascinating that it's still 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.720 being practiced in some regions and that this archaic method 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.800 has stood the test of time. Uh. And then Ethan 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.840 provides a link to the video says, thanks for the 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.920 fun discussions you've shared and I look forward to many more. Cheers, Ethan. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.560 So Ethan, I checked out this video and this is 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:46.320 really interesting. Yeah. So it appears to be a traditional 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.920 practice where you would take an animal like a goat, 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:51.560 and I think you would remove some of the some 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:53.920 or a lot of the meat and sort of trim 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:57.480 it up, and then you would place the meat back 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:02.520 inside the hide to stew, along with the vegetables and 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.240 the broth and the seasonings and stuff, and you'd seal 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.040 it up and then yeah, you you sort of singe 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.880 off the outside of the skin and then you serve 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:11.720 it up as a communal meal. You sort of cut 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.000 it open at a big table if everybody's standing around. 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:17.760 And I don't know how universal this practices, but in 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.840 the video that Ethan shared, there was an interesting thing 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:24.720 where the when the stew sack is cut open before eating, 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.720 all the people fish out the hot stones and they 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.480 distribute them to the guests and everybody holds them in 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.640 their hands, and they must still be pretty hot, because 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:37.360 they sort of keep tossing the hot stones, uh, tossing 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.200 them or passing them back and forth from palm to palm. 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.560 And it can't be certain, but it looks like this 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:44.520 is this is implied to be a regular part of 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.880 the experience of eating bodug, like it's part of the meal. 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:51.720 You'd feel the stone as a type of culinary experience. Yeah, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:59.360 very interesting. Well, thanks for writing in, Nathan. All right, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:01.760 here's another called rim message. This one comes to us 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.960 from Tyler Hi Robert and Joe. After listening to your 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:07.800 most recent episode on Caldrons, I was wondering if in 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.160 any of the research you have done on Chinese mythology, 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.480 you have run across the sculpture garden at Hopper Villa 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:18.880 in Singapore. Along with many scriptural dioramas depicting events in 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.240 Chinese mythology, there is an exhibit depicting many different circles 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.840 of hell Um. I had the opportunity to visit happar 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.480 when I was living in Singapore, and the whole place 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.360 is very strange and a lot of fun. Here is 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:32.040 a link to the site, but you may have better 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.680 luck getting a feel for the place through an image search. Uh. 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.120 And they do, in fact include this link, which is 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:41.880 h A W P A r v I l l 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.800 A dot s G and um. It is a very 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:48.000 nice website that yeah, it doesn't it kind of seems 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.080 to sort of gloss over the grizzlier details of the 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:54.440 of the of the of the hell exhibit, or at 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.400 least some of the photos you'll find it an image search. Uh. 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.240 Tyler writes, I have included a couple of photos I 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:02.720 took while there. I love the podcast and you guys 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.600 always do a great job, all the best, Tyler. One 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.320 of these photos captures an awesome turtle man. It's like 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.360 a turtle shell, like surfing on a wave, but instead 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:16.440 of a turtle's head coming out of the neck hole 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.600 is the upper body of a man. Nice. It looks 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.600 like there's some giant crabs in here as well. And 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:24.720 then there is looks looks like there is a large 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.480 demon with a man on a meat hook or skewer 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.159 of some sort, possibly dunking him into some sort of 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.360 a foul river or v This turtle man, though, does 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.840 not look like hell imagery. This looks like a blast. Yeah. 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.920 I mean, obviously I've never been to this. Uh, this 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.040 this exhibit, so I don't know what part of the 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.000 exhibit this is a photo from. This may be from 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:47.560 part of it that is not connected to the various 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.639 hells and is tied with some other mythology. But it 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.040 looks like there's some other sort of aquatic hybrid people 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.960 in the background as well. Yeah, this looks great. So 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.880 thanks to Tyler for writing in and sharing these images 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.400 with us. Yeah, this is a fascinating place. I think 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:04.600 I'd maybe heard of it in the past. Uh, But 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.479 like I said, I certainly haven't been there, but it 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:14.840 looks looks amazing. All right, let's see, maybe we do 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:19.800 one more about cauldrons, This one from Lee. Lee says, Hello, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.800 Rob and Joe just finished listening to the Cauldron episode. 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.320 The episode reminded me of a trick we learned when 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:30.359 in The Scouts boiling water in a paper cup a 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.960 regular paper cup. It can be waxed, but not plastic 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.280 or styrofoam, filled with water and placed in a fire 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.439 and will maintain its integrity while the water boils. We 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.919 took it one step further and placed an egg in 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.320 the cup of water before placing it in the fire. 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:50.440 The result was one hard boiled egg. The coup will burn, 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.120 but only down to the water level. This memory got 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.240 me thinking about early cooking vessels as you were talking 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.520 about them. I have no real support for this, but 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.360 please allow along. If early buckets for hauling water were 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:07.120 made from animal hide, they likely were bowl shaped, since 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.439 stitching a flat bottom would result in leaks. Handles to 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:14.280 facilitate carrying would likely result in draw string closure of 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.920 sorts to the top. Think a marble bag. If these 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.560 wet water bags were suspended over a fire, the water 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.280 could be boiled since the wet bag wouldn't burn. The 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:29.159 longish carry handles could hold the bag from the tripod 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.679 or other device and be long enough to keep the 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:35.320 handles from the fire. If this design carried over to 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.919 a vessel made of river bank clay, it could explain 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:41.919 the round bottom of early clay cooking vessels. Again, no proof, 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:43.960 just food for thought. Love the show, look forward to 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:48.800 every episode. Lee. Uh, that's interestingly, I had no idea 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.040 that you could boil water in a wet cup. I've 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:52.880 never tried it, and I don't know if the same 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.320 would apply to a piece of hide, but that it 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:58.800 seems to make sense that it might, at least because 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:04.159 I mean, obviously, one you introduce water into a heating equation, um, 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.200 you know that's going to water just absorbs so much heat. 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:10.600 I can see how it would potentially prevent the burning 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.239 through of a material that might otherwise be burned through 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.920 pretty quickly. Yeah, yeah, that's fascinating. Now I have to say, 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.680 as a as a former Scout and uh, the parent 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:22.600 of a current Scout, I don't think I have ever 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:28.120 conducted this, uh this this wax paper cup egg experiment, 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:33.200 but I trust the listener's experience here. I'll have to 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.560 try it myself. I just looked it up. Can you 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.080 boil water in a paper cup? But the the Internet 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:43.000 seems to be pretty unanimous. Yes, you can, basically because 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.439 the ignition temperature of the of the paper is going 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:48.480 to be higher than the boiling point of the water, 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:51.920 so that the heat that's going into the the wet 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:55.840 bottom of the paper cup is just continually heating up 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:57.800 the water. I think it would have to evaporate the 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.200 water before the cup would be able to get hot 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.959 enough to catch on fire. All right, Well, we appreciate 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.800 everyone everyone who wrote in about our Cauldron episodes, and 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.320 I'm assuming we'll get some more listener mail related to 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:15.919 those episodes plus the subsequent Cauldron episodes. Uh so, right in, 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:18.919 let us know what you think, what you've experienced, what 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:23.320 you've heard. We'd love to hear from you. As a reminder, 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.280 listener Mail episodes run most Mondays, and then on most 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.440 Wednesdays we do a short form um episode that is 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:32.840 an artifact or a monster fact. On Tuesdays and Thursdays 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:34.960 we do our core episodes of stuff to Blow your mind, 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:37.480 and on Friday's we do weird how cinema. That's our 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:39.680 time to set aside most serious concerns and just talk 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.040 about a weird film. You'll find it all in the 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:45.280 Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed huge thanks as 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:49.200 always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:50.919 you would like to get in touch with us with 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:53.480 feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:55.560 topic for the future, or just to say hello, you 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.200 can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:08.280 Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:11.080 of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:13.960 visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:15.359 you listen to your favorite shows.