WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Yearly Dad Joke Inundation 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:11.160 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:15.600 Listener mail. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.120 And it's been a lot of groans over here lately 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.960 because Carney, our loyal mail bot, has now been procedurally 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:26.320 generating dad jokes, and they are not very good. Rob 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.400 did you catch that most recent one? Uh? Yeah, I did, 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.159 you know, but you know, it may not have been funny, 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.760 but it's it's endearing in a way, you know. Yeah, 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.280 so so he It's all stuff like what do you 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.000 call a turkey that goes to space? I don't know. 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:41.520 What do you call a turkey the coast of space? 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:46.519 Poo poo in the toilet? The answer? M hmm, okay. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.640 I have questions about the logic behind that one. But 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.599 you know, that's the thing about artificial intelligence is that 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:55.520 you let it run wild, and it begins operating on 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.080 a level that we can no longer connect with. That's right. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.440 You don't know if it's too stupid to be funny, 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:02.520 or if it's so far over your head that you'll 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:08.480 never catch up. Could be either way. Uh So, Luckily, 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.720 Carney is still obeying his basic programming. He is still 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.920 bringing us listener mail, and of course everybody out there, 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.160 you're still sending us listener mail related to our stuff 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:21.199 to blow your mind. Episodes are artifact episodes are weird, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.000 how cinema episodes. So once more we have a selection 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.959 of listener mail to consider. That's right, We've got the 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:31.040 seasonal yearly inundation of Dad jokes and uh, and we're 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:32.920 very excited to get right into them. Rob do you 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:35.040 want to start off? Let's see, should I read this 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.920 one from Brett about the Nile inundation? Go for it. 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.839 Brett says, Hello, Joe and Robert. I hope this note 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:47.880 finds you both well. I just wanted to write a 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.440 quick note about the Nile episode and how you guys 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.800 were able to take it to a biochemical angle. You 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.640 have had Daniel whiteson on your show before, and he 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.200 has mentioned a quote about the ocean that I forget 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.520 in detail. It goes something like, we left the ocean 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.120 when we learned to take the water with us. Now 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.680 it seems we should say we left the water's edge, 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.200 not necessarily the ocean. H Now, I could be wrong 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.800 about this, but I think we have had Daniel Whiteson 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.800 on the show before. Daniel Whiteson is a physicist and 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.120 one of the hosts of Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe. Uh, 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:21.880 and Daniel was a great guest on the show. But 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.480 unless I'm mistaken, Brett, I think you're actually remembering us 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:29.160 talking about Brian Green's book Until the End of Time, 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.440 where Green in the book is explaining the role of 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:36.760 water in biochemistry and he quotes the Nobel Laureate Albert 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.880 sent Georgie, who said, quote water is life's matter and matrix, 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:44.680 mother and medium. There is no life without water. Life 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:46.920 could leave the ocean when it learned how to grow 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.600 a skin a bag in which to take the water 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.680 with it. We're still living in water, having the water 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:56.000 now inside. I should say it would be it would 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.840 be easy to confuse these two interviews since they occurred 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.840 so close together. Um, I remember we I think we 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.600 talked to Daniel Whiteson and then basically the next episode 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.119 of the next week was when we talked to Brian Green. Yeah. 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:11.480 I think that's exactly right, But but who knows. Maybe 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.920 I'm forgetting something that we talked about with with Daniel 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:17.440 that was very similar. But anyway, I think, yes, this 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.680 makes a good point that what synt Georgie was saying 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.040 is sort of true in a broad evolutionary sense, but 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.680 it's also a little bit too simple because as we 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.640 we talked about in the Nilon Inundation episode, Uh, you 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:32.280 can't just have a cell be a bag of water. 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.760 A cell actually needs to very tightly control and regulate 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.800 what happens to the water contents inside it because of 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.520 how dangerous water can be too organic molecules or I 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:46.280 guess especially the long chain molecules needed for life, like DNA, 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.440 RNA and so forth. But anyway, Breath's message goes on. 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.480 You mentioned organic chemistry and how water is the enemy, 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.600 which it can be for sure. As an organic chemist, 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:59.840 we try to use an hydrus meaning free from water 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.880 solvents and reagents daily because of the sensitivity of the 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:08.280 reagents to something as polar as water. Water causes byproducts 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.880 which we then need to remove. But this is more 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.200 about how reactive our reagents could be to one another, 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.040 which helps us design and synthesize drugs for disease. But 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.920 I'm getting sidetracked here. The reason I write today is 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.919 because of a basic process of life that all amino 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:28.880 acids undergo to form peptides. When two amino acids linked together, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.080 they form an amide bond from an amine and a 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.240 carboxylic acid, and the waste product of this step a 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.440 water molecule. As you can see, water is the essence 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.480 of life because it is derived from the process of 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.280 making life. It's very interesting. Our cells then had to 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.279 learn to regulate how much water was in the cell 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:52.880 as more and more peptide bonds were formed. But this 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.719 is at a very small amount relative to the size 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.800 of a cell. Please keep the twists coming. I really 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.279 enjoyed how you were able to start with crop growing 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:05.039 for food and lead it to how life might have started. 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.040 Definitely one of my favorite podcasts, and I look forward 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:11.320 to what you guys will discuss next. Cheers Brett. Yes, 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.440 our discussions are are are lawless affair. You never know 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.040 where they're gonna go, what we're gonna end up talking about. Uh, 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.679 it's very very free form. Some of the time maybe chaotic, 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.360 but I hope at least chaotic good one would hope. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.040 All Right, we received a lot of feedback from our 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:30.320 Dad Jokes episode, which we knew would be the case, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:35.280 given how connected people are to the topic. Either, you know, 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:37.960 parents making bad jokes are just bad jokes in general 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.360 and humor itself. Uh so we're gonna get into some 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:48.320 of these now. This first one comes to us from Mark. 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.880 Good evening, gentlemen. I hope this finds you well. I 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.360 loved your episode on dad jokes and thought I would 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.080 share one of my own creation. I am assuming the 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.719 rule of infinite probability predicts either some one has already 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:05.040 made it or will soon enough. Anyway, here it goes question, 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:11.840 what do you call a questionable toilet? Answer? A skeptic tank. 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.080 I hope you enjoyed my lame joke. Thanks for all 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:19.440 the knowledge. Mark. Why does Mark get a voice a 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.160 voice for a listener before? I don't know, just because 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.080 he's I don't know, good evening gentleman's tended to demand it. 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:32.360 So it just happened. Good evening to you, Mark. A 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:38.600 skeptic tank. Okay, uh okay, close, Yeah, yeah, I like it. 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.160 I think it'll work. I would tell it to my son, 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:42.720 except I'm not sure he knows what a what a 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.720 septic tank is. At this point. I'd have to first 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.160 school him in that then wait, wait a few days, 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.680 and then release the joke on him. Um, so just 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.960 educating him as a precursor to sharing humor. Dad, why 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:59.599 the six hour lesson about septic tanks? Just wait until Thursday. 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:07.920 It'll come together, alright. This next message comes from Jim 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.040 in New Jersey. Jim says Robert and Joe, the purpose 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.400 of dad jokes is to embarrass your adolescent children in 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.560 front of their adolescent friends. If you can embarrass your 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.120 children in public from time to time, why even bother 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.320 to have them. Jim in New Jersey PS, I didn't 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.080 get the assassin joke until I listened to it for 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.880 the second time. Oh. Yeah, that one is rather tricky, 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:33.080 isn't it. Uh this is a good point, Uh, the 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.480 Jim raises, and I think one that I don't know 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.360 how much we've got into it, but I think this 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:41.200 does fall into the category of like the teasing joke. Um, 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.720 you know, the joke as a way of teasing. Parental 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.920 teasing as one of the categories of teasing that humans 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:50.240 engage in. Yeah, And one of the things we talked 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:54.080 about in the episode was the possibility that sometimes when 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.080 you make bad jokes at like an adolescent or teenager. 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.480 It can at least elicit some kind of noticeable reaction 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.920 from them when not much else does. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:11.160 all right. Here's another one. This one comes to us 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:15.960 from Sebastian Hi, Rob, Joe, and Seth for the recent 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:18.520 dad jokes episode. I just wanted to add a couple 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.480 of bits of information. The first is that in French, 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.160 or at least in Canadian French, the equivalent term to 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.760 dad jokes is uh and forgive me my I'm terrible. 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:32.600 With the French uh le jokes demons uncle or um 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:38.120 or uh leblas de mon monacle, depending on your region. 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.440 This translates not to dad jokes, but rather too uncle jokes, 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.959 with the understanding that dad jokes in French are a 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.280 lot more brown and blue than in English, and that 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.120 it's considered to be the responsibility of the uncles to 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.120 corrupt their nieces and nephews when the sister or sister 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.960 in law isn't there to shoot them. Many a Christmas 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:01.000 dinner have led to comparisons of gravy to diarrhea as 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.360 soon as the matriarch's attention is diverted. In a French household, 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.440 this is what we hear about that sophisticated French sense 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:15.440 of humor. The Americans, you know, just we can't get there, yeah, 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:19.439 Uncle Pierre. Anyway, they continue. The second thing is that 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.040 I take mild exception to you are using the army's 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.160 sleeve's joke as an example of a dad joke. Maybe 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.840 it's more of a Canadian thing, but dad jokes here 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.760 are usually considered more contextual and opportunistic. They tend to 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.679 be cheap and fast and lack structure, and to be 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.400 tied directly to observations in the immediate environment, such as 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.240 pointing out things that look like a butt, or deliberately 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:45.120 mishearing things. Oh god, this is a big one. Mom 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.880 says you should thank your dad, causes the dad to say, 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.560 I should shank the cat for this angle. Dad jokes 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.640 are more like riffing, albeit a more infantile type of 0:09:55.800 --> 0:10:00.760 riffing based on crafts humor. Yes, the mishearing things was, 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:04.240 um what was pretty big in my household, and also 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:06.880 from I think from my dad, But I always I 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:08.680 didn't know it was universal. I was kind of chalked 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.599 it up to the fact that my dad's hearing was 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.080 a little like his hearing was a little bit damaged, 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.679 so I think he oftentimes did not hear things all 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.840 the way and found humor in them and then kind 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.880 of past that form of humor on to all of 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:27.280 us so that we're all intolerable in conversations with other people. Now, 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.160 I think that is more universal that uh. I think 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.079 that's a kind of classic movie riff, where whatever is 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.000 in the dialogue is hard to hear, and then you 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:36.800 can you can go off of it. I can't think 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:38.880 of a perfect example right now, but I know there's 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:43.480 a lot of that on Mystery Science Theater. Yeah. Um, anyway, 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:47.240 they continue. Similarly, there's a growing concept of mom jokes 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:49.679 that I've seen more and more, at least among Canadians. 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.320 Whereas dad jokes are innocent and crass, mom jokes tend 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:57.400 to be more exhausted and beset upon and oftentimes rather dark. 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.920 So when a kid might say I don't like broccoli, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.320 a mom joke would be to reply with you're gonna 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.439 die of scurvy if you don't learn to ram that 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.440 in your face, Or if you say I don't think 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.440 those shoes will go with that dress, and they reply 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:11.679 with welp, I guess I should just go lay in 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:13.800 a ditch and wait for the cold grip of death. 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.440 In other words, whereas the dad joke is exceedingly immature, 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:21.480 the mom joke tends to be exceedingly mature jokes about death, disease, 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:26.000 abandonment and isolation and other darker topics, and usually with 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:30.040 cartoonish hyperbole and either a dead pan or over the 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.600 top delivery. But most importantly, mom jokes, like dad jokes, 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:37.559 are contextual and can't be repeated unless in a similar context. 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.480 Now this is that this is interesting, UM I wonder 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.240 I mean, one would be tempted to sort of take 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:49.319 like sort of traditional stereotypical um like gender roles and 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.880 apply that and think, well, okay, if you have if 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.959 you have a mom who maybe is around the kids 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:59.240 more like they're forced to speak and even employ humor 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.719 at a child's level, and then you you want the 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:06.120 release of making a joke that is more sophisticated or darker. 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.600 And whereas it might be the reverse with the sort 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.160 of the stereotypical dad right like the dad has been 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.880 at the I guess like the Madman era office all 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.280 day making all sorts of body and sophisticated jokes and 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.280 when he comes home, he just wants to make like crude, dumb, 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.920 but ultimately innocent jokes. I don't know. I I like 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.360 I said, that's probably a I'm sure that's a very 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.280 simplistic way to look at it, and it's ultimately more 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.400 complicated than that. But but I don't know. This is interesting. 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:34.679 I'm very familiar with this kind of humor, but I 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.760 guess I've never heard of it conceptualized as a mom 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:41.640 joke before. That's interesting. Yeah, anyway, they close out here 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:43.520 with I think the point of dad and mom jokes 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.800 is that they are the unwanted punch line to a 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.080 set up that nobody made, like a parasite of laughs 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.360 on a tense situation. A traditional joke with a standard 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.720 set up and a standard punch line feel like they 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:58.000 fall outside of this kind of humor domestic improv in 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:01.520 other words, at least to me hope things are. Sebastian, well, 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.520 that was a searing assault on my use of the 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:09.160 army sleeves joke as as an example. So, according to Sebastian, 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:11.640 a joke with a setup and a punch line is 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.440 not a dad joke and can never be a dad joke, 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.079 speaking of the Army sleeps joke, I try after you 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:20.959 shared it with me. I tried it out on my 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.800 own son and he already knew the punch line and 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.120 thought it was hilarious. Um. Now, I don't know how 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:29.719 much of that was the fact that he knew the 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:31.839 punch line and therefore it was not my joke, it 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:36.240 was his. But but he thought it was just high humor. Well, 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.719 there's no higher praise than making a child laugh or 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.480 not phrase? Uh? What was it? No higher honor than 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:49.679 making a child laugh? One last one about dad jokes here. 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.920 This one comes from Danny. She says, Hi, I'm a 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.440 mother and love making my son grown with dad jokes, 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.400 simply because it's fun to be able to annoy him 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.200 a little bit. Kids can be quite annoying at times, 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:04.960 and here is a small childish way to annoy them back. 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.319 And sometimes he even laughs at how much my jokes 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:12.880 annoy him. Love from Switzerland, Danny, You know the revenge factor? 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:20.360 We didn't even think about that. All right, are you 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.320 ready for some spoons? Let's do it? Okay. This one 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.880 picks up after we read a message from a listener 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.520 on previous listener mail about a spoon that was designed 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.360 to discourage left handedness, and it could only be easily 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.880 used at least with the right hand, because the bowl 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.880 part of the spoon bent to the left. And we 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.560 talked briefly about how I remembered at least one of 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.680 my teachers in elementary school telling me that when they 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:48.840 were growing up, left handedness was bullied out of them 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.720 by adults who thought that there was something wrong with it. 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:53.400 I don't know if it was a religious thing or 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.800 just a sort of cultural uh you know, No, you 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:57.400 need to suck it up and learn to use your 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:59.400 right hand like you're supposed to. I'm not sure what 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.840 that was, but Darren Darren has a story along those 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.480 same lines. So Darren says, Hi, gents, I've listened for years, 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.000 but the latest Listener Mail episode really spoke to me. 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:13.320 Back in nineteen eighty one, growing up in South Yorkshire, England, 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:16.920 our class teacher of German descent told us stories of 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:20.880 him having his left hand tied closed as a child. 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.960 He told us this almost apologetically, as he was aware 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:29.840 his now right handed writing was sometimes difficult to read. Ironically, 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.240 then at school there would be an incident only a 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.760 few weeks later, where we were in the dinner hall 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:38.440 having school lunch, the head mistress singled me out for 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.920 having my knife in my left hand. She berated me, 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.000 saying that I needed to eat right handed, and I 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.040 tried but couldn't. Embarrassed to the point where I took 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.600 a stand as a nine year old, I walked out 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.520 of school, the head mistress furious at me, and my 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.840 classmates cheering all the way back home. Yes, walking from 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.080 school was a thing. My parents at first were annoyed 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:03.320 I was home early, but when I explained why, my 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.760 dad went down to the school, and let's just say that, 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:08.440 he made it clear that I'd continue using my knife 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.360 with my left hand. I tell my daughter this story 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.760 and she is amazed that this was only really a 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.640 generation ago. Thank you for hopefully taking time to consider 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.160 this email, and thanks for continuing to blow mine in 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:23.960 my daughter's minds. Kind regards, Darren. Yeah, I mean, it's 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.160 that's it's crazy that that sort of thing took place. 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.800 I mean, if them now, it seems crazy, and I 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.360 don't know, it's hard to imagine at the time how 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.280 that would have how that was was was allowed. I 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.520 don't know, it's just crazy to think about. Okay, I'm 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.680 getting more convinced that maybe we should do this as 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:43.960 an episode and look into like, why is it that 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.160 they were doing. I mean, was it just the idea that, well, 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.400 a lot of things are designed for right handed people 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:51.640 and it will be easier if kids learned how to 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:53.680 use the right hands for things. Or is it more 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.920 like a I don't know, superstitious religious thing where it's 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:01.160 like the left hand is the hand of the devil. Yeah, 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:04.280 I remember there being at least a little bit of 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:06.200 that mixed in. Yeah, it's been a while since I 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:07.600 looked at it, so yeah, we should we shoul think 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:14.600 about coming back to this as a topic. Al Right, 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:18.920 here's another one. This one comes to us uh from Maybe, 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.000 and it is about spoons once more. Dear Robert and Joe, 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.760 I just finished listening to your excellent spoon episodes. Regarding 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:29.840 the fancy silvil ware that never gets used, I have 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.520 a story. My mother hated silver ware because polishing the 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.280 silver had been one of her household chores when she 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.560 was young. However, she and my father were rather badly 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.639 off financially for many years, so they used sterling silverware 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.879 because they couldn't afford to buy a set of stainless flatware. 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.720 The silverware had been a wedding gift. When I was 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.080 about ten. They bought stainless and we never used the 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:53.200 silver again, not even for holidays. It just amuses me 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:57.440 that the stainless flatlet where was the aspirational purchase, given 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.880 how expensive real silverware is. They gave me a nice 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.160 set of stainless steel flatware when I got married. Also, 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.800 I submit that sports are the perfect utensil for baked 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:12.920 potatoes and for mango has. Thanks for all the great content, Mayve, 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.359 rob do I need to stop you from exploding with 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.960 invective against may Have for defending the use of sports. Um, 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.920 I mean, I guess if if they want to use them, fine, 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.919 but I would argue, I mean of spoon works perfectly 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:32.040 fine out a baked potato. I don't know why anybody 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.720 needs a fork to get in there. And uh, mango has, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.800 I guess mango. The thing about mango, I will admit 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:44.040 is it does tend to be a bit slippery. Um So, 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.240 I guess that is that is where one might insist 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:52.280 upon having some some prongs on your utensil. Um So, 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.160 I've certainly never used a sport to eat them, maybe trying. 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.040 I think I've just used a spoon to eat mango 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.119 that has been like properly cut up in all, but 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:02.560 I don't know. It's rare I get my hands on 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:04.719 a mango in this household because my son eats them all. 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.160 I didn't include the full message, but we did also 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:08.960 get a piece of email from somebody who wanted to 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:13.840 talk about grapefruit spoons. Yes, now that I will, I 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:17.280 will argue strongly that a grapefruit spapoon is not a spork. 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.280 But I I do believe in grape fruit spoons. I 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.119 think they are They're very handy. I prefer to use 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:25.680 one when I eat a grape fruit, though I was once. 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.800 This was when we were, you know, more properly. I 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:32.800 guess when we were how stuff works. I remember eating 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:36.280 a grape fruit with a grapefruit spoon, and there's somebody else, 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.399 like they worked in the office, and they they began 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.120 they were getting on my case saying, no, the grape 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:43.879 fruit spoon is not the way to go. You need 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:46.240 a grape fruit knife. You need a special knife for 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.280 eating your grape fruit. That is the only way to 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:52.240 eat them the spoon is malarkey? Is this strickland? No? 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.240 I don't remember who this individual was. They weren't like 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:58.080 in our department. I think they were more of a 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.159 technical role in the cup. But it was one of 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:02.879 those where like they were coming on kind of strong, 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:04.320 and I think I kind of like backed out of 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.919 the room with my grape fruit and spoon. I mean, 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:10.240 maybe the argument was like, this is a better way 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:13.520 to eat your grapefruit at your computer, because certainly, like 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:15.680 when you eat a grape fruit, when I eat a 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:17.880 grape fruit with a grape fruit spoon, it still makes 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.199 kind of a mess, like you're gonna get some sprays 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:25.159 of citrus. So maybe the knife cuts down on that 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.159 to a certain extent. I don't know, but you know, 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:29.840 that was back in the glorious time when we had cubicles, 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.400 and those cubicle walls could protect your next door neighbors 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:35.160 from the citrus spray. That's right. At least it's only 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:37.639 you and your stuff that are getting doused in citrus 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:40.440 juice in you in your dink cave of bones. And 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.080 we remember you had some really weird decorations when I 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.359 first moved in. Well, you know, stuff kind of accumulated. No, 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.120 I mean it was good. I was like, I could 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:57.640 see your desk and I was like, that's good people. Okay, 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.280 This next message comes to us from Paul. It is 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.960 about sun dogs and halos. Paul says, Hi, Robin Joe 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:06.640 just had to throw this link your way regarding halos 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.200 and sundogs. One of the most impressive I've ever seen. 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:12.359 Thanks for the great comment. And then Paul attaches a 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.960 link to an Astronomy Picture of the Day UH entry. 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:18.920 A p o D is a thing that NASA does 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:23.159 where they collect cool photographs of natural phenomenon and photographs 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:28.040 from space and stuff. This one was by a photographer 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:31.840 named Let's see Magnus ed Back and it's from the 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:35.240 twenty one December two thousand eighteen if you want to 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:38.919 look it up. The caption UH title was extraordinary solar 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:43.920 halos and this one is fantastic. The caption explanations says 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.720 quote captured at lunchtime on a cold December fourteenth near 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:52.080 Ute and Doll, Sweden. The image includes the relatively ordinary 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:56.359 twenty two degree halo, sun dogs or par helia, and 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.399 sun pillars, the extensive array of rarer halo those has 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:04.600 been identified, along with previously unknown features. All the patterns 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:08.160