WEBVTT - Thinking Sideways: Publius Enigma 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.240 Thinking Sideways is not brought to you by the Misskatonic 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:07.880 University water polo team Go finding self the pods. Instead, 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.000 it's brought to you by your local animal shelter. If 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.920 it's time to get a furry four legged friend, then 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.800 you need to go down to your local animal shelter. 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.360 Lots of puppies and kittens and adult cats and dogs 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.279 who are looking her homes and already got enough critters. Well, 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.880 then great. You can still help out by volunteering or 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.760 donating to that local organization. So look up who it 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.640 is it's around you, and take the time to help out. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:50.960 Thinking Sideways up broke the ideas I don't know stories 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:56.120 of things we simply don't know the answer to. Hey, guys, 0:00:56.160 --> 0:01:00.880 welcome to another episode of Thinking Sideways the podcast I 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:07.039 Am Devin, joined as always by Joe and Steve Hi. 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.080 This week we're going to talk about a mystery that 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.759 I thought was an Internet mystery at first, but it's not. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:20.039 It's actually like a puzzle mystery of an Internet starts 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:23.880 at to start out Internet mystery. It was suggested by 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:26.880 Jack and Simon and maybe some other people. I don't 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:29.360 but I think it was just Jack and Simon. Uh 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:37.080 and it is called the Publius Enigmas. You guys argue 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:42.440 about that. By the way, enigma is pronounced edema. Yeah. Okay, 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:46.200 so I don't think so silent, and I'm just gonna 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.080 say that. I at the night of recording this, so 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.160 what three weeks ago, when you guys are listening to us, 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.800 I tweeted that this was one of the most grueling 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:59.480 research processes that I had ever had, and everyone so 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:03.040 excite did because I think everybody meant that or thought 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.680 that meant that it had just been doing it for 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.519 years and it had been so deep and hard hitting. No, 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:13.919 it was just like really painful. Uh so great, you 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:18.480 guys ready to listen to my pain and fleffery. Okay, 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.680 So this mystery is actually it's kind of an internet mystery, 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.320 but it's mostly a Pink Floyd mystery, music mystery, kind 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:29.120 of music fan mystery. Yeah, so who was this guy 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:34.400 paint Floyd? Listeners want to know Pink Floyd is a band, 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.880 not a person. And the mystery why we think it 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:39.799 is kind of an internet mystery why you keep going 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:41.840 back and forth? Is it actually originated on a u 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.239 s net forum back in the nineties. You guys, remember 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:49.960 you snat basic of basic Internet boards. Yeah, you can 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.960 still find this forum on Google because as mentioned in 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.360 the last episode that we talked about using you may 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:57.600 or may not have listened to that episode, but using 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:02.880 that kind of merged into Google goal forms forums. Excuse me, 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:06.799 so most of them still exists in this world today. 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:08.880 So when I see them on Google then looking at 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:14.800 stuff this man like migrated over over from and archived exactly. 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.000 But although you will may have noticed that in some 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.160 of those that I linked, the updates were as recent 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.600 as a couple of days ago, so it's not as 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.280 though they're dead. One of the ones that you linked 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.119 here actually was updated just this morning, Yeah, exactly, so 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:32.000 it's still ongoing. This whole mystery began with a cryptic 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:36.200 message posted by a user identifying him or herself only 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.240 as Publius, which I keep wanting to say Polebius, but 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:42.440 it's not. That's a different mystery, different mystery. This post 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:45.920 was made to the unmoderated news group Alt dot Music 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:50.680 dot Pink Dash Floyd. Publius proposed a riddle in connection 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:55.600 with the Pink Floyd album The Division bell y'all didn't 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:59.760 know that Pink Floyd released something in the nineties. Did yet, Yeah, 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:04.560 they did. It didn't end after the wall. So the 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:09.600 post basically promised that an answer to this riddle puzzle 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.280 would lead to a reward, and to this day, which 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:16.120 is like twenty three years later, it remains unclear if 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:22.039 the quote unquote enigma involves a genuinely solvable puzzle or 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:27.479 it's part of an early kind of Internet based contest 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.560 or a hoax or something that helps entirely just not 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.200 necessarily a hoax, but just not solvable. Yeah, totally. So 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:39.720 this whole thing kind of it was primed, I would 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:45.640 say by how Columbia Records promoted the Pink Floyd Division 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:50.400 Bell Tour in America. And that was so same year 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:54.720 as the album released. So Columbia Record Records, who was 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.480 the record label, flew a giant zeppelin that they called 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:04.839 the Division Bell with an E at the end. Yeah, 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:09.280 they flew the Division Bell, this zeppelin that was a 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:14.080 hundred and ninety four ft long, which is fifty They 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:19.120 flew it between concert locations, so they would start in 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.400 you know where the last concert had happened and then 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.800 fly it to the next city where the concert was 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:27.360 and they hit what two or three dozen cities in 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.159 this country. It was pretty scible. And I saw with 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.440 the map of all of the concert locations across the world, 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:38.960 and they went everywhere on that door. Yeah. Absolutely, party, party, yeah, yeah, 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:44.000 I guess in conjunction with this, Columbia Records did release 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:49.240 a electronic press kit, which are totally ubiquitous now, but 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.520 in those times it was kind of new tangled things. Yeah, 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:57.840 And it included things like promo spots um that had 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:02.040 been interviews with band members, footage of the airship in action, 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:08.280 and a segment that included the following little snippet quote. 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.760 A spokesperson for Pink Floyd has issued the following statement. 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:15.000 You have spotted the Pink Floyd airship, Do not be alarmed. 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.839 Pink Floyd have sent their airship to North America to 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.080 deliver a message. The Pink Floyd Airship is headed towards 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.400 a destination where all will be explained. Upon arrival, Pink 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:30.559 Floyd will communicate unquote. That kind of made people think 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.200 there might be something else going on with this tour 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:38.200 or the album as a whole. So when Publius showed 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.160 up on the use net forums, people were already a 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.600 little inclined to believe that there was maybe something more 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:49.640 going on here, just given that official statement from Columbia Records. 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.280 So everybody's anticipating egg of some sort, or you know, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.960 even just additional press kit information, even just something little. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:06.880 But what happens is Publius on June posts a message 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:11.560 called the Message onto that forum the dot music dot 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:15.000 pink Floyd that says, Joe, can you read it? Sure? 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.560 My friends, you haven't heard the message pink Floyd has delivered, 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:21.640 but have you listened? Perhaps I could be your guide, 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.880 but I will not sell the inding before you. All 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.360 of you must open your minds and communicate with each other, 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.600 as this is the only way the answers can be revealed. 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:37.840 I may help you, but only if hop skills arise. Listen, read, think, communicate. 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.320 If I don't promise you the answers, would you go 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:47.120 cryptic a little? Yeah? Super cryptic, and especially when well 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.080 some might say that, but some might say super meaningful, 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:55.000 particularly when taken with the original release. Right this message, 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.920 where this this hair airship is headed towards the destination 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.480 where all will be explained. Yeah, So that that kind 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.240 of spawned a lot of responses people saying, you know, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.320 like okay, dude, like what's what's going on here? Like really? 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.840 And so there was a clarification post and I can 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.520 I can read this one, so Joe doesn't have to 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:17.160 read all of them. Yeah, I know, reading it's hard. 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.480 So it said, as some of you have suspected, the 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.760 division Bell is not like its predecessors. Although all great 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:29.480 music is subject to multiple interpretations, in this case there 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:33.080 is a central purpose and a designed solution for the 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:37.800 ingenious person or group of persons who recognize this and 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.359 where this information points to a unique prize has been secreted. 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:46.400 How and where the division bell. Listen again, look again, 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.079 as your thoughts will steer you leading the blind while 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:54.840 I stared out the steel in your eyes. Lyrics, artwork 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.200 and music will take you there. So a lot of 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.000 these are actually lyrics from the album, a lot of 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:04.200 these phrases. But obviously that did pique interest. One thing 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.200 I mean to just pause here and say, off the bat, 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.600 is that one of the really interesting things that was 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:15.000 happening around this was many of these posts were reposted 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.959 multiple times within seconds of each other, with varying degrees 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:24.640 of grammatical and spelling errors. And just typographical errors. Honestly, 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.719 so you can look through all of the posts. I 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:30.800 don't remember, to be honest, we have looked at so 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:33.360 many different versions of these posts. If they're all still 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.280 on the forum, or if it's just people have the 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.680 historic screenshots of what these looked like, I honestly can't remember. 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.040 But either way, there it's kind of interesting to see 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:46.559 that a post was posted in like two seconds later 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.080 it was posted, and none of the errors that occurred, 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.240 you know, in the first one, we're in the second 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:55.199 one in etcetera, etcetera, and that, and that happened multiple times. Actually, 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:57.600 all of these posts, if you get them as images 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:59.800 and you're able to kind of, you know, flip through 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.559 them one by one, one right after the X next, 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:07.280 you can actually see the text change and shift as 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:09.680 those little bits any happy on the time stamp, they're 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.760 they're happening within seconds. They're really close. And again I 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.640 don't have enough familiarity necessarily with usenet to know if 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:18.640 you could go back and delete posts if you were 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:22.199 rereading your thing and went, oh, crap, I misspelled that 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:23.920 word or I put put a weird comma there or 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.120 something to edit. Yeah, I was had a weird format thing. 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.160 I don't know if you could edit or even delete 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.240 and repost, and I don't know how good the the 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.439 system was at deleting posts and the timely fashion listen. 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.760 It is a giant pain even in Facebook sometimes to 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.880 edit stuff or to get it to delete properly. Twitter. 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:46.080 Looking at you, Twitter and something that's twenty plus years 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:48.320 ago on the Internet, it doesn't shock me that it 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.839 wasn't user friendly to edit or get rideut I think 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.880 you'd probably so that could be one explanation for all 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:57.120 these posts. And I'm gonna go ahead and say we're 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.200 going to read one more post and then that's it, 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:04.200 because there are a ton of posts. And if this yeah, 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:06.840 well already you both are yawning already, which I'm really 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:11.000 excited about, but not hot and hear anything. I will 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.840 say there are tons of really great, great There are 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.400 tons of analysis out there that go really, really in depth. 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.319 And if this story is one that grabs you, we 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.280 I'm trying to make this a not five hour long episode. 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.840 I will tell you I watched a series of videos 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.800 that was literally seven hours worth of analysis by one 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.080 person just talking into a mic. I don't want this 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:37.480 episode to be that. So we're not going to do that. 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.160 But if that sort of thing, if this does interest you, 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.480 go out and watch that and not will link to 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:44.800 some of it or I'll just talk about it later. 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:46.360 But there was one more post that I would do 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.360 you want to talk about? Because there was this one. 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.160 Well it's it's it's interesting. I don't know if it's 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.160 proof or not, but it's an interesting thing that happened. 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:58.400 So there was this outcry right of people just saying, hey, 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.880 you're just a dumb internet troll. Obviously you know you 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.280 have no connection. You're just you know, pulling our leg. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.800 Prove it, Prove it somehow, just prove it. So this 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:09.319 third post that we're going to read, Steve, do you 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.240 want to read? This? One? Sure to validate the trust 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.440 of those who believe, as well as to reconcile the 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.080 doubt of others. I have gone to great lengths to 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:23.480 plan the following display of communication Monday, July East Rutherford, 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:29.160 New Jersey, approximately thirty pm, flashing white lights. There is 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:33.840 an enigma trust, and the crazy thing is is this happened. 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:39.040 It actually happened, and it happened, so it's so happened 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:44.760 that this footage from this particular live event is actually 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.240 the footage they used in the archival. You know, they 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.760 always release a DVD of it a live to. This 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:56.520 is part of this particular one concert is in that 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.040 so you can even pause a DVD and see, oh 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.960 my gosh, actually happened. And so what happened is the 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:07.280 setup of the stage. Thank you Pink Floyd. For those 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.800 of you who aren't totally Floyd to file, well you don't, 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:12.280 you have to, You just have to kind of vaguely 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.600 know about them. They were kind of one of the 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:18.920 last vestiges of these crazy rock concerts that were kind 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:24.920 of experiential more than a laser light shows. Yeah, and 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.480 Nine Inch Nails still does this, um but in the 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:33.840 nine inch Nails but differing. Yeah, they're they're older, so 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:40.439 they sunk and only eight inch Nails, um, but they 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:44.360 do it's it's in a different, more artistic, less like 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:49.480 flash bang way. But so the stage of this particular tour, 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:54.200 the the division bell was they had this big kind 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:58.160 of arch over the entire It was kind of like 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.800 a Yeah, it was like a half to opening up 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.240 and it had white lights all over it and then 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.880 at the bottom of the stage, which was also an arc. Yeah, 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:12.199 I was kind of mirrored. Were just panels of LED lights? Well, 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.520 it wasn't actually led s. I think it was probably 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.920 just light bulbs. I think they were actually l E 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:21.040 ed not not would they have been using L E 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.760 D s in that kind of show Devon alright, it was, 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.160 so it was it was light panels. It was you know, 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.400 four by four panels with a bunch of little light 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:31.320 bulbs in it, which I would call an L but 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.920 you're right, it probably wasn't actually l E ed. So 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.640 you could project, you could just do you know, flashes 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.840 of light, but you could also write designs on their 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:44.720 or words. And what happened is, I don't remember what 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:48.760 exact time it would is almost exactly ten thirty pm 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:51.920 on that night at that location across the bottom of 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.800 the screen it said, or the bottom of the stage 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.640 it says enigma, right, And you can see, like we 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.200 I printed a picture on the it's there. And if 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:05.400 you watch the footage of it, there's these really weird 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:10.840 what appeared to be made up characters strong in that 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.680 light panel across the bottom of the stage, and then 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.120 all of a sudden, the intensity of some of them 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:21.080 changes and that's when they morph into actual letters. Yeah, 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.600 so it is. It's almost like it's alien writing or 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.160 it's not actual. I'm not claiming it's a language, but 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.440 it's something it's that's what it's kind of modeled after. Yeah, 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:33.600 I gotta admit to I stared at those weird, those 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.440 weird hieroglyphics for a while and then lost patients and 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:38.880 stop the video before it actually flashed to an enigma. 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:44.680 But yeah, we do. Yeah, But so it actually happened 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:49.280 and not to me is pretty crazy, although totally explainable 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.080 under many of our theories, but I just think it's 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:55.440 really interesting that that actually happened. Quick question for clarification 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.960 is that obviously people were filming the Pink Floyd shows 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:00.800 all the time when they were at them, and this 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.080 didn't occur at any other show. Correct. It is my 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.600 understanding that this was the only time that this happened. 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:07.960 That was mine too, and I just want to make 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.600 sure and on top of that, just to you know, 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:13.200 reinforce the fact that not only was this the only 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.680 time that happened, but this was the time that Pink 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:20.960 Floyd put this performance on their DVD, which means at 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.080 the very least something they were at least aware of 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.920 something happening, although let's be honest, the lead members of 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.480 that band did enjoy tweaking people a little bit for sure, yes, 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:34.840 and might have actually been just cheer randomness that that 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:36.640 they might have actually listened all the shows and this 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:38.800 is the one where we screwed up the least, so 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:40.880 that's going to be the official or this is the 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:45.320 only one that we had the official video from because 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.960 that happens too. Yeah. Absolutely, there are a lot of reasons, 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.480 like I said, totally explainable but also at least a 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:53.920 little interesting. But we're not we're not in the theories yet, 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:58.720 so no, we're not. No, a little more to go. Unfortunately, 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:03.000 we have more to go. You mean awesome for twelve hours. 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:05.840 As mentioned, there are a ton of other posts and 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.199 will link to at least one resource for you to 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.359 be able to see all of those posts. Now, there's 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:15.200 a zine you guys knows you remember zine right the nineties. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:17.359 For those of you who don't know, I'm gonna do 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.679 my NPR thing where they're like Batman. For those of 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.840 you who don't know, is a zine is like a magazine. 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:26.920 But it's more it's an independent, self published, self published 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:30.080 I was going to say, a self published publication usually 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:35.600 really small. Usually, you know, it's distribution is local, you know. 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.479 We I used to see them at Powells a lot, 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:39.280 and it would be the sort of thing where literally 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:41.560 you could like they were printed off at home and 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.760 stapled and put you know, the person who was creating 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:46.760 them would come in and say, like, the twelve more 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:50.680 copies of this this issue, and PALS employees would be like, okay, 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.560 just put them over there. It's fine magazine, Yeah, old 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:56.879 main entrance. Yeah, yeah, totally. And it's not you know, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.240 not to say that they were not of any value, 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:01.480 but that is the kind of thing that they were. 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.119 And this zine was called maybe still is called I 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:09.040 couldn't I found one publication that is still in I 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:13.159 guess what you would call circulation. That's called Brain Damage. 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:16.240 But I don't think it's actually the same one anymore. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.679 I think it's it's it looks like it's just been 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.160 around for the last couple of years. I don't think 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:23.320 it's even a spinoff. I think it's just somebody like 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:29.639 I don't know, it's it's like an anime drawing. It's different. Yeah, 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.119 so I don't think it's in any way related. But 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.639 I also can't, for one say that that's not what 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.280 this morphed into. I guess it's kind of probably a 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.520 kind of a common name for yeah, novels and zines 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.280 and everything else. Yeah, So this zne was called brain 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.720 Damage and it was a Pink Floyd fan zine that 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:52.479 started in April of nineteen eight six, and there was 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:59.200 an alleged correspondence component of it. Yeah, but the way 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.960 it was sold was you would write to this character 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:09.320 named Uncle Custard that as in the food yea custard 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:14.760 or yeah, like the food, and uh. They it seems 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:18.640 like fans for some reason thought that this was somebody 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.960 who was either an actual member of Pink Floyd or 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.400 had very close relations to Pink Floyd. But a lot 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.680 of people point to the fact that Jeff Jensen, who 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:32.439 was the editor of Brain Damage, editor and creator, the 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:36.720 only person on staff, he never revealed the identity of 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.320 Uncle Custard, So that meant that to these fans, So 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.919 that meant that this was a very credible source that 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.160 was close to the band. I'm not a completely made 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:51.200 up source. I'ment sure it was actually just Jeff Jensen 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:56.400 answering these waters himself or making stuff up wholesale, which 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.720 you know, yeah, he could have been writing the questions 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.440 and the answers as well a national lampoon and penthouse 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.359 always to totally totally Yeah, but you will see a 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.280 lot of people say that this is a totally credible source. 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.360 Close to a lot of people say yeah. A lot 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.720 of people do say it's Nick Mason. And they say 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:17.840 that because and I quote, Uncle Custard is phonetically similar 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:23.280 to ugly car stud is such a fan, is such 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.000 a car guy. Yeah, he is a car guy. First 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.800 of all, I take Uncle Custard an ugly car stud. No, 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:33.760 no for me. Second of all, do you think no, 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:36.160 I just there's lots of lots and lots of big 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:38.119 problems with this. But fine, whatever it could have been 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:40.280 to that of this whole circle of people, you know, 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:42.600 maybe they all contributed to. Maybe I said I had 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:44.199 a great idea for a letter to the editor. I'm 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:46.080 going to write the letter and the answer and just 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.200 give it to you and you can publish it. Yeah, 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:50.640 but I don't have the impression that there was actually 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:55.680 any kind of even tangential relationship between the people at 0:20:55.800 --> 0:21:00.080 Brain Damage and the actual members of Pink Floyd and 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:02.320 then whatsoever. I don't I don't have that, but I'm 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:04.719 sure that some listener will be able to tell me 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:10.840 more about that. Yeah, probably Uncle Custard himself. So if 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:14.080 you are Uncle Custar pleas right, Yeah you can. You 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:16.119 just wait till the end of the episodes find how 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.720 our email address. Anyway, this is what this very credible 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:23.160 source had to say about this, and I'll just read 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:25.320 both parts of this. Actually, no, I'm gonna have Joe 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:30.640 read the answer as Uncle Custard. But the question that's 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:32.280 going to be your name from now on I think. 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.520 I don't think so, I call me the Rock. No, 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.320 You're far from it. Yeah, But the question that was 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:44.320 posed was who is Publius Enigma? Pause? I'm sorry. Also, 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:46.199 that's the only time I've ever seen it referred to 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.200 as who is Publius Enigma? Not like what is the 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:53.520 Publius Enigma? But whatever? Or who is? Plus? Yeah, who 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.120 is Publius Enigma? What is the meaning of it all? 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:59.280 And what is the treasure to be had? Questions all 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:03.640 to know the answered to. Here's my answer is Uncle Custard. Quote. Yes, 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.399 as the infamous Q has emphasized. Quote, you humans are 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:10.960 so limited unquote. This is a project for all those 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.000 out there with higher I q s. It does require 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:15.440 a mastery of diverse languages, along with a lot of 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.600 spare time. Now get with it. The lights were brighter, 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:21.639 the meaning is worn inside out. The bell has told, 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:24.639 and the surrogate band is coming back to life. The 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:28.320 actualized nonlinearly within the paradox of the theme of the 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:33.320 division bell communication breakdown Hint Perrine, Hint watch the Learning 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:36.760 to Fly video close Perrinne. It may also involve an 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:40.439 anomaly in the spacetime continuum. There's an obvious solution, and 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:42.720 you do not need to be a pink floydd story 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:45.080 and to figure it out. Winners will receive official entry 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:47.200 into the Mensis Society and some dry hays to cool 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:49.840 down all those neural pathways in your brain. It is 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:52.639 important to note that neither I nor anyone involved with 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:55.639 this zone will enter into any correspondence on this topic. 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:58.880 It's a puzzle for you, devised by the one who 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:02.720 loves you and to drive you mad. Besides, I'm much 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:05.639 too busy creating crop circles and executing think tank projects 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:14.240 for the Pentagon. So obvious, trolls obvious. But I will 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:16.240 say that there are some people who have taken this 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:23.680 to an extraordinary level of research to further support their 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:27.040 claim that they have solved the Publius Enigma. But, as 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:30.360 I said, an effort to keep this episode under four hours, 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:33.000 we are not going to dive deep into this rabbit hole, 0:23:33.040 --> 0:23:35.840 because we could sit here and spend as I said, 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:39.399 probably seven hours analyzing the lyrics to all of the 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:43.760 different songs, and you know, diving deep into the artwork, 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:46.040 which I know is Steve's favorite part of this whole thing. 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:48.879 And but we'd rather not sit here talking about this 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:52.800 for seven hours. I would really rather not. I'm sorry, Um, 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:57.920