Speaker 1: Guess what mango? What's that will? So Gabe shared this
Speaker 1: fact the other day with me and it it made
Speaker 1: me happy, so I wanted to share this. Did you
Speaker 1: know that there are more public libraries in the US
Speaker 1: than there are Starbucks? This seemed baffling to me, but
Speaker 1: there's seventeen thousand, five hundred and sixty six when you
Speaker 1: include their branches. There was another study done by Pew
Speaker 1: Research Center that found that fifty of millennials say they
Speaker 1: used a public library or a bookmobile in the previous
Speaker 1: twelve months. And you know, you compare this to other
Speaker 1: generations only of Gen xers forty percent of Baby boomers,
Speaker 1: So you actually have millennials going to libraries more than others.
Speaker 1: Isn't this a little bit heartwarm up? I mean, I
Speaker 1: like this, And you know part of this is because
Speaker 1: millennials use libraries. Now for other reasons. You have them
Speaker 1: going to use the internet access or you have people
Speaker 1: going to take part in literacy programs for young children.
Speaker 1: They have meeting spaces. There's also something I was reading
Speaker 1: about these technology petting zoos, and they provide opportunities for
Speaker 1: people to explore you know, three D printers and to
Speaker 1: try out some other gadgets there, but I still thought
Speaker 1: this was pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty hopeful. You know,
Speaker 1: it feels like we're just bombarded with negative news sometimes,
Speaker 1: you know. In fact, the other days eclipse, I thought
Speaker 1: it was not just fun because it was an incredible event,
Speaker 1: but you know, it also gave us a moment to
Speaker 1: focus on something we could all agree was pretty amazing,
Speaker 1: you know. Besides those anti eclipsers, their anti eclipsers, I
Speaker 1: don't know, but I'm sure there are. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: assume that there are. But you know, and I'm not
Speaker 1: suggesting that we shouldn't pay attention to the news. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're obviously very important things going on, and we should
Speaker 1: all be paying attention and finding ways to do our
Speaker 1: part in making our communities and our country and our
Speaker 1: world better places. But it's easy to go down these
Speaker 1: rabbit holes and reading about negative or tense news, and
Speaker 1: sometimes you just need a reason to smile. We thought
Speaker 1: it'd be fun to share a few facts that made
Speaker 1: us smile, So let's get started. Hey there, podcast listeners,
Speaker 1: Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as
Speaker 1: always I'm joined by my good friend Man guest Hot
Speaker 1: Ticketer and Tristan McNeil, the king of all producers in
Speaker 1: the land, is here. So we get to record an episode.
Speaker 1: But we've also got a special guest. You've probably heard
Speaker 1: us mention our brilliant researcher Gabelusier. Well he's here in
Speaker 1: studio with us today. What a special treat and welcome Gabe. Hey,
Speaker 1: thanks guys, happy to be here. All right, Well, we're
Speaker 1: doing something a little different today as a bonus episode.
Speaker 1: And you know, in our brainstorm meetings were always throwing
Speaker 1: around ideas for episodes, but but we tend to also
Speaker 1: just throw out facts we've learned recently, and many of
Speaker 1: them bring a chuckle to the room or just a
Speaker 1: smile to the room. So I thought it'd be fun
Speaker 1: to challenge these guys with a little fact off and
Speaker 1: give it a bit of a twist. So each of
Speaker 1: us had to bring three facts to the table, and
Speaker 1: the facts have to be in these three cat categories.
Speaker 1: You're ready. Category number one a fact about an animal,
Speaker 1: because obviously everybody loves animals. To a fact about something
Speaker 1: fun people do. This one's kind of broad. That's just
Speaker 1: because I found a fun fact and beside the neck
Speaker 1: of a category, and three a heartwarming fact. Okay, so
Speaker 1: you guys, ready, Mango, did you play by the rules
Speaker 1: and come up with these? Okay, good, good, All right,
Speaker 1: well let's start with animal facts, and Gabe, since you
Speaker 1: are our special guest today, why don't you throw out
Speaker 1: a fun animal fact for us? Okay. So this is
Speaker 1: a fact that's stuck with me for a long time now,
Speaker 1: and it just never gets old. Dairy cows increase their
Speaker 1: milk production by three percent when listening to slower songs
Speaker 1: like Everybody Hurts by R. A. M. So. In two
Speaker 1: thousand one, a pair of British researchers found that stress
Speaker 1: can inhibit the release of oxytocin, which is a hormone
Speaker 1: that's crucial to the milk making process. So their solution
Speaker 1: was to set the mood with a little soft music.
Speaker 1: In addition to R. E. M. The cows were also
Speaker 1: soothed by Simon and Garfunkeles Bridge over Troubled Water, I
Speaker 1: get It, I get it, that makes sense, and Moon
Speaker 1: River by Danny Williams, and also the symphonies of Beethoven
Speaker 1: and Mozart. So pretty highbrow cows. I love that scene
Speaker 1: of just like Aroma candles and boom boxes like oh
Speaker 1: and to give a little update on this one, in
Speaker 1: the British Columbia Dairy Association affirmed the theory of music's
Speaker 1: positive effects on milk production by hosting a Music Makes
Speaker 1: More Milk contests. It was this national campaign that encouraged
Speaker 1: the public to compose and submit their own songs to
Speaker 1: help dairy cows unwind. And the best part was that
Speaker 1: the cows themselves were the judges. So a jury made
Speaker 1: up of five Holstein cows listen to the five top
Speaker 1: songs during a milking session, and the winner was chosen
Speaker 1: based on how much milk it caused the cows to produce. Wow,
Speaker 1: when did you find out who the winter was? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It was this relaxing little ditty called a Moo down
Speaker 1: milk Lane. That a real song. I haven't heard of that.
Speaker 1: That's for be good for your first fact ever presented
Speaker 1: on Part Time Genius. That's all I feel like, overachiever,
Speaker 1: he regretting this. Now, alright, Mago, whytn't you Why don't
Speaker 1: you take the second fact? Well, it's hard to follow that,
Speaker 1: but I actually also have a cow fact, and this
Speaker 1: is that um cows have best friends. And according to
Speaker 1: a study from Northampton University, when cows are placed in
Speaker 1: a pen with their bbfs, which is their best bovine friends,
Speaker 1: there are and anxiety went down and milk yields went up.
Speaker 1: I think you get a bonus point for using bbs
Speaker 1: something you just messed up. That's the best bovine friends.
Speaker 1: That's pretty good. I'm a little disappointed in myself because
Speaker 1: I didn't come with a cow fact. I didn't know
Speaker 1: you guys were conspiring on this. I have a squirrel fact. Okay, alright.
Speaker 1: According to an old produced study, gray squirrels faulty memories
Speaker 1: are great for the earth. Every year, millions of trees
Speaker 1: grow thanks to squirrels for getting where they buried their nuts.
Speaker 1: See we can thank the stupid animals too. This is great. Alright,
Speaker 1: So good ones first, Alright, good job on those. Let's
Speaker 1: see what our next category is. Alright, fun stuff people do, Mango,
Speaker 1: you want to go first on this one. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: and because I'm not great at following rules, I didn't
Speaker 1: just do a fun fact. I did a fun animal fact. Um.
Speaker 1: So there's a place in Rainier, Oregon where you can
Speaker 1: actually have a sleepover with slots. It's the Zoological Wildlife
Speaker 1: Conservation Center, and it offers guests the chance to stay
Speaker 1: overnight in the sloth habitat provide you can abide by
Speaker 1: the rules and and the rule number one is this
Speaker 1: no talking policy. Apparently the slots don't want to be
Speaker 1: disturbed the whole time you're there. You can't talk that
Speaker 1: right non But but the slot sleepover begins at eight
Speaker 1: pm on Saturdays and last two about seven thirty am.
Speaker 1: It's a little pricey at three per person, but it
Speaker 1: does come with the sweet T shirt that says I
Speaker 1: slept with the Slot. Yeah, and if you really want
Speaker 1: the slots to yourself, you can actually book a private
Speaker 1: stay and pay for all the eight spots there. That's
Speaker 1: pretty cool. I can't believe I've never heard of this.
Speaker 1: We've done so many like sloth passionate passionate sloth people
Speaker 1: over here. So that's pretty good, all right, Gabe, you
Speaker 1: want to try to top that one. Yeah. So there's
Speaker 1: this town in southern Japan that has an awesome preschool
Speaker 1: building that features an open air courtyard that collects rain
Speaker 1: water into this enormous, completely clean puddle for the kids
Speaker 1: to splash around in. So rather than keeping the kids
Speaker 1: indoors when it's raining, the preschool encourages them to let
Speaker 1: their hair down and get their feet wet. Like that's great, awesome,
Speaker 1: I know my kids would love that. That's a good one, Gabe. Alright,
Speaker 1: well I'll go next. So let's go back to nineteen
Speaker 1: fourteen for this one. This is when all alcohol was
Speaker 1: banned aboard US naval ships. And so, how can you
Speaker 1: appease boatloads of sailors when booze is off the menu?
Speaker 1: Will you give them ice cream? Of course? And and
Speaker 1: that's exactly what the Navy did. So they got a
Speaker 1: refrigerated concrete barge and they used it as this makeshift
Speaker 1: floating ice cream parlor. How crazy is this? So the
Speaker 1: barge was towed all around the Pacific fick distributing tons
Speaker 1: of ice cream too smaller shifts. You know, these are
Speaker 1: the ones that lack the means to make their own
Speaker 1: ice cream. I don't know why they were built without
Speaker 1: that ability, but according to the Navy, the barge could
Speaker 1: produce ten gallons of ice cream every seven minutes and
Speaker 1: was capable of storing up to two thousand gallons of it.
Speaker 1: The program costs the Navy over a million dollars. But
Speaker 1: any sailor from the era will they tell you it
Speaker 1: was money well spent. That's so crazy. I feel like
Speaker 1: I know so many ice cream facts and somehow I
Speaker 1: don't know that one. It's a pretty good one. I
Speaker 1: made it up. No, No, it's actually true. All right. Finally,
Speaker 1: the category heartwarming. Let's see what we can do. And
Speaker 1: I don't think I've gone first yet, so I'll take
Speaker 1: this one. So every year Choctaw Indians are invited to
Speaker 1: march in the St. Patrick's Day parades in Ireland because
Speaker 1: in eighteen forty seven, during the Irish famine, the Choctaw
Speaker 1: raised about a hundred and seventy dollars and they sent
Speaker 1: it to Ireland to give the people relief. Now, at
Speaker 1: the time, the trail of tears loom large and the
Speaker 1: Choctaw's mind, and the money was of no small amount.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is about I think about twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in today's currency. And today there's even a sculpture
Speaker 1: in court called Kindred Spirits and it commemorates the choctaws generosity.
Speaker 1: I love How warm are your hearts right now? Yeah? Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: gay why don't you take the next one? Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: so this is a quick one. But the mayors of
Speaker 1: Carthage and Rome signed an official peace treaty in five,
Speaker 1: only two thousand years after the end of the Punic Wars,
Speaker 1: so you know, better late than never. I'm glad they
Speaker 1: took care of that. I was worried war was going
Speaker 1: to break out again. Alright, Mago, you want to close
Speaker 1: this out with your last fact? Yeah? I love that
Speaker 1: you guys did such heartwarming facts, and I've got one too.
Speaker 1: So this is according to the Motley Fool, Taco Bell
Speaker 1: has twice tried to enter the Mexican market. They made
Speaker 1: a push to run for the border Ino and ended
Speaker 1: up closing all their restaurants in two years. And then
Speaker 1: they tried again in two thousand seven when they added
Speaker 1: French fries to the menu and they called the food
Speaker 1: American Food, which also didn't work. My favorite Taco Bell
Speaker 1: fact is that the franchise started out selling hot dogs,
Speaker 1: meaning they could have been called hot Dog Bell. Is
Speaker 1: that true? They really couldn't That's crazy? Wow? Well, Mango,
Speaker 1: I I love that fact, but I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: you notice the last category was supposed to be called
Speaker 1: a heartwarming Is that a heartwarming fact? I think I
Speaker 1: misheard you and I thought you said heartburning for heartburning fact? Okay,
Speaker 1: I get it. Well, it is a funny fact. But
Speaker 1: I do have to say, because Gabe is consistently making
Speaker 1: us all smarter and is our special guest today, I
Speaker 1: think I vote to give him the fact off trophy.
Speaker 1: What do you think, Maga, I'd make that vote as well. Congratulations, speech,
Speaker 1: speech speech, so many people. I need to thank you
Speaker 1: so for all you out there. If there's a fact
Speaker 1: that makes you smile, please share it with us. You
Speaker 1: can reach us a part Time Genius at how stuff
Speaker 1: Works dot com or find us on Facebook or Twitter,
Speaker 1: or calls on the Fact hot Line at one eight
Speaker 1: four four pt Genius. We've had a lot of fun
Speaker 1: hearing from people on the Fact hot Line, so so
Speaker 1: keep those calls coming. We'll be back on Win's Day
Speaker 1: on Friday with regular episodes. I hope you've enjoyed. Are
Speaker 1: sometimes stupid, but always fun facts and thanks for listening. Okay,
Speaker 1: so where's my trophy? Ye? Thanks again for listening. Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works and
Speaker 1: wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the
Speaker 1: important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan McNeil
Speaker 1: does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme song
Speaker 1: and does the mixy mixy sound thing. Jerry Roland does
Speaker 1: the exact producer thing. Gave Losier is our lead researcher,
Speaker 1: with support from the research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan
Speaker 1: Brown and Lucas Adams and even jeffco gets the show
Speaker 1: to your ears. Good jobs. If you like what you heard,
Speaker 1: we hope you'll subscribe, And if you really really like
Speaker 1: what you've heard, maybe you could leave a good review
Speaker 1: for us. Did you did you forget Jan Jason? Who
Speaker 1: differ depends