WEBVTT - Into the Microfiche with Rachel Handler 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:08.879 It's three two am in Amityville and you're listening to 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:27.800 Night Call. Hello, everybody, welcome to Night Call podcast for 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.240 you strange days and lonely nights. I'm Molly Lambert in 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.400 Los Angeles, and joining me as always is Tess Lynch. 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.000 And over in New York, we have Emily Oshida and 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.320 a special guest this week. I don't know no, she's 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:46.240 so excited, she's ready to go. Rachel Handler, my editor 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:51.320 colleague at New York Magazine and Vulture. UM a very 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:56.040 funny and great writer and just all around great co worker. 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.240 Thank you for that review. And Fred Rachel I also 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.160 used to work together, and I will double confirm she 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:08.000 is also a great coworker and friend and writer. To 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:13.640 bring this to my raised meeting, UM, great performance review. 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.320 We were going to start, sorry inside jokes about the magazine. 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:24.559 You guys were catting you raise your consciousness. UM, let's 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.360 cut off. They just read your aura. They're like, your 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:31.120 aura seems good. It's a nice blue year for you 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:37.240 to see. Speaking speaking of auras and crystals, we talked 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:39.600 about crystals last week. We got a lot of space 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:44.560 news this week. This is both crystal news and space news, 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.559 which makes it perhaps the most exciting new age news 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.480 lucky us, which is that I read a story on 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.880 Live Science, my favorite science story aggregator, about how the 0:01:55.920 --> 0:02:03.800 Sun is going to turn into a crystal when it dies. Why, well, funny, 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:08.200 you should ask just the sun is gonna die? Hold on, 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:10.480 I'm trying to pull up the store. I'll tell you 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:14.720 that in a short version that I remember vaguely. Um, 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.240 there was a new study that was published that said 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.160 that white dwarfs, which is I think we knew that 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.120 the Sun would turn into a white dwarf. White dwarves 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:28.000 turn into solid crystal cores that are made of oxygen 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.960 and carbon, and then when they're really really old, this 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:37.560 is the discovery, they're just like an entire crystal star. Huh. 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:39.519 So it's not like a diamond though, it's like a 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.919 or is it like compressed carbon that just turns into 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:44.680 I mean, I think that's sort of what it's like, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:46.440 which again is what we were saying last week. Like 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.120 that to me is what is amazing about crystal Since 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:53.480 you're like the Earth, the Earth squished an egg that 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:57.920 is like a weird this is scientifically backed up. The 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.480 Earth made A scientist explain what we call stones and 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:04.640 gems or earth eggs. It's like a footnote about how 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.880 the age that we think stars are might be wrong 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.160 because as they turn into white dwarfs, they start cooling 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.400 and that like kind of distorts what their age. And 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.440 as we've learned from all the statistics are fake about 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:22.520 everything exactly, well, that is true in science, though, It's 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.800 like old beliefs continually get replaced with like we know 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.000 more now, and like there's something smaller than a molecule 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.840 or whatever and act smaller than that. This also says 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.640 that the skies are probably already filled with these crystal stars, 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.120 because it means that there's just a lot of stars 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.400 that like already burned out and are dead and are 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:47.080 just floating around being crystals in the sky. Very very sailor. Yeah. 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.600 I mean if to be a dead star, it means 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:54.160 it's just burnt out, it's done, its energy has been depleted. 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:58.400 It's like a plant that's dead. But it's like, you know, 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:03.320 what's how long does it exists in it's dead state? Forever? Yeah, 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.280 it just like floats, it's like a it's like a rock. 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:07.280 Then it becomes like a space rock. But I don't 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.160 know if it never really does, well, it's just a 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:16.360 different form, a different form. Also, before the sun turns 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.440 into a crystal, it's going to turn up into a giant, 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.320 red giant and swallow the earth. Well yeah, but right, 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.279 it's just it's fake news. I'm comforting to think about 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.480 me too. That's really soothing. Actually, we should be so 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.239 lucky to last long after it's swallowed up by the sun. 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.240 I can't. Speaking of which this is slightly related, but 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.840 speaking of science, just reevaluating everything, did you guys see 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.200 that article about how the sun is actually good for 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.240 you now and sunscreen is killing people? Yes? I know. 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:48.640 I loved this article. It was awesome. It said that 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.760 written by Russians. No, it was like this one guy 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.000 who was like, you know what, I know, like all 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:56.960 the dermatologists are going to hate me, but I'm just 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:58.800 going to say, there are all of these studies that 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.800 show that avoiding this on is as bad as smoking. Yeah, well, 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.479 I think you need a little vitamin D and you're 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.320 like a lot of and and taking vitamin D as 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.920 a supplement isn't effective. It doesn't help, and you can 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:14.920 die all these things that the sun can cure and habits. 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:19.840 You still gotta put on sunscreen on your face, on 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.560 your but you still go outside, right. I think they're saying, 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.360 like the lifestyle of avoiding sun is don't be a vampire, 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.280 don't be a basement team. But that's like what those 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:35.560 people are into, right right. Nutrient. Yeah, they said that 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.320 something like three people out of every hundred thousand people 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.160 who get skin cancer will die, whereas the odds of 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.960 dying from a disease that's related to avoiding the sun 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:47.159 is much higher. So it's basically like you should not 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.360 totally avoid the sun and you should see a dermatologist. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:58.000 What's bad about sunscreen? It blocks the sun? Sunscreen? Yeah, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.360 it does, no way, no does read the thing. It's 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.160 got to read the thing. You got to read the thing. 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:06.880 Was this on like Gwyneth Paltrow website, Well it was 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.320 a real thing. It was. I said it to my everyone, 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.160 I know, because everyone likes to give me ship because 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.159 I was a young lifeguard who my face. I was like, 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.680 I'm gonna be okay. Well, we'll cite that source in 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.200 our show notes and make sure I feel like the 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:27.280 lobby for Big Sun may have paid for this. We're 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.880 talking about Big moon, because um, we're talking about the 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:36.280 super blood super upon and I believe Emily was like, 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.280 what's up with the silly moon names? And a bunch 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.200 of people were like, well, actually, well very old. I 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.560 was glad that people clarified this. I mean, to be fair, 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.400 I was asking about the whole name because there is 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:49.480 such a thing as like, obviously a supermoon. We know 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.600 it's about supermoons. We know about blood moons. I had 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.480 personally never heard of a wolf moon. But some people 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.080 are saying this is an indigenous thing. Other people seem 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.200 to say it's like an old world thing, a wolf 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.000 there are actually, well as somebody who bought the twenty nineteen, 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:08.359 which is almanac. Okay, long ago, all right. There's like 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.960 a bunch of different names for every moon, and most 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:16.520 of them are like indigenous names that then American colonizers 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:21.240 like kept, so things like the corn moon. Have you 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:24.000 ever heard the wolf saying to the blue corn moon 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.720 is a thing? Sorry? Please? Ever heard no wolf sang 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.000 to the wolf moon? Because the wolf moon is one 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.400 of the moon's. There's a worm moon that is the 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.880 number one moon in my book. Why is it a 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.280 because it's when it's awesome. It's because it's when the 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.680 worms start coming out of the dirt. Yeah, it's like 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.120 the end of winter when the worms start coming to 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:53.840 the drawn out by the gravity of the moon. Like, yes, exactly, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:59.200 they probably do know. It's all. It's all super cool 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:03.640 and uh and awesome and well, we do have to 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.200 bring more moon info. I have a super Wolf blood 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.400 moon coming up in five No, it's in January because 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.320 it's the first full moon of the year. It'll be 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:20.480 around when this episode air around, it will be around. Yeah. Uh, 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.040 so check it out. Keep keep your eyes out for 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.560 the super Wolf blood moon. Oh you know what happens 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:30.280 right after that A nightcall live show that long. I 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.000 wish we could get a super Wolf blood moon while 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.640 at our DJ set. But alas one more bit of 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.920 a space news. It's been a really amazing last few 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:46.000 months in general for setting news. Uh again search for 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:50.960 extraterrestrial intelligence. Um. But the most recent thing that I 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.240 was so, I was so glad that you guys sent 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:55.880 this to me. I had at least two other friends 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:58.679 who sent this to me. UM that there have been 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:04.199 these series of deo burst detected by radio astronomers or 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:08.439 radio telescopes uh that so far they have not ruled 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.600 out uh could be coming from stra extraterrestrials. But there 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.800 it's repetitive. That's like the reason that it's noteworthy. It's 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.920 like a signal that's now repeated itself. Um, nobody knows 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.520 what's in the signal yet, nobody's like, I don't think 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.280 anybody has tried to dig into it yet, But it 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.720 did get me um reading about the theory about gamma 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:32.880 ray bursts as a possible um uh mode of communication 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.120 from extraterrestrials because those happened every once in a while, 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:38.320 and apparently in a gamma ray burst you can pack 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.000 the entire information like this, some total of all information 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:44.480 on planet Earth could be packed into a gamma ray burst. 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:49.079 So a very advanced civilization could hypothetically send everything about 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:55.760 themselves to us in one single like millisecond. What they're 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.160 beaming us they're hard drive. Yeah, it's very possible. Why 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:04.160 can't we cat it? Uh? We were too dumb well 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.040 to to to be accurate. These are not gamma ray burst, 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.360 These are radio bursts. These were discovering on a radio telescope. 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:15.680 After you go into this, the same um astronomer guy 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.960 av Loeb, who who was kind of opening about the 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:23.520 fast radio verse being meaningful today there was something about 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:28.520 this potential spaceship called Yeah, and he's the same guy. 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.760 He's just like I am. I'm working at Harvard now 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.440 I'm just gonna like speak my mind about the So 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.880 I can't remember this is if this is the same 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.200 guy who I heard on an interview on Big Picture Science, 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:44.080 which is the podcast of the SETI Institute, which I 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:48.520 am a proud subscriber. But he I think he was 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:52.480 talking about UMMA, which is like this weird long sort 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.880 of um structure that that a lot of scientists are 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.160 saying doesn't look like it's naturally occurring. Just the shape 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:01.120 of it does not look like the way that asteroids 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.640 or um there's the word for asteroids that aren't in 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.040 the asteroid belt. But it's like it doesn't look naturally occurring. 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.079 And he was hypothesizing that it was a solar sale 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.480 that had made its way to us from some other 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.760 civilization like billions of years ago or something, because it's 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:23.000 just this like long skinny thing. Uh it Yeah, but 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:24.959 it was I think that was discovered a couple of 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.840 months ago. Um, what are the odds it's the monolith 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.839 from two thousand one. I mean it kind of looks 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:32.839 like it. I mean it's not it's not as clean, 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.280 but it's it's it's long. Well, once we get it 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:40.240 and like, you know, stand it up. Producer Venge just 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:44.640 held up his jewel to suggest maybe the aliens have 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:49.839 been vaping. Maybe every time you jewel it's like a 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.640 Gamma ra you learned something about an ancient civilization, You 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:58.679 download an entire ancient aliens that vibrates. Maybe it's just 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.480 it's vibrating. The game maraised right to the dome the dome. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:07.520 But I think that the deal with Uma, which is 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.160 um it means what does it mean? I forget I 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:14.199 wrote it down, so uh it is uh. I guess okay, 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:20.480 waitwai Hawaii Hawaiian first distant messenger or scout um. But 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.640 the deal was I guess it's the first it's the 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:26.080 first object to pass through the solar system and like 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.360 be identified as being like foreign to our solar system. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.400 So but also it's like, yeah, it's powered by the 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.120 sun with like technology that we don't have. I don't know. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.520 My husband this morning was like, hey, did you hear 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:45.000 about I was like, what he's like, and he's like 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:46.760 google it, and I was like, I can't because you're 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.640 giving me nothing to do. So it's like some alien vikings. 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.360 Alien vikings. Yeah, like an alien viking barrels just like 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.200 glided all the way out of summer time. That would 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:00.800 be cool. When this lands on Earth. Twitch probably won't 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.320 but if it did, Yeah, would you touch it? Yeah? 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:11.360 I touch it. Let somebody else touch it first. To 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.679 make sure every time I talk about aliens, I can't 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:15.360 talk about them for too long before I get really 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:19.880 worked up thinking about dying before I get really we're 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.880 talking about this like last week with the Drake equation, 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.240 just the likelihood of it even happening as long as 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.720 they're humans on Earth. What okay? But what if death 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.840 is when you break on through to the other side. Yeah, 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.640 it's in contact? Yeah, yeah, you meet your dad beach. 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.400 I love how that's what people always come up with, 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:44.800 is it's like you meet yourself. Aliens just care about 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:49.240 your um. We should read the Book of Contact. That 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.280 would be because I've never read it. I've just seen 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:53.760 the movie a gazillion times, but I would love to read. 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:58.640 I like things about contact, things about the aliens making Yeah, 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.440 we are all just like we'd like to be there. 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.680 My recent favorite, um, this is not easy doesn't even 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.280 qualify as a joke. But anytime I like pick up 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.839 food that's fallen on the floor, Now my line is 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:15.000 just we are all stars. Well, I keep trying to 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.360 bring this up on the pod. But UFO cults, which 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:19.040 are like, there are a bunch of religions that are 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:23.440 based around the idea that the raptures when the aliens come. Yeah, 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.840 of course it just makes sense. And they're like, well, 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.600 like people think Jesus is going to come back, and 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:33.680 it's you know, sounds eerily similar to when the aliens come, 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.880 has it? Well that was Heaven's Gate, right, Yeah. There's 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.000 one called Happy Science. I think that's Japanese. There's a 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:45.240 good Wickmu still around. There's a there's a bunch the 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:50.680 aliens I believe are a UFO call. There's Eunarius, which 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:54.560 is not technically like a rapture called I Love Funarius. 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:56.840 Snarius is on the there on the flyer for our 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.720 first live show. Um, they're now run by a woman, 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.640 a woman who's like the Empress of Aliens. They used 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.280 to have a show on Public access in l A 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.480 all the time. That was a parade of the planets. 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.800 It was like it was so all the things you love. 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:17.640 It's really it imprinted on me very deeply because they 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.040 would always show it because the Unarians just like bought 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:22.040 up all this time on l A public access. And 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:23.960 again like that's why I love podcasting. It's because it 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:28.040 feels public access. Um, but I will post Molly, you 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:29.800 should start a USO. I would love to. That's what 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.320 Nightcall is eventually going to become. Obviously, Um, don't tell 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:38.280 anyone about stage three. Hey, we were going to talk 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.240 a little bit about Pour them out for a friend 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.640 of the podcast who is no longer with us. Yes, 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.760 lonely George, who was the last of his species of 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.800 tree snail, has died. He was fourteen years old. Blew 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:56.760 my fucking mind that he was that old old snail. 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.600 It's a fourteen year old snail. I had a snail 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.640 girling up, a pet snail. She lived, I know, poor 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:08.080 went out again. Our kindergarten class had like tiny baby 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.760 snails and I was able to procure a tiny baby 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.080 snail and brought her home. She lived for many years, 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.240 but not fourteen. Wait, how many years did it live 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.600 for us? She lived until I was in like fourth grade. 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:23.000 Five years first five years of snail in my house. 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:25.600 My parents are saints. What was its name? I don't 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:28.000 remember its name. I know you were hoping I would 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:32.600 tell of sail. You couldn't get you raise. That I 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.240 had a snail for five years is a much less 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:40.080 problematic way of saying that. It's also interesting with George. 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:42.840 They had been trying to find a mate for George 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:45.400 for a long time, but he didn't. He wasn't interested, 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.680 didn't want to mate. Um. He also I think that 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.520 they are neither male nor female, but they just decided 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:56.200 that he was. He his researchers, George. George is an 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:02.280 introgenous name to me, Madam George, Madam George Georgie girl. Yeah, yeah, um, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.640 I like that. In the National Geographic article about George's passing, 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.280 they say throughout his life, which is already already funny 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.840 to me, George was a public face for the struggles 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:17.640 facing Hawaiian land snails. It's sad, but it's also immediately 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:19.440 I think of a face of a snail, and I'm 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:25.160 just like, no, they're they're so did I talk about 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.639 I talked about banana slugs. When I came back from 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.120 the Bay and I had seen a bunch of banana slugs. 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.159 I promised my boyfriend there would be banana slugs, and 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.119 then there were, and I guess it was unusual to 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.480 see them in Berkeley, but um, I showed them for 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.959 you all about them, and I learned that it's like 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.160 their genitals or maybe on their head because they yeah, 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:48.560 they and they have like sillia that are like a 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:53.200 million tongues. Um, and let's make sure that that's that's 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.680 for sure. I don't want to to bad mouth no, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.399 but one is not. One of the things I learned 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:04.200 is that they're all hermaphroditic, and so they all are 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.560 not a gender that we have, you know, they're like 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.679 a new gender. So these are banana slugs, these are 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.119 Branda slugs. But I think a lot of slugs and 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:16.480 snails are hermaphroditic and they reproduce where like everybody has both. 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.720 You know what's weird is like, show me a slug 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.480 and I'm just never impressed. Show me a snail, any 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:24.159 kind of snail, and I'm like, because it has a 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:28.400 house that has a house, just like slug is too 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:32.120 terrible for me to connect with. It's so goo it's 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.920 too gooley to gooey. Well, that's what makes I agree 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.880 with you. A right, it's different. That's what makes it like, well, 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:42.800 you know, to take care of it. No not, what 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.240 do you think about like jelly fit, I don't like. 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:47.080 I don't care for them. I don't like that. I 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.560 think her eatin. Hermit crabs are like somehow superior to 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:57.520 regular crabs. Yeah, what's I mean? No, I eat crabs, 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:00.240 but I wouldn't eat a hermit crab. Probably be because 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.679 I'm like, look at its investment that it carries around. 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:07.480 WHOA that crab's got its shipped together. That crab it's 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.119 achieved a separate you know, it's moving up in life, 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.199 like it's I'm not going to take anything. Some of 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.600 the crabs just can't afford shells because of a recession, 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:19.520 still have shells. I just think it's cool when animals 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:23.080 accessorized and they're like really you know, physically attached to 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.920 hermit crabs are renters. They don't stay in them forever. 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:31.560 They're there. They're rent they're renting to own. They're relatable, 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:36.199 not related. But my mom saw a raccoon on her 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.679 porch yesterday just like peel and eat a mandarin, and 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:47.720 I was like, that's I love it. Yeah, So we 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:50.840 have Rachel on today to talk to her, not only 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:53.080 because what was our what was our line about you? 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.920 Your great writer and a great a great friend, but 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:02.560 also because you have an abundant of ghost stories and 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:04.959 you're here to share them with us, and we are 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:09.560 here to receive them and think about them. Uh so yeah, 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.399 give us some background. What was this uh this haunted house? 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:16.639 And uh what was your relationship to write? So the 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.040 ghost stories are mostly all related, sort of in one 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.040 long story I'll tell I'll tell it medium, Like I've 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:26.760 told this so many times, I have like versions. Um so, 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:30.159 the haunted house was my grandparents house, which is in 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:32.440 suburban Illinois where I spent a lot of time growing up. 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:34.680 I slept there on a lot of weekends and started 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:36.320 my siblings and we were there all the time, this 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:39.159 big spooky house with like a ton of weird rooms 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:42.040 and weird balconies, and it was just like a creepy, 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:45.080 bizarre house. You know when it was built? I think 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:47.280 it was built. I mean I feel like it's at 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:49.640 least a hundred years old, but I know they remodeled 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:51.280 it in like a weird seventies way, which you mean 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:56.080 it even creepier, like a lot of orange carpeting and stuff. Um. Also, 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:57.760 I almost died there a different time. Where my cousin 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.200 almost died there a different time by my hand. That's 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:04.920 a different story, like by accident. We decided we would 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:09.080 try to be Mary Poppins and Umbrella off the balcony, 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:11.679 and it didn't go well, and it was my plan. 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:14.920 No one died. I saved her by gripping her arms 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:17.200 and holding her up on the balcony, So I guess 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:19.320 I saved her life. Really, it feels like something out 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:23.240 of the New Mary, Yeah, exactly. Um. But anyway, so 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:27.000 this all started when I was maybe seven years old. Um, 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:28.200 I woke up in the middle of the night. I 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:29.760 was kind of sick, so I was having like a 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:32.080 fevery evening and I woke up in the middle of 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:34.159 the night and I remember hearing the piano playing. They 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.119 had a piano downstairs, and I remember thinking that it 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:39.480 was my grandpa or my dad because they both played. 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:42.000 And I was so pissed off, and I kind of 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:43.920 walked into the hallway, and then I kept playing and 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:45.640 I realized, like it was one in the morning, there 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:47.480 was no way they were playing the piano, and got 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:49.520 really scared and ran back to my room. I kind 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:52.600 of convinced myself that I was dreaming. I told my 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:54.480 parents and grandparents about the next day, and they were like, 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:57.880 you definitely dreamed that, And I kind of like gasolate 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:00.320 myself into believing that I dreamed, and I was like no. 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.440 And then a few years later, my brother was there 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:06.840 alone with my baby sister. I think he was babysitting, 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:09.560 and he was in the basement and he heard the 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:12.720 piano playing like one note over and over again above 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:15.800 him and called my grandparents and made them come home. 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:17.960 So I think a couple of things like that happened. 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:19.879 Our parents were like, you guys are imagining it, your 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.040 kids whatever. No one kind of took us seriously. So 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:26.119 then in high school I met my best friend, so 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:28.280 she kind of realized this connection earlier than I didn't. 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:30.000 Didn't tell me for a few years because she knew 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.159 I'd be freaked out. Um, she realized that her let 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:35.120 me see if I can get this right. Her great grandpa, 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.359 her step grandpa, her step grandpa grew up in the 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:40.560 house next door to that house when he was growing 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:42.439 up and had like crazy stories about it that he 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:44.280 had told her about the family that lived in that 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.400 in my grandparents house. So she heard all these stories 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:50.040 and like knew it was about the family that lived 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:51.840 in my grandparents else, but didn't tell me because she 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:53.000 knew I was there a lot and didn't want to 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:55.920 freak me out. Few years go by, she's like, Okay, 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:57.520 I'll just tell you this story that I know. So 0:22:57.560 --> 0:22:59.879 she tells me the following story, which is there was 0:22:59.920 --> 0:23:02.720 a family that lived there. The dad was this prominent 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:05.560 surgeon and and he and the mom were both addicted 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:07.199 to some drug that he got at the hospital. I 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.440