1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to you stuff you should 3 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: know from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome 4 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Schuckers 5 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: Bryant sitting across from me. Hi. Yeah, have you ever 6 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: seen Dying Darko? Dude, that's one of my favorites. You 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: know when he takes that mescaline and like that thing 8 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: comes out of his chest and he starts following it. Yeah, 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,360 Speaker 1: he doesn't take that scale. But yeah, sometimes I feel 10 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: when we're sitting across from another we're connected by one 11 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: of those like a warm hole of fellowship. Yeah, like 12 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: from the Abyss that's what it sort of looked like. Yeah, 13 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: it did look a lot like that. I love that movie. Yeah, 14 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: when um, when Ed Harris takes all that mescaline that 15 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: movie and sees the sees that thing come up out 16 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: of the water, it was just like that mess one. 17 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: No movies, how's it coming in which people take mescalin? 18 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 1: There's plenty of this. Sure, this is what people have 19 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: been complaining about lately. Who's been complaining? Tell me their names? 20 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: Various people, people have been complained, Oh you bring something up. 21 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: I feel like we should address something. We haven't done 22 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: this in a really long time. It appears to me 23 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: that we have a lot of newcomers. Yeah, welcome, Yes, welcome. 24 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: UM and I think anyone who's been following us the 25 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: whole time it kind of gets the stuff you should know, 26 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: JAM right. But it seems like there's a lot of 27 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: people who don't quite understand what we're doing and think 28 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: that we purport to be infallible experts on everything, and 29 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: that we don't just get things wrong from time to time. 30 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: We're just a couple of guys who are pretty decent 31 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: at researching. That doesn't mean like we invented the topic 32 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: that we're talking about, or that we didn't just walk 33 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: right past UM a fact or some thing that we 34 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: missed in our research. It comes up, it happens from 35 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: time time, So I guess if you're just joining us, 36 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: that's probably something good to keep in mind. We don't 37 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: claim to be experts, so don't hold us to that standard, 38 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: because we're not trying to reach that standard. We're just 39 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: trying to impart some really great information as factually as possible. 40 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: UM and Uh, we love science and wonder great, be good. Yeah, 41 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: all right, how are you doing? I'm awesome. Do you 42 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: have anything to get off of your chest? No, just 43 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: welcome the paminacies. Many sandwiches are in the corner. Help yourself. So, Chuck, 44 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: do you remember a while back we talked what we've 45 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: talked about this stuff a lot, mutual assured destruction. We 46 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: did a podcast on that specifically, didn't we we did? Um? 47 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,679 Speaker 1: We did one on who who won the Cold War? 48 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: Did one on how to steal a nuclear bomb? Yeah, 49 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: like we've done. It's just this fascinating period of world history, 50 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: the Cold War, agreed, incredibly tense, incredibly scary, and this 51 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 1: is our history. It is in part because you're half Russian. No, 52 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,399 Speaker 1: but um, I was alive and well, and the young 53 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: kids weren't. Yeah, we've talked about this before. Um so Uh. 54 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: The central I guess, the fulcrum of the Cold War, 55 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: the fact that the reason we're all still here is 56 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: that was the doctrine of mutual sure destruction, which is 57 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: basically like we had enough nukes to wipe out the 58 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: entire world. The Soviet Union had enough nukes to wipe 59 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: out the entire world. So we were just there in 60 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: a tense fragile de conte. How about a nice game 61 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: of chess exactly, That's why we're still here. So, Um, 62 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: this was I guess this accepted reality for every president 63 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: and every premiere um from well, I guess who for 64 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: us from icon This mutual is sure destruction doctrine was 65 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: just kind of a part of daily life. Um. But 66 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: when Ronald Reagan came into office, he came up with 67 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: a different plan he didn't need, so instead of a 68 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: tense standoff, he found that untoward. I guess I think 69 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: he found it. From my understanding of Reagan, he would 70 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: have found it untoward because it didn't give America a 71 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: clear advantage. Well, the article says he found it morally 72 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: and politically distasteful. I agree with him in that Reagan 73 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 1: didn't like mutual or sure destruction for one reason or another. 74 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: So he came up with something a game changer. You 75 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: would call it today. If you read books that of 76 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: an airplane is also reading at the same time, that's right, 77 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: what is it? Josh? He came up with the Strategic 78 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: Defense Initiative, which the press like to call start the 79 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: Star Wars program. And I remember this very very well, 80 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: because it was largely derided in the press for a 81 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: bunch of reasons. We're gonna talk about Yeah, I remember 82 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: very well too. It was all over Mad magazine. Um, 83 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: it was all over time. There were awesome illustrations of 84 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: like satellites with laser shooting out of them that like 85 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: you could see in the mainstream media a lot. Sure, Um, 86 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: But yeah, I also remember it kind of just basically 87 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: being generally disliked by the public. Yeah, as well. Pretty 88 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: much it was. It was to be laughed at in 89 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 1: many circles, although it was a very serious thing. It was, 90 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: and it was laughed at for a lot of reasons. 91 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: But that we're gonna go over so Reagan. On March three, 92 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: he held an address to the nation, little televised speech, 93 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: and in it he challenged the um scientific community UM, 94 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: who he said had created nuclear weapons, to make those 95 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: very same weapons quote UM impotent and obsolete. And that 96 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: kind of became the rallying cry. Yeah, like, let's make 97 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: nukes impotent and obsolete. And the way you do that 98 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: is to make it so that we have a missile 99 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: defense system that can shoot down every single nuclear warhead 100 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: that Russia has in its arsenal all at once if 101 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 1: need be. Yeah, after launch. Um, that is so like 102 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: if they launched their missiles, we can shoot them down 103 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: in space and um, in Reagan's view, which you know 104 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,720 Speaker 1: I can see his point at the time, um, there 105 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: would not be any more need for He thought it 106 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 1: would like neuter the Cold War in its tracks. Soviet 107 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: Union thought that's not too cool. They thought, yet, and yet, 108 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: and yet, because well a lot of a lot of 109 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:52,600 Speaker 1: people felt like it was going to escalate the arms race. 110 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: The Soviets thought, this just means you have a clear 111 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: advantage over us. This doesn't neuter like it neuters us, 112 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: It doesn't neuter you, right, and said as many times 113 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,840 Speaker 1: as the Soviets could stand to hear it that, Um, 114 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: this was strictly a missile defense system, a net or 115 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: a shield if you will, Um, that that would only 116 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: be used in the event that a Soviet nuclear launch 117 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: was detected. Right, But the Soviets were saying, or you 118 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: could just shoot all of our missiles down and then 119 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: launched a strike, a first strike where we would have 120 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: no way to retaliate. So, yeah, this is totally unacceptable. 121 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: And yeah, the Russians rallied against it. But not just 122 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: them the here at home. There are a lot of 123 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: people who didn't really care for it, including the public 124 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: who thought it was a pipe dream, or who thought 125 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: it would escalate a new arms racist Soviets, or who 126 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: just thought it was going to be a huge like 127 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: money pit. Yeah, and it was a lot of those things. 128 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: Um And when we say Soviets, let's go ahead and 129 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: call out the premier that I didn't remember Yuri and 130 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: drop off. I didn't remember him. I don't remember him either, 131 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: and I looked him up. He was only I mean that. 132 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: It seems like there was a lot of premiers there 133 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: for a while, but like died surely thereafter. I think 134 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: he was in like like less than a year and 135 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: a half. Uh. He was like the KGB had something 136 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: to do with it in vodka. Um, so he was 137 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: the premier at the time. He wasn't a fan. They 138 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: launched a big propaganda campaign. It says their propaganda went 139 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: toward uh poopoo ing the Star Wars defense program, even 140 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: though they didn't think it was gonna work. So neither 141 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: did our Congress. Apparently right Apparently the Soviets were like, 142 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: this is not a feasible program. Well, and they said 143 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: it violates a couple of important treaties UM. The A 144 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: b M, the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty of seventy two, 145 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,720 Speaker 1: which the Soviet Union in in UH the United States 146 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: were both a part of, said that at the time 147 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: that was two ground based missile defense systems you were allowed. 148 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: Later on it was one. And I guess this would 149 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: have been more than two. Not only that ground based 150 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: is a an operative term in this case, because this 151 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: was going to be this this strategic defense initiative was 152 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: going to be space based, and that violates another treaty 153 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: N seven Outer Space Treaty says that you cannot use 154 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 1: weapons of mass destruction and space. And that's pretty much 155 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: what was going on, or that was what was planned, 156 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: right right. So UM, all right, so that's that's why 157 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: they don't like it, right why? And Congress didn't like it. 158 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: Congress didn't like it either. Most people in Congress. They 159 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: they apparently the UM, the Missile Defense Agency attributes UM 160 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,319 Speaker 1: coining the term star wars to describe the Strategic Offense 161 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:48,560 Speaker 1: Deation initiative to mock it really UM to Ted Kennedy 162 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: and an interview in The Washington Post, like almost right 163 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: after Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, and Reagan spent 164 00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: the rest of the time he was in office trying 165 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 1: to simultane get this push through and to get everyone 166 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: to stop calling it star wars, because with no luck. 167 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:10,319 Speaker 1: Had had it caught the American public's imagination like, oh, yeah, 168 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: star wars, let's just go ahead and blow up Russia 169 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: with star wars, he would have been like, yeah, let's 170 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: call it star wars. It's awesome. But it was like 171 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: Reagan star Wars, that crazy old kuk. He's got all 172 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: time and he wants to put weapons in space and 173 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: just shoot lasers around and all that. So he spent 174 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 1: a lot of time lobbying against people calling it star wars, 175 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: but it didn't work. Now he'd tried to go by 176 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: the name Strategic Defense in this initiative, and you know 177 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 1: how the press is. I think he used to get 178 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: a hold of something. It's all over. He was probably 179 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: even willing to to um allow it to be called 180 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 1: the sd I. I'll bet he was even like bed I. 181 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: So Europe wasn't all in favor the Allies. They had 182 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: some concerns about the balance of power and how this 183 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: would affect it obviously, And like you said, congress Um, 184 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: not everyone was against it, but they had some major issues, 185 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,679 Speaker 1: largely a the cost and the is it even possible? 186 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: Like are we just pipe dreaming here on these lasers? 187 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:15,839 Speaker 1: And they were kind of right well at the time, 188 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: they were so in in Reagan's defense, he said from 189 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: the outset like, this can take years, decades. This is 190 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: not going to be an overnight thing. And he also 191 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: said we're going to test a lot of different stuff 192 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 1: right that he was like he was well aware of 193 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,679 Speaker 1: the technology didn't exist, or if it did exist, it 194 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,199 Speaker 1: was like a glimmer in some National laboratory scientists eyes 195 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: and it was just in the nascent stages, so um 196 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: from the outside. He commissioned some reports and the one 197 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: that kind of got picked up was the Fletcher Report. 198 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,400 Speaker 1: And the Fletcher Report basically said, here are eight things 199 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:52,319 Speaker 1: you need to build the Strategic Defense Initiative, everything from 200 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 1: sensors that can detect when uh intercontinental ballistic missile launch 201 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 1: is launched because they don't phone you up and say 202 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: we've launched exactly right, and you need to make sure 203 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: that they're accurate and it's not going to be like 204 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: a wargames thing where it's like whatever, um, you also 205 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: need to come up with some incredible guided missile systems, UM. 206 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: Just just like I think there were like eight different 207 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: different aspects that basically either needed to be created or 208 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: needed to be refined to the point where they might 209 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:27,720 Speaker 1: as well be created from scratch. And Reagan said do this. Yeah, 210 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: he said, press on. And I think a lot of 211 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: people at the time in Congress, at least we're saying, 212 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:35,560 Speaker 1: good idea, let's use this as a bargaining tool in 213 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: the arms race, Like we don't really have to do 214 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: it right there, like everyone thinks you're serious exactly, And 215 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: he said this could work as a bargaining chip, and 216 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:45,320 Speaker 1: he was like, no, I really want the star wars. Uh. 217 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: I'm sorry sd I. So apparently um GO got Reagan 218 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:56,400 Speaker 1: to meet him for UM Arms Limitations talks in Iceland 219 00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: in October, and Reagan and went and they had this 220 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 1: great talk and like basically gorbon Chop was like, let's 221 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: end mutuals your destruction. Let's basically get rid of our arsenals. 222 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: And the Soviets were just throwing like bone after bone 223 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: under the table and Reagan just can't believe his luck 224 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, Gorbon at the end 225 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,319 Speaker 1: is like, okay, so we'll go ahead and sign off 226 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: on this, but all this is contingent that you give 227 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:25,160 Speaker 1: up Star Wars, right, and Reagan stood up and the 228 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:29,080 Speaker 1: left he left, Yeah, which is kind of like that's 229 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: a little crazy maybe, but that's the level of commitment. 230 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: He apparently had two Star Wars. Well yeah, not too 231 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: long after, the Soviets says, well, you know what, we 232 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 1: gotta do something. We can't build a Star Wars And 233 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,439 Speaker 1: it's actually a pretty good idea they said we can, well, 234 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,439 Speaker 1: at least they thought they could, um undertake what they 235 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:52,559 Speaker 1: called the Polyus skiff, which was will event a network 236 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: of weapons to destroy your Star Wars machine, um, which was, hey, 237 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:01,120 Speaker 1: that's pretty good thinking. But they didn't have the funding 238 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,560 Speaker 1: and uh it was not very successful either. No, they didn't. 239 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: And that leads us to um a point if I 240 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: may skip around a little chucture, but um history has 241 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:17,080 Speaker 1: kind of vindicated Reagan in one way, like his Star 242 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: Wars program didn't go anywhere, but it wasn't given very 243 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: much time. And the reason why is because the fall 244 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: of the Soviet Union happened within less than a decade 245 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: after he announced the star Wars initiative. The program, Uh, 246 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union fell collapsed entirely. Uh and with some 247 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: people attribute that to the defense spending that he immediately 248 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: caused them to to start expending because of the Star 249 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: Wars program. True, so he did kind of ratchet up 250 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: this arms race, but the Soviets couldn't keep up. This 251 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 1: came on the heels of US bleeding them dry in 252 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: Afghanistan secretly funding the muja Haddein which became the Taliban 253 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: by the way, we I don't know how much Reagan knew, 254 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 1: but these the Soviets were hurting financially, and then all 255 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: of a sudden you introduced star Wars and they couldn't 256 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: keep up. Yeah, and the follow of Soviet Union. With 257 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: that came obviously the at least huge threat of all 258 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: out nuclear war because they were the major players. Um, 259 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: you didn't have to worry about the smaller countries, you know, 260 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:25,760 Speaker 1: as far as the mad goes, right, but you have 261 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: to worry about rogue states and all that. Making sure 262 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: that the Russians could hang on to their arsenal, which 263 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: they didn't do very well necessarily. But yes, the mutual 264 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: assured destruction just went the way the dinosaur when the 265 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: Soviets fell. Um. H W. Bush comes along. Yeah, people 266 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: get annoyed by the way and when we don't say 267 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: President so and so? Who does? Where are you see? 268 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: Are this on Facebook? Now? I've seen people right in before, 269 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: and I've heard other people say you should always address 270 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: them as President so and so. But I hear all 271 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: the time people say Obama, Clinton, Reagan. So no, no 272 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: disrespect intended, folks. H W. Bush comes along, Soviet Union 273 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 1: has fallen, So he's like, you know what, we need 274 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: to really cut back on this scope of this sd I. 275 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: He probably would have just scrapped it all together, but 276 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: he was pretty loyal to uh Reagan, of course. And um, 277 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: so he refocuses a program, cuts it back. Clinton comes 278 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:24,480 Speaker 1: along President Clinton and refines it even more and cuts 279 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: it back even more. And by the time that happened, 280 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: it wasn't anything like Reagan's initial Star Wars program. No, 281 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: not at all. No, but it would become handy, which 282 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: we'll get too. So let's talk about what Star Wars was. 283 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: We've kind of given like a little bit of a 284 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: broad overview. But um, until I started researching this. I 285 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: hadn't really thought about it, but intercontinental ballistic missiles once 286 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: capable of saying, traveling from Moscow to New York, I 287 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: have to leave Earth's atmosphere and inner orbit. And so 288 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:01,240 Speaker 1: the idea was we would have something up there that 289 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: could shoot it down when it entered orbit, That's right, 290 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:06,879 Speaker 1: Which meant that we had to place. We had to 291 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,800 Speaker 1: weaponize space. Yeah, and I wonder if they ever gave 292 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: any thought to what nuclear bombs going off in space 293 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,439 Speaker 1: would mean. I mean, surely there's repercussions here. I know 294 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:21,159 Speaker 1: it's space, But you can't just go willie nilly setting 295 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: off nuclear bombs in space? Right? Did in Nevada? Well, 296 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: that's that's true. Yeah, and look what happened there? What 297 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,520 Speaker 1: happened there? Well, I'm just saying it. It's it's got 298 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: to cause some kind of harm to space even though 299 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,120 Speaker 1: it's space, right, or does it just sucking? Do it? Like? 300 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: I have no idea. This is something I could not find. 301 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: I mean the research that couldn't find anything. Yeah. No, 302 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,480 Speaker 1: I I understand what you're saying. In space is a vacuum, 303 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 1: so it should have some effect or no effect whatsoever. 304 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:54,680 Speaker 1: But it's got to and got to do something. There's 305 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: someone out there really smart that hopefully is going to 306 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 1: email me. I guess though. The the idea behind this 307 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: was fairly utilitarian, where it was like, Okay, this possible 308 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: consequence in space or saving millions of lives here on Earth, 309 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: and they just said whatever, that's fine, of course. Um, 310 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: but so you have something up in space it's capable 311 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 1: of shooting down an intercontinental ballistic missile like an X 312 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,080 Speaker 1: ray laser. That's this is like where we kind of 313 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: come to some of the um Like, there were a 314 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: lot of proposals that were kind of out there, but 315 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,360 Speaker 1: they went a hadn't spent a lot of money testing 316 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 1: these things like the X ray laser, and that was 317 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: a physicist Edward Teller, Um, it was needed. The hydrogen bomb. Yeah, 318 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:40,720 Speaker 1: I saw that. It was his proposal, so they obviously 319 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: listened to him and um, it was gonna use power 320 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:49,119 Speaker 1: generated by a nuclear blast. And it never performed well, 321 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 1: and it really became the focus point for the press 322 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,960 Speaker 1: and for David Letterman and for Johnny Carson to make 323 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,000 Speaker 1: fun of because it was an X ray laser and 324 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: this is coming off the heels of the Star Wars 325 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: movies themselves with their X ray blasters. Actually they would 326 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: star blowing up yeah, or the dust star blowing up 327 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,919 Speaker 1: that planet all then I think they focused the laser 328 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: and boom, Um. You just saved me from a lot 329 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,480 Speaker 1: of iro because I was gonna say, tattooing, I might 330 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:22,160 Speaker 1: have got it wrong. I think it was all the wrong, man. 331 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 1: I hope you got it. If there's one thing that 332 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: I ever hope you got right, it was that one 333 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: so so many Star Trek fans would be writing in 334 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 1: so that there's the X ray laser and it doesn't 335 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: go over very well, which was very much the focus 336 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: of the media, and they were being chided for the 337 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:42,560 Speaker 1: fact that they know sounded really far out right, but 338 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,119 Speaker 1: they they tested it, it just wouldn't work. The idea 339 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: behind it was that they were going to have a small, 340 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,919 Speaker 1: controlled nuclear explosion that would power this laser right to 341 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: create a massive amount of X rays concentrated amount of 342 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: X rays um that would be focused on a missile 343 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:03,880 Speaker 1: and then go kaboom. It was called Project ex Caliber, 344 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: so it had a cool name to but apparently Teller 345 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: or the people behind it were accused of falsifying the 346 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: initial UH test result. Yeah, so it kind of went 347 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: down and scandal and mockery and everything. So in the 348 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: little box that said worked or didn't work, they just 349 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,879 Speaker 1: checked worked and like shuffled away like cartoons sweat like 350 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: coming off. Therefore, so some of the other ideas that 351 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: they tried um and spent billions of dollars trying um 352 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 1: kinetic warheads, apparently they would collide in the orbit. It's 353 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,440 Speaker 1: like shooting a shooting a missile at another missile UM. 354 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: And that one actually was like the big dog on 355 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:45,720 Speaker 1: the block for a while at first in the early 356 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: stages of Star Wars, because they figured out that you 357 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: could have this thing like basically a satellite based garage 358 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:57,439 Speaker 1: with like ten missiles in it and you just have 359 00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 1: it floating up there and then shoot at a missile. 360 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:01,639 Speaker 1: And when one came up and it was a good idea, 361 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: they're like, we can actually do that, Like I think 362 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: we can do this. The problem is that somebody pointed 363 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: out that all the Russians had to do is shoot 364 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: a missile at your garage, and for their one missile, 365 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: they took out ten. So people said, okay, let's get 366 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: back to it, and they started exploring other one it's 367 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,399 Speaker 1: like bringing a knife to a gunfight. It's like bringing 368 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: a missile to a multi missile fight. No. I don't 369 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 1: think that analogy works at all. Out. I think it's 370 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,360 Speaker 1: like a sitting duck. Okay. Uh. The other thing they 371 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: wanted to try, Josh, was this rail guns mounted on satellites. 372 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: Did you see the popular mechanics drawing of it. I did, 373 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: and it's pretty wicked. Yeah. I gotta admit. It looks 374 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: like an I beam coming out of the satellite, but 375 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,439 Speaker 1: it's shooting like a three ounce lug at two hundred 376 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,399 Speaker 1: miles a second. It's pretty wicked. Yeah. Um, that one 377 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: didn't go very far because of the um energy requirements. Yeah, 378 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 1: it was just way too expensive in an energy sense. Uh. 379 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: And then the m I R A c L miracle laser. Um. 380 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 1: It was another laser, but it was ground based using mirrors, right, 381 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: and it was a chemical laser. It wasn't like an 382 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: uh nuclear X ray laser. It's like they just started 383 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: to try to throw cool sci fi terms of the 384 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: time together, like let's make laser, but let's make it 385 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:24,760 Speaker 1: a nuclear X ray laser and we'll shoot missiles out 386 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: of the sky with strawn laser tron um. So then 387 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 1: this article doesn't really go into it. But after after 388 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: some of these were kind of asked and answered. Um 389 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,119 Speaker 1: up until and even beyond the fall of the Soviet Union, 390 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 1: the Shining Star and all this became this these things 391 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,640 Speaker 1: called bright Pebbles. Does that ring a bell? It did 392 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: for me when I ran across it, I was like, Ahi, 393 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: those two words sound very familiar. So Bright Pebbles was 394 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: the little garage with ten missiles. These were very small ones, 395 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:02,399 Speaker 1: like say, um twenty to fifty hound mini garages that 396 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 1: would shoot slugs or would ram themselves. But I think 397 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 1: they would shoot slugs. And rather than having one garage 398 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: with ten missiles, you would have thousands of these little 399 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: things all over the country, all over the all over space. 400 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,439 Speaker 1: They're in space. Yeah, so they were hoping for a 401 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: constellation of up to like four thousand of these things 402 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: just floating around in space. The cool thing about him 403 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 1: was if you took one out, there were still three 404 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: thousand nine left. Right. They were autonomous, so they could 405 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,159 Speaker 1: attack on their own if they if they wanted to. 406 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 1: They could also coordinate and communicate with one another to 407 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,440 Speaker 1: launch coordinated attacks against missiles. It would be very tough 408 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: to overwhelm these things UM, and they would have been 409 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:50,120 Speaker 1: designed to protect US space based assets like satellites, and 410 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: if the Soviets ever launched anything like it, these things 411 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: were trained to just go right after them and blow 412 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: them out of the sky too. So basically they were 413 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: like little sentinels in space and they were going to 414 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: be cost effected to It was gonna cost about eleven 415 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,400 Speaker 1: billion in UM in nineteen eighty four dollars I think, 416 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 1: which is about twenty billion a day. It was considering 417 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: that they were looking at like twenty billion which is 418 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,679 Speaker 1: about forty three billion in UH today's dollars, just to 419 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: get some of the other ones off the ground. So 420 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:22,160 Speaker 1: to get a thousand off the ground that you could 421 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 1: mass produce just eleven billion dollars at the time was 422 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,440 Speaker 1: quite a bargain. And had the fall of the Soviet 423 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: Union not coming gone, we probably would have bright pebbles 424 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 1: up in space right now. And as a matter of fact, 425 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,520 Speaker 1: they were proven. They were tested UM the Clementine probe 426 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,320 Speaker 1: which mapped the Moon in that was a bright pebble 427 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: that they basically redesigned instead of UH as a weapon. 428 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,120 Speaker 1: They used it to map the moon and it did 429 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: so successfully, so they would have worked. And lastly, yes, 430 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: a computer model of bright pebbles found that had they 431 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,920 Speaker 1: been in operation during the flirt first go for um, 432 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 1: they would have shot down. Said I'm scuds, scud missiles 433 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: with accuracy, pretty crazy, but well cheap. I was gonna 434 00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,720 Speaker 1: say expensive. No, they're cheap. They just didn't have time 435 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: to come along. Well. The problem with the rest of 436 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,440 Speaker 1: the plans is I saw one quote that said that 437 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,120 Speaker 1: at the time they were just sort of taking these 438 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,360 Speaker 1: ideas almost from science fiction, and they felt like they 439 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,120 Speaker 1: were or some scientists felt like they were a decade 440 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: away from even like they're saying, we can't even start 441 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,520 Speaker 1: this for ten years. We need to research for ten 442 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 1: years to see if any of this is even feasible. 443 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: But instead of sort of like trying these things out, 444 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,199 Speaker 1: Reagan was encouraging that though. I mean, I'm sure he 445 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 1: was like, hurry up, but at the same time, and 446 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 1: I think he got the impression he was saying, like 447 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: sky's the limit, guys, like usual imagination, do whatever you 448 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: can come up with. The sky's the limit beyond. So 449 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,000 Speaker 1: did any of these ever work at all? So apparently 450 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: a couple did, like they shot down three, they shut 451 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: down a stationary object on Earth, they shot down, um, 452 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,399 Speaker 1: a mock warhead in the Earth's atmosphere, and they shot 453 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: down another mock warhead in space. And one of those 454 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: things was going twenty one. So that so some of 455 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,359 Speaker 1: these technologies, because they had a bunch of different groups 456 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,360 Speaker 1: testing all these different things, and some of them were 457 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: successful for the most part now, but it eventually led 458 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,560 Speaker 1: to a different sort of defense system that we still 459 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,359 Speaker 1: have today, right or is it that what some people say, Yeah, 460 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: like the ballistic missile defense system, Um, it's it's the 461 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 1: out growth of Star Wars. Like the idea that we 462 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:47,359 Speaker 1: have a missile defense system comes from Star Wars, even 463 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,159 Speaker 1: though we're not using X ray lasers. A lot of 464 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: people say it had some benefit in the end after all, Yeah, 465 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: because we're using sensors, those same sensors. Like a lot 466 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: of the research that was not like X ray lasers, 467 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: but still had practical applications we're still doing today. And 468 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,840 Speaker 1: apparently in Pearl Harbor last month, a missile shot down 469 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: another missile over the Pacific successfully as a test. Yeah, 470 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 1: I was like, somebody's attacking Pearl Harbor again. You don't 471 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,320 Speaker 1: really want they figured the American public desmint here. But yeah, 472 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: the Chinese shot a missile at us and we shot 473 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,080 Speaker 1: it down, so everything's was close, So I guess it's 474 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 1: about it. Huh. Yeah, Um, that's all I got. Okay, 475 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: So if you want to learn more about Star Wars, 476 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: I think it'd bring up a bunch of crazy stuff 477 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: if you type star Wars in the search bar how 478 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:44,520 Speaker 1: stuff works, like the one man Star Wars Star Wars 479 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: One Man Show. Yeah, that's pretty good, uh, Landau Dr 480 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: Pepper Calarisian remember that one. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff. 481 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: Just type star Wars in the search bar how stuff 482 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: works dot com And I said that, which means it's 483 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: time for Listener Mainland. Josh and Louis listener Mail. We're 484 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: gonna do a little Facebook question to stuff that we 485 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: like to do from time to time, and this is 486 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: happening live, which is pretty exciting. That is scary because 487 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: I didn't have Listener Mai already and this was a 488 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,240 Speaker 1: good thing to do. So let's just look through some 489 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 1: of these and you let me know what you want 490 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:29,640 Speaker 1: to read. Uh. Our friend Kubi Don Kuby says, uh, 491 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: is there a particular side of the recording booth that 492 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:36,159 Speaker 1: you each always sit on. The answer to that is yes, Um, 493 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,480 Speaker 1: I guess if you were facing from here, Josh, it's 494 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: on the right. I sit on the left, But you 495 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: really come in from the other side, So Josh SIT's 496 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: on the far side and I sit on the near side. 497 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: That's the best way to say it. That's very well put. Yeah, 498 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 1: and I think all the podcasters probably no one ever 499 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: sits in a different seat. That'd be really weird. Yeah, 500 00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: I'm sure everybody sits in there. Like if I said 501 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: over there to be disconcerting, they'd be. You'd have to 502 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,360 Speaker 1: be a like bona fide nihilist to do that. It 503 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: would just be odd. Um. I've got one from Jerome Hanson. 504 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,360 Speaker 1: I would say Jerome, right, yeah. Uh who is your 505 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: favorite Marvel superhero? Uh? I guess I would say Punisher. 506 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: I know he's not a superhero, he's just a straight 507 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,080 Speaker 1: up hero because he doesn't have any superpowers. But he's 508 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: definitely the comic I was into the most as a youngster. 509 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go spider Man really yeah? Yeah, identified yeah 510 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 1: with Peter Parker not spider Man. Um favorite band of 511 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: all time? I feel like we've answered that many times. Okay, 512 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: I'm going with Pavement still, Pixie's still okay. Um. I 513 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 1: would like to know your opinion of and Margaret. That's 514 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: from Brian Throckmorton. I think and Margaret in her day 515 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,640 Speaker 1: was one of the most smoking hot women on the planet. 516 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: So my only familiarity with and Margaret was from The 517 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: flat Stones when they had that character and Mark Rock 518 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 1: and she always seemed like she was on lithium. So 519 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 1: I don't have a great opinion of and Margaret. Gotcha, Oh, 520 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: this is good, William Bear. If you were speed limit, 521 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 1: what would you be? And why? You know what I 522 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,200 Speaker 1: would be? Well, I would be one of those special 523 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: speed limits in state parks. It's like five miles an hour. 524 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: Do you know that there's the parking garage here is 525 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: four and a half? Is it really? Yeah? Yeah, that's 526 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:32,680 Speaker 1: what I would be. Then four and a half miles 527 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: an hour. It's like they're showing off because just take 528 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: your foot off and let the idol take you. Man, 529 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: that's where That's where I'm at. What would you be? 530 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: This is arguably the strangest question I've ever been asked. 531 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: I would say, Okay, that's good. Okay, it's fast, but 532 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: it's not super dangerous. I'm not even to read into it. 533 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 1: I just that's what comes to mind. Okay, gotcha you going? 534 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: Uh uh, let's see. Lisa to Shara asks us, what's 535 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,440 Speaker 1: our least favorite food? Lisa's at the regular too, But 536 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 1: I read that I recognized the name. Hey there, what 537 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: are you going with? Least favorite food would have to 538 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: be Oh. I was just talking to Amory about this 539 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: the other day. It's like one thing I really don't 540 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: like and I can't remember it because I generally like everything. 541 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: What's yours? Let me think about it. Probably mushrooms on anything. 542 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:32,840 Speaker 1: I'm just not a fan. Yeah. I know they say 543 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:34,960 Speaker 1: they don't have taste, but then I'm always like cold. 544 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:36,760 Speaker 1: Then why are you put it in something they can 545 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: virtually ruin? Um? The pizza? Yeah, oh, I've got it. 546 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: Cream cheese, cream cheese with stuffed in it, like she's 547 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: spread a cream cheese ball, cream cheese, and just about anything. 548 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: Like if you have a plain bagel hot with cream cheese, 549 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: that's fine, that's your man. Once you put like a 550 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,840 Speaker 1: garden style old cream cheese with something else, yeah, I 551 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: don't like that stuff. Either okay, Matt sailor boxers or briefs. 552 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,760 Speaker 1: We've been asked that I'm the boxer guy. Katie Hart 553 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: favorite punch line to a joke. Uh, those aren't pillows. 554 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,840 Speaker 1: I don't. I can't say anyone I know. Uh, you 555 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: got any more on here? Why don't we do like 556 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: two more? Let's see Charlotte Gene asks, how do we 557 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,560 Speaker 1: take our coffee? I take mine black atty two. So 558 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: there you go. That's kind of boring. I got a 559 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,360 Speaker 1: lot of hair on the old chest from it. And 560 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 1: you know, Jason Domini from our friends at uh Pat 561 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:44,120 Speaker 1: Dorphin Bronson, the amazing coffee makers and roasters, which you 562 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:46,959 Speaker 1: should not coffee makers roasters, we should support them by 563 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 1: the way. Um. He says he gave me a personal 564 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: tour of the thing in a coffee one on one 565 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:55,720 Speaker 1: and he says, if you drink good coffee and it's 566 00:32:55,800 --> 00:33:00,520 Speaker 1: roasted properly, you don't want sugar. Oh yeah, I definitely 567 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 1: don't want milk, but you definitely don't want sugar because 568 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: he's like, it's really sweet. He's like, coffee beans are 569 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 1: exceptionally sweet and when you roast it right, um, and 570 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:11,440 Speaker 1: he called it Charbucks, which I thought was kind of funny. 571 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 1: He said their stuff is just like bitter because they 572 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: char it too much because they get beans from all 573 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,080 Speaker 1: over the place and when they do that, they want 574 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:22,960 Speaker 1: to make them all taste the same, and the way 575 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,960 Speaker 1: to do that is to overroast. This is our friend 576 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:29,920 Speaker 1: h Rob Pointer was telling us that, like there's he 577 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: goes to a coffee place in l A where like 578 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: they don't even have creamer sugar. Really, like they don't 579 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 1: even offer it if you want it, like they tell 580 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,479 Speaker 1: you to leave. Awesome. Yeah, when he made his coffee 581 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:43,520 Speaker 1: that day, it was great. Um, all right, so I 582 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: think that that's good enough for now. We'll hit this 583 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,800 Speaker 1: up on the next one. Well yeah, okay, we'll be 584 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: back people in the meantime. You can contact us at 585 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,000 Speaker 1: s Y s K podcast on Twitter. You can hit 586 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:57,200 Speaker 1: us up on Facebook dot com whether we have a 587 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 1: question out or otherwise at Facebook dot com slash Stuff 588 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:02,800 Speaker 1: you Should Know, and you can send us an email 589 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 1: to Stuff Podcast at Discovery dot com. Brought to you 590 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are 591 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:27,399 Speaker 1: you