1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,960 Speaker 1: Welcome Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of I 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, you welcome to Stuff 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: I'm Joe McCormick. And today I thought maybe we should 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,479 Speaker 1: start off with a little don't do what Donnie Don't does? 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,240 Speaker 1: All right, tell us about Donnie Don't. Okay, So let's, uh, 7 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: let's let's see what Donnie Don't is doing and see 8 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: if maybe we should don't do what he does. Uh, 9 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: try and spot the don't. So Donnie Don't is He's 10 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: cooking up a big old mess of French fries in 11 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,720 Speaker 1: his deep friar, and he eats all the fries while 12 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: watching RoboCop three, And then it's time to clean up. 13 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: So first of all, he realizes he is greasy all 14 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,159 Speaker 1: over from eating this big batch of fries, so he 15 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: gives himself a good wipe down with some wet wipes, 16 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: and then he flushes them down the toilet. Now it's 17 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:52,840 Speaker 1: time to get rid of the gallon of duck fat 18 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: that he used to cook his fries. So what does 19 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: he do? He pours it straight down the drain in 20 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: the bathtub. Now I think most of us can easily. 21 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: I don't know about all of us, because somebody's obviously 22 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: doing what Donnie Don't does. But I think most of 23 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: us can easily spot the Donnie don'ts here. He's made 24 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: several errors, but now I think it's pretty common knowledge 25 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: that you are not supposed to flush wet wipes and 26 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: other non toilet paper products down the toilet, and you're 27 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: definitely not supposed to pour fat down the drain. Yeah, 28 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: I mean there's some other things that he's doing you 29 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: could potentially criticize. I mean, I don't I don't know 30 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 1: how how often he's eating French fries that have been 31 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: fried in duck fat. Like, if he's doing that too often, 32 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: that's probably not great for his health. But you know, 33 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: once in a while, why not, right? Um? RoboCop three, 34 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: I have no problem with that. It may not be 35 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: the strongest in the RoboCop movies, but it's uh it 36 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: has like cyber Ninja is in it. That's kind of cool. 37 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: But yeah, it's the it's the wet wipes and then 38 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: pouring that grease down the drain, and it's the pour 39 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: of the grease down the drain. I often forget that 40 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: that is a key rule. Oh do you do you 41 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: break this one? No? I I just am generally not 42 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: in a position to break it because we just don't. 43 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: We don't cook with with fat uh much anymore at 44 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: all anymore. And uh. And then as far as wet 45 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: wives go, like I I know, not to put wet 46 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: wipes down though, really no oils in your house, no 47 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: salad dressing, no, like no olive oil or anything. But 48 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: not duck fat. Oh well, I mean, of course, other 49 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,919 Speaker 1: like non animal fats are still like fats and oils. 50 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: But I guess what I'm thinking, Like I I remember, 51 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: so I shouldn't have said just duck fat. I mean 52 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: that you're not supposed to pour oil or lipids of 53 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: any time down to drain but but but specifically like 54 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: the you know, like a big fry vat kind of 55 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: drainage situation. Like I I remember seeing jars of of 56 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: of fat and oil like underneath the sink growing up, 57 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: because like that was, you know, the appropriate thing to do. 58 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: That's the grandma's house kind of thing, like the big 59 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: old mason jar of bacon grease under the sink. And 60 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: then of course when whenever we go, if you go 61 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: to um fast food restaurant, or even a restaurant in general, 62 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: you're gonna find that big grease trap outside. Like sometimes 63 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: it's a little bit hidden, but sometimes there's no place 64 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: to hide it. Um, and it's just right up front. 65 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: It's just there in the parking lot. Yeah. I remember 66 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: one of my jobs that I worked at when I 67 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: was in college. Every morning when i'd go into it, 68 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: I'd have to park in the parking lot of a 69 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: restaurant that was like next to where I worked, and 70 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 1: I parked right next to their big it was like 71 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 1: a burger and fries place and the heart next to 72 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: their big grease grease depository. Uh. And it just looked 73 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: like the saddest robot from some Star Wars spinoff, like 74 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: Lithuanian Star Wars has our four, uh you know D seven, 75 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: And it's this big black thing with with like this 76 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: dripping sad, grease tears stained head. But of course that's 77 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: this restaurant usage, and we can I think we can 78 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: all understand that. I mean, there's certain rules and regulations 79 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: there they're following, and they're also producing just a ton 80 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: of the this uh, this material. I wonder if, like 81 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: the problem with a household situation is either you're creating 82 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: so little that you don't think about it, so it's 83 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: like death by thousand cuts, right, or when you do 84 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: produce a more sizeable amount, doing you know, some sort 85 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,600 Speaker 1: of frying scenario like you just suddenly have this this 86 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: huge mess to clean up, and it's easy to just 87 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: convince yourself, I'm just gonna do the easy thing. I'm 88 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: just gonna go and put it down the sink and 89 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 1: next time I'll do better. Right, who's gonna know? Yeah, 90 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: but maybe we should step back and ask a question. 91 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: I mean, it's not like RoboCop is gonna show at 92 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: your house, right, right, So that's what they do in 93 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,239 Speaker 1: RoboCop too, right, They reprogram him so instead of fighting crime, 94 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 1: he goes out and he he pursues uh minor infraction 95 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: minor and littering and stuff like that and people using 96 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: swear words. Uh. So we should ask this question of 97 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: wait a minute, why are you not supposed to do 98 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: these things? Why are you not supposed to pour oil 99 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: and fat and grease down the drain. One reason you're 100 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:02,919 Speaker 1: not supposed to do this has to do with the 101 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: way sewers work. Sewers are I say, with no hesitation 102 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: one of the greatest human inventions. And if you doubt this, 103 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: listen to our invention episodes on the toilet or listen 104 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: to uh we we did an episode of stuff to 105 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: blow your mind about the miasma theory of disease. And 106 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 1: in all of these we talk about how you know 107 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: properly maintained sanitary sewer facilities are are not not just 108 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:29,720 Speaker 1: there to make our homes and our streets more pleasant, 109 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,359 Speaker 1: like they play a crucial role in protecting public health 110 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: and preventing outbreaks of diseases, especially fecal oral route diseases 111 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: which are as gross as they sound, diseases like cholera. UH. 112 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,799 Speaker 1: Sewers work when everything flows smoothly to its destination point 113 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,119 Speaker 1: at a treatment facility, and they're one of the best 114 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: innovations in the history of civilization. I say that no 115 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,480 Speaker 1: qualifications at all. But sometimes things get in the way, 116 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,359 Speaker 1: like tree roots can intrude on sewer pipes and block flow. 117 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 1: We live here in Atlanta where there are a lot 118 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: of trees and a lot of a lot of old 119 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: large trees and places that are intersecting with sewer pipes, 120 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,280 Speaker 1: and so this we know about this happening a lot uh. 121 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: And of course they can cause turbulence and this can 122 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: lead to build up. Or you can have old, decaying 123 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: sewer mains that crack and do similar stuff, and sometimes 124 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 1: blockages in these sewer sewer pipes occur from the inside out. 125 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,359 Speaker 1: One of the most all inspiring things that can block 126 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: a sewer is what we're going to be talking about today. 127 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: It's something that has in recent years come to be 128 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: known as a fat berg According to an article I 129 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: was reading by Kelly Oakes and New Scientists from earlier 130 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: this year. UH. This term was apparently coined in two 131 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,839 Speaker 1: thousand and eight, but it became widely popular after news 132 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: reports about a huge fatburg in and what it refers 133 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: to is a giant, solidified mass of stuff based on 134 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: fat and oils that just states in the heart of 135 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:06,720 Speaker 1: a sewer system, feeding on things like wet wipes and 136 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: floss and other trash, but especially on fats and the 137 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: byproducts of fats like cooking oils you know, uh, grease 138 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: from cooking animals, all that stuff that people wash down 139 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: the drain when they just either dump out oils they 140 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: cook with or just when they wash their dishes, and 141 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: the oils that are already on the dishes, come come 142 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: off and go down the down the tubes. Yeah, I 143 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: understand that they're they're like the wet wipes, the floss, 144 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: all of that can can sort of serve as a substrate. Right, 145 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,119 Speaker 1: It's like a scaffolding on which this, uh, this new 146 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: mass will form. Yeah, and we'll talk about how it 147 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: forms in a little bit. But I wanted to talk 148 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: about the terminology because while fat bergs has really caught 149 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: on with the public, this is like what I think 150 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: the reason that there have been so many articles in 151 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: recent years about fat bergs is just because of the 152 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: term fat bergs, Like there was now this beautiful, attractive 153 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: terminology for it, whereas previously, especially in the US, I 154 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: think they were referred to primarily with the acronym fogs 155 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: for fat oil and grease or frogs for fat roots 156 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: as in tree roots and oil and grease. But they 157 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: have really miss an opportunity there to dug to dub 158 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: them for instead of frogs, same letters, but it would 159 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: have scratched more of a chudditch, you know, and I 160 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: think maybe would have resonated a little more, maybe not 161 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: as much as fat birds ultimately did, but I mean 162 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: attack of the Forgs be where the Forgs. I feel 163 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,680 Speaker 1: like that could have resonated with with the public. If 164 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: there is not already a movie about one of these 165 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:40,359 Speaker 1: things becoming sentient, there will be soon. But one particularly 166 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: massive fat burg that we might linger on for a 167 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: bit has been covered extensively, especially in the British press. 168 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: This was the White Chapel Berg. It was removed in 169 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: TV and it was a mass blocking the sewer under 170 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: the under White Chapel Road in East London. I think 171 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: this was Jack the Rippers neighborhood totally. I think that 172 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: adds to the appeal of the White Chapel fatburg, and 173 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: it sounds even more sinister exactly. And the berg itself 174 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: in a way was sort of a white chapel. It's 175 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: like this, uh, this unholy things, sort of a gray 176 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,559 Speaker 1: off white color. And so it was about two hundred 177 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 1: and fifty meters long or about eight hundred and twenty feet, 178 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: and it weighed probably about a hundred and thirty tons. 179 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: This monster was so magnificent that a piece of it 180 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: was broken off and displayed in a special exhibit in 181 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: the Museum of London. And I came across a gorgeous, 182 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: absolutely haunting description of this sewage fatburg fragment by Sam 183 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: Knight in The New Yorker. And this, this description of 184 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: the fatburg was so moving that I have to quote 185 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: from it. Are you ready, Robert? The piece of fatburg 186 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,559 Speaker 1: was slightly smaller than a loaf of bread and looked 187 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: like it might have come from the moon. It was 188 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: putty colored and marked everywhere with geological looking indentation, including 189 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:03,959 Speaker 1: a cluster of fingerprints from when it was removed from 190 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: a sewer in East London last October and lifted through 191 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:10,320 Speaker 1: a man hole. On the surface, there was also a 192 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: dark fragment from an autumn leaf which must have slipped 193 00:10:13,679 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: down the drains into its mall. Emerging through the congealed, 194 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 1: calcified fat was the purple and orange perforated edge of 195 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 1: a double decker chocolate bar wrapper. Every detail of the 196 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: hideous object was starkly visible because it was resting on 197 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: a bed of black granules under a spotlight in a 198 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: glass box at the Museum of London at the opening 199 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 1: of its new exhibition fat Burg. I stared at it 200 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: for a while, and while I did so, a tiny 201 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: dark speck on the fat bird became animate and started 202 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: to move. A fly the size of a pinhead flew 203 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: up and battered against the glass. That's pretty great because 204 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 1: he capture us this sense of it almost being alive 205 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: and uh and and also this this haunting feeling that 206 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: it is like our sins. Uh, may you know manifested 207 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: into a physical form, like here is you know, all 208 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 1: your recklessness and your you're willingness to to flush inappropriate 209 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: things down the toilet. Well, here it is altogether, uh, 210 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,679 Speaker 1: to confront you and to point it's grotesque finger at you. Yeah, 211 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: I hope this description of the fatburg it's nominated for 212 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: like a Pulitzer prize. That's uh. It's powerful stuff. But 213 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: the seen white chappelberg that mentioned a minute ago was 214 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: by no means the only fat burg. Fat Bergs form 215 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: all the time in cities all around the world due 216 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: to people flushing and washing fats and other inappropriate stuff 217 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: down the drain. According to Night's article, it's estimated that 218 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: London alone has at least five large fat bergs at 219 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: any given time. So sometimes you know, they go down 220 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: there to fight them, but they're they're always new ones forming. 221 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: So let's talk about side. Is they can become so huge. 222 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 1: Let me restate what I said a minute ago. This 223 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: White Chapel beast was two hundred and fifty meters long, 224 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: which is approximately the length of the Hindenburgh, and it 225 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: weighed probably about a hundred and thirty tons, or heavier 226 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: by about a third than the biggest ever Sora pod dinosaurs. 227 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: Of course, it makes sense because we're talking about a 228 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: massive sewage system. We're talking about massive consumption, a massive population, 229 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: and therefore the clog the thing is going to be 230 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:34,839 Speaker 1: massive as well. Well. Yeah, and also you want to 231 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: consider the particulars of the London sewer system, because this 232 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: is where a lot of these stories come from. The 233 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: London sewer system. You know, it's it's got Victorian elements, 234 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: and it was a sewer system built over a hundred 235 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: years ago, uh, you know, back in Victorian times as 236 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: a response to the great stink you know that we've 237 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: talked about on on this show before, where the you know, 238 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: sewage being discharged into the Thames one year in the 239 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:00,839 Speaker 1: believe it's the eighteen fifties or sixties, sometimes in the 240 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 1: middle of the nineteenth century, it got so foul and 241 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: it stanks so bad that Parliament was just you know, 242 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,960 Speaker 1: about to puke in their uh in their deliberation chambers. 243 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: And so they eventually did something about it, and that 244 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: was to get this sewage system. Uh not only because 245 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: of the smell, but also because it was you know, 246 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: the sewage system that they had in place at the time, 247 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:24,560 Speaker 1: which consisted of more like open sewers in the streets 248 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: and stuff draining into the Thames, which uh then people 249 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: would drink out of. It was just leading to the 250 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: cholera outbreaks and terrible public health conditions and these horrible stinks. 251 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: So they created this massive sewer system under the ground 252 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: in order to take away all of the waste water 253 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: and discharge it away from the city. So you've got 254 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: these like in some cases very large, like old elaborate 255 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: and some sometimes kind of beautiful brick built sewage channels 256 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: and you know, access tunnels and all this. Uh So, 257 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,480 Speaker 1: so you've got old facilities. But you might be wondering, Okay, 258 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: so one of these giant b east, You've you've got 259 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: a hindenburg of fat and sewage and waste stuck in 260 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:10,199 Speaker 1: the sewer blocking blocking things, preventing them from flowing. What 261 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: do you do about it? Well, that's the question. We're 262 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:14,839 Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break and when we come back 263 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: we will answer it. Thank thank Okay, we're back. So 264 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: we're talking about fat bergs. How do you fight them? 265 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: You got one of these giant concrete fat conglomerations made 266 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: out of wet wipes and and dental floss and old 267 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: you know, wrappers of food and bits of plastic, and 268 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: of course all of these fats and oils and grease 269 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 1: and sewage and waste. It just makes this huge mass 270 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: that blocks up the sewers. What do you do about it? Well, 271 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 1: you literally have sewer workers that go down to break 272 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: it up and remove it. The city sewer workers in 273 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: London are known as flush errs, and they have to 274 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: fight these wicked villains. They have to go down and 275 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: confront the ball rog in person. And in Night's article 276 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: in The New Yorker, he talks about the process of 277 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: breaking up the White Chapel mass. So first of all, 278 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:07,240 Speaker 1: he says, they've got to wear protection and they've got 279 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:10,080 Speaker 1: to have a breathing apparatus because this thing is in 280 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: a way alive. It's got a lot of uh life 281 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: feeding on it, and as a result, it can let 282 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 1: out sudden explosions of gas like hydrogen sulfide, which of 283 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: course smells like rotten eggs and is the It's a 284 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: common gas released as a byproduct of decaying organic matter, 285 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: but it also releases methane, and sometimes it can just 286 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: blast out carbon monoxide, which can be deadly. So let's 287 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: say you're outfitting your D and D Adventure the Flusher 288 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: class to go down into this dungeon and fight the monster. 289 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: What weapons do you want to equip them with? Well, 290 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: probably not fire. Fire would seem like a bad idea. 291 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's uh. And and unfortunately they are not 292 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: a magic using class, so they don't have any spells 293 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 1: available to them. I don't know. Is that a thing 294 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: in D and D. There's some classes who can't do spells, right? Uh? Yeah, 295 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 1: I mean it seems like there are a lot of 296 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: classes that have some sort of magical abilities, especially as 297 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 1: they level up. Yeah, this sounds more like like fighter 298 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: uh uh material right here, You need some fighty to 299 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: go down and physically fight this physical threat and remove it. 300 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: These are paladins. I'll allow it. I'll allow it. I 301 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: mean paladins have some some you know that they have 302 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: holy powers, etcetera. But a lot of those holy powers 303 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: are about, like, you know, increasing their physical prowess. Right, Okay, 304 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: certainly I don't know my stuff. Okay, we'll say they're paladins. Anyway. 305 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: So the Mighty Flusher's weapons include the bomb hose. That's 306 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 1: the term bomb hose, which is just like a high 307 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: pressure water jet that should be able to cut through blockages. 308 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: It's like a cutting jet. But apparently, according to Night's article, 309 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: even this didn't work all that well on the hardened 310 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: mass of the White Chapelberg, and so later on these 311 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: these warriors had to use more old fashioned implements like 312 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: pick axes, shovels, and he says in one case, even 313 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: as Saul, when pieces were removed and kept for the 314 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: London Museum exhibit it, one expert who handled them described 315 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: the Fatberg chunks as sort of hard but light, feeling 316 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:10,679 Speaker 1: like pumice stone. I think that was interesting. Yeah, but 317 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: even the smaller one so so that one's gigantic, But 318 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: even the smaller ones are still huge in disgusting ways. 319 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: I found a brilliantly funny article with a great title 320 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,959 Speaker 1: on Atlas Obscura by Jessica Lee Hester from January of 321 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 1: this year is called seven Big Things. They're smaller than 322 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:31,960 Speaker 1: this fatberg, and it refers to another British fatburg, one 323 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: found in a sewer beneath the town in beneath the 324 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:37,919 Speaker 1: town in Devon, and according to the water utility in 325 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: that area, it was the largest fatburg that they had 326 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: come across in that area. It was about two and 327 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: ten feet or about sixty five meters uh. And so, 328 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: so what are the things she lists as smaller than 329 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,160 Speaker 1: this fatberg? At least in terms of dimensions. I don't 330 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: think they had weight on it at the time she 331 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: was writing. Um. So smaller in terms of length was 332 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: the above water surface height of the iceberg that sunk 333 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:03,920 Speaker 1: the Titan Annic, the tallest known Ginko tree in the world, 334 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,639 Speaker 1: the Christ the Redeemer statue, and Rio de Jannaro, the 335 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: Coney's Island or the Coney Islands Wonder Wheel, uh, the 336 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:18,879 Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty, the Roman Colosseum, and Nelson's column in 337 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,680 Speaker 1: Trafalgar Square all smaller than this fatburg, which is not 338 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: even the largest fatburg by a long shot. And she 339 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: also pointed out something in in her article that was 340 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: just an interesting phrasing of things that it's sort of 341 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: echo thoughts I'd been having as I was reading about 342 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:39,159 Speaker 1: Fatburg's in in Hester's words quote, the chunky, gunky sewer 343 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: cloggers are murky mirrors into the behaviors of people above 344 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: ground because they hold all the stuff we flush and 345 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:50,680 Speaker 1: try to forget about, including cooking, grease, napkins, floss, minstrel 346 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 1: products which don't belong in the pipes in the first place. 347 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:56,959 Speaker 1: So it's this idea of like these are sort of 348 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,600 Speaker 1: the the places of all the things that we want 349 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: to just get out of our lives. It's, you know, 350 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 1: the purging of convenience all becomes this mass yea. And 351 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: again it kind of it confronts us once more. The 352 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:12,359 Speaker 1: horror is even greater because it is all it is 353 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: a it's it's congealed into this this massive form. And 354 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: I think maybe that is part of the like the 355 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 1: psychological reason why people can't look away, Like why was 356 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,000 Speaker 1: there a museum exhibit about these things where everybody wanted 357 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: to go see them. It's this fascinating, uh, you know, 358 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:30,560 Speaker 1: almost kind of freudy and feeling kind of thing, like 359 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: the suppressed part of our culture and civilization. It's what's 360 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,360 Speaker 1: shoved down and covered up and not looked at, almost 361 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,360 Speaker 1: out of a sense of shame, and it becomes this stuff. 362 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: And a lot of our modern life is about distantcing 363 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: ourselves from the reality of our waste, from the reality 364 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 1: of our dead things of this nature. So so yeah, 365 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:54,720 Speaker 1: I think it's it definitely speaks to us on that level. Okay, 366 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 1: maybe we should turn to the question of how, like, 367 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 1: how do simple bits of cooking oil and other turn 368 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,719 Speaker 1: into these mighty slumbering beasts, the monsters of the dungeon, 369 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 1: because it could seem almost magical right that it's it's 370 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: it's like this thing has become alive down there. It 371 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,359 Speaker 1: is like one of these uh you know, there are 372 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 1: multiple uh uh you know, I think horror properties where 373 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 1: some sort of garbage monster comes alive, uh And it 374 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,119 Speaker 1: basically fulfills the same purpose we're talking about here, to 375 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: confront us and to uh, you know, to to show 376 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 1: us the horrors of our of of of our you know, 377 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: disposable society. But but there's a very but the process 378 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,159 Speaker 1: is happening here is not magical. It is you know, 379 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: we can we can we can look at what is 380 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:42,399 Speaker 1: happening chemically. Yeah. Uh So, obviously there's one extremely simple 381 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,399 Speaker 1: way that there are multiple ways here, but there's one 382 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: extremely simple way that fat can end up blocking sewer pipes, 383 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,879 Speaker 1: and that's by congealing. Like if you ever cooked bacon, 384 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: cooked bacon in a pan, what happens, Well, the white 385 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 1: solid fat in the bacon in the animal flesh renders. 386 00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: It turns into a fluid that runs around in the 387 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,680 Speaker 1: hand like water, and it flows, so you can pour 388 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: it out, etcetera. You can pour it down the drain, 389 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 1: but that's only because it's hot. If you take that 390 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:10,879 Speaker 1: bacon grease and you leave it out at room temperature, 391 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: you put it in the fridge. We all know what happens, right, 392 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:15,640 Speaker 1: It turns into a kind of waxy solid and this 393 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,119 Speaker 1: is large, right Yeah, I guess the curing process of 394 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: bacon doesn't change that. Yeah, So it's pork fat either way. Uh. 395 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:25,960 Speaker 1: And Now, not all fats can geal into solids or 396 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: semi solids at room temperature, but plenty do. So if 397 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,359 Speaker 1: you melt this fat and then pour it down the 398 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: sink into cold pipes and wash it away, the cooling 399 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: fat forms a solid or semi solid mass. That can 400 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:42,679 Speaker 1: build up, it can coat surfaces and so forth, and 401 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: can of course block sewer pipes. So that that that's 402 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 1: like the simple version. That's just one way fat can 403 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: clog up your sewers, that one reason you don't want 404 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 1: to put it down there, right, And I think we 405 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: can all grasp that even if if you've ever washed 406 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: dishes before, you can get a sense of how, how, 407 00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:59,919 Speaker 1: what's happening exactly. But this is actually not the main 408 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: mean piece of chemistry contributing to fat bergs. The truth 409 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,720 Speaker 1: is actually weirder. Often the fats that we wash down 410 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:13,200 Speaker 1: the drain essentially become soap. The chemical process is known 411 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: as saponification u. This word comes from the Latin sapo, 412 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,719 Speaker 1: meaning soap, And once a mass of fat gets washed 413 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: down the drain, it chemically breaks down into fatty acids, 414 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: and these fatty acids undergo a chemical reaction in the 415 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:31,880 Speaker 1: alkaline environment of the sewer, combining with other elements and compounds, 416 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: often calcium, to form this calcified soap like deposit And 417 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: of course, as we all know, soap can be pretty solid. 418 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:42,480 Speaker 1: Like you, you don't want to get whacked with a 419 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: bar of soap in the bottom of sock. But it 420 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 1: gets even worse because calcified fat bergs build up a 421 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 1: real kind of rigidity. Like the workers who have to 422 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: cut them out sometimes compare them to concrete by the 423 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:57,280 Speaker 1: time you have to go in and break them up. Uh. 424 00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: And I don't know exactly what leads to all that. 425 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: It might be this forming of a solid mass and 426 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 1: then like the sort of compacting of time, you know, 427 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 1: think of pressure just forcing it together. But the soap 428 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: like masses tend to form around solid pieces of trash 429 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: that get flushed down the toilet. So that's the other 430 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: major component we mentioned earlier. Like wet wipes are by 431 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,119 Speaker 1: far the worst offender here. This is in you know, 432 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: all the British press about this is just saying like, 433 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,920 Speaker 1: don't wash fats and oils down the drain and don't 434 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: flush wet wipes. Don't flush wet wipes. Wet wipes are 435 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: like the the most hated thing but the sewer workers. 436 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: And that's of course because you know, they're not designed 437 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: industrially the way like toilet paper is, which is made 438 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:43,159 Speaker 1: to break up when it's in this aqueous environment. The 439 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 1: wet wipes tend to not break up. They stick together 440 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: and they form a sort of binding or substrate for 441 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: this nightmare soap of the deep on its way to 442 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:53,479 Speaker 1: becoming a berg. I mean it makes me think of 443 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:57,760 Speaker 1: the of the science choice we've covered about uh creating 444 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 1: artificial say years we have some sort of a scaffolding 445 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: on which you're gonna you're gonna build up like the 446 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,399 Speaker 1: you know, the collagen and create this artificial piece of flesh. 447 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,679 Speaker 1: It's kind of like that process taking place in a 448 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:15,120 Speaker 1: foul sewer, but imagine that process is taking place where 449 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 1: stuff just keeps flowing into it, so it just keeps 450 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,239 Speaker 1: getting more solid material like wet wipes and more like 451 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: binding soap like fat structure, until it becomes an ear 452 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: the size of the Hindenburg. Another contributor to the fat 453 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:32,480 Speaker 1: bergs in the London sewers, and not just the London 454 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: sewers in other places, but especially in London sewers is old, 455 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 1: rough brick surfaces. I'm not positive, but I think the 456 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 1: mechanism here is that rough surfaces create more friction with 457 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: the flowing water, and this causes turbulence. Instead of flowing 458 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,159 Speaker 1: smoothly the water or the you know, the sewage, it 459 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,439 Speaker 1: gets sort of churned up, and this interrupts the smooth 460 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 1: flow and it gives uh and and so it causes 461 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 1: build up of solid matter. But also I think the 462 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: rough surfaces just sort of give the wet wipes and 463 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: other trash little crags to catch on, and then of 464 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,360 Speaker 1: course once they catch on, other things can catch onto them, 465 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: and it just builds up from there. Yeah. And and 466 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: also so these soap like masses are not water soluble, 467 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: meaning they're not dissolved by water, so they're not gonna 468 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: over time just like break up and wash away with 469 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:23,560 Speaker 1: the flow of the sewer water. They just sit there 470 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: and they build up and they grow too, mescent with 471 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 1: new waste and trash and layers of soapy solids made 472 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,439 Speaker 1: out of fat, until somebody finally goes down there to 473 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,200 Speaker 1: slay the dragon. And as we discussed, of course the 474 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: battles of the flushers, you have to you physically break 475 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 1: these things up and remove them. Yeah, again with things 476 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: like pick axes and saws, because it is almost like concrete, 477 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:48,920 Speaker 1: you know, it's not just this big, you know, gross 478 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: sewer jelly that you just need to sort of you know, 479 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: flush a little bit more, you know, just spray with 480 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: water and you know you'll get it done. A plunger 481 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: is not going to do it. Now. In some cases, 482 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: I do think these like water jet hoses can be 483 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: used to cut it up. They just, at least in 484 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: the one case I was reading about, they weren't quite 485 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: doing the job and they had to resort to the 486 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 1: old ways. Also, I just wanted to do a little 487 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: side note on suppontification because what's happening here in the 488 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 1: sewers is not exactly the same as but it's somewhat 489 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: analogous to, uh, something that I'm very interested in that 490 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: occasionally happens to human bodies in certain burial conditions. Robert, 491 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,040 Speaker 1: have you been to the Mooder Museum in Philadelphia. I haven't. 492 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: I've never visited h Philly. Yeah, I haven't been, but 493 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: I've wanted to for a long time. So they've got 494 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,840 Speaker 1: an exhibit, or I don't know about an exhibit. They've 495 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: got a thing at the Modern Museum that is a 496 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: human body. It's known as the soap Lady. And do 497 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: you know the soap Lady? No, but I'm already horrified 498 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: because I know enough about the mood Museum to know 499 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:49,919 Speaker 1: that a soap Lady there is going to be a 500 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: site to behold. I think they've got a soap lady 501 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: and a soap man. I've primarily read about the soap lady, 502 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: so those two should mean yeah, exactly. So. It was 503 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,439 Speaker 1: originally believed that she was a woman who lived in 504 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,600 Speaker 1: Philadelphia in the eighteenth century and had died of yellow 505 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,200 Speaker 1: fever sometime in the seventeen nineties. But in nineteen eighty 506 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,240 Speaker 1: six they did some X rays of the body of 507 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: the Soap Lady, and this revealed that she was wearing 508 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: clothes with like buttons and pins that weren't manufactured in 509 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: the US until around the eighteen thirties. So it's now 510 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,919 Speaker 1: believed that she must have died later than was originally believed. 511 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: But whenever she died. In eighteen seventy five, her body 512 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: was exhumed from a local cemetery and it was discovered 513 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: that the corpse was encased almost entirely in a solid 514 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: soap like substance, and that she was essentially a soap mummy. 515 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,639 Speaker 1: If you look at pictures of her, she looks like 516 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,439 Speaker 1: a mummy. She looks like some of these uh like uh, 517 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: you know, sort of dried, mummified, preserved corpses that you 518 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: might find in the case of some of like the 519 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:55,119 Speaker 1: Andean mummies, um, except that she has except that, like 520 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 1: her features are less defined, and she's got a bunch 521 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: of extra stuff around the outside of her body, like 522 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: almost like she's encased in some kind of concrete or something, 523 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,120 Speaker 1: but it's not concrete. This substance in reality is something 524 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: kind of like soap. It's not exactly so, but it's 525 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,560 Speaker 1: something known as adipus here, also sometimes referred to as 526 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 1: corpse wax or grave wax. Now, I do think I 527 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: remember reading about this like years and years past, and 528 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: some you know, texts on decomposition. Uh yeah, there there's 529 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: some interesting stories about the role of grave wax in 530 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: uh in. Like, so, one thing that corpse wax does 531 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,320 Speaker 1: when it forms around a body is that it can 532 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: help preserve some of the elements within um. And this 533 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,920 Speaker 1: like keeps corpses from decaying like they would normally. So 534 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: the formation of adapass here, I do believe is it's 535 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: chemically considered a form of suppontification, like what's happening with 536 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: the fat bergs and the sewers. Adapas are is this 537 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 1: waxy substance that sometimes forms around dead bodies since they decay, 538 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: particularly in certain kinds of burial conditions. And these environments 539 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 1: tend to be alkaline, you know, like the the opposite 540 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 1: of acidic. They tend to be anaerobic, meaning without access 541 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 1: to air, and they tend to be warm and moist, 542 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: which are just you know that generally sounds like the 543 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: kind of environments you don't want to bury bodies. But 544 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: you know, some soil is like that. And and and 545 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: I'm guessing at least some of these are gonna I'm 546 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,720 Speaker 1: gonna match up with with sewer scenarios. I know we've 547 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 1: talked before about some of the the organisms that can 548 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: grow in a sewer environment that really thrive in a 549 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: in a like a low oxygen environment. Yeah, exactly. So, 550 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: freshly formed adipas here can be kind of soft and waxy, 551 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: but older adipac here can more closely resemble something like concrete. 552 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,239 Speaker 1: I was reading a Life science article about this by 553 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,680 Speaker 1: Wynd Perry, and the author quotes an anthropologist from North 554 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: Carolina State University named Anne Ross, and she says, quote, 555 00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: a lot of people say it's greasy. I always think 556 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: bit like a thick cottage cheese consistency because it's kind 557 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 1: of lumpy also, so maybe not the grave wax or 558 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: the grave soap, but the grave cottage cheese, cottage cheese 559 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: of the dead, the corpse cheese. Alright, well, on that 560 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: grotesque note, let's take one more break, and when we 561 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: come back, we have some other fat burg facts to 562 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: roll through, and uh, you know, maybe we'll talk to 563 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,080 Speaker 1: us a little bit about about the sewer monster movies 564 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 1: at the end of the episode. Thank, alright, we're back. Okay. 565 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:36,640 Speaker 1: So quite clearly these things you don't want fat bergs 566 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 1: in your sewers, and yet they form in sewers under 567 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 1: cities all over the world. It's happening all the time 568 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:45,600 Speaker 1: because of this combination of like stuff that people shouldn't 569 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:49,240 Speaker 1: flush and fats and oils going down the drain, which 570 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: I guess both variations of the same thing. You know, 571 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: stuff that you shouldn't put down the drain is going 572 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 1: down the drain. Uh. And in the article I mentioned 573 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,760 Speaker 1: earlier in New Scientist, Kelly Oaks refers to a University 574 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 1: College Dublin professor named Tom Curran who is who works 575 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,080 Speaker 1: in this field, and he says that the major factors 576 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,640 Speaker 1: contributing to a sort of recent increase in fatberg incidents 577 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:15,360 Speaker 1: in London are of course like a larger populations in cities, 578 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: So it's just more people washing more stuff down drains. 579 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,360 Speaker 1: Aging sewers contribute a lot. One factor is more dining 580 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,760 Speaker 1: out at restaurants, because it appears that restaurants are responsible 581 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: for a huge amount of the fats and oils that 582 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 1: go down the drain. You know, you know, I would 583 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,000 Speaker 1: have thought it would be more regulated with the restaurants. 584 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:35,400 Speaker 1: Apparently it's uh in the UK at least it is 585 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: not as regulated as some people think it should be, 586 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: or I don't know if that's changed recently. In the 587 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: articles I was reading from the past couple of years, 588 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: it's I think there's a problem with like last lack 589 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: of specificity in regulations, Like there are regulations that say 590 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: restaurants aren't supposed to wash anything down the drain that 591 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: would be harmful to the sewer system, but like it 592 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:01,080 Speaker 1: doesn't specifically say don't wash fats and oils down the drain, okay, 593 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: And then the other big thing is of course trash 594 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:05,440 Speaker 1: that goes down the drain. But there's you know, as 595 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 1: we've already said, there's like one huge culprit here that's 596 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 1: like of the problem, and it's wet wipes. It just 597 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: seems like that one would be an easier one to knock. 598 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: It seems like that would be something we could solve. 599 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 1: Is like, if you use a wet wipe, no matter 600 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 1: what you used it for, no matter how befoul it is, 601 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: just put it in a garbage can. Like maybe maybe 602 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: it's easier because you go to some you know, you 603 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:31,920 Speaker 1: travel to you know, to certain you know parts of 604 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 1: the world where the sewer system can't even handle toilet paper, 605 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: and you get used to it. You know, like at 606 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:40,240 Speaker 1: first it may seem a little weird, like, oh, you know, 607 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:43,440 Speaker 1: I must wipe and then put the toilet paper into 608 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: a receptacle. Uh, you know, it runs against what you've 609 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 1: been doing. But you get used to it and it 610 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,080 Speaker 1: becomes the new normal. I didn't even know that was 611 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: the thing. Oh yeah, I mean you travel, uh, and 612 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,880 Speaker 1: it just depends on the on the sewage system, and yes, 613 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: some just can't handle the paper. Um, so you know 614 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: it's it's it's asking even less I feel to say, look, 615 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: just you have a wet wipe. I know you just 616 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 1: used it on some disgusting part of like a two 617 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: year old body, but you know, you just put in 618 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,040 Speaker 1: the garbage apparently, so I was reading in the same 619 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,440 Speaker 1: article that you know, there are there are things that 620 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: have proved effective, and it's essentially regulating the stuff we're 621 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 1: talking about. It's like regulating what restaurants can put down 622 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: the drain and putting grease traps in place and all that, 623 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: but then also doing like public education campaigns to get 624 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 1: people to not put anything in the toilet other than 625 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:39,280 Speaker 1: human waste and toilet paper, and that this has been 626 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:43,280 Speaker 1: effective and like Dublin already, but it's it hasn't been 627 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: effective enough everywhere. And I wonder if the problem is that, 628 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:51,080 Speaker 1: I mean, I would hope that in a campaign against Fatburg, 629 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: somebody has created, with practical effects and costuming, an anthropomorphic 630 00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,160 Speaker 1: fat Burg creature, you know, or even like a know, 631 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: like thinking about when I know we both love good 632 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: like paranormal copsploitation films from years past, like Maniac Cop 633 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: and so forth, and there was that cool trailer from 634 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: what was it melt Cop or something, Yeah, like they 635 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: could make Fatburg cop, and so Fatberg Cop is this like, 636 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: you know, anthropomorphic Fatburg in a police uniform that it 637 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 1: comes to your apartment or your restaurant and chastises you 638 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:30,399 Speaker 1: for your destructive ways. Fatburg Cop versus Flukeman the next 639 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:32,839 Speaker 1: big crossover hit. Oh yeah, or they're they're buddy it's 640 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 1: a buddy cop. Yeah. Wait, this is making Fatburg's the hero. 641 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: You're doing it backwards. Well know, the fat Burg in 642 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,800 Speaker 1: the same way that the Fatburg confronts us Fatburg becomes 643 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,040 Speaker 1: the hero, like he's a cop made out of Fatburg, 644 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:48,799 Speaker 1: raising consciousness about the need to destroy his own kind. Well, no, 645 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 1: it's not, you know, he's like, uh, he didn't want 646 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 1: to be in Fatburg form. You know. Maybe I don't know, 647 00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 1: maybe he was previously human. I don't know, maybe he 648 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,720 Speaker 1: just took on human consciousness. Maybe it's kind of a 649 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 1: you know, a swamp things swamp man of kind of 650 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:08,520 Speaker 1: a scenario. Yeah, why don't they look? But I mean, 651 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:10,680 Speaker 1: it can be hard to get people to behave you know. 652 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:14,120 Speaker 1: It's like it's just usually pretty easy to get away 653 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:16,759 Speaker 1: with flushing and draining things you shouldn't because who's going 654 00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: to catch you? Something that is momentarily your problem is 655 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,719 Speaker 1: now just gone. It's purged, and it becomes instead like 656 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,760 Speaker 1: a small part of a big problem that is everybody's problem. 657 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:30,440 Speaker 1: It's not your problem right now, right And of course 658 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:33,680 Speaker 1: this I mean, there's so many other things in the 659 00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 1: world that can fall into this category. This is the 660 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,400 Speaker 1: tragedy of the commons. I mean, it's you know, people 661 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: have shared common resources that they all need. The biggest 662 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:45,279 Speaker 1: one probably is like the natural environment. It's you know, 663 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: supposed to be something that is of common access to everyone, 664 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,560 Speaker 1: but in fact there are individual actors who overexploit and 665 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: foul and cause damage to this common resource resource that 666 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,680 Speaker 1: should be shared by everybody because it's momentarily convenient for 667 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: them and they can get away with it. It's one 668 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:04,319 Speaker 1: of the most crucial flaws in human psychology that we 669 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,360 Speaker 1: exploit common resources this way and in that way. I 670 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,280 Speaker 1: do think we should think about sewers as a type 671 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:12,800 Speaker 1: of commons, just like we would think about like the oceans, 672 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:16,200 Speaker 1: the rivers, the air, the environment. Sewers are a common 673 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:19,160 Speaker 1: shared resource among all the people who use them and 674 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,120 Speaker 1: should be treated as such, even though it's definitely that 675 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 1: kind of thing where we don't want to think about 676 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:25,640 Speaker 1: it and we try not to think about it unless 677 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:28,480 Speaker 1: it's broken right. Well, apparently, when the London Museum was 678 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,400 Speaker 1: running this Fatburg exhibit, it had a plaque on the 679 00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:34,880 Speaker 1: wall that read as follows the size and foulness of 680 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:38,600 Speaker 1: fat Bergs makes them impossible to ignore and reminds us 681 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,799 Speaker 1: of our failings that they do. It seems like something 682 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 1: that should be inscribed over like the I don't know, 683 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 1: over over the door of like a Puritan church from 684 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 1: the seventeen hundreds. But I should also point out I 685 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: was reading that, uh, at the same museum exhibit they 686 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:57,480 Speaker 1: sold something called fat Burg fudge. I guess this was 687 00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:00,319 Speaker 1: in the museum. They'd have to have some thing like 688 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,040 Speaker 1: the cafe or the gift shop to line up with it. Literally, 689 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 1: a sweet treat modeled on a fat Burg brick with 690 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:12,120 Speaker 1: raisins to represent flies. You know we mentioned earlier. You 691 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,160 Speaker 1: know that, of course, London isn't the only city to 692 00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 1: have to deal with this, obviously, there are other large 693 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 1: metropolitan areas that that are plagued by fatberg's. And I 694 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:24,480 Speaker 1: was reading a net Geo article titled huge Blobs of 695 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: Fat and Trash or Filling the World Sewers by Erica 696 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 1: Inglehop and this was a really nice article as well, 697 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, the lead UH said that, you know, 698 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 1: in one part of the city someone flushes a wet wipe, 699 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:39,840 Speaker 1: and another part of the city someone flushes some oil. 700 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:42,960 Speaker 1: When those two meet, a baby fat burg is born. 701 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:48,160 Speaker 1: So I I applaud the the writing in this article. 702 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,600 Speaker 1: But angle Hop points out that in New York City, 703 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 1: according to the city's two thousand sixteen State of the 704 00:37:55,120 --> 00:38:00,920 Speaker 1: Sewers Report, Greece causes se sewer backups in the city. Uh. 705 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:02,800 Speaker 1: And then and and as a and as a result, 706 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 1: New York City spends eighteen million and spent eighteen million 707 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 1: dollars over a five year period fighting fat burgs. But 708 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 1: even in smaller U. S cities you can see, um, 709 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,480 Speaker 1: you know, the local government having to blow like half 710 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: a million dollars a year to battle these build ups. 711 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:22,160 Speaker 1: And UH. Another interesting thing that ingle Hop pointed out though, 712 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:26,200 Speaker 1: was that, um, there was a particular River Thames project 713 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:32,279 Speaker 1: with argent Energy UH to potentially harvest fat burgs and 714 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:35,680 Speaker 1: turn them into renewable fuel. And this is pretty sensible 715 00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:37,240 Speaker 1: if you think about it. I mean, all that oil 716 00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:39,960 Speaker 1: going down the drains, uh, you know, it should be 717 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,480 Speaker 1: going somewhere else. Uh, such as in the case of 718 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:46,080 Speaker 1: restaurants into grease traps um, which are and and sometimes 719 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,160 Speaker 1: grease traps are are pilfered for this very reason because 720 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,960 Speaker 1: their contents are valuable in a sense. Uh. And and 721 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,400 Speaker 1: and there are also parts of the world where you know, 722 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,400 Speaker 1: essentially sewer oil is is reclaimed and sort of sold 723 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,040 Speaker 1: on the black market, you know, kind like sewer oil. 724 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:04,960 Speaker 1: But I think this has been done with some of 725 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:07,640 Speaker 1: the British fat birds. I don't think all of them, 726 00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:09,719 Speaker 1: I'm I'm not sure, but yeah, I think at some 727 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: point some of them have become biofuel. Yeah, I mean, 728 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:15,520 Speaker 1: and it seems like a logical alternative to the typical 729 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:17,680 Speaker 1: fates for a fat burg, which are I mean, if 730 00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: it except for the rare pieces that go to the 731 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,399 Speaker 1: museum to become art, uh you know, other stuff, it's 732 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:25,200 Speaker 1: either being hauled off to a landfill or it's broken 733 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,960 Speaker 1: up so as to better diffuse into the sewer system. Um. 734 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,960 Speaker 1: So yeah, to whatever extent you could. I mean, obviously, 735 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:34,000 Speaker 1: you want to prevent the fat burg to begin with. 736 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,320 Speaker 1: You don't want to have to to toil with it. Um. 737 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:38,520 Speaker 1: You know, even if you get to the point where 738 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:40,760 Speaker 1: you could send a robot down to battle the fat birds. 739 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:43,879 Speaker 1: It's you still gotta you know, haul it up, uh 740 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:45,920 Speaker 1: and all and then potentially hauled off to a landfill. 741 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:47,520 Speaker 1: But if it could be turned into fuel, if it 742 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: could you know, uh, power the Deloreans the future, then 743 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:53,279 Speaker 1: that sounds like the way to go. Well, I do 744 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,560 Speaker 1: think it is a good idea to turn these things 745 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:58,160 Speaker 1: as long as they are still being made into fuel. 746 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,160 Speaker 1: But don't don't get distry acted by that as like 747 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:03,600 Speaker 1: an excuse to Okay, so it's not so bad if 748 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:06,520 Speaker 1: we keep making them because they turn into fuel, right right, 749 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,520 Speaker 1: I mean, because again, the sewer systems are not made 750 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,560 Speaker 1: for fat bergs. Like if you, I guess, if you 751 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:15,439 Speaker 1: reach the situation where you're like, look, we refuse to learn, 752 00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:20,280 Speaker 1: we're not gonna stop flushing oil and wet wipes, then okay, 753 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,120 Speaker 1: you could conceivably imagine a scenario where the sewer systems 754 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 1: have to be redesigned in order to um, you know, 755 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:32,279 Speaker 1: sequester fat bergs for harvesting. But they're not built like that, 756 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 1: and they're probably not going to be rebuilt like that, 757 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: and it's ultimately an easier prospect to just change how 758 00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:41,000 Speaker 1: we're handling the things that we're sending down into the sewer. 759 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:43,760 Speaker 1: This is going to become some crack pop political parties 760 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:47,279 Speaker 1: energy platform. And they're saying all this talk about you know, 761 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,520 Speaker 1: green energy. What you do is you pour oil down 762 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:54,440 Speaker 1: the drain all day. Our energy problems are solved. I'm 763 00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:56,840 Speaker 1: not super up on British politics. Is there a Fatburg 764 00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,279 Speaker 1: party yet? I know that the new parties get get 765 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:03,879 Speaker 1: formed in there. I can't heard about it, but I'm sure. 766 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:07,239 Speaker 1: I mean, like all issues, especially issues in fact that 767 00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:11,080 Speaker 1: have to do with people exploiting or ruining the commons 768 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:15,080 Speaker 1: for everybody, these issues often do get like politically polarized 769 00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:18,080 Speaker 1: because it's advantageous for somebody to do that. And this 770 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,080 Speaker 1: is why we need Fatburg cop out there on the beat, 771 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,040 Speaker 1: in the in the you know, at least in the 772 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,279 Speaker 1: eyes of the public, in the messaging, uh, you know, 773 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:31,759 Speaker 1: confronting us, chastising us far aways, um and and I 774 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 1: but and but I mean, I mean that's seriously because 775 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:35,239 Speaker 1: I think, like, for my part, like one of the 776 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:39,600 Speaker 1: reasons that the other reasons that fat birds are so captivating, uh, 777 00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:42,800 Speaker 1: in addition to all the grotesque photos and footage that 778 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,520 Speaker 1: shows up I saw one article is like a video 779 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,400 Speaker 1: based article online that the title was something along the 780 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,520 Speaker 1: lines of the moment when a rat crawls out of 781 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:55,239 Speaker 1: the fat Bird, and that was apparently the footage of 782 00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:59,400 Speaker 1: like a live rat swarming out of fat burg Um. 783 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:01,320 Speaker 1: You know. So we can't look away from the grotesque 784 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 1: nature of them. But then also the sewers are this 785 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:07,840 Speaker 1: unique location where there have been a number of notable 786 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:11,160 Speaker 1: films over the years that populate the sewers with monsters, 787 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:15,319 Speaker 1: be it you know, Chud's or or you know or 788 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:19,040 Speaker 1: Or or cannibals in the British film Raw Meat, well, 789 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 1: I guess that was a subway system but still underground environment. 790 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,600 Speaker 1: And Ghostbusters too, I think, yeah, the river of slime 791 00:42:24,719 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 1: flowing out of New York City, that's a big one 792 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:32,080 Speaker 1: for me. But also definitely the Blob at least remake 793 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,000 Speaker 1: had a lot of like, uh, you know, under I 794 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:37,759 Speaker 1: think there was like the sewer system shenanigans there with 795 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:41,399 Speaker 1: the blob, you know, ripping through the sewer and attacking people. Yeah, 796 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,879 Speaker 1: and it definitely came up through the drains. So it's 797 00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:50,000 Speaker 1: I feel like the fat Berg reminds us of these 798 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:54,160 Speaker 1: monstrosities as well. Except there they're not fantasy, they're real. Uh, 799 00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:57,520 Speaker 1: you know, they just don't actually assault us and try 800 00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,560 Speaker 1: to digest us. Well, I feel like some of these, 801 00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:03,480 Speaker 1: especially Ghostbusters too. Yeah, it does bring in some of 802 00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:06,200 Speaker 1: that same metaphor stuff we were talking about earlier about 803 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:09,000 Speaker 1: you know, like it it's all the bad things we 804 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,080 Speaker 1: don't want to think about and all the negative energy 805 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:13,160 Speaker 1: is that that is what was feeding the slime and 806 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:16,120 Speaker 1: Ghostbusters too, right, it was like Prince Vigo and just 807 00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:19,040 Speaker 1: New Yorkers being jerks. That's kind of weird for a 808 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:22,520 Speaker 1: sequel to a movie in which an e p A 809 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:27,160 Speaker 1: representative was a villain. Yeah, but there you go. It 810 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:32,760 Speaker 1: was a different time. Ghostbusters a bravely pro littering movie. 811 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:36,560 Speaker 1: Al Right, Well, there you have it. A fat Bergs 812 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:40,320 Speaker 1: for you. Now. Obviously, if anyone out there has direct 813 00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:43,840 Speaker 1: experience with fat Bergs or any other strange monstrosities in 814 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:47,080 Speaker 1: our sewer systems, let us know. I feel like, just 815 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:49,799 Speaker 1: thinking about the sheer number of listeners and just all 816 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:53,040 Speaker 1: the you know, the diverse backgrounds that you all have, 817 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:56,719 Speaker 1: somebody out there has had to have battled the fat birg. 818 00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 1: We've got a first hand flusher in the audience. I 819 00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:01,320 Speaker 1: know it. Yeah, it's just a matter of getting you 820 00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:03,480 Speaker 1: to write in and tell us about it. Uh. So 821 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:06,719 Speaker 1: you know, if so, do right in and tell us 822 00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:09,400 Speaker 1: about it. And also just if there's some sort of 823 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:13,640 Speaker 1: sewer monster movie that we've failed to reference, uh yeah, 824 00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:16,160 Speaker 1: hit us up on that as well. We're always happy 825 00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:18,480 Speaker 1: to cha at about movies. And hey, if you're if 826 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:21,880 Speaker 1: you're an artist, maybe you can create uh an image 827 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,600 Speaker 1: of fat bird cop because I feel like you'd be 828 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:27,520 Speaker 1: not only amusing us and amusing other listeners, you would 829 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:30,719 Speaker 1: potentially be um uh you know, saving the world by 830 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:33,600 Speaker 1: introducing this character. In the meantime, if you want to 831 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: check out more episodes of Stuff to Blow your Mind, 832 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:36,759 Speaker 1: head on over to stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 833 00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:39,000 Speaker 1: That's where you'll find them all. You also find out 834 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,879 Speaker 1: links to social media accounts, as well as our link 835 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:44,359 Speaker 1: to our t shirt store. But ultimately the best thing 836 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,200 Speaker 1: you can do to support the show is to just 837 00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:49,440 Speaker 1: make sure you rate and review us wherever you have 838 00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:51,600 Speaker 1: the power to do so. Wherever you get this podcast 839 00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:55,920 Speaker 1: huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer, Tari Harrison. 840 00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:57,680 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us, 841 00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:00,640 Speaker 1: directly with feedback about this episode or the other. To 842 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,320 Speaker 1: tell us about your battles for the fatburg, to suggest 843 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:05,719 Speaker 1: a topic for the future, to suggest a guest, or 844 00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:08,799 Speaker 1: just to say hello. You can email us at contact 845 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:21,200 Speaker 1: at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to 846 00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:23,200 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeart Radios How 847 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:25,680 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit 848 00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:28,520 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 849 00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:38,680 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.