WEBVTT - Chinese Zodiac: Superstition, Economics & Destiny 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:05.920 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:16.000 Works dot com. Hey, wasn't it stuff to blow your mind? 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:19.600 My name is Robert lamp and I'm Joe mcformix. So Robert, Yes, 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.960 a horse, a rat, a dragon, and a metal pig 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:28.320 walk into a bar. Okay, the dragon says I'm a dragon. 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.000 Everybody else leave and they do because he's a dragon. 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:34.120 Well that would that would make sense. We're of course 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:37.040 talking about the Chinese zodiac here, and you basically just 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:42.280 described my family. Yeah, because I am my zodiac sign. 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.919 The Chinese zodiac is horse, my son's is dragon, my 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:51.800 my wife's is actually pig. But for the longest she 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.840 thought she was a rat. How can you be confused? 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:57.920 I thought it was just the year you were born. Um, 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.160 it's easy to make that mistake, especially if you know 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.280 you're just sort of going on a surface level understanding 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.440 of it. Particularly the surface in question is a place 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:10.480 man at a Chinese restaurants niet That is exactly where 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:12.760 I learned about the Chinese zodiac first when I was 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.319 a child, and they're probably the early nineteen nineties. I 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.480 remember my family was one time meeting at a Chinese 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:20.520 restaurant and the place mat at my seat had all 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.840 the drawings of the animals and years listed under them, 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:25.960 and that's where I got to find out that I 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.240 am a tiger, which sounded really cool at the time, 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.280 but now it I find out that that's not such 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.119 a cool thing. Yeah, it gets a little more complicated 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.959 than that. And and uh and in terms of just 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.000 being able to easily mistake what your animal might be, 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:46.560 it's because the Chinese zodiac is an astrological birth chart 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:51.000 based upon the Looni solar calendar year. So it doesn't 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:53.600 just match the solar calendar that we use right the 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:55.920 months or lunar, but the years are solar, so that 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:59.040 means it's a little off from the Gregorian calendar. And 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.120 there's a little bit of a drift on the relative 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.320 start and stop points. So if you just look at 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.760 the animal name and a year, you could get it wrong. 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:12.840 If you have a birthday in January February, Um, where 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.400 we see this overlap, and your wife does have a 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.040 birthday in January February, Yeah, she has a February birthday. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.560 So for the longest she thought that she was a rat, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.560 but in in in actuality she was pig. Now there 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.520 are also elements associated with certain years. Right, So she's 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:31.639 not just a pig, she's what a wooden pig and 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.200 earth pig. Oh, she's a metal pig, which I think 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.239 is the probably it sounds pretty good to me. Metal gear, 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.960 solid metal pig. Yeah, they're they're at different astrological versions 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.840 of each one. So you know, metal pig, water pig, 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.560 would pig, fire pig, and earth pig would be the 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.360 complete pig collection. Uh. And just to to give everyone 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.000 an idea of where we are right now as we're 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:58.440 recording this in late January two thousand sixteen, we are 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.400 about to enter into the year of the fire monkey. 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.639 What what was this previous year? Here? We're exiting the 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.600 year of the goat. Okay, so bye bye goat. All 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:11.880 babies born today still goats, but pretty soon they will 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.120 be fire monkeys instead, that's right. Yeah, there are twelve 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.560 different animals involved in the zodiac. Uh, and they go 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:25.200 in a particular or you have rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:27.600 and then pig and then it goes back around. Okay, 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.600 so we'll get to know those animals a little bit 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.600 more as the episode goes on, but we should have 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.880 a little disclaimer here at the beginning. If you're like, 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.120 wait a minute, I thought we were gonna be talking 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.600 about science in the Science podcast. So we are going 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.440 to be talking about Chinese astrology in this episode. But 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:47.240 it's worth noting that we're not necessarily endorsing Chinese astrology 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.280 or any form of astrology or divination as an accurate 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:54.839 tool for learning about reality, but instead examining it as 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.240 a thing that exerts a powerful influence over human culture 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.760 and behavior. Yeah, the mythology g and the symbolism is fascinating, 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:05.200 and it's also potent in Eastern culture, and we can 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.160 actually study the ramifications out of it from an economic standpoint, 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:13.440 from birthrate standpoint. Um, it's all really interesting stuff. So yeah, 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.040 if you're if you're rolling your eyes at the astrology, 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.080 bear with us, because we're gonna get two numbers. We're 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.080 gonna get to the science. Okay, we should check in 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.159 real quick with what the stuff to blow your minds 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.360 animal signs are before we move on. So, as we said, 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:29.719 I'm a tiger, but it turns out I'm married to 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.320 a rat. Rats run run strong in this world, and 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:37.200 I appreciate their power and craftiness. Our other host on 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.880 this podcast, Christian Christian Seger, is a snake married to 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:45.080 a rabbit, which sounds like a very fortuitous union. Yeah, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.680 and uh no, no, what are you again? See a 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:49.880 fire pig? I don't think we know, we know he's 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.760 not a metal pig, but I'm not sure where he 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:56.400 falls in line with the with the other descriptors here. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:01.400 He's a magic pig maybe. Okay. So, as we said, 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.520 there are twelve signs in the Chinese zodiac, and if 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:08.120 you're familiar, primarily with the Western zodiac, there will be 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.480 some similarities and some differences. Now in the Western zodiac, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.400 we primarily judge things by the time of the year 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.279 that you were born. It's seasonal in nature. And I 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:22.080 think there are some other elements to the traditional Chinese 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.680 astrology right there. There are things about the time of 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.080 the day you were born or the time of year. 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:29.200 But this this one thing that makes it onto the 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:33.960 Chinese place mats sort of the easily recognizable large scale 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.000 view of Chinese birth characteristics. In in this cultural form 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.120 of astrology is based on the year you were born, 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.440 and there there are twelve years in this cycle. That 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.680 they are those twelve animals, And what's the story? Where 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:49.719 do these animals come from? And where do we get 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:54.240 these ideas about what their personality characteristics are? Well, this 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:55.800 is the way the story goes. And this is just 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.000 one version of the story. So if you grew up 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.920 with this or have encountered in a book somewhere, you 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.599 may have a slightly different version in your head. But 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.120 it rolls out like this, according to the legend the 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.760 Jade Emperor. So who's Who's the Jade Emperor. He's a 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.840 He's the heavenly Grandfather. He's a mythological ruler, very important 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:18.440 in Taoism. He's an emperor in a myth rich ancient time. Okay, 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:20.520 and he wants to create a method of recording the 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.440 passage of time. So he does the logical thing. He 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.440 organizes a swim race on his birthday and invites a 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.559 bunch of animals. Okay, And now are these all water 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.640 animals or they finished? No, none of them were. They're 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.320 the ones we've been talking about before. Yes, pigs and 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.240 goats and stuff and plus plus cat was also invited 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.600 according to the version I read, so so that would 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.479 make it thirteen animals. Right, yes, but as we're gonna see, 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.680 things aren't gonna really work out for the cat all 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:51.680 that well. And then this is this fun story. By 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:53.960 the way, I actually acted this out with my son 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.480 yesterday using toy animals. So if if you want to, 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:01.080 if you need a rainy day activity for your your child, 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:05.000 I recommend this. That's so beautiful. Okay, so let's go 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.159 roll it, Jade Emperor's says, go, you know, the start 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.400 sort of pistol goes off. Cat and rat are standing there. 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.880 They're the slowest swimmers, so what they do is they 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.720 asked to ride on the ox. But then once they're 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:18.680 out in the water, the rat pushes the cat off 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:21.239 into the water and the cat as I guess, washed 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.680 away by the current. And uh. And then the ox 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.200 moves in and the rat jumps off of the ox 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:29.440 is back and gets there first. The first place goes 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.160 to to rat. Okay, so the oxes fording the river 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.360 like an Oregon trail, and the rat rides on his back, 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:39.760 jumps ahead. Sort of cheats. Is this maybe sort of cheating? Well, yeah, 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.080 it's cheating, but hen he's also using his intellect and 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:43.920 he's using he comes up with a creative way. He 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.280 knows he's not a great swimmer. He knows the ox 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.000 is pretty good. This seems like a logical plant. Yeah yeah, 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.160 rats are crafty. They're like Templeton in Charlotte's Web exactly. 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.680 So next comes the tiger, just you know, plunges head 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.520 first across and wait a minute, can tiger swim? The 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.880 cat can swim? Why can the tiger swim? Well, the 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.680 cat can swim. The cat was just pushed off. Not 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:06.880 a good it's not a good swimmer. The tiger can swim, 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.960 makes it across. Next comes the rabbit. Rabbits not a 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.160 good swimmer, but the rabbit crosses the river by hopping 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.880 on the stones. Then comes dragon and dragons. Of course 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.120 is gonna be very important. We're gonna discuss dragon in 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.120 in more depth here in a bit. But being a 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:25.040 flying cosmic creature, he could have easily come in first, 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.360 but along the way he realized he needed to stop 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.520 and generate some rain to control the weather and then 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:34.320 continue on his way. So he wasn't even really that 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.720 concerned with winning this thing. He had more important duties 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.960 to attend to write, so he's a magnanimous runner up. 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.160 He could have easily won by flying, but he he 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:48.880 had other things on his agenda exactly. Now next comes, uh, well, 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.640 my sign and Christian sign. Uh so, here comes snake 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:56.600 and horse. Alright, now, horse pretty good swimmer, So horses 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:01.720 gonna gonna just swim across the river. Snake sneaks aboard, 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.600 wraps around the horse's leg, and then when the horse 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:06.720 is about to climb out of the river and earn 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:10.800 its place, horse sees the snake freaks out because horses 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.360 are afraid of snakes, and the snake jumps off and 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:15.839 secures the next place in the line, followed by the horse. 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.320 It's a little trickery on the snake's part. Okay, I 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:24.600 like these trickster animals. Now next comes in this order goat, monkey, 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.400 and rooster. But the interesting thing here is that they 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:31.280 all apparently work rather well together, and the Jade Emperor 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:33.719 is very appreciative. This is a good, good teamwork. These 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:35.720 three do they build a raft? Did I read that? 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:37.880 I believe so. I think that's in some of the version, 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.320 that that's their their method of teamwork. Otherwise, I guess, 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:43.599 you know, they could pile on each other's heads or 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.520 something and walk across that smart. Okay, who's next, Well, 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.640 next comes dog, and Dog is the strongest swimmer of 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.560 the bunch, but he's also easily distracted. So basically he 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:54.600 just played and splashed in the water for most of 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.280 the race and then realized, oh I need to actually 0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:00.560 get across. Man, are dogs great? And then come pig, 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:05.199 who rather stereotypically here falls asleep after eating during the journey, 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:09.080 so he's a very late arrival to the other side. 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.520 So this is in the classic Tortoise and the Hair story, 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.959 the pig is the hair. In this version, he just 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.640 decides to take a nap. Yeah, yeah, and uh uh. 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.400 And then finally, finally, the cat makes its way across 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.240 the river after being betrayed by the rat earlier. But 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:26.480 the cat is too late to qualify, so the cat 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.920 does not make it into the official Chinese zodiac and 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.480 is it's instead just left on the outside hating the 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:36.679 rat for all eternity. Man, that's harsh. Yeah, So it's 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.560 a it's it's a fun little story. It's it doesn't 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.439 give a perfect description of all the the the the 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.160 astrological significance of each animal. It gives you a kind 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.080 of a base understanding and it's far better than some 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:51.400 of the other There's actually one version where apparently the 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.240 Buddha simply calls all the animals together in names years 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:56.600 after them, which sounds like a pretty boring party. Yeah, 0:10:56.600 --> 0:11:00.000 why not have a river race? And you can't make 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.880 a reality show out of Buddha naming people? Yeah, So, John, 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.600 let's just roll through these, uh, these various animals just 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.200 one final time here to to just lay out their 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:14.400 positive and negative attributes. Yeah, because we will be talking 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.800 about in this episode the personality characteristics that are typically 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.520 attributed to each of these animals in the twelve year cycle. 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.119 If you're born under the year, these are the attributes 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.079 that are supposed to belong to you. So the first 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.040 one we've got is the rat. Now what do they 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.640 say about the rat? Well, the rat is innovative, opportunistic, 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.920 very organized, but prone to uh letting his temper get 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.679 out of the out of control and possibly his or 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:42.960 her agreed. Now, I've got to give credit where credit 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.000 is due. I was reading this out loud to my 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.200 wife Rachel last night, and she was like, sounds like 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.680 Walter White from Breaking Bad. I was like, Walter White, 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:54.560 that's exactly right. That is the perfect rat. Okay, so 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.720 that's a good sort of modern fictional embodiment. Uh. Next 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:02.040 up the the Ox. Of course, oxes honest, conservative, patient, 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.319 but the Ox can be stubborn when pushed and can 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.920 be slow to start things. Now, there are a couple 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.839 of fictional versions we came up with to match this. 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.520 Sounds kind of like Ned Stark from Game of Thrones, 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.960 kind of an honest, respectable, but conservative person. Another option 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:20.959 I came up with is Ellen Ripley from the Alien series. 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.719 That's a good one, you know, because she is essentially 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.920 a She's one of the few heroes who's really a 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:30.960 rule follower. She's all about obeying protocol. We need to 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.720 do the right thing here and not break quarantine. You know. 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.160 She she's conservative, but she's patient, she's on top of things, 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.200 and she doesn't want to budge from her position. And 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.840 unlike the astrological Ox, she actually gets the cat across 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:50.960 the river. Okay. Next we have the tiger, right, this 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:54.000 is mine. So they say about the tiger that the 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.760 tiger is powerful, brave, and risk taker, but can also 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.440 be very brash and offensive. Full feather is caused trouble. 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.600 So what came to my mind is Fox Mulder from 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.439 The X Files. Oh yeah, you know, he's he's he's 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:10.840 a risk taker, he's courageous, he stands up for what 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.040 he believes in, but he really just makes people mad. 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.160 He says the wrong thing and he makes offensive comments 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.640 all the time. Okay, I feel like, you know the 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:22.959 tiger characters when we probably see a lot in fiction. Um, 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.440 because we like we like characters like that. We like 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:27.520 our characters to be strong and confident. But I also 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:29.920 have certain pitfalls. The one that comes to my mind, 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.439 and this is because I'm currently watching a MCS Halt 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:37.280 and catch Fire. Lee pays his character Joe McMillan um 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.439 brilliant risk taker but also just a life wrecking idiot 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:47.480 at times. Alright, Next up we have the Rabbit. Gentle, talented, diplomatic, 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.800 but maybe a little bit shy and sentimental. Okay, what 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:52.520 have you got for the rabbit? The only thing, the 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.160 only one that came to mind instantly here is Luna 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.240 love Good in Harry Potter. Oh that's a pretty good one, 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:04.160 all right. Next is in it very important one dragon imagination, energetic, dramatic, 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:08.240 but can be moody, can be a perfectionist, and uh, 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.480 and of course, as we'll discussed, can their destructive elements 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:13.360 to the dragon as well. Huh. You know, I had 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:15.640 a hard time thinking of a good example of a 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:19.960 dragon in fiction. One that obviously came to mind is 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.440 another one from Game of Thrones, de Naris targ Arian. Yeah, 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.480 but then again, I don't know how well she fits 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:29.160 that because I don't really think of her as dramatic 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:35.520 or even necessarily moody, but certainly that that imagination and energy, 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:40.320 and uh, she's very determined. Yeah, I think she she 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:43.600 is prone to being a little moody, especially later in 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.440 the series. Yeah, I guess so, but yeah, it's not 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:48.800 a perfect fit though. Of course, she is the mother 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:52.359 of dragons, so it seems like it should fit. Yeah, 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.680 We're gonna have too many Game of Thrones characters in 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:57.600 this It's just such a rich world to draw various 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.600 character personalities from. I guess. Yeah, Well the next from Snake. 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:03.720 The snake is graceful, intuitive and wise, but prone to 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:07.320 stinginess and unscrupulous behavior. I guess yeah, Yeah, I guess 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.000 this is what I was referring to. Hear, because it 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:12.240 sounds like the spider Lord Veris from Game of Thrones, 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.960 Old Baldy. He is graceful, he is intuitive, and he 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:21.200 is wise, but he's not necessarily so full of scruples. Well, 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.240 the next one is horse my sign. And this one's 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:28.040 uh characterized by being energetic, spirited, optimistic, independent, but prone 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.480 to impatience and unfinished tasks. Does that sound like you 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:35.320 to you? Well, as we'll get into later. Just about 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.280 any of these, you can see yourself in them if 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.400 you want to. That's a good point. Yeah, we'll get 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.760 into that. So I do see a bit of myself 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.480 in that. Um And in terms of fictional characters, makes 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:49.240 me think of Clive Owens, Dr John Thackeray on the Nick, 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.680 who is, you know, very energetic and spirited, but does 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:58.320 not have the patients for rigorous scientific investigation. And we'll 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.160 also just completely abandon a task if it's not really 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:03.800 working out. You gotta be you gotta be cautious about 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.280 those people who have an emphasis on getting things done. 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:10.440 You know. I haven't seen the Nick, but I've heard 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.480 it's very good. Oh, I love it. I I highly 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.440 recommend it. Um. You know, for individuals who weren't too 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.800 squeamish about a turn of the century surgery scene. Okay, 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.160 how about how about the next one? Goat? Oh yeah, 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:24.520 they say the goat is loving, gentle, and creative, but 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:29.200 maybe shy and reluctant to directness and set in their ways. Well, 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:31.600 this one I thought was kind of difficult because that's 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.040 not really that this type of central character you tend 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.080 to encounter in a story. But it did make me 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:41.200 think of Donnie from The Big Lebowski. Yeah, Donnie who 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:45.480 loves surfing. He was sweet, yeah, loving and creative. Al right. 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.480 Next we have the monkey, when again we're about to 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.840 enter into monkey. Uh smart, happy, curious, energetic, but prone 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.440 to over confidence and all the pitfalls that come with 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.560 over confidence. So the one that came to my mind 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.680 based on this is Tony Stark from Iron And So 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:02.480 this is a guy who who likes to have a 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.919 good time. He's curious, he's full of energy, he's very smart, 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:09.440 but he's kind of full of himself. Yeah. I think 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.520 that's a good a good fit, all right. Next up 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.919 we have a rooster. Rooster is punctual, reliable, independent, but 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:18.200 maybe a bit conceded. This one was a hard one 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:22.360 for me to really think about in terms of modern fiction. 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:24.800 But yeah, again, how many characters can you think of 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.040 that are known for punctuality, yeah, and being vain without 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.520 being just like movie vain or Dorian gray vein. The 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:35.040 one that came to mind, though, is Christoph Waltz character Dr. 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:38.560 King Schultz in Django and Chain, because he's a plant, 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.240 great planner, he's loyal, but he's ultimately brought down by 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.760 his own form of vanity, moral of a you know, 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:49.359 a cultural intellectual vanity, the physical vanity. He can't walk away. 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:51.080 He's got to make his point. He's got to make 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.000 his point, even if it's the most it's the most 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.119 disastrous choice in the movie. Okay, so we got two left. 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:59.399 One of them is the dog. And what do they 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.119 say about the dog? The dog is gregarious, honest, fun, loyal, 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.000 prone to worrying, you know, whimpering in the corner. That's 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.880 an interesting combination of things. Two people came to mind 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.320 for me. One of them is another Big Lebowski character, 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.200 would be the dude from The Big Oldowski. So he's gregarious, honest, fun, loyal, 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.320 he's all those things, but he also worries a lot. 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.119 He's worried that they're gonna cut off various parts of 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:22.840 his body. Another one that came to my mind is say, 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:27.200 have you seen Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt? Serious Kimmy Schmidt. She's 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.000 a dog here, I think, I mean she's a in 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.800 the Chinese Zodia accents. Very much gregarious, honest, loyal, fun 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.800 and prone to worrying. Another one that maybe came to 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.359 my mind is grom It from Wallace and Grommet, but 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.080 that he's kind of disqualified because he's actually a dog, 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:47.439 all right. And then finally last place, Pig. Pig is noble, strong, 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:50.439 fiercely loyal to family and friends, though they can be 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.440 difficult at times and can be a bit reckless. This 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:55.240 is this is another one. I got a credit to 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.359 my wife Rachel. I was talking to her about this 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.959 last night and she was like, Mrs Vorhees from Freddie 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.440 but a strong mother, right yeah? Um? Well. Another mother 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.840 that comes to mind from Game of Thrones Cercy Lanister, who, 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.480 for all her faults, and she has many, she's very 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:16.359 loyal to her children specifically, and pretty much only to 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:18.960 her children. You know, it's all about protecting her children, 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:26.320 and she can be a bit reckless outside of that, Robert, 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:29.320 you've designed websites before, haven't you I have? Yeah, I 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.679 mean I love a good website, but it's can be 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.480 so tedious to try and manage to build one out 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:38.080 of the tools in hand. Yeah, without a really good 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.440 suite of tools, it can just be such a pain 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.560 getting the site to look the way you want to, 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.439 to be easy and intuitive and work well for the 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:48.760 person the audience you're trying to reach with the website. 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.320 But fortunately it doesn't always have to be such a pain. 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:54.119 That's right, because now we have a new set of 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.119 tools at our disposal thanks to square Space. Right. Square 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:00.520 Space is there to make it easy, simple, in intuitive, 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.320 and very professional. So it gets you a site that 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.280 looks professionally designed, even if you don't really have any 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:08.879 skills with web design, or if you do it regardless 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.080 of skill level. 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Okay, so that has been the basic crash 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:54.520 course on the very popularly broadly accessible version of the 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:58.000 Chinese zodiac. But now we want to get more into 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:02.159 the specifics about the scientificly measurable effects of belief in 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:04.800 the Chinese zodiac, what people think about it, how it 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:09.760 influences culture, and what economic and sociological influences it might have. 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:10.960 And I know what a lot of you are thinking 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:12.400 too at this point. It is one thing to think 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:14.879 about as seasonal zodiac having as an effect, right, you 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:16.399 know this and it was born in winter, this one 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:20.280 in summer, etcetera. But you know, how could everybody in 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:23.960 a single year have the same basic personality type. It 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:28.040 just it's unbelievable. It's just ridiculous. Really, Like, everybody born 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:29.480 in the year of the Dragon is not going to 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:33.680 be this massive go getter leader person. Uh, everybody born 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:35.040