WEBVTT - Listener Mail IV: The Listening 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:05.960 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how stup 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:15.480 works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:17.760 My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Christian Seger and 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.920 I'm Joe mcclormack, and we are here to do one 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.560 of our I Guess quarterly Now listener mail episodes. Well, 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.360 we receive a lot of feedback from from listeners. We 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.120 get it on what we get via email, we get 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.400 through social media, and uh, we don't have time on 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.480 the episodes themselves really to get into the listener mail 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.519 as much, and we get so much good content we 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:41.960 decided to devote to the occasional episode to it. Yeah, 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:45.000 and we really do get so much great correspondence from 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:46.959 from all you guys out there that we don't have 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.640 time to read it. Also, if you send us something 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.159 and you you poured your heart out to us and 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:54.520 we don't have time to read it today, please don't 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:56.600 take that as a slide against you. We just get 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.640 so much I think of stuff that there's no way 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:00.920 for us to read it all. It would be a 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.240 whole another podcast, not to like two to our own horn. 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.840 But I actually probably have like a moment maybe you 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:07.800 guys have this to like every day where I opened 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:09.839 up the listener mail folder and feel a little guilty 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:12.640 because I'm like, oh, I still haven't even like had 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:14.520 a chance to go back and read like the last 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.639 six of these, just because we're so slammed. Yeah. Indeed, 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.440 often just being the heat of getting a stuff together 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.880 for a podcast episode or some other kind of commitment 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:24.600 around here, and I just have to make a mental 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:28.120 bookmark to come back to this individual in their their comments. 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.839 And then we've got that whole other folder of stalker mail, 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:35.280 which you know, yeah, those that spend time on that, Yeah, 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.080 that was definitely that is a thick folder and waterproof 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:42.280 by necessity. All right, Well, let's call the robot over here, um, 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:49.040 and let's see what what Carney has for us. All right, 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:50.880 it looks like the first thing Carney has for us 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.720 here is from our listener. No. Well, regarding the Chinese 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.440 zodiac episode that Robert and I did, and we got 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:58.880 a lot of great feedback on the Chinese zodiacs, is 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.560 just one of them. It's Noel rights. Hi, guys, I 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.520 know why so many dragon children were born in nineteen 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.760 eighty eight. Eight is a good luck number. And since 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:10.960 the year was eighty eight. It was like a double 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.840 good year, making a triple good year for having a 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.920 baby dragon. Chinese culture has impacted Filipino culture with the 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.120 melting pot of Asians in the Philippines. Even though my 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.040 parents are Filipino relatives urged them to get married in 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.000 nineteen eighty eight instead of when they actually got married 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.280 in nineteen eighty seven. But I guess seven was a 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.480 lucky enough number for them. In nineteen eight was booked 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:37.679 for marriages. I guess booked no more marriages this year. Yeah, 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:41.519 they probably like every every uh justice of the peace 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.760 slash priest I guess was unavailable. Well, that makes sense. 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:46.720 That goes that ties into some of the issues we 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.040 were talking about with having these boom years for births, 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:51.800 because that means more hospital beds are going to be 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.920 filled for that birth year, and then that child as 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.959 they grow older, like their their their year in school 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:00.440 is always just going to be extra packed when they 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.639 all enter the workforce, more competitors. This reminds me of 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:05.520 the thing we were talking about in the office recently 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.720 about the Zeka virus and how because so many people 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.400 are being told that, you know, they shouldn't be having 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.560 kids because of the Zeka virus, that there's going to 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:17.919 be like a big jump in population, like say, eighteen 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:21.880 twenty years from now. Yeah. Well, anyway, Noel continues, my 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.639 parents also didn't choose to go for a dragon baby 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.520 after they married. I was born in nineteen as a 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:32.040 gold metal element of goat, gold goat, that's beautiful. That's like, 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.600 that's the thing that would be condemned in the Bible 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:36.880 or something. I don't I don't know what my metal is. 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.520 I just know my my animal. You mean your element. Sorry, 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.160 you could be like wood or metal, but gold is 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:49.040 is why is it gold? Well, it gets very complicated, 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.800 and it's important to to to reiterate that we didn't 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.680 go into all the depth about the inner working of 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:58.920 Chinese zodiac in that episode, but we did hear back 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:00.920 in great depth from a out of our listeners on 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.560 this subject. Anyway, Noel continues about the gold goat. She says, 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.760 they are supposed to be ambitious and kind hearted, with 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:12.040 a strong sense of responsibility and work, but sometimes too stubborn. 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:14.840 Compared to the other goat elements, they seem more like 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.480 a dragon, or maybe that's just me hoping to be 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:20.159 like a dragon. I do not believe in astrology, but 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.440 it's nice to have a mascot to cheer for your 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:27.919 positive traits. Sincerely, Noel Uh and I like the sentiment 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:29.520 of the inter here because this is something we talked 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.080 about in the episode. It's my theory that you don't 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.160 have to believe in astrology to be affected by it, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.479 Like you don't have to believe it taps into a 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:44.320 true magical power or or has real predictive power over 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.480 personalities for it to have some kind of significance to you, 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:49.880 because we just we're always reaching out for meaning and 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.720 significance in our life, and any kind of framework people 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:56.039 come up with, even if there's no real magic to it, 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.679 it's kind of easy to to feel like there's something 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:01.960 to it. Yeah. Plus, I mean there have been studies 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.080 we've we've talked about it on the show, and I 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.840 think so much older episodes about how the research has 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.960 has proven that just symbols in the world around us 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:16.159 affect us subconsciously. So if you know, if the symbol 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.839 for Coca Cola can do that to us, then certainly 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:23.640 something is is culturally ingrained as gold goat. Certainly that 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.520 can work. It's magic on us as well, especially if 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.760 it's something that you're told from a very young age 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:33.880 you are this thing. Yeah. Now, our listener, Elizabeth, who 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.320 did grow up in the Chinese household, also got in 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.600 touch with us about the Chinese Zodiac episode. Yes, uh 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.800 she did, and and really she wrote a tremendous amount 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.640 to us, really fleshed out her thoughts on it um 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.200 and it shared some just extensive great thoughts on the 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.840 zodiac episode, including some areas that we just didn't have 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.880 time to explore as much, the cultural and mythological significance 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.600 of the of the Chinese dragon, the intricacies of the 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.200 Chinese zodiacal system, and extended thoughts on the shape of 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.520 the traditional family. So we can't read it all here. Again, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.360 thanks Elizabeth for sharing it with us, But we did 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.159 want to hit just a few key points that I 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.680 think contribute to the episode. Yeah. One of them was 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:18.120 that Elizabeth grew up reading books on the Chinese horoscopes 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:22.000 by somebody named Theodora Allow and she recommends Lao's books 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.200 if you're interested in in an introduction to the Chinese zodiac. 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.200 But also she she's got great stories about how She 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.560 also says she doesn't really ascribe to the Chinese zodiac, 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.719 like she doesn't believe it has true magic power, but 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.640 she sort of lives her life according to it anyway, 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:43.040 almost as if like there's there's valence available there. Yeah, 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.800 I get that. Like it's like, uh, I dabbled in 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.440 fung shue for like a year in her apartment, like 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.000 when it got a book and everything, and was like, no, Kelly, 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.440 the table has to go here, you know that kind 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.120 of thing. But you know, I didn't actually believe in 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.919 any kind of like symbolic magic or anything like that 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:01.719 going on. It was just sort of a system to 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.640 help you organize life. Yeah, I shouldn't have overstated. I 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:06.840 didn't mean to say that she lives her life according 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:08.960 to it, but she makes some decisions according to it, 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.560 like like how she arranges the furniture in her house. 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.360 She mentioned it really okay, Yeah, but she also had 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.200 some really interesting, just individual points we wanted to highlight. Again. 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.160 Her email was too long to read all of it, 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.960 but one of them was about the dragon and the episode. 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.200 We mentioned that the dragon is the only animal in 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.400 the Chinese zodiac that's purely mythical. It has no real 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.680 world equivalent, But according to Elizabeth, that's not exactly the case. Yeah, 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.000 she says, quote. It's also not entirely true that the 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.880 dragon has no real world equivalent the dragons real world 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.320 animal is a sea horse, because seahorses were believed to 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.280 be baby dragons because you know, they look like dragons 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.640 and they lived in the law before. Yeah, I would 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.680 have assumed that it was like a Komodo dragon like that. 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.000 That seems like what would be the real world equivalent, 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.960 but it probably the I have no idea what the 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.640 actual natural habitat of a komodo is. Well, I can 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.800 see where this would this would make sense because we 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:02.360 just us a little bit about how the celestial dragon 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.000 is kind of a composite of all these other animals, 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:07.360 Like there's a little horse in there, there's a little 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.520 potentially a little a clam in there as well, Chimera. Yeah, 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.400 very much. So. I can imagine the sea horse making 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:15.800 sense because you look at a sea horse, and a 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.480 sea horse is really weird and itself looks kind of 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.680 like a co laubrate. You know. The thing I'd say 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.240 about the Komodo dragon is I think that may sort 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.880 of conflate the ideas of the Western dragon with the 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.640 Eastern dragon. Yes, I think the Eastern dragon or the 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.040 Chinese dragon is less like a lizard than the dragon 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:36.480 we get from from maybe Middle Eastern or European folklore. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.680 that's true. As while you're right having grown up in Singapore, 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:41.679 which is something we're gonna talking about with another listener. Now, 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.960 that's definitely true. So Elizabeth also shares a quote for me. 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.680 My chart is four year snake, our monkey month, and 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.080 I think day of the sheet, but like I said, 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.480 that doesn't matter for names. But I'm also born in 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.160 the US, which was founded in seventeen seventy six, the 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.559 year of the Fire Monkey, which we were in again. 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.520 So the result of my chart was that I had 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:04.839 a crap town of fire and water. So I just 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.160 wanted to share this bit just because I think it 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.840 gives you an idea of what sort of deeper read 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.680 of one zodiac would be. Yeah, this is preceding this. 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.000 Elizabeth goes into a lot of detail about how it's 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.720 not just the year, but as we mentioned in the episode, 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.600 it's other elements of time that affect the things that 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.040 are supposed to be true about you according to the 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.920 you know, your horoscope, so it would be our of 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.680 the day you're born, day, day of the week I 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.679 think that you're born, and so forth. Hey, so I've 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.240 got a question about that episode. Maybe now is a 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.720 good time, because I don't I'm assuming you didn't cover 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.360 it in in the episode itself. The photo that you 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.240 guys used for one of the thumbnails on that of 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.880 that like giant sculpture of like a robot fire monkey. 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.839 Oh what's that all about? Okay? So that was that 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.679 was a photograph of a sculpture, and that was actually 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.640 on the now House Stuff Works Now article that I did. 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.360 That tied in with ten yeah, talking about how they 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.560 how some experts think that the year of the fire Monkey, 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.920 which we're in now will impact the birth rate. And 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:14.200 that's just a really cool Transformers statue of the fire Monkey. Yeah, 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.160 it was amazing. I was really impressed by the whole thing. 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.360 So I was curious if they had like some I 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.720 don't know, like other than like making a cool giant 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.800 Transformer monkey, if there was some symbolism too. I did 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.840 not read an artist's statement on it, but but yeah, 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:29.480 you can really go nuts just looking at all the 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:34.520 crazy cool artistic interpretations of the of the zodiac animals. Yeah, 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.199 there were a lot of great sculptures I've never seen before, 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.560 but only I saw because you turned them up for 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:41.960 for that episode. I do think this is also really 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.760 cool that Elizabeth points out about seventeen seventy six being 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.880 the year of the fire Monkey. Now she she tells 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.199 us again that she grew up in a Chinese household, 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:52.240 but in the United States, so she's a resident of 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.120 the US. And this is another thing we talked about 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.319 in the episode, is sort of the cross cultural uh 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:02.320 impact of the Chinese zodiac. For example, we found that 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.480 though this probably was not impacted by people choosing this 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:10.360 on purpose, the Forbes list of Richest Americans also is 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:15.760 overrepresents dragons, which is kind of strange because you wouldn't 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.160 expect the Chinese zodiac to have any influence on American birthrates. 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.120 Maybe it's just a coincidence. Who knows it could be. 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:24.600 And I'm going to read one more quote from her, 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.160 and this I think just expands nicely on some of 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.840 the issues that we touched on in trying to you know, 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:36.240 uh to in discussing why the dragon year birthrate spike 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.920 is a modern phenomenon, Okay, she says being able to 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.760 choose when you have kids as a luxury. Uh, it's 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.040 a luxury of those who can afford it and are able. 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:47.679 In modern times and with more modern medical care, there 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.400 is more access to health resources and such. They give 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.320 you in ability to care and make sure your offspring live, 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.640 aside from things like the one child policy or the 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.640 cultural revolution getting in the way. So there's just now 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.319 engine all more ability to choose, whereas before you flat 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.240 out and needed kids to live. China was also very confusion. 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.800 So in that belief system, there is a responsibility to 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.079 carry on the family name and line, so you try 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.120 to have as many kids as possible so that one 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.440 of them would survive into adulthood to take care of 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.439 you an old age. And also since a lot of 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.120 its rural, you had more help to work the field. 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.360 Surviving is a bit more important than giving a damn 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.240 when your kids are born or even sometimes what gender 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.960 they are. Yeah, so thanks Elizabeth. This whole email was 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.000 really great. Again, I regret that we couldn't read the 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:36.560 whole thing, but but it was really awesome, So thanks 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.680 for getting in touch. Okay, So this next one that's 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.520 coming out of old Carney over here. It looks like 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.160 it's directed to you guys about an episode you did, 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.320 but I actually pulled it because it's connected with me personally, 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.160 and I wrote this guy back. His name is Gary. 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:54.120 Gary says, gentlemen, longtime listener, first time emailer. Where a 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.760 Canadian family that moved to Singapore a couple of years ago. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.000 I recently listened to your podcast on moral ethical decisi 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.240 Asians and heard you mentioned the type posen festival. Now 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.640 we should quickly say what the context of that was 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.480 in the episode. Yes, this was the New Year's episode 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.520 and the particular study, which I think has actually come 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.640 up in a couple of different podcast episodes. Um. Now 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.040 over the years, I had to do with just how 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:21.600 participating or even witnessing ritual pain uh can can have 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.079 an impact on your on how much money you give 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.760 to the poor, on how how kindly you treat your 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.120 follow humans. So if you want to be a better person, 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.559 do some ritual pain, Yeah, go for it. So this 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:35.880 is what the festival is about. I'm assuming it has 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.360 a connection to that. It has, Yes, that's I think 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.920 that's one element one element of it. Yes, well, Gary 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.680 says that festival is celebrated here in Singapore, and we 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.920 attended last year. Uh, it was definitely something that blew 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.000 our minds. My kids, they're eighteen has an eighteen year 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:52.920 old daughter and a fourteen year old son, refused to 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.640 attend this year. They were so freaked out by it. Additionally, 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.760 and interestingly, they also felt that as observers we were 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:02.520 some how intruding on a sacred pilgrimage and it didn't 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:06.040 feel right for them to gawk. Perhaps a generational gap, 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.640 But the view of my wife and I is that 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.200 as they closed down the streets and advertise it, so 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.679 they obviously want people to come out and attend and 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.000 watch it and buy drinks and food, et cetera. So 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.480 why not And he includes a link to the festival. 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:20.960 He says, I can't speak for elsewhere, but here they 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.200 parade several kilometers from one temple to another. This year 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.480 they allowed live music here for the first time in 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:31.760 for over forty years, and the participants increased. Not sure 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.480 on the overall attendants, but it's interesting the number of 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.680 people trying to get absolved of sins rose by having 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:41.120 live music. For your information, live music was banned by 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:45.040 Singapore forty two years ago, after the bands became competitive 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.080 and started to fist fight each other. Singapore has a 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.640 long memory. Below are some photos I took of the 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.960 two of the festival I thought you might find interesting. 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:57.440 If you are interested in posting them on your site, 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.120 you have my permission. Thanks for shutting some light the 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.480 moral decisions of the participants. And that's from Gary. So 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:05.440 I wanted to read that one when it came in 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.680 because I grew up in Singapore. Um, I I spent 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.800 most of my high school years there, and it was 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.040 just fascinating to me to kind of like, it's been 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.280 over twenty years since I've been back to Singapore, but 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:19.400 to read the experience of another expatriate over there right 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.520 now kind of going through the same culture shock situation. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.080 I told Gary that I sympathized with this children. It 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:26.600 was kind of the same way. I felt like it 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:32.040 was uh like rude in some some circumstances to watch 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.400 certain festivals that I didn't quite understand, you know. But um, 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:40.240 the live music thing, I don't know that may be 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.320 true on the legal books, but when I was there, 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.800 which was not forty two years ago, I went to 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:47.480 a lot of live music in fact, that's when I 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.480 first got involved in the punk scene. Well maybe he 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:54.600 just means live music associated with the festival. Yeah, maybe 0:15:54.640 --> 0:16:00.360 that's it. Yeah. So like quick short story, Uh, when 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.760 I lived there, Rawlins band came and played there, and 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:10.760 uh they played the festival. Uh no, no, but apparently 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.480 there was some moh ing at the Ralins band show 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:19.480 and some chairs got broken in the venue. And uh 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.760 right after that mosh ing was was banned, or at 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.080 least that's what we were told. So uh, then maybe 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.880 like two or three months later, Fugazi played in Singapore 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.880 and I went to that show and the wall of 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.000 the show was lined with armed guards. They were all 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.080 carrying rifles and they were supposed to be there to 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.560 make sure that people didn't slam dance. Um. So it 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.680 is a little strange. I definitely remember some of the 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.800 odd governmental restrictions there what from from living there. And 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:49.480 I also lived there when the whole mic faith thing 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.000 happened as well too, so there was a lot of that. 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.120 This was the caning incident. It was Yeah, I went 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:59.360 to school with Mike Fae Um. So but why don't 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:01.200 you guys respond and since it was the episode that 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.880 you guys recorded. I guess my main response is, I mean, 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:07.719 having never actually witnessed the procession, only having seen some 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.520 you know, really cool photos from it and read about it. Uh, 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.720 you know, basically I can just apply my own experience 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.919 encountering other cultures and especially like temples and the like. 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.280 You know, it does between that weird space where you 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:23.960 you certainly don't want to be a gawker, You don't 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:27.000 want to be an ugly American in these these situations. 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.240 You want to but you want to experience that. You 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:31.880 want to see these things. And at the same time, 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:33.960 you you know that you're an outsider and you can't 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.560 possibly experience and and and understand it in the in 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.119 the same way. So it is an odd place to 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:45.280 find yourself. Yeah. Um, so I should say. Gary included 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.879 a bunch of photos of this email of their experience 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:49.920 at the festival, and now we may want to share 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:51.520 some of them. Yeah, we could throw them on a 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:53.720 post for sure, because they were They were stunning, Like 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.240 the hooks embedded in these guys backs that were in 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.080 the parade and everything. I never saw anything like that 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.480 when I lived there. But it might I told Gary this, 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:03.879 It might just have been because my parents probably you know, 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:05.679 didn't want me to go down to something like that 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.399 by myself, for the same obvious reasons of kind of 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.359 being a cultural gawker. Yeah. I mean, one thing is 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:13.560 important to keep in mind too about rituals of pain 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.119 is that will they exist around the world and in 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.720 various cultures, various religions. You find them in in Christianity, 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.480 do you find them in Islam? You find them in Hinduism, etcetera. 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:28.119 Uh So, Um, I actually did a gallery list on 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:30.560 stuff to bull your mind dot come a while back, um, 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:32.080 compiling some of these, so I'll make sure that we 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.359 linked to that as well on the landing page for 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:38.480 this episode. Yeah that sounds fun alright, Listener David writes 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.760 in David says, so, just a note about solar sales 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.879 from your Space Mirrors episode. You couldn't use a laser 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.400 to push a solar sale. That would violate Newton's third 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:49.800 law of motion and would be the same concept as 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:52.240 saying you could pull yourself to the ceiling by tugging 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.400 on your belt loops or blowing a sale with a fan. 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.280 So anything the laser mounted on the ship shot out 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.040 would get the same force back that would result and 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.200 zero motion. And you responded to this, right, So I 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.439 don't think the idea was that the laser was mounted 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.439 on the ship, right, Yeah, So that the idea here 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.560 is the laser would not be mounted on the ship, 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:14.320 but rather would be mounted somewhere else, providing a new wind, 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.080 a new solar wind, a laser wind for that vessel 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.840 to sail on. UM And if anyone wants some more 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.200 information about this concept, actually did an article on the 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:27.480 subject years ago after interviewing Dr Gregory L. Matt Love. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.440 You can find this at Discovery dot com. The title 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:32.520 of the article is our Solar Sales the Future of 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:36.159 Space Travel. Matt laff is UM an expert in the field, 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.040 and just it was just really nice guy to talk 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.960 to on the topic. But yeah, I U exchanged a 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.440 few different emails with David about this, uh and and 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:46.760 I just wanted to make sure that anyone else listening 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:49.320 UH didn't get that idea, Like maybe we didn't state 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:51.199 it or I didn't state it as well as I 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.800 could have. Also, David is a long haul trucker and 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.440 listens to our show on the road. Yeah, so we 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.240 definitely want to give a shout out to Dave and 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.880 any other truckers out there listening to us right now. 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:05.440 We've heard from a few of you over the years, 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:07.359 and we're always glad to hear that we're able to 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:09.960 help make those lengthy jaunts a little easier. My brother 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.399 in laws a trucker, I wonder if he listens to 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:16.440