WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Gremlins Have Pictures 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:11.600 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.840 Listener mail. My name is Robert Land and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:17.600 And this is the part of the week where we 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:19.840 read back some of the messages that you've sent in 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:21.759 over the past couple of weeks, having to do with 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:26.840 episodes on Pacific Island navigation, queuing and waiting for things, 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:28.720 and uh oh, I think there's a good one on 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:31.960 Fatim morgana and some stuff about weird house cinema Rob 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:39.160 do you want to do? This one from Chelsea Sure. 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:42.800 Chelsea says I was just listening to part two of 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.000 the Waiting in Line episode and wanted to bring up 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:48.000 the schoolyard phenomenon of back cutting. This is ours when 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:49.760 the line exists and the cutter wants to be in 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:51.920 line next to a friend so they can chat during 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.800 the weight. The cutter asked to cut the friend, but 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.480 the friend replies no, but you can back cut me, 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.200 and the cutter joins the line right in back of 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.440 the friend, hence back cut. I remember this as being 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:06.960 like a situation of like, uh, I will allow you 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:08.720 to get in front of me, and then that person 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.000 obliges by letting you get in front of them, which 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:16.160 you know is not an honest way to go about things, 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.720 of course not, but it it kind of matches up 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.920 with that sort of childhood level of figuring out how 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:26.279 to blatantly cheat and how to blatantly bend the rules 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.360 in your favor, uh in ways that that you know 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:34.280 aren't gonna fly outside of elementary school anyway. They continue. Thus, 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.400 the friend gets to hang out with their buddy without 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.440 changing their spot in the line. The cutter gets to cut, 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.919 and the person right behind them can't ultimately do anything 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.319 about it. The person behind may protest about being cut, 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.160 but the reply from the friend would be that they 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.880 didn't front cut you, they back cut me, and that 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.040 was the end of it. And I will add that 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.240 this is kind of ingenious and that we one of 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.240 the things we discussed in queuing is that it's the 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:00.600 person that immediately was cut in front of that has 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:04.840 the most like responsibility of outrage. And you're already putting 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:07.160 them in a position where they're not going up against 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.520 one cutter, but a cutter and a co conspirator, So 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.760 they're already outnumbered in this scenario, right, And I think 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.480 it's interesting that we internalize that as thinking of uh 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:22.040 cutting in line as an offense primarily against the person 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.440 right behind you where you cut. In fact, it's affecting 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.760 everybody else in line, right, everybody else behind that point 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.680 in line has now been cut in front of UM. 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.440 But I think because of this social convention where it's 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:37.839 the person directly behind the intrusion point who has the obligation, 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:40.919 we somehow naturally see it as like purely an offense 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:44.280 against them personally. And yet obviously, I mean, like I 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:46.400 think from the rest of Chelsea's email, it's clear that 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.480 even kids into it that there's something wrong with this. Yeah, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.160 like you can easily get at control where if you 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:52.920 joined the line and then you just announce that you 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:56.000 will now be back cutting everyone. You know, everybody can 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:59.639 backcut anyway. Yeah, they continue as the person behind them. 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.720 I'll aways felt conflicted because whether the cutter was right 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.720 before or right after their friend had no impact on 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:07.760 my way time, but having the cutter right in front 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.720 of me felt like my special societal role as the 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.320 person immediately behind the cutter had been usurped by the friend. 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.680 I had been cut and it had been sanctioned, and 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.000 there wasn't anything I could do about it. I think 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:23.000 this was more common with the popular kids, but I 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.240 may well have engaged in it myself despite not having 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.440 that many friends. None of us are the angels we 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:31.600 think we were. I grew up in California, and I'm 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.680 curious to know how widespread the term phenomenon is. I 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.520 remember it being relatively common in elementary school, occasionally in 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.120 middle school, and non existent in high school. The bit 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.680 of child lord no cuts, no butts, no coconuts is 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.240 was also British common, and was extra amusing in elementary 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.440 school because of the butts homophone. But that is the 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.920 obvious best thing to grace an anti cutting poster. Keep 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.280 up the good work, guys. I appreciate being engaged and 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.440 amused as you by you both as I walked my 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.240 dog into housework. I I'm not a fan of horror movies, 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:05.240 but the Weird House episodes are grade fine. Jesse ps. 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:08.720 Nearly every time Seth's full name is mentioned in the broadcast, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:12.520 I repeat his name in my head is death. Nicholas Johnson, 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:16.280 his October alter ego haunts me year round. Oh well, 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.080 that warms my heart. So I definitely got this when 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.000 I was when I was in elementary school, but I 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.520 don't remember being called back cutting. I remember the phrase 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:30.560 front seat back seat. Did you ever encounter that? Um, 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.960 I don't think I encountered that one. I think that's 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:35.800 more what you were talking about. It's like the person 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.000 cuts in front of their friend, and then their friend 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.360 cuts right back in front of them, so it's effectively 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:42.920 the same thing, somebody just getting behind you in line. 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.440 But anyway, the other thing you say, Chelsea, which I 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.960 think is absolutely true, is yes, the popular kids are 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.640 more likely to do this. Kids at the elementary school 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.760 period are much more blatant about operating on the basis 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:59.920 of of thinking that they're elevated. Social status just grants them, right, 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.080 It's that other people don't have people. Adults behave that 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.200 way too, but they try to sort of hide it 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:07.400 more than make it. They come up with systems of 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.360 making it look like that's not what's going on, right, 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:12.200 And I think a part of this is sort of 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:19.120 the childhood awareness of how unfair systems exist, but then 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.680 they not getting the nuance of it, you know, like 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:26.200 the gross injustice has happen every day all day, but 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:28.719 not all of them are out in the open. A 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.000 lot of the times they are hidden in ways that 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.880 are not apparent in this example of back cutting, speaking 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:40.320 of cutting based on on social status and and hierarchy, 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.240 I'm I wanna read this next message from Jordan's. So 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:46.520 Jordan's says, Dear Rob and Joe, I've been listening to 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:48.840 the show for a couple of years, and I love 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.440 being able to idly learn while I work. I've really 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.240 enjoyed the recent series on queuing because well, I've never 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.240 really given much thought to it. I know that I 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.320 typically hate doing it. I can't remember if you discussed 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.800 queuing and animals or I just missed it, but I 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:05.279 have seen it performed in horses. I work on a 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.479 nonprofit wild horse rescue ranch in California, where we have 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.400 over a hundred in our care. On the hot summer 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.360 days of the California desert, it's not uncommon to see 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.240 a half dozen horses at a watering trough at once. 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:21.480 While typically there is plenty of room for multiple horses 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:23.719 to access the water at once, I have witnessed a 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.000 line forming to get a drink. The difference is that 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:31.000 horses adhere to a very strict quote pecking order, and 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.960 the one at the top gets to drink first, regardless 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.480 of when they join the queue, they go to the front. 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.640 In the case of line integrity you mentioned, if an 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.640 individual lower in the pecking order tries to line jump, 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.479 the one behind will almost always run them out of 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.919 the line, while the horses ahead seem to pay no 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.800 mind to what is going on behind them. It's very 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.359 interesting to see this play out with non human animals 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.680 and makes me think that perhaps queuing is more instinctual 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.440 than one may have originally thought. I have attached photo 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:03.240 of a line forming among our older residents for you 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.200 to check out, and then Jordan's does indeed attach a 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.480 photo here of what looks like four horses lining up 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.360 to get to a big container of water. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.280 that's exactly what's going on here. This is yeah, great point. 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:17.920 I would say. The big thing that's different between what 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:22.400 you highlight here and and our queuing conventions is the 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:26.920 the principle that orders access. Obviously, in all kinds of 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.200 animal system in like the Animal Kingdom, there will be 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.840 lots of ways of ordering access, but as you highlight 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:37.160 uh here, it tends to be a very just directly 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.120 and purely unfair pecking order based on some kind of 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.280 hierarchy that's understood by the horses, some kind of dominance thing, 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:45.880 whereas a lot of what we were talking about was 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.880 the social convention of first in, first out ordering. And 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:50.840 it doesn't matter if you get to the line and 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.040 you think you're better than everybody else in line, that 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.400 you know that they're not going to just say, oh, yeah, 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:57.000 that's right, you're better than us. You can go to 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.760 the front. Oh. And then finally the end, Jordan's says, 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:01.480 love the show, and I have to say, I really 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.600 missed regular Invention episodes. Keep up the great work, guys, 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:08.360 and much love from Cali. Um that I think that's California, 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:12.160 not a person named Kelly c a l I. Uh, yeah, 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:14.440 I'm glad to hear it. Thank you, glad to hear 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:16.640 you liked the Invention episode. So we still do them 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:19.280 from time to time, just not every week because I 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.040 guess you note, Yeah, we can't offer regular Invention episodes, 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.560 but we can offer the next best thing, irregular Invention episodes. 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.960 Um and uh. And we actually have I believe we 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.160 have an Invention episode coming up really soon, or at 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:33.160 least we've been talking about doing one on a particular 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:36.920 invention topic, so they'll they'll keep We enjoy doing invention 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.160 based episodes, so they're they're definitely not going away. They 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:52.199 just they're in the rotation at this point, right, all right. 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.880 This one comes to us from Nan Nan Rights. Hi, 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:57.720 Joe and Robert. I've been a fan of the show 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.000 for a few years now and have especially enjoyed your 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.160 recent series on queuing. When you discussed the ambiguity involved 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.280 in most cases of line cutting, particularly taking another person's 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.000 parking space, it made me reconsider a time when I 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.520 confronted another driver who took my spot. I was waiting 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:14.920 to turn left into a parking space at Costco while 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.000 a pedestrian cross my path and another driver turned into 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.080 my intended spot as his passenger looked at me and 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:25.360 grin sheepishly. After I finally parked, I saw the family 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.040 from the other car and waddled my seven months pregnant 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.640 body over to them and chewed them out about their automotive. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.120 Since the driver claimed he didn't see me, Your podcast 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.000 made me reconsider whether the other driver really hadn't seen me, 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.880 and whether I should have tried to be more genteel 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:43.920 in my approach despite my raging prenatal hormones. I didn't 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.400 run into the family again while inside the warehouse, which 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:48.800 leads me to believe I terrified them so much that 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.960 they left without finishing their shopping trip. After listening to 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.240 your discussion, I'll definitely try to slow my role moving 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.880 forward and acknowledge the ambiguity and line cutting situations. Thanks for, 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.960 as always, for providing such interesting food for thought and 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:06.559 expanding my perspective on everyday situations. Always your fan. Now well, Nan, 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.360 glad to hear about your your broadening consciousness on this. 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.880 But also, you know, don't feel bad. We've all we've 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.480 all had moments obviously when when somebody does cut in 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:18.079 the parking lot. Even though you're you're like broader mind 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.160 from a distance, you know, the the astral level consciousness 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.400 would look down on you and say, don't overreact in 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:31.480 the moment, it's hard not to. Yeah, alright. This next 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.200 message concerns both Fat Am Morgana which is a slightly 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.959 older episode, and Weird House Cinema. This is this is 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.920 a great email. So this is from John, and John says, Hi, 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:44.000 Robert and Joe Uh. This email is about an older episode, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:45.640 but I was reminded of it the other day in 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.360 a funny way. Right now, I'm doing ecology work in 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:53.040 a remote field camp in the Alaskan Arctic, right by 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.280 the coast of the Beaufort Sea, where two miles from 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:58.520 the coast, But the tundra is flat enough that for 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:00.520 most of the summer we've been able to see the 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.400 sea ice on the Arctic Ocean as it stacks up 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.000 against the small barrier islands to the north. Anyway, as 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.600 a coworker and I were walking across the tundra to 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.560 a study area, we started talking about the ice and 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.400 I had to recommend your Fati morgana episode to her. 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.439 Even though the sea ice only builds up to piles 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.480 about ten to twenty feet high against the barrier islands, 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:23.720 for much of the summer, I've been able to step 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.199 out of my tent, look north and see a Game 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:30.240 of Thrones style ice wall stretching across the coast. It 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:34.040 looks like a long, tall, white barrier separating the land 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.920 from the ocean, like the supposed polar ice walls in 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.600 some flat Earther theories I've attached a picture of the 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.000 illusion for reference in front of one of our study areas. Yeah, 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.080 this is really impressive this image. It does, in fact 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:49.040 look like a yeah, like a Game of Throne style 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.760 ice wall. Yeah, the others are coming the optical illusions, 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:56.280 don't in there we also get islands stretched and floating 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.360 above the ground, a similar cloud wall to the west, 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.680 sun dogs, and even a vertical stretching of the Brooks 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.640 Range mountains to the south, resulting in what looks like 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.640 an Arctic version of Monument Valley. And another picture is attached, 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.440 and this one is even more interesting because it has 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:17.840 I don't know, I can't even describe what this looks like. 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.600 It they they're kind of stacked up and distorted vertically 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:23.320 with these ripples that look like, I don't know, big 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:27.360 tubes or waves coming out of the land. John goes on, 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.040 it's super cool to see how the high latitude optical 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.199 effects can dramatically distort how things look, and, as you've 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.559 mentioned before, makes it easier to understand why sailors claim 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:40.840 to see fantastic things like castles floating above the horizon. 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.720 My coworker really enjoyed the episode because she also works 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.880 at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, where they sometimes see icebergs 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.440 and utility trucks flipped and molded like putty by tricks 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.480 of the light. And then there are pictures attached to 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.560 Fatim Moorgana acting on the ice field and on utility 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:04.079 vehicles around McMurdo in Antarctica. Again looks very cool. And then, finally, 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:06.880 on a separate note, one of the minor challenges of 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:10.200 working up here is the constant sunlight interfering with sleep. 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.360 But You're weird House cinema episodes, while interesting, have helped 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.800 me drift off even when it's one am and still 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.320 light out. In particular, your Devil's Express episode has been 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:25.160 an excellent sleep aid on several brightly lit nights. Also, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:29.559 my whole field crew watched Troll two together and absolutely 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.920 loved it. For several weeks this summer, a remote monitoring 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.280 device with the six digit code Nilbog kept watch over 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.040 the Arctic tundra, thanks in no small part to your 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.240 tireless b movie advocacy. Thanks for all the fun and 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:46.520 thought provoking conversations. Sincerely, John, look at that troll to 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.800 keeping people alive? Is this a life support device? Or 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.400 is it this maybe a piece of scientific keeping people 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:58.680 on on track on the job. I don't know. Um, 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:00.760 it's been a while since we've heard from someone who 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.319 goes to sleep with the episode. These is our episodes 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.080 as sleep aid, and I'm always I'm always interested to 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.640 hear that and glad that we, uh, we can help 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.560 you you know, achieve you know, proper level of sleep. 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.680 Oh yeah, totally. We would never take it personally. People 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.080 are always very nice. They're always like, I use your 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:26.320 episodes to sleep, but not because they're boring. All right, Well, 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.080 I'm want to close out with part of a listener 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.120 mail here from James. James rode in basically to share 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.720 with us UH an Atlantic article by Ed Young uh 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:41.240 and this one was about monitor lizards in Australia digging 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:45.000 incredible corkscrewed nests. I haven't read this one yet, but 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:47.720 I'm gonna put it on the to read list. I 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:51.080 mainly wanted to read James's email, though, because he weighs 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:55.000 in on a on a popular intellectual pastime of hours 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.560 and and uh pastime of our listeners trying to figure 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.760 out why Sean Conner Race character has a Scottish accent 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:06.760 Ian Highlander solved the mystery? James, Well, James, James does 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.200 have an interesting hypothesis. Year he says, uh quote also 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:13.360 Sean Connery Scottish accent in Highlander is from beheading a 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.200 Scottish immortal and acquiring his English language through the quickening 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.880 accent and all, thank you for your fantastic podcast, James, 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:25.080 it's pretty good. Pretty good. I don't know. Yeah, well, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.440 what is the quickening for if it is not for 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:30.840 acquiring things like like language? I don't know that This 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.560 also leads into what is the quickening for? Well, it's 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.760 about power and uh, you know, amassing that power? And 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.200 I don't it's explained to the film. But but this 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:45.880 does bring up something I was thinking about just uh 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.040 in the background the other day, and it's something I've 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:51.720 thought about before. The immortals in the Highlander movies. To 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.520 what extent are they capable of change? Are they capable? 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.720 Did they have neuroplasticity? You know? Can they truly acquire 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.600 new language? Is or do they? Or is James right? 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.480 Do they only acquire these things through the quickening? Is 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.360 it only by absorbing the power and maybe to some 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:13.080 extent the intellect of others? That they are able to adapt. 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.720 Otherwise are they just always gonna because like the Kurgan, 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.000 the Kurgan is always the Kurgan. You don't get a 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:21.280 sense that he's really changed much. He's just updated his 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:23.640 look a little bit and learned how to drive a vehicle, 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:28.000 but otherwise he's he's still Kurgan to the core. See 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:29.400 that's a lesson to all of us. If you're not 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:31.840 willing to learn, grow and change as an adult, you 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:36.600 become the Kurgan. Yeah, but that meanwhile, I mean Connor McCloud, 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:38.920 I mean, he since he's still the sweet lad he 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.960 always was. But I guess there is a sense that 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.000 he's grown and he's learned, you know, he's had to 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.880 wrestle with loss and move through it. Uh, certainly in 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.920 ways that the Kurgan never has had to. So uh 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:55.400 maybe that's ultimately what what what what the film is 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.040 trying to say to us here? We are all right, 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.400 we're gonna go ahead and close the mailbag for today, 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:02.160 but we'd love to hear from you about any of 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.920 the topics we discussed here about recent episodes, upcoming episodes, 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.600 along past episodes. I mean, I don't know, fat A MORGANA. 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:10.080 I didn't even feel like that one was that old. 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.359 I feel like we just recorded that one. So I 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.280 was a little shocked to hear that one referred to 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:16.679 as an older episode. But I guess that's just how 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.479 time works now. Yeah, I guess it's a few months 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.200 of this time. Yeah, I don't know. It depends on Eily. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.240 It's all relative anyway, So right in let us know 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.600 we'd love to hear from you, huch, thanks as always 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.600 to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.720 would like to get in touch with us with feedback 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:35.960 on this episode or any other, to suggest a topic 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:38.080 for the future, just to say hello, you can email 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.000 us at contact at Stuff to Blow your Mind dot 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:50.399 com Stuff to Blow Your Mind. It's production of I 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.400 Heart Radio. For more podcasts for My Heart Radio, visit 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.000 the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:57.280 listen to your favorite shows.