WEBVTT - Listener Mail: The Final Conflict 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:14.480 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.079 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.079 today we're bringing you some of your listener mail. We 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:22.239 haven't done this in quite a while, so we had 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:26.119 an enormous mail bag to plow through. Uh And on 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:28.680 top of that, I have to say, I don't know 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:32.000 exactly what happened, but I think we have lost a 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.080 significant amount of listener mail that came in in September 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.560 and October. And I don't I don't know exactly why 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.720 that happened, but there's sort of a gap in there. Uh. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.080 So I apologize if if your message you were hoping 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.000 to hear is among that group. But uh, but we've 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:48.800 still got a lot of great stuff to get to today. Yeah. Well, 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:50.800 we'll have to ask Carnie our mail about about this. 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:51.960 But I don't know. I feel like we all have 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.320 some some missing time from September and October, you know, 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:59.440 some some some blank spots in our recollection. Where did 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.680 that time go? What happened? It's like the part of 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:04.600 your your eyespot that you can't see because of the 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:06.759 optic nerve, but you don't even notice that you can't 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.679 see it. It's the the invisibility is invisible. Yeah. And 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:12.399 now another thing that that we're going to go ahead 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.800 and mention about this listener Mail is that, in some respects, 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.559 this is the final listener Mail, or at least this 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.160 is probably going to be the final full length listener 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.959 Mail episode that publishes as an episode, a regular episode 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:28.920 of Stuff to Blow Your Mind on a Tuesday or Thursday. 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:32.720 That's right, Because we are gradually, as we can, transitioning 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.960 to a more daily publication schedule. We're gonna be putting 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.400 out some shorter episodes that come through on various days. 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:41.840 But one idea we've been kicking around is basically a 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.200 weekly episode that we've been sort of tentatively calling the 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.880 Flaming Barrel Chats, and these will quite often be listener 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:53.400 mail focused. Yeah. So yeah, just to reassure everyone, you're 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.160 not going to get six episodes, like six full episodes 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:59.800 of Stuff to Blow your Mind per week. It's gonna 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:03.400 be in two core episodes. It's gonna be the Vault episode, 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:05.840 it's gonna be the Weird House Cinema on Friday, and 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.400 then a couple of small things, so hopefully that won't 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.519 overwhelm anybody. But as always, right in and let you 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:13.520 let us know what you think as this begins to 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.359 uh to happen, and yeah, well we'll just see how 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.799 it goes. All right, I think we should jump right 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:22.160 into the bag. All right, let's do it. What do 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:29.000 we have first, Joe, Well, we got a lot of 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.840 great feedback to our episode. I think it was a 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:36.000 couple of episodes about nails, fingernails and toenails. We got 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:40.040 into some surprisingly religious territory, including that one really interesting 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.639 paper that was trying to explain the prevalence of religious 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.520 rituals about the proper disposal of nails, and the explanation 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:50.880 in this paper appealed to people trying to re enact 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.400 extremely ancient, reconstructed creation myths in which the earth is 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.760 made out of the body parts of a dead primordial god. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.079 And we we got a number of messages on the 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.520 theme of of nails and religious traditions, and this first 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.280 one comes from Alice. Are you ready, Let's do it, 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.280 Alice says Hi, Joe and Robert, thanks for the two 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.880 part around fingernails. Love. When you guys take a seemingly 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.080 mundane topic and find fascinating tidbits about it from so 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.040 many different angles. I emailed today because when you were 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:23.880 discussing fingernails in creation myths, when instantly came to mind 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.040 that might not be familiar to American listeners. It's the 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:31.680 legend from Maori culture about Maui and his grandmother Mahuika, 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:35.480 the goddess of fire. In the story, Maui wonders where 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.640 fire comes from. He's only ever seen it made from 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.320 existing fire or lightning. So one night, because he's a 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.600 bit of a trickster, he extinguishes all the fires in 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.600 the village. In the morning, when everyone wakes up, he's 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.240 told to go visit his grandmother to get more fire. 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.920 Now here's where we get back to fingernails. His grandmother 0:03:55.120 --> 0:04:00.000 married aahi Roa, a comet, and their children are fingernails 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.640 of fire on Mahuika's hand. There are some gorgeous depictions 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.280 of this and various books, some of which I've included, 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.720 and she did attach some pictures. The story continues with 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.720 Mahuika pulling off one of her fingernails to give to 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.960 Maui to take back to the village because he's a 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.720 trickster Maui extinguishes the fire and goes back again and 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.440 again for more fingernails, until Mahuika is down to her 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.919 last nail. She's furious at this stage and throws the 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.479 last nail into a tree. The legend continues, but long 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.440 story short, this certain tree is known for being an 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.560 easy tree to start a fire with. Anyway, I hope 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:40.000 that was interesting. It's also referenced in one of the 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.400 songs in Disney's Mohana, which is cool. Thanks for the 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:45.360 work you guys do. It's been great to have something 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.800 saying to look forward to in this topsy turvy time 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.480 of lockdowns and craziness that we're going through. Alice, well 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.520 thanks Alice. I did not know that. Myth I thought 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.279 was really interesting. Kind of makes me want to watch Moana. Yeah. 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.400 I love the idea of magical fingernails as a as 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.000 a as a limited magical item. So you you know, 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.000 you can literally count on your your your fingers how 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.200 many times you can use this ability. It's uh, it 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.920 makes me wonder why we haven't seen this more in 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:15.080 in um science fiction or fantasy in general. You know, 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.520 because you could have some sort of like robotic fingernails 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:20.039 that you launch, you know, and your your hero gets 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.200 down to the last couple of them or something. What's 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.360 your I d k F a code for fingernails infinite 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.760 fingernails Now. We got a couple of messages from listeners 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:33.040 who were who had ideas about fingernails from various athletic perspectives, 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.800 one about ballet and one about weightlifting, and I thought 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:37.720 these were really interesting. Rob you want to read one 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:46.400 of these? Sure? This one comes to us from Hannah, Hi, Robert, 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.159 and Joe. I just finished listening to your pair of 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.640 fingernail episodes and wanted to write in with not one, 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.520 but two examples fingers and toes on nail length hindering 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.880 ability to perform task. I'lbeit in a kind of niche way. 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.560 I'll start with toenails, since I whom it is a 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:04.080 more unusual example. I'm a professional dancer, and although not 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.680 a ballerina, a lot of my training up through college 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:10.360 was based in ballet, including work on point. For those 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.240 who don't know uh this this refers to a technique 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.600 of ballerina is dancing on the tips of their toes. 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:21.599 Ballet terminology is a lot of French anyway, Dancing on 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.400 point is achieved by a combination of strengthening the muscles 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.479 of the feet and legs to be able to support 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.560 the full body's weight on a fully extended foot, with 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:35.720 additional support from specialized stiff shoes, usually layers of fabric 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:40.000 with hardened glue with flattened tips to help give a 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.919 wider surface to balance on, distribute weight more evenly across 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.359 the foot, and provide more stability in that extended shape. 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.600 Although apparently a lot of people mistakenly think they are 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.839 balancing on the toe knuckle with the toes curled under, 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:54.919 it is actually the very tip of the toe that 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.839 is the point of contact. And I know from my 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.880 point I you know, I recognize this because I've I've 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:05.320 seen Suspiria, so I know what this looks like. Man, 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.560 this is one of those things that I cannot fathom. 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.720 The athleticism of this, the standing on the toes, it 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:16.720 just seems in superhuman to me. That in the spinning uh. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:21.560 I recently did a video yoga thing and from a 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.320 teacher that I hadn't used before, and the teacher asked 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.280 me to ask the hoovers watching the video to spin 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.960 around like five times, and I did, and then I 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.760 had to lay down because I felt like it had 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:37.120 it had wounded my soul to spin around just five times. 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.960 And of course you see uh, these various spinning athletics 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:45.240 and in say ballet or in figure skating, and I 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:46.960 know there are certain tricks to it. Perhaps this is 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.520 something we could come back and discuss in the future, actually, 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.880 because you get into a lot of of interesting biology 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.160 and also cultural practices. Yes, now that I think about it, 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.920 we should do an episode on spinning around in circles 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.160 the centrifugal. Yeah, let's do it. Let's let's let's bookmark it. 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.640 But let let's get back to Hannah here. Oh yes, yes, 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.239 I was reading an email, wasn't I. Let's say, um, 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.200 when wearing these shoes, you are acutely aware of the 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.920 length of your toe nails, and it is extremely important 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.920 to keep them trims short for a number of reasons. First, 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.160 if the toenail extends past the end of the toe, 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.080 it is the body's first point of contact with the floor, 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.440 which is extremely painful and can possibly break, crack, or 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.200 bruise the nail or nail bed. If the nail is 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.520 definitely not strong, enough to support the full weight of 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.760 the body. Also, because the toes are packed tightly together 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:36.960 in the end of the shoe, you could possibly cut 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.600 a neighboring toe with the offending long toenail. I am, 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.720 I'm shivering. Less directly related, the pain and discomfort of 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.640 a too long toenail pressing into the floor causes the 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.240 dancer to shift their weight back ever so slightly to 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.800 relieve the pressure, throwing them out of proper alignment. The 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.840 technique requires all of the joints toe, ankle, knee, hip 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.000 to be stacked vertically if viewed from the side, all 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.199 though partly an aesthetic preference. Aligning the joints like so 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.959 makes balancing much easier and takes unnecessary uneven pressure off 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.240 of said joints. Shift out of alignment and you add 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.520 pressure and lose balance. The strain on your joints puts 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.200 you at risk for chronic issues like tendonitis and brucitis, 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.240 while the lack of stability increases the chances of an 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.400 acute injury like a sprained ankle. In a field where 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.440 such injuries can be career ending, every bit of prevention 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.720 counts this. This part of this email has been a 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.400 horror movie for me. Yeah, you don't even need the 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:38.440 rest the Suspiria, right. My second example is a little 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:40.880 shorter in Quarantine. My partner has been teaching me to 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.360 play guitar, and I noticed I was having trouble playing 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.400 certain chords. I keep my fingernails on the longer side. 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.960 Though nothing extreme, and though they had never hindered me before, 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:52.800 I found I had trouble pressing the strings down hard 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:56.199 enough to play the chords without my nail bumping into 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.040 the fret board. He told me I would have to 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.520 wear them shorter to progress, but I didn't want to 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.000 give up my long nails and looked for a different solution. 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.880 Then I thought of Dolly Parton. She has much longer, 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.920 flashier acrylic nails and gets by all right, what does 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:13.880 she do? After some googling, I found that she seems 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.880 to rely on open tuning. And what does this bar chords? 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.840 You hear the guitar person. Yeah, bar chords are a 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.280 way of So there are open chords that usually play 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.400 with your fingertips near the top of the neck of 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.560 the guitar, and then there are bar chords where you 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.280 use usually one finger, usually your index finger to sort 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.800 of like cap all of the strings and then press 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.640 down some other strings on top of that. Uh So 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.680 bar chords um allow you to sort of like play 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.040 the same chord forms anywhere on the neck of the guitar, 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.280 She continues. The guitar is tuned so that it plays 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.920 a major chord with no strings pressed, and you lay 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:56.360 one finger across to bar different major chords. This works 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.160 in some situations, but still limits what you can and 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.720 can't play. We'll see how it works for me. Sorry, 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.920 this email ended up ended up a lot little longer 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.440 than I intended. I get super excited to spout off 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.640 about our freaky alien bodies. Side note, would love some 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.319 sort of an episode someday about body specialization in humans, 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.640 especially with athletes. Ever seen a picture of different athletes 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.520 standing next to each other, like gymnasts and a basketball player. 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.000 It's crazy that performance optimization can look so different. I 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.079 love the show so much and hope you're doing well. 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:28.240 Thank you for what you do. Oh thanks, Hannah, and 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.000 I totally get you at the end here. I'm not 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.319 really into sports. I don't really follow sports at all, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.800 but there's one thing that always amazes me, which is 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.679 when uh, when the which Olympics it is. It's summer winter, 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.480 but one of the Olympics has gymnastics, and whenever Rachel 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.439 watches that, I'm always kind of entranced, like I can't 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:49.560 believe gymnasts are real people. What they're doing looks impossible. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:52.000 Yeah it is. It is just amazing to be hold. 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.800 All Right, we got another message from our listener Era 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.040 about athletics and fingernails. Aaron says, hey 'all, I've been 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:06.520 listening to your show through multiple hosts for years. I'm 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.640 super thankful that you've done your best to go deeper 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:10.880 and deeper as the years go on. You've educated me 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:12.760 and sent me down some of the oddest corners of 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.400 the Internet in the best way possible. You asked in 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.240 Fingernails Part two if there are any odd uses for fingernails. Well, 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.400 I have one for you. I am a former Olympic 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.720 weightlifter and have had the pleasure to represent the United 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.800 States at multiple junior and senior world championships. Early in 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.720 my career, I met a fellow weightlifter from Greece. I 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.760 noticed how long his thumbnail was, and only his thumbnail. 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:39.520 I was super curious, so I asked him about it 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.200 as best I could. We hit a standstill, so we 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:46.080 found a translator. After she translated my question, he laughed. 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.000 It's for weightlifting, he said, and I inquired how well. 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.080 Little known to me at the time, there is a 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.559 rule that you can tape your thumbs as long as 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.480 the tip of the finger can be seen. This might 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.680 not seem like a big deal, but in weightlifting we 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.760 use something called a hook grip, in which the four 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:07.440 fingers wrap around your thumb, pretty much the opposite of 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.360 how any human grabs an object. This gives you an 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.080 advantage by being able to hold more weight in your 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.040 hand while performing the lift. Now the tape and the 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:19.160 thumbnail length come in here. My friend explained to me 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:21.800 that if you let your thumbnail grow out longer, you 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:26.240 can tape further down your thumb, thus making your thumb longer. 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:29.839 Looking for any advantage possible, I grew my thumbnail out 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.560 to about an inch past what I normally would. I 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.080 then taped it, and wow, did it help a ton. 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.559 The interesting part for me was I always bite my nails. 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:40.920 I still do, actually, but I have never bit my 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.800 thumbnail for risk of damaging my advantage. I've stopped lifting 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.800 competitively for about eight years now, and I cannot cut 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:52.640 my thumbnail still it still feels too foreign and uncomfortable. Anyway, 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.200 Sorry for the long story, but I thought it was 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.480 interesting enough to write in. Thank you again for all 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.000 you do to educate us in the populace. Hope you 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.640 all are staying strong and hopefully plenty of front yard 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:05.360 lightsaber battles. Well, Aaron, yeah, that is referring to a 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:09.400 tidbit I shared about having lightsaber battles with my son 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:11.319 in my front yard and then he would sometimes run 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:15.280 to the side yard and leave me exposed, um battling 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:17.400 no one in the front yard when people drive by. 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.680 But this, yeah, this is the anecdote about the weightlifting 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:22.800 and the growing out of the thumbnails. This is this 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.280 is fabulous. I just had no idea this. This really 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.920 blew me away. Yeah, totally really interesting. Thanks for getting 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:37.400 in touch. Okay, we got another one about nails and mythology. 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.800 So this comes from Carolina. Carolina says the episode on 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.720 fingernails reminded me of a creation myth from the Mayan 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.440 sacred book The Pope Voo, in which four hundred boys 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.040 attempt to murder the Demi god Zipakna by asking him 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.760 to dig a post hole for them and then burying 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:57.000 him in it. He overheard their plans and dug a 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.120 side hole to save himself. The four hundred boy as 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.520 conclude Zipacna is really dead when they see ants crawl 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:07.280 up out of the ground carrying his fingernails. Here is 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:11.000 an excerpt from a literal translation by Alan J. Christensen 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.200 from Mezo Webb Publications. And so in this translation, I 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.000 just want to say some of the phrasing sounds strange. 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.760 But I looked this up and this is Christensen's translation. 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:23.480 I think the odd grammar of it comes from the 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.240 fact that it's kind of a transliteration that looks like 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.320 it's attempting to preserve word order of the original more 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:32.520 than it's trying to make it sound fluid in English. 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:37.960 So it goes like this. Then assembled ants, they walk about, 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:43.040 they swarm. Then they gathered beneath tree everywhere they carry 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:46.640 with their teeth. Hair they carry with their teeth as 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.600 well as his nails Zipakna. Then they saw, therefore the 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:55.000 boys he was finished. The demon look at Shirley. Ants 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:00.000 they gathered hither they assembled hither everywhere, hair they carry 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.160 with their teeth. There are his nails that can be seen. 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.600 Surely we did it at last, they said to each other. 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.600 He therefore the Zeppachna merely alive. He cut off its hair, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.440 his head merely as well. He gnaws off his nails. 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.920 He gives them away to them, the ants. Thus he died. 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.920 They thought, five eighties boys, and the five eighties that's 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:28.560 four hundred, not five boys from the nineteen eighties. Uh uh, 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.920 So Carolina continues. Zeebakna kills the four hundred boys by 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:36.280 collapsing their house on them. They then rose into the sky, 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:40.680 becoming stars. I read a very similar legend from Micronesia 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.000 and thought it was strange to have such similar myths 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.920 from such far flung places, until one day when I 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:49.600 was clipping my fingernails outside and saw ants carrying away 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.680 the clippings. I have no idea what ants use fingernails for. 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.040 Maybe they think that they're dead bugs. I can see 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.840 how such a disconcerting image could crop up in creation. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.440 It surround the world. For most of my life, I 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.439 grew my fingernails long and tapered them to points. I 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:07.800 liked looking like I had claws and having such a 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:12.160 visible signifier of nonconformity. I didn't play sports, throw clay, 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:14.639 or participate in other activities where long nails would be 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.040 a hindrance. I was so used to having them long 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.600 that when I decided to cut them short. After deciding 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:23.000 long nails no longer reflected my identity, I found some 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.520 things more difficult, such as doing needlework or otherwise grasping 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.160 its small objects. I used to pick up very small 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.160 objects by scooping them up with a nail right after 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:36.080 cutting my nails. The increased sensation made my fingertips tingle. 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:40.919 Thanks for such a consistently thought provoking podcast. Best regards, Carolina. 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:43.679 I'd say, Carolina, this is a very thought provoking email. 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.000 Thank you so much. Yeah, there's a there's a lot 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.440 to comment on here. First of all, I love the 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.679 the story here uh from papal Vu and uh you know, 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.840 of course that instantly makes me think of the German 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.080 music collective pop Vu. Who did um who did the 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.960 soundtrack for a number of Vernon Herzog films, including a 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:07.320 gear Ay The Wrath of God? Has that the wonderful 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.800 um uh you know South American pipe sound in it? 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.160 Um so certainly somebody have listened to a fair amount 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.120 in the last couple of years. Oh, when you first 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.359 came across them, did you not realize they were named 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:23.639 after the Mayan story? I made that connection pretty pretty quickly, 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:25.879 but that they were there. They're probably the first thing 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.920 I think of though when I think of pop them, like, oh, yeah, 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.959 I like them. They're good. They put out some good soundtracks. 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.240 Um uh. The The other thing this is interesting about 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.080 the ants because when it was first brought up, the 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:39.359 idea of ants carrying off fingernail clippings, that that well, 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.440 clearly that's somebody saw a leaf cutter ants in action, 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:44.520 and you kind of think, well, what you have? They 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:49.840 were carrying fingernail clippings instead of vegetation, and that was 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.359 what I was expecting to be like the basic connection there. 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:54.520 But then the idea that that they have been observed 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:57.920 to carry off fingernails, that turns that on its head totally. 0:18:57.920 --> 0:18:59.879 That's really interesting. I've never seen that before, but I 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:08.840 feel like I got to look that up now. Yeah, Okay, 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:10.760 do we want to finish up nails with one last 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:19.840 message from Bethany? Sure? This one comes to us from Bethany. Hi. 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.040 Robert and Joe, I've been thinking a lot about your 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:25.800 episodes on fingernails and have a handful unintended of antidotes 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.840 to share. I started playing violin about a year ago 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.200 after a decade long break, and have noticed that my 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:33.639 nails are growing much more quickly than they used to. 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:36.240 I'm left handed, so that, combined with the extra use 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.960 of my left hand fingertips, means that my nails are 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.399 growing at warp speed, which is really a bummer when 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:43.080 I realized they're too long and I need to trim 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:47.480 them again. Violin playing requires my nails on the hand 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:49.520 to be very short, and they can damage the wood 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:51.800 of the neck of the instrument, or they can get 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:54.760 caught on the strings and can cause that awful teeth 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:59.480 twining nails on a chalkboard feeling. My My husband teases 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:01.600 me every time time I only trim my left hand 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.440 nails and leave the right ones, but honestly, the right 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.280 side doesn't grow that quickly. Now for a couple of 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:09.960 gross stories. My husband and I moved into a beautiful 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.080 home about two years ago. It had stood empty for 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.399 about three years and was fully ready to move in. 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.639 We had to do some of the standard painting and cleaning, 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.159 but nothing too terrible. I remember the first time I 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:22.679 went through the drawers of the master bedroom. I cleaned 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.160 out all of the drawers and cabinets with pretty standard 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:29.240 bathroom debris, some stray hairs, toothpaste, etcetera. Nothing to labor intensive, 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:31.920 but a tiny bit gross. The last drawer was full 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.239 of the previous owner's fingernail clippings. It was so so 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:37.360 gross I couldn't touch them. I made my husband take 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:39.520 care of them. What a great horror movie. This could 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.560 become a beautiful home, except all the drawers are full 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.960 of the previous owner's fingernail clippings. You know, I have 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.560 to say, Joe, this reminds me this is not fingernails. 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:55.040 But have you ever encountered an old um bathroom mirror 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.760 medicine cabinet that has the slot in the back of 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.840 it where you deposit razor blades? Oh yeah, yeah, I 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:04.399 know exactly what you're talking about. I thought you were 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:06.680 gonna say, have you ever opened like an old bathroom 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.639 cabinet that had somebody else's hair in it? Which? Yes, 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:11.399 but no, I know what you're talking about with the 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.399 razor blades. Never anywhere I've lived, but I've seen that before. 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.639 I've only encountered it like once, but I mean clearly 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.600 it was a mass manufactured thing. And like there was 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:23.320 an idea at one point where it's like, yeah, as 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.400 you use up your razor blades instead of throwing them away, 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:29.359 what if they went through a hole in your wall 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.119 and then fell down into either the crawl space or 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:35.639 just sort of in between the walls of your house 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:40.680 and accumulated there. Like that is just so strange and 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:43.439