WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Das Gravy Boat 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:10.920 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:14.560 Mind listener Mail. My name is Robert Lamb, I'm Joe McCormick, 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.040 and we're here with our trustee mail bought Carney for 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.159 our weekly listener Mail episode. Is this the second of 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.320 our weekly listener Mail episodes? I think that's right, it is. Yes. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.160 I feel like we should jump right in and and 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.200 not delay at all. All right, hit us with it, Carney, 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:36.519 What what do we have? Okay? This first message is 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.920 about our episodes on spinning, and this comes from Jenna 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.159 that it actually came in before we recorded the episode, 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.840 so it'll require a bit of backtracking. Jenna says, hello, all, 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:49.639 I've just been listening to your listener Mail episode from 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.200 November nineteenth, and you were talking about ballet dancers dancing 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.560 on point and suggested you may do a future episode 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:00.440 on spinning humans and the related centrifugal forces. Please consider 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.280 pole dancers if you do pursue this subject. While working 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.080 on a spinning pole, the speeds achieved in the length 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.520 of time spent spinning in a single direction at a 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:13.880 time are considerable, all while expected to dismount or land gracefully, 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.679 midspin and continue without looking like you're about to face plant. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.399 I enjoy hearing your episodes whenever they come out, along 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.720 with the Stuff you Should Know podcast, equipping me with 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.880 very random facts which I revel in relating to my 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:29.039 friends and colleagues. Keep up the good work, Jenna, Well, Jenna. 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:33.000 Unfortunately we recorded the episodes about spinning before I read 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.800 this message, but I decided to UH to look it 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.200 up and see if there were there was anything interesting 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.440 I could find about pole dancing physics, and wouldn't you 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:44.240 know what I came across a really good article. There 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:48.320 was one by Jennifer Ulette that was in Gizmodo published 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.800 in twenty sixteen, called The Simple Physics of pole Dancing, 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.760 and this actually does get into some very interesting stuff 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.920 that you might not think about. Obviously, pole dancing is 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.000 going to require massive amounts of like core and upper 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.600 body strength. It's a real athletic feat, especially the more 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.040 like athletic you know, competition style people do that I 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.920 was seeing some videos of in this article. But it 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.359 also apparently involves the careful management of friction, which is 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.400 kind of funny but also really interesting. So there's this 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:22.079 section in the article where Lett is speaking with Valerie Jamison, 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.280 who's a content director for New Scientist and who has 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:29.160 a PhD in physics, and so Lett writes, quote, you 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.360 need friction, but not too much and not too little. 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.040 It depends on what move you're trying to execute. Quote. 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.880 In some of these moves, people are hanging upside down 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.440 by the crook of their knee and then they slide down, 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:47.600 says Jamison, just thinking of that as terrifying to me. Um, 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.160 But the dancers can pull it off because they have 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.760 such fine motor control. They contract their muscles and press 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:56.840 into the poll to stick, then loosen their hoole just 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.920 enough to slide until they need to stop. The skimpy 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.680 outfits can be a boon in that regard, because bear 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.280 skin has the right friction coefficient to help dancers stick 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.200 to the pole, perhaps with a light dusting of resin 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.920 on the hands and thighs to keep sweat at bay. 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.840 And there's also a note about the selection of footwear 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.000 affecting what you can do in pole dancing, because apparently, 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.119 like different materials on your shoes will help you get 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.359 a better grip on the pole. With your foot if 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.200 you're using that to hold yourself up in the air 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.440 while you're doing something else with the rest of your body. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.839 Um So anyway, Yes, I I am fully impressed by 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.360 the the athleticism of this, just as I am with 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.800 with ballet and skating. Interesting. Yeah, I wish we'd had 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:43.200 had this one on hand when we'd done those episodes, 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.600 but that's getting to discuss it here on listener mail. 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:53.360 That's that's close enough. Yeah, uh, Rob, do you want 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.640 to read this message about anti metaboli. Yeah, here's one 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:01.280 on anti metabolis from Christopher Christopher. I hello. As someone 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.440 whose bachelor's degree was in linguistics and psychology, the topic 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.360 of anti Metaboli's on your Stuff to Blow Your Mind 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.760 podcast was a nice treat in my daily playlist this morning. 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.920 Thank you for that very much. As someone whose masters 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.120 was in human factors engineering and whose pH d was 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:20.279 oriented around topics of situated cognition, I felt compelled to 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.520 try and write into a podcast host for the first time. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.480 I typically listened to podcasts while I walked my dog 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.480 twice each day, so maybe it was an easier connection 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.000 for me to make, But I was surprised your discussion 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.600 did not approach any of the physical aspects that might 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:39.680 well coincide with your explored topic of human proclivities. For A, B, B, 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:44.320 A patterns, before humans could write, they could walk, and 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:48.359 assumably most successful walks bring the walker back home again 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.719 in the same path. In reverse, when you set off, 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.120 you might encounter things in a specific order A, B, C, D, E, 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.640 and then when coming back, the bread crumbs can lead 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.240 you home in a comforting and secure matter e, D, C, 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.880 B A. In the most simple terms, I go from 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.680 here to there A than b, and then return from 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.840 there to here be than A. I am the same 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:16.359 person in the same place, so I feel complete, satisfied, accomplished, etcetera. 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.400 So this primitive spatial dimension might easily be associated with 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:25.080 an intuitive feeling of comprehensiveness when exposures are experienced in 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.920 a reverse order. Moreover, time and some randomness has passed 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.920 between in a unidirectional manner, between the start and end 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.440 of the walk, or between successive days of similar routines, 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.159 so the opportunity for change is also there, such as 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.919 with an A, B, B A pattern that presents a 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:48.200 negation or change in meaning e g. The journey is 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.080 the destination I am not exactly the same as when 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:55.440 I started out, and isn't that sometimes of interest and importance. 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.839 My interests in pursuits and situated cognition as another perhaps 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.760 they're extended or advanced paradigm of cognitive psychology e g. 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:08.640 Behavioralism than cognitivism, than situativism. Challenge me to imagine and 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.360 explore how cognition and thinking does not really only simply 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:16.400 exists slash reside within the brain, but also outside of it, 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:21.599 in the body and its movements and environments through various artifacts, technology, cultures, etcetera. 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:25.560 My profession in human factors and user experience tends to 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.640 reward more holistic study and understanding of operations and environments 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:34.080 in which usage based interfaces and designs succeed in respects 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.839 to given constraints. So again, thank you for your interesting discussion, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.320 and I hope these above thoughts may bring you new 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:45.000 and exciting ones. Cheers, Christopher. This is really interesting, you know, Joe, 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:49.159 because this uh discussing you know, returning in reverse order, 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.359 the backtracking to come back. Uh. This reminds me of 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:56.200 our recent episode on foraging and the one paper that 0:06:56.279 --> 0:07:00.000 looked at potential differences in the division of labor between 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:04.159 hunters and foragers, and how the forager would would would 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.040 be more likely to return along the exact same route, 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.880 whereas the hunter would go out to kind of a 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.400 winding track trailing, you know, trailing the prey, but then 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.680 would have to make it They couldn't retrace their steps 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.280 because it was such a winding trail. They would have 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:22.040 to make a direct bee line back to camp. Interesting. Yeah, 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.760 I don't know if that has any any real role 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.000 in this discussion, but but it made me think of it. Yeah, 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:29.840 that's another It's one of those things that I think 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.960 it'd be difficult to demonstrate this, but it's definitely an 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.840 interesting idea that something about uh, you know, basic types 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:41.520 of foraging and exploration activities would have psychological relevance even 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.120 to abstract concepts like the words and the sentence or 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.800 ideas in a list. Yeah, and the the A B, 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.360 B A thing too. Like it makes me think of 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:54.800 the classic sitcom format, right, you must always in your 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.000 journey at the beginning again, you know, uh, there there's 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.800 something comforting in that that you must come back to 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.320 the same place and then the next episode will be 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.280 another departure and a return. Yeah. Oh, because in the 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.480 sitcom nothing ever changes. So are you ready for the 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:19.160 next message? Let's do it. This is from Akhmed. Ahmed says, 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.040 hey guys, longtime listener and stuff to blow your mind 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.440 lover here. Your episode on anti metaboli and its frequency 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.960 in old Middle Eastern texts made me think of the 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:32.640 kali Vala, which is absolutely jam packed with similar repetitious 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.560 turns of phrase. I think the kali Vla might make 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.720 for a rich subject for you to do an episode on. 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.200 For one, the religion slash myth of the pre Christian 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:46.480 Finnic people's is very interesting and relatively neglected compared to Greek, Norse, Egyptian, 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:50.480 etcetera myths. The story of how Elias Loan wrote, a 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.880 nineteenth century physician went about collecting scraps of oral tradition 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:57.839 stories and putting them, sometimes with the seems very much 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.040 showing in a front to back order. Is also neat 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.200 and reminiscent of the hard task that other compilers of 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.000 folk tradition like Avid have also had to do. Lastly, 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.440 there are cool echoes of the kala v Ala in 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.320 modern culture. For example, there seems to be some evidence 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.360 that the Call of Vla is Demi god protagonist Vina 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.920 Moynan contributed greatly to Tolkien's creation of Tom Bomba Dill 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:26.240 or Gandalf. Anyways, keep up the great work, Ahmed. And 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:28.760 I looked up Vina Moyn and uh, I hope I'm 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.040 saying that sort of close. I listened to a pronunciation 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.320 and that that's about as close as I can do. Um. 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.160 He is like a figure who was born of this 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.840 like ocean creature, and like when he was born, he 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.120 was already an old wizard with the knowledge of the world. 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.600 Strange magical figure. There's a scene I was reading about 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.840 in the in the epic poem where he has to 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:52.080 build a harp out of fishbones. Is pretty cool. But 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.720 I also looked up some quotes from the Kla Valla 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:58.000 and these are some passages I found from the John 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.959 Martin Crawford translation that I wanted to read. So this 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.360 first one he goes like this. Thus the ancient Vina 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:08.079 Moinen in his copper banded vessel left his tribe in 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:12.360 Kali Valla sailing or the rolling billows, sailing through the 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.840 azure vapors, sailing through the dusk of evening sailing to 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:21.080 the fiery sunset, to the higher landed regions, to the 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.400 lower verge of heaven. And so there I think you 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:28.720 see some of those repetitious phrasings that Ahmed was talking about. 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.120 But then also there was another passage that doesn't have 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.120 the same stylistic effects, but I just liked it. Quote. 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.520 Thus the wise and worthy singer sings not all his 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.840 garnered wisdom. Better leave unsung some sayings than to sing 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:45.480 them out of season. Oh that's beautiful. Uh. You know, 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.360 you know one of the things about this character, if 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.600 I am not mistaken, this is the primary character in 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.360 the Day the Earth Throws, which was uh you know 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.080 the Russo Finish film from ninety nine that was featured 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.760 on Mystery Science Theater three thousand. You know, the saga 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.160 of the Sampo. Oh, I don't know if I've seen 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.920 this one. Oh, it's it's quite good. Um, I'm sure 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.560 it's also quite beautiful and like an undegraded uh you 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.679 know copy of the film. But yeah, you also you 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.760 look up this character and you see various illustrations of him, say, 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:20.880 defending the Sampo against herpet type creatures. Uh so, so yeah, 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:28.840 this this, this character is the real deal. Nice all right. 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.240 This one comes to us from Jennifer. Jenniver, says Robert 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.200 and Joe. I enjoyed your recent episode on anti Metaboli's. 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:36.480 A couple of years ago, I was comparing a few 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.160 of the chi asthmas in the Bible and began to 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.880 wonder if that was a literary device that was still 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.640 used today. I found, as you did, that the A, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.360 B B A anti metaboli is quite common, but the 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:53.199 longer chiasmas is more difficult to find. Key asthmas kai asthmas. 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:54.959 It's a, it's a It's gonna be a tough one. 0:11:55.640 --> 0:12:01.400 We keep I was thrilled, thrilled to run across the website. 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.640 Pasted below on it, the author maps a thirty point 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.680 chiasthmus in the Back to the Future trilogy and suggest 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.160 that some of the greatness of the franchise comes from 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.120 its use of chiasthmus to bring the viewer to a 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:17.040 satisfying ending thought. You might enjoy taking a look at 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.280 it and watching the trilogy again while watching out for it. 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:22.800 Thanks for what your podcast teaches me and for what 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:25.480 I teach from your podcast to others. This is a 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.680 great point, and a lot of really structurally satisfying fiction 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.280 does exactly this. It It takes the form of a 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:35.920 broad structural chiasmus that's sort of like goes from A 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:43.520 to Z and then back from Z to A. Okay, 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.719 This next message is about Thanksgiving food, specifically gravy. This 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.600 is from Matt. Matt says good Day, Robert and Joe, 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:56.840 Good Day. Regarding gravy and its historical slash cultural importance 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.320 and origins, I'd like to highlight the importance of fat 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.560 in neutral Shan. Gravy in its traditional form, anyway, is fat. 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.960 Fat was in many ways a most important component of nutrition, 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.280 or at least it was for some people based on 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.480 the conditions in which they lived e g. Traditional Inuit 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.360 diets come to mind. Though I'm no expert. It's the 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.920 taste and the energy just as important as the meat itself, 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.200 perhaps more so in some cases. I would propose the 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:27.280 reverence for gravy historically stems in part from the recognition 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.880 that it is a highly valuable energy source, essentially an 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:35.200 extension of meat itself, a highly valuable food food source 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:39.600 historically waste, not particularly when the energy factor is so high. 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.400 This might be a hot take, but worth reiterating. I 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:46.200 think thanks for the episode, Matt. This is a good point, Matt, 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.239 and it made me think about one of the important 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:54.040 functions of the invention of pans for cooking. Now, you 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.600 could cook meat that you you know, if you you 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.880 caught and killed an animal, you could roast its meat 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.880 over an open fire. But if you think about it, 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.160 you could actually be losing a lot of energy, like 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.800 just dripping off into the fire and burning up and 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.040 creating smoke. Once you have a pan to cook in, 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.840 you can catch everything, so you really don't don't lose 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.520 a drop. Yeah, and it it allows you to create 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.319 those those secondary products that are that are often Yeah, 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:29.160 it's extremely tasty, all right. This one comes to us 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:34.480 from Eric. Hey, mind blowers, that's us, I guess um, 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:36.960 He says, I was delighted to see that you did 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.040 an episode on one of my favorite topics. Venus so 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.720 much interesting stuff to say about it. First of all, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.560 you speculated that it would be easier to get a 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:47.920 rocket to orbit from a balloon than from the surface. 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.120 This is absolutely true on Earth, and there have been 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.680 several attempts to design balloon launched rockets or raccoons, most 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:58.800 notably a Spanish company called Zero to Infinity. But when 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.240 it comes to Venus, that is a mind boggling understatement. 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.160 Assuming we could build a rocket that could actually survive 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.600 on the surface of Venus, which is not possible with 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.760 current technology, a rocket would have to push against that 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.200 absurdly thick atmosphere, which is hard enough on Earth but 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:17.120 is ninety times as hard on Venus. We would have 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.200 to land a Saturn five rocket on Venus, fully fueled 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:25.440 with machinery to keep the the cryogenic fuel below negative 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:29.840 a hundred degrees celsius in six hundred plus degrees celsius 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:34.040 temperatures just to get something like the mercury capsule into orbit. 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:38.200 That might actually be an overestimate estimation, as I haven't 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.240 tried to do the math. I can't stress enough how 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:45.120 horrible Venus is atmosphere fear is for space exploration. You 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.920 have to go up to fifty kilometers just to get 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.880 to earth like pressures that high up on Earth, and 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.440 you're almost in vacuum. I don't remember you mentioning uh this, 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.280 so my apologies if you did. One difficulty with balloons 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.520 on Venus is the sulfuric acid clouds. I don't recall 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.440 offhand at what altitude these clouds form, but it means 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.920 that any balloon not made of glass will have an 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.600 operational lifetime much shorter than on Earth. Balloons might not 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.000 last long enough to make the return to Earth window 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.400 for crude missions. One thing you mentioned off hand was 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:17.520 whether it was safe to have balloons floating in the 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.760 tops of gas giants owing to radiation. In fact, it's 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.880 actually not as dangerous as you might think. One thing 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.200 the Juno probe discovered is that Jupiter's ionosphere, which is 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.600 the cause of most of the radiation in the region 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.320 of Jupiter, actually has a lower limit, and it doesn't 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.840 extend below a certain altitude. They modified the probes planned 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.680 orbit to pass below this level to boost its lifetime. 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:41.200 The real problem for a balloon on a gas giant 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.200 is lift. Since gas giants are mostly composed of the 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.960 lightest possible gas, hydrogen, there isn't anything lighter to use 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:52.240 as a lifting gas except warmer hydrogen. That is, unless 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.000 you can build a rigid balloon that can hold a 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.040 low pressured gas or a vacuum, which is not technically 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.400 feasible yet venus is much better for balloons be since 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.600 its atmosphere is mostly CEO two. Even oxygen or nitrogen 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.080 will work as a lifting gas. So in the future 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.280 we could have habitats not just suspended under a balloon, 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.399 but housed within one. Sorry for it such a long email, 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.639 but as I said, venus is a very exciting topic 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.520 for me. Best wishes and I hope to see thousands 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.440 more great episodes from you, Eric, Eric, You're gonna see 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.159 thousands more great episodes for us in the next two months, 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:30.080 well certainly before the before two thousand, um and twenty 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.040 one is done. Yeah, there will be what I guess, 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.320 there'll be a thousand more episodes plus right, I can't 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.080 do math in my head right now, it's getting late 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:45.879 in the day. OKAYET, fantastic email, Eric, Thank you very much. Okay, 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.080 this next message comes to us from Kate. It's about 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.560 our ice episodes from earlier in the year, about pike 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.760 crete and stuff like that. Kate says, Hi, Robert and Joe, 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.480 thanks so much for all you do. I'm a research 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.840 scientist to the National Renewable Energy Lab and your show 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:01.840 is my go to listen for when I have routine 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.960 housekeeping work around the lab. You keep me entertained while 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:09.360 making buffers, preparing samples are running simple but time consuming experiments. 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:11.480 I wanted to write in and say how much I'm 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:14.600 enjoying the Weird House Cinema and suggest that the nineteen 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.800 eighty four classic of the Ice Pirates should absolutely go 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.960 on your list. My husband and I rewatched it recently 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.040 and it is as wonderfully bad and hilarious as I 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.760 remember from my youth. I also wanted to tell you 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.480 how much I've enjoyed the episodes on ice that you've 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:31.320 done in the last couple of months. I'm a little 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:33.920 late to this party, I know. I wanted to suggest 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.040 a follow up in this vein with an episode on 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:41.679 cryogenic electron microscopy. This technique involves flash freezing samples in 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:44.679 such a way that they form vitreous ice, meaning a 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:48.680 lack of hexagonal structure is formed. This preserves the structure 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.280 of biological molecules dissolved in the sample. In the past 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.000 decade or so, this technique had a huge impact on 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:59.960 structural biology, as it has allowed visualization of cellular, subcellular, 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.240 or and even individual protein structures while avoiding the difficulties 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:09.000 and limitations of more traditional X ray crystallography techniques. There 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.280 there is a deep pool of interesting topics to be 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:15.080 found here, including the details of vitreous ice and how 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:19.960 it relates to people freezing, slash reanimation WOA, the AI 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.119 of the analysis software that sorts through the higher number 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:27.560 of images collected and determines the orientations that were captured 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.800 in each. Why older X ray techniques are limited parentheses, 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.840 A lot of proteins can't be crystallized and or only 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:39.320 certain conformers form into crystals, and the new insights that 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.240 have been made with the technique. Hope this email inspires 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:44.119 you to consider this topic and keep up with the 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.480 exploration of ice generally, because it is a fascinating topic 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.359 and water is so central to our understanding of life 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.639 as we know it. Thanks for all you do, Cheers Kate, 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.480 And then she's got a PS says you guys should 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.679 also revisit the electric micro bland topic you did a 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.679 few years ago. I dug it up for a re 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.040 listen because I reviewed several grants on this topic recently, 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:07.040 and there is a ton of new and exciting work 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.240 in this area, including some of our Lab. If you're interested, 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.760 I'd be happy to send you references. Okay, so yeah, 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:15.680 thanks for getting in touch, Kate. I think that's a 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:19.320 that's a really great idea. Plus, the Ice Pirates um 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:21.760 maybe worth considering. I don't know, I don't have a 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.600 strong memory of Ice Pirates, but it has a great cast. 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:26.760 There are a lot of fun connections with it. Is 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:28.960 Dick Miller in it? Um not? I don't know. I 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:31.119 don't think Dick Millers in it. But you got pretty 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:35.800 much everybody else Robert Rick, John Carradine, Ron Pearlman, Angelica Houston, 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:41.760 Bruce v Launch, Ian Ambercrombie. It's it's pretty yea, it's stacked. Okay. 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:43.640 Do you want to wrap up with a few listener 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.280 responses to Weird House Cinema? Yeah, yeah, we're already talking 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:48.879 about it a little bit. Let's let's go all the 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:56.879 way in. Okay, here's one from Forest Forest says you 0:20:56.920 --> 0:21:00.080 guys briefly mentioned mar Joe Gortoner in a recent episod, so, 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.040 emphasizing what a befuddling figure he is, was wondering if 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:08.040 you're aware of the documentary mar Jo, It's actually incredible, 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.520 made in nineteen seventy two before he started acting, kind 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.439 of an expose slash heist film about how he was 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:18.040 manipulated as a child, etcetera. Yeah, thanks for this note 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:19.960 for us. So Marjo came up when we were talking 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:22.240 about Star Wars rip off movies. I guess this must 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:24.919 have been in the Weird House Cinema about Message from Space, 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:30.959 because Marjo is in Star Crash, the one with with David, uh, 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:36.680 what's his name? David Hasselhoff, and mar Joe is like 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.760 he's a sidekick character in that movie. There's this amazing 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:44.120 scene where somebody says, like, no one can withstand these 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.280 deadly rays, and then Marjoe responds, these deadly rays will 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:51.439 be your death. And but mar Jo, before he was 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:53.360 trying to do a sci fi you know, be sci 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:57.960 fi acting career, he had been a child tent revival preachers. 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:00.240 So I don't know what what age exactly, he like 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:04.240 seven or something and doing these revival sermons. It's it's 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:08.520 really astonishing to imagine. But he later did a documentary 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.880 about all of the techniques that he would use in 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:15.040 his preaching to get people to hand over money and 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:17.760 stuff like that. It's a I've actually never seen the 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:20.960 full documentary, but I've seen some big clips from it, 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:22.760 so someday I gotta sit down and just watch the 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:29.920 whole thing. All right, here's another one. This one comes 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:32.680 to us from Chris. Chris says, Hi, Rob and Joe 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:35.240 writing in today to let you know I'm really enjoying 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:38.480 the new Weird House Cinema episodes. I'm not a classic 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:41.119 movie buff. We're big into old movies, B movies, but 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:44.200 I do very much enjoy a good bad movie. After 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:46.720 listening to your first two episodes of Weird House Cinema, 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:48.680 I had to write in and give you a recommendation 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:52.320 based on my own weird movie watching experience. The year 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:55.200