WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Fireworks, Hellfire and More 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:14.760 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.480 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. In 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:19.919 Today we're bringing you some listener mail. It's been a 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.000 little bit since we did that, so we're broadcasting from 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:26.280 our respective laundry rooms and closets here. But we're getting 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:28.240 back in touch with you now that you've gotten in 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:30.880 touch with us, and to help us out here today 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.280 our mail bought Carney. Oh, he's gotten into a mess 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:37.559 of trouble. It seems that Carney has gotten into his 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:42.520 mind that he should create AI generated fireworks displays. And boy, 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:44.920 he can really mark off chain up a mess here, Andy, 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:47.720 he's sure can. I mean, he was always a little 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:49.839 bit explosive in the best of times, but now he 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:54.840 has actual explosives just his His entire fuselage is just 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:59.480 stuffed with Roman candles. Yeah. So it is with great 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.560 delicate see that we must remove your messages from from 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:07.280 Carneys bowels today. But yeah, it's all I want to 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.040 do when I reiterate just at the top of this 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.959 episode that it is always great to hear from everyone 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:15.080 out there, to hear from listeners. Uh. We we don't 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:17.680 certainly don't have time to respond to everything, and we 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.800 don't have time on the show to feature everything, but 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.400 we do read everything that comes in. Uh. We love 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:28.760 it when you provide additional inside or experience related to 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:30.920 different topics that we've covered, and when we do cover 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.600 quite a few topics that I think touch on the 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.640 universal human experience as well. Exactly right. But also we 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.680 we cover things that get into the very specific human experience, 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.640 for example, the number of people who have jumped out 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:45.400 of an airplane and gotten in touch with us to 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:47.880 tell us what that's like. So should we start with 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:55.320 this email from Kelly here, Let's do it. Kelly writes, Hey, guys, 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:57.560 I just started listening to your podcast recently, and I've 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:01.000 been shuffling around different episode topics that looked interesting. I 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.320 had to listen to one about surviving a ten thousand 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.360 footfall as I'm a professional skydiver and I knew you 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.840 would definitely bring up a lot of skydiving in it. 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:11.200 I know it's almost a year old, but oh well, 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:15.840 you ask what terminal velocity feels like. My best description 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.680 that I tell tandem students who are worried about that 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.320 belly and the throat feeling is that it is more 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.399 accurately comparable to the feeling of sticking your hand out 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.120 the window on the freeway. You feel supported resistance, and 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.120 when you exit a plane, you are going the same 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.720 speed as the plane, so you don't get that free 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:37.120 fall feeling you would when jumping off a static object. Also, 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.320 the way you orient your body is like when you're 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.119 surfing your hand like a wave out the window. When 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.680 you point your finger down, you feel you're slicing the 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:51.280 air and up gives you left. Uh. Fun fact, wingsuits 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.400 can slow down to about thirty miles per hour and 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.400 actually go up when doing the maneuver called a flare, 0:02:57.760 --> 0:02:59.680 which is what we do to slow down in a 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.480 wing suit before deploying our parachutes and would be my 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:06.280 go to move right before impact if I had no 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.560 parachute out. My friends survived a wingsuit base jumping accident 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.560 with no parachute out when he went into the trees 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.360 and took out a thirty meter line of dense forest, 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.560 and another survived with nothing out while jumping off a 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.399 three and fifty foot bridge. He landed in the river 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:24.919 below and swam himself to the beach with a ton 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.280 of broken bones. But this kind of luck is almost 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.680 entirely unheard of. Love your show and I'm so happy 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:34.000 to have discovered it. If you ever have any skydiving questions, 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.040 feel free to shoot me a message. Thanks. Kelly. Wow 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.640 swamed ashore with broken bones that gives me the willies. Yeah, 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.800 I found the interesting the mention of wingsuits, And I 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:47.920 don't remember if we got into wingsuits much on that 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.920 episode at all. I don't think so, but it's it's 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.120 a topic that I wrote an article for How Stuff 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.480 Works about wingsuits ages ago, and then the I want 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.680 to say, the most recent World Science Festival in New York, 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.080 which would have been the twenty nineteen one, there was 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:08.000 a there was a talk about about the human brain 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.600 and extreme sports and like people who do extreme things 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:17.240 like you know, a free climbing and wingsuit flying, like 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:19.640 what's going on in their mind? And there was at 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:21.520 one point one of the experts was just getting into 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:26.359 the just the statistics of wingsuits and wingsuit technology and 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.279 sort of like the different you know, ups and downs 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.280 of how dangerous it is. It was really quite quite fascinating. 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:34.760 If anyone out there is interested in checking out a 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.760 video of that presentation. It was titled the Science of 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:42.120 Extreme Behavior, the Line between Courageous and Crazy. You can 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.520 find it on on the YouTube channel for the World 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:51.840 Science Festival. It's it's really fascinating, all right. Do you 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:53.960 want to take a look at this next email about 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:57.559 my interview with bart Ermine on his book Heaven and Hell. Yes, 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.800 this one comes from our listener Ben. Ben says, hello 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.279 from London, Robert and Joe. I just finished listening to 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.120 the Heaven and Hell episode and wanted to share a 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.880 few cool tidbits in the same vein. I studied classics 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:12.960 at university and as a result got to read some 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.080 very cool texts in the original Latin and ancient Greek. 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:18.599 While I only read a bit of the Bible. I 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.120 thought it was interesting how the first sentence, and I 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.000 think this is the first sentence of the Gospel of 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:27.480 John was in the beginning was the word in English? 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.640 But Ben says that in Greek it is in the 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.360 beginning was reason. And I'm gonna try to pronounce this 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:39.920 in ark in whole logos. I could theoretically get behind 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.800 that statement a lot more. Uh, And yeah, I've I've 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.919 actually looked into this before there there is this question 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.520 about how exactly to translate that statement at the beginning 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.920 of the Gospel of John. But yeah, reason and the word, uh, 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.159 these concepts are are sort of synonymous and linked in 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.039 ancient Greek. Oh that's that's good. Yeah, because they in 0:05:58.040 --> 0:05:59.880 the beginning there was the word. I remember being con 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.080 used by that as a as a child, I'm like, 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:04.200 what do you saying? You're saying the Bible came first, 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.000 Like what what do you mean? There was their words first, Like, 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:11.279 this doesn't make any sense. But logos reason being first, 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.560 that makes a lot more sense. Okay, and Ben goes 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:17.480 on another possibly apocryphal story I heard, which the Barberman 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.720 episode reminded me of, is the origin of the saying 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.080 it doesn't matter in Iota, as I heard it at 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.279 the Council of Nicea in three the early Church fathers 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.400 were debating the nature of Jesus, whether he was like 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:35.799 the substance of God or of the same substance as God, 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:41.160 which in Greek the difference would be homoros or homoios. Clearly, 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.479 this decision had massive ramifications for the future development of 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.839 in schisms within Christianity, and as you can see one 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.880 iota mattered an awful lot. So the difference there is 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.520 the difference between an r and an eye in that 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:58.480 word um. But this was like a hugely significant theological dispute, 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.359 And so I don't know if this is the origin 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.159 of that phrase. It doesn't matter one iota. I know. 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.920 The idea of an iota of difference also has roots 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:10.760 in the Bible itself, in the Gospel of Matthew, where 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.080 where in the in the Telling of Matthew, Jesus says 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.480 that you know, not one iota of the law will 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.600 pass away, often translated as not one jot or tittle. 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:21.680 I think it just means like one of the smallest 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.840 possible markings in writing. And this is making the point 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.080 that the author of the Gospel of Matthew particularly wants 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.880 to make, which is that Jesus is the fulfillment of 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.120 the Jewish law. But this ties into my conversation with 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.200 Bart Irmin because one of the things that Bart and 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.600 I talked about was how, especially in later development in 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:45.400 the Church, like in in later Christian centuries, UH, there 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:50.160 was much more fierce debate over differences in theology that 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.760 seemed very small to us that mattered a lot to them, 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:58.040 like debates over exactly what type of substance the incarnation 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.800 of Christ was, Did Jesus have a belly button? That 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.040 sort of thing. Yeah, so Ben goes on. The last 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.160 thing I wanted to share was how great the Greek 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:10.440 neo Platonist philosopher plot in Nous was and how important 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.840 his thoughts were to the development of Christian concepts. His 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.040 main work was the a Needs, elements of which shaped 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.160 the Christian idea of the Trinity and the thorny issue 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.640 of how Jesus could be both man and God at 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.080 the same time. Well worth a read if you can 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.600 find a good translation. That's it. Great episode. I love 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.840 all that stuff, even though I'm a pragmatic secular atheist 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:36.400 in the Judeo Christian monotheistic sense. Thanks, stay safe, keep 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.080 making great episodes. Been well, Thank you, Ben, Yes, indeed, 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:41.920 and you know, I'm I'm hoping we'll hear from some 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.000 more listeners on this topic, because I know we have 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.400 a lot of listeners out there who are either you know, 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:51.520 to varying degrees and an active number of of of 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.320 one of the faiths affected by the ideas that were 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.439 discussed in that episode, or you have, you know, a 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:01.280 past with those with with the chures that are attached 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.319 to those traditions. Um, I feel like, you know, a 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:06.680 lot of us have some insight to share on just 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:11.240 sort of the general ideas regarding hell and heaven. They're 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:14.040 wrapped up in our cultures. Yeah, exactly. I think one 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.760 point that Bart made that I think is absolutely true 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.120 is even if you are not personally Christian or Jewish, 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.960 the ideas of the Bible still have been massively influent, 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.600 fluential in shaping the culture that we live in here 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.680 and you know, in the United States and in Europe especially. Yeah. 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.120 You know, in our recent episode that we recorded, I 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.720 don't know if it's out yet as of this publication, 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.000 but we're talking about helmets and the idea of Viking 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.920 helmets with horns showing up in in cartoons when we're 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.840 a child, and that just kind of gets burnt into 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.720 your brain. And then when you later learned that Vikings 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.880 did not have hornet helmets, it doesn't matter because you 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.839 still have that that idea knocking around your head. With 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:54.880 heaven and hell. It's the same thing, like how many 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:58.600 different cartoons, how many different you know, films, the young 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.400 of viewers would have seen ended up utilizing, you know, 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:08.240 an angel and devil having in hell of motifs and symbolism. 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.960 Isn't it strange how many cartoons show characters going to Hell. 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.720 I remember that happening all the time in Looney Tunes 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.040 and so yeah, oh and in Disney cartoons like I 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:22.040 think Pluto the Dog went to Hell Hell run by 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:26.199 cats for messing with cats or something. I strongly remember 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:31.240 images from that one because I had some really diabolical content. Um, 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:38.160 but yeah, I digress. Uh, well, should we go onto 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.400 this next email we got about fireworks from Kelsey? Yes, 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:43.640 so when I can tell that Carney is particularly excited 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:48.680 about this one, all right, um, Kelsey rides Hello. I 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.160 was delighted to see the topic of your show today 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.559 as my father has worked in the fireworks industry for 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.960 about twenty years now, so it's a place near and 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:57.959 dear to my heart. In fact, when I was in 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.960 elementary school, my first science fair project was a detailed 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.000 breakdown of how display fireworks the mortar kind you described 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.160 near the end of the show are made, complete with 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.920 models that I made from actual shell casings with considerable 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.599 help for my dad, who was managing one of the 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:16.080 last remaining fireworks manufacturing plants in the US at the time. 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.360 I don't think the judges quite knew what to do 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.079 with an earnest third grader explaining how to make a bomb, 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:25.240 but needless to say, my physics space project about leverage 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:29.080 the next year won me more accolades. At any rate. 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.559 I wanted to write in because there are actually people 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.640 out there who make fireworks in their backyards. As it were, 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.000 you do need to have a fair amount of space 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.280 to legally slash safely store large amounts of black powder, 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.840 but otherwise the process of making fireworks isn't terribly difficult 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.120 or even that unsafe, so long as you follow some 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:50.400 basic rules for handling, disposal, etcetera. I'm not actually sure 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.679 what the exact laws are surrounding this sort of thing, 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.000 but I know my dad has plenty of industry friends 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.880 who have small workshops where they can play around and 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.040 develop new formulas. When I was younger, the Pyro club 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:03.680 my dad belonged to would rent out a field occasionally 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.280 so that people could bring their stuff and show it off. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:11.120 Some cool, less well known firework things. Until Tepic, a 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.400 city north of Mexico City. They have an annual fireworks 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.560 festival that involves two incredibly harrowing events. Number One, they 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:22.760 construct paper mache bulls which are worn sort of over 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:26.719 the head and shoulders, um or places on some kind 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:28.680 or placed on some kind of a wheeled cart. And 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:30.800 then they strap a bunch of fireworks to those and 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:32.920 essentially do a sort of running of the bulls in 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:36.839 the town square. But you know, on fire? WHOA that's this? 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.520 This reminds me of the story by the Pyromancers of 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.320 England about creating St. George and the Dragon. But they're 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:47.440 full of fireworks exactly. Uh so that's interesting. We didn't 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.000 get into that that is much. But I wonder, like 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.920 to what mean when you're dealing with the burning of 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:57.600 things in effigy um and creating works of sculpture that 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.240 incorporate fire like that. That seems to play a in 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:04.839 the history of pyrotechnics as well. Anyway. Um. She goes 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.800 on to share a second example too. They create these 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:12.400 beautiful fireworks fireworks driven automatons, which they then rig up 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.760 on these huge towers. I believe each crew gets their 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.480 own tower, and it's a competition to see which is 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.439 the best. My dad has attended this event several times, 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.560 though some years ago now, and apparently if one of 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.000 the automatons gets stuck, guys will just scale the burning 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:30.240 tower to give the recalcitrant part a little nudge and 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.640 get things going again. And with all that knowledge in mind, 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.840 I was unsurprised to find, upon googling for images that 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.200 apparently Mexico has a huge problem with firework fatalities and 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:43.280 an explosion until topic killed a bunch of people as 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.800 recently as two thousand and eighteen. So that's very unfortunate, 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:48.960 because all the pictures my father took of the festival 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:51.680 in the nineties were absolutely amazing. I'll have to see 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:54.079 if I can get him to scan some and pass 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:57.600 them along. Meanwhile, on the island of Malta, probably because 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:01.040 they have something to prove, they make the apps huge 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.040 fireworkshells you'll see below, and she includes some images and 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.400 these just look like they they're as big as a person. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:14.680 They look like massive, like oxygen tanks, absurd gigantic. She continues, 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:16.839 why so big? I don't know. They too have a 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.520 yearly fireworks festival, which I would love to attend at 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:21.720 some point. Anyway, if you have any specific questions, I'm 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:23.760 more than happy to pick my dad's brain for answers 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:26.880 and has always keep up the good work, Kelsey. Oh, 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.440 thank you, Kelsey. Well, it is very sad to hear 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.320 that that in the in the Mexican festival, that there 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.440 would be fatalities involved with it. But it does make 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.200 me wonder, like, um, is it or is it not 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:42.040 part of the appeal of the fireworks that they're dangerous? 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:45.120 Do you think, like generally like is that sort of 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.880 part of what people like about them? Perhaps? You know, 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.520 there's that that definite feeling of of of lighting the 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.160 firework and then in the few starts burning and you 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.880 have to run away really quick quickly, and then dare 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.360 to look back and see what happens, and there is 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.640 always the possibility that it's going to fall over and 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.880 you know, blast something it's not supposed to blast, or 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.640 that the fire will uh well will fizzle out, the 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.240 fuse will stop burning, and you'll have to figure out, Okay, 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.120 how am I gonna go up there and check on 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.320 it without blasting my face off? So yeah, I think 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:20.680 the danger is a part of it. Um, though of 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:24.080 course the danger is the worst part of it too, right, Well, 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.760 obviously it's it's terrible when people actually get hurt or killed. Yeah, 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:29.560 and then of course, on top of that, if you're 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.680 dealing with irresponsible use of fireworks, I mean, that's that's 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:36.720 even worse. Using fireworks in areas that um that they're 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.480 you know, suffered from trout and they're not legally allowed 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.040 using fireworks in a way that is irresponsible or dangerous 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.680 to yourself or others. I mean, I've heard horrible stories 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.200 about that sort of thing before. Yes, So again, while 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:49.440 it is a fascinating topic, please do be aware of 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.360 the dangerous and please don't go messing around doing dangerous 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.080 stuff because of an email we read on this show. Yes, 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:56.880 all right, Well, on that note, we're gonna take a 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.760 quick break, but when we come back, more listener mail. 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:08.520 Thank you, thank you. All right, we're back. So this 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.880 next message in our listener Mail episode comes from Brian. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.400 Brian is writing about our episodes on the invention of 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:19.080 the book. Brian says, Dear Robert and Joe, I've been 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.560 a listener to Stuff to Blow your mind for many years, 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.360 often thought of sending feedback your way related to previous 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.960 podcasts but never got around to it. However, while bicycle 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:32.360 writing and listening to Your Books podcast the first episode 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:36.040 through a sudden Seattle downpour, I decided to send in 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.280 some comments specifically related to the question you posed about 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:43.000 what actually constitutes a book. Several months ago, I was 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.960 introduced to a scholar by the name of Lynn Kelly, 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:51.120 interviewed by Sean Carroll on his Mindscape podcast. A science writer, researcher, 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:55.240 and educator, she became interested in studying preliterate oral cultures, 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.480 beginning with the Aboriginal culture of her native Australia and 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:02.960 eventually including various African nomadic cultures Incas and pueblos of 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.320 the America's. As a result of this research, she developed 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.520 a very intriguing theory which literally blew my mind literally 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.119 is dangerous when I first heard her describe it. She 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.720 has published an academic paper on the theory, as well 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.600 as a general interest book entitled The Memory Code. Her 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:25.040 theory suggests that preliterate oral cultures utilized the immense human 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:29.760 capacity for memory to encode many books worth of information 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.040 in their brains in a manner similar to how modern 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:37.480 memory champions do today. The ancient memory techniques ranged from 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.520 performance triggers and this would include stories, songs and dances, 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:47.680 to loci triggers, landscape features, physical space and memory palaces, 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:52.760 and tactile triggers beads, shells and knots. The common element 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:56.440 through all these techniques, however, is the brain's power of association, 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:01.600 particularly when associating odd, absurd on usual images with what 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:05.919 you want to remember. This capacity seems to scale logarithmically 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:09.120 as opposed to linearly, which allows those skilled in these 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:13.680 techniques to encode vast amounts of information in their memories. Additionally, 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.679 her theory suggests the purpose of some Neolithic architecture, for 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:23.040 example Stoneheinge, Chaco Canyon, Machu Pichu, etcetera, was more related 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:27.280 to essential memory retention than to religious based rituals more 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:31.200 commonly associated with these sites. Of particular relation to your 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.040 book definition question would be the shape and tactile techniques 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:38.840 Lynn describes and shows in her Memory Code book. These 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.880 ranged from the elaborate rope knots used by the incas 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.840 two small handheld pieces of wood or stone carvings, hides 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:49.960 with shells or other small objects attached, somewhat similar to 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.520 the modern Brail alphabet, but with a capacity to encode 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.200 orders of magnitude more information per page than a modern book. 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:01.119 Certainly a pre alphabet form of in formation storage, and 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:04.439 one that has sharing limitations but does meet many of 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.679 the criteria of more modern books. Anyway, keep up the 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.960 great information sharing work that your team does with these podcasts. 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:15.280 Best Brian Well, Brian, I, I've heard other theories before 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.760 about different ideas about how memories were encoded in in 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:22.200 preliterate times and in preliterate cultures, and I don't think 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.680 I'd come exactly across this theory before, but this is 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.800 an interesting possibility, like the idea that structures in the 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:32.119 environment and different types of trinkets and objects held in 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:36.240 the hand or on the body could essentially be tools 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:41.240 used to aid in free association through memory to retain 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:43.639 large amounts of information that would be hard to remember 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.440 on its own. Yeah, that's a great point, and it 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:51.000 reminds me too of just the idea of say a 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.480 Christian cathedral, a Catholic cathedral, or uh, say it to 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:58.880 Tibetan Buddhist temple. These are spaces that are, in their 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:03.560 own way, a kind of text. They're about um, recording 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:07.240 information and conveying ideas to the person who is present, 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:10.439 Like when you're inside of a cathedral. You know, certainly 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.000 just the architecture of the space is supposed to inform 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:18.080 a certain message about the the nature of the cosmos 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:21.280 or the the grandeur of the divine. And then likewise 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:24.520 you'll see examples of sculpture or art that are about 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:30.199 making some sort of difficult theological concept palpable to the 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.960 human mind, like something explaining the nature of the Trinity, 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.360 that sort of thing. And likewise, in in Tibetan Buddhism especially, 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.359 we have some very you know, advanced sort of spiritual 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:44.040 technologies and play there. Um I've I've read that that 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:46.480 is that that's often the intent of some of these 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.880 more elaborate and to many Western eyes, you know, mysterious 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:56.040 pieces of art. It's about conveying uh, theological information to 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.400 the viewer and helping and even serving as a teaching implement. 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.040 All right, let's uh open up another listener mail here. 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:09.000 This one comes to us from Danny. Danny writes in 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.159 and says, Hi, Robert and Joe, thank you for all 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:13.920 the content you provide weekend and week out. It's comforting 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:15.920 to have you in my ear while running or mowing 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:19.480 the lawn or the dreaded commute. I'm writing for a 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.760 few reasons, all related to your recent episodes on invention 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:28.040 regarding invented words. Firstly, I've been trying to learn Japanese 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:29.880 as of late, and I was fascinated when I came 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:33.320 across a lesson that taught me the word itto uh, 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.760 which is a filler word that translates to um in English. 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.360 I'd never thought about it before, but apparently we learn 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.479 all of these words that I just thought were basic 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.879 sounds that humans made from birth. I always assumed that 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:48.439 when a person is thinking about a topic or or 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:51.080 stumped for a bit, they just naturally say the word mm. 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.679 But I guess the word that comes out of our 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.720 mouth depends on the language we learn. This newfound discovery 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:01.159 prompted me to look into it, and it appears all 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.320 languages are full of these filler words. Maybe this was 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:07.320 obvious to most people, but I was not aware. Yeah, 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:09.280 this is an interesting thing, and it's not just words. 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:11.720 I mean, it can be just pure vowel sounds we 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:15.040 I think in English, English speakers very often tend to 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.320 default to the schwa sound, because that's sort of a 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:23.240 rest sound in in the English language, but in other 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:26.280