WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Round About The Cauldron Go 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.560 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:12.640 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. Listener mail. 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:14.280 My name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.880 And I am Joe McCormick, and it's Monday, the day 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.480 of eachweek that we read back messages from the Stuff 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:22.400 to Blow Your Mind email address. If you have never 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.920 gotten in touch before, why not give it a try. 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.720 You can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.960 your Mind dot com. All kinds of messages are welcome. 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:34.920 We especially like feedback to recent episodes and if you 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.320 have something interesting to add to a subject we've talked about. 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.480 But whatever you want to send, send it on contact 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:46.000 at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. We got 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:47.960 a great mail bag today. Let's see rob Do you 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.800 want to kick things off with this message from Nathan 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:51.960 about future Shock? 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.680 Sure? Yeah, Nathan rides Dear Robert and Joe, your episode's 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.960 about future Shock. Particularly the third episode, brought to mind 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.479 the original nineteen seventy eight series Connections from science communicator 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.200 James Burke. Over the course of the series, he gives 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:14.520 an alternate view of social changes and scientific progress instead 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.160 of the Great Man theory of history, where a lone 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.280 genius invents a new device out of nothing. Burke posits 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.240 that each innovation throughout history came about because somebody merely 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.200 put existing pieces of knowledge and technology together in the 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.680 right order. In the final episode, he sums up four 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.000 potential responses to technological change in a manner similar to 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.360 the Tofflers, and then raises questions about each response. One 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:43.080 scrap everything, go rural, two selective research only, three stop 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.520 making new things, share what we have now, and four 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.640 keep going business as usual. The full series can be 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.080 found on the Internet archive in the links below Centism links, 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.360 and the final monologue appears in the game The Witness. 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.280 I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it before. 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.360 Even though the technology he discusses, like the computer has 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.000 changed dramatically since the original air date, the lessons he 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.359 draws from them are still as relevant as ever. Thank 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:12.080 you for your surprising and refreshing range of topics as always, Nate. 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.920 Well, thanks Nathan. I've never seen the full series, but 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:19.280 I've seen segments clipped out into individual videos, and I've 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.440 read parts of the book version of Connections. I actually 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.200 have a nice, well worn used copy here at the 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.000 house that we got somewhere I don't quite recall, but 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.680 it was a good used bookstore find at some point. 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.960 But Rob, I know you're a big fan of Connections, right, Yeah. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.280 I watch Connections as a kid, as well as episodes 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.800 of the other series he did The Day the Universe Changed, 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.359 and I have both book versions, and we've actually turned 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:46.799 to these books for his analysis on past episodes, specifically 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:50.360 certain episodes of Invention. I forget which ones in particular, 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:55.520 but yeah, I've long found his view of technological change 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:57.760 and evolution somewhat captivating. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:02:59.799 I agree, and I will say in general, I think 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:03.040 it's really good to be skeptical of the so called 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:07.440 great Man theory of history, or maybe, to be less prejudicial, 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.799 call it the great person or great genius theory. And 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.720 of course my skepticism of this model applies not only 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:18.160 to what is normally called history, you know, like political 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.320 history and stuff, but to the history of science and 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.320 technology as well. One reason I think it's good to 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.280 be skeptical of the great genius theory where a you know, 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.280 the the idiosyncratic special quality is of a particular person 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.519 come around, you know, come around at just the right 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.240 time and change the world. One reason I think we 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:40.880 should be skeptical of that view of history is because 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.600 I'm worry of the danger of fundamental attribution error, which 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:49.240 is a concept in psychology. We've done some episodes on 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:51.400 in the past, if you want to go look those 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.360 up to get the full story. There are some mixed 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.840 results about this finding, but basically it seems that especially 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.320 in more individualistic culture is in the United States would 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:05.280 be one of those. We have a tendency to overemphasize 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:12.520 the explanatory importance of internal factors like personality and intellectual 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.360 ability and things like that, and underemphasize the role of 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:21.200 external factors like situation and context when explaining the behavior 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.640 of people and the you know, the reasons that events 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.560 unfold in the way they do. So, I think, at 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.240 least in the individualistic culture of the United States, I 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.880 think we're probably way too biased in the direction of 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.640 rating the importance of factors like the personality and genius 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:42.719 of famous people, and we probably underestimate the importance of 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.640 circumstances and context and trends and so. To come back 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.520 to Burke, yeah, I think a lot of major turning 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.039 points in the history of science and technology arose not 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:57.320 just because of the personal genius of specific inventors and scientists. 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:59.280 So of course that is a factor too. You don't 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:01.719 want to say like, oh, Isaac Newton wasn't smart, But 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.400 I think we should consciously force ourselves to pay attention 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.040 to the importance of situations. I think it's really important 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:12.240 that there were situations in history where a lot of 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:16.479 knowledge and material wealth and talent was being brought together 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.680 in a context that maybe allowed for experimentation. And when 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:23.640 we look back at history, we probably do have a 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.839 cognitive bias, this fundamental attribution era that makes the genius 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.520 seem more decisive and makes us ignore the relative importance 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.479 of situations in context. And yeah, so I have perceived 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.719 in the past. One of the goals of Burke's work 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.200 in the History of science and Technology was to show 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.919 the ways that it's a story of intersections and connections 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:50.000 certain pieces of pre existing knowledge or know how technology, 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:54.880 particular needs or questions, all happening to come into contact 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.279 at certain times and places in history leading to progress, 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.640 and not just like oh wow, this and genius changed everything. 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:02.599 That's my take. 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:05.479 Yeah, no, no, this is this is I agree with 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.359 all of this. Yeah, you know, you have to fu 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:13.479 factor in things like market forces, communication between different cultures, 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.159 urban as they I mean, there's just so many different 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:22.039 elements that go into the the alchemy of any given innovation, invention, 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:26.440 et cetera. Even in our Weird House Cinema episodes sometimes 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.160 we refer to it as such, but certainly in our 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:32.480 notes we always call the section that gets into cast members, directors, writers, 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.120 et cetera. As connections. And I often think about about 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.560 about about Bert's work as one might apply it to cinema. 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.560 You know, it's it's not just you know, oftentimes you 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.000 do have like one really important individual that's you know, 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.800 this is their vision and this is their talent manifested 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:54.560 on the screen, but to varying degrees. And I think 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:56.960 oftentimes it's it's more of this case. I mean, you 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.120 have all these different talents coming together, and circumstances is 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:04.480 aligning them that make the movie exactly what it is. 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:06.880 I think that's well said, And you know, people don't 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.360 often apply this lens as much to like art and 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.720 entertainment as they do to I don't know what we 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:15.400 were just talking about, history of science or technology or 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.200 politics or whatever, but I do think it applies there 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.400 as well. I mean even in the realm of b movies. 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.960 On the show before you Know, we've talked about how 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.920 different a Roger Korman movie. One Roger Korman movie is 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:31.920 from another, depending on circumstances like what was Coorman's budget, 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.160 how long did he have to make it, what kind 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.360 of actors did he have access to? And this leads 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.520 to incredibly different results. It's not always just you know, 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.040 the loan genius at the top of the organizational chart, 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.640 the of the film deciding whether something is good or 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.520 bad by their individual personal qualities. 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:56.480 Yeah, yeah, real quick. I'll mention. When it comes to 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.800 James Burke's work, I had to look up his film 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:02.280 again because I know there had been rumblings about him 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:06.720 doing another Connections book and or series to sort of 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.640 bring things into our modern time. He is still alive, 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.040 still active. There was also a Connections three that came 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.800 out in the late nineteen nineties, so I'm not sure 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.200 where what he's working on at the moment of that 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.880 project is in the works, but I hope it is 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.000 because I would be very interested to see the Connections 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.800 approach to the modern state of technology. 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.480 I think I recall one thing being about connections actually 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.280 having some overlap with the predictions of the Tofflers in 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:41.679 Future Shock, which is I think he predicted an ever 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:46.959 accelerating rate of change and development in science and technology, 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:51.200 and then downstream from that in culture, primarily in his 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:56.239 view because of the increase in connections, because the improvements 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:01.199 in communication technology make connections happen more frequently than they 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.920 ever did before, and this is what he thought was 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:08.360 going to was going to keep accelerating the technological change. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.199 Anyway, solid listener mail Nathan, thanks for writing in Okay. 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.439 This next message is in response to our episodes on 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:21.360 the Ignobel Prize Ignobel Prizes from twenty twenty three. This 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.400 is from Sam and it is about the twenty twenty 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:29.000 three Geology Prize, which was awarded to an essay about 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:37.920 eating and tasting fossils. Sam says, Hello, Robert and Joe. 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.120 I am a recent geology graduate from the University of 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.280 West Georgia. I just finished your first episode of the 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:47.640 Ignobel Prizes and I have an answer to your question 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.800 of what does the Eocene Epic taste like? I asked 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.400 this at the end of the episode. Yeah, Apparently Sam 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.160 has the answer, Sam says, I work as a clay 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:01.880 tester for a kalanite mine in middle southern Georgia, and 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.680 some of our clay comes from the eosine, and as 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.120 a geologist, I of course had to give it a 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:13.360 thorough examination by tasting a small amount. The eosine age 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.880 clay has an acidic and bitter taste, with undertones of 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:21.840 vanilla and a texture like powdered peanut butter or protein powder. 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.440 This may seem strange, but it is common for practicing 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:29.160 geologists to taste minerals, fossils, and even plain dirt to 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:33.360 clarify properties both chemical and physical. For example, I have 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.800 been taught to taste the difference between the mineral halite, 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:42.239 which is in ACL, and sylvite KCl, which appear identical. 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.440 Halte tastes salty as it is salt in a in 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.959 the formula that's sodium sodium chloride, Sam goes on, and 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:55.680 sylvite tastes bitter due to the potassium content. Another example 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.120 is the quote toungue test on fossils, where putting the 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.320 tip of your tonge on a potential fossil will help 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:07.040 identify fossil from rock. Fossils being poor us will stick 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.720 to your tongue more than rock and sometimes require conscious 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:15.280 effort to unstick your tongue. Oh, that sounds kind of scary. 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.000 We even taste a small amount of soil samples to 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:22.320 tell between clay and silt. Silt has the consistency of 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:27.400 toothpaste and clay like creamy peanut butter. Love the podcast, Hope, 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:32.240 I provided an interesting and entertaining answer to your question. Sam. Oh, 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:34.640 thank you, Sam, you absolutely did. This is one of 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:36.160 my favorite kinds of listener mail. 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.440 All right, does The next one comes to us from Jeff. 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:50.319 Jeff says, this is Jeff with one F greeting science 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:54.160 humans in the altanin Antenna episode. I think it was 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.680 Joe who mentioned manganese nodules and passing. I believe this 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:59.959 would be an excellent topic for a proper. 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:02.839 And just for clarity, I was gonna insert a note 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.520 here to describe these manganese nodules, which are I've also 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:12.400 seen sometimes called ferromanganese nodules or polymetallic nodules. Are these 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:16.800 mineral concretions that form slowly over time at the bottom 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.240 of the ocean. So if you ever see like deep 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:22.760 sea Rover camera footage of a you know, a submersible 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.720 going over the seafloor. Sometimes you will see them scattered 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.120 all about, looking like weird gray metal turnips through these 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.800 strange little spheres or balls on the ocean floor. And 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.560 they're formed out of a variety of metals. Manganese and 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:40.240 iron are common ingradients, hence ferromanganese nodules the name there, 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.319 but they also sometimes contain other metals like nickel and 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.560 cobalt too. And a cool thing about these nodules is 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:51.199 that they form by accretion of concentric layers around a 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.960 nucleation point, which might be I think like a It 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:55.880 could be like a grain of clay, or like a 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.000 dead organism or something. There's a little nucleation point and 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:01.840 then it starts a creating these metal layers around it. 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.960 So they have rings like a tree trunk. I think. 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.280 One estimate I came across was that they tend to 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:11.680 grow about a millimeter every million years. But because of 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.040 the way these rings form in layers, you can cut 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.960 a manganese nodule in half and analyze its structure to 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:21.880 get information about seawater chemistry going back millions of years. 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:26.840 Another interesting thing is that they somehow tend to remain 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.480 at the top of the ocean floor sediment layer over 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:34.560 these millions of years, instead of getting subducted, you know, 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.440 instead of getting buried and incorporated into the rock beneath. 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.280 So somehow they stay on top there while they're accumulating 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:45.200 all these metal layers. So anyway, that's manganese nodules. Back 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:46.320 to Jeff's message. 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.080 In the original Star Trek episode featuring a monster in 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.000 a mining colony, I think I've seen this one. By 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.720 the way, the miners discovered a bunch of odds spheres 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.600 made of mostly silicone and had been destroying them because 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.280 they figured they were just guardage. They didn't can connect 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.680 them at all to the mysterious attacks on their workers. 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.520 The reveal was that a silicone based alien creature was 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.520 lashing out trying to protect its eggs from the humans. 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.640 When I saw the episode, I thought there was no 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.280 way humans encountering something so peculiar and suspicious would just 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:19.680 dispose of them without curiosity, particularly while miners were being 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.960 killed on a regular basis. But given that similar nodules 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.320 exist on Earth, the Federation had probably run into many 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.280 naturally occurring phenomena like these on other planets with no 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.240 association to living creatures. So I suppose it's not so 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.600 strange that a corporation would think nothing of clearing the 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:40.240 way of unprofitable rubble. A second example was the Epcot 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.560 attraction Horizons, in which there was a scene depicting a 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:47.120 robot on the ocean floor picking up manganese nodules, as 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.720 well as a huge system of vacuum tubes sucking them 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.120 up into floating collection units on the surface. Apologies for 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.560 the zibruder like quality of the attached photos, the attraction 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.320 was demolished before the age of the smartphone camera. The 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:02.960 scene is not directly referenced or explained in the narration. 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.240 It was just an awesome extra throwaway detailed to experience. 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.480 At the time, I thought it was silly fantasy that 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:12.680 anything so ridiculously useful would be sitting in convenient chunks 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:15.760 easily accessible on the ocean floor. I chalked it up 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:18.720 to excessive optimism on the part of Disney ride designers. 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.320 But these nodules were discovered in the nineteenth century, so 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.880 they clearly knew what they were doing. 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:28.320 To borrow a joke from Mystery Science Theater three thousand. 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.360 These photos of the EPCOT Horizon Center do look like 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.840 someone's last known photograph. 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.480 Yeah, they're pretty cool. I've seen a recent documentary featuring 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.280 prototypes that are remarkably similar to what the Disney people 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.960 imagined in the nineteen eighties. Given that these metals are 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:47.040 now in high demand for electric vehicle and mobile device batteries, 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.360 there is now talk of and controversy about mining the 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.320 nodules on a massive scale. In both these instances, my 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.560 dismissive smug response was purely a result of my ignorance. 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.120 The world is simply cooler than I thought pop. Now 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:02.960 that I think about it, perhaps you guys could also 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.800 do an episode on the unreasonably beautiful and artificial looking 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.800 crystal caves on Earth. They also seem like impossible creations 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.240 of Hollywood set designers, but are in fact just nature 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:14.800 doing its thing. I wonder if the guys who built 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:19.840 Superman's Fortress of Solitude vacationed underground in Mexico. Thanks again 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.720 for your continued pursuit of the strange and wonderful Jeff. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.280 Well, thank you for the great email. Jeff. You know 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:30.120 we we did an interview years ago. I think this 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:35.520 was the interview we did with Diva Aimon about where 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:39.200 we talked about some of the controversies about ocean floor mining. 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:41.680 But I don't recall if that was specifically with reference 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.160 to manganese nodules or to something or about something else. 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:50.360 Yeah, I don't remember if that in particular was pointed out, 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.560 but you know, I'm sure if we'd known to ask 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.360 her about it at the time, we could we could have. 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.640 But yeah, that was a great interview that was back 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.520 there in the archive somewhere. All right. This next one 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:08.760 comes to us from Adam. Adam says, hey, guys, on 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.479 the newest episode regarding the Ignobel Prizes, the horror manga 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:16.679 author Junji Ito has one called and I may be 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:23.600 pronouncing this wrong, Geo. It's Gyo. That involves necro mechanical implications. 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.359 Really great story. Check it out. 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.560 So the necro mechanical connection would be that one of 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:33.040 the Ignobel prizes we talked about from this year was 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.240 awarded to a team that had done research on how 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.320 to turn a dead spider into a gripper claw with 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:41.480 just fluid pressure. 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:47.080 That's right, and so perhaps not so surprising. It sounds 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:51.080 like young g Ito has explored this territory as well. 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.280 This is kind of a fun coincidence because the day 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.719 this email came in, Joe and I were over at 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:01.600 the Museum of Illusions in Atlanta getting some updated photographs, 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.159 photographs taken of us and look out, you'll get to 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:09.720 see these, uh in the near future wherever photos of 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:13.560 us are appropriate. And the we were talking with the 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.879 marketing manager there and she recommended Junji Eto. I forget 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.400 exactly how it came up, but she she she brought 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:22.439 up this particular artist. 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.520 I think she said she had listened to our episode 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.919 about melting and uh, was that what it was? 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.520 Yeah? Because he's so I haven't read any of his 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:38.600 full works, but I'm familiar with him by reputation. I've 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.560 seen various stills. You know, a lot of his stuff 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.920 is very I wouldn't say maybe meme worthy, but it 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:49.359 shared a lot because his work has this real visceral, 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.320 nightmarish quality to it, where a single image is just 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:58.159 instantly more horrifying than most illustrations you've seen from a 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.399 comic book or a manga. It's at His work has 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.040 also been adapted multiple times, including the Long Run in 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.359 long running Tony film franchise in Japan, as well as 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.800 the two thousand film spiral. I was looking around. It 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.280 looks like he's also done some guest art for Magic 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:19.000 the Gathering. Joe included some screenshots of these Magic the 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:23.359 Gathering cards that unity Eto did. They're pretty horrifying. It's 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.000 like black and white manga style, and again, all sorts 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.320 of strange body horror type things occur. 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:31.960 Oh boy, it's sort of hard to tell what I'm 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.480 looking at the pictures. A little shrunken? Am I seeing 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:37.320 a skull with peacock feathers? Is that? 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:42.439 I'm not sure? Yeah, not a detailed shot of this 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:46.879 particular magic card. But yeah, something something horrible or wonderful 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.440 happening to flesh. It's hard to say. 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:53.239 It's always one or the other, isn't it. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:57.560 Yeah? So yeah, yeah, I should at some point, if 0:19:57.600 --> 0:19:59.720 I have the if I'm brave enough, I should probably 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.880 pick up up some of his original work and dive 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.320 in and see how how my brain takes it. 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.080 Okay, you want to do one last message about Weird 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:09.840 House Cinema here? 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:11.200 Sure, what do you got? 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:19.840 I'll do this one from Chelsea. Chelsea says, Hi, guys, 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:24.000 just listen to Your Stickiness Part three episode where I 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.480 think we asked for examples of sticky monsters because we 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.359 came up with fewer than we expected to find, and 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:34.320 Chelsea says, I have a sticky monster for you. When 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:36.760 I was in elementary school in the nineties, I was 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:42.399 plagued by Gooey Gus, the purple chewing gum slime monster 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.840 from the TV show Ghost Writer Rob. I had to 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.000 look up a picture of Guey Gas. I put it 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:49.600 in the outline for you if you want to scroll 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:52.960 down and see him here. So he's like purple and 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.280 very melted. He looks like a melted crayon man. But 0:20:56.320 --> 0:21:00.520 he's wearing a pink turtleneck and what looks like a 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:04.359 black leather jacket like the Fawns. 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:07.520 Weird. Yeah, and the purple coloration reminds me of another 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:13.000 nice uzy creature from media of Yesterdyear, the Power Rangers 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:16.320 villain Ivan Ooze, played by the great Paul Freeman. 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:19.960 I don't remember what Ivan Oohs looked like, though I 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:21.879 remember the name he is. 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:24.359 You know, he's purple and uzi and you know it 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:25.680 looks like a Power Rangers villain. 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.480 I remember Rita Rapulsa. What was the relationship of Rita 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:32.480 Rapulsa to ivan Ooz was one the other's boss. 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:35.520 I guess he must be a boss. I'm not really 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:39.760 sure about how everyone's connected in that universe. But of course, 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:41.920 Paul Freeman for those of you that don't recognize the 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.200 name of hand, but of course played Bellock in Raiders 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:49.760 of the Lost gar so tremendously fun actor. And I 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:51.680 don't know if I've ever watched the Power Rangers movie 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.119 that he's in in its entirety, but I'm assuming he 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:55.440 has some fun with this role. 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:57.639 Okay, Well, I don't know which one came first, so 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:00.119 either Guey Gus or ivan Uze might have to to 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.720 the other one for stealing a stick. But anyway, to 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:07.320 pick up with Chelsea's message here, Chelsea says, some of 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.159 the other girls and I believed he lived in the 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:12.800 storm grate in the corner of the playground. 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:15.600 Oh boy, that is that's so good. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.879 We spent at least a few recesses putting grass clippings 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:23.320 and dandelions down the grate as an offering so he 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:26.800 wouldn't ooze out of the grate. And in case us 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.720 all in bubblegum. I love this because this is a 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:34.400 this is a bull's eye of like a childhood behavior. 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:36.879 It's like, yes, I did stuff like that, this is 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:40.600 what kids do. But it also describes the invention of religion. 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:44.800 Chelsea goes on to say, side note, I'm shocked that 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:47.760 you all made it through the discussion of glutenous rice 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:51.479 that was in the Stickiness part one episode without mentioning 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:56.280 its uses against jung she as featured in Mister Vampire, 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:59.399 which was an excellent Weird House episode. Thanks for all 0:22:59.440 --> 0:23:02.879 the great discuss Chelsea. Chelsea, you're exactly right. You know, 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:05.520 I thought it would come up. I'm pretty sure when 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:07.280 we were planning the episode, it just never did. 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:10.159 Yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess we have plenty to 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:13.800 talk about without touching on that. Also, I'm not I'm 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:15.919 not sure if the stickiness has anything to do with 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:18.960 its vampire fighting powers. I could be wrong, but I 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:21.720 always thought it was more of the dry rice. But 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:24.200