Speaker 1: Guess what, Mango, what's that will? Now? I know all
Speaker 1: our lives are so fast paced, and I think it's
Speaker 1: important on this show to take time to truly appreciate
Speaker 1: those remarkable days, Like earlier in the year, we took
Speaker 1: that vacation day for the eclipse, because it's just so
Speaker 1: rare that the universe lines up in a way to
Speaker 1: get that experience of a total solar eclipse like that. Yes,
Speaker 1: I remember thinking like, is this hype really going to
Speaker 1: be worth it? And and then we went and I
Speaker 1: couldn't stop talking about the clips for weeks, right, and
Speaker 1: this weekend, the planets are aligning in such a way
Speaker 1: that there are five massive events all coming together in
Speaker 1: one weekend, one weekend, Mango, And I'm not sure why
Speaker 1: they aren't getting more media coverage. So, I mean, I
Speaker 1: can think of a couple of what what are these events? Well,
Speaker 1: Sunday is Easter and it's also April Fools Day, huh,
Speaker 1: And I mean I do feel like those are pretty
Speaker 1: well documented days, like people seem to know how to
Speaker 1: celebrate those. Well, that's true, but they don't always fall
Speaker 1: on the same day. Also, they're overshadowing some other huge
Speaker 1: events like Mark thirty one is National Bunsen Burner Day,
Speaker 1: and it's also National Clams on a half Shell Day. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: I feel like you're stretching here. Well, well there's one more.
Speaker 1: It's our one year anniversary here at How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: And today's super bonus episode is not only a quick
Speaker 1: thank you, but also some tips on how to celebrate
Speaker 1: this momentous weekend. Let's dive in. Hey there, podcast listeners,
Speaker 1: welcome to a super short bonus episode of Part Time Genius.
Speaker 1: I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my
Speaker 1: good friend Manguesh Ticketer, and sitting behind that soundproof booth
Speaker 1: is not Tristan. So Tristan was so emotional about this weekend,
Speaker 1: in this confluence of five major holidays, that he decided
Speaker 1: to go visit a grandmother. I actually saw I'm packing
Speaker 1: like a couple of Bunsen burners and a bag of clams,
Speaker 1: and I was wondering what he was doing. And it
Speaker 1: all makes sense now, it really does. But we have
Speaker 1: the wonderful Ramsey behind the sound proof booth, so we'll
Speaker 1: get started now. So, Manga, what I want to do
Speaker 1: is celebrate these five massive holidays all occurring on one
Speaker 1: weekend by giving listeners one special fact to remember as
Speaker 1: they celebrate each event. How does that sound? That sounds
Speaker 1: pretty great? All right? So why don't we go with
Speaker 1: national Bunsen Burner Dave first? And it falls on March
Speaker 1: thirty one. Now I didn't know much about the German
Speaker 1: scientists Robert Wilhelm Eberhart von Bunsen. Is that not the
Speaker 1: greatest name? It is? We should totally do a full
Speaker 1: episode on this guy because he sounds amazing. And there's
Speaker 1: a collection of weird stories about him called Bunsen Anya,
Speaker 1: which will have to read and talk about. Now. The
Speaker 1: reason we remember Bunsen is of course for his Bunsen burner,
Speaker 1: which was invented in eighteen fifty five, and he refused
Speaker 1: to patent it because he wanted to help humanity. But
Speaker 1: Bunsen also discovered the antidote to arsenic poisoning? Did you
Speaker 1: know of us? And I didn't realize that I didn't
Speaker 1: either until reading up on it for this and his
Speaker 1: cure is still one we used today. Plus and this
Speaker 1: is maybe my favorite thing. He loved to teach, so
Speaker 1: he taught intro classes that his colleagues refused to because
Speaker 1: he wanted kids to fall in love with science. So
Speaker 1: an overall good guy. But how do you think we
Speaker 1: should celebrate him? Well, I mean, I was going to
Speaker 1: suggest everyone go out by a Bunsen burner and then
Speaker 1: like blast year speakers and wave it like you're waving
Speaker 1: a lighter at a concert. But that seems like a
Speaker 1: terrible idea. It sounded a little dangerous, So I think
Speaker 1: instead we should all watch a Muppets clip in his memory.
Speaker 1: And that's because the character of Bunsen Honeydew is named
Speaker 1: for Dr Bunson, and if you'll remember, Honeydew is also
Speaker 1: a famous inventor in his own right. According to muppet Wiki,
Speaker 1: his inventions include quote a guerrilla detector, exploding clothes, edible
Speaker 1: paper clips, a banana sharpener, and a machine that can
Speaker 1: turn gold into cottage cheese. All incredibly useful inventions. Oh man,
Speaker 1: and another reference to muppet wiki, I love that we
Speaker 1: do that on the show. So all right, well we
Speaker 1: should all take two minutes to watch a Bunsen and
Speaker 1: Beaker Muppets sketch. Alright, So onto the second big holiday
Speaker 1: on the list, And this one is celebrated by almost
Speaker 1: no one I know, but it should be. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's kind of the ringo star of this All
Speaker 1: Star weekend. That's right. Well, it's National Clams on a
Speaker 1: Half Shell Day, and the holiday has some murky origins,
Speaker 1: but it was partially based on the fact that clams
Speaker 1: casino were invented a hundred and one years ago this
Speaker 1: year in Rhode Island. I mean, I like seafood, but
Speaker 1: I've never loved clams for some reason. But I actually
Speaker 1: really loved the phrase clams casino, Like I almost want
Speaker 1: them to sell it in a toy aisle between like
Speaker 1: ant farms and sea monkeys, where I guess like kids
Speaker 1: can learn about bivolves by hangout at a clams casino.
Speaker 1: It may be the least exciting casino on So if
Speaker 1: you're not going to celebrate National Clams on a Half
Speaker 1: Shell Day and proper fashion, you know, by eating a
Speaker 1: bucket of them, how do you plan to celebrate this
Speaker 1: fine day? Mango? Mostly by telling everyone my favorite clam
Speaker 1: fact in the world, and that's that scientists have tried
Speaker 1: putting clams on prozach I feel like maybe this is
Speaker 1: one of those dumb experiments where scientists are just trying
Speaker 1: to make a pawn like the whole seeing if jellyfish
Speaker 1: will eat peanut butter to make peanut butter and jellyfish,
Speaker 1: and and then just trying to see what that, you know,
Speaker 1: happy as a clam really means. So, so what is
Speaker 1: this all about? It's actually that's what I thought too, Like,
Speaker 1: isn't it just kind of a curious way to see
Speaker 1: if clams on antidepressants would be happy? But uh, actually
Speaker 1: prozac has a surprising effect on claims. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like dimming the lights and playing very white for them
Speaker 1: because they just start mating like crazy on it. I
Speaker 1: love that they even thought to try this. But but
Speaker 1: that's a good way to celebrate. So we've covered the
Speaker 1: two biggies. We got Bunsen burner Day and clams on
Speaker 1: a half shell Day. So I feel much better knowing
Speaker 1: we've put those facts out in the world. So we
Speaker 1: should probably do Easter. Of course, most people know about
Speaker 1: all the origins of Easter, and while we could go
Speaker 1: on a tangent about Jesus or bunnies or paganism or
Speaker 1: spring or ideas or rebirth, I actually want to talk
Speaker 1: about my favorite non traditional way to celebrate Easter. And
Speaker 1: that's by trying to destroy a peep. So I can't
Speaker 1: stand the taste of peeps either. In addition to claims,
Speaker 1: but ever since our friend Michael used to like hide
Speaker 1: them in our rooms in college, I guess his mom
Speaker 1: used to like send him a ton of them and
Speaker 1: then he didn't know what to do with them, so
Speaker 1: you just like sneak into all our friends rooms and
Speaker 1: hide them in places. But I remember getting into bed
Speaker 1: once and just finding one staring at me from the
Speaker 1: bed posts, or like sitting on my bookshelf to study
Speaker 1: and and finding like little pieces all over the place.
Speaker 1: But uh, I actually had no real connection to those
Speaker 1: candies until then, and now when I see them, they
Speaker 1: just make me irrationally happy. I'm the same way, and
Speaker 1: I love it. The idea of like our kids asking
Speaker 1: us one day about our crazy college days and like
Speaker 1: what crazy things did you do, and you're like, well,
Speaker 1: we had to go fund peeps in our dorm room
Speaker 1: or whatever. But actually I do remember our friend Adam
Speaker 1: once brought a girl over and he was desperately trying
Speaker 1: to impress her, and everywhere she's set, like on the
Speaker 1: bed or on a chair or wherever she seemed to
Speaker 1: either step on or squish a peep. Hence she was
Speaker 1: totally not impressed for some reason. I have no I
Speaker 1: don't either, But you know what, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of great facts about peeps. The original peeps were hand
Speaker 1: shaped by candy makers and actually had wings. You know
Speaker 1: that the town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where the Peeps factory is,
Speaker 1: it actually drops a giant peep for the New Year,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of like they dropped the ball in
Speaker 1: Manhattan and everything. And they're actually over one and a
Speaker 1: half billion of these candies consumed every spring. I don't
Speaker 1: know who's actually eating these things, because that just is insane.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, I don't love them, but I do
Speaker 1: love that fact. But actually, my favorite fact is that
Speaker 1: in n two scientists at Emery had heard that peeps
Speaker 1: were indestructible, so they decided to test the theory. They
Speaker 1: microwave peeps, they boiled peeps, they put them in acid,
Speaker 1: tone even in sulfuric acid, and the peeps survived all
Speaker 1: of those things. It's just unbelievable. And then they have
Speaker 1: apparently put them in phenal, which finally destructed these incredible things.
Speaker 1: It melted the peeps down everything except the eyes, of course.
Speaker 1: I mean this idea of just seeing like a peeps
Speaker 1: puddle and a pair of eyes during back at You
Speaker 1: is so creepy O kidding, But in honor of that experiment,
Speaker 1: I think everyone should take a peep and try to
Speaker 1: destroy it, use a hammer, a microwave, whatever tools you've got,
Speaker 1: and when all else fails, just eat it. Well I'm
Speaker 1: for that. So this year, Easter also falls on April
Speaker 1: Fool's Day, which we mentioned earlier, and that's strange. I
Speaker 1: actually can't remember that happening in a while though, I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess it must have. But how do you think
Speaker 1: we should celebrate this one? Well? Maybe by not being
Speaker 1: totally skeptical of everything your friends tell you. So there
Speaker 1: are a bunch of things that have happened on April
Speaker 1: fools Day and years past that people haven't believed. The
Speaker 1: great comedian Mitch Hedberg passed away on that day and
Speaker 1: it wasn't taken seriously. Also, Nintendo and Sega decided to
Speaker 1: launch a joint sonic, the Hedgehog and Mario game. Of
Speaker 1: course that seemed like a joke to most people. But
Speaker 1: my favorite one of these incidents that actually wasn't a prank,
Speaker 1: and this obviously has gotten some attention over the years,
Speaker 1: but in two thousand seven, Google sent out a notice
Speaker 1: to its employees that a python was on the loose
Speaker 1: in the building. This was in their New York City office,
Speaker 1: but apparently an engineer kept his ball python Kaiser around
Speaker 1: for fun and inspiration. I don't know why, and Kaiser
Speaker 1: decided he needed to get some fresh air, so he
Speaker 1: took a tour of the offices. And this happened on
Speaker 1: April Fools that I really can't imagine, Like if I
Speaker 1: was just roaming the halls of Google and I saw
Speaker 1: a python wandering around, I'd be so terrified, like even
Speaker 1: too terrified to make like any coding and python jokes,
Speaker 1: No kidding, So anyway, So that's our advice to you
Speaker 1: this momentous holiday weekend. Watch the Muppets, share a clam fact,
Speaker 1: destroy a peep, and maybe trust your friends if if
Speaker 1: they tell you something outrageous, because it might just be true.
Speaker 1: And one last thing, that's right, we forgot to tell
Speaker 1: them how to celebrate our one year anniversary at Part
Speaker 1: Time Junior. That's right. So if you like the show,
Speaker 1: tell a friend about it. Or write a review on
Speaker 1: iTunes to help us get the word out. We have
Speaker 1: loved every minute of doing Part Time Genius and we
Speaker 1: feel so lucky to get to connect with you every week.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Gabe, Tristan, Eve's, Amber, Ramsey, Tyler, Christopher and
Speaker 1: the entire crew here for helping us pull this show together,
Speaker 1: and thank you so much for listening. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius is a production of how stuff works
Speaker 1: and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do
Speaker 1: the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan
Speaker 1: McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme
Speaker 1: song and does the MIXI mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland
Speaker 1: does the exact producer thing. Gabeluesier is our lead researcher,
Speaker 1: with support from the Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan
Speaker 1: Brown and Lucas Adams and Eve. Jeff Cook gets the
Speaker 1: show to your ears. Good job, Eves. If you like
Speaker 1: what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe, And if you
Speaker 1: really really like what you've heard, maybe you could leave
Speaker 1: a good review for us. Did we did? We forget
Speaker 1: Jason Jason, who