WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Hand of Dog 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.320 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:11.119 My Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.720 Your Mind Listener Mail. I am Joe McCormick, and my 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:18.000 regular co host Robert Lamb is off work this week, 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.400 so we've got a bit of a scheduling changeup, So 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.759 I'm gonna be recording today's Listener Mail episode solo, and 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.560 then on Tuesday and Thursday of this week we will 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.560 have a couple of core episodes from the Vault, and 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.960 on Friday a Weird House Cinema rewind, and then I 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:39.000 should be back with a fresh Listener Mail episode next Monday. 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.720 And at some point that week I'm not sure exactly 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.840 which day yet, Robert will be rejoining me and we'll 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:48.160 have all new stuff for you then. But for today, 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:49.800 I'm going to be reading back a few of the 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.440 messages that you've sent in over the past week or so, 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.160 and I think we should kick things off with some 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.720 responses to the series that Rob and I did on Thirst. 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:01.720 So I'm going to begin with a message from Ahmed. 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.120 Ahmed says, hey, guys, your mention of rabies during the 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.160 Thirst series made me think of a neat application of 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:18.120 this virus in research. The reason rabies can take a 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:22.399 long time to cause disease is because the virus jumps 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.640 up the neurons retrograde from the site of infection to 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.120 the brain, and the further away it is, the longer 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.400 it takes to make the trek. Yeah. So if you're 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.280 trying to picture that, imagine you get bitten, say on 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:40.479 the hand, by a by an infected animal, and then 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.880 the rabies virus transfers from the saliva into the bite 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.880 and then from there I believe it either I think 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.080 gets into the muscle, but somehow it gets into the nerves. Yeah, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.560 and it has to climb the nerve pathways back up 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:55.800 to the central nervous system to get into the brain. 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:58.720 But anyway, here here, Ahmed goes on describing something I 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.000 thought was really interesting that I don't think I was 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.080 aware of before, uh Ahmed rights. In neuroscience, we can 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:10.200 use this feature to trace what upstream neurons synapse onto 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.480 an area or population of interest, using a rabies virus 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.520 whose genome has been tweaked so that instead of just 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.119 being instructions that to a host cell say make more 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:25.080 rabies virus, they say make more rabies virus and a 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:30.239 fluorescent protein. This labels the neurons with that fluorescent protein 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:34.080 as the virus goes up. Make the virus deficient in 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.079 a crucial piece of machinery. Added only to the cells 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:39.920 of interest, and you can get fancier and ensure that 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.680 it will only be able to jump one synapse, thereby 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.200 only labeling the neurons that directly link up to the 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.360 ones you're interested in. More generally, this is a good 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.000 example of a theme and research. So many of the 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.920 tools we use in the lab are adapted from nature. 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:00.160 Everybody knows about PCR now thanks to COVID, but the 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:04.600 first polyme race enzyme used in PCR was from hot 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:09.600 springs bacteria. Oh yeah, that's the thermos aquaticus from Yellowstone right, 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.000 um Ahmed writes. Our own polyme races couldn't stand the 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:18.240 high temperatures required, but after all, that's what the bacteria 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.240 evolved for. This is also a good case to bring 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:25.280 up when people complain about money wasted in quotes on 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.720 unapplied science without an immediate payoff. The people first studying 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.839 hot springs microbes had no way of foreseeing that this 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.800 is what they would be applied to anyway, protein engineering 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.120 has made a lot of strides recently, but until we 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.240 can design them better a priori, our best bet remains 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:46.400 tweaking what we find around us. Keep up the great work. Ahm, ed, Well, 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.320 this is a great email, im it yet And I'm 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.880 I'm fully on board with you. You know, I think 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.600 studying nature, even if you don't see an immediate financial 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.280 payoff to that research is is always a great thing 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.280 to do. Uh, you don't know what other in formation 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.040 it will lead to down the line or other applications. 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.720 And as for this application of the rabies virus, yeah, 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.280 I was not aware of this before, but I looked 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.200 this up and this is really interesting that you can 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:17.320 use the rabies virus to trace natural pathways between neurons, 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.359 So you can use the virus in a modified form 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.200 to study the nervous system so we understand it better. 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:27.520 And yeah, that's wonderful. A great and benevolent application for 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:29.719 for the virus that causes one of the worst diseases 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:38.400 known to humankind. Alright, this next message comes from Brett. 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.760 Brett says, Hello, gentlemen, I hope you've all been doing well. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.520 Quick comment on the thirst episodes. Excellent way you guys 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.320 have described what's going on in the biological responses we 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:51.120 have when we're thirsty, and how to stop that thirst. 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:55.320 One comment regarding de ionized water, I believe in water 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:58.880 is distilled through a column and condensed, some minerals can 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.680 be carried over in low amounts due to a phenomenon 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:06.359 called a zeotrope. This occurs when water coordinates with another 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:11.200 chemicals like say tallween, and lowers the boiling point of 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:14.919 the tollween. I believe some minerals might also perform the 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.520 same way. If water is treated by reverse osmosis, this 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.200 is more of a true way to remove all minerals 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.200 to obtain a more pure form of water. The issue 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.200 with water that has been treated this way is it 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.880 can be harmful to ingest due to the water stability 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.680 to remove salts and minerals from our body. Drinking de 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.839 ionized water or water by reverse osmosis is not recommended. 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:40.279 Keep it for your humidifier. As for the taste of water, 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:43.960 it seems every municipality has its own unique flavor profile, 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:46.640 and we all seem to get numb to it. Then 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.200 we visit somewhere and we notice those low concentrations of 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:54.360 minerals that are different. I've heard of breweries adding minerals 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.359 to try to mimic a certain flavor profile they're trying 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.919 to achieve. I guess Brett means from from a different 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.839 city where the beer was originally made. We can definitely 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.919 tell the difference looking forward to the third episode. I 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.960 guess this came after the second cheers Brett, Well Brett, 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.239 along the lines of what you say about breweries. Uh. 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.600 I don't know if if there was ever a definitive 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.880 answer to this controversy, but I remember reading years ago 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:23.919 some arguments about the the cause of the the the 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.160 reasoning behind the fact that pizza and bagels are inarguably 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.680 better in New York City than anywhere else in the world. 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:34.800 And the argument was that that maybe it's because of 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.479 the New York City tap water. The city tap water 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.640 that's used to hydrate the dough for the bagels has 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.120 some special New York e goodness to it. Uh. And 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.640 I think the reasoning under that was that New York 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.080 has unusually soft water, meaning that it is low in 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:54.800 certain minerals like calcium, and that low mineral content has 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.600 some mitigating effect on gluten formation, which I think would 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.760 basically make the bread products softer and more fluffy to 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.840 the tooth. So I don't know. It. Intuitively seems kind 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:07.680 of unlikely to me that it would make that big 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.400 of a difference city by city by itself, but I 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.080 am not an expert in does so maybe I don't know. 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.160 New York listeners, do you have opinions on this? Right? 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:17.920 Right in? Tell me? Tell me what's going on with 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:20.200 your bagel, is your pizza crust? What makes them special? 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.320 Is it? Is it just different technique or or is 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:31.960 that water really magic? All right? This next message comes 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.480 from Eric. Eric says, Hi, Rob and Joe great episodes 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.120 on Thirst. You talked about tea at the beginning of 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.840 part two and mentioned that you can make tea. Uh, 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:42.840 I guess that's sort of tea and quotes out of 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.560 a lot of things. I drink lots of tea, including 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.640 actual black tea, herbal tea, and mint. In Robert Jordan's 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:52.760 Wheel of Time series, one group of people who had 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.520 never seen tea before referred to it as leaf soup, 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.240 which made me laugh, and then it made me wonder, 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.600 where exactly is the boundary between tea and soup? You 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.720 could in theory have made have a soup made only 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.040 of vegetable broth? Could that be considered a tea? I 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.360 assume that if it has chunks of vegetable in it, 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.400 that would make it definitely a soup. My infuser has 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.080 leaked bits of tea leaves and it turned my tea 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:22.560 into soup several times. I think you can go even farther, Eric, 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:26.240 and there there is certainly a I think this is 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.280 a British expression to say, like beef tea or meat tea. 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:33.960 It's basically just beef broth. Yeah, I know we've gotten 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.080 at least one message from a listener about that before. 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.679 There's some kind of beef tea and biscuits thing. Anyway, 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:41.960 Eric goes on, I've lived in several places, each with 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.280 its own flavor of water. Central California gets most of 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.080 its water from mountain streams that flow into reservoirs, and 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:51.160 it typically has a nice, mineral rich flavor. But if 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.640 you get your water from a well, it's often heavy 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.840 with nitrogen, which and Eric says this gives it a 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:58.959 more bitter taste that I've got a note about that 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:03.679 after after email, Eric says, Los Angeles water basically tastes 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.400 like pool water. I've also spent a lot of time 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.560 in Imperial County. I guess that's probably California, incidentally, a 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:14.080 land rich in tumbleweeds, and the water here is incredibly 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.880 alkaline and very bitter. While the tap water is completely potable. 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.080 Everyone recoils at the idea of drinking it. Everyone I 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.560 know uses a filter or drinks bottled water. Oh. But 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.880 then Eric says that the same water, the bitter water, 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.000 is used to grow a large number of vegetables that 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:34.079 are eaten throughout the United States. Uh. And then finally 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.200 Eric says, speaking of water and crops. Not sure if 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:39.679 I mentioned it in a previous message, but I think 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.120 you could do a full episode, if not too on dirt. 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:44.880 There's such a wide range of dirt, from all the 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.360 types of soils, sands, extraterrestrial regulith and dust in our 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.000 houses to the grime on our clothes. All the best, 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.960 keep up the good work, Eric, Well, thanks Eric the 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.280 great email. The one thing I might wanna differ with 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:00.880 you on here is whether the nitre gen content of 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.360 well water would be the thing that makes it bitter. 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.600 Wellwater can indeed have a lot of nitrogen compounds in it, 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.280 in the forms of nitrite and nitrate. I think especially 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.440 like as a result of nearby use of fertilizers and 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:16.800 manure in the in the soil, but I think there 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.000 can be other causes as well, like sewer, inseptic leakage, 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.640 and grows stuff like that. But you can end up 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.559 with nitrogen compounds in your well water. But all the 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.640 sources that I was reading about this made clear to 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.280 stress that these compounds typically have no taste or smell, 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.040 So I don't know if that's always the case, but 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:38.720 it's at least commonly reported that they have no taste 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:40.440 or smell, And I think that would be an important 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.800 fact because it means they can be present in unsafe 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:47.199 quantities in well water and go totally unnoticed when you're 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.960 actually drinking it. So don't you shouldn't just assume that 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.400 if if it was there, you'd be able to taste it. 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:56.679 Uh And and this can actually be dangerous because if 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.400 you consume too much nitrate or nitrite it and cause 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.680 a condition called I'm not sure how to pronounce this, 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:08.160 but I think it's like methemoglobinemia. Methemoglobinemia, which is basically 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:13.160 where your red blood cells have difficulty transporting oxygen because 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.400 of the presence of too much nitrite, and that that 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.360 nitrite causes oxidation of the hemoglobin uh and it it 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.360 makes your blood not work. Basically. You can read case 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.240 reports about this that sometimes have very weird features describing 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.319 people's skin turning blue and things like that. So you 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.040 definitely don't want that to happen. And uh and and 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:33.840 the bottom line is if you get your water from 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.200 a well, you should get it tested on a regular 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.840 basis to to make sure that there is not significant 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.920 nitrogen compound contamination. And I guess probably for other things too, 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.000 but yeah, if you if you have well water, get 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:56.320 it tested. Okay. And this next message also comes from 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.840 an Eric, a completely different one. So the second Rick says, 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.000 one thing I thought of during your podcast about thirst 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.559 was how at one point in college, I had the 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.360 thought that drinking really cold water would be a decent 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.480 way to burn some extra calories in a day, since 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.959 my body has to raise that cold water up to 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:18.559 body temperature, and one kilo calorie of food value is 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:22.319 the energy used to raise one kilogram or leader of 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:26.360 water one degree celsius. Drinking cold water let's say two 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.679 degrees c and bringing that up to body temperature about 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:33.600 thirty seven degrees c. That's thirty five calories per leader 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.280 of water. If I crank through six liters of ice 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.240 water in a day, then boom, that's two hundred calories 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:42.040 burned right there. I imagine there are some flaws in 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.080 my math, or that it's a bit more complicated than 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.040 that doing the full energy balance of my body, maintaining 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:50.600 its core temperature and so forth, But I still think 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.640 it would be at least close to that number of calories. 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.719 Big fan of the show, Eric Well, Eric, I went 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:58.760 digging around to try to find a good answer to 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.960 this question, see if there was anything authoritative about how 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:05.240 many calories you burn by drinking very cold water. And 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:09.040 I think my conclusion after everything I've read, is that yes, 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.680 drinking ice water as opposed to room temperature water will 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.480 put demands on your metabolism. You will burn a few 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.560 extra calories, but probably not enough to be a really 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.760 significant source of of a deficit for weight loss. Uh, 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.760 if you're just drinking a normal amount of water. Now, 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:27.840 obviously that raises questions of like, what is a normal 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.360 amount of water to drink? In a day. That's actually 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:32.520 kind of hard to pin down. Some of the most 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:37.280 commonly cited figures are from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:42.280 and Medicine Table on Dietary Reference Intakes, and that table 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.560 I think this was compiled in the early two thousands, 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.719 so I don't know how current it is, but it's 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.360 still referenced a lot, and that recommends a daily water 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.440 intake of three point seven leaders per day for adult 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.679 men and two point seven leaders per day for adult women. 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.320 But obviously that that's not something you need to measure 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.880 out and be strict about. And these are just averages, 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.319 so there's gonna be a lot of individual variation, and 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.400 of course variation based on what you're doing, if you're 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.320 sweating exercise, if you're on the hot sun and things 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:12.640 like that. Now, obviously you can drink more water than 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:15.640 the than the average daily recommended intake, but you do 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:19.400 need to be careful there, since it is actually quite 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.280 possible to hurt or kill yourself by drinking too much 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.760 water too fast. One of the big risks of drinking 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:30.160 too much water too fast is hypetremia, where the salt 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:34.280 concentration in your blood gets too low, and your kidneys 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.720 can't purge the extra water fast enough to keep your 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.720 salt osmolality at the right level, So there's a build 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.880 up of fluid inside cells. It makes your cells swell, 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.760 I think, including the brain cells, and that's just that's 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:50.680 really bad. So this is something that's also difficult to 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.200 put a universally applicable number on. Uh. Several sources I 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:57.200 was looking at side of study from warning that you 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.360 you don't want to drink more than something like zero 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.920 point eight leaders to one leader of water per hour, 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.840 since this exceeds what the kidneys can safely eliminate. But again, 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:10.480 I think that's something that's it's hard to put a 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.600 very solid number on it. But generally I think you 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:18.120 just want to stay away from chugging ridiculous amounts of water. Also, 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.920 big caveat. As always, you know, I'm not a doctor, 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.320 we're not doctors. This is not a medical advice show, 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:27.480 so you should not be uh making any medical decisions 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.680 based on anything you heard here. But yeah, as far 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:33.960 as I can tell, there's basically you know, there's no 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.960 harm in drinking a normal amount of cold water, and 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:42.440 that will help you create a calorie deficit but maybe 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.600 not as much as you would buy. For example, refraining 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.640 from eating a couple of fun sized candy bars. Uh. 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.360 And whatever you do, just please don't give yourself water intoxication, 0:15:53.520 --> 0:16:02.320 trying to lose weight? Okay, onto some responses to Weird 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:06.040 How Cinema. Both of these were about the episode we 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:09.160 did on The Beast with Five Fingers, the Peter Laurie 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:13.200 movie about a severed hand that goes up, strikes out 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.320 on its own, and goes on a choking spree. When 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:18.800 we did that episode about the Beast with Five Fingers, 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:23.120 we were talking about other killer hand movies and we 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:27.440 got to a nine stone or horror comedy called Idle 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:32.440 Hands starring Devin Sawa and Jessica Alba. And Rob had 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.880 a very strong memory that Jake Busey was in this movie. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.960 I argued that Jake Busey was not in this movie. 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.680 Now here comes our listener Thomas, to solve the mystery. 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:47.240 Thomas says, I'm yelling into my headphones here you think 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:52.440 you remember Jake Busey because there's an amazing cameo The Offspring. 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.200 The band The Offspring are playing the high school Halloween 0:16:56.320 --> 0:17:00.720 dance and Dexter Holland gets scalped by the possessed hand 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:05.840 on stage. Dexter and Jake are extremely similar looking, Thomas Thomas, 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.760 I think you're exactly right. That must be it. So 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.879 in this movie, somehow they got the offspring the very 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.760 very popular sort of pop punk band to to play 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.320 this high school dance on a basketball court they're doing. 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:21.119 I remember they're doing a cover of I Want to 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:24.440 Be Sedated by the Ramons, And yeah, the lead singer 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.840 does have significant Jake bauc overlap. I think they both 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:34.080 have the same platinum blonde hair, spiky with alarming vertical dimension. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.440 This next message is from a listener who wanted to 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.440 stay anonymous, but she had some really great insights in 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.159 response to that same Weird House Cinema episode on the 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.840 Beast with five Fingers. She starts off by saying that 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.640 she's been listening for several years and introduces her credentials 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.720 as a trained pianist who works in a musical academic setting, 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.680 and then moves on to our comments about the movie. 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:07.440 The writer seems well informed about certain oddly specific aspects 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:11.440 of piano playing. With one hand, it's much easier to 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:15.040 play something which sounds reasonably impressive with one's left hand 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.480 than with the right, no matter which hand is dominant 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.000 in everyday life. This is generally supposed to be because 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:27.400 the thumb is quote heavier, essentially louder than the other fingers, 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:31.440 and therefore carries a melodic line better, and the left 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:35.520 hand thumb plays higher notes where the melodic line generally lies, 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.520 whereas the right hand thumb plays the base. The relative 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:43.639 independence of the melodic thumb is also helpful. And yes, 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.320 this did correspond to the movie, because the one handed 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.600 pianist in in the beast Um he played with his 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.399 left hand. That was where all of his power and 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:56.119 skill was concentrated, as if by magic. But the listener 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.280 goes on. There are quite a few historical precedents of 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:03.000 left hand pieces, and some but fewer for the right 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.720 hand alone. The most well known are probably Johannes Brahms 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.680 transcription of the box Shikan for solo violin for the 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:15.399 left hand, Revels Piano Concerto for the left hand, and 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:20.399 the Scriabin Prelude and nocturn Opus number nine for the 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:44.000 left hand scrib and a Russian composer and really interesting 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.399 biographical details that I want to get to after this 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:50.360 emails over, but the listener continues. Scriabin, like so many 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:54.200 of us, hurt his right hand practicing and didn't want 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:58.960 to stop playing, even temporarily. Unfortunately, most people can't compose 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.600 such wonderful music for themselves. A lot of these pieces 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.040 are not immediately audible as being played by a single hand, 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:10.320 especially for non pianists. The revel and an impressive list 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.800 of other pieces was written for Paul Wittgenstein, brother of 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.240 the philosopher, who lost his right arm in the First 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:22.159 World War and continued to perform as a concert pianist afterwards. 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:27.440 More recently, both Gary Graffman and Leon Fleischer lost some 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.840 or all of the use of their right hands due 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:34.680 to probably in Graftman's case and certainly in Fleischer's focal dystonia, 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.080 and they have both performed the left handed repertoire for 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:41.280 many years. Sorry for the long email. It was very 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.240 exciting for me to hear about a horrific and independent 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:47.359 left hand, as I sometimes feel like mine is also 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:51.320 possessed by a demon. Finally, it's very unusual to make 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:54.400 past one's early thirties as a musician without at least 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:58.200 one significant period of injury. My first came during my 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:01.840 bachelor's degree, when a burnt finger on my right hand 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:05.639 became severely infected because I was too stupid to stop 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.760 practicing for a few days, and pianos shared by a 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:12.600 hundred and twenty people are in obvious hindsight hotbeds of 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:16.200 all kinds of bacteria and so forth. I recovered quickly, 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:19.399 but spent five weeks variously having fits of hysterics and 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:23.240 becoming acquainted with the repertoire for the left hand. Thank 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:25.960 you again for the fascinating podcast. I so much enjoy 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:28.159 learning more about all kinds of things which are very 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:30.280 far away from my daily life, and it was a 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:33.119 pleasant surprise to hear about something a bit more familiar. 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.159 All the best, Well, thank you so much for the email. 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:40.000 To follow up with another interesting tidbit, since you raised 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.240 the subject of Alexander Scriabin. If anybody out there is 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:47.600 not familiar with this Russian pianist and composer, uh Scriabin 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:50.760 is not only interesting for having written piano music for 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:53.800 the left hand alone, but he is also the only 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:57.080 person I know of who ever tried to compose a 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:00.920 literal eschatological event. If you want to learn more about this, 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:07.040 look up Scriabin's work called The Mysterium. It was unfinished 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.000 at the time of his death. I think heavily influenced 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:15.080 by Scriabin's fascination with occultism, mysticism, UH and the new 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:19.280 religion at the time of Theosophy. But essentially the Mysterium, 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.320 as far as I understand, it was supposed to be 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:24.920 like the artwork to end all artworks, and in fact, 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:27.280 to end the world. It was going to be a 0:22:27.440 --> 0:22:31.440 musical and visual performance staged in the foothills of the 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:35.399 Himalayas that would be so awesome that it would summon 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:38.800 the end of the eon and transform all matter into spirit. 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:42.359 I found a description of what Scriabin intended for the 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:45.000 at least the first part of this event, in a 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:50.240 book called Scriabin, a Biography by Faubian Bowers, published in 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:55.000 nineteen So he's describing here a portion of the Mysterium 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:57.800 that the composer left behind when he died, and this 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:01.720 part was called the Prefatory Action. In the Prefatory Action 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:05.480 would still be a stage work of immense proportion and conception. 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:09.320 Bells suspended from the clouds in the sky would summon 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.800 the spectators from all over the world. The performance was 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:15.399 to take place in a half temple to be built 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:18.840 in India. A reflecting pool of water would complete the 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:22.760 divinity of the half circle stage. Spectators would sit in 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:26.520 tears across the water. Those in the balconies would be 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:30.840 the least spiritually advanced. The seating was strictly graded, ranking 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:34.120 radially from the center of the stage, where Scriabin would 0:23:34.119 --> 0:23:39.080 sit at the piano, surrounded by hosts of instruments, singers, dancers. 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:43.280