1 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: This is ridiculous history, a show based in Atlanta, a 2 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: city that loves brunch. I promise I'm going somewhere with this. Hi. 3 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: My name is ben my name is nol and ben 4 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: um egged me up before you go go there we go, 5 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: There we go. Lego my egg, egg go give me 6 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: back my eggs? Yes, okay, Well after the show, you'll 7 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,639 Speaker 1: pry these eggs from my cold dead hands. Eggs. Right, 8 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: when you think of brunch, or when you think of breakfast, 9 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: you typically think of a few things, and one of 10 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: the main stars of the breakfast pantheon is going to 11 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: be the humble, ubiquitous egg. Are you? Are you an 12 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: egg fan Benedict Florentine omelets scrambled a poached egg fan 13 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: of recent times and not like a good old boiled 14 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: egg myself. So yes, yes, I'm an eggenthusiast. You're an 15 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: egg enthusiastal Earlier before we hopped on air for this episode, 16 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: we were talking about the type of food preparation known 17 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: as deviling right, and we had to look it up 18 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: because it's strange when you think of deviled eggs or 19 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: deviled ham, and there's a curious story for that. But 20 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,759 Speaker 1: that is not the subject of today's episode. Today's episode 21 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: hinges upon the importance of eggs and you, being enthusiast 22 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: right bit of an egghead. You've been in situations where 23 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: you have to wait in line for brunch or something. 24 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: But you're not the type of guy to fight over 25 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: an egg, are you. I also very rarely will wait 26 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: in line for anything if the line is too long. 27 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: I'm I'm, I'm moving on and that's mine. That's the 28 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: words I live by. But no, I mean, you know, 29 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: you notice how whenever there's a storm and here especially 30 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: or like a snowstorm, what's the first thing to go 31 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: in the grocery stores? They run through the dairy and 32 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: the uh and the bakery in the middle, and the bread, 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: eggs in the milk food staples. And back in San Francisco, California, 34 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: during the gold Rush time in the early eighteen fifties, 35 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: a really really really important staple food, a very very 36 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: crucial source of protein during a time where that was 37 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: very scarce. Because the gold Rush brought out thousands and 38 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: thousands of prospectors to San Francisco, which at the time 39 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: was a relatively small city that just did not have 40 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: the infrastructure or the resources to support those people. Right, 41 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: Because the forty Niners, as they were often called, these 42 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: gold rush prospectors were coming from across the country to 43 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: gamble on the chance of striking it big, but discovered 44 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: in a vein of gold. And as we know now, 45 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: it's true that some people did find gold, most did not. 46 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: We should be very clear about that. But as Noll 47 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: has begun to paint the picture for us here, what 48 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: they all found was a very difficult environment to live in. 49 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: You know, there were a lot of people asking for 50 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: the same resources, and as we've seen in other historical instances, 51 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: this triggers inflation, This triggers price gouging. The otherwise humble 52 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: food stuff known as the egg, available throughout the country 53 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: everywhere else, became a relatively rare and high priced commodity. 54 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: It's true, like you say, you know, everyone wasn't gonna 55 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: strike it rich. In fact, most didn't. In an article 56 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: from the San Francisco Gate by Gary kim Ya, he 57 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: describes this phenomenon as that there was more money to 58 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: be made from vote mining the miners than from actual prospecting. So, 59 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: you know, to fill that demand, little food huts kind 60 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: of fly by none operations came up overnight, and all 61 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: kinds of different businesses sprung up in order to capitalize 62 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: on this boom. And one thing they needed. We're cooking ingredients, 63 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: right And there's an excellent article by Emmilin Roude writing 64 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: over at Time called the Worst that can Happen when 65 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: egg prices get too high. In this article, she discusses 66 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: some of the specifics and nuts and bolts of this 67 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:42,239 Speaker 1: skyrocketing food situation. One of the primary commodities that shot 68 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: up in value was the egg, and it rose to 69 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,599 Speaker 1: the price of a dollar per egg in the eighteen fifties, 70 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,919 Speaker 1: which is crazy expensive now, but let's consider that in 71 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,280 Speaker 1: our time that's roughly the equivalent of thirty dollars per 72 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: an egg. Man, I don't I could ever want an 73 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: egg that much. No, I don't you know. I don't 74 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:07,279 Speaker 1: know what I would do with it. I would feel 75 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: bad eating it. I would feel like I have to 76 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: put it in a in a like a box or terrarium. 77 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: But I guess we have to remember here too, this 78 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: was not the price was not that way because it 79 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: was necessarily a delicacy. There just weren't enough to go around, 80 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: so it was a scarcity issue, and there was still 81 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: a good shipping infrastructure in place at the time, so 82 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: eggs were being shipped in by the millions from across 83 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: the Pacific, even all the way from the East Coast, 84 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: and it still was not enough to satiate the teeming 85 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: mass of people there. And that's why San Francisco eventually 86 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: turned its eyes west to the islands of the Pacific, 87 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: to a very specific island. That's right, There is an island, 88 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,280 Speaker 1: or a system of islands, just about thirty miles outside 89 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: of the Golden gate Um in San Francisco called the 90 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: Fair Lawns, and they are actually the site of the 91 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: largest colony of sea birds anywhere in the contiguous United States. 92 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: And those birds are the common mures. Yes, the common 93 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: mures are the star of today's show. The the islands 94 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:21,280 Speaker 1: themselves are home to a little less than four hundred 95 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: different species of birds, and the birds at this time 96 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: we're doing quite well because during the maritime fur trade, 97 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: Russian sealers seal hunters got rid of the vast majority 98 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: of the mammals that would be there, right, that's right, 99 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: But there's still to this day these islands are home 100 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: to tons of different marine creatures like sea lions, elephant 101 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:48,719 Speaker 1: seal which can grow to be the size of like 102 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: a van um, and swimming around the edges you got 103 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: great white sharks, yes, and whales, which I think would 104 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: be so cool to see in person. There's actually an 105 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: article the New York Times where Bonnie Suiti um takes 106 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: a whale uh watching expedition out to these islands and 107 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: spots all kinds of fantastic wildlife. Um. The islands were 108 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: called the Devil's Teeth back in the early eighteen fifties 109 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: UM by sailors, and that's because they were particularly treacherous 110 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: and they caused quite a few shipwrecks. And it's true 111 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: these are very intense, jagged looking cliffs. I think the 112 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: highest point is three hundred feet UM. And they were 113 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: actually formed uh between eighty two hundred million years ago 114 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,559 Speaker 1: UM when the Pacific plate collided with the North American plate, 115 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:48,239 Speaker 1: and they weren't always islands, they eventually drifted and became 116 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: islands because of plate tectonic activity. In fact, they were 117 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: largely responsible for blocking the view of the San Francisco 118 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,040 Speaker 1: Harbor to Spanish galleons that would sail through there for 119 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: two hundred years. Yeah, and now, thankfully we'll give you 120 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: a spoiler alert here, friends and neighbors. Uh. Now, thankfully 121 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: the marine mammals have made a return to the island. 122 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: But in the mid eighteen hundreds this population was in 123 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: serious trouble, which was good in the short term for 124 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: the birds. Who was literally for the birds. I was 125 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: waiting on that one. And so Noel, let's let's go 126 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: back to what you mentioned. Specifically, we're looking at a 127 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: bird called the common mure m u r r E. 128 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: It's an arc a u k. This large arc sits 129 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: upright on sea cliffs and people will describe it as 130 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: the northern version of a penguin. And we've got some 131 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: pretty we've got some pretty cool info on it, courtesy 132 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 1: of the good folks over at Audubon dot Org. Noel 133 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: and I and our super producer, Casey Pegram. I can't 134 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: believe we forgot to shot him out at the beginning. No, 135 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: it's cool. We saved it. We saved it. We say, 136 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: it's a cold open. So these these birds, according to 137 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: this stuff we were watching before we went into the 138 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: studio today, Uh, they look kind of awkward on land. 139 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:17,959 Speaker 1: Not a pun, but it could be. Yeah, there's sort 140 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: of like these unwieldy penguin like creatures. And they do 141 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: fly um pretty poorly. Uh, they're much better at swimming 142 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: and diving to catch fish. And they nest on these 143 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:35,439 Speaker 1: really really steep and slippery cliffs on the side of 144 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:38,320 Speaker 1: these islands. And it's it's really a thing to behold. 145 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 1: Ben there are thousands and thousands of them nesting and 146 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 1: really close quarters on these super treacherous cliffs. Uh not, 147 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: it's a very comfortable situation at all, right, right, and 148 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: not particularly inviting to us humans unless we were driven 149 00:09:54,800 --> 00:10:00,319 Speaker 1: there out of desperation. In these nests, most importantly, they 150 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: have eggs. Uh. They typically have one egg, and the 151 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: incubation period is about thirty seven days. After that, the 152 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: young when they're born, they leave the nest between fifteen 153 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: and twenty five days later. The eggs themselves, however, are 154 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 1: very interesting and they do not look in any way 155 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: related to the chicken eggs that were so common and 156 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: so familiar to the San Franciscans of the time. And 157 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: first of all, they're about twice as big, and they 158 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 1: are oddly pointed on one end. Yes, they are puriform, 159 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 1: which is the word we learned for today's episode. Oh 160 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: my gosh, I don't know that one, Ben, it's what 161 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: it sounds like on the tin. It's that's slightly rounded, 162 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: pyramid like top. They look like cone heads. That's what 163 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 1: they look like. But they're also quite beautiful. They they 164 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: are speckle. They can be light blue, and apparently some 165 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: ornithologists believe that each one had a unique speckled pattern 166 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,320 Speaker 1: that allowed them to be identified by the parent. Because 167 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: they're nesting in such close quarters, if they didn't have 168 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: some distinguishing factor, that might be hard for them to 169 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: know which which egg belonged to them. Yeah, it looks 170 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: kind of like a Jackson Pollock painting. And I think 171 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: a new one on every egg. And I think you 172 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: and I were both surprised when we learned that there 173 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:29,720 Speaker 1: had been intense research into the reasoning behind this this 174 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:33,560 Speaker 1: egg shape and design. So originally people believe the shape 175 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: of the egg was an adaptation to prevent it from 176 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: rolling off the cliff. That's right, and that sort of 177 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: evolved over time. UM. It was debunked in the mid 178 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds when um naturalists believed that the eggs shape 179 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: would allow it to roll in a perfect arc that 180 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: would keep it from tumbling off of the cliffs, like 181 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: you said. But then a British ornithologist named Tim burkehead 182 00:11:55,400 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: Um published a study leaving seen that Um sort of 183 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:04,440 Speaker 1: debunked that one. He says, it's a combination of cleanliness 184 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: and protection because the common mirrors are such horrible, horrible, 185 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: ghastly flyers. They can crean into other nests. And his 186 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:18,680 Speaker 1: theory is that the shape allows it to make better 187 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:25,000 Speaker 1: contact with the ground, therefore offering more protection against potential collisions. Yeah, 188 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 1: increasing surface area. And we should mention that this ornithologist, 189 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: Tim burkehead has studied mirrors for forty four years. He 190 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,440 Speaker 1: knows his mirrors. He's the mirror guy. I always have 191 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: so much respect for someone who has a specific area 192 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: of expertise, and he's almost fifty years into the bird game. Man. 193 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: He also has some great points. I appreciate that you 194 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: mentioned cleanliness because, as he's quoted in this article from Audubon, UH, 195 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: the other feature of mirror breeding, Ledges, says Birkhead, is 196 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: that they are invariably filthy. Sometimes it's like going into 197 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:03,560 Speaker 1: a pig sty. It's like a toilet, it's like a 198 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 1: mountain toilet. There are a lot of things, but there 199 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't be great roommates these mirrors. He says that the 200 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: guana and dirt that encrusted and incubating egg can clog 201 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,959 Speaker 1: up the pores that allow chicks to breathe and also 202 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: cause infection. And that's when he found that it wasn't 203 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:21,840 Speaker 1: just the rough shape of the egg, but it was 204 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: also the concentration of pores and where they occur. The 205 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 1: greatest concentration pours from your egg is around the egg's 206 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: large blunt end, and it's raised above the ground by 207 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: that downward angle tip. Okay, we have derailed ourselves with 208 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: some really fascinating stuff about the science behind these creatures 209 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,679 Speaker 1: and their eggs, and a little bit about these islands. 210 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: But what was the deal ben with the situation the 211 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,840 Speaker 1: scarcity of eggs that caused folks to brave these treacherous 212 00:13:48,880 --> 00:14:00,199 Speaker 1: waters and these slippery slopes to get those delectable eggs. 213 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:04,959 Speaker 1: So this is where the entrepreneurial spirit kicks in. Six 214 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: men decided to profit from these eggs that were just 215 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: a little less than thirty miles off the coast. In 216 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one, they sailed to the Fara Lawn Islands. 217 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: They decided that they owned the islands. They gave themselves ownership. 218 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: Just you can do that, you could, apparently, I guess 219 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: you just gotta like defend it, which which we'll get 220 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: into in a minute, right right. They gave themselves company 221 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: shares and they started attempting to take these eggs with 222 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: the with the intention being to sell them in San 223 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: Francisco despite their strange appearance. Oh and we almost forgot 224 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: the coolest part about the eggs. The blood red yolk, 225 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 1: blood red yoke, and apparently a slight fishy taste. But 226 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: it it hit like gangbusters because apparently the chickens, what 227 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: little there were in San Francisco, were eaten, so there 228 00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 1: were no more hands to lay eggs. So this was 229 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:03,479 Speaker 1: a really big deal. They had a source relatively close by, 230 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: although a treacherous trip to get there and to get 231 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: him back. Um. And the guy that that that headed 232 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: up this expedition was a guy by the name of 233 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: Doc Robinson, and he was a pharmacist and he and 234 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: his crew made this journey and described it as being 235 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: a hellish experience. Uh, and decided they were not going 236 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: to do it again. But they would you know, start 237 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: a company and hire people to do it for them, 238 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 1: And that was the impetus for the Egg Company. It's 239 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 1: also been called the Pacific Egg Company um ink Pacific 240 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: Egg Company Incorporated um but it was the first of 241 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: its kind and it very quickly bred kind of copycats 242 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: that were like, hey, you can't own a whole island 243 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: that's not your island, and where we're gonna, we're gonna 244 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: come at you, right. Rival firms began to rise to 245 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: the marketplace. These At the beginning, the Egg Company was 246 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: doing quite well. As Neal said, they were going like gangbusters. 247 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: They were climbing up these stiff, sleek cliffs and then 248 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: they were getting swarmed by all the birds there. Uh. 249 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: Then they would gather the freshest eggs and really brutal 250 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,680 Speaker 1: way they would stomp on the ones that were days 251 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 1: old so that they would have to lay a new 252 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: egg because like you were saying, these birds typically only 253 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 1: lay one egg per season, but you know, when you 254 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: smash it, they're gonna lay another. One my favorite part 255 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 1: about this, and try to imagine these folks. They had 256 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: these special shirts called egg shirts with egg pockets, and 257 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: so you got these pictures of these guys with eggs 258 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 1: stuffed in their shirts. And I found a picture actually 259 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: from a newspaper, from a Richmond, Virginia newspaper from and 260 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: it shows a man falling to his death while having 261 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 1: one of these bizarre looking egg shirts on. He just 262 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: looks totally I don't know, kind of misshapen and bloated 263 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: with eggs all a while, while these common mirrors are 264 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: looking on completely disinterestedly. Yet the demand alone egged them 265 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: on in this dangerous mission. I do not apologize for 266 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: I have to someone. You must be stopped too late. Man, 267 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: I'm holding your hostage. I have all the of all 268 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:22,199 Speaker 1: the eggs. So by h by the early eighteen sixties, 269 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,679 Speaker 1: they did have not just some rival firms, but serious competition. 270 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: And as we alluded to earlier, the egg companies claim 271 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:36,560 Speaker 1: on these islands was pretty dodgy tentative at best, because 272 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:41,919 Speaker 1: just four years later, President James Buchanan had solidified the 273 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: federal government's claim to the land for a lighthouse. So 274 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: they were going up against the Feds, and it all 275 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: came to a head on a summer day in eighteen 276 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:54,680 Speaker 1: sixty three. Just to add a little point of clarity, 277 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,440 Speaker 1: that they were kind of little zones in these islands, 278 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,600 Speaker 1: and some had more of the eggs than others. For 279 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,119 Speaker 1: northern part was considered far less productive in terms of 280 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: eggs and was a lot more treacherous, and Dr Robinson's 281 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: egg company occupied the less treacherous, more productive um part 282 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:19,160 Speaker 1: of the island. So uh, there was a group of interlopers, 283 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: shall we say um, largely Italian in Greek folks, independent 284 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,360 Speaker 1: Italian eggers, they were originally called exactly, they were independent 285 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 1: Italian And there's an interesting political side note on this 286 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:32,400 Speaker 1: that we'll get to a second. But they wrote up 287 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: Dr Robinson's folks yell at them saying, you know, they 288 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: says something like land at your own peril or something 289 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: like that, to which the these interlopers respond that they 290 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: were going to land in spite of hell. And then 291 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: they returned the next day to give that a shot. 292 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: And the paper loved this. Uh. The papers were calling 293 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: it a war in Earnest at the Faro lawns. We 294 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: have a quote from here at seven o'clock yesterday. More 295 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: they tried to land, this being the Italians and the Greeks, 296 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: but we're warned off by the foreman of the egg 297 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 1: company and five other employees. The latter say that the 298 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 1: Italians then commenced firing on the Americans. Several volleys were exchanged. 299 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 1: Edward Perkins, one of the Americans on shore, was shot 300 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,680 Speaker 1: through the stomach and died in a few minutes. Thereafter 301 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,399 Speaker 1: a number of Italians were seen to fall into the 302 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,200 Speaker 1: boat simultaneously with the firing on shore, which is strange 303 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: because we can feel some racial tension or some ethnic 304 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:34,439 Speaker 1: tension that the paper is putting in there. Ultimately, two 305 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 1: men were killed in the conflict, one on each side, 306 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: so one of the egg company members and one of 307 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 1: the Italian eggers. Uh, the leader of the independent folks, 308 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: the one who most probably said we're gonna land here 309 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:51,720 Speaker 1: in spite of hell, was ultimately convicted of murder and 310 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: sent up the river to the state prison for a year, 311 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,440 Speaker 1: just a year, just a year, which makes you makes 312 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,680 Speaker 1: you wonder. And this, even this did not stop the 313 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: demand for these eggs, which were also that yoke was 314 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:06,639 Speaker 1: twice the size of a chicken egg. So it was 315 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: pretty nutritious, a lot of bang for your buck, but 316 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: but pretty pricey, like you're saying, EARI with the inflation 317 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,480 Speaker 1: rate putting in about thirty bucks an egg, although you 318 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: could get a dozen for a dollar in certain circumstances. 319 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,120 Speaker 1: But because of the work that it took to get 320 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: these things, and like you know, people did fall to 321 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:25,640 Speaker 1: their deaths. It's just the great white shark infested waters. 322 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:27,880 Speaker 1: No one was going to part with these things for 323 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: any less than top dollar. Um. There's a really fantastic 324 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,960 Speaker 1: comic that a writer and illustrator from San Francisco named 325 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: Eva chris Anth wrote on her blog farllon egg war 326 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: dot blogspot dot com. She's got all kinds of really 327 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 1: great chronicle or of this whole story, and she talks 328 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,440 Speaker 1: about that racial tension. Um. She has a panel that 329 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: describes three different men. Um, what kind of man would 330 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: risk his life for a sea bird egg? She asks, 331 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: you want to read a couple, Yeah, let's read a 332 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: couple of the first one. Um says this. It's got 333 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: a picture of this man, mustachioed, fair haired man, and 334 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: this is the speech Bubble says, Like many other Northern 335 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: Italians in the years before unification, I fled the forced 336 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: conscription of the Austrian army. Instead, I fought alongside Garibaldi 337 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: in Brazil democracy. I was a fool. Now I see 338 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: the democracy is just an illusion, like justice, salvation and gold. 339 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 1: For how many men will realize such riches? From Brazil, 340 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: I took a job on a whaling ship, the most 341 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 1: beast you'll work on Earth besides this, and when gold 342 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,440 Speaker 1: was found in California, our ship came here. And this 343 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: is coming specifically from a blog in reaction to an 344 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: earlier in PR piece by the Kitchen Sisters that details 345 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,080 Speaker 1: the war. Uh. This, this blog piece from August is 346 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,120 Speaker 1: called what MPR left out because she was actually interviewed 347 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,480 Speaker 1: in that piece for two hours and feels like the 348 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,879 Speaker 1: Kitchen Sisters piece, which is really cool and richly sound design, 349 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,399 Speaker 1: is really really interesting, it does leave out this, uh, 350 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,640 Speaker 1: this racial angle entirely right right, and it's a very 351 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: important part of the story. So our second person says 352 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,119 Speaker 1: he has a a larger mustache, darker hair. He says, 353 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: I fought for Greek independence from Turkey, and we did 354 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:13,200 Speaker 1: free ourselves into hunger, chaos and a corrupt Bavarian monarchy 355 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: and Athens. If you only knew what a mess Europe 356 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: is now and all because of man. But now in 357 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: this strange new land, rich in water, rich in animal 358 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:27,919 Speaker 1: life rich impossibility. I finally feel free here, I dream again. 359 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: Am I wrong to feel hope? And we have one 360 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:35,719 Speaker 1: other paneling the last one. Um is a clean shaven man. 361 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: I'm with a nice pork pie hat kind of situation. 362 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: He says that this is really sad. He says, the 363 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 1: tax collector in Medina tightened up its grip on my 364 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: farm and my family. They finally seized the land the 365 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: day after my son died of malaria. My wife went 366 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,359 Speaker 1: mad and stabbed the tax collector. Then she took her 367 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: own life. I do not know what will happen to 368 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,440 Speaker 1: me in California, but I pray that it does not 369 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: get worse, because trust me, things can always get worse. 370 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: And what what this comic and and most of the 371 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,920 Speaker 1: Continental blog is really about is the fact that these 372 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: men that were uh a working for the egg company 373 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: in the first place, or going independent, trying to go 374 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,880 Speaker 1: independent and fight against the egg company and their dominance, 375 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: their stranglehold over this island, they were just desperate and 376 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: willing to do the work. Yeah, that's that's the thing. 377 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:27,439 Speaker 1: Because you will hear different opinions from various historians and 378 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: researchers on the nature of these Eggman, these these eggers. 379 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,479 Speaker 1: As recently as two thousand five, and author named Susan 380 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,920 Speaker 1: Casey described the eggman as mafioso in her book The 381 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 1: Devil's Teeth. This seems like more of a subjective belief 382 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,680 Speaker 1: rather than something's backed up with primary documentation, because, as 383 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: chrisanth points out, there was not a mafia presence in 384 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:58,880 Speaker 1: California for nearly a century, and in the early eight hundreds, 385 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,680 Speaker 1: most of the Imma insto San Francisco who came from 386 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,160 Speaker 1: Italy came from northern Italy, which did not have the mafia. 387 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 1: And and the thing is, like this egg war, it's 388 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: not really referring to this one battle. I mean, the 389 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: battle was kind of like it bubbled over and there 390 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:16,120 Speaker 1: was actual violence, but there was always a little scraps periodically, 391 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: and there was always that vying for the best real 392 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,920 Speaker 1: estate on this island because the egg company didn't own 393 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,960 Speaker 1: the island, right, not really, they can't. They can't go 394 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: against the Feds with have the more most manpower, I guess. 395 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,639 Speaker 1: And to show how how tense this situation was, there 396 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:35,560 Speaker 1: were also egg pirates, literal egg pirates. There were some 397 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: there were some folks who said you know, why should 398 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: we have to go risk our lives on the slopes 399 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,640 Speaker 1: when we could hang out here on the water and 400 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: just take eggs from boats that were on the way 401 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,680 Speaker 1: back to San Francisco. I read, um, I'm trying to 402 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: find the source. So here it is. It was in 403 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: the time piece. Um. Apparently one expedition during this nesting 404 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: season for these birds. Uh, they would get five hundred 405 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: thousand and eggs, which just goes to show like, how 406 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 1: damn many of these things there were. Because again, typically 407 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: these birds were only laying a single egg per season, 408 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,920 Speaker 1: and this had and as you might assume, detrimental effect 409 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:21,440 Speaker 1: upon the breeding population, this was not a sustainable practice 410 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:25,720 Speaker 1: over the long term. Now, the populations dwindled from hundreds 411 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: of thousands of birds before the egging began in the 412 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: eighteen fifties to fewer than thirty thousand. Luckily for us, 413 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 1: this story of ridiculous history does have a happy ending, 414 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 1: because the birds are still around with the hundreds of 415 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: other seabird species that continue to live and breed on 416 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 1: the island. We're gonna go ahead and tell you it's 417 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,159 Speaker 1: kind of tough to get there. It's really tough to 418 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,640 Speaker 1: get there. And it has been declared a National Wildlife 419 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:02,200 Speaker 1: Refuge site and it is pretty much uninhabited except for 420 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:06,439 Speaker 1: a small research station. Um and the birds are protected 421 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,600 Speaker 1: and you can ask for permission to go to the 422 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: island that is very rarely granted. Appounting right, you and 423 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: I would definitely have to put some planning into it. 424 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,360 Speaker 1: You can see footage of people arriving to the island 425 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 1: and one of the things that struck me was after 426 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,400 Speaker 1: they sail out to the island, they have to get 427 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,520 Speaker 1: in a different boat and be lifted via crane onto 428 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 1: the island. Crane is in a human built crane, not 429 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 1: a not a bird. That would be infinitely cooler. That'd 430 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: be cool of a completely absurd uh. And you know, 431 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:38,160 Speaker 1: sweep sweep the leg, sweep sweep the leg. I can't 432 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: believe did you just cobra kai references? So what we 433 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 1: do also want to point out here is that despite 434 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 1: their success in re growing the population and recovering the 435 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,880 Speaker 1: population of the common mure, the fact remains that as 436 00:26:55,920 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: we record this, there are fewer common mures on the 437 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,439 Speaker 1: island then there were before the Gold Rush, more than 438 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty years ago. Yeah, and there there 439 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 1: had been around four hundred thousand. There's another stat that 440 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: I saw, and it dwindled down to closer to six 441 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:17,160 Speaker 1: thousand because of this just rapacious behavior by these eggers. 442 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,400 Speaker 1: And I have to say, I don't wanna, I don't 443 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,159 Speaker 1: want to put you on the spot here, Nol, but 444 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,080 Speaker 1: it's very interesting to me that your pro egg because 445 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: you're so anti bird. I am very anti bird. Um. 446 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,159 Speaker 1: I Also, when I eat chicken, I don't like to 447 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: think of what it used to be. Yeah, I do 448 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: like chicken, though, um Ben, do you know what actually 449 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:41,160 Speaker 1: finally put a stop to this, uh, this unchecked egging. Well, 450 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,679 Speaker 1: I hope this isn't a quisters segment. I'm gonna say, 451 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: chicken farming. You got it, um, Chicken farming became a 452 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:53,879 Speaker 1: thing in nearby Petaluma and became a huge industry, and 453 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: that took the pressure off for getting that sweet, sweet 454 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,879 Speaker 1: protein thankfully. Yes, And this felt like a too little, 455 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:06,440 Speaker 1: too late situation initially because as we said, the population 456 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: had dropped, but luckily the birds were able to recover. 457 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: And after this titular event, this this war, which lasted 458 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,880 Speaker 1: historians guest around twenty minutes, actually still not the shortest 459 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,760 Speaker 1: war in history, but that's a story for a different day. 460 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: After this war, the eggers continued to work on the 461 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,800 Speaker 1: island for another couple of decades, about twenty years, until 462 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,119 Speaker 1: they were finally evicted in eight eight one. But the 463 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: trade didn't stop even then. It persisted for a number 464 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 1: of years afterward. Yeah, and even today. I mean I've 465 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 1: heard of people going, you know, they visit San Francisco 466 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: or no about like they called summer gull egg season 467 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: or something like that, so you can get you can 468 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: get fresh gull egg. It's probably super illegal. It's poaching, 469 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: I think, right, would you have ever eaten a goal egg? 470 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: I don't know. I think I think the most exotic 471 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:01,160 Speaker 1: egg I've ever eaten was a quail egg. I don't know. 472 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: I don't see why not they It just seems like 473 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 1: they taste weird. I don't know. If it's not an 474 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: endangered species, I think egg wise, I would generally be okay. 475 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: But also when we have been traveling, weather for work 476 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: or weather for fun, anytime we're near a large coastal area, 477 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: goals are like the roughest characters you're gonna meet. I 478 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: was actually in San Francisco a little less than a 479 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: month ago for work and goals. I think are probably 480 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,640 Speaker 1: the source of my bird phobia. And when my grandfather 481 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: when I was a kid, my grandfather UM would have 482 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: the gulls swarm me on the beach. So when I 483 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 1: was in San Francisco, I always look askance, Yeah, you 484 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: could throw bird bread crumbs in the I have this 485 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: memory of being a little kid and seeing these things 486 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 1: die bombing me from the sky. Um, And I think 487 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: that is the source of my my fear. Um. But 488 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: when I'm out west, I always look askance at those 489 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: creepy guys. I feel like they're always trying to come 490 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: at me, their eyeballing me from the side and plan 491 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 1: their attack. That's a harrowing experience. This is the first 492 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: time you told me that story. I'm glad you're okay. 493 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: It might all just be coming back to me now, 494 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: like literally this moment I finally see the source. It's 495 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: like I'm being flooded with all this emotion and memory. 496 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 1: I can tell, I can tell it's it's written in 497 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: large font on your in your body language. But I 498 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,719 Speaker 1: promise you this casey and I and hopefully you as 499 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,680 Speaker 1: well fellow listeners, will protect you and will not throw 500 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,800 Speaker 1: bread at you. Please don't, um Ben. I really enjoyed 501 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 1: this episode. I thought this was a really fascinating story 502 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 1: with a lot of fun little side nuggets. UM. So 503 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 1: I think we can wrap it up, but I would 504 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 1: love it if we could do a couple of listener mails. 505 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 1: That sounds like a great idea. You want to do 506 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 1: one each? That sounds good, sir. I will go first, 507 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 1: Ben to get mine out of the way, because mine 508 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: is a message of shame. UM. J. Robert Joseph wrote 509 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 1: in very kindly, and he mentioned this about our four 510 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: g T forty Enzo Ferrari versus Ford, the second UM 511 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: Podcast episode UM, and he had a little correct and 512 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: for me. He said, quote you mentioned that cars in 513 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:05,280 Speaker 1: the twenty four hour lament went around two fifty miles 514 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: per hour at that time nineteen fifty. Only one car 515 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: had broken the two hundred mile per hour barrier. It 516 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: was the Sunbeam one HP back in nineteen seven, but 517 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,640 Speaker 1: until nineteen eighty seven no other car hit two hundred 518 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,000 Speaker 1: miles per hour with the Ferrari F forty. UM. The 519 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: time period you mentioned in the podcast was circuit nineteen fifty. 520 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 1: At that time, the average lap times of a Laman's 521 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: car was eighty nine miles per hour, with the fastest 522 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,000 Speaker 1: laps being done at hundred and two. Small detail, but 523 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: I'm a little bit of a petrol head. Thank you, 524 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna read you my response that I 525 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,360 Speaker 1: wrote to j Robert Hi there. First off, let me 526 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 1: put on my best Homer Simpson voice when I say 527 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: I am admittedly and I even admitted on the podcast 528 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: not a petrol head, and somehow got that stat utterly wrong. 529 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: I'll be sure, and mentioned on the next one we record, 530 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: thanks for listening, and here I am doing that thing, 531 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,480 Speaker 1: So thank you very much for the correction. You're absolutely right, 532 00:31:55,640 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: and yeah I screwed up. Don't beat yourself up, and 533 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: thanks for checking. I want to okay, Well if you 534 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna throw bread at you either way. We 535 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: had another We had another mentioned that in the two 536 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 1: thousand sixteen Lament that we mentioned towards the end of 537 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: that episode we said Porsha placed first, Porsche placed first 538 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: in its class, and Ford placed first and third in 539 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:26,240 Speaker 1: its class, so it was not all a hard luck story. 540 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:28,760 Speaker 1: But thanks so much for writing in, sir. We have 541 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,800 Speaker 1: one other email that fascinated all three of us, Casey 542 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: Nolan myself, and it is from a you mean Hello. 543 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:37,640 Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the podcast. My name is 544 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,120 Speaker 1: you Me, and I'm a Japanese American raised in the US, 545 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,240 Speaker 1: but born and currently living in Japan. I just finished 546 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:45,680 Speaker 1: listening to the CAPS episode and I wanted to comment 547 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 1: and share some insight into emoji. I'm an English teacher, 548 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: but a believer in descriptivism over prescriptivism when it comes 549 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,960 Speaker 1: to language, which I love that point. I completely agree 550 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 1: with you you Me continues. As I teach in Anish 551 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: school that allows non native teachers. We all use the 552 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: texting app line capital L I N E, which is 553 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: Japanese and predominant form of texting in Asia. But on 554 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,120 Speaker 1: top of that, my main source of understanding emoji use 555 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:14,960 Speaker 1: actually comes from my experience with dating apps. I used 556 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,360 Speaker 1: a few internationally popular ones. I live relatively close to Tokyo, 557 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:20,440 Speaker 1: so I had a few observations I think you might 558 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 1: find interesting. I'm not going to read the whole thing, 559 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,240 Speaker 1: but I'm going to do some excerpts here. Uh the 560 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,480 Speaker 1: hands folded together. These are used to mean please by 561 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:30,880 Speaker 1: Japanese people, often put at the end of the request. 562 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: It's the suggested emoji when I type please into the 563 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: line app, the eggplant emoji, which is infamous here in 564 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 1: the States, by the way, was says, you mean universally 565 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 1: used by creeps outside of Japan, as well as mixed 566 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: Japanese people. But Japanese nationals have no understanding of the 567 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:53,000 Speaker 1: racing meaning unless they have friends overseas. Same with the peach, 568 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: and she goes on to talk about how the tear 569 00:33:56,560 --> 00:34:00,440 Speaker 1: or splash emoji in Japan is used when someone is 570 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 1: feeling awkward, much like other sweat drop emoji. That's an 571 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: anime all the time to do. Whenever you see someone 572 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: that's struggling with something or stressed out, they'll have little 573 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:13,400 Speaker 1: sweat lines coming out of there. Yes, exactly, and uh 574 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: Umi ends by saying another important note, not everyone uses 575 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:20,160 Speaker 1: standard emoji anymore. For example, users of Line will use 576 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:23,560 Speaker 1: their own emoji set called stamps or stickers. There are 577 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,760 Speaker 1: tons of them, and users can even purchase special large 578 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 1: one specific to shows and games they like. I've attached 579 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,680 Speaker 1: screenshots of my own apps showing just the original set 580 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: which we checked out, and uh Umi ends up by saying, 581 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 1: I hope you have a great day regards. Thanks so 582 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,440 Speaker 1: much for writing to us. I I find the evolution 583 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:47,719 Speaker 1: of language, especially in the realm of emoji, endlessly fascinating. Oh. Absolutely, 584 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,719 Speaker 1: And I think too, it's interesting that the set that 585 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 1: comes stock on you know, most phones, um iPhones at 586 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: least um are you know, there are some characters in 587 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,279 Speaker 1: there that are pretty intensely Japanese and that I am 588 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,120 Speaker 1: still not. Like, there's a couple of food items that 589 00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: I don't even think I've ever seen before. One thing 590 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:09,240 Speaker 1: that's funny, and I've probably experienced this to. My girlfriend 591 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:11,880 Speaker 1: has an Android and I have an iPhone. Are emoji 592 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: sets do not match? When I send her something that 593 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:16,359 Speaker 1: looks a certain way for me, it does not look 594 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:18,480 Speaker 1: the same for her. And there are a few that 595 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: have problematic differences. Yes, yeah, I agree. Like there's one 596 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,400 Speaker 1: that's sort of the Spanish dancer lady doing doing like 597 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:30,400 Speaker 1: a move and on her end it's a little like 598 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:32,879 Speaker 1: a little boy doing like like a b boy doing 599 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,440 Speaker 1: hip hop dance moves, um like breakdancing. It's so strange 600 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: because I used to have an Android too, and I 601 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 1: would notice this and when we were in group chats 602 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 1: or something, or when I was texting someone or I 603 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:46,960 Speaker 1: would receive a text and I think, what the what 604 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,880 Speaker 1: the hell is this is this? What story are you 605 00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 1: telling me? I thought we were going to meet at 606 00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:53,920 Speaker 1: the barbecue place. There's another one that like, when it 607 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,239 Speaker 1: comes on my end, it looks like an I roll. 608 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:58,400 Speaker 1: And I said something to her about something that happened 609 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,600 Speaker 1: with my daughter that I was just talking about, you know, 610 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:02,719 Speaker 1: being a dad and saying something dorky, and she sent 611 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:04,560 Speaker 1: me this eye roll and I'm like, that's so mean, 612 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: But it was not. That didn't look that way on 613 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:09,600 Speaker 1: her end. It looked like a wide eyed or happy 614 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,319 Speaker 1: face or something like that. So you know, careful, uh, 615 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 1: Android versus iPhone users, Um, you might be sending mixed 616 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,319 Speaker 1: messages and not even know it. And give somebody the 617 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:22,759 Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt if they send you something that 618 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 1: you think is crazy town. That's true. Elephant's in the 619 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 1: screenshot of what it looks like on my phone back 620 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:29,879 Speaker 1: to her, so that we're on the same page. We've 621 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,320 Speaker 1: kind of learned to do that. That's a good policy, 622 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,759 Speaker 1: and that's where we're going to end our listener mail, 623 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: but not our show. We of course want to thank 624 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,680 Speaker 1: Casey Pegru and we want to thank Alex Williams for 625 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 1: composing that fan favorite theme, and regular contributor Laurie L. Dove, 626 00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:48,920 Speaker 1: who wrote a hundred and fifty years ago Men Killed 627 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,840 Speaker 1: for the eggs of these birds on how stuff works. 628 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:56,960 Speaker 1: And most importantly, you, specifically you, not a general, yes, 629 00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:00,920 Speaker 1: you and you listeners for tuning into a another episode 630 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:05,040 Speaker 1: of ridiculous history. I really hope that you enjoyed this 631 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:09,520 Speaker 1: episode about the egg war, because in our very next episode, 632 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:13,520 Speaker 1: we're going to be diving into another bit of food 633 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:19,799 Speaker 1: crime history. Yeah, with the sorted tale of bootleg Margarine. 634 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:23,560 Speaker 1: I wanted to use remember we're talking about this, I 635 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:25,880 Speaker 1: wanted to use the phrase butter smuggler just because it 636 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,920 Speaker 1: sounded cool. I like it, but it's Margarine. It's okay, 637 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,399 Speaker 1: I just still say it. Butter comes up. Yeah. Yeah, 638 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 1: I'm gonna spoiler. We're gonna be waiting to slip that 639 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,280 Speaker 1: one in there, and we might even have a surprise 640 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 1: guest who you may ask, will this guest be Well, 641 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: there's one way to find out. Come hang out with us. 642 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:43,760 Speaker 1: Thanks guys,