WEBVTT - Being Curious for a Living with Josh & Chuck from Stuff You Should Know 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.080 You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:19.239 and iHeartRadio. 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:24.440 Guess what Will What's that Mango? 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.760 So it is day five, the grand finale of our 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:30.880 week long series about curiosity, and I can think of 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.160 no better way to celebrate than by talking with two 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:36.239 of the most curious people we know. 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:38.760 Two of the most curious people we know who aren't our. 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:42.760 Kids, definitely not our kids. They are the brilliant podcasters 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.360 Josh Clark and Chuck Bryan aka Josh and Chuck, the 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:47.040 host of Stuff. 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:47.559 You should know. 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.639 We've known these guys for such a long time now, 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.519 so we decided to call them up and see if 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.080 they'd come on our show and talk about what it's 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.720 like to be curious for a living, how we all 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.560 got to be so curious, if curiosity has ever gotten 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.280 us in trouble, and so much more. It's going to 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.000 be so much fun. And before I say let's dive in, 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.160 I should mention that at the end of the episode, 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:11.760 we'll tell you about today's listener activity, which is your 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.640 very last chance this week to win a Part Time 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:15.679 Genius prize pack. 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:17.800 It's pretty exciting. You definitely don't want to miss that. 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:19.240 All right, mego go ahead and say it. 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:20.280 Let's dive in. 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:43.920 Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.119 Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.720 friend Mangesh Hot Ticketer and sitting behind that big glass booth, 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.400 that's our wonderful pal Dylan fag And you all know 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.400 Dylan you're always looking forward to what he's up to today. 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:57.640 You'll never believe it. Dylan is waving a poster he 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.040 made and it says, I'm so glad I'm not the 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.200 only producer here today that has to listen to Will 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.919 and Mango's bad jokes. It's good to see you, Dylan. 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.640 He is right, because we have super producer Jerry Roland 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.040 in the booth with us today, and we've also got 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:16.840 the star talent that she wrangles regularly, Chuck and Josh 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.000 chatting with us. We're so excited and Chuck and Joshua's 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:20.959 so good to have you here. 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.280 Hi guys, Hello dudes, thank you for having us. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:30.520 We're so excited to have you. But before we start, 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.640 and since we are grace with Jerry's presence, I wanted 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:36.000 to ask Jerry some questions about the two of you, 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.480 or Will and I Wilba both ask questions about the 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.960 two of you. So, Jerry, Today's thing is all about curiosity. 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.960 We're doing this whole series on curiosity. Obviously, we've got 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.639 two very curious people here. But do you notice anything 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.799 specific about Chuck and Josh's curiosity, Like you ever see 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.680 them being curious outside the office? Do you see them 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.280 being curious on tape? Like, tell me a little bit 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.639 about what you think of the two of them. 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.920 I know it's it's funny, like in the context of 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.320 stuff you should know. I feel like we still have 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.920 conversations leading up to a recording or even after we 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.280 stop a recording where we're like, oh my god, that 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:14.679 was did you hear about this? Did you hear about that? 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:18.960 So I feel like that curiosity is kind of inherent 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:23.600 and always there. Outside of that, I see Chuck every 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:26.400 now and then, because anybody who listens to the show 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.720 knows that our daughters go to school together. So luckily, 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:31.840 you know, other than that, I wouldn't ever see Chuck 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:36.960 in the real world. But we've known each other for 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.160 so long, and we've kind of had this parallel path 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.320 for so long that when we're curious about something that's 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.880 usually in the sort of like we're getting older sort 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:50.400 of realm of like I wonder why my knees stopped working, right, 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:52.880 I wonder if this ever stops? 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:53.520 Or is this it? 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:54.920 You know? What's the A? 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:56.360 Yeah, what's that? 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.160 Which is the episode that come out next week? That's 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:04.160 going to be That's be great now I'm about it, yeah, exactly. 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.560 One of the things we've been talking about recently is 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:11.400 for curious people, they're routines, their superstitions, and obviously for 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.960 a show that's been successful for so long, Jerry curious, 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:16.880 if you can take us behind the scenes, are there 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.960 any routines or superstitions about the show that we should 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:20.520 all know about. 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.000 Chuck used to do this thing that ended a long 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.240 time ago, so I guess I guess it's fine that 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.840 he stopped, but he used to do his cheeks and 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:29.800 if he's down for it, he might give. 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:38.960 Us, Oh wow, that's impressive and a really horrid noise. Yeah, 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:40.000 so that used to be. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.320 I don't know if we have like any superstitious type 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.919 of routines, but like these days, when we show up 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.320 to record, it's like, hey, you guys ready, yep, clap, Okay, 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.880 let's go. There's not a ton of back and forth 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.520 because we say that honestly for the for the show. 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.480 I mean the one time we recorded with you before 0:04:58.360 --> 0:04:59.960 you guys did the same thing. You were like, okay, 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:00.400 let's go. 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:01.360 And it was. 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.520 For someone who is not as good without a script 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.760 in front of me or talking points. It was pretty 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.800 amazing to watch you at work. We do, like Jerry said, though, 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.240 we save it, like we actually tell one another this 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.919 is gold, save it for the podcast. So there's not 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:18.960 a lot of front loading because we recorded it all 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.240 and basically release our conversations. 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:21.479 You know. 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.400 M hm. Is there anything that makes you feel particularly 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:29.040 good on Mike? Like, I mean, this is an old reference, 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.880 but like Tiger Woods would wear red shirts because he 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.839 felt like it brought out a certain energy or something like, 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.159 is there anything that gets you excited to tape? 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:37.960 Mmmm? 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.039 Chuck here, I do I need to say that? 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:42.000 Sure? 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:46.560 Every time we're so used to doing that and stuff 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.359 like this. You know what I started doing, and this 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:51.760 was sort of during COVID when everyone was kind of 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.760 forced to go virtual or whatever and set up the 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:56.200 home studios. 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:57.120 Is I started. 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.640 I kind of went the other way rather than just 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.480 being a complete schlub. I would get up and take 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.000 a shower and you know, sort of dress for work. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.320 And I continue to do that on my work days 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:10.760 because I don't know, it's just sort of a routine 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.920 that I feel like sort of helps me even though 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.320 I'm at home, kind of make a transition, you know, 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:16.320 Superman style. 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:18.479 M That was like our old friend that would do 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.520 formal Fridays when when we were all working from home 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.320 during COVID, one of our good friends would would have 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.480 a fun Friday and be like show up on a 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.880 video and just like wearing just the most sparkly beautiful 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.120 dress and you're like, Okay, I guess it's it's normal Friday. Yeah, sorry, Josh, 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:35.039 we're gonna say something. 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.599 I did the exact opposite of that, where I can 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.480 just go quite a while into the day without taking 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:42.360 a shower first. 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:46.839 I like, he says it with pride too. It's like 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.240 it's like it was bragging. I can do. I can 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:49.680 keep going. 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.560 I think, yeah, with the hygiene thing for me, not 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:57.520 that you asked, but I'm giving you an leaving. I mean, 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.000 like during COVID, like I did brush my teeth every day, 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.960 that it might not be until about five pmsh Oh, wow, 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:06.040 is the sun going up or down? 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:07.040 Maybe I should. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.200 That was the teeth is a darker. 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:12.200 For sharing that year. 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:16.320 Yeah, I knew you were just really dying to ask. 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.800 Let's uh, let's go way back pre COVID to your 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.280 childhood days, which just a few years before COVID. Let's 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.240 talk about curiosity from the earliest days. If somebody knew 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.280 you when you were you know, eight, nine, ten years old, 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.560 would they have seen this coming? Would they have been like, Yeah, 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.680 this kid is so curious that one day they're going 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.400 to be involved in something that involves knowledge or learning. 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:40.080 Let's let's maybe Josh will start with you. You want 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:41.160 to jump in first. 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.840 Sure, yeah, I would say, this is Josh, I would 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:49.800 say probably not. Actually I was never like a really 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.600 good student. My curiosity essentially extended to like what does 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.760 this taste like. I wasn't like an uncurious kid where 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.840 I was like, you know, beating up like nerds or 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.920 anything like that. But I just wasn't nearly as curious 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.520 as I am now. It just seems to have been 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.760 something that developed as a grown up. Actually, so I 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.440 was like a C student c I'm going to say 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:15.280 CMB generous to myself mostly through school, all the way 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.040 through high school essentially, and then once I got to college. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.920 I'm not quite sure what happened, but it was like 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.280 a switch flipped to my head and all of a sudden, 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.840 I was I was a good student. I wanted to 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.760 learn everything that I possibly could, and I've been like 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.880 that since then. So I guess if you're not curious 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.120 out there, and you feel like a schlub and you're 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.760 under nineteen, then take hope. 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:41.280 Yeah, or start a podcast. Yeah, now that's terrific, Chuck, 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:41.800 how about you? 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:44.200 I was sort of curious. 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.560 I mean I was an AB student most probably a 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:50.880 solid B student in school, and I didn't give the 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.400 most effort. I kind of skated by a lot of 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:59.560 times on charm. So my teachers, my teachers are. My 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.360 teacher all liked me, and you know, I wanted to 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.400 be liked by my teachers, and so I and fellow students, 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.240 so I think they would have thought I was maybe 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.800 precocious more than curious. But outside of school, I think 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.200 I was pretty curious about the outside world, not as 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:17.760 much formal studies. But I grew up camping, and I 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.280 grew up in the woods, and so I was always 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.120 curious about sort of nature and stuff like that. 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.800 But I also was you know, wasn't the kid who sat. 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.640 Around and watched Nova in elementary school unless I had 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:28.600 to write a paper on it. 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:29.600 You know what. 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.840 One of these things we're doing for Kaleidoscope is trying 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.280 to collect moments of science, like the first moment that 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.040 you sort of had this sense of wonder about the 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.800 world and or about a topic or a subject or something. 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.200 And I was curious, like, is there a moment for 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.880 either of view about like when you discovered something that 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:51.920 you were just completely mesmerized. 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.000 I'll jump in because I recently found a box of 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.400 old school work of mine from elementary school, and I 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:04.200 did not remember how obsessed with NASA and space travel 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.640 I was. But when I went back and looked through this, 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.200 I had a bunch of papers in school projects and 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.120 it seemed to be a well that I kind of 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.640 went back to a lot. And that's not something that 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.040 I'm still like super super into. Josh's more into that 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.760 stuff than me now, but I definitely remember looking back 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.960 through this papers like man, I was really and I 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.400 guess we were kids of the Space Shuttle program like 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.840 being birthed, and looking back, I was pretty into that 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:29.400 at the time. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:31.920 I mean there was so much romance around it, right, Yeah, 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.840 the idea of going beyond Earth and all the excitement 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:35.559 of science in a. 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.160 Way, Yeah, totally, So that'd probably be it for me. 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.120 Science and then just camping in the natural world again. 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:42.800 Yeah, how about you, Josh. 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.160 For me, it was writing. I always wanted to be 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.600 a writer, and I remember in third grade I had 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.280 a teacher who was particularly supportive about that, Miss Chamberlain, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:54.920 and ever since then, I was like, I'm going to 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:56.839 grow up to be a writer, and luckily I did. 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.120 That was the first thing I was that kind of 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.640 got me. The first thing I remember like starting to 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.520 learn about that I was really interested in was history, 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.360 I think in like ninth grade or something like that. 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.959 So those two things definitely converge. I studied history in 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.440 college and I have been writing ever since third grade. 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.160 So I guess I fulfilled my promise, is what I'm 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:17.760 trying to say. 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.040 And what was it about writing that drew you? 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:20.360 Like? 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.800 Do you have a particular style, did you like communicating 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.360 a certain thing? Did you just like spending time with 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:27.000 a page. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:28.880 I don't know. I think the fact that I can't 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.160 answer that makes me feel like I was kind of 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.440 born as a writer. You know. I read a lot 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.079 as a kid too, But I never remember saying like, oh, 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.960 I'm learning tips and techniques, and I wasn't absorbing the 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.760 writing for style. I was just enjoying it. But I 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:47.720 think along the way, I was learning a lot of style, 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:52.120 and I'd gotten pretty good at fiction. I don't know 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.440 around the time I got hired to How Stuff Works, 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.920 where I was actually like, this isn't that bad. And 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:00.280 then when I got hired to how Stuff Works, where 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:03.240 our podcasts grew out of Chuck and I both got 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:07.960 hired as writers for that website, my writing shifted over 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:11.240 from fiction to nonfiction, and there was a huge shift, 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:15.160 and I remember kind of like mourning not having an 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.160 opportunity to write fiction anymore. But then I kind of 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.040 became obsessed with nonfiction, and I think that was my 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:24.480 curiosity at that point took a new step from one 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.720 plateau to like a new higher level I guess where 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.840 I was just ingesting more and more information because nonfiction 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:35.120 kind of requires that writing nonfiction, so that was a 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.160 big change. For me and improvement in my curiosity too. 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.959 I mean, it's funny because you're both writers, right, Like 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.480 Chuck came in with a script, or at least part 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.080 of a script, right, Yeahine Hostiff works. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:48.560 Yeah. 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.680 I didn't have any professional writing experience, but like Josh, 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:55.559 I was writing as a kid and had supported teachers. 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.040 In that stack of old school work, I found a 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.160 little piece of comment writing I did. I did Henry 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:06.920 David Thureaux satire in like the seventh grade about a 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.440 guy who goes to the woods to live deliberately and 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:11.960 it turns out it sucks and he prefers the city 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.760 for various reasons. But I read back through it and 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:18.760 I was like, man, I mean it wasn't the worst 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.559 piece of writing for a twelve year old and had 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.120 teachers who encouraged that. But I had, you know, been 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.920 knocking about trying to write screenplays and working in the 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.440 film business. So I didn't have any real professional experience 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.840 at all. And then our boss, our colleague, Connell Byrne, Yeah, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:35.760 I sat down with him and I said, all that 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:37.240 had to give you or you know, I'll give you 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.360 the first twenty pages of my latest script. And thank god, 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.240 we all know Connell and he's a big movie guy 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.160 and has acted some and done some film production work. 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.360 So anyone else and I probably would not have gotten 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:50.240 that job. But Connall and I had a great just 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.960 a great report in conversation and he said, well this 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:54.040 counts You're hired. 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.200 Wow, thank god. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:00.360 Pretty terrific. When you think about the crazy rainge of 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.440 episodes that you guys have done. You know, Josh you 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.360 mentioned history, Chuck you talked about science and just that 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.000 range there, and in terms of the curiosity and desire 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.640 to learn in different categories, do you guys, when you're 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.080 coming up with your topics find yourselves going to your 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.160 comfort zone or your primary area of curiosity and say, 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.480 you know, Josh in your case going to history, and 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:23.480 Chuck in your case, you know, if it is the 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:25.640 natural world or things like that, or do you find 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.240 yourself trying to push yourself to come up with episodes 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.800 that are just so outside the realm of something that 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:32.760 you know about or knew about before. How do you 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:34.000 think about that process? 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.880 I think it depends on the week. Actually, Like if 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.560 we both have a Bonker's week, we probably will do 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:43.240 something like history or maybe even pop culture, We've been 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.520 doing a lot of pop culture episodes lately, and they're 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.760 interesting and fascinating and everyone loves them and they're fun 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.400 to do, and we already know a lot of it 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.360 because we live through it. It's usually gen X, pop 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.880 culture nostalgia kind of stuff, but then you know other time, 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.560 So yeah, I definitely try to choose ones that I 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.680 don't know anything about that I think is kind of interesting, 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:07.240 or maybe I know a little bit about it, but 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.800 I want to know more. We recently did one on 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.680 nuclear waste, Getting rid of nuclear Waste. We're both very 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.280 troubled to find that the world doesn't really have any 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.800 good ideas about getting rid of the nuclear waste that's 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:24.080 been accumulating since the forties. And there's some good ideas 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.600 on the horizon, but they're not here yet, and we're 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:30.440 just basically shuffling our nuclear waste from one place to another. 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.040 I had no idea about that. I just knew that 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:37.040 there would be something interesting about nuclear waste disposal, even 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.440 though it sounds kind of boring. It turned out not 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:42.680 to be. And that's usually the case. Whenever we push ourselves, 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:45.120 we find that there's something way more interesting about the thing. 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:47.400 Than we even thought initially. 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:51.240 M Yeah, for sure, go ahead, Chuck, No, yeah, for sure, 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:52.200 that's it. 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:54.680 That was Chuck. 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.920 I was gonna say, like, you ever find that, you know, 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:04.560 when you chase ideas on the web, I feel like 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:07.200 you end up going down a rabbit hole of different 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.800 topics that lead one to another to another. Do you 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:14.160 find that the topics that you cover ever make you 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.600 daisy chain into like other topics? 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.800 Yeah, I mean that happens has happened since the beginning. 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:23.200 I feel like, and we'll say it during the episode, like, 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.400 you know, we'll bring up a part of that episode 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.200 and say, actually, this would make you know, a good 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.080 full length episode. Something we just sort of might briefly 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:33.960 mention that ties into the current topic. So I feel 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:36.080 like that happens all the time, you know, when we 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.840 were fully writing all the stuff all the time, full 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.960 time for us, before we got some freelance help, it 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.480 happened more in the research stage. But I think now 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.400 it tends to happen in the episode where like, hey, 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:47.960 you know, we should do a whole one on this 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.440 person that just had a very small part to play 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:51.000 in this story. 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:52.920 One of the other ways that happens too is when 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:57.400 we're researching for an episode, a question will come up. 0:16:57.480 --> 0:16:59.560 I mean tons of questions come up, But then you 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.120 go to answer that question because the rule of thumb 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.800 is if we have that question somewhere out there listening, 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:06.680 it's going to have the same question and we don't 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.919 want them to end the podcast with that question. Still, 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.880 we try to fill as many answers as we can, 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:15.360 and as you're going and finding an answer to that, 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:18.520 you'll turn up some mention of something else that you 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:20.320 hadn't turned up before, and now all of a sudden, 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:24.199 there's this whole richer component to what you're explaining in 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:27.679 the episode. It's really cool. I've never thought of it 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.640 as daisy chaining before. It's a much more pleasant way 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:32.679 of looking at it. But to me, it was just 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:36.720 turning stuff up. I like daisy chaining way more. 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:40.200 Okay, listener, if you've got to pay for the show 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.040 with some ads, but we'll be right back after this 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.959 quick break. 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:57.480 You know. 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.120 Would we think about how much technology has changed information 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.720 gathering over the past decade, and then of course that's 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.159 just gotten so much faster in the past three or 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:11.800 four years, and there's this desire for instant gratification, having 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.320 a question being able to answer it within you a 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.720 matter of seconds or minutes. Has that changed how you 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.320 guys think about making the show or or how do 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:22.159 you think about that piece of it? Just knowing that 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:23.920 we do live in a world now where people are 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.240 instantly going to whether it's an AI source or their 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.199 search engine to try to answer questions, how do you 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.480 feel like you guys set yourself apart from that? 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.439 Wooh, that's a tough one being human. 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.119 Well, I mean, you know, the Internet was It's not 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:41.960 like we've been around for a while, but it's not 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:43.879 like we were doing card catalog research. 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.360 So the Internet was always a part of our research. Yep. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:47.480 In fact, we did a. 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.760 Whole episode about like kind of I don't remember what 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:51.760 we called it, Josh, but kind of how to do 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:56.640 your best research and you know, present things truthfully and factually. 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.560 So we've gotten pretty good at sussing stuff out. I 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.040 think these days it is sort of a different realm 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.240 now with AI and you know, all the weird deep 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:07.240 fake stuff. Just to make sure that you're not getting 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.720 bad information or whatever, so we probably have to dot 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:12.800 our eyes and cross our tea's a little more closely. 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:15.800 Now, Yeah, that's a tough question. 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.760 I've found that it's getting harder and harder and harder. 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:24.119 It seems like the pace of clearly AI written and 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:29.160 researched articles has not quite hit a singularity, but it's 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:31.639 definitely sped up in the last couple of months. I 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.720 feel like, yeah, there's a lot of crud out there, yep, 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.640