WEBVTT - STBYM Listener Mail: Amy Good Gorilla 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:06.040 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.559 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. Listener Mail. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:13.560 My name is Robert. 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:17.119 Lamb and I am Joe McCormick, and listener mail is 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.599 the type of episode where we read back messages that 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.239 we receive at the Stuff to Blow your Mind email account. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.119 If you've never gotten in touch before, now would be 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:29.280 a great time to do it. That address is contact 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:33.159 at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Whatever kind 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:35.159 of message you want to send is fair game. 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We are 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.480 blow the Mind on both of those and we are 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.280 spbym podcast on Instagram. Oh and if you like Weird 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.880 House Cinema, go to letterbox dot com and you'll find 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:22.759 our user name there, weird House. 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:24.880 All right, should we jump right into the messages? 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:25.679 Let's do it? 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.160 All right, So we got a bunch of responses to 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.199 our series on Manta rays. 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:32.800 Maybe let's see. 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:34.680 Do you want to read this one from Jeff rob 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:35.960 I shall. 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.640 Yes, this is Jeff with one F. We also have 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.400 Jeff's with two f's. We have jeffs with three f's. Possibly, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.039 we also have jeffs with no fs, jeffs that are 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.560 just completely out of f. But this is just one F. 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:51.160 For Jeffanie. 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.400 Yeah, but Jeff gets in touch about man rays. Also, 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:56.560 we should flag that Jeff is going to bring up 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.600 in this email pages from a book series called Animals 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.040 Do the Strangest Things. This is something we've talked about 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.320 in the past. It's come up on previous listener males. 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:11.000 That was the of nineteen sixties or seventies children's animal 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.320 book series that refers to mating pairs of animals as 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:15.400 husband and wife. 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.640 Yeah, look up those pages. You can find them in 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:27.480 your image search of choice. Yeah, all right, Jeff says 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.120 the following greetings. I had the opportunity to swim with 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.480 mantas off the shore of ConA, on the Big Island 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.320 of Hawaii. A charter took us out at night and 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.160 to snorkel in the dark water. They gave us a 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.760 wacky noodle to keep a float with minimal effort, and 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.120 dropped in a floating PVC rig with lights that shone 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.200 down into the water. Various plankton and tiny animals are 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.600 attracted to the lights, and the mantas have learned that 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.480 there will be a free dinner at that location. Shortly 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.200 after our arrival, maybe half a dozen mantas quickly got 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:01.840 organized and started performing slow, graceful backwards loops under the lights, 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.200 coming within inches of us at the surface, over and over. 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.200 I had always understood somersaults to be headfirst downward flips, 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.800 though it seems backwards sum results are a thing, so 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.720 I wanted to clarify that the sumrsaulting behavior you mentioned 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.800 is essentially backflips. I was with someone who is somewhat 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:23.160 anxious snorkeling even in good visibility in broad daylight around 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.160 normal sized fauna, so I was a little worried about 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:28.079 her freaking out in the middle of a dark ocean 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:31.360 with giant sea monsters circling below us. As soon as 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.760 the Mansas showed up, she erupted in a noise that 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.720 I couldn't immediately identify. I wasn't sure if it was 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.720 terror or delight, but thankfully it was the latter, and 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:44.240 she giggled almost continuously throughout the wonderful experience. I don't 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.040 know if these trips are considered to be ecologically responsible, 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.280 but I didn't get any pictures because they told us 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.000 to keep our hands on the floating PVC bar and 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.440 not to bring cameras, gloves, or anything else that might 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.640 encourage us to reach out toward the rays. They warned 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.240 us that even just touching them with a fingertip could 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.600 remove some of their protective coating that keeps them safe 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.440 from parasites and disease. For their part, the Mantas seem 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:09.000 completely disinterested in the human jetsum and we're not looking 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.960 for a snuggle. I imagine that altering their dining plan 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.320 could lead to some negative side effects, but the operation 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.919 we went out with appeared to be nothing but careful 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.719 and respectful. This is fascinating. This is not an experience 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.520 I have had, I believe on one of our trips 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.039 out to the Hawaiian Islands, my wife was going to 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.080 do one of these trips with a friend and then 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:36.160 due to weather, it got canceled. And I certainly I'm 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:38.680 not saying I wouldn't do it, and in fact, I'm 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:40.400 more inclined to do it now that I have had 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.000 such an awesome experience in the water with mantas during 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.800 the daylight. You know, I can definitely understand, you know, 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:49.240 once you're in them on once you're in the water 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.440 with them, once you see them, this kind of giddiness 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:54.839 overcomes you, like you know that these creatures are not 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.400 a threat to you, and it's such a magical experience. 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.600 That being said, I I have never gone snorkeling at night. 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.839 It's something that has long not appealed to me. But 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.279 I'm willing to potentially press through my own ease to 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.360 have a new experience, which I've done many times before. 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:14.160 Otherwise I wouldn't have any new experiences. 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.960 I have no experience snorkeling at all, but I think 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:19.640 I would be scared to death to get. 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.240 Into the dark ocean at night. 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.000 I don't know if there's a name for that specific fear. 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:25.880 But you can't see very far in the water, so 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:27.520 you just you don't know what's down there. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.280 Yeah, yeah, but I will for my own part anyway. 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.960 If there's like a good guide, a good good team, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:34.880 like leading things like that gives me a lot of 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.599 confidence too. It's like this, if this person's not worried, 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.840 I'm not worried, all right, Jeff continues to digress a moment. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.760 My unsolicited travel advice is that the Big Island of 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:49.200 Hawaii offers the most amazing diversity. Waterfalls, lava, moonscapes, steaming 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.880 sulfur events, giant craters, snow covered mountains, rain forest, black 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:58.000 green and regular sand beaches, snorkeling among beautiful, colorful fish 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.279 in clear water right off of public beach, which you 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.000 can walk through a lava tube and if conditions are right, 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.200 you can see fresh orange lava. Going all the way 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.920 to Hawaii without seeing real lava was a deal breaker 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.760 for me, so the Big Island was a requirement. You 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.280 can start in town at sea level, drive up a mountain, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.720 passing through the clouds with the occasional alarming lack of visibility, 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.440 then break into the clear air above the clouds to 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.960 visit an observatory with amazing views of distant galaxies. I 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.360 wouldn't plan on any long hikes up there, as we 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.280 were winded just walking through the parking lot at that altitude. 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.520 When we got back into town on the same night, 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.320 a half full water bottle that we closed at the 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.800 top of the mountain was impressively crumpled, being crushed by 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.960 the sea level air pressure. I agree with all this. 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.680 The Big Island is indeed a special place. I've visited 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.200 it only twice, once in my twenties when I had 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.960 a friend who lived ont in Hawaii, and once more 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.119 a few years back with family and friends. For my money. 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.680 Volcano National Park alone is worth the journey, just such 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:03.400 an amazing land escape. But indeed there's rich and varied 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:10.560 natural beauty there, just in spades, so highly recommended. Have 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:12.920 the chance to go there, all right, But Jeff is 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:17.400 not done. Jeff continues, speaking of creepiness. We were kayaking 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:19.560 in the Cayman Islands, and the sting rays must have 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.280 been accustomed to being fed, because not only did they 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:26.240 appear as ominous moving shadows on the ocean, floor. They 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.120 would also sometimes follow us or head straight for us. 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.559 Knowing that they are not interested in eating your face 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.400 is one thing, but it's still deeply disturbing when something 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.440 huge you thought was a boulder or a patch of 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.840 coral starts charging at you from a completely different plane 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.560 of existence. In the Sea of Cortes, we saw mobular 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:46.920 rays leaping out of the water with such frequency that 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.360 we almost got bored with them. They are much smaller 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:53.880 than giant mantas, so the splashdowns are not exactly thunderous, 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:56.920 but apparently at some times of the year, great schools 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:58.840 of rays will launch out of the water, all at 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.800 the same time. I observe that they continue to flap 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.240 their wings as they shoot through the air, which is 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.440 both charming and a little bit funny. Maybe one day 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.880 the atmosphere will be thick enough for them to really 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.760 take off. Oh, we can only hope for fun. I 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.960 have included the chapters on rays and remoras from fish 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.160 do the Strangest things. The advice about dragging your feet 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.840 to avoid stingrays has stuck with me for life, although 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.520 given the accuracy of some of the information in those books, 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.600 I'm not sure if this is actually good intel. Oh 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:31.800 and in case no one else mentions that, if you're 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.160 in the market for weird house space mantas, you might 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.800 want to check out the Roger Korman movie Lords of 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.480 the Deep from nineteen eighty nine, the golden year of 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.440 the underwater monster movie. Although maybe not, because if I 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:44.559 recall correctly, it's kind of boring. 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.920 I tried to watch it one time and remember almost 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.679 nothing about it except that it had the flavor of 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:54.680 one of those grunge era Canadian TV shows Are You 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.120 Afraid of the Dark sets? 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.960 Yeah, this is one of the titles where my nineteen 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.160 eighty nine underwater sci fi enthusiasm starts to peter out 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.120 a bit. So I've never actually seen it, but I 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.920 remember loving the VHS cover back when I was a kid. 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:11.320 I included it here for you to look at, Joe, 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.160 along with a couple of screen caps of the alien 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.720 manta in question with enormous glowing red eyes. 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.640 But the manta's wings don't really look like wings. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:21.640 Instead, it just looks like. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.760 A huge severed bunny head with it. It's like the 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.199 ears flopping out to the side. It's like white fur 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:28.400 bunny with red eyes. 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:30.840 I guess it does kind of look like a demonic bunny, 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:39.000 like some sort of dark bunny god from Watershipped Down. Anyway, 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.560 Jeff says, thanks for your series on these particularly fascinating creatures. 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.600 They are quite astoundingly graceful and soothing to encounter, assuming 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.600 you're not a copa pod all right. 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.679 As Jeff mentioned, he attached some pages from Fish to 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:56.520 the Strangest Things. One is about the Remorra that's called 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.880 the hitch Hiker, and another is called the Flying Saucer 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.439 that's about sting rays and manta rays. 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.120 I love how the remora here seems to have a 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:09.520 googly eye. Yeah, he's like I'm about to go stick 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:10.480 my head to a shark. 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:11.960 Yeah. 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.400 I can't read the full selections here, but maybe I'll 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.560 read just from the Remorra chapter again to get a 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.640 flavor of the wonderful cadence of this riding. It says 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.920 the Hitchhiker. The Remora can travel for thousands of miles 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.520 beneath the sea without swimming. He has a wonderful way 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.560 of getting around. He just catches a ride on a 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.080 bigger fish. The Remora holds on with the top of 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.320 his head. The top of his head is flat, there 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.000 is a suction cap on it. With this cap he 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.480 can quickly fasten on to another fish. He cannot fall 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.800 off unless he wants to. The Remora rides on sharks 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:53.680 so much he is often called a shark sucker. Sometimes 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.280 many Remoras will ride on the same shark at the 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.840 same time, but Remoras will ride on almost any. 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:04.959 Big fish as beautiful as there's a poetry to it. 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:07.040 There are so many things that are just kind of 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.200 tickling about the writing style of these books. But I 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.200 think we may have mentioned this in the last one, 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.760 that there's this constant feeling of light moralism about it, 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.839 like a little it's not the standard way of talking 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:25.120 about nature. There are constantly little gentle judgments being passed. 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.400 Yeah. Like, there's a one of the pages that you 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:30.959 shared here as a titled the Flying Saucers, and it's 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.840 about rays, and it begins with rays are strange looking fish, 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.360 which I mean that seems a little rude. There's a 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.800 picture of a human child looking at them with a 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.000 look of astonishment on his face, and you know, the 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.480 rays might well say, you know, child, you are a 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.160 strange looking mammal. Most mammals don't look like you at. 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.520 All, especially with the way this child is drawn with 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.160 the weird spiny fingers. It looks like a gill Man 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:57.040 hand there. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:00.000 Well, you know the artist was strong fish all day 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.400 and then had to suddenly switch back to humans and yeah, 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:03.480 it's jarring. 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:04.320 Okay. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:08.240 We also got some shorter messages about our Manta ray series. 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:16.960 This one comes from Danny. She says we went to 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.800 sting ray City off the coast of Grand Cayman. When 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:24.200 feeding them, you hold the raw squid in your fist 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:28.600 like an ice cream cone, very loosely. Okay, the ray 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:33.040 swims over your hand and hoovers it up. My stepdad 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.960 was holding his too tightly and the ray nipped the 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.280 skin between his thumb and pointer finger. It was like 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:41.840 a pinch between the bony plates that took a bit 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.560 of skin with it. Only person I know of who's 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:49.160 actually been bitten by a ray lol, feel free to 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:54.040 use Danny. Yeah, I understand that the sting ray is 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:58.440 somewhat different than the mobulid rays that you know. Mobulid rays, 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:00.880 from what I understand, are not ever going to bite you, 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.640 but maybe a stingray can do this a little bit 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.200 more likely, and the stingray is also a little bit 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.400 something you have to be more cautious of because it 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:09.640 has the tailbarb. 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.880 All right, another quick one here. This one comes to 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.240 us from Greg. This is in response to this is 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.680 part of our like Manta Week Shenanigans. I did a 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:24.400 Monster Fact episode on mantas and Dungeons and Dragons, talking 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.160 about the different ways that mantas have been invoked in 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.040 Dungeons and Dragons and how it reflects sort of earlier 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:34.040 attitudes about mantas that you see in pre Dungeons and 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.600 Dragons fiction, you know, pulp fiction and fantasy and so forth, 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.240 and everything that was in the zeitgeist that kind of 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:49.200 impacted the way that they were presented. So Greg writes, 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.360 you forgot a couple aside from the exits that you'les, 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:56.839 this is one that's like sometimes a vampire that pops 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:58.960 up in Dungeons and Dragons, And so Greg includes a 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.760 link to information on the Cloaker and the Lurker and 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.720 says both date back to the First Attention Monster Manual 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.520 nineteen seventy seven and cover the fear that mantas will 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.960 wrap you up and smother you with those big creepy wings. 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.439 And yes, Greg, you were absolutely correct. I did manage 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:20.280 to leave these two off that they basically line up 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.840 with some of the other monsters that I discussed there, 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.400 But it's good enough for me. I should probably go 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.640 back and record a part two to Manta Rays of 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:29.760 Dungeons and Dragons. 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.720 I was looking at these, and the cloaker appears to 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:37.720 be not only mantiforms but also literally cloak formed, like 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:39.960 it takes the shape of a cloak that you might 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.080 pick up and put on because you think it's just 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.600 a discarded piece of clothing, but it's actually a monster 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:46.200 that wraps around you and eats you. 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.160 Yeah. I mean, as I discussed in that Monster Fact episode. 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:50.680 You know, you have like the cloak of the Manta Ray, 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:55.560 which is a pretty famous Dungeons and Dragons magical item. 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.480 But if you go back to that first monster manual, 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.680 there are stats for like the man to ray and 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.240 information about how it will stain you and also swallow 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.400 you holes. So then that's just supposed to be a 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.680 straight up Manta ray and not these various mnemonic fantasy 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.640 variants that you know, lean into the idea that that 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.960 array could be some sort of a horrendously dangerous creature. 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.680 Come on, now, Gary, you know better than that. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:21.880 I mean, it was the seventies. We were, as we 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.800 discussed in our Manta Ray episodes, like we were beginning 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:30.320 to wake up in the West to the fact that 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:31.880 that Manda's were not our enemy. 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:34.800 Are there stats in the Monster manual for the panda 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.800 bear like that it'll bite your bite your legs off? 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.120 And that's a great question. I don't I don't know 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:43.400 if I've ever looked at the stats for a panda, 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.000 but I bet there are panda stats. Yeah. If if 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:48.640 not in some of those original monster manuals, then certainly 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.960 by the time they came around to like Karratur there. 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.080 You know, there have to be some some panda stats 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:54.520 in there somewhere to look it up. 0:15:54.800 --> 0:16:06.560 Chaotic evil creature. Okay, This next message is from Ben. 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.360 Ben says, Hi, Robert and Joe. In today's episode, part 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.320 three on Manta Rays, you described the hypothesis that Manta's 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:18.840 developed their large brains to generate heat and that their 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.320 intelligence is a side effect. 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:22.320 Yeah. 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.360 No, this is, to be clear, something that is not 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.440 known for sure, but it is a possibility explored in 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:29.920 one of the papers we looked at that because the 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:35.239 design of the mantray's brain case is good at retaining 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.360 heat in cold water. It could be that that is 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.480 actually the characteristic that was selected for in the evolution 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.280 of the manta brain. And then as a side effect, 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:46.520 it's like, oh, it just happens to be now that 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:50.400 these are much smarter than your average fish, because, yeah, 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.480 the manterrays show a kind of intelligence that is generally 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:57.680 not seen in other fish. Ben continues, this immediately made 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.840 me think of Deep Blue Sea nineteen. 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:02.960 Ninety nine, a movie we've covered on Weird House. 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:03.200 Yeah. 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:04.280 Yeah. 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.760 In this classic shark action movie, after the shark attacks 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.159 seem to be very well planned and organized, the character 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:16.359 doctor Susan McAllister admits that she illegally genetically modified the 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:20.000 sharks to give them bigger brains so they could harvest 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:25.760 more magic shark juice to treat Alzheimer's disease, and that 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.359 the side effect of that was smarter sharks. Yeah, because 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.520 if you recall the plot of this movie is they 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:37.040 make genetically modified sharks as a source of something for pharmaceuticals. 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.760 So Ben says, those smarter sharks then wreak utter havoc 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:45.560 and kill everyone in a cold systematic and planned out way. 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:48.960 The way the Good Doctor phrases it in the movie 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.920 and the way you guys phrase the Mantarey brain hypothesis 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:53.280 were delightfully similar. 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:58.399 Ben, Yeah, this is a great point. Yeah, I totally 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.360 forgot about this detail Deep Blue Sea when we were 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:03.080 recording our Manta episodes. 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.520 Another Deep Blue Sea connection is so if this actually 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:08.400 is what happened with Mantas again, it was to fight 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:12.840 off the cold. You may recall that obsession with cold 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:14.920 and ice is a major plot point in that movie 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:19.200 as well, because Russell Franklin, the character played by Samuel L. Jackson, 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.080 is you might recall, terrified of ice. He's like giving 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.119 a speech about how ice is like it's got a 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:26.959 mind of its own and it'll come to get you. 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.639 He's giving that speech right when he gets eaten by shark. 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.959 Oh wow, I forgot what he was talking about that. 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.720 I mainly remember just that horrifying and shocking moment when 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.560 he gets taken out. Yeah, best moment in the film. 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:43.879 All right, rob let's see you want to do this 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.280 one from Larry about skating. 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.040 Yeah, Larry writes in and says, hey, guys, thank you 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.440 for the recent episode on the invention of the roller skate. 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.239 I've recently gotten back into it. Have you seen this 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.240 dance skating music video in case you don't want to 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.120 click a link in an email. The song is Gold 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.360 by Chet Faker or maybe it's Fokker. I'm not sure. 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:12.280 I'm not familiar with this artist, so my apologies. So 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:13.000 I got that wrong. 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.879 Yeah, I don't know anything about this musical artist. But 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:19.439 the choreography, yeah, it's interesting. So it's like the video 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:22.480 is three roller skaters coming at you out of the 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:27.639 darkness to skate to dance as the camera continually glides 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.680 away along a dark road at nights, Like the camera 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:34.000 is constantly pulling back along this dark road and the 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:37.040 skaters are constantly coming towards you while they're dancing. I 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.720 think kind of dancing Queen on roller skates meets David 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:41.840 Lynch's Lost Highway. 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:45.920 Yeah, yeah, it's really it's a cool video, but it's yeah, 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:50.080 it's not necessarily super happy fun times, more like phantoms 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.600 of skating on the open road. But the song sounds 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:56.440 pretty cool and I looked it up and it's directed 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.680 by the music videos directed by Hiro Murray, who is 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.720 direct did episodes of several great recent TV shows. It's 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.679 only a matter of time till this guy directs a 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:10.280 feature film of note, I imagine. Anyway, Larry continues here 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.679 and says, the music video is a bit surreal, so 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:16.200 I figured you'd find it interesting. The skaters in the 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.439 video remind me of the dancing Muses and Bodicelli's The 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.800 Three Graces, and to a lesser degree, the sirens from 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:25.920 O Brother where Art thou Ah? Would you do an 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.600 episode on the Three Muses or other personifications of inspiration? 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:32.080 I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on how the 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:35.639 trope came about and why these depictions seem to celebrate 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:39.879 or worn against the allure of creative pursuits. Thanks for 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:41.159 the excellent show, Barry. 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.480 Now, I know we've discussed the Muses in a segment 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.760 in some previous episode, but I don't remember why or 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.679 what the context was. But yeah, they could be their 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:52.520 own topic, I'm. 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.000 Sure, yeah, yeah, some of them back if we've had 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:57.399 them on the show before. The Muses are always welcome. 0:20:57.560 --> 0:20:58.600 That's stuff to blow your mind. 0:20:59.080 --> 0:20:59.840