WEBVTT - Episode 600: How TechStuff Works 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.040 Still get in touch with technology with text stuff from 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:13.800 how stuff works dot com. Hey the everyone, and welcome 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.440 to tech Stuff. I'm John and I'm Lauren Folk Obama. 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:23.639 Happy six hundred episode that champagne which we don't have, 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.560 we do not have at all. So Lauren and I 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:32.279 we've really wrestled over, figuratively wrestled over what we were 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.760 going to do with this episode. We really weren't sure 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.680 how we wanted to commemorate six hundred episodes of Tech 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:41.400 Stuff because that's a whole bunch And it means that 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.960 I've been with the show for over a hundred episodes now, 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.239 which is also pretty exciting. I've also been with the 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.199 show for over a hundred episodes. You have You have 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:50.720 been on the show for every single episode that has 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.800 aired ever, haven't you. Yeah, this is six hundred for me, 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.960 So yeah, it's it's a big deal for me. Really, 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.840 I mean, I'm sounded like I'm being real dismissed every whatever. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:01.760 This really means a lot to me, And it means 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:03.800 a lot to me that we have so many listeners 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:05.920 who have stuck around for years and years and years 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.600 who are very supportive and when we say hey, if 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.440 you guys want to let us know what to talk about. 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:15.200 You guys respond, and we've had some amazing episodes come 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:21.479 out of suggestions from listeners. So we thought, hey, how 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.319 about we do that thing? So we we took to 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.880 the social media. Social media is yeah, as is the 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.440 media already plural. We took we went to the medium 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.600 social and then we're like, no, we're going total large 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.440 with this social and we put out the word saying 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.440 what should we talk about? And on our Facebook page 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:42.959 we had a lot of different suggestions, but one of 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:47.560 the suggestions was just do how tech stuff works. Give 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:49.600 us the stuff behind tech stuff and it got a 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.000 lot of of likes, a lot of votes essentially, and 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.440 we decided, all right, we'll do that. Now we have 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.880 talked about tech stuff before. We went a lot in 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.720 of the history for episode five when Chris joined us 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.520 in the studio again, by joined us, we mean that 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.200 we kidnapped him. If you recall it, it opened with 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.240 us ripping the tape off his face so he could talk, 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.959 and then he immediately started making puns. So we put 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.160 the tape back on and now here we are, so 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.160 we'll give a quick overview of how this whole thing 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.440 got started. So about six and a half years ago, 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.320 this is two thousand and fourteen, when we're recording this UM, 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.160 I was approached by who was then the head of 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.400 how Stuff Works, and I was even more important. Connal 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:36.280 came up to me. If you've ever listened to Stuff 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.200 you Should Know, I'm sure you've heard about Connal. In fact, 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.240 he's probably popped up in a couple of other episodes too. 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.560 He he also showed up on video. He was the 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.600 boss in that Trapped in a Meeting video series that 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.960 Stuff you Should Know did, and that that the boss 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.239 who was just up there rambling about really bossy stuff. 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.280 That's exactly what our meetings are like. Yeah, he also 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:59.000 improvd that entire thing just just went twice through two takes, 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.240 like forty five minutes each. As far as I can tell, 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.640 he's made of magic anyway. So he came up to 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:08.680 me and said, Hey, I was thinking about doing this 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.480 podcast thing, and we're gonna start with stuff you should Know, 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.560 and we're gonna start with stuff you missed in history class, 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.280 which at the time was called Factor Fiction, had Josh 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.680 Clark and Candice Senate Candice Keener. Yeah, in fact, Josh 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.760 and Candice were the original host and that obviously that 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.240 that show has undergone many changes and just continued to 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.520 get even more awesome. Everyone's done a great job on that. 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:30.680 But those two shows launched first, and then they wanted 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.600 to launch a technology podcast, and so it was gonna 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:35.600 be called tech Stuff because of course, how stuff works, 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.880 we had to have stuff and everything. So Chris Pellette 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:43.120 and I became the original hosts of Tech Stuff and uh, originally, 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.320 if you listen to those early episodes, they were really short. 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:50.840 They hadn't the cap, and that changed when they realized 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.160 that Chris and I couldn't get through introducing ourselves within 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.560 the five minute cap, and eventually we were able to 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.080 go as long as we needed to. So that's the basic, 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:02.440 the basic history for the beginning. Lauren of course joined 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:07.360 us in all right. I think I began recording episodes 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.120 at the end of and the first ones air the 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.280 first week of ye and we threw you into the 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:18.479 deep end. We immediately made you start making predictions. That's easy. 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:20.280 I mean, saying stuff that I don't know about is 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.920 it's totally fine. I mean, that's that's an allowable thing. 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.159 In the predictions episode, when it gets to the point 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.200 where we have to actually cover technology and actually know 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.719 what we're talking about, that's when it gets tricky. So yeah, 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.560 and and we've been going strong since. So we had 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.400 some other thoughts about, you know, what are we going 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:38.080 to talk about with the behind the scenes, because it's 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.040 not like we can take you guys around with us 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:42.760 and show you everything. This is an audio podcast. We could, 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.080 but it would be a pretty boring audio show. Yeah, yeah, 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:46.960 So one of the things we thought about was talking 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:51.080 about how we actually put together an episode. So Lauren 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:55.839 and I we will communicate usually via email, sometimes smoke signal, 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.520 sometimes interpretive dance at some point in the week before 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.000 we record word and we'll pick our subjects, our topics. 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.880 Often we will look at either what's trending in the 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:07.680 news to see if there's anything that kind of sparks 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:11.000 our imagination, or more frequently, we look at what listeners 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:15.720 have suggested. We have a giant Google doc spreadsheet of 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.440 all of these ideas that either we've come up with 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.800 or that you guys have suggested, and uh, usually a 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.040 few little notes about them, but sometimes just a single 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.400 word and uh. And then we'll we'll take the suggestion 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.400 from there, yep. And then we'll sit there and look, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:31.880 and we'll also look at what's on our plates because 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.599 some of these subjects automatically we know are going to 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.880 require way more research than others. And and multiple episodes two. 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.040 I mean, you know, when when we embarked upon Amazon, 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.200 for example, we were like, this could potentially be seven episodes, 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.880 so let's narrow it down to three. We wound up 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.600 recording two and have the idea for a third kind 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.159 of nebulously floating around. So so those are things that 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.240 we take into consideration because we only have a two 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:59.280 hour block of recording time every week. Uh sometimes in 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.120 all is great us enough to let us go over that. Yeah, 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:04.520 because we are the last podcast to record on the 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.520 day we record. Well, we'll talk more about that because 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.400 we've got a specific listener question where we can chat 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.559 about that. But uh, yeah, here's the thing. We don't 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.800 have endless amounts of time to sit down and record. 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.719 In fact, our recording sessions are not a whole lot 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:22.000 longer than the two episodes we tend to record. Sometimes 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.880 we record three. Today we're recording three, for example, So uh, 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:28.920 episode six hundred one and six hundred two we'll be 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.360 coming out. We'll we'll be recording those the same day 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.200 we're recording episodes six hundred because we love you that 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.920 much and also because I'm going to be on vacation. 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:41.000 So um. That means that we have to be really 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:44.760 cognizant of our time, especially since there are other podcasts 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.599 that record, and we only have the one podcast studio. 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:49.680 It's not like we have multiple studios here at Hell 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:51.760 stuff works and we all just go into different rooms. Yeah, 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.760 it's not a giant podcast farm. Yeah. We also only 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.440 have two people who record podcasts. Noel is one of them. 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.000 By by record, we mean the actual physical button pushing 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:05.560 and editing together and production. We'll be bringing Nol onto 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.120 this episode shortly to talk about his side of this, uh, 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:13.119 this whole wacky thing we call podcasting. And we also, 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.760 of course have Jerry, the Mysterious Jerry, which we will 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.600 say nothing more about because that's kind of what what 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.760 we do. We don't talk about Jerry. Jerry is awesome, 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.680 by the way. So then we have this in our 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:28.600 next bit of notes, the actual equipment and software used 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.960 in the recording process. So here's the deal. Lauren and 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.760 I one of the greatest joys I have at doing 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.600 this is the fact that I'm really just responsible for 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.640 making sure that I have the content to talk about 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.440 and that I have the voice to actually express that 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.560 that stuff while we sit down and record. I don't 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.040 have to worry about any of the equipment. I don't 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:53.880 have to worry about any of the software. I don't 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:55.640 have to worry about editing. I don't have to worry 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.440 about publishing. I know a lot of people out there, 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.840 people who listen to this show probably work on their 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.520 own podcasts. And you guys are wearing multiple hats. You know, 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:06.920 you might be you might be on air talent, you 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.200 might be a producer, you might be an editor, you 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.280 could be a publisher. You're probably doing sound design in 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.840 your own studio. Yeah, this is a lot of stuff 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.000 that you guys have to do, and Lauren and I 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.080 don't have to do it. Yeah. We we are very 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.760 fortunate to UM have always worked with incredibly talented and 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:27.240 dedicated people who make us sound so good. UM. I mean, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:29.200 you know, there's a whole lot of little blips and 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:32.960 blobs and mess ups and coughs and oops. I need 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.719 to go eat granola bars and etcetera. That happened in 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.240 the middle of our episode. We've also had a this 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.200 room has gotten so hot that there is no way 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:45.240 my brain can function. We have to do this later. Uh. 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.640 Fortunately this room is no longer that hot. Yeah, we 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.080 we we worked out that situation. There was a thermostat issue. 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.880 I can cover that when we get into the describe 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.760 the podcast room as the question we have definite. But 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.480 now I would like to bringing our producer and editor 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:09.199 extraordinaire Noel onto the show. Alright, everyone, we are joined 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.760 by our producer slash editor slash publisher extraordinaire Noel. Noel. 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:18.199 Say hello, Hi Johnathan, Hi Noel. You're just a bundle 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:22.120 of energy today, aren't you. So those of you who 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.960 are really astute may think, hey, that that voice sounds familiar, 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.840 And if you listen to a lot of the podcasts 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.240 from How Stuff Works, you may recognize his voice because Noel, 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.959 you've done some at reads, right, sister, I'm usually much 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.800 more a brilliant in those reads. That's true. Yea. We 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:42.280 we forced him back around from behind his desk that's 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:47.400 also located within our podcast studio to to join us here. 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.600 Although we do have a foam barrier set up for 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:53.040 our own protection. Yes, it's really just to make sure 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.160 we don't make eye contact with Noel while he's recording. 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:58.960 It enrages him. It also makes me really uncomfortable to 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.160 be on this side of the barrier, just so you know. Okay, well, 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.560 well we'll keep this nice and short. So no A 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.400 lot of people want to know about the technology behind 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.920 tech stuff, and we thought who better to talk about 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.120 that than Matt Frederick, but he was busy, so we 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:17.720 came to you, Burn Burn. Um No, yeah, I mean, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.320 ultimately it's a pretty low tech affair. We have some 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:25.040 really nice microphones that we use their dynamic vocal mix 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.120 and actually a funny little tidbit, the same microphone that 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.720 was used to record the vocals of Michael Jackson's thriller, 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:35.360 So the Shure SM seven B than only the SM seven, 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.719 but now they added a little lowercase B. But they 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.719 work really well for recording the voice. Um, you can 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:42.800 get really close to them, as opposed to it's called 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.240 a condenser mike, which kind of picks up everything and 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:49.160 all things around them. So this way we reduced the 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.480 you know, noise, and we get a lot of that 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:53.960 around here because our office is right on the edge 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.160 of the building overlooking a Marta station, which is the 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:59.120 public transit we have here, so we can hear that 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.800 switching ound every now and then. That's the march. Also 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:03.800 lots of sirens that we have to stop for, and 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:08.520 construction going on both above and below us. Yeah, we said, 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:10.280 the only thing we're missing right now is a marching 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.040 band walking through the office, which should be here any 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.959 minute now. So these microphones they're picking up sound, they 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.240 are sending that sound. Where does the sound go, NOL. 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.920 The sound goes to a computer we have. It's a 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.520 Mac Pro. I think it's about four years old, but 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.160 it does the job really well. We use this program 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.920 that's part of the Final Cut seven suite of software, 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.360 which a lot of video editors actually still like to use. 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.200 But this is the audio editor that comes with that suite, 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.480 and it mainly is just a basic audio recording program. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:44.360 There's nothing fancy about it. So once I'm done recording 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.319 the episode, I export the audio files to a dropbox 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:49.920 folder that I access from home, which is where I 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.079 do most of my editing. Is actually only come into 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:53.520 the office here a couple of days a week to 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.800 record everyone, um, and then I use a different program 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.600 called Adobe Audition, which actually allows me to use audio 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:02.880 plug ins that kind of sweeten the sound of the 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.679 You know, your voices are already very sweet, but sometimes 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.240 require a little bit of extra life. I need all 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.280 the sweetener I can get, And then I just add 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:14.680 some sound design and published them to the RSS feed, 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:19.200 which then goes out to iTunes and beyond excellent. So 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:21.760 about how long does it take you to edit a 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.240 typical episode of tech stuff? Well, I added everything at 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.880 double speed is to maximize the time because I do 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:29.920 quite a few shows and I have a limited amount 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.560 of time that I can work on stuff. Um, So 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:34.920 it takes about a half an hour to edit an 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.240 hour show. But we all sound like chipmunks the entire 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:40.000 time that you're doing it, which is true. And you 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:42.720 occasionally probably hear a little bleed from me editing while 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.160 you're recording over there. So that's the sound of really comforting. 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:50.240 I thought that was just in my head. Good clear up? Yeah, no, 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.760 that my therapist is going to be so happy. So 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:58.360 another question then, because you listen to so many different 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:00.960 house stuff work shows and you have to edit so 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.160 many different shows, whose shows. Do you like to addit 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.360 the most? Well, I mean, I think with with tech stuff, 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.880 the majority of the time I spend is actually cutting 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.760 out puns. What. Yeah, it's true. I make those for 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.960 a reason, nol. He still leaves in. I mean, like 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.840 like you know, a good so or thirty puns per episode. 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:23.959 There's such a thing as pun overload. I'm just gonna 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.600 put out there right Well, Chris Pallette has not been 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:28.640 on the show for a really long time, so I 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.440 would like to maintain that. I think. Okay, it's fair 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.160 you've edited them all out that that does make more sense. Okay, well, 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:39.400 that's that's fair. Noel, thank you so much for joining us. 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.160 Um we we're glad that people could hear your voice 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.880 and hear you be you and and also just to 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:47.400 give some more insight onto the kind of stuff we 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.440 use here in the office. Uh. And now we're going 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:52.720 to banish you to the other side of the room, 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:57.560 back at your desk behind the safety phone barrier. I've 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:02.160 never seen someone take off their headphones so angry before. Alright, 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.319 one more thing that we can talk about before we 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.000 take a quick break is to talk about what it's 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.679 like to work here at how stuff works and not 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.840 necessarily go through what our routine is because we have 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.000 a question a little bit later that I think will 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.040 lead into that. But just what's the atmosphere, like, what's 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.240 it like interacting with the other hosts of how stuff works? 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.720 Because believe it or not, we do all have a 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:26.200 centralized office that we work out of. So yeah, yeah, 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.160 and I think that we we mentioned when we first 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.160 moved into the current office space that we are in 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.480 that that's a little bit like a call center. It's 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.920 it's very open um and you can kind of reach 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.840 out and poke your your neighbors, and so so we're 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:40.840 all in pretty close quarters. Yeah, I've got I've got 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.360 Robert Lamb of Stuff to blow your mind on my 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.520 left and Scott Benjamin of car stuff on my right. 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:52.360 So I've got the two rowdiest loudest people. I'm absolutely joking. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.400 They are both incredibly focused and so then and quiet 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.160 and into everything that they are doing. Makes me feel 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.720 re really self conscious because I'm an extrovert and I 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.680 like talking to people and it helps me get excited 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:09.040 about what I'm doing. But they're both introverts and they 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:13.480 like really focusing on stuff, So I keep thinking going 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.240 through my mind of we did that personality test like 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:20.160 five years ago. Who was an extrovert on that test? Josh, 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.600 But he's recording, so that's no good and so but 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.200 it is, it's it's a lot of fun. I mean, 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:27.960 it's one of the best things about working here is 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:31.920 that the people who work here have great personalities. They're 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.760 wicked smart. Oh yeah, and they just they they they're 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.480 so well read on such a wide variety of subjects, 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.400 mainly because we all have been writing or editing articles 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.840 on these subjects for years or even just that you know, 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.760 for for newer people who are here. Yeah, just I mean, 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:49.560 there's no one in this office who I am not 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.360 intellectually intimidated by in one way or another because they're 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:57.120 they're all just amazing, funny, brilliant, terrific people. I sit 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.760 by the way between Um Christian Conger of stuff Mom 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:03.000 Never Told You and Joe McCormick are our third co 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.840 host on Forward Thinking. Yeah, so we've got lots of 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:10.440 really smart, funny folks here and that's always a pleasure. Also, 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:12.440 if you guys aren't familiar, I mean, we we do, 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.160 like Lauren said, we do the show Forward Thinking which 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:17.920 is an optimistic view of the future and talking about 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.560 all sorts of stuff, not just technology, but science and 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:25.360 culture and usually optimistic. We tend to be more optimistic 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.520 than not. We We also don't shy away from talking 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.480 about challenges, real challenge of course, that's that's always part 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:32.800 of it. I do tend on that show to be 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.840 depressing numbers. Girl. That's usually my my job for every 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:37.680 show is to look into all the statistics that are 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:39.680 going to make me cry in the shower the next morning. 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.240 But I sweep in and I say, remember that human 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:48.280 beings are pretty amazing and overcoming obstacles. So that's my job. Also, 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.040 you know, we do a show. We're both hosts on 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.320 a show called brain Stuff series right right Um that 0:16:54.520 --> 0:17:00.000 is being headed by Christian Sager and Um written by 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.040 him and Ben Bolan, produced by Mr Paul den chant 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.080 Um and other hosts on that show include Kristin Conger. 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.720 Josh Clark is also host. Ben Bolan pulls double duty. 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:15.000 He's also a host, and we tend to pick just uh, 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:17.400 whatever topics we really like at this point. We kind 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.879 of pick interesting stuff that we can explain in a 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.919 few minutes in an entertaining way. It's usually basic science 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.040 kind of stuff, and we have a lot of fun. 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.040 It's the first time I've done video, and it's a 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:29.760 huge trip for me getting to to learn this new, 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:33.280 terrifying skill set. Yeah. So if you've ever wanted to 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:37.680 see what Lauren looks like when she's enacting a nineteen 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:41.560 eighties power ballad, you need to watch the episode we 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.840 did about how fast his hair Grow? Yeah. That the 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.960 very first episode that we did. Uh. We we brought 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.160 in a floor fan and I flipped my hair and 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:53.120 I didn't really understand what my life was anymore. Yeah. 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.879 The only thing was we didn't have any actual soundtrack 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.040 to go along while you were physically flipping your hair 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.640 or else we could have really had you lived the moment. Yeah, 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.040 it was really just just you and a Resci Recivic, 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.400 our original producer on that show, giggling, giggling a lot 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.640 about it. It was very difficult not to know. That's 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.000 that's I agree. It was mostly out of envy, Lauren. 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:16.520 I my hair flipping days are long behind me. But 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.960 you know, no, working it has stuff works in general. Um, Honestly, 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:21.720 it's the first job I've ever had where I felt 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:23.840 like I belonged, like where I felt like I was 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.600 part of a team that cared that I was there, 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.520 um and and that was really working towards something awesome. Yeah, 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.680 and I mean, it's it's the most rewarding. I keep 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.160 telling people, it's the most challenging job I've ever had, 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.359 and it's the best job I've ever had. Absolutely. We 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.120 probably both work way too much, but but it's it's 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:45.480 all because we we love learning stuff and sharing what 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.800 we learned with you guys. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, you know, 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.320 it's it's not like, you know, a lot of people said, hey, 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.240 you guys get paid for podcasting. That's actually that wasn't 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.320 true for a very long time, in the sense that 0:18:56.400 --> 0:19:00.640 podcasting was something on top of everything else we did. Uh, 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.680 these days, it's a little bit different. We'll talk about 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:06.159 that more in the second half. But you know, the 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.879 reason why people would stick with it is because they 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:12.439 loved it so much. They were really enjoying the experience 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.040 of having these conversations and sharing it with other people 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.000 and then getting the feedback and uh, you know, sometimes 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:19.800 feedback can be rough, but you know, most of you 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:23.160 guys out there are pretty awesome. Oh oh yeah, and 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:25.800 we I mean, we don't always have time to respond 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.359 to every email that we get and every Facebook message 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:29.800 that we get, but I want you all to know 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.399 that we read every single one of them and appreciate 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:34.520 so much that you guys take time out of your 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:36.840 day to to write into us and and share your 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.840 thoughts or give us corrections or any other assorted stuff 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:44.359 that comes our way. Absolutely, yeah, whether it's a photoshopped, 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.320 uh poster of a popular science fiction film that's been 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.360 retouched to have different people on it, or it's a 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.520 handmade youkalile, I mean, we've we've received some pretty cool 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:59.800 stuff from folks. You guys are all awesome, So to 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.399 prove how awesome all of you are. And the second 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:04.399 half what we're going to do is we're going to 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.600 respond to specific questions from our listeners. Plus I think 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:12.080 we might hear from some fellow how stuff works folks 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.320 as we go along. All right, well, let's take a 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:18.440 quick break. Okay, we're back, and our first question comes 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:22.760 from JP on Twitter, and JP asks how much time 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.200 is spent researching prior to recording an episode? Gosh, Jp, 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:29.800 I don't know that we have an easy answer for this. 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.120 It varies widely depending on the topic and how much 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:35.640 else is going on in a given Weekum, I would 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:39.280 I would say that my bare minimum in an emergency 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:42.639