WEBVTT - Listener Mail: We Got Robots, We Got Cave Men 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.520 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:13.119 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind Listener Mail. 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:17.919 This is Robert Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. Now, Hey, 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:19.880 if you've been listening to the show for the past 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.919 few years but maybe tuned out over the past month 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:25.919 or so, you might not be aware that we've changed 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.240 up our format a little bit on listener Mail. For 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.200 a while, we had been doing it as a weekly 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.880 offering every Monday, but for the time being, we're trying 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.800 out a different schedule, which is more like what we 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.640 used to do going several years back. We used to 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:46.640 run listener Mail in a Tuesday Thursday slot every so often, 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.159 you know, whenever the mail bag would accumulate sufficiently, And 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:52.559 that's what we're doing for now. So we're bringing you 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.600 listener Mail today. We've got messages on all kinds of topics. 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:00.280 We've got stuff about warships, ramming, we've got stuff about 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:04.040 we've got stuff about ninjas, we've got stuff about horned lizards. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.720 It's all over the place, and lots of responses to 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.080 the warriors, way more than we can get to, but 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.040 we'll do our best to give a somewhat representative sample. 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:15.720 Well where do we even begin to dive in here, Joe. 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:17.600 Well, let's see. I'm going to start things off with 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:22.640 this message from Ian about our series on Dust. All right, 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.240 Ian says, dear Robin, Joe, I was listening to the 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.280 fifth episode of your series on Dust, in which you 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.640 talk about dust storms and dust devils. In the discussion 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:43.240 of dust storms, you briefly mentioned plants abilities to prevent 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.440 such storms by securing the soil with their roots and 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:50.000 acting as wind breaks. I am from southern Kansas, where 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.960 we are very familiar with using plants as wind breaks. 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.559 When you drive through any rural area, you will see 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.720 about every quarter to half mile a straight line of 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.720 true planted between the wheat fields. Those were planted in 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:07.240 direct response to the dust Bowl and are still maintained 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.519 to this day. They were always just in the background 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.400 to me. I never thought about them until one time 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.000 we were driving to South Dakota to visit family and 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:20.120 I noticed somewhere around the Kansas Nebraska border the tree 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:24.560 lines disappeared. I don't know what cultural reasons underlie this difference, 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.560 whether they weren't hit as hard by the dust bowl 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.720 and never had them in the first place, or if 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.440 they used to have them but haven't maintained them. Whatever 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:34.760 the reason, it always stands out to me when we 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.360 drive through, how strange the landscape looks without the trees. 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.720 Dust devils are another thing we are very familiar with 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.280 around here. I've always associated them with mid morning in 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.520 the late summer or early fall. I never thought about 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.560 why until you described how they are formed. It makes 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.600 perfect sense now that around that time of day the 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:58.360 air is still somewhat cooler from overnight, but the sun 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.160 is starting to heat up the ground, creating the temperature 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.359 inversion you discussed. I've seen them most often unpaved surfaces 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.160 such as basketball courts or parking lots, especially gravel ones, 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.360 which must provide the smooth, open surface they require. The 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.280 ones we see are typically quite small, maybe twenty or 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.760 thirty feet high and five or so feet across, very wispy, 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.640 and extremely transient, often lasting only a couple of minutes. 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.240 Definitely not anything that could cause damage we have real 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.760 tornadoes for that. They are quite captivating, though they tend 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.200 to fade in and out of view as the amount 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:37.000 of dust they're carrying varies, and sometimes will seem to 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.480 almost stop rotating and fade away altogether before picking up 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.400 speed and strength again. Children especially find them in thralling, 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.000 as I did myself when I was a kid. Thanks 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.680 as always for your work, especially in highlighting the wonder 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.960 of seemingly mundane things. I never would have guessed dust 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.400 would be such a rich topic of discussion, but I'm 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:59.520 glad to have learned my mistake. Ian Well, thank you 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:04.840 so much and yeah, interesting email. I recall also seeing 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.400 dust Devil's form a little bit when I was a kid, 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:11.960 also on gravel or paved surfaces. That's exactly what I 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.640 associate them with them being unlike oh, I don't know, 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.840 like over the gravel and then edging onto the concrete 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:23.840 basketball court on the playground outside my elementary school. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:27.719 Yeah, I too have definite memories of seeing them kick 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.839 up on little paved areas and so forth, you know, 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:33.040 parking lots sort of scenarios. 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.520 I'm also intrigued by the tree line mystery. I didn't 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:38.599 have time to look this up before we recorded today, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.320 but I wonder if there was a if there is 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:42.919 an answer out there to this, Why the tree lines 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.600 between the Fields and Kansas but not Nebraska all right. 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.080 This next one comes to us from Tim tim Rights 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:57.640 in on the horned lizards. Tim Wrights fellas, I only 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.120 have some heartfelt nostalgia to add to your blood spitting 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.640 lizard dropped today. I was born in Midland, which is 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.400 firmly in the Texas horny toad range. We moved from 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.599 Texas to the East Coast when I was almost five, 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.880 so catching, playing with and building little makeshift terrariums for 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.359 my legion of horny toads is still one of my 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:21.840 most vivid memories of my brief origins in Texas. They 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.719 were really pretty gentle little lizards and would quickly go 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:27.160 to sleep if you flipped them over and rub their belly. 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:29.719 It's good they had spikes because they were pretty easy 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.320 to catch, even for a four year old. They definitely 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.599 would spit blood at you if you surprised them, but 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.000 as these were the only lizards I'd ever known up 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:39.479 to this point, I was more surprised later to find 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:44.599 out that all lizards didn't bleed out of their eyes. Again, 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.120 maybe from the vantage of a four year old, I 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.479 just didn't notice, but I don't ever remember anything eating them. 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.200 All the dogs in the area learned real fast that 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.039 the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, so the thorns and 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.280 the blood must have done their job. Again, take everything 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.480 I say as veiled through the eyes of a child, 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.120 But forty years later, it was a real nostalgic run 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.039 for me today listening to this one. 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:09.760 Thanks Tim, Thank you, Tim. That's an interesting detail that 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.520 you said the dogs just left them alone. I wonder 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.520 if that is a product of past experience, like they 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.400 got the blood Jets one time, it tasted bad enough 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:20.280 that they just don't mess with them at all, or 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.800 or what. Yeah, by the way, did we end up 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.039 calling those episodes here come the blood Jets. 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.520 I don't think we did, but I remember having that 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.120 Brian Eno reference in the notes at least. I can't 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.440 even remember if we specifically said it at one point 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:37.680 or another, but it's always in the background. 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:39.760 Whatever we actually used. I know at one point a 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.240 title I had somewhere in my head was like warm 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.400 blood squirting from the Lizard's eye, which sounds like a 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:49.800 Jallo movie. You know, they have those great titles that 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.520 are like a whole sentence or like a lot of words. 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.359 We ended up using a variation of that blood squirting 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:57.760 from the lizard's eye. Okay, okay, so we did kind 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.240 of in focus sense of that your vice is a 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.720 lizard's eye and I am the blood or something. 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.960 Yeah, all right, we got another message about the Texas 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:15.600 horned lizards. This one is from Lindsay. Lindsay says, gentlemen, 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:20.120 longtime listener, thanks for the horny toad episode. US Texans 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:24.440 love our horny toads with personal memories from childhood. This 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.480 is a theme, isn't it. Yeah, Lindsay says, I know 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:32.200 that TCU. I think that's Texas Christian University mascot horned 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:36.280 frogs is one of the heavy researchers in their conservation. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.080 We have several species throughout the Chiuawan Desert. I'm supporting 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:45.520 some local research on the mountain shorthorn in the Davis Mountains. 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.080 Keep doing what you're doing, right on, y'all. 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:48.760 Lindsay. 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.559 PS, now here's a topic, SWITCHERU. I write this while 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:59.360 watching Highlander two, the Renegade version. You've picked the wrong version, Lindsay, 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:02.520 we go back in time and stop you. 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.600 They don't make it easy, as we've discussed, to select 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:07.480 the correct version. 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.760 So yeah, but anyway, Lindsay says, and I ask myself, 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.960 what on earth does this have to do with the original, 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.000 and when does Clancy Brown show up? God to love 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.080 raw Hide from Buckaroo BONDSI, maybe it's not coming through, 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.320 but this email has a lot of line breaks in it, 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:26.760 so it reads kind of like a poem. 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:27.960 Nice. 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:30.680 I had to look up who Clancy Brown was in 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.120 Buckaroo BONSI. Unfortunately he is not one of the John's, 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.360 not one of the alien guys, John Smallberry's or whatever 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.120 he I guess works for Peter Weller. 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.400 I think, yeah, it's been a long time stin. I've 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.240 seen that one, but it has quite an ensemble cast. 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:50.719 Yeah, but anyway, thank you, Lindsey. Clancy Brown never shows up, 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.480 You're never going to get to him, and Iland just 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.880 not in there. It's the sad facts. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.200 All right. Let's jump over to Ninja mail. This one 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:08.320 comes to us from Mike. Mike says, Hey, guys, been 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.160 loving the series on Ninja Just real quick note on 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:14.320 Snake Eyes and storm Shadow from Gi Joe and Larry 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.640 Hannah's long running Gi Joe comic series, Issue three oh 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.120 eight just came out a few weeks ago. Storm Shadow 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.960 isn't actually a villain. In his first appearances in the 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.200 comic Storm Shadow went undercover in Cobra to find out 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.840 who framed him for the murder of his Sinsey, the 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.319 hard Master, but he's mostly been part of the Gijoe 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:35.080 team since then. Ninja's have always been a big part 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.800 of the comic series. Towards the end of the Marvel run, 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.480 Hasbro went extra ninja crazy and started introducing a lot 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.280 of ninja characters, even turning longtime characters like Scarlett and 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.440 Stalker into ninjas. They even briefly put Snake Eye's name 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.240 on the cover bigger than Gi Joe and featured a 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:57.000 group called Ninja Force. And we have an image here 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:01.320 and yeah, it's like Gi Joe starring and then huge 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:05.079 banner Snake Eyes and Ninja Force. So it's like g 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:06.800 I Joe presents Snake Guys? 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.840 Now? Is this email a sort of semi correction to 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.920 us talking about a one of the Ninjas and Gi 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.439 Jo being good and the other being evil, And the 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.560 idea is actually they were both primarily good, because you know, 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:21.640 how can you have ninjas as the bad guys? When 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.440 you're a kid, you just you want the ninjas to 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:24.880 be on your team because you love them. 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.679 They it seems like it ends up going this way. 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:31.600 In the comic books, this would have been what the nineties. Yeah, 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.280 so it does kind of back up what we were 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.560 talking about though. Yeah, the kids want the Ninjas to 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.160 be the good guys so much that even the bad 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.720 Ninjas are going to eventually cross over. It kind of 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.839 works that way anyway with any sort of cool villain. 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.120 Right, Yeah, they show up at first, they're acting kind 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.160 of mysterious and standoffish, but you know by the final 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.360 act they're going to be a standing right alongside the hero. 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:56.400 Yeah. I have to I have to admit I didn't. 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.320 I never went too deep into the G I. Joe 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.600 lore because at some point I saw the GI Joe 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:06.240 movie that they put out. This would have been nineteen 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.079 eighty seven's G I. Joe The Movie, And this is 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.120 the one that had all sorts of like weird ideas 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.520 in it, where there's like a place in like a 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.640 place called Cobra Law and the Himalayas, and they are 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:22.760 all these like grotesque monsters. And I don't know, maybe 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:24.520 I just saw it too young of an age, because 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.120 on the surface, all this sounds weird. And great, right, 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.680 but it really like hit me the wrong way, and 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:31.600 I'm like, I don't really don't like where they're going 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:33.640 with this whole Gi Joe thing, and I kind of 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:38.079 I kind of phased out of the franchise at that point. 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:42.080 I think, really leaning into the utopian spiritual themes of 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:43.360 the G I. Joe universe. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.440 Yeah, and there was like a lot of like weird 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:47.840 body horror stuff in it. I don't know, I mean all, 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.600 you know, obviously all things that I definitely came around to, 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.200 but maybe I just wasn't ready for these ideas yet. 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:57.079 In my Gi Joe animated motion pictures. 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:58.720 I don't know if this is the movie or if 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:00.600 it was just an episode of the two TV show, 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.000 but a G I. Joe cartoon that really sticks in 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:07.400 my mind from childhood was there. The the Joe's are 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:09.839 being attacked by a bunch of you know, bat evil 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.840 robots or something, and they're blasting them with their their 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:16.000 laser guns, and the laser guns are having no effect 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.480 on the robots. So one of the the Joe's, I 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.040 guess it's like a tough guy, I want to say, 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.440 Sergeant Slaughter, but I think that may have actually been 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:25.240 a wrestler and not a G I Joe. 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.440 It was both Oh okay, yeah. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.559 Okay, Sergeant's laughter or I don't know if that's really 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:34.280 who it was. This like tough sergeant character is like, 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.199 here's how we're going to defeat them. We're going to 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.400 use our bare hands, like the energy weapons no effect. 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:42.640 But they run in and they like rip the robots 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.160 apart with their hands and that works. 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:51.600 Nice. Yeah, I kind of forgot this sergeant Slaughter was 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.280 was part of the whole franchise there, at least for 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.960 a little bit, stands out in my mind. Maybe it 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.679 was only like a few cameos, but I just assume 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:00.520 he was just all G I Joe. I kind of 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.400 sometimes forget that he was also a human being as well. 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.319 But anyway, back to the main theme. I do think 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.240 it's true that like the ninjas in Gi Joe have 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:13.360 got to be the absolute core, the bullseye of the 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:18.520 americanized pop culture ninja phenomenon. All right, I'm going to 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.880 move on to some other emails that connect one of 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:25.520 our historical show topics to some fictional media. So we 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.480 just did a series on the war galleys of the 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:33.800 ancient Mediterranean, especially the famous Trirem, which was used in 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.360 naval battles as a ramming weapon. In the ship to 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.520 ship combat, these ships would ram each other to try 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:44.319 to damage and immobilize each other in battle. And Rob 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.760 you ended up bringing up ramming between ships and a 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:49.119 science fiction context. 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.160 What was the specific thing you were talking about was 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.640 a warhammer. I think in the third episode I brought 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.760 up warhammer, but earlier I just was kind of spitball 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:01.200 and I was thinking, well, hey, Star Trek has always 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:07.079 essentially been naval combat transferred into a space scenario, so 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.280 they had to have had some ramming speed going on 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:10.920 at some point. Yeah. 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.240 Yeah, So we asked about that, and what do you know, 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.320 multiple listeners got in touch to tell us about Star Trek. 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:21.080 Who would have thought. So, this first message is from Jim, 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:29.800 subject line Star Trek Ramming. Jim says, you asked for it. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.240 Here it is number one. In Star Trek First Contact, 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:37.240 the Federation is fighting a borg Cube. Wharf is in 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:41.600 command of the Defiant, a smaller ship from DS nine. 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:46.120 I guess Deep Space nine correct, and the Defiant takes 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:50.480 damage and Wharf declares ramming speed, but it never does 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.800 because the Enterprise comes to the rescue. But the fact 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.000 that he declared it means it's a thing. 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:58.960 Seems key that it would be like a Klingon thing, right, 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.000 kind of like your lastch effort. Yeah, I agree. 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:08.040 Number two in Star Trek Nemesis Picard crashes the Enterprise 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.880 into a Romulan ship called the Scimitar, heavily damaging both ships. 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.880 This was not at warp speed, however. There was also 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:20.240 an example in Star Wars The Last Jedi. Oh yeah, 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:24.120 I remember this one spoiler for I don't know the movies, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:25.960 like seven years old at this point, but you know, 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:30.080 a spoiler for pivotal plot moments. Laura Dern plays a 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:34.000 character named Vice Admiral Holdo. She rams a Rebel ship 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:38.280 into a Star Destroyer at hyperspeed, destroying both ships. Thanks 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.480 for all the great shows, Jim, and then I'm going 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:43.680 to quickly tack on another one here that we got 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.720 from Jim in New Jersey. So a totally different Jim 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.120 wrote in on the same subject, Robert, Joe, and JJ 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.440 you asked about whether ramming ships were ever used in 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.360 Star Trek. One story came to mind. It's from Star 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.400 Trek Voyager the year of Hell, which was a two 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.440 part episode. Captain Janeaway uses the Voyager as a ramming 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.640 vessel when all other options have been eliminated, and then 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:10.239 Jim attaches a clip to a video of this scene. 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:12.280 So I went and looked at it. I've never seen 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:15.000 any Star Trek Voyager really, so I don't know much 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:17.080 of what's going on, but it appears this is a 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:21.080 storyline in which the Starfleet ship is facing off against 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:25.200 an enemy played by kurtwood Smith Clarence Bodiker from RoboCop. 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.200 In this episode of Star Trek, he has some kind 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:34.080 of time manipulation device and can reset to an earlier 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.440 kind of save point anytime he loses. 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:36.880 I think. 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.120 So it seems like mutual destruction is somehow the only 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.160 way to break the loop and escape. 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.040 Well, I just watched a couple of like pizza commercials 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.560 on YouTube and then saw the ramming sequence, and I 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:54.880 am getting the sense that ramming in these various spaceship scenarios, 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.200 it is all or nothing. It's just a full speed, 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:04.320 mutually assured just struction and not the carefully calculated procedure 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:10.399 maneuver that we talked about with the tryrems. So it 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:14.000 would be neat to see that version of space combat. 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.479 I guess a difference would be that the ships in 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.280 all of these scenes are not designed for ramming, whereas 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:22.960 the tryream is it is built with ramming in mind, 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.800 so it's constructed to be able to absorb the shock 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.920 and survive a ramming maneuver to damage the other ship 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:34.560 without taking critical damage itself. And generally space ships you 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:37.000 don't think they're not designed that way, but I suppose 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:38.280 you could make one like that. 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.000 Yeah, well, supposedly some of these ships in Warhammer. Again, 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.040 I never played Battlefleet Gothic or any of the sub 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.879 games that deal specifically with ship to ship combat, but 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:51.840 I may have to dig into it and see if 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.560 they're just doing an all or nothing ramming speed scenario 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.840 or if they are exploring something that is again a 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.639 little more nuanced and calculated, where you're kind of doing 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:05.080 a controlled nudge to rupture the hull. Yeah. 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.639 Also, I feel like this is not the first time 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:13.480 we've gotten multiple different responses to Star Trek related questions 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.000 from different listeners named Jim, do the gyms all track? 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:29.520 Maybe? So? All right? This next one is more of 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:34.359 a general or related response. This one comes to us 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:39.640 from Lee Lee wrights in and says the following, Hello, Rob, Joe, 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:43.160 and JJ, just listen to the first episode regarding ancient ores. 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.760 Having spent summers on camp staff during high school and college, 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.679 one of the subjects I taught was rowing. What you 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:52.120 were saying about these types of rowing locks was correct. 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.040 Our boats had the open type, basically a U shaped 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.240 rest for the oars. They really don't facilitate keeping the 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.720 oars in the boat. This is never more evident than 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:02.960 during a class of ten or more twelve to sixteen 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.080 year old boy scouts, many of which whom have never 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.719 been in a boat. The technique of turning the blade 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:11.439 of the ore so that it is parallel to the 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:15.080 water surface is called feathering. Yes, it cuts wind resistance, 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:17.879 but it can also allow the blade to skim the 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.680 top of an errant wave in rough water. Pinlocks fix 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.120 the ore to the boat. Like you said, this could 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.280 provide an advantage to ancient seafares by not requiring a 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.120 multitude of spares should ores fall overboard. The trade off 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.720 might be some speed. Looking forward to the next episode, Sincerely. 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:36.879 You know one thing we didn't get into. 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:37.480 I don't know. 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:39.760 Maybe you read about this in that book you were reading, 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:43.760 Rob but about whether spare ores would have been the 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:47.199 thing in the war galleys of the ancient Mediterranean, So 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:50.280 like if you're on a trirem and you drop your 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:52.520 ore into the ocean. In fact, I don't even even 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:54.520 know if that's possible. Maybe they were secured to the 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:56.320 boat in some way with a pin like Lee is 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.800 talking about. I don't know, But did they carry spares? 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.320 I know one of the techniques I read about in 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:05.679 addition to ramming the hull of the boat was to 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:07.800 sort of go against the side of the boat and 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.600 try to shear its oars off. So if that happened, 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.320 did you have spars on board to, you know, to 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:15.960 kind of quickly try to replace the ones you'd lost. 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:18.000 This is a great question. I'm going to have to 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.120 bust out the ancient mariners and see if case gets 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.520 into it or not. But yeah, it seems like you 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:28.840 would run the risk if not losing them, because in theory, 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:30.959 you'd have a pretty crack team here that would not 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:32.800 lose their oars. This would not be the twelve to 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.040 sixteen year old boy scouts. I've never been in a boat, 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:39.440 but in a combat scenario. Certainly it seems like you, yeah, 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:41.919 you could get splintered oars, broken oars, and then what 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.399 are you going to do in order to restore your power? 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:47.280 Or is it one of those situations where again you're 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.160 getting into that calculus of not weighing the boat down 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.679 and you're just kind of going with all right, we 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.560 just need to make sure that it's as you know, 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:59.520 that everything is optimized as much as possible, and you're 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.720 gonna have to worry about splintered ores when and if 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:04.919 that occurs. All right. 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.680 This next message is from yet another gem, the Gym's overfloweth. 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:19.719 This is subject line Rowboat mosh Pit. Listening to your 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:21.919 episodes on rowing and wanted to let you know that 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.840 I discovered that some of the audience for Viking metal 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:29.200 bands will often sit down on the ground and row 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:32.960 on mass and then Jim attaches several videos of this 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:35.280 taking place. I watched one of these. It's at a 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:38.760 concert of the melodic death metal band Amon m Arth. 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.200 I don't know if I'm saying that right, but they're 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:44.240 like a I think a Swedish melodic death metal band. 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:46.040 Okay, yeah, I'm not familiar with them. 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:48.720 The name of the band is the name of Mount 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.800 Doom from Tolkien in like one of the languages of Tolkien. 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:54.680 Yeah. I just pulled up some of these videos as well. 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.240 I was not familiar with this, but as someone who 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:02.360