WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Smaragdus Eyes 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:11.240 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.120 Listener Mail. This is Robert Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.000 and we're back in the mail bag overfloweth it is. 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.159 It is quite hefty this week, so we're gonna be 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.960 catching up, I assume, for the next few mail Bag episodes. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.000 But Rob, if you're ready, I think I'm going to 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:28.800 jump into some messages that we got about the three 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:37.320 pupiled Eye episodes. Alright, this is from Rob from you. 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.120 We're not having another seth rights in the listener mail 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:45.720 type situation. Okay, this is from some other Rob. Rob says, 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.640 in the second pupil episode, you mentioned the interesting fact 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.640 that the Chinese word for pupil, and then Rob says 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:57.840 that this contains the word child, making a connection between 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.520 a small child and the tiny reflected image seen in 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.959 somebody else's eye. I might have missed it, but I 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.360 don't think you mentioned that our own word pupil comes 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.640 from the same idea. It comes from the Latin pupila, 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:16.080 meaning little girl or doll. Comparing a pupil to a 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:20.400 child is actually very common cross linguistically The Greek core 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:24.040 a can mean either girl or pupil. The Irish mac 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:28.000 im risk literally means child of the iris. The hebrew 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:33.960 ishn literally means little man. The Turkish goes bebegie literally 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:39.080 means I baby. It's kind of creepy. Um. These are 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.120 not merely translations of a phrase original to one language. 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:46.800 They seem to have been coined independently in many unrelated languages. Apparently, 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.720 in ancient times, the little reflection of yourself that you 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.160 saw in somebody somebody else's pupil was considered the most 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.520 remarkable thing about this body part. Thanks for making such 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.320 a great show, rob Ah, Yeah, that's that's a that's wonderful. 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:04.960 I didn't know about the the I babies of Turkish there. Um, 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.400 that's that's wonderful. Uh. One of the weird the weird 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:13.280 coincidence here. I happened to watch the old animated version 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.320 of The Last Unicorn this week, and it's been a 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.399 long time since I've seen it, and I'd only ever 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.639 read half of the book with my son. I think 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:23.400 it was a library book. We ended up returning it. 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:25.960 I will say I think, as far as the movie goes, 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.520 first half much better than the later latter half. First 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.680 half has all the good stuff with the Mommy Fortuna 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:36.800 and the Harpie, and also has the best America songs, 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:39.760 uh the America songs in the In the second half 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.800 of the film, um My Son even noticed that they 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:44.880 were not up up to snuff. He was like, why 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.800 is this song so bad? And I'm like, well, which 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.920 half is his horse with There's no Horse with No 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.680 Name in this. This is post Horse with No Name America. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:54.760 This is when they weren't. They don't sound that much 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:56.920 like Neil Young in this. This is a you have 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:58.520 you had some real some world good ones. You got 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.840 the last Unicorn theme song It's self. You have Man's Road. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.080 Those are both really good. But anyway, my point about 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:09.320 eyes is there's a there's a whole thing in it about, 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:14.640 you know, the evil unicorn hoarding King Haggard, who is 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:18.440 voiced by Marvelous Lee by by Christopher Lee. He has 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:20.840 this whole thing where we have this unicorn that's the 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.640 script that is a disguised as a human woman in 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.680 the shape of a human woman, and he suspects something 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.400 is up when he cannot see his own reflection in 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.800 her eyes and later on is she becomes more human, 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.600 She's losing her unicorn nous and becoming more human. He 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:40.400 can see his reflection in her eyes. Interesting detail. Yeah, 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.200 and there's probably, Like I said, I haven't read the 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.880 second half of the book, but I imagine, uh, the 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:49.160 author here is Umu of course, Peter Spiegel. I wonder 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:52.240 if he's getting into something about the idea of possession, 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:57.480 because of course this is a greedy, miserable individual who 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.240 uh nothing makes him happy and life except occasionally the 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.080 fact that he's collected all the unicorns but one in 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.320 the world and hitting hitting them away in the surf. 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.520 You know, there's something about the idea of something that 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.320 he cannot possess fully, that that he does not see 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:17.279 himself in perhaps anyway unicorn fans right in let us know, 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.800 all right, This next one comes to us from It's is. 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.719 I'm not sure I guess Baron is writing in. I 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:35.760 think someone is calling themselves Baron all the Baron rites. 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.240 Good evening, this is Baron Eaton and I had to 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.120 take a moment to at least address the multiple pupils 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.839 for the Irish legends and the link to beauty. The 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.600 first example that popped into my head is the classic 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:52.920 Dungeons and Dragons magical item the eyes of and it's 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.839 items plural, and you would insert the power of the 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.839 deity here, The baron says. Typically they would be glasses 0:04:59.880 --> 0:05:04.599 of some sort, monocle, bifocals, or other lenses. Since the 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.839 lenses would not be purely flat, they could have multiple 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:12.160 facets that would allow the wearer to see into the future, 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.800 see through illusions, and spot hidden treasures. Robb, you have 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.120 experienced with these things. I don't think I've ever gotten 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.160 to the point where I had eyes of a d 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.360 I have never made these available as a d M, 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.920 and no d M has made them available to me. 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.600 But they sound pretty fun. They also sound like maybe 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.160 they're maybe they're a little difficult to we eve into 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:34.160 a campaign. I don't know, uh I d M s 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.480 and players right in and correct us on that if 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.840 if I'm wrong anyway, the baron continues, the person viewing 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:44.240 the sears would see multiple irises through the gym, and 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.200 it could be clear enough to do so. Since the 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.520 type of gym would be associated with mystical powers and wealth, 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.440 it could be easily tied into the idea of a 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:58.240 multi pupil human, especially since most things in the early 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:00.840 Before times were rife with symbolism. It would be a 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:03.960 quick way to describe a monocle if you if you 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.440 didn't have the words to describe a monocle. Love the episodes. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.240 You all keep giving me great ideas for games, characters 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:15.080 and monsters. Much appreciated. Well many thanks to the baron. Okay, 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.440 So if I understand what you're saying in the second half, 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.039 it's that maybe there would have been a case in 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.719 the ancient world where somebody was looking through some kind 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:28.200 of complex transparent object like a maybe a gym with 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:32.440 multiple facets or something that had some refractive properties that 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.719 caused the eye to appear in multiple surfaces on the 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.719 gym or lens to the person looking at them, so 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.919 it might look like they had multiple pupils or multiple irises. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:45.880 I love this idea as it relates to D and D. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.000 As far as relating to to something from actual Irish history, 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:54.160 I'm intrigued, but I would have some doubts. Uh. The 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.360 last time I read about this, I think the historical 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:00.920 consensus was that spectacles didn't really exist before the Late 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.480 Middle Ages, though there are some individual objects that have 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.880 been used as uh sort of uh more more specific 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:12.480 case magnification aids and and other visual aids in the 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.960 ancient world. So a few examples came to mind while 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.840 I was thinking about this before we recorded. One is 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:22.400 these these lenses from around the ancient Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.239 Though I think in most cases it's actually debated whether 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.640 these were really used for magnification purposes, such as for 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.119 reading text or as a craft workers aid, or whether 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.080 they were simply decorative items. Uh. Isn't that what we 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:39.440 talked about in our sort of history of lenses episodes on? Yeah? 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:41.800 We did? Uh? I think more than one episode didn't 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.240 we were we talked about lenses. I know we did 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.400 one on sunglasses, and by virtue of getting into sunglasses, 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.240 got into the idea of spectacles. Maybe we did an 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.000 episode on spectacles too. I don't know, it all blurs together. Well, 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.360 I think we've done the telescope and we did sunglasses, 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.400 so we addressed lenses in multiple ways. But uh, yeah, 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.880 So I think there's debate over to what extent some 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.640 of these lens artifacts were actually used for magnification or not. 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.280 I don't know if this still holds up but I 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.160 also remember reading claims at some point about ancient Romans 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:18.080 using glass spheres to magnify small text in manuscripts. And 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.080 of course there's that great story Plenty of the Elder 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.560 tells about how the Emperor Nero, of course he would 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.280 enjoy watching people kill each other in the arena, but 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.320 he liked to do he liked to watch it reflected 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:33.160 in a green gym that Plenty calls a smur agdus. 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:38.320 So to read from the Natural History quote, even when 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.720 the vision has been fatigued with intently viewing other objects, 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.720 it is refreshed by being turned upon the stone. And 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.000 lapidaries know of nothing that is more gratefully soothing to 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:51.800 the eyes. It's soft green tents being wonderfully adapted for 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.480 a suaging lassitude when felt in those organs. And then 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.240 later he says, when the surface of the samur agnus 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:01.360 is flat, it reflects the image of objects in the 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.720 same manner as a looking glass. The Emperor Nero used 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.800 to view the combats of the gladiators upon a sami agnus. 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.160 So I guess one imagines he's like holding up this 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.400 green gym like a mirror and then looking back behind 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:17.920 him at the at the gladiators whacking each other with 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.920 swords and throwing the nets and stuff. So I don't know. 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:26.600 I mean a few interesting examples of possible magnification devices, lenses, 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:28.720 gems and stuff like that that would have been used 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:30.880 in the ancient world, though I don't know if any 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.680 of this stuff would have ever shown up, would have 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.120 been known in ancient land. I have to say I 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:39.280 was immediately reminded of the scene in Disney snow White 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.520 where Dope the dwarf. Uh, it's kind of it's kind 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:45.000 of frightening to look at actually now where he takes 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.760 two giant gemstones and he like lodges them in his 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.120 eye sockets, and then it makes it look like he 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.800 has um, you know, multiple irises and pupils per eye, 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.719 like a big, big dope fly. I believe that is 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:05.920 what the exactly what the baron is suggesting here. All right, anyway, 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.200 I am going to read this next message from Taylor. 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.600 Taylor says, Hey, Rob and Joe, I just finished listening 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:14.880 to part two of the Three Pupil Die and unless 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.120 I'm forgetting something from part one, you missed an opportunity 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.640 to discuss a wonderfully weird example of multiple pupils in nature. 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:27.120 The genus Annableps, also known as four eyed fish, are 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.120 a genus of fish native to brackish waters in Central 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:34.000 America and northern South America. The four eyed fish does 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.280 not in fact have four eyes, but it does have 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:42.200 four pupils sort of species in the genus Annibleps spend 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.520 their life at the surface of brackish estuaries, where they 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.839 peak above the water to watch for insect prey. When 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.160 the opportunity presents itself, the four eyed fish leaps from 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:56.960 the water to consume inattentive arthropods. However, annibleps are not 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:01.199 particularly large like our beloved house cats. These species are 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.760 both predator and prey and must watch the waters below 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.880 for approaching picene predators. What's a fish to do if 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.280 it needs to keep its eyes in the sky and 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:15.360 the water at once. Evolution has produced an incredible answer. 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:19.840 Two pupils per eye, or rather one hour glass shaped 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.640 pupil per eye. The constricts in the middle in such 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.839 a fashion that the fish appears to have for pupils. 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.200 When Antibleps rests near the top of the water, the 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:31.839 upper halves of its pupils are held above the water 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:35.080 to watch for prey, and the lower halves remain below 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.400 the water to watch for predators. The neatest feature of 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.320 this adaptation to me, is that the lenses of the 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.400 fish's eyes are bifocal to account for the different diffraction 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:49.079 of light in air and water. This strange fish has 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.120 split the function of its eyes in half to adapt 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.360 to its liminal place at the surface of the water. 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.320 Please check out some pictures of this bizarre fish, and 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:01.280 thank you for continuing to create weird, wonderful and uh 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.079 edutaining content to fill the slower hours of my days. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.920 All the best, tailor, are you not edutained people? I 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.319 have to say I was not familiar with this fish, 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.640 but I just looked up some wonderful images of it 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:16.800 and yeah that these eyes are remarkable. It is very 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.640 much kind of an hour glass said looking situation in 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.280 many of these shots, where it's as if the an 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.800 oval shaped pupil has been pinched in the middle, allowing 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.040 a portion above and a portion below the water. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:40.040 that's really cool. All right. Here's one from cat in 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:44.599 response to our seven day work or seven day week episodes. 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.760 Cat rights high there did I miss the part where 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:53.200 the mythology Science, my Science boys that's Us by Sam 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.400 talk about the English names for the days of the week. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.000 I am surprised I didn't hear you at least mention it. 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.840 I recall how you mentioned the planetary names a few 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:06.079 times Saturday, Saturday, Sunday, Sun, Monday, Moon, but I didn't 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.240 hear any mention of the other half as the Norse 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:15.520 god days Tuesday, Tears, Wednesday, woden or Odin, Thursday, Thor's 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:20.120 and Friday freya. Some people might be thinking, what planet 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:24.240 is Thursday? Ha ha. Also I'm curious why use Norse 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.600 gods doesn't seem market related or anything unless it is 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:31.439 days of worship. Also why half Roman and half Norse 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.960 gods love the show? You guys are the best cat, 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.960 Thank you cat. Uh. I think the answer here is 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.439 just the modern English language inherits both Roman and Germanic 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.079 or Norse cultural influences. So uh, the names of the 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.240 days of the week trace back to Old English or 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.720 Anglo Saxon the language of the Anglo Saxons. Uh. You 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.120 know this is the language that Beowulf is written in, 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:59.000 and this language was also influenced by Roman religion because 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.520 Britain was occupied by Rome for hundreds of years from 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:04.520 like the first century until I think sometimes in the 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:08.640 fifth century a d. So, Saturday still has the name 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.120 of the Roman god Saturn. You've got you've got that 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.520 Roman influence. I think the Sunday and Monday probably also 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.760 come from the Roman influence. But then yeah, other days 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:20.800 of the week come from the names of these gods 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:29.440 that have Norse or Germanic pagan origins. Al Right, if 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:31.960 we're moving on to the next email, uh, let's see. 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:33.520 But before we get into this one, I just want 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.840 to say part of the background for it is. Remember 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.360 in the Seven Days of the Week, we talked about 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.400 how there was the scholar who wrote a book on 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.440 the history of the week, and in one of the 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.160 interviews we read, he speculated that life in which a 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:50.840 life in which the seven day week is an important 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:55.160 organizing principle might seem subjectively to go by faster than 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.680 other schemes such as monthly organization or maybe longer market 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.000 weeks or something. I think he mainly sided just like 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.080 letters from the past, in times when the week was 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:09.520 in ascendancy and becoming more front of people's minds. He 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:11.640 said that people seem to be talking more and more 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.720 often about how the time seems to be flying by. 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.120 Uh though, you know that could be a coincidence or 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:20.720 just his mistaken impression. And Jacob, in this next message, 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.520 has some great perspective to provide as someone in the 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:28.320 rather unique position of having lived under multiple radically different 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.680 regimes of time. So I love this email. Rob. Did 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:33.640 you want to read this one? Sure? Yeah? All right, 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:36.600 here we go. This one is from Jacob. Jacob says 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:41.680 the following, Hey, everyone, love the show so far. I 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.240 hope not to disappoint you. I was introduced to your 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.120 podcast by an old friend who worked with me and 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.680 endured the first of the schedules i'll describe below. I 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:52.960 just listened to the three part series on the seven 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:55.200 day week, and towards the end of part three, there 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.680 was some musings on whether or not life seems faster 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.080 when you break it down by week, and I do 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.120 not believe so. So long as there is a cycle, 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.280 I think it seems just as long when averaged over time. 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.000 The short version is I've lived on a three week 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.880 cycle with eighteen hour days instead of twenty four, and 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.840 now I work a schedule that repeats every thirty five days. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.280 In the case of the former, I think there was 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:22.120 some time dilation due to the circadian rhythm wrecking schedule. 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.280 In the case of the latter schedule, any given week 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.960 will very significantly, but over time I think it averages out. 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.800 In Between working these two schedules, I worked a regular 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.880 Monday through Friday, as most Americans do. In the case 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.400 of the former schedule, the three week cycle with eighteen 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.120 hour days. That was what U S Submarines did on deployment. 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.040 When I was in we didn't even care about the 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.080 twenty four hour day, instead organizing our lives around three 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:52.000 sections of six hour watches, yielding an eighteen hour day. 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.600 When I was junior and didn't need to know the 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.480 date I drove the boat uh. If we were deep, 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.400 I could mark the time by day of day by chow, 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.120 and the weeks by a cleaning ritual known as field day. 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.480 As I got more senior, I had to be cognizant 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.520 of time and date, but rest assured I'd forget when 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.080 I got off watch. If I had no obligations, every 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.840 twenty one days, you'd stand watch at the same time 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.119 and day as you did before, so the cycle was 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.439 effectively a three week One weeks seemed long because of 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.400 the eighteen hour day and the various things that could 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.800 cut into your sleep, But over time I think twenty 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.120 one day periods would start to blur together the same 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.520 way weeks do. In the case of the latter schedule, 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.480 the thirty five day cycle, that is the modified DuPont 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.919 that is very common across the power system operations world. 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.080 In thirty five days, I'll have worked seven day shifts 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.919 of twelve hours, seven night shifts of twelve hours, and 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.920 four training days of ten hours. Power Plant operators tend 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.000 to work a similar schedule of twenty eight days without 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.240 the training week. Any given week in that rotation will 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.480 be different from a work perspective, and that will make 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.480 a different schedule for someone's personal life. The average Americans 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:04.159 work week is closest to my training week of forty 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.920 hours in four days with three days off. I also 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.280 have a week where I worked three day shifts and 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.359 three night shifts with twenty four hours in between, which 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.760 is very different uh compared to the built in weeks 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.439 off I have within that schedule. By the end of 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.280 my thirty five days cycle, I think time will have 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:25.600 felt similar to five weeks. Yeah, if we were to 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.359 look at fifteen weeks or a hundred and five days, 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.760 I don't think the few day walkers on a submarine 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.840 who don't organize their lives around standing watch will feel 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.680 they spent more or less time on deployment than those 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:39.720 who have gone through the five of the twenty one 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.200 day cycles most of us lived on. I don't think 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.440 three of my thirty five day cycles would feel any 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.400 longer or shorter than fifteen of your seven day cycles. Anyways, 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:51.879 I hope this was or is a useful perspective on 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:54.119 a show that aired three weeks ago or during the 0:18:54.119 --> 0:19:00.560 week off in my thirty five day cycle. Wow, Jacob, Uh, well, 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.840 this is a great email. I I love the reference 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.320 to the day walkers on the submarine. So if I'm 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.800 understanding you right, you're saying that, like on a submarine, 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:12.400 there will be people who are living according to a 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.280 regular twenty four hour day schedule, and then there are 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.880 other people walking amongst them who are living this this 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:23.920 eighteen hour day cycle. Uh. That sounds chaotic and and 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.280 I almost imagine a kind of like Eloi and Morlock 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:31.800 situation imaging Uh, it's great to hear from somebody who 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.600 has experience on a submarine like this. I'm reminded of 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.560 an older episode that we did call Troubled Sleep in 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:41.080 the Arcs of Doom. Uh. That was looking at sleep 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:46.320 studies pertaining to individuals who served on submarines. Uh. And 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.520 I remember it being rather fascinating, because, yeah, you're essentially 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:53.040 dealing with this this artificial world set off from the 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.520 from night and day and the rest of reality, never 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:00.280 exposed to sunlight, probably working weird cycles that don't line 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.600 up with our four programming. Yeah. Yeah, I remember a 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:05.679 lot of discussions in the paper about it, about it 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.480 being a job that could be both exceedingly boring but 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:11.840 also still very stressful due to various factors from the 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.879 environment to sort of the nature of the mission, etcetera. 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:26.160 So anyway, yeah, Jacob, thanks for writing in. All right, Rob, 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:30.160 you ready for a little bit of weird house cinema. Okay, 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.280 this first one is from Jane. Jane says hi, Rob 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:35.639 and Joe, just a quick note to thank you for 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:39.080 choosing the abominable Doctor Fibes as the subject for your 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.159 latest weird house cinema. Growing up in seventies Britain. This 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:44.760 was a late night staple on TV and it came 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.600 to be one of my favorite, one of my absolute favorites. 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:49.480 If you hadn't beaten me to it, I was all 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:51.960 set to request that you do a Weird House Vincent 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.840 Price trilogy, consisting of fivees one fives too, plus Theater 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.840 of Blood, which I was also thrilled to hear you mentioned. 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:02.840 In fact, I watched Theater of Blood again, not two 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:06.240 weeks ago, for the umpteenth time, and uh, and it 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:08.920 was sad to think that now even Diana Rigg is 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.120 no longer with us. It looked like she was having 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:14.359 a blast in the role of Vincent Price's daughter. Time 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.600 flies by too quickly. These movies are filled with so 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:20.640 many staples of British cinema, so many familiar faces now 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:23.359 long gone. And I was also thrilled that you singled 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.639 out Terry Thomas. There was no one better at portraying 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:29.600 a cat or a bounder. I always look forward to 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.040 Weird House Cinema to find out what you've selected, and 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:35.080 I'm also trying to catch up with your voluminous back catalog, 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:38.840 the anthology editions. I think that's starring about the episodes. 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:42.040 We do some octobers of like anthology of horror series 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:45.600 and talk about science related to those uh those episodes. 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.119 But James says the anthology editions are particular favorites, as 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:51.879 those take me back to childhood viewing in the seventies. 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:55.119 A story from one of these, involving hundreds of razor 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:58.320 blades embedded in the walls of a nero corridor still 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:03.320 gives me nightmares today. So anything with a hammer, horror psychomania, 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:07.679 man who haunted himself, quatermass in the pit vibes vibe 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.600 is good with me. And if any of your listeners 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:13.639 can point me in the direction of a short film 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:16.520 that was shown at a film festival in Leeds in 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:20.600 the early nineties that involved a car driving ever downwards 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:23.600 in an underground parking garage that seemed to lead to hell, 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:27.200 I will be eternally grateful. Thanks again for a great podcast, 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:31.879 all the best, Jane, Oh absolutely, uh well, I know 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:34.959 that we have at least we will definitely come back 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:37.560 to more Vincent Price films, and I do. I did 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.920 just purchase a Vincent Price film for us to discuss 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:43.080 at some point, but I'm not sure when will will 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.840