They Must Be Mad

Every now and then a Buzzfeed listicle really hits the spot. Especially when it's one comparing and contrasting Brits and Americans. And, given that Katie and Elissa are, indeed, a Brit and American, Katie thought it appropriate to run through this listicle with her dear American friend. Katie also just so happened to share a strange piece of information about the university she attended in London, which further convinced Elissa that Brits are a little stranger than she thought.

People Are Sharing Things That Are Socially Acceptable In The UK But Horrifying In America (Buzzfeed April 2021)

181-year-old corpse of Jeremy Bentham attends UCL board meeting (The Metro, 2013)

A work-related bioethics seminar led Elissa to an archived New York Times articled entitled The Great Ivy League Nude Posture Scandal from 1995. Click-bait in its earliest form, Elissa did, indeed, click. What she discovered was a fascinating tale of pseudo-science and an egregious invasion of students' privacy. Also discussed were our recurring favorite subjects: Taylor Swift, freezing your eggs and Sex and the City. 

Mentioned: 

Sentimental Garbage: Sentimental in the City

One of Katie's favourite accounts to follow on Instagram is History Cool Kids. This is where she stumbled (or scrolled) onto the story of Juliane Koepcke. In 1971, Juliane was flying over the Peruvian rainforest with her mother when her plane was hit by lightning. She survived a two-mile fall and found herself alone in the jungle, just 17. In this episode, Katie artfully reads the BBC article, making the ingenious decision to change it from first to third person, interjecting occasionally for effect. (Seriously though, this story is fascinating). 

Juliane Koepcke: How I survived a plane crash (BBC, 2012)

Sarah Goodridge’s Beauty Revealed (Public Domain Review)

Chris Pratt Absolutely Nails TOWIE Accent - The Graham Norton Show (May 2015)

US Vaccine Tracker (covid.cdc.gov) 

Elissa was partaking in one of her favorite pastimes of Wikipedia surfing (all the cool kids do it) and she stumbled upon the page for Man of the Hole. Intrigued by the name, she read on, only to find the fascinating story of a man indigenous to Brazil who lives alone in the Amazon rainforest. He is believed to be the last surviving member of his tribe. It's unknown what language he speaks or what his tribe was called. The term "Man of the Hole" is a nickname used by officials and the media (because he digs holes to trap animals), and his real name is unknown. 

In this episode, Katie and Elissa dig (gettit) a bit further into this story, and consider what it must be like to live in blissful ignorance of the rest of humankind. 

Further reading: 

Last survivor: The story of the 'world's loneliest man (BBC, July 2018)

Last Survivor of Uncontacted Tribe, 'Man of the Hole,' Is Spotted in the Amazon (LiveScience, 2018)

Amazon's 'man of the hole' attacked by unknown gunmen (The Guardian, December 2009)

A friend of Katie's recently sent her an article about human combustion, knowing that she would immediately take to the internet in pursuit of evidence of this infrequently reported, but wholeheartedly bizarre so-called phenomenon. The article, entitled 'The mysterious case of people how burst into flames for no reason' was clickbait, and boy did she take the bait. In this episode, Katie and Elissa talk about SHC (that's what the scientists call it), the very few supposed cases and causes, and pontificate whether it really is possible to... well... spontaneously combust. 

Mentioned articles and sources:

The Fall of Armie Hammer: A Family Saga of Sex, Money, Drugs, and Betrayal (Vanity Fair, March 2021)

The Great Kentucky Meat Shower mystery unwound by projectile vulture vomit (Scientific American, December 2014) 

Explaining the #Bingate Controversy to America (PBS.org)

Spontaneous Human Combustion: 5 apparent instances no one can explain (Surprisingly The Independent, but reads like a set of fables, November 2015)

Is Spontaneous Human Combustion Real? (Britannica) 

Spontaneous Human Combustion: Facts & Theories (Live Science 2013)

A text message from a friend leads to a google enquiry. What's the average height of a man (and where are the tallest guys)? Endlessly fascinated with the mundane, Elissa chats about height this week. And if you are looking for the tallest men, well we'll chat about that too.

Sources: 

Why are the Dutch so tall?

Soon, the Average Human Will Be Taller, Heavier. That Will Lead to Increased Food Demand

Why are we getting taller as a species?

British teenager Joseph Flavill fell into a 10-month coma before the pandemic. Now he's waking up in a new world. On March 10 2020, when the 19-year-old was struck by a car in Staffordshire, central England, the United Kingdom had recorded just 23 cases of a concerning new virus. The vast majority of Covid-19 infections were still confined to China, and the United States had confirmed just one death.

Katie had long wondered what it would be like to confront the current pandemic with no knowledge of it. Something that has felt incremental and eventually normalised — the masks, restrictions, knowledge of the virus itself and the vaccines — would feel so alien. When she saw this headline one day on social media, she immediately went on the hunt for more information about comas. In this episode, we explore the different types of comas, causes and treatments, as well as first-hand accounts of what it's like to wake up from one. We also contemplate how Joseph might feel emerging into a very different world from the one he left. 

Please note: Katie is no doctor, so take everything you hear with a grain of salt. A very large one at that.

Extra reading: 

CNN Article: A British teenager fell into a 10-month coma before the pandemic. Now he's waking up in a new world

Time article: Longest 10 comas

Elissa is every bit the millennial woman in her passion for skincare. Couple that with some pasty skin courtesy of her Irish grandparents and you've got an endless pursuit for superior sunscreen. This week, Elissa reveals the difference between sunscreens in the US and Korea (land of exceptional sunscreens) and what to look for when shopping around.

Word of warning: you do not want to search for night hags if you are alone at night. 

Katie first heard about night hags and sleep paralysis from someone she met who experiences sleep paralysis. Dumbfounded by what she heard, she asked question after question and has since been on many internet pursuits to understand the phenomenon a little better. This week, she finally mustered the courage to Google Image search people's depictions of a night hag, which then led to her gaining a greater understanding of sleep paralysis and why it's associated with the supernatural. Sleep paralysis — waking up without being able to move or speak — can provoke feelings ranging from mild anxiety to outright terror. Because hallucinations often occur at the same time as the paralysis, this psychobiological experience feels supernatural to many people.

Further reading:

Why the paralyzing ‘sleep demon’ still haunts humans in the age of science: https://globalnews.ca/news/5177498/sleep-paralysis-demon-science/ 

Understanding ‘Old Hag’ Syndrome: What It Means When You’re Paralyzed in Your Sleep: https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep/old-hag-syndrome

In this extra-long episode, Katie and Elissa can't keep it concise when discussing thoughtcrime, better known as criminal thought. Elissa's brother suggested a google search of "Cannibal Cop," which led her to discover the 2013 trial of Gilberto Valle. Knowing nothing about law and even less about cannibalism, Katie and Elissa share their perspectives on what constitutes intent to harm and how to prove it. 

Sources:

A Dangerous Mind: http://nymag.com/news/features/cannibal-cop-2014-1/index1.html