Will This Be On The Test?

Success! this week we are still absolute wrecks who lack professionalism BUT we recorded it successfully!

Austin starts us off talking about pigeons, a bird that is literally everywhere but we don't learn a ton about them. Sure we know all about them delivering messages but we learn so little about their careers in search and rescue, art criticism, and seduction. 

Then, in a revival you've all been begging for since the early 2000s, Mattie tells us all about the saga of Mike the Headless Chicken, the Legend of the West. and in addition to the life of a chicken without a head that toured the country, we get the horrifying details about decapitation that we didn't ask for but are getting anyway.

we also talk about our reaction to the Supernatural finale about 6 months after it aired, and how Mattie can cure your snoring in one easy step! listen to find out how, it will shock you! (not clickbait)

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So, we had a whoopsie with the SD card we record to and we lost this week's episode. But we will rerecord and get it out to you all next week. It was a good one and all about birds for some reason. And supernatural. Sorry about the delay, but while you wait you can tell us what kind of bird each member of the supernatural cast is. I'll start. Misha Collins is clearly a Spoonbill that got stuck in a trenchcoat and is very sad about it. Fun!

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This week, after watching way too much reality TV, Austin decided to look at the unethical psychology experiments we learned about and rate them on how well they could be adapted into a reality TV show. Because let's face it, if they filmed the Stanford Prison experiment and put it on prime time tv they would've won an Emmy. and on a related note Mattie watched Riverdale and blew Austin's mind by telling about how Ross's kid from friends is now Archie.

Mattie goes into the origins and applications of the IQ tests. now you think this could be a fun little jaunt where we both take a sketchy online IQ test and compare results (we do, don't worry.) but it turns into a dive into unequal opportunity, bad science, and eugenics. seriously, can't we go into an episode without eugenics showing up?

at some point in our lives, as you sit there hand cutting buckets of confetti because someone in charge thinks that larger confetti looks better and nobody sells large confetti chunks or defending Zach Snyder's vision for The Justice League in public where people can hear you, you pause and think to yourself "Am I in a cult?"

Well worry no more because Mattie talks about the different types of cults, how cults work, how to tell if you are in a cult, and who is vulnerable to being in a cult (It's everyone, literally everyone.) we also talk a little bit about how to get out of a cult, but our podcast might be a cult and we don't want our listenership to drop. so maybe skip that part.

Austin, because he has the maturity level of a third-grader, decides to talk about Guano, aka bird and bat poop. But like most things that sound ridiculous at first, it turns into a tale of slavery, imperialism, war, OSHA violations, and environmental destruction that will take generations to recover from. So really what we have all come to expect from this podcast.

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This week Austin talks about mercury (the element, not the planet) and a truly horrifying period of industrial abuse that reminded him of Radium Girls.

Then Mattie tells us all about Edgar Allan Poe. Pretty much everything we learned about the man was wrong and the reason why is bonkers.

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It finally happened folks! The real world (not the MTV reality show from 30 years ago) finally slowed down and Mattie and Austin both covered a subject this week! You poor fools have to listen to both of us talk about something for a super long time again.

Mattie starts us off by talking about the history of movie theaters, a shocking (but also completely expected) amount of pornography, smell-o-vision (thankfully NOT related to the porn thing,) and how to sneak a tray of cupcakes into a theater.

Austin covers how the 1815 Mt Tambora eruption, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, is why Josh Gad played Olaf in Frozen. it tracks. I'm not crazy. well, not crazier than most people who host a podcast. 

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Have you ever looked at a dark hole in the ground and thought "I bet I can shimmy my way to the bottom of this thing?" well if you have Austin does not understand you and gets increasingly uncomfortable as he talks about the claustrophobic world of Cave Exploration.

Specifically, he talks about Mossdale Cavern, one of the world's most difficult and dangerous caves, and the 1967 Tragedy that shocked the entire spelunking community.

We also talk about why on earth caves have stupid names, and get into British slang for used condoms. and yes, the topics I just mentioned are related. don't say we didn't warn you.

We also talk ghosts, living in a van, the underrated horror movie The Descent, and how adventure tourism is just the worst. Stop leaving bags of shit, garbage, and the corpses of overly confident Instagram influencers on mountains! it is gross.

This week Mattie dives into one of her favorite themes, Psychology that we think we know but don't, and informs us about the truth behind introverts and extroverts. And of course, we talk about office team-building nightmares, pop psychology, creepypasta that Mattie just loves, and how Austin is unreasonably excited about being able to play Dungeons and Dragons in person again.

This week Mattie and Austin seem to be back in full swing, which means they go off the rails almost immediately when Austin starts telling us about the long history of stealing bodies for medical research and learning. And how it wasn't all amusing victorian grave diggers and Hunchbacks stealing brains in jars, it has a dark side. and Alexander Hamilton shows up.

But, more importantly, we got to go see a movie! In a theater! And we didn't panic! so buckle up world, we've been trapped inside for over a year where our only real form of communication was doing this podcast and things are about to get wild! Mattie is playing pranks now. it is big.

This week Mattie talks about the history of Mother's Day. (and also reveals that both of us forgot it was next week.) We also talk about how it is celebrated in other countries, how genocide is only a little bit involved, how Austin never buys Mattie flowers and she is not at all angry about it, and both of our various well-meaning but ultimately disastrous Mother's Day gift failures (sorry mom.)