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The Oyster’s Secret · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
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  Speaker 1: the unexplainable. And if history is an open book, all
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  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
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  Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: It's just common sense. Got a cold, banish it faster
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  Speaker 1: with chicken soup. Want clear skin, avoid eating acne causing chocolate,
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  Speaker 1: and you want to see better at night, be sure
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  Speaker 1: to chomp on some carrots. A lot of what we
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  Speaker 1: learn about how food affects our bodies, like the advice
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  Speaker 1: that I just gave you, traces back to old wives tales.
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  Speaker 1: And while these so called facts don't always stand up
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  Speaker 1: to scientific scrutiny, a lot of them have a kernel
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  Speaker 1: of truth. Chicken soup is not a super cure, but
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  Speaker 1: it does have vitamins, nutrients, and keeps you hydrated, all
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  Speaker 1: of which helps colds feel better. Chocolate isn't to blame
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  Speaker 1: for every pimple, but scientists think there may be a
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  Speaker 1: link between eating sugar and growing zits. As for carrots,
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  Speaker 1: they actually do do a lot for your eyes. They
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  Speaker 1: contain beta carotene, which can be broken down into vitamin A.
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  Speaker 1: Vitamin A is necessary for your body to see in
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  Speaker 1: low light conditions. In fact, people with a vitamin A
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  Speaker 1: deficiency will have a harder time seeing at night and
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  Speaker 1: could suffer from night blindness. Still, that doesn't mean crunching
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  Speaker 1: on carrots will make your peepers superpowered. Eating carrots when
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  Speaker 1: you have low vitamin A can improve your night vision,
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  Speaker 1: but it only affects people with limited or damaged eye sights.
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  Speaker 1: It won't ever make seen at night like seeing during
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  Speaker 1: the day. The popular myth that carrots can make you
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  Speaker 1: see in the dark comes from an unlikely source. English
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  Speaker 1: World War II propit. In nineteen forty, the Nazis were
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  Speaker 1: attacking England directly. During the Blitz, a prolonged bombing campaign
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  Speaker 1: against key cities in England. German pilots would fly under
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  Speaker 1: cover of darkness and drop their payload of bombs over ports, factories,
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  Speaker 1: and government buildings. So to confuse the Germans and make
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  Speaker 1: it harder to hit their targets, England mandated citywide blackouts.
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  Speaker 1: Every light was doused and every window was covered without
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  Speaker 1: a lit target in the pitch black night, it was
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  Speaker 1: much harder for the Germans to do real damage. It
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  Speaker 1: was also much harder for the Royal Air Force to
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  Speaker 1: find German planes. Pilots eyes and instruments were no match
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  Speaker 1: for the British blackouts, which meant new methods were needed.
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  Speaker 1: At this time, the RAF began experimenting with airborne interception radar.
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  Speaker 1: Radar had been used successfully on the ground to identify
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  Speaker 1: approaching enemies, but it was limited in scope. It couldn't
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  Speaker 1: really reach high enough to give a clear picture of
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  Speaker 1: German planes. By mounting radar on a fighter planeilots could
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  Speaker 1: track enemy flyers with precision. So on the night of
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  Speaker 1: November nineteenth, nineteen forty John Cat's Eyes Cunningham became the
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  Speaker 1: first pilot to shoot down a plane using airborne radar.
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  Speaker 1: Not wanting the Germans to catch on to their new technology,
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  Speaker 1: the British War Ministry decided to use Cunningham as a distraction.
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  Speaker 1: The next day, they published dozens of news stories claiming
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  Speaker 1: Cunningham's superhuman night vision was all thanks to a steady
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  Speaker 1: diets of vitamin A rich carrots. Now it's not clear
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  Speaker 1: whether the carrot story ever fooled the Germans. There are
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  Speaker 1: anecdotes of German commanders upping their pilot's carrot rations, but
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  Speaker 1: it's never confirmed if this was the case. Regardless, Germany
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  Speaker 1: would develop its own version of airborne radar soon after.
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  Speaker 1: But what the kat's eye story did do was cause
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  Speaker 1: a huge carrot craze in war torn England. Propaganda posters
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  Speaker 1: declared that carrots would help citizens see during the mandatory blackouts.
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  Speaker 1: The governments encourage people on the home front to plant
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  Speaker 1: victory gardens stock full of carrots. Radio shows would encourage
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  Speaker 1: home cooks to make putting cake and pie out of
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  Speaker 1: the starchy treats to replace sugar which had been rationed
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  Speaker 1: during the war. And on top of that, Disney animators
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  Speaker 1: even created anthropomorphic carrot characters who extolled the virtues of
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  Speaker 1: the root vegetables to British children. The carrot messaging worked.
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  Speaker 1: By nineteen forty two, Britain had a one hundred thousand
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  Speaker 1: ton surplus of carrots after the war ended. The myth
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  Speaker 1: that carrots make you see in the dark persisted. At
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  Speaker 1: first glance, there is some truth to it, especially with
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  Speaker 1: how vitamin A can help damaged eyesight, but when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to carrots and night vision, What you see is
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  Speaker 1: what you get. When Thomas Downing arrived in eighteen nineteen,
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  Speaker 1: New York City had no fine dining scene to speak of.
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  Speaker 1: The food culture that did exist was barely recognizable from
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  Speaker 1: what we have today. There was no pizza, no street dogs. Cheesecake,
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  Speaker 1: and bagels wouldn't be associated with the city for many years.
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  Speaker 1: In their place, one dish reigned supreme as New York
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  Speaker 1: City's street food of choice, oysters, before overfishing in population
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  Speaker 1: devastated New York Harbor. It was home to some of
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  Speaker 1: the richest oyster beds in the world. The mollusks were
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  Speaker 1: harvested by predominantly black oystermen and sold from street cars
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  Speaker 1: and crowded dining cellars for as little as six cents
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  Speaker 1: a dozen. New Yorkers couldn't get enough. The city consumed
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  Speaker 1: roughly a million oysters each day, and it was the
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  Speaker 1: oysters that brought Thomas Downing to New York in the
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  Speaker 1: first place. A free black man and the son of
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  Speaker 1: formerly enslaved parents, he learned to fish and harvest oysters
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  Speaker 1: in his home state of Virginia. He knew the business
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  Speaker 1: backwards and forwards, and had an eye for picking out
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  Speaker 1: the mollusks with the best meat, but he wasn't interested
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  Speaker 1: in simply selling oysters out of a cart like so
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  Speaker 1: many other oystermen. When he arrived in New York City,
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  Speaker 1: he saw an opportunity no one else had. In eighteen
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  Speaker 1: twenty five, he opened Downing's Oyster House on Broad Street,
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  Speaker 1: at the center of the city's financial district. It was
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  Speaker 1: the first restaurant of its kind, a high class, fine
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  Speaker 1: dining establishment that catered to wealthy businessmen who worked at
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  Speaker 1: the nearby Customs House. Crystal chandeliers and expensive curtains set
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  Speaker 1: it apart from the dingy cellars where working class New
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  Speaker 1: Yorkers got their fix, and Downing always sold the best
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  Speaker 1: oysters the city had to offer. The combination of the
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  Speaker 1: good food, great location, and high class environment proved to
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  Speaker 1: be a massive hit with the city's elites. Downing's Oyster
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  Speaker 1: House was consistently full to bursting with bankers, merchants, politicians,
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  Speaker 1: lawyers and dignitaries, and businessmen even brought their wives and
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  Speaker 1: children along, both of whom had until that point traditionally
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  Speaker 1: been steered clear of eating at restaurants. Imitators were obviously
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  Speaker 1: quick to follow Downing's lead. The next year, more high
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  Speaker 1: end restaurants opened nearby. Soon enough, the city was home
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  Speaker 1: to a vibrant fine dining scene. Meanwhile, Thomas Downing's meteoric
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  Speaker 1: success continued. He opened more restaurants and eventually expanded into
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  Speaker 1: a catering business. He even started filling mail orders, shipping
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  Speaker 1: crates of oysters to Europe and around the world. Despite
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  Speaker 1: everything on his plate, though, he continued to manage the
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  Speaker 1: Oyster House on Broad Street, where he rubbed shoulders with
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  Speaker 1: the most powerful people in New York City. He became
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  Speaker 1: extremely popular among the city's businessmen. When he died in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty six at the age of seventy five, the
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  Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce closed for the day so that merchants
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  Speaker 1: could attend Downing's funeral. After that, his eldest son, George,
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  Speaker 1: continued to run the Oyster House, and he also continued
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  Speaker 1: his father's lesser known activities, because ever since Downing's Oyster
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  Speaker 1: House opened its doors, the Oyster King had been hiding
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  Speaker 1: something else, and it wasn't pearls. You see, his restaurant
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  Speaker 1: was an important stop on the Underground Railroad, a network
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  Speaker 1: which helped over one hundred thousand enslaved people to freedom.
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  Speaker 1: Escape slaves freeing from Southern plantations regularly stayed in Downing's
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  Speaker 1: basement until they could be smuggled out of the city
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  Speaker 1: and across the border to Canada. They slept amidst the
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  Speaker 1: restaurants supplies and equipment, listening to the sounds of aristocrats
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  Speaker 1: dining just over their heads. I think it's fair to
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  Speaker 1: say that none of Downing's wealthy customers ever guessed what
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  Speaker 1: he was hiding, nor could they have known that by
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  Speaker 1: enjoying a lunch of New York City's finest oysters, they
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  Speaker 1: were helping fund the growing abolition movement. Downey never forgot
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  Speaker 1: where he came from, and while he worked tirelessly to
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  Speaker 1: ensure that his customers always left his restaurant full, he
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  Speaker 1: wasn't so easily satisfied. Not even single handedly creating New
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  Speaker 1: York City's fine dining scene was enough for him. Downing
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  Speaker 1: wanted freedom, justice for his people, and he worked towards
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  Speaker 1: that goal the best way he could, one shuck at
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  Speaker 1: a time. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
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  Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts.
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  Speaker 1: Or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
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  Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
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  Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
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  Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
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  Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
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  Speaker 1: over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time,
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  Speaker 1: stay curious.