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Carved Up · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
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  Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
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  Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. People's devotion to a higher
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  Speaker 1: power is no more evident than in the structures they
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  Speaker 1: build to honor it. From small congregations in modest churches
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  Speaker 1: to vast networks of bishops and clergy that worship in
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  Speaker 1: great cathedrals, every religious group has a place where they
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  Speaker 1: can commune with their shows and God. The Hindu turn
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  Speaker 1: Buddhist Temple of Angor Watts in Cambodia sits on four acres.
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  Speaker 1: It remains to this day as the largest religious structure
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  Speaker 1: in the world. Prime Bannan Hindu Temple compound in Indonesia
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  Speaker 1: is comprised of two at forty individual temples and dates
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  Speaker 1: back to the eighth century, but few religious monuments are
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  Speaker 1: as unique as Kailasa Temple in India. Construction of the
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  Speaker 1: Hindu structure was started during the eighth century and it
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  Speaker 1: resides in Maharashtra, a region in western India, and took
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  Speaker 1: its name from the Himalayan home of the god Shiva.
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  Speaker 1: The base of the temple features enormous elephants chiseled out
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  Speaker 1: of rock that seemed to hold the whole thing up.
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  Speaker 1: When visitors step through the two story entrance into the
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  Speaker 1: central courtyard, they can see a stone carving of Nandi,
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  Speaker 1: the sacred bull of Shiva. In fact, Shiva is depicted
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  Speaker 1: throughout the temple as twenty three foot tall statues and
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  Speaker 1: within expertly carved relief panels, and there are other reliefs
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  Speaker 1: and panels as well, two of which depict scenes from
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  Speaker 1: two of the most important Sanskrit epics of ancient India,
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  Speaker 1: the Ramayana and the Maha Brata. The Maha Brata tells
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  Speaker 1: the story of a battle between two groups of cousins
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  Speaker 1: during a massive war, while the Ramayana is about to
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  Speaker 1: prince named Rama, who was exiled the forest for many
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  Speaker 1: years before he returned home to be crowned king. And
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  Speaker 1: these tales have been meticulously carved into the walls of
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  Speaker 1: the temple as relief permanent reminders of India's rich history.
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  Speaker 1: Legend has it that the temple was part of a
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  Speaker 1: bargain made by a worried queen. Her king had been
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  Speaker 1: very sick and was near death. The queen prayed to
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  Speaker 1: the god Shiva for a cure, making two promises as well. First,
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  Speaker 1: she would build a temple in Shiva's name. Second, she
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  Speaker 1: would fast until its completion, illustrating her dedication to the
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  Speaker 1: king and to her god. The queen's husband did recover,
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  Speaker 1: and true to her words, she commissioned builders to begin
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  Speaker 1: work on the temple immediately. There was just one problem.
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  Speaker 1: It was going to take years to complete. She couldn't
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  Speaker 1: starve herself for that long. But in a stroke of
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  Speaker 1: good fortune, an engineer came forward with the plan if
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  Speaker 1: he started building from the top down, he could finish
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  Speaker 1: the temple within a week. With the help of the engineer,
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  Speaker 1: workers moved between two hundred thousand and four hundred thousand
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  Speaker 1: tons of rock to construct the temple. But they didn't
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  Speaker 1: do it in a week. That's just what the legend says.
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  Speaker 1: A temple as big as Kailasa took more than seven
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  Speaker 1: days to build, no matter how many people were involved.
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  Speaker 1: In total, it took them roughly twenty six years to complete.
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  Speaker 1: The workers did, however, work their way to the ground
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  Speaker 1: from the top of the temple, and if that sounds
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  Speaker 1: physically impossible, that's because it would be if they had
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  Speaker 1: been using materials brought in from other places. But Cailasa
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  Speaker 1: Temple wasn't assembled. It was carved. The whole temple twice.
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  Speaker 1: The area of the Parthenon was dug out of a
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  Speaker 1: single mountain. Over two hundred tons of volcanic rock were
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  Speaker 1: excavated from the site as they worked, and being the
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  Speaker 1: eighth century, workers didn't have cranes or back hooes to
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  Speaker 1: help move things around. They carved out the whole thing,
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  Speaker 1: including all the sculptures and relief panels, using nothing more
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  Speaker 1: than hammers and chisels. Kailasa Temple is part of a
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  Speaker 1: collection of thirty three other cave temples known as the
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  Speaker 1: Alora Caves, but it stands out because of its size
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  Speaker 1: and method of construction. At one fifty feet from the
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  Speaker 1: top of the mountain and three stories tall, it's an
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  Speaker 1: unrecognized wonder of the world and proof that one's devotion
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  Speaker 1: to their faith can run deep, very very deep. You
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  Speaker 1: might not have heard of Diogo Alvez in the realm
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  Speaker 1: of serial killers. His name doesn't stoke fear or fascination
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  Speaker 1: the way Ted Bundy or Richard spec might. But get
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  Speaker 1: to know him a little and you start to see
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  Speaker 1: a man who deserved the same notoriety as his peers,
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  Speaker 1: especially in death. Alvez was born in Galicia, Spain. In
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  Speaker 1: His family was poor, and a childhood injury he incurred
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  Speaker 1: after falling off the family horse didn't help. Some think
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  Speaker 1: that the damage to his head, which also inspired his
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  Speaker 1: nickname Pankata or blow, can be attributed to the sharp
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  Speaker 1: turn he took toward robbery and murder later in life.
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  Speaker 1: When Alvez was nineteen, his parents sent him to Lisbon
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  Speaker 1: to find a job, but nothing seemed to take. He
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  Speaker 1: bounced from place to place, but his young age and
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  Speaker 1: modest upbringing meant work was hard to find. Eventually, he
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  Speaker 1: found a job working as a servant for wealthier members
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  Speaker 1: of Spanish society. His family naturally wanted to know how
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  Speaker 1: things were going for him, but he never wrote them back.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps he was ashamed of where he'd ended up, or
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  Speaker 1: maybe he hadn't found the right line of work yet.
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  Speaker 1: One day he ended up at a tavern run by
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  Speaker 1: a woman named Maria. Rumor had it that Alvez and
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  Speaker 1: Maria grew close, very close. That's when he started stealing
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  Speaker 1: and copying the keys of the taverns patrons so that
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  Speaker 1: he could rob their homes. Later, one of the keys
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  Speaker 1: he copied allowed him to access and nearby aqueduct. This
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  Speaker 1: aqueduct was a massive stone structure that distributed water all
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  Speaker 1: across Lisbon, and it also provided Alvez with the perfect
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  Speaker 1: venue for robbing farmers on their way back from the city.
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  Speaker 1: Each night, once he had liberated each of them from
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  Speaker 1: their money and belongings, he would fling them off the
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  Speaker 1: top of the aqueduct sixty five stories to their death.
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  Speaker 1: Over the course of three years, he did this dozens
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  Speaker 1: of times, and amazingly, the police were none the wiser.
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  Speaker 1: By eighteen thirty seven, however, Alvez had lost his killing spot.
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  Speaker 1: The number of suspected suicides forced authorities to close the
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  Speaker 1: aqueduct to the public. As a result, he formed a
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  Speaker 1: gang and started breaking into people's homes to rob and
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  Speaker 1: kill them there instead. In eighteen forty the police finally
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  Speaker 1: caught him, although they were never able to tie him
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  Speaker 1: to the aqueduct murders. However, they did manage to convict
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  Speaker 1: him for the home invasions he and his gang had committed,
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  Speaker 1: including the depths of a family of four. It was
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  Speaker 1: the tavern owners eleven year old daughter, also named Maria,
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  Speaker 1: who testified against him and helped to cement his conviction.
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  Speaker 1: The jury sentenced Dieago Elvez to death, making him the
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  Speaker 1: second to last criminal ever executed in Portugal. But there
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  Speaker 1: was something about his corpse that had captured the interests
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  Speaker 1: of students at the Medical Surgical School of Lisbon. The
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  Speaker 1: rash of murders he'd committed were so out of place
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  Speaker 1: for the quiet communities he and his gang had terrorized
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  Speaker 1: for all those years, So after he was hanged for
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  Speaker 1: his crimes, doctors examined his head more closely. They wanted
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  Speaker 1: to see how a man like Alves could have ended
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  Speaker 1: up so depraved and devoid of morals, because remember this
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  Speaker 1: was eight forty one and the practice of phrenology was
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  Speaker 1: just beginning to gain steam within the medical community. Chronology,
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  Speaker 1: of course, was the study of the bumps on a
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  Speaker 1: person's head as indicators of their mental abilities and personality traits.
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  Speaker 1: Today it's recognized as complete bunk, pure pseudoscience, but at
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  Speaker 1: the time, scientists honestly believed that the shape of a
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  Speaker 1: person's skull could explain their be behavior and decisions. Researchers
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  Speaker 1: at the medical school in Lisbon wanted to see if
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  Speaker 1: defects in Alvez's cranium could explain why he murdered seventy
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  Speaker 1: people during his lifetime. Unfortunately, they couldn't find any evidence
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  Speaker 1: for his lack of a conscience. But if you're a
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  Speaker 1: student and you'd like to have a look, you can
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  Speaker 1: go visit Diego Alvez yourself and look him rights in
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  Speaker 1: the eyes. Well, his head, at least, it was preserved
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  Speaker 1: in formaldehyde immediately after his execution and looks almost exactly
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  Speaker 1: as it did on the day he died. His face
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  Speaker 1: bears the quiet, peaceful expression of a man who looks
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  Speaker 1: nothing like a cold blooded killer. If only disembodied heads
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  Speaker 1: could talk. 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 Mank
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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 World of Lore dot com. And until
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  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious. Yeah,