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10 Odd Town Festivals · Stuff You Should Know

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Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
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Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know
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Speaker 1: from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to
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Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as
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Speaker 1: Charles W. Light as meringue Bryant. I've never heard that
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Speaker 1: term light is meringue ntil you just said it before
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Speaker 1: we recorded it. I think I made it up. It's
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Speaker 1: it is light. Oh yeah, that's but each light is
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Speaker 1: a feather. That's old. Yeah, kid me um So chunk
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Speaker 1: do you remember when you started a podcast with punkin Chunking,
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Speaker 1: punkin chunk and punkin Chunking. I do remember that. We've
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Speaker 1: been talking about that a lot. And uh, I don't
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Speaker 1: know exactly when this podcast is coming out, but I
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Speaker 1: imagine it's going to be right around the time that
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Speaker 1: the show punkin Chunking and the Road to punkin Chunkin
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Speaker 1: premiers on UM the Science Channel, which is the a
1:00
Speaker 1: that was formerly known as Thanksgiving until the Science Channel
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Speaker 1: took it over with punkin Chunky Right now, it's punkin
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Speaker 1: Chunking Day, right. Indeed, do you have a clue what
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Speaker 1: punkin Chunknness and I do. Well, let's talk about it. Well,
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Speaker 1: let's talk about a lot of unusual town festivals, Josh.
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Speaker 1: That's fine with me because I got a whole list
1:17
Speaker 1: of them. Right, let's to a podcast where you don't
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Speaker 1: hear words like hippothalamus and hypocalamus and hippopotamus. Okay, let's
1:27
Speaker 1: do a fun one, okay, or Clovis police or Clovis police.
1:32
Speaker 1: I got in a Clovis argument with the guy the
1:33
Speaker 1: other day. By the way, did you really did you
1:35
Speaker 1: decimate him? Yes? Sort of, and he was kind of like,
1:38
Speaker 1: oh no, but I thought people came over from the
1:40
Speaker 1: bearing Land Bridge, and I was like, oh, they did,
1:42
Speaker 1: but not before homeboy came up from South America exactly, idiot,
1:47
Speaker 1: did you pump his ear with your forefinger? So punkin
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Speaker 1: chunkin Josh takes place in Sussex County, Delaware, right, am,
1:55
Speaker 1: I right? Yeah, Okay? Why why were you looking at me? Well,
1:58
Speaker 1: I don't know. You looked at me like I had
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Speaker 1: it wrong. No, I just don't out for a second.
2:01
Speaker 1: And I believe it's a benefit for St. Jude's Children's
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Speaker 1: Research Hospital there. Yeah, I didn't know that before, and
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Speaker 1: I was glad to find that out, Sure, me too.
2:10
Speaker 1: And they've been doing this since yeah, and they've gotten
2:13
Speaker 1: pretty uh pretty serious about this actually yeah, so and
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Speaker 1: I was staggered at how far these things go. Well, actually,
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Speaker 1: the world record for a chunked punkin, right, yeah, is
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Speaker 1: like eight hundred feet shy of a mile. Yeah, four thousand,
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Speaker 1: four dred and eighty three ft. Dude, can you imagine
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Speaker 1: seeing a pumpkin going that far? You wouldn't go out
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Speaker 1: of your field of vision like halfway there. I don't
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Speaker 1: think you can see a punkin or a pumpkin go
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Speaker 1: a mile. Well, if you're out in the the middle of
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Speaker 1: the desert or something, you probably could. Maybe then there's
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Speaker 1: some pretty plowed fields around there. Yeah, it depends on
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Speaker 1: how big your punkin is, right, or what you're using.
2:51
Speaker 1: And there's actually I think seven different UM categories or
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Speaker 1: seven different contests in three different categories. There's um centrifuges,
3:01
Speaker 1: which spin around real fast and then release them. Uh.
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Speaker 1: There is the catapult tried and true, and then there's
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Speaker 1: the air cannons. And the air cannons are the ones
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Speaker 1: that everybody shows up for, those the ones that win.
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Speaker 1: You want to shoot a punkin a mile, you use
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Speaker 1: an air cannon. Right. Have you seen these things to
3:20
Speaker 1: go under the DMC and take it out? I watched
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Speaker 1: those pretty cool. Yeah, there there were some um that
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Speaker 1: are um what would that be called? Um vehicle based?
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Speaker 1: So you drive these things up and they look like
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Speaker 1: howitzers and they will shoot a punk in a mile. Wow.
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Speaker 1: It's pretty cool because you think like, okay, well you
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Speaker 1: know there's they're gonna shoot a punkin out of an
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Speaker 1: air cannon and it's going to go a mile and
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Speaker 1: then we'll all break for twenty minutes and go get
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Speaker 1: a drink while the next guy loads up. Now, this
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Speaker 1: year at Wheatley Farm they shot two thousand pumpkins, so
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Speaker 1: there's NonStop action I would imagine. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
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Speaker 1: And as all kinds of other stuff they do, they're
4:01
Speaker 1: like pie making contests. Of course, in music, most of
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Speaker 1: these festivals that we're gonna talk about have music and
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Speaker 1: food ingestion as part of it. Yes, because what's a
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Speaker 1: festival without music and food ingestion? I don't know, Um,
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Speaker 1: we I don't know that we should um spoil who
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Speaker 1: won because we've got the we've got the results right here. Yeah, sure,
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Speaker 1: we probably shouldn't know, so let's just not talk about
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Speaker 1: that anymore. What was it they flung on? Did you
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Speaker 1: used to watch Northern Exposure? Huh? What did they fling
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Speaker 1: on that show? Poh, now they flunk? Oh a piano? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: they used like a catapol or something, right, yeah, something
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Speaker 1: like that. It was awesome. I forgot all about that.
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Speaker 1: That one was almost as good as one where Chris
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Speaker 1: grabbed all the lamps in town. Yeah, strung him up downtown.
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Speaker 1: He just lit the whole down. It was awesome. He's
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Speaker 1: a great character. What what happened to that guy? He
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Speaker 1: was it? Really he really could have gone overboard with it,
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Speaker 1: but he didn't. Okay, So that's punk and chunk and
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Speaker 1: it's held in early November every year right in Delaware.
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Speaker 1: In Delaware, Right, let's go elsewhere, Chuck, where would you
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Speaker 1: like to ago because we got a bunch of these.
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Speaker 1: I know that you're gonna uh stone me for going
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Speaker 1: straight to Neierland, Colorado, But why not talk about the
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Speaker 1: Frozen Dead Guy Days festival is so weird? Yeah? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: So this is an actual festival in March in Colorado.
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Speaker 1: So it's already cold. Started in nineteen ninety four? Is
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Speaker 1: that right. Oh, No, two thousand two is when the
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Speaker 1: festival started, but its roots go back to nineteen well,
5:26
Speaker 1: actually goes back to nine eight nine when Grandpa Bredo
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Speaker 1: more Stole died and Grandpa Bredo was a member of
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Speaker 1: a family that was very much proponents of cryogenics. So
5:39
Speaker 1: they shipped Grandpa off to California where he was um
5:43
Speaker 1: in tomb cryogenically for four years. Um, and he, I
5:49
Speaker 1: guess got a little homesick. His family got a little
5:52
Speaker 1: more confident that they could maintain him, and so they
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Speaker 1: shipped him back in and he's been in a tough
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Speaker 1: shed to u f F brand shed since yes, and
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Speaker 1: now they have built the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival
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Speaker 1: around him in his frozen body. It's been described as
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Speaker 1: cryonics Marty gras I frozen body. Yeah. Uh. And what
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Speaker 1: goes on there, Josh? Besides um, clearly some drinking is
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Speaker 1: probably happening. There is Grandpa's Blue Ball, which is the
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Speaker 1: dance right that they have every every year if you will, right.
6:28
Speaker 1: They have um antique hearst shows. Yeah. They have coffin
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Speaker 1: races that's kind of fun, which I take to be
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Speaker 1: like toboggan races. Oh, is that what that is, I
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Speaker 1: think So, I mean it's frozen, there's lots of snow.
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Speaker 1: It's Colorado in early March. Sure, sure, so just throw
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Speaker 1: some blades on a coffin and go at it. Then
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Speaker 1: they have some um, I guess non death uh events
6:50
Speaker 1: to like salmon tossing, although if you're a salmon it's
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Speaker 1: a death event, and frozen beach volleyball too. Yeah. I'd
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Speaker 1: like to see that. Yeah, it's just an all around
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Speaker 1: odd Yeah. And they also do a polar plunge, which
7:02
Speaker 1: is if you're brave enough to jump in the the
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Speaker 1: lake there, I am not. You don't do that, have you.
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Speaker 1: I've done that before. I did a frozen lake jump
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Speaker 1: when I was high school. That's insane. Yeah it was.
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Speaker 1: And you know, it's one of those deals where you
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Speaker 1: jump in, you can't breathe, and you run back out
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Speaker 1: and warm up and tell your friends about it for
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Speaker 1: the next thirty years or I'm never gonna be one
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Speaker 1: those polar bear guys. I don't want know. That's I
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Speaker 1: just I don't get that now, Okay, so chuck, we're
7:30
Speaker 1: too Next, let's go to Montana. I like Montana. One
7:35
Speaker 1: of my best friends, Rad Smith, lives in Montana. Well,
7:39
Speaker 1: hey Brad Smith, Rad what rad is short for Radford? Okay,
7:44
Speaker 1: hey Radford Smith. I think he listens to rad. Rad
7:48
Speaker 1: was the o G. He was my best friend when
7:50
Speaker 1: I was like, and we're back in touch again, which
7:53
Speaker 1: is nice Facebook. Uh yeah originally, but then we immediately
7:56
Speaker 1: when we found each other, we're like, let's just email
7:58
Speaker 1: like normal. Yeah. Yeah, emailing over Facebook. It's weird. I
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Speaker 1: don't do that. So Chuck, we're in Montana, UM, and
8:05
Speaker 1: we're at the Rock Creek Lodge and Clinton, Montana. I
8:09
Speaker 1: think that's how you pronounced is it Clinton? I think
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Speaker 1: it's just Clinton. Okay, I was doing the kang and
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Speaker 1: kotos pronouncing President Clinton. Um. And every year in September
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Speaker 1: they hold the Testicle Festival. Yeah, Rocky Mountain Oysters is.
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Speaker 1: Most people might know this by our or Montana Tender
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Speaker 1: Groin that this is one of the punniest festivals I've
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Speaker 1: ever heard of in my life. It is. Chris Palette
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Speaker 1: probably goes every year. Um. Everyone knows that the Rocky
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Speaker 1: Mountain Oyster is a nice way of saying that you
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Speaker 1: eat bulls testicles, And it's a real thing. It's really
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Speaker 1: a menu when a lot of restaurants apparently came off
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Speaker 1: of the trail off of the cattle drive trail where Um,
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Speaker 1: I guess Cookie would take recently castrated bulls testicles and
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Speaker 1: toss them in a fire. And I guess they're really
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Speaker 1: easy to cook because they just pop open when they're read. Wow. Yeah,
9:02
Speaker 1: I just gotta chill. I have a confession to make.
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Speaker 1: Let's you've had them, I have not. Okay, you really
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Speaker 1: want to go? I am definitely go into this next year.
9:10
Speaker 1: I want to try this. Plus Montana is awesome. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: it looks like a great What else can you do there, Josh?
9:17
Speaker 1: I know you can have. Um there's music, of course,
9:19
Speaker 1: there is a a hairy chest contest, which is I'm
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Speaker 1: not sure what that has to do with bulls testicles.
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Speaker 1: I guess they put hair in your chest. I guess
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Speaker 1: that makes sense, Uh, A wet T shirt contest, which
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Speaker 1: is always fun at, a bull testicle contest, and a
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Speaker 1: blue bull chip throwing so I guess like a cow
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Speaker 1: pie sometimes can flatten out and harden like a frisbee.
9:41
Speaker 1: I guess it's the same thing. We can only hope. So, um,
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Speaker 1: it's a it's a big one. There's ten thousand people
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Speaker 1: that eat about four thousand pounds of bowl testicles. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I'll be one of them next September. That's great. Um,
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Speaker 1: and uh, it's not the only one though. It's not
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Speaker 1: the only Rocky Mountain Oyster Festival. There's an another one
10:00
Speaker 1: um in Texas, right. Uh it is, yeah, Throckmorton, rock Mornton, Texas.
10:08
Speaker 1: And they do that. They the same thing there, Josh,
10:12
Speaker 1: I know. They also the one in Throckmorton actually has
10:15
Speaker 1: a if you don't like bulls testicles, So if you're
10:18
Speaker 1: like of the human population, Uh, there there is a
10:22
Speaker 1: taste like chicken cook off competition, um, where you can
10:27
Speaker 1: cook any weird thing you want. Yeah, but if you're
10:29
Speaker 1: not into bulls testicles, you're probably not gonna You're not
10:31
Speaker 1: gonna be in Throckmorton in May. Now you're not gonna
10:34
Speaker 1: be eating out of the taste like chicken line either,
10:36
Speaker 1: because I guarantee you any chicken. No, no, no, although
10:40
Speaker 1: that would be uh delightfully ironic if somebody cook chicken
10:43
Speaker 1: for the taste like chicken competences. It tastes like chicken, yes,
10:46
Speaker 1: because it is, yeah, exactly what I would say. So
10:48
Speaker 1: that's the testicle festival in the World Championship Rocky Mountain
10:52
Speaker 1: Oyster Festival. I want to go overseas now to Spain. Okay,
10:58
Speaker 1: because this one is something that we podcasted on recently,
11:01
Speaker 1: The Near Death Experience. Yeah, yeah, there's actually a near
11:04
Speaker 1: the Festival of Near Death Experience, Yes, which is co crazy, um, Chuck.
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Speaker 1: This one is held in f Santa Marta de Robarmente.
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Speaker 1: Nice one, Chuck, thank you, which also translates to as
11:19
Speaker 1: Chuck said, actually doesn't translate to it, but you can
11:21
Speaker 1: call it the Festival of Near Death Experiences, um. The
11:25
Speaker 1: way Chuck said, it would be the Festival of St.
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Speaker 1: Martha of Rebar Tamy rebar Tamy. Actually I think I
11:33
Speaker 1: pronounced it wrong, but you got it right. Yeah, Rebar
11:35
Speaker 1: Tamy so in July July twenty nine. And St. Martha
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Speaker 1: is actually the Saint of Death, right yeah. And this
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Speaker 1: festival is actually four people specifically who have had near
11:48
Speaker 1: death experiences. This one is um. I'm glad we talked
11:51
Speaker 1: about the Frozen Dead guy days. It's not like that.
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Speaker 1: Although the people who are I guess the celebrants or
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Speaker 1: the center of this fest of all the people who've
12:01
Speaker 1: had near death experiences, are carried into the main church
12:05
Speaker 1: in the town. Um what is it las nivis uh?
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Speaker 1: And in coffins. Yeah, they're carried in coffins to a service,
12:13
Speaker 1: a church service from what I gather, where they get
12:16
Speaker 1: up and they tell their stories to everyone, right, which
12:19
Speaker 1: apparently also sound very much alike. There's that light at
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Speaker 1: the end of the tunnel, all that stuff that we
12:25
Speaker 1: talked about in the Near Death Experience podcast. Um, but
12:29
Speaker 1: I guess if you want to go meet a bunch
12:31
Speaker 1: of people who have died and come back, yeah, this
12:33
Speaker 1: is this is your chance. I think if I went
12:35
Speaker 1: to as a impostor, which I'm known to do, I
12:39
Speaker 1: would be one of the whatever small percentage of the
12:42
Speaker 1: people were that had the hell fire experience. Just to
12:46
Speaker 1: spice things up. I think that's a good idea. Was
12:50
Speaker 1: according to that eighty two gallop pole. Yeah, because everyone's like,
12:53
Speaker 1: oh yeah, white light, white light. Now, I would get
12:55
Speaker 1: up there and say, I saw fire. You get up
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Speaker 1: there and you don't want to die, You're all doomed,
13:02
Speaker 1: and get me out of this coffin. Right. So that
13:05
Speaker 1: is the what's it called save it Again? Chuck. The
13:09
Speaker 1: Fiesta de Santa Manita de robotem nice, thank you? Was
13:13
Speaker 1: that Italian or Spanish accent? It's they're close. Where do
13:17
Speaker 1: you want to go next, dude? Uh, well, we can't
13:19
Speaker 1: not talk about wife carrying. This is a lot like
13:23
Speaker 1: the Healthcare Um podcast, the last one where we went
13:26
Speaker 1: all over the world, but this one's far less informative
13:29
Speaker 1: and educational in nature. Yeah, let's talk about wife carrying.
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Speaker 1: So that would put us in a squarely in Finland,
13:36
Speaker 1: specifically sonca arv Finland. Yeah, they have letters that don't
13:41
Speaker 1: even look like letters. They have letters that don't even exist. Uh.
13:45
Speaker 1: And it is exactly as it sounds. There's no weird
13:48
Speaker 1: play on words here. It is. Actually there are races
13:51
Speaker 1: where a man picks up his wife and carries her
13:55
Speaker 1: in whatever way you choose, whatever way you think is
13:59
Speaker 1: the best way to get across the finish line. Yeah,
14:01
Speaker 1: the quickest and uh, the one that's held in Finland's
14:04
Speaker 1: the World Championships. But these have popped up elsewhere, including
14:08
Speaker 1: in the United States. But the one in Finland, dude,
14:12
Speaker 1: people attend this thing. No, it's like the one like
14:14
Speaker 1: people who win in the United States or Hong Kong
14:16
Speaker 1: or Australia go to Finland to compete for the champs
14:20
Speaker 1: the championships. Um, so you would think the finish are
14:23
Speaker 1: the best at this. And actually, um, a couple did
14:26
Speaker 1: win the two thousand nine but I am want to
14:31
Speaker 1: point out they were not married. As far as I know,
14:36
Speaker 1: they weren't married. Um, the two thousand nine winners were
14:39
Speaker 1: I'm about to butcher this Tysto, Mick t Any so sorry,
14:46
Speaker 1: Tisto and Christina Happening. She's one happening girl, so no
14:51
Speaker 1: different last names. And it said they're cities, two different cities.
14:55
Speaker 1: Ob see. There aren't many rules to this, but there
14:59
Speaker 1: are a couple in. One is that she must be
15:01
Speaker 1: over seventeen uh over one hundred and eight pounds, meaning
15:07
Speaker 1: that she qualifies in the weight weight class. And if
15:11
Speaker 1: she doesn't weigh that much, they actually tie things to
15:13
Speaker 1: her to make her way that much. To your wife
15:16
Speaker 1: comes in at a hundred pounds, will put a eight
15:17
Speaker 1: pound weight around her waist. She's got like a set
15:19
Speaker 1: of silverware around her or something. And let's talk about
15:24
Speaker 1: the methods. Actually, as I was saying that you would
15:27
Speaker 1: think the finish are the best, the Estonians are so
15:31
Speaker 1: good that they have their own method of carrying after
15:34
Speaker 1: the Estonian method. Yeah, and I've seen pictures. You've ever
15:37
Speaker 1: seen pictures of this? It looks like clearly the way
15:39
Speaker 1: to go, because you can do the piggyback, but everyone
15:42
Speaker 1: knows that's not the way to go. No, because the
15:44
Speaker 1: center of gravity is lower, the weight is towards the
15:48
Speaker 1: your back, the carriers back. Um, the Estonian method is
15:53
Speaker 1: upside down like that, right, Well, yeah, it's um, your
15:57
Speaker 1: wife would put her legs around your head upside down,
16:02
Speaker 1: so her face is kind of around where your lower
16:05
Speaker 1: back is, and then she'll wrap her arms around your waist, right,
16:08
Speaker 1: so the bulk of her weight like the trunk, and um,
16:12
Speaker 1: the bottom are up on your shoulders. It's like a
16:15
Speaker 1: human backpack. Yes, and that's clearly the way to go,
16:18
Speaker 1: because I believe wasn't that the method used when they
16:20
Speaker 1: broke the world record? I believe so. So Estonian is
16:23
Speaker 1: definitely the style you should if you're intend on winning,
16:27
Speaker 1: and you should intend on winning because this one actually
16:30
Speaker 1: has a nice little prize attached it does you get
16:33
Speaker 1: your wife's weight and beer? I love it. I love
16:36
Speaker 1: it too, uh huh. I would love to drink that
16:38
Speaker 1: much beer. And I imagine if she weighs less than
16:41
Speaker 1: the hundred and eight pounds, they don't give you the
16:43
Speaker 1: weight of the silver ware that she had around her
16:45
Speaker 1: waist if she weighed eighty pounds, and probably give you
16:48
Speaker 1: eighty pounds of beer. But if I were in Finland,
16:51
Speaker 1: I would beef up my wife to a cool like
16:53
Speaker 1: to twenty and see if I could win and get
16:56
Speaker 1: two pounds of beer. I'd ask if I could trade
16:59
Speaker 1: the beer for an equal amount of vodka instead. They
17:03
Speaker 1: might do that. Maybe that's a lot of vodka. Chuck.
17:05
Speaker 1: We are exiting Finland now, goodbye Finland. Let's go back
17:09
Speaker 1: to Spain. We probably should have just stayed in Spain
17:12
Speaker 1: while we were there, right, Yeah, but we're wracking up
17:14
Speaker 1: frequent flyer points here, so we're going to uh Latoma
17:18
Speaker 1: Tina in Bune y'al, Spain. Yeah. This is a cool
17:21
Speaker 1: province of Valencia a k a. You probably know it
17:23
Speaker 1: as the largest tomato fight in the world, and that's
17:27
Speaker 1: what it is. That's exactly what it is. Um. It
17:30
Speaker 1: began in nineteen five and not everyone's entirely certain why. Yeah,
17:35
Speaker 1: there's different theories that, like these two friends got in
17:38
Speaker 1: a fight and escalated to a food fight, and then
17:40
Speaker 1: everyone around them said, this is kind of fun, let's
17:42
Speaker 1: food fight with them, and then that got escalated to
17:45
Speaker 1: the next town over. But that doesn't sound likely to me.
17:49
Speaker 1: Is in a fairly Brothers comedy, right exactly? Um, But however,
17:54
Speaker 1: whatever it's origin, it's been going on every year as
17:57
Speaker 1: far as I know. Um, and for an hour on
18:00
Speaker 1: the last Wednesday of August, everybody grabs as many tomatoes
18:04
Speaker 1: as they can. Apparently a hundred and forty tons or
18:07
Speaker 1: trucked in these days. Um, and everybody just starts whipping
18:11
Speaker 1: tomatoes at one another. I want to do this one man.
18:13
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I would turn on you like that. Oh
18:16
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? Before they said go you would
18:18
Speaker 1: have a tomato in my face? I would not. Or
18:20
Speaker 1: you would bring in your own rotten tomatoes. I would not, Yeah,
18:24
Speaker 1: you would, I wouldn't. I would. Oh that's me. I
18:28
Speaker 1: was thinking that I would do that. And it sounds
18:31
Speaker 1: like a lot of fun. Well yeah, I mean it's
18:33
Speaker 1: a huge tomato fight the last an hour. So that
18:36
Speaker 1: is a lato matina which takes place wind Chuck the
18:39
Speaker 1: last Wednesday of August, right, uh, yeah, And it's pretty
18:43
Speaker 1: dang popular. Strong. It's a lot of tomatoes thrown. Yeah. Yeah,
18:49
Speaker 1: check our last stop. You could call a whistle stop. Yes,
18:53
Speaker 1: if you were a jerk who liked to make stupid jokes,
18:55
Speaker 1: you would call it a whistle stop, wouldn't you. Yeah?
18:58
Speaker 1: Uh it's uh what is it? Laguna Niguel, California. Yeah,
19:02
Speaker 1: Laguna Niguel. It's in southern California. Well, not all of
19:05
Speaker 1: us have lived in California. I'm sorry, so Chuck. Ever
19:09
Speaker 1: since n once a year and I think it's in July, right, Yeah,
19:13
Speaker 1: I'm surprised I haven't heard of this. Once a year
19:16
Speaker 1: people line up along the road tracks, along the side,
19:19
Speaker 1: not actually on the road tracks, that would be hands
19:21
Speaker 1: across America. Um, and they moon passing Amtrak trains. Yes.
19:26
Speaker 1: And for those of you who don't know what mooning is,
19:28
Speaker 1: that is a practice of pulling down your pants and
19:31
Speaker 1: showing somebody your butt, your bottom. It is a old tradition.
19:36
Speaker 1: I wonder where mooning started. I have no idea that's
19:38
Speaker 1: a um. But at one point or another, if you're
19:40
Speaker 1: growing up in high school, you probably mooned somebody at
19:43
Speaker 1: some point, pressed Ham, would you like to hear my
19:45
Speaker 1: mooning story? Not figured you had one. Yeah, yeah, let's
19:49
Speaker 1: hear it. So in sixth grade, I was a crossing guard,
19:52
Speaker 1: as most sixth graders were, okay, And I was at
19:55
Speaker 1: one post board okay, and uh out the other in
20:00
Speaker 1: at the my flask was dry. At the other end
20:04
Speaker 1: of the block were a couple of girls, both of
20:06
Speaker 1: whom I was friends with and liked. And I was
20:09
Speaker 1: like Kelly, Joel and and they looked over and I
20:13
Speaker 1: mooned them. And they started screaming and pointing and telling
20:17
Speaker 1: everyone who would listen that I had just mooned them.
20:19
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, shut up, shut up. Yeah, mooning
20:21
Speaker 1: is private, long story, sure to end up in the
20:23
Speaker 1: principal's office. And I lose my right to go to
20:27
Speaker 1: Cedar Point as the sixth grade class trip that you know,
20:30
Speaker 1: you're kidding me. And I got kicked off the crossing guard,
20:33
Speaker 1: which is actually my point, because I was tired of
20:35
Speaker 1: being a crossing guard. You know what, that's a that's
20:37
Speaker 1: a crappy punishment. The principle is a jerk. You should
20:42
Speaker 1: have just kicked you off the crossing guard, but to
20:43
Speaker 1: not let you go to Cedar Point, no, I agree,
20:46
Speaker 1: it seemed a little much. This is the same principle though,
20:48
Speaker 1: who was about to paddle me once? And um, as
20:51
Speaker 1: she was getting the pedal down, I was like, I
20:53
Speaker 1: think you might want to call my parents first. Yeah,
20:56
Speaker 1: and she was like what and called my parents and
20:58
Speaker 1: my mom was like, you do not hit my child
21:00
Speaker 1: with the paddle. Yeah, you're a little you know. It
21:02
Speaker 1: was like, I'm ment old capital punishment was kind of
21:05
Speaker 1: on its way out when you were coming around she
21:07
Speaker 1: had the paddles. Yeah. Yeah, Well my dad was my principle,
21:10
Speaker 1: as you know, so I know, I'll bet he peddled
21:12
Speaker 1: you relentless. He paddled me one time in school as principal. Wow, yeah,
21:17
Speaker 1: I guess it kind of had to do that just
21:19
Speaker 1: to you know, say, I'm not above doing this. Crazy
21:22
Speaker 1: to think about now, though, the principle actually hitting your
21:25
Speaker 1: child with wood, it seems like something from the eighteenth century.
21:28
Speaker 1: And they even had like manufactured pedals with like the
21:30
Speaker 1: air holes drilled in it so that like there was
21:33
Speaker 1: less drag. That's what he had. Yeah, this is all
21:36
Speaker 1: taped up to what is wrong with the older generation
21:42
Speaker 1: and they're about to put a huge strain on our
21:44
Speaker 1: healthcare system. Thanks a lot for that. So back to
21:48
Speaker 1: mooning um every year since nineteen eighty. They do that
21:50
Speaker 1: for some reason, and the police have good humor about it.
21:54
Speaker 1: They let it go as long as you don't um
21:56
Speaker 1: take it too far and you don't like expose other
21:58
Speaker 1: body parts. They say, you can moan the trains, and
22:01
Speaker 1: they moan every train that goes by. Is that right? Yes, um,
22:05
Speaker 1: as far as I know, And the cops are there
22:08
Speaker 1: just to make sure it's peaceful. Well. In two thousand
22:10
Speaker 1: and eight, no, to make sure people don't show their
22:12
Speaker 1: genitals well, and make sure it's peaceful in two In
22:15
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, the party got broken up because
22:18
Speaker 1: apparently people were like, it's not enough to bear my bottom,
22:22
Speaker 1: we just get naked. Yeah, And hey man, it's Niguel
22:26
Speaker 1: California that's stripping down to nothing but my Teva's Yeah.
22:31
Speaker 1: When was that two thousand eight that they said enough enough? Yeah?
22:34
Speaker 1: And I like their website. Um, there's a series of
22:37
Speaker 1: questions like you know what, what, you know? When? Where?
22:41
Speaker 1: Why that kind of thing, And there's one that says
22:44
Speaker 1: who's in charge And the answer is no one, No
22:47
Speaker 1: one organizes are responsible for this annual event. You just
22:51
Speaker 1: show up and pull your pants down right. Yeah. Cool. Yeah,
22:54
Speaker 1: So if you happen to be there in Laguna Niguel,
22:58
Speaker 1: not to be confused with Gunna Niguel, it's sister city elsewhere.
23:03
Speaker 1: Um on July, you just ask where the Amtrak mooning
23:08
Speaker 1: party is. Yes, yeah, so boy, this is a good one,
23:13
Speaker 1: so feel like it. We're all just a little smarter.
23:16
Speaker 1: I've got some places I want to go. Uh yeah,
23:19
Speaker 1: me too, Rocky Mountain Oyster Festival. And do you want
23:22
Speaker 1: to go? Uh no, I'll just drop me off in
23:25
Speaker 1: Lookna Niguel and I'll be mooning trains. Okay, I'm good. Um.
23:29
Speaker 1: So that is unusual town festivals. And actually if you
23:32
Speaker 1: type in festivals in the search bar at how stuff
23:36
Speaker 1: works dot com, it will bring up all manners stuff,
23:40
Speaker 1: some pretty good stuff on there. And we're anticipating a
23:42
Speaker 1: million emails about your town's festival too, Yes we are,
23:46
Speaker 1: which you just saved me the ending. Um so, chuck,
23:49
Speaker 1: let's get just right into listening emails that way. Josh,
23:52
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna call this uh uh what am I
23:55
Speaker 1: gonna call this? I'm gonna call this uh boarding school email?
24:00
Speaker 1: And it made me laugh going wrong, No, going right.
24:03
Speaker 1: This is from Natalie in Massachusetts, and sometimes you just
24:06
Speaker 1: give these emails. It's just just kind of cute and
24:08
Speaker 1: need to think. I'll just READI at back. Uh, guys,
24:11
Speaker 1: I'm a boarding high school student in Massachusetts. I sent
24:14
Speaker 1: an email a few months back about listening to podcasts
24:16
Speaker 1: at camp, and now I listen during silent study at
24:20
Speaker 1: my school. I have silent study from is this your
24:23
Speaker 1: Natalie Impression? Yeah? Sure, from seven thirty nine thirty. And
24:27
Speaker 1: to make things interesting, I listened to your podcast and
24:29
Speaker 1: it is a highlight of my day, and currently listening
24:31
Speaker 1: to the podcast that came out today, and I feel
24:33
Speaker 1: so much cooler than my roommate who was listening to
24:35
Speaker 1: the Pussycat Dolls. Oh yeah, so, yeah, good for you.
24:39
Speaker 1: We are definitely cooler than the Pussycat Dolls. I assure you,
24:42
Speaker 1: you guys are way cooler than them. Yeah, said so.
24:46
Speaker 1: I really enjoy your podcasts on science, history, and music,
24:49
Speaker 1: but the economy and politics are not my faith something
24:52
Speaker 1: that you seem to enjoy, Josh, why do you want
24:54
Speaker 1: to chew on babies? Sorry for the interjection there. He
25:00
Speaker 1: clearly doesn't really want to be It's just just that
25:02
Speaker 1: not like, yeah, that kind of thing or whatever. Now
25:07
Speaker 1: I supply my English teacher with extra credit questions with
25:09
Speaker 1: things I learned from the podcast, and I got the
25:11
Speaker 1: chance to teach the class and taught them about m
25:13
Speaker 1: k Ultra. Awesome, pretty cool. Could you give me a
25:16
Speaker 1: shout out on the podcast so I can show the
25:18
Speaker 1: girls in my dorm how awesome I am. This is
25:21
Speaker 1: the shout out, Natalie. That would be the highlight of
25:23
Speaker 1: my life, which is kind of depressing. Other than the
25:28
Speaker 1: time I saw a ghost. I don't know. Yeah, I'm
25:33
Speaker 1: gonna tell my ghost story at some other point, but
25:34
Speaker 1: I did see a ghost once. I'm gonna say that
25:36
Speaker 1: one for our ghost podcast, all right. The Weekend Activity
25:39
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago was a ghost hunter who uncovered
25:41
Speaker 1: a ghost, and the History Wing suggestion ghost hunters. She says, yeah,
25:46
Speaker 1: we're not gonna do ghost tonters. We'll do ghosts. I
25:49
Speaker 1: have a ghost story too, And then she just followed
25:51
Speaker 1: that by saying that was spontaneous. This girl's adorable. I
25:55
Speaker 1: do not know how that train of thought went. Thank
25:57
Speaker 1: you for reading my rambling. You have one twink points
26:00
Speaker 1: Natalie from Massachusetts. Nice Natalie. Natalie clearly has a firm
26:04
Speaker 1: grasp on her stream of consciousness. She does. Yeah. Well,
26:07
Speaker 1: if you have a firm grasp on your stream of consciousness,
26:10
Speaker 1: or you've ever seen the film Drug Store Cowboy, you
26:13
Speaker 1: can send us an email to stuff podcast at how
26:17
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands
26:24
Speaker 1: of other topics. Is that how stuff works dot com.
26:27
Speaker 1: Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on
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Speaker 1: the how stuff works dot com home page. Brought to
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