Latest / Ridiculous History / CLASSIC: How Louisiana Almost Became a Hippo Ranching Hub

Transcript

CLASSIC: How Louisiana Almost Became a Hippo Ranching Hub · Ridiculous History

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Fellow ridiculous historians. We're returning and it's twenty twenty six.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Happy new year. The future. Man, it's the year Blade
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Runner was set. I think, no, maybe not, but it's
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: it's you know, relatively.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: It's you know, it's strange because just a few days
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: into twenty twenty six, I was already thinking, what a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: year it's been.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: You know, it really really has been a year for sure.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Another one also to jump in real quick, Blade Runner
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: was set in twenty nineteen.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Dang uh, yeah, we were passed.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Later on, we're past the Jetsons, we're boldly going into
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the future, and we still don't have widespread flying cars.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: It this the year and the Sprocket are still the
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: highest forms of technology that exists.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Right in this episode, though, we're we're returning to a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: classic story about a time when Louisiana was different, when
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: people were thinking ahead through their troubled present and saying,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: perhaps we could build a better future with the hippopotamus.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Let's do a pivot. Let's do a hippo pivot.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Hip hop hip ovid hip ovid.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: The hip hopopotamus, yeah rhymes is bottomless. So what were
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: they doing? They wanted they weren't. Weren't they breeding these
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: things for like meat? Sure?
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: And that guy, that guy with the shaved head, Andrew Zimmerman, he.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Would have dug this. You mean you mean Bob Dylan. No,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I'm just kidding. His name was Zimmerman. I can't remember
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: what it was first, the bizarre eats guy, right, Yeah? Yeah,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: for su ye, Yeah, I love some some wild meats. Yeah.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And nowadays in the US, we've talked about this in
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the past, Beef, chicken, and pork are the most common
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: animal proteins you'll find. But if things went just a
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: little bit differently in the nineteen hundreds, your supermarket might
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: have ended up with hippo fhilets.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: You had a bit of a whiled meat period, didn't you, Ben? Oh? Sure?
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Are you still in it? Yeah, we'll check this classic
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: episode out.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: There's one more classic to help us transition back into
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: the usual published schedule. So we appreciate y'all enjoying these,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: and hope everyone had a lovely holiday.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Let's begin today's
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: show with some apparently irrelevant hippo facts that will come
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: into play later in the episode. Number one did you
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: know hippos cannot swim and they can float?
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: What It's true. So when whenever you see a hippo
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: emerge from the murky waters in like an adventure type movie,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: they're literally just walking on the on the bottom of
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: the body of water, It's true.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: They walk or stand on surfaces below the water like sandbanks.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Ben. That's fascinating information.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Thanks, Noel. They're also called land cows. Did you see that?
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: That was my favorite things.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: And they're also straight seahorse teeth.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: They are they are a straight seahorse teeth, much like
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: our super producer Casey Pegram.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Casey has the straightest teeth of anyone in this crew,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: the most seahorse of teeth bigtime.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: So today we've got to we've got to set out
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: maybe a couple of disclaimers. First off, this one's on me.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I just got back into town. My body has no
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: idea what time it is.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Your arm's tired? Oh, what day it is? My left
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: arm's a little loopy.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, But overall, it might be a bit punchy in
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: today's episode, and I might see some things that are
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: largely irrelevant.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: That's okay, thanks. How is that any different than usual. Yeah,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I mean on either side. That's totally what I meant.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: That's totally what's it's true.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Well, maybe it will be for the good of the show, hopefully,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: but we have it usually is so far, let's the
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: streak continues. We also have a second disclaimer about today's episode.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Big one, massive disclaimer and not even a disclaimer, more
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: a pre recommendation. Our colleagues Holly Frye and Tracy V. Wilson,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: who you know from stuff you missed in History class Fame,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: have covered this very topic in a quite meaty two parter.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: So stop what you're doing right now and listen to theirs.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: This is a throwaway episode that we're about to do
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: for you.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Well, maybe listen to ours first, so we don't have
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: to follow that act.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: That's fair. Let's consider ours like the cliffs Notes version,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: and there's like the Encyclopedia Britannica version.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the primer I think we called it off,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: that's right, or if you're British Primmer primer.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: So this is a crazy story. One of our first
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: episodes on Ridiculous History was also hippocentric.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: It was, wasn't it the first episode?
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: It may have been the first episode the Wild Hippos
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: of Pablo Escobar, which is a which I think is
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: a fascinating story. And I did check, and those hippos
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: are still running.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Rampant makamuka muckamuck.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Yes, wreaking watery havoc wherever they can walk or stand
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: in a watery surface, because again, they neither swim nor flow.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: How did you happen upon this, this little tidbit about
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: the watery nature of hippos.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I read a lot about hippos on the plane. Really, yeah,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: because I was too cheap to pay for the WiFi,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and I had downloaded some articles beforehand, and.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: That's a long flight. You didn't pop for the Wi Fi?
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I eventually did not because the flight went by the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: north Pole, at which point, even if you pay for
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Wi Fi, there's no service.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Did you see the pole, that barber pole that marks
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: the spot?
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I did not yet I did not, So that's going
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: to be for the next trip if you want to go.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Have you revealed where you were traveling to or we
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: we mentioned it?
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I think we mentioned on previous episodes as possible. Let's
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: just double down Korea, Yeah, yeah, yeah, traveled to Korea.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: For a week on my continuing quest to enter not
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: just the DMZ, but what's called the Joint Protection Area,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: which is the blue building where you can walk across
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: into North Korea.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: That was and have you seen Conan without Borders the
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: travel at the convel. Yeah.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: He goes into that room and there's like guards and
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: they're all wearing like sunglasses inside, and there's one side
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: of this room where you're in North Korea, one side
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: you're in South Korea. And him and Steven John from
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: The Walking Dead do.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: A funny little bit where they like broadcast the weather
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: from each side of the room, and surprise, surprise, it's
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: the same weather.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: You know, it's it's surprisingly, well, not surprisingly, it's tricky
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: to get into that area, and any number of people
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: or institutions can cancel it day of So I didn't
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: make it this time, but I had a wonderful time,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: wonderful trip nonetheless, and will probably be returning until I
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: can finally get into that building.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: In the meantime, let's take some advantage of those that
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: hippo research time you have on that plane. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: what are we talking about. Let's do it today.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: We are talking about not just hippos or land cows,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: but a enormously influential role they almost played in American
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: history and the American meat industry.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Cool boy, that's the whole thing onto itself. And it
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: was a thing unto itself at this point because there
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: just wasn't enough meat. It was the earliest of the
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: nineteen hundred nineteen oh one, and the United States was
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: in when the throes of a meat shortage, and you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: I see that, and I immediately am like, well, why
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: didn't people just start eating more vegetables? Right right?
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Why don't we pursue a Michael paulinesque omnivore's dilemma approach? Right?
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: It's funny because that actually does kind of figure into
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: this a little later, but for now, let's set the scene.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So, the dawn of hippopotamus ranching, as we would
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: later come to call it, really peaks in nineteen ten,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: and it starts in the early nineteen hundreds. It hits
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the point of, hey, it's a great idea to practice.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Hippopotamus ranching really hit its peak in nineteen ten. There was,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: as you said, an alarming shortage of meat. This is
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: a result of several factors these were peak years of immigration,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: and cities were exploding in terms of population, and although
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the meat industry itself was growing by significant leaps and bounds,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: it was not growing fast enough to keep up with
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: all the new hungry people traveling to the US and
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: being born here.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So consequently, beef prices were through the roof. That beef
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: bill was just astronomical.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I know it was putting people out of house and
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: home just to keep their families beefed up, I guess.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: But like I said, though, there I don't see any
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: mention of seeking alternative. They doesn't even talk of like
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: eating dogs, like it was that bad. People just needed
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: their meat. And I'm like, was it Was it a
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: taste thing? Literally?
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Was it?
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Like we just really love the taste of meat over vegetables?
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Like you think there would be more like urban farming
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: or something would have sprung up to kind of.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Fill that gap. But it was such a big deal.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: It was dubbed the meat question. Yes, it was dubbed
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the meat question. Part of it ties into the availability
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: of pasture right of land for these animals to graze them.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Right, because meat was already so popular that you know,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: like we tend to do or we don't think ahead.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: As a country, pastures had become overgrazed because you know,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: to have beef cattle, they have to graze and feed
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: on grass in pastures. What happens when they're overgrazed.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Right, there's nowhere for the cattle to eat, and so
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: there's no opportunity to grow them into you know, delicious
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: hamburgers and ribs. We do have to bracket that idea
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: of vegetarianism just for a moment. But we will get
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: back to it.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: I will.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: We will, So into this fray, into the midst of
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: the meat question, come to very fascinating guys.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Super cool.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, one named Frederick Russell Burnham and one named We.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Might need a Casey assist on this one. Casey, We've
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: got a gentleman by the name of Fritz d u
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: q u E s n E. I'm picturing it as
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: a sort of Dufraine, like Andy Dufraine from the Shawshank Redemption.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: You Ken, dou ken, you can the ken you ken
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: something like that.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Casey on the case, Casey on the case. And
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: it's funny because it's interesting to me how sometimes in
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: French you actually do pronounce those seemingly silent letters like
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: one version of that case. He was saying the s
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: a little bit.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Well, the yes names especially have lots of weird exceptions,
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: and sometimes you literally just have to check. There's not
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: like a hard and fast rule that you can always
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: be assured is gonna work.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: So double casey on the case.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: So we have these guys, Frederick and Fritz. Let's examine
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the life of Frederick Russell Burnham.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: First.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: This guy is quoted by some sources as being the
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: man with the most complete life ever lived. You'll hear
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: him refer to as the inspiration for Indiana Jones. You'll
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: hear that the Boy Scouts were created to mold young
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: men into a more Frederick Russell Burnham esque shape. Morally speaking,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the name alone just inspires me. Frederick Russell Burnham.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: It just sounds like a real magic man, a real wreconteur,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: you know. And yeah, he was an outdoorsman. I guess
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: you could say an early form of something like a naturalist,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: right m hm. Yeah.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: He would be described as emphatically a man's man, able
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: active alert. He gave people an impression of force and
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: self control. In nineteen ten, Burnham was forty nine years old,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: and in September nineteenth of that year, he visited the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Maryland Hotel in Pasadena, California.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: What happened then, then, I'm so glad you asked.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: He was there to address what was known as the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Humane Association of California at their annual convention. This group
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: was dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to animals. They
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: had quickly become one of California's the most powerful civic organization.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: And Burnham, later on in his life, now you know,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: he's middle aged. He is part of an eccentric brain
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: trust that was trying to launch their own innovative animal
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: project off the ground. They wanted to answer the meat question,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: and they thought that the civic minded people, the philanthropist
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: of the Humane Association of California, would be really good
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: folks to have on their side. Burnham was doing this
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: with a very calculated air. It's proven that privately he
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: made fun of these sorts of organizations.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Like Oh, in his off time, he had no time
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: for that kind of flim flammery, that kind of pomp
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: and circumstance. He wanted to be out there in the wild,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: communing with nature. Not behind a podium in front of
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: a bunch of stuff shirts delivering.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: A speech, and he thought their priorities were off, you
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: know what I mean. So he wanted to get their
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: support nonetheless for his idea, and was an idea that
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: was already circulating through the halls of DC in the
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: form of a bill introduced by a Louisiana congressman named
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Robert Broussard. The pitch was this, we don't have enough
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: room for beef. We're we're not growing enough cattle.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: But we got all these swamps and we don't quite
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: know what to do with them. There's kind of mucky
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: and gross and nothing really grows there that we can use.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: There's also these like invasive plants that are really mucking
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: up the ecosystem. What if, what if, mind you, there
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: was some sort of creature that couldn't really swim or float,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: but could exist just fine, and some shallow water like
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: that and would graze on these invasive plants, which you
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: might be able to drop the name of ben the
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: water highescinth ah, yes, the pesky water high acenth.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: So there is such a creature, yes, yes, picture this
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: like a made for TV ad where Billy May says,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: but wait, there's more. So there is such a creature.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: It turns out a creature from the continent of Africa,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the creature known as the hippopotamus. The hippopotamus, which is gigantic,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: is native to similar ecosystems, you know, shallow watery depths, right, wetlands,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: marshy areas, vegetation, And so they said, close enough for
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: government work. Why don't we why don't we walk with
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: us here? Why don't we take some hippos, a breeding
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: population of hippos from their native environment and bring them
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: to Louisiana to fight the invasive water hyacinth, also turning
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: this marshland into something productive.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: And then we'll.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Eat hippos because they're delicious.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: As it turns out, maybe they might be. That's I mean,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: that's the pitch. And it seems way less gross than
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: eating dogs, which we were totally considering doing.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: We were considering as a nation, eating a lot of atoms,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: a lot.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Of animals, because we just had to have that sweet,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: sweet meat.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: We're like antelopes, what else, ostriches, that's what we kind
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: of collectively refer to as bush meat. Kind of right,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: it's like the stuff that we wouldn't really mess with,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: But it's funny. Obviously they have not heard our podcast
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: about the hippos, the wild hippos of Pablo Escobar, because
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: then they would know that hippos can be an invasive
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: species in.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: And of themselves. Yes, very much so. But none of
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: this really came to pass ultimately, so they didn't get
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: a chance to realize what a can of worms they
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: were opening up by doing this. But there's more. There's
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: another Fritz. Let's talk about our boy Fritz. What does
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: he play into this?
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's psych about Fritz. So, Fritz is a bore,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: and bores are the descendants of Dutch settlers colonizers in Africa.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: This guy is super sketchy. He lives life. According to
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: John Muellum, this guy quote moves through life using a
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: variety of aliacies. He was a con man, and you
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: know how we love con artists here on Ridiculous History.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: He fought against the British and the Second Boer War,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: and similar to Burnham, he had spent some time as
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: a kind of a freelance spy. Burnham hated Fritz and
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: once called him the human epitome of sin and deception.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: Whereas Burnham had been described as the most complete human
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: being who ever lived. So couldn't be more different these two,
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: And they ended up being quite the odd coupled, didn't they. Yes, Yeah,
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: because they're interests aligned, right, they're.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Interest the line.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: But previously on a previous episode of Fritz and Frederick,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and they have been specifically tasked to murder one another.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I didn't find any more about that. I saw
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: that detail in the interview with this Wired writer Mulam.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: But what happened with that I need to know more.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: It sounded like they were maybe on the opposite sides
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: of some sort of conflict.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: It's true during the Second Boer War, Fritz was under
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: orders to specifically assassinate Frederick Burnham, and he was under Burnham,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, was under a similar set of orders. It
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: did not come to pass.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then apparently they were able to let bygones
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: be bygones, or you know, death orders be something that's
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: nicer than death orders. I don't know. Yeah.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: After the Boer War, Burnham remained active in counter espionage
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: for Britain, and apparently a lot of his job in
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: this post war environment was just keeping an eye on Fritz,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: just specifically watching his activities and seeing what he was about.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: So when we fast forward to nineteen ten, when Burnham
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: and this preview mentioned Congressman Robert Brossard are trying to
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: popularize the idea of hippos as livestock. Burnham and Brossard
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: found something called the New Food Supply Society. The idea
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: being that they'll import what they see is useful African
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: wildlife into the US to solve the meat question. And
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Broussard needs some experts, and so he says, who would
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: be a good expert on African wildlife?
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: These two men's men that have spent a lot of
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: time in Africa, and you know, the whole rivalry thing aside,
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: maybe they can figure out a way to get along
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: and work towards a common goal.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: And they ultimately kind of did.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: They formed essentially like a lobbying group.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Kind of yeah, yeah, they form the lobbying group. With
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the New Food Supply Society, they were pushing something called
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the American Hippo Bill, and the American Hippo Bill was
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: asking Uncle Sam for two hundred and fifty grand to
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: import hippos into the BIOS as a new food source
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: and then to control the other pre existing invasive species,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: the water hyacinth. So just to emphasize and highlight the
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: logic here, they said, let's introduce another invasive species to
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: solve our original invasive species problem. This is similar in
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: some ways to that scene in Fantasia, which I know
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I reference at nauseum, wherein the Wizard Mickey Mouse animates
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: one mop and then quickly gets over his.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Head, and then all the mops start going insane and
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: kind of mutate into some sort of violent mob.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: And this, despite this lack of knowledge of Disney films
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: on the part of Uncle Sam at this time, and
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: despite the just the weird, unorthodox nature of the proposal,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: people are largely behind it. Even former President Theodore Roosevelt
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: backs the plan. Well, he was a man's man himself,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: wasn't he? Yes, yes he was. And The New York
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Times writes an article praising the taste of hippopotamus meat.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: And I can't remember, did I say land cow in
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the beginning?
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: He did?
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Okay, it's lake cow. Lake cow.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's just a cow. But these are lake cows.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: And the New York Times wanted to call this stuff
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: lake cow bacon. So Fritz provides expert testimony about hippos
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: as livestock to the House Committee on Agriculture, and the
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: bill is in action. For a second, it looks like
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: it has a real chance of passing.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: And then what it just fizzles. Doesn't get that nothing
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: like catastrophic happened. Like it just kind of seems like
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: it just the whole idea, I know what it was.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: It was sort of on the edge of being able
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: to engineer some of those farmland, those you know, overgrazed
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: pastures into new environments.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it exactly. This plan would have come to
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: pass had not other technological innovationstrial agriculture come into play
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: event of industrial agriculture. And so now we're in a
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: situation where we say, hey, we I guess we don't
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: need to import a huge population of hippos and try
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: to fundamentally reboot our livestock system. Now we can just
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: take what we were already doing to a new level
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: of scale.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: That's right. And this guy, this writer, John Mullham Hope
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: and produce his name right, please forgive me from mine.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: He makes a point in an interview with Wired that
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: it was almost like starting to resemble the kind of
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: like local you know, locally bred and slaughtered kind of
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: like things that foody scenes are so big on, you
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: know nowadays, they were talking about importing ostriches and having
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: ostrich farms and any other kind of like animals like
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: they could get their hands on, like antelopes and anything
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: was really on the table, And it was this idea
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: of having an incredibly local, locally sourced food system even
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: though they were imported, they would be kind of bread
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: naturally locally and then slaughtered locally and everythings as opposed
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: to having everything like imported.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of a farmed a table.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: That's the one I was looking for.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: It's weird when you consider this because we're at a
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: pivotal point in history, and it's incredibly tempting to speculate
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: how things would be in the modern restaurants of twenty
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: nineteen had this plan and similar propositions succeeded. You know,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: would we be in a situation where food is more
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: regional or livestock is more regional. Would we be in
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: a situation where someone says, well, you have to go
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: to Nebraska to get a good hamburger, because that's where
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: we have cows.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, now that's certainly an absurd thought, you know, considering
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: the way things are done these days. It seems like
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: it now, right, it seems like it now.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: And you know, one of the things that mystifies a
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: lot of my friends who visit the US from out
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: of the country is just the abiquitous nature of food.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: You can get anything anywhere. Well, and if you think
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: about like in Japan, for example, like proper wygo beef,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: isn't that very regional like that, like to actually get
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: it that where it's actually the real deal, because it's
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: obviously it's one of those things that can be thrown around,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: like you even see it on the menu at like
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Chili's or something, beef sliders or whatever. Right, it's true.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: And this is where we see Michael Pollen returning because
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Michael Pollen, who writes quite extensively about the problem of agriculture,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: the problem in industrial agriculture, he would argue that ultimately
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: it is better and more sustainate for us to pursue
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: as a species these sorts of regional models of food ways,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. He would say that had
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the hippo industry taken off, it would have been ultimately
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: better for the planet. You know, that is not where
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: we are now.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: We are in a reality where we could the three
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: of us and you listening, we could all travel in
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: different directions in the Lower forty eight States, for sure,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: and then pretty much order the same thing. We can
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: find the same thing anywhere.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, there was a time where
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: the idea of getting seafood in a landlocked part of
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: the country would have been insane, you know, but not
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: not so much anymore, with like refrigeration technology here in Atlanta,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: especially because we are near such a huge shipping hub,
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: with the airport's constantly flux and things coming through. You know. Yeah,
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: you can get genuine wygof beef here. That's probably true.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: I'm sure it is. Yeah, I'm sure it is. I
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: really recommend there is behind a paywall, but that this writer,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: John Mullam wrote a piece for the Adavist website called
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: American Hippopotamus, and I read it some excerpts from it,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: and it's it's very very good. Right. He goes into
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: the backgrounds of these two very fascinating men in a
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: very deep dive way and talks through this whole problem
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: and situation and what ultimately came of him.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: It is also the source of it's the first time
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I found this quote. It's the source of my favorite
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: quotation about Fritz Duking. He was described as not only
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the human epitome of sin in deception, but get this
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: stole a walking, living, breathing, searing, killing, destroying torch of hate.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: WHOA.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I don't think that made it into the congressional record.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: I don't think so either, but it made it into
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: the podcast record. And I think there's not much of
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: a better way to wrap this up than with that.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: My friend, that's true. That's true. This ends our tale
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: of the would be hippopotamus livestock empire that never quite
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: came to pass and now is currently relegated to the
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Hall of good but ultimately unsuccessful ideas such as giraffe
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: ranches and Ostrich farms. We hope that you enjoy today's episode.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Let us know what we are.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: It's oh, I've.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Been here the whole time, Jonathan Strickland, aka the quizter.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: It is true, you have been here.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, if you heard anything fact that you wouldn't acknowledge
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: my existence for half an hour really hurts.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, man, if you heard any weird, labored, evil breathing,
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: that was Strickland on the mic.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: A couple of times he rolled his eyes so hard
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: that I'm pretty sure translated to audio. Listen, Ben, listen, listen, Ben, listen.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: Listen.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: You're talking about my boy Fritz, and you're casting aspersions
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: left and right. I can't let this just go by.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Ben.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: Fritz is my boy.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Here's something of a super villain.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: And let me tell you have not scratched the surface
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: of Fritz. Fritz was an insurance scam walking down the streets.
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: He was in the movie business. He worked for RKO Pictures.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: He actually was arrested for insurance fraud.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: He sounds like he needs his own episode. He thought.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: He is amazing. And guess what. We're going to test
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: your knowledge about Fritz Duquan right now. Yes, ladies and gentlemen,
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: if you don't understand what's happening, I don't blame you.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: I don't understand it myself, and I don't even have
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: the excuse of an international flight like mister Bolin. Now
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: what we are going to do is I'm going to
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: pose a scenario to these two gentlemen they will have
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: three minutes to discuss the scenario between the two of them,
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: and they may ask questions of me during those three
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: minutes to determine whether the scenario is in fact historical
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: or if I made it up seas and so this time,
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: as always, I have to come up with an arbitrary
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: rule for you to say or do before you ask
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: a question. This time because one of the many things
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: Fritz Dukan was known for was during both World Wars
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: he was a spy for the German government. So before
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: you ask any questions, you will have to preface it
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: with achtung.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: Baby like that appreciated YouTube records.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: Really, that's why I was kind of it's both thematic
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: and we can bring some attention.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: I think it is. I think that's sort of considered.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: They're one of their lesser works.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: I would thought I was really broken up about that.
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: Anyway, I will give you your scenario and then we
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: will start the enormous Grandfather clock for its three minutes.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Yep, I'm stretching now.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: I've got to run all the way across this gigantic
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: shipping container.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: One of those twelve hour flights, and economies gonna do
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: that to you. All right, here we go, here's your scenario.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Fritz Ducan, as you've mentioned, was one of the experts
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: consulted for the Happy Pottus plan for Louisiana. That's what
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: I used to call hippopotamuses.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: No little tyke. That's adorable.
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: Disney thought so too. But Ducan was hardly a reliable resource.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: He was a con man, He was a self promoter.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: He was a big game hunter. He actually went on
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: big game hunts with Teddy Roosevelt, and a spy for
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: the Germans with a real grudge against Britain. He had
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: two main rivals in his career. One you've already mentioned
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: the fellow hippo advocate Frederick Russell Burnham, whom I trust
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: you remember from literally moments ago. But his other rival,
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: which had a very similar story in some ways, was
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: an English spy named Vernon Hall. Hall had never crossed
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: paths with Duken, which is fortunate because like Burnham, Ducn
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: and Hall were pledged to kill one another. They each
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: had orders to kill each other. They were very similar
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: in a lot of ways except for one major one.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: Du Can was a spy but loved attention and would
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: bring attention on himself all the time, even posing as
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: a supposed British soldier with the Australian Light Cavalry at
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: one point. But Hall was a master of blending in
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: and not being noticed, which is particularly fascinating considering the
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: fact that he had a wooden leg. Start to the timer.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Oh okay, okay, I'm running, I'm running. Go okay? Are
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: you okay?
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: Ben?
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: I've you really took a running leap at that wall?
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: A little wind. You look a little flattened.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: I I you know what, I'll be good for the
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: three minutes it takes us to figure this out.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Oktung baby?
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: Yes, mister Bolin.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: So are you saying that?
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: Ver?
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: Wait?
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Are you saying Fritz had a wooden leg? No, I'm
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: just saying Vernon Hall.
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: Fritz loved attention. Vernon Hall was the opposite.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he loved his prosthetics.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Okay, Oktung baby, Yes, give me like the log line
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: version of the entire question, all right?
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Was Fritz Duchan arch nemesies with not just one, but
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: two other spies, the second being Vernon Hall and English
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: spy active by the way, during World War Two.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: In addition to our other player in our in today's story.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: From the Boer War. So that was much, much, much earlier.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: So they were he was kind of an assassin. Yeah,
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: he had been.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: He had been tasked to assassinate more than one person.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Okay, so then it's it does seem likely that he
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: I mean they they weren't necessarily mortal enemies because they
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: had beef with each other. They were mortal enemies because
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: they were assigned by someone higher than them than their
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: pay grade to do harm to one, at least initially initially.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: So that being the case, it does seem likely that
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: that would happen more than once, or at least probably possible.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna you know what I'm gonna ask.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: I think I've made up my mind.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: I've cast him a lot, but I'm gonna ask another question,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: just because I like the bit we're doing.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: I do too. I like saying it's it's got good mouthfeeling.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Oktung baby, Yes, mister bullin, I just wanted to say it.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: That's fair.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Okay, you're thinking true. I'm thinking true. Man. Oh gosh,
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: we've been on such a good streak. I know I
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: hate to squander it, but I'm thinking true. Too, all right,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: so we gotta lock it in.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Let's do it all right, three two one.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: True, damn it, oh, mister Bolan, mister Bullen, you are
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: going to kick yourself.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: So very hard.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: First of all, Fritz Duken was it too.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: He's quite flexible.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: He was, in fact a spy during both world wars,
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: World War One and World War Two on behalf of
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: the Germans. He did have a very strong anti British
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: sentiment deep in his soul. He had been put into
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: prison and broke out numerous times, although he was eventually
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: caught and tried and eventually died in shortly after being
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: released because his health had gotten so poor while he
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: was in prison for fourteen years. But there was no
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: Vernon Hall. There was, however, a spy with a wooden
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: leg named Virginia Hall. Virginia Hall was an American spy,
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: mister Bolin.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: Virginia that's dirty pool.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: Not only had a wooden leg, and while only was
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: a spy worked on behalf of the French resistance, was
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: an American spy working in France. There's an entire building
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: at the CIA named after her.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Why do you keep saying last name? This way?
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: I was I was a part of this too, because
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: mister Bullen in particular should know more about the sad
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: Hey now, hey, now, no no dosing here come.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's Ben's story. Ben, Now listen.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: I I called dirty pool because you literally just flipped
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: the gender. No no. I also said he was an
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: English spy, not an American. But I didn't give you
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: any details about what he did as his spy work
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: in World Wars. Okay, but my into our intuition of
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: the true truthishness of the story still held true. Well,
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: this just warns you that you can't necessarily believe anything
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: about Fritz.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: You can, Okay, that's that's well written. Yeah, we takeaway,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: But I feel like.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: It also beats we can't necessarily believe anything you say.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: That's kind of the point that very But I feel
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: like I'm going to carry this off air with us.
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: But but here's here's what I charge you both. I
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: charge you both to you should do two companion episodes,
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: one specifically about Burnham and the legendary exploits of Burnham,
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: and one specifically of Duquanes and the legendary some obviously
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: fictional exploits he really did pose as a British soldier
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: who had led an Australian Light Cavalry. He had created
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: an entire mythology, mythology including being bayonetted three times in
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: gas four times. Wait to what end? This was his
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: cover story, like because he liked the attention. He liked
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: dressing up in the cavalry uniform and having photographs taken
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: of him. There are famous photographs of him in that
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: in that outfit.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: I need to be caught would be a death sentence. Yes,
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: So he was just totally rolling the desk. He just
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: he just he.
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: Relished the attention.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: But we've all been there, you know what I mean.
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: It's true, super villainy.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: You get off work on a Friday. Next thing, you know,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: it's Sunday, You're in a different country and you're dressed
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: like a member they're military.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: Stuff just happens.
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we know what happened in Korea.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, speaking of segues, Jonathan strickladk the quiztor. It looks
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: like you've won the battle, but not the war. I'm
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: winning the war too, But come.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: On, man, And it just occurred to me.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: No, this is the first time in twenty nineteen that
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: we have had our friend slash Nemesis on the show.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: I really like this one. Usually this is the time
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: where I kind of low key snark at the clister here,
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: But now that was very well played, sir, and he
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: literally gave us two new episode topics. So I do
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: need to point something out real quick. I recently discovered something.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: I'm a big fan, as I think we all are,
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: of Scott Ackerman and Comedy Bang Bang. The television show
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Comedy Bang Bang, there is an episode wherein Tom Green
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: plays a character called the Quizzler, and it's utter parallel thinking,
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: very similar arch villain type character to you the Quist
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: Jonathan Striggle.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: But I just want to point out that this was
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: not lifted. This was just simply parallel thinking. And I
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: saw it with my buddy and he was like, wait
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: a minute. We we just know that brilliance sometimes comes
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: in pairs, you.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Know, like like calculus exactly exactly. I just wanted to
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: put that out there real quick, lest anyone accuse us
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: of ripping off this segment. Quist is also a better name.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: I agree to actively that tea in the middle kind
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: of throws it off.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: It's got a good mouthfeel, so just like octam Baby,
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: it's just like Octum Baby.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: So thank you so much for coming on the show.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: Quister. We will get you next time.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: As I'm shaking my fist at the air, we do
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: also have to we have to bring up one thing,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: and I want to make.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: The show too long.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but off air, Jonathan, you learned second or perhaps
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: third hand about this show's checkered past with the musician
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Chryl Crowe.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: Yes, something about Limericks popped up and I don't fully
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: understand what's happening.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: I don't remember the Limericks side.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that popped up on the on the.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Group, the group the ridiculous Historians Facebook. What's what the
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Cheryl Crow thing?
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: She is our now you're you're our nemes.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: I'm your branded nemesis, as assigned by obligated. Every podcast
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: has one. It's I'm the only one who's allowed on mic.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like a Burnham Duquine thing, you know what
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, Like this rivalry, but we respect each other
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: and this is not the case with the popular musician
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: Cheryl Crowe, who we discovered is our primary critic online
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: and off.
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: Really yeah, yeah, Cheryl Crow christized.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean no, no, no press is bad press,
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: I guess, but she is. She has got some harsh
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: barbs free boys personally. Yeah, and uh, you know, we're
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: we're glad.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: We're glad that she is around, because it turns out
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: that most of our subscription numbers do come from Cheryl Crowe.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: You know, every day's a winding road, Frank, Yes, yes,
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: so what you're saying, winding.
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: Road the next concert tour, we should just be out
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: in the parking lot selling ridiculous history t shirts.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: That's right, all right, yeah, I gotcha.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: We just wanted to be transparent with you because we
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: know that you are such an ardent fan of Cheryl Crowe.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: Well now I'm growing more so every day.
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, you guys should leak up, maybe.
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: Have our own Injustice League. Excellent, I like it.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: Well, while you're waiting for that hellish combination to coalesce,
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: you can send us an email at Ridiculous at HowStuffWorks
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: dot com if you would like to send us any musings,
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: any thoughts about this or any other episode suggestions. We
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: love that. You can hit us up on our Facebook group,
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: The Ridiculous Historians.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Yes, and you can also find our off air personal
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: ventures at our instagrams I am at Ben Bolan, I.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: Am at Embryonic Insider, And do you have any socials
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: you'd like to pitch.
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: Plug at John Strickland, I post cute pictures of my dog, Timbleton.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, very cute dog. There's no h in the John there,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: that's right. So you can also find more of Jonathan
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: working under his Clark Kent Alter ego at his show
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: Tech Stuff.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: Where how would you describe text.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: I'd say the tech Stuff. You got to drop the
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: whole twister thing here.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: Tech Stuff is tech.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: Text Stuff is just about It's about technology and about
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: culture and about how those two things intersect. So some
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: episodes are a little more technology focused, where we talk
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: about how a technology actually works. Sometimes we're talking about
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: how a technology has shaped our lives and how we
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: in turn have shaped the evolution of that technology. So
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: if you're interested in anything from an iPhone to a catapult,
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: I've covered it on Stuff.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: It's true, that's true. This show has been a decade. Yeah,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: there's more than one thousand episodes, So get started now
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: for your next podcast binge opportunity tune into Tech Stuff.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: We'd also like to thank, of course, our super producer,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Casey Pegram and Alex Williams who composed our track.
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: And we'd also like to thank Gabe are amazing research associate.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: And of course we'd like to thank you the listening public.
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's a very clinical way of referring to our
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: friends out there in podcast land. I'll never do that again,
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: but seriously, the show wouldn't be anything without you. And
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: if you want to hang out with your fellow listeners,
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: check out that group you mentioned earlier, the Ridiculous Historians
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: on Facebook.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not looking forward to checking out our score with
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: the Twister.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: You know there's a score. Is there someone doing a spreadsheet?
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know when there's a spreadsheet, but everyone knows we're.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: A couple behind. That's fair. I think I think we
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: evened it up last time, and now we're behind it.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: We got close, We did get close.
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: I think you were. I think you were one behind.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, because of course you're keeping count.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: No imagine that. All right, that's the show, See you
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: next time. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.