Brain Soda Podcast - Episode 20 - Pyroclastic Streaming Services

Episode Date: June 17, 2023

On this week's episode we're asking the question is streaming really better? Also, we're talking Pompeii, one of the most well-known and amazing archeological sites!

Welcome everyone to the Brain Soda Podcast. I, as always, and your host Kyle, join today by my co-host Brad. How's it going? Frog is still out on his adventure. Today, we will be discussing Pompeii, but first, Brad, we're going to get Jackson Pollock in this mug today. We're going to get abstract and we're gonna talk streaming. And is it really better? Now, definitively, I do wanna start off and say,

just like what's gonna go on with what we're talking about throughout this discussion. Cable prices and satellite prices are also on the rise. So, ultimately, no, I don't believe that you should jump back and reassemble the cord. If we're talking about people who are cord cut. Oh, sure. No, because if you, no, definitely, because I did explore what cable would cost. And it's like $120 a month. It's stupid. Yeah. Seriously, $120 a month, like when all that stuff's already on streaming. I don't know, I guess if you bought every streaming service,

it might be more than that. And that is what we're going to be talking about today. So let's jump into it a little bit deeper. So on the surface level in 2007, only on Internet Explorer and PCs themselves, could you explore Netflix's library for streaming? It was extremely limited in the concepts of what we think about with streaming today, but it was innovative. It is what launched them into the stratosphere that Netflix is today.

But as of late, Netflix's subscriptions have been on the downturn. Netflix, the innovator of this medium, has started to come in with more restrictive policies and more price raising. So with that being said, you have Disney Plus, the people who a lot of people attribute to starting the streaming wars themselves, they're reporting losses of money and cutting some content here and there, and honestly, I think pretty soon you're going to see besides the ad non ad packaging, price spikes. Okay, first of all, did I not hear you just say

that Disney started the streaming wars? Well, so they didn't start the streaming wars, I would say, because everybody was competitive. I feel like they're late to the game. I agree with that. I think what it is is the powerhouse that plus is. Because they were the first ones that were like, we're taking all of our already content. Yeah.

They banked on at minimum three of the biggest properties of all time. Marvel, Disney itself, and Star Wars. From the outset, that's what you were going to get. I would say besides the Mandalorian, their original content starting off wasn't really existent. And then the Marvel stuff kicked in with like, Law Division and stuff like that, which I think is closer to season two of Mandalorian than anything else. And like, I got it like a week of, if not day of, launch. And I'm gonna say it right now, like, Muppets weren't even on there at the outset. So like, I was kind of, I was kind of bummed out.

There was a lot of stuff. Oh, they've been, they've been out since they tried and a Muppets original in 2020. So it's been up there for a minute. It's like, now I don't know. I don't use it very often, honestly. Go back to the beginning of what you were talking about with Netflix. Netflix, I feel like they were innovative in the sense

that they took out Blackbuster, I think, and all of them, whatever, before, with the DVD mailing. Yes, it did, that was the beginning. I don't think, like if you know, all them, whatever, before with the DVD mailing. Yes, it did, yeah, that was the beginning. Yeah. I don't think, like, if you really look at it, though, I bet it wasn't, it didn't catch on that much, though, because that still was a hassle. Well, I feel like the model was dying too.

Like, in our area specifically, you're watching family videos finally fall off like a scab. Yep, they're gone. I don't know any of the other. Right, and, but think about that. Blockbuster as a chain died in the mid-2000s. Yeah, what I mean, like, so what's the 15-year gap there for family video? Just people still willing to walk in and buy a four-day use of film.

It is true. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Better management practices, I guess. Like they didn't waste as much money, I don't know. The business model of that company is probably part of it, because they were like dollar generals out here, man, just all over. Yeah, exactly.

You know, it was just like, it made it cheap, you know, they just cheaply ran, I don't know. The founder, think about the founder, dude. You know what I mean? Like, once property value becomes a part of your business model, it's a different game. Exactly. And so this is a thing.

So you're talking about is streaming better, right? That is the whole question. Obviously it is better. And at the end of the day, it is best to have your media write it, to put your hands. Definitely a matter of what way it is delivered to you, I guess that is streaming, right? So it is best.

It is nice, like I remember as a kid, we're old enough to remember going into those bot busters and those family videos. You find things that you want to normally look at, but you can do that while you're streaming too. That's why you scroll through things. You're finding things like plenty more though There's like you can't have option overload Mm-hmm, and I think I think there's a couple important things to think about two two specifically as well

I want to bring up right now I think one thing that's really important is cultural touchstones when we talked about Sign felled the one thing we didn't bring up and the one thing Jerry Sign felled kind of shouted at Larry King is how many people across the country let alone the world at that given moment, that eight o'clock time slot on NBC or whatever it was, watched that last episode of Seinfeld. Do you really have that like granted? You have however many millions of people in numbers anymore but like look at television ratings as an example, which links downward because

People are doing so much more than just streaming or watching television at all. Yeah, there's not as much centralized media Is what you're saying kind of right? Well, there's so much more to do I feel like like obviously there was always things to do But video games have become way bigger in a that's what I'm doing on a Thursday night cultural thing yeah right being involved in and investing into your hobbies more has become certainly more prevalent with online presence but after the pandemic exponentially so right that those are my examples, is that people I feel like are choosing other activities, other than television watching at times. But when they do, they're spending eight,

typically, right? Like eight to $20 a little less. Let's say like $17 on a monthly fee to have an access to a library. They're only going to watch a certain percentage of before they're watching things on their other $8 to $17 subscription to This other multimedia conglomerate so they can watch some SpongeBob too like I'm going to give you a perfect example. With my phone plan, I have access to Macs. I'm a huge DC fan. Boom, there's a double benefit from the company I was already going through as a wireless

provider, and now I have access to that streaming service that latches into some of my fandom. I'm saving money versus the average Joe right there. Right? Exactly. Now, if I were somebody who would go like, and I have, like, I like them up, it's, I love Star Wars. I dig Marvel stuff. Boom, Disney plus. Now I have a second subscription. Let's just say I ever bit the bullet. And now I got Paramount. Yeah. Now I have Amazon Prime for sure. Now absolutely. And the thing is that now, well now with the streaming wars kind of like ending, you're

going to have these things that you really start to notice where you're going to see more and more. Do you want to add free? You don't want to watch them ads snow more we threw in there, baby? That's the thing. Yep. You're going to have to pay a little bit more money. You're probably going to have to pay a little bit more money

overall because people aren't joining up to these services like they were before. Well, then you'll well, that's the thing. OK, I don't think the streaming wars are over because there's still a lot of these little tiny, I don't know, I can't think of one off the time, but like science channel. I don't think there's a science channel. Curiosity stream and...

And... Curiosity's awesome. Like, I mean, it's all documentaries. Yeah, exactly. There's certain ones that are like that. That's a little bit different. But there's certain, like, there was still so small ones. Now, discovery was a good one.

Like a good example that just got absorbed by HBO, right? Or vice versa, I don't know how. I think, yeah, well, there, there are part of each other now. It's now max. Yeah, exactly. So like, you know, but you, you give your peacock, you know?

And like, uh, peacock's probably gonna stick around. But, uh, why does a, uh, CVS have one? Does CVS have one? CVS all access. I think, I think the big seven are gonna stay the big seven. Yeah. And there is like there's predominantly in the medium there's nine. There's like the big nine really. And when you look at multi-media, well you have little ones because like you know I have the fire sticker

whatever right. So it has obviously yeah crackle and to be and you know like the free ones that's just with ads and I have ran Sometimes these things have like I don't even think either of those are bigger or two of the bigger ones I can't think of the If you look at the Roku channel and I'm sure yeah, Roku Yeah, and like there's to be there's there's also paid Subscription like the Hulu plus with live TV. Yeah, Hulu you can get live TV obviously Like that's the thing like it's pretty insane like I don't really know I think you can always make the argument that one is better than the other exactly right like it's not to me

It's not about which ones the best exactly. This is the thing like it now. I'm just getting like this is not the point of the whole point Is that there's so many and that I'm just I'm trying to think of like which ones are gonna really like come like I don't believe though There would be seven or eight of them and the argument is is you really think they're all gonna stick around I don't know if they will I don't think any of them are going anywhere and I think I think if to a certain extent If not if they don't stick around what they're gonna do is go Hey, yeah, we'll license out our library Exactly. That's what I mean. I think they're a lot of these that might happen at some point he cocks it like CBS one

I know I never even heard of that like so I mean maybe it is somewhere, but like you know things like that Like I don't I don't know I feel like it will end up being probably like the Disney Hulu Congolomor it and they have ESPN too so that you know adds all sports pretty much I feel like it will end up being probably like the Disney Hulu conglomerate. And they have ESPN too, so that adds all sports pretty much. And then like that place. Apple TV, I think, is the one people sleep on. That's the thing I absolutely forgot about Apple TV. Yeah, but the thing was that Apple.

And it's not hard. It's not hard when there's 10 to 12, again, big multinational corporations who have streaming services out there This is my argument is that the reason we all said get and cut the cord was because there's no way in spending 60 to 120 dollars on average to have a litany of Channels and those channels have programming blocks a lot of which repeat has licensed out material programming blocks, a lot of which repeat has licensed out material, maybe has paid programming after 2 to 4 a.m. right? and you have to just pick with what your

average of viewing is, what's worth while too? so what people were clamoring for with something like tv alukard and from physical media, you can't do that almost anywhere. And here's the other thing Physical media while it is kind of a pain in the Is something you own. There is no Netflix ever going well you got to pay more per month to play your DVD player Or well your DVD player is not gonna play that Sony brain to disc this month. Yes, okay. You know what I mean? Like that's not ever gonna happen.

I do understand what you mean by that. The only thing with physical media is waste. Like, that's a lot of... And it's dead. No, it's a dying... It is. For me, even though it is great to have, I'd rather have it like, I don't know, you know, a flash drive or something than a disc.

Because again, going back to the climate change man, you're adding a bunch of waste. Like, even if I try to be like, you know, respectful of the climate, I'm gonna buy a bunch of discs. Yes, I do agree with you though, that owning your media, yes, which is, even like when I was talking about with the DRM in episode 15.

I guess that is different, but at the same time, it's, like, it's just, like, rights things, all these rights and stuff like that. And I understand, like, yes, we would, like, I'll, I'll, of course, you would want to just be, have anything at your fingertips, right? And like, but at the same time, sometimes I just want to just like throw on something and just like, that, like, you don just want to just like throw on something and just like vet Like you don't want to think about what you're pretty good like sometimes I'll just throw on some random, you know, I'll throw on the antenna, you know, like I still use the antenna a lot because

It's just whatever's on is on, you know, what's your alternative then? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. What's your alternative? I don't think there is an alternative. At this point, to be perfectly honest, I'm gonna be a little close to the chest in person. So this is a very anecdotal example. But it is my example. This is our podcast. But I also feel like it's a good tentative role for a lot of people who are sitting there

and looking at 90 plus dollars worth of subscriptions a month if they have that, and going going like what the f*** am I doing 10 years ago I cut the cord and now it's cutting into my wallet. Exactly. For me you see it with a couple things. If you're not getting enough from certain subscription services there's smaller ones like that's say you don't find enough horror between Paramount Plus, HBO Max, and Hulu. Well, you can get shutter or something like that, right? Like, look for what really interests you the most. And maybe that can take up a little bit more of your time

than the $10 subscription. It's, and I mean, even the free ones, like, you know, like, yes, it's great to be able to just be like, I wanna watch, like, you know, like, yes, it's great to be able to just be like, I want to watch this show, you know, this new show coming out on whatever, you know, streaming platform, but like, if you're trying to save money, like, just watch the free stuff, like, there's lots of free, you know, whatever you got to watch ads, you know, but like, there is a lot of free streaming options and that, I think it's awesome. Because because like it's very true. I would say owning your media is also another thing that's really helpful. Now of course you can buy digital. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like you don't have to buy physical media. I enjoy it because I can walk into a you know a video game trading store and look at all

their old DVDs and go like oh yeah and just scoop it up for $3 or whatever else. And you know what I mean? Like, although for a lot of people that just sounds absolutely terrible, I can go in and spend $3 and own that thing for the next 10 to 15 years. Barring something happened to it. And it would be something that I would purchase because I don't wanna spend X amount of money any given month to have it for just that

month to watch. But there are even apps out right now that can help you do that. If I don't use any of them personally, but I do think that is a good way to go. Is structure you're streaming. Like I'll probably keep Disney Plus long enough to watch some of the stuff I wanted to catch up in the Star Wars universe. And then, like, once I've watched that and some puppets, I'm probably gonna cancel it and come back to it next time there's some on there, I really, really feel I need to watch. And I feel like a lot of people do that.

Like, they just, you know, though, when a new season of something comes out, though, you know, it's a surprise. But I feel like, I feel like that's the other thing, is you have people go and, oh, that good original thing is out again.

Oh, and go to watch it. And then it's like, hey, your subscription's canceled because three months ago, you're like, what the f*** am I paying for this for? And then they're like, oh, I'll resubstripe. Exactly, yeah. You know what I mean?

Yep, that happens too. I don't know. It's just, I hate it. I do hate it, but I can't really say, I miss having to get physical things. No, it's true. There's not really a better option. It also sounds great where everything would be in one place, but I don't want, you know,

monopoly. I don't, I really, you know, like that's, you know, you don't want, you know. Well, I'll look cart, I'll look cart means that you would have like a everything on a digital shelf and go, yep, I want to be able to watch this from Paramount, that, from this place, this place from that. It's just interesting because it has changed. You really think about it, though, everything. Everything.

Man, the way we listen to music, the way we, our entertainment, our entertainment has gone from being all these different devices and pieces of things that we had to buy and grab and bring with us if we had to buy and grab and bring with us if we wanted to play them or hear, listen to them or whatever or watch them. We're now, it's just like, it's all your phone. Everything's like, you know, everything. It's right there, right?

Yeah, on your phone, on your laptop, on your tablet. Yeah, you're giving me some. And you can jump it from this account to that account. You necessarily need, yeah, you don't need a Sony Walkman no more. Yeah, I mean, you may have to. Everything has a Sony Walkman. Exactly.

And you don't even need the disk. Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure, even if you, like, okay, so, like, let's say you have four streaming services, right, of the most expensive ones, ads and everything. You're talking 50, 60 bucks a month. And if you had four streaming services, I think you could, that cover pretty much most of, you know,

you'd have your Hulu, your Hulu package, which has three, right? And then you, That's building out right now. What are your four? Okay. I mean, what I have, man, like honestly,

because like, well, Even if you had to pay for what you got to pay for we're talking out of pocket expense No, show me that Like I would still buy max. Oh, yeah, that's the one thing max. Yeah for all the DC The movies I want to watch is I'm max so probably that because I don't have that which is something I might need to consider It's looking into cutting. I don't know if I want to cut another thing, but I don't exactly, that's the thing is because I do. I have the Hulu, I have Amazon and Netflix, you know, and I had the Paramount for a while for free, but you know, I would put a HBL.

You didn't really think it was worth going back to even getting it for free for a month. Wow, it's not. Even with like the kids. That's interesting. I mean, that is interesting. I feel like a lot of people that's exactly, that is why they had such low tier pricing during the pandemic. I'm covered with those three, you know, like really the only one we really pay for in my eyes, honestly, is the Hulu because Amazon is the prime, you know, so like, yeah, you're already I'm buying stuff from Amazon, you know, like I'm we have the music. I really think yeah, HBO would be the only other one. and like you're good. You're set. That's the thing in that okay. Yeah So right there that's like 50 60 bucks a month right if you include HBO right about that. Yep right yeah

Yeah, something like that right which versus how much for live TV which is like What 120 like what I was saying? Well, yeah, if you want cable, if you want that straight up cable. Yep. Yeah. If you got a regular cable package with just the original, you know, 60 channels or whatever it is for your typical cable package, I think you'd spend about 60, 70 bucks. That, yes, you would for your promotional sh- and before they add taxes and all this. And then after that first year, yep.

Yep. Oh, no, because seriously, like I and then after that first year, you Yeah, no because seriously like I looked into it when we first you know, and this is years ago before the pandemic So like who knows what it's like now, but like they're like yeah, you know, it's like you know It sounded reasonable because we had live TV when that was first Yeah, and it was like you know 60 bucks a month or whatever like oh cool Yeah, I'll do that and then they're like like, oh yeah, but you got, you know, get your box rental and then you got this rent, this thing, this fee, that fee, this tax, that tax. And then it's just like, oh, now it's $120 a month.

Well, that's ridiculous. Yeah. The, in my research, it said that the average accounts come out to like 214. 214 a month. That sounded a little high. Yeah, that sounded a little high So I don't know what the that guy was talking about, but I'm gonna say this right now Well, if you got a thing, no, I bet a lot of people probably have like sports packages and crap. That's what I'm saying

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the average bill. So you know, there's somebody with a thousand dollar cable bill out there Just making that bill curve There's somebody with a thousand dollar cable bill out there just making that bill curve Honestly if you have a bunch of people who are spending 120 at minimum Pay per views or something like that. I don't know exactly then people buying the UFC pay per view that month and having The NFL ticket and things like that absolutely Absolutely, it would it would accumulate across the number of people. And then 120 average is closer to 200 average, just closer to whatever average. It's almost like it just spews and just rolls down a hell and destroys your wallet.

It does. Like the volcano did to the rich people of Pompeii. Oh, that's right. We're talking about Pompeii today as well. Yes. So what do you know? I'm sure you've heard of Pompeii. Like, Pompeii is the most famous, you know, probably the most famous.

The people statuized in the streets covered in molten stone, molten lava, yes. Yes. Yeah, it was about to say molten rock. And I'm like, I mean, I think that's accurate. I mean, it's like, it's about to say molten rock and I'm like I mean I think that's accurate right but like Magma well magma that's true. Oh, oh, but I just oh man. I wanted to say magma because yep awesome powers Us powers if you have not seen those that trilogy watch that so I'm paramilk plus Yeah So I'm paramount plus Yeah, you know, it's good

But Austin powers you want to watch you for a month get it for a month like I was saying Free trial, baby But yes, all right, so so Pompeii it was it was an ancient Roman city, right? Near modern day campagna Which is like 14 miles or 23 kilometers south of Naples? so like One thing I was wondering which I I've wondered for a while I guess now because I love you know Roman Italian history and all that is do you think?

Italians use their their foot like we do our hands, you know like with Michigan as a map Do you think they're like they hold their foot and they're like? I'm a down here I would exactly Yeah, I don't know I doubt it. I think it. I think part of the hand thing is the fact that you can lift it up beside your face mid conversation and go, here, you know what I mean? Like, I think that's what it is.

I mean, you can lift your foot up pretty high though, but you can do it a little more often. That's true. And even if that, it's like the back and bottom of your foot, right? Or no, I guess it's like, yeah. Yes. Well, you can just reference reference it and I think they do because Like Naples I guess would be at like maybe like the ankle the fuck I

Of the boot or whatever right. I was about to say Louisiana could do it really easy to but I don't think they do I don't think they like stand their leg up on me like see I'm down here I don't think they like stand their leg up on me like see them down here You know, I don't think they do maybe they do yeah, no, if we have any listeners from Louisiana, please Reach out to us. Let us know or Italy. Yeah, true true Probably though was it was it said at the southeast base about the Suvius right and actually was built Like it was settled on an old volcanic flow, like where it had flown before in thousands of years ago. Did they think they were straight then, where they like, oh, that happened.

We're going to know about volcano. I mean, I guess they knew about volcanoes, but not really. That's something that does not happen often, you know? And, like, and that's, at least in that area, right? So there's, it just be like, something that would happen. Okay. Yeah. Right?

It just like the earth exploding with people. What the? Was there anybody ever who was like, Hey guys, um, I don't know if you guys know about this, but like, we might not want to be here. Like, that was never a thing. So I don't think Mount Biss this, but like, we might not want to be here. Like, that was never a thing. So I don't think Mount Bissubius was like, it's not like a volcano, like you think of like, in Hawaii or wherever, where you like go up to the top of it.

Yeah. It was like magma, just like, you know, bubbling down in there and all that stuff. Right. Like that's like, volcanoes don't always look like that. You know, like Mount St. Helens, the most famous one I guess, and the most famous explosion in American history I'd say, like that looked just was the mountain. Like the new was volcano, but it just looked like a mountain. And that's how Vesuvius looked like, you know, so like to them, it was just, yeah, you know, it was just a mountain.

The other side town. Yeah, right. Yeah, that grew really good stuff. You know, it was a beautiful, it was on the short, everything, you know, it was a beautiful, it was on the short, everything. It was a beautiful vacation retreat for the moment, right? It happened around noon, noon on August 24th of 79 C. So, you know, a little bit after what we have in Roman history and two, yeah, two and three. That was like almost up to like, you know, I guess one C. Okay.

It was the 44 BC is when C is right. So like 100 and 20 or 30 years after. Okay. So when it happened, you know, at first it just like, there was like a bunch of ash and pumice. Pumice is that, you know, soft stone, that you scrape your hard feet with. Yeah.

Yeah. And like, so like over nine feet or three meters of this stuff, just like, dropped like, within like a day, right? But I'll go on to more of it later, but like, that's really what, like, killed a lot of people. And like, just to think about like that, nine feet of that stuff, dropping of like, a rock, a rock, nine feet of rock, dropping on you. Yes, yes, it is light. It's lighter, but like it's not it's also right, you know, it's coming from Yeah, it's so like it's it's insane like is that similar to how it would fall like snow like it would flake and fall down on you And then just yes constant. Yeah, like so blizzard level like yeah think of it like fog, right?

I mean, oh, okay, yeah, it would it would it'd be like a cloud. It's a cloud, right? I mean, oh, okay. Yeah. It would, it would, it'd be like a cloud. It's a cloud, right? It's like a cloud of dust and smoke, you know? Like you're just like, like, yeah, I mean, it does spew up. So it could rain, it does rain down a little bit. Like it does, it did spew up, I think a little bit, but like, it's mostly like, well, that's why I said like a blizzard, too, because any particles that get up swept by wind fly around like nine feet of accumulation sounds like Yes, I guess you would say a spew that you could think of is like a rain of It's like a shower of of pumice and ash, right? Because like yeah, like the you know a lot of the buildings collapse from this I was right. I was kind of wondering about that. Yeah, you know, so like with that, you know like you got covered right

So like this this whole this whole city got covered, literally the whole city. So like it was just forgotten after that because, I mean, yeah, I'm sure it was remembered for a couple hundred years or whatever, but the time passes by. People stopped talking about the city got covered by a volcano a couple hundred years ago, right? So it wasn't until the 1700s when it was re-discovered. But when they did discover it, there was like, you know, just incredible buildings,

amphitheatre, villas, and businesses, and a forum, and like, you know, some of them going back all the way to the fourth century BC. So you're talking like, you know, 2400 years ago, like some of these buildings, almost perfectly preserved, but like very well preserved buildings, okay? You know, this was like, it was a shock,

it was almost like shock frozen, right? Yeah. Yeah, because inside, like you were saying, they found people sheltering, you know, like a lot, I don't know. They found people a few people in the street, I'm, yeah, a lot, but a lot of them were like sheltering, hiding and stuff, because like,

it was, you had enough time to run away, right? But like, you couldn't run away. Right. Like, you had a couple minutes. You know, like, so like, you know, you can shelter, but like, it didn't save you from sheltering. Like, you know, like, so you can shelter, but it didn't save you from shelter. So, a lot of them, they found people holding each other and stuff like that. It's actually very sad. We'll get into it later on how they cast it, but just seeing those cast of the people,

they also found a lot of stuff, though. I mean, even the cast of the people were incredibly useful to science and archaeology, but they also found bakeries and stuff like that with bread. You know, like, bakers are bread still in the oven, and like wine cellars still full. Right, so they're like, what? Yeah, yeah. So like, they found like, you know, like, and of course, like, lots of valuables and stuff. Like, they found like, things that would be preserved, you know, are like,

because if it gets covered by the ash, it might not get burnt, right? The ash kind of preserved it a little bit, you know, might get like, crisped, I guess, but like, it might not, they found a, well, I think this was actually a Herculaneum, there was some neighboring towns, right? So, some of the neighboring towns were a Stabia,

Toria, Nunziata, and Herculaneum. Herculaneum is the one that I hear about the most. And that's actually, there's, I've heard that it's better preserved stuff there than in Pompeii, actually, because it was discovered or well excavated a little later. And you know, it wasn't like Tor apart, like Pompeii was like the beginning of archaeology. That was like the first thing for the people to start excavating and looking at. Oh, okay. Yeah, all right. Okay. Yeah.

So we're talking like the 1700s, like I said, you know, like that's like... That's... That's... See, it would make sense to me that like, they would have archeological movements and then Pompeii's discovering they're like, there we go. You know what I mean? Like, now they're in it. Yeah, because I mean, there was the Renaissance, right? The Renaissance was like when the renewed interests

in Roman and Greek culture, you know, and all that. So like, yes, people started like getting interested in stuff, but I don't think like, really anybody like looked for like ruins. I guess they did look for ruins, I can't say that. Okay. Like, sort it out, you know, I guess they did look for ruins, I can't say that, but like sort it out, I guess to find something and like, let's dig and dig for the things

and try to excavate this stuff out and so that was the beginning, on the modern day archeology of like doing that, and sorting the stuff and this, we found this, we found that. So yeah, it's pretty crazy, it's very well excavated, there's still some left, excavated about two thirds of yeah, like it's pretty crazy. It's very well excavated. There's still some left. Right. Excavated about two thirds of it. There's about a third left. And we're,

they're actually keeping it unexcavated for future generations to be able to check it out. In case they have like better techniques. Cause like, yeah, you know, it's crazy. Like, yeah, like sitting there and going from the surface and like a light art even or something like that. Yeah, like with the Amazon and stuff like that. Like, yep, like it's, uh, yeah. Like so it's actually really cool how they're doing that. I'm actually, that's pretty cool. Yeah, so yeah, so I'm kind of going to a little bit of the history of pop baby. You know, before it got buried by Ashen Thomas and a pyroclastic flow. Right. The city had around like 10 to 20,000 people

at the time of the eruption, right? And like this city, like I said, was on the shore, like at the time, it was like almost like a vacation spot for the Romans, you know, like for the rich Romans and stuff like that, for the senators and the petitions, you know, for the rich class, right? Like, I mean, there was obviously day to day people that lived there, stuff, there was like tons of villas

and stuff, like man, that area like Naples and all that, Compagna and all that, like it's beautiful. I'm definitely, that's on my list of when we take our eventual Italy trips someday. But, but there is a modern town of Pompeii. And that's like a little bit east of it. And that has a population of like 25,000 people So really it's not that much more than the ancient one. Yeah, it's kind of interesting. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah

Around like you know the city the city around where we we grew up, you know, not where we lived But I'd say yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you maybe a little bit less than that But you know so like yeah, but it's insane that they're still living there. You know, again, they know now, you know, obviously, they know there's a volcano there. Like, it's well known that MalfaSubius is a volcano. So like, you ask like why they would live there or know about it, like, they do,

but they're still like, nah, nah, nah. There's like, whatever. We're still doing, right, yeah. Yep, I guess, but. Yeah, I mean, if people still live in, it's not they're still like, nah, nah, nah. They're still doing right, yeah. Yep, I guess, but. Yeah, I mean, people still live in, it's not like everybody was like, wait, there's a volcano here and evacuated Hawaii. And like, people make a point to go there every year.

Exactly. I mean, because I mean, it's a great fertile ground for farming, like volcanic, like, you know, that's, yeah, it's awesome for farming. It's very rich, you know, that's, yeah, it's awesome for farming. It's very rich, you know, it's like, you're adding which of minerals and stuff from down the earth and all that. Yeah, it's true. Yeah. So the area was first, like, settled though by, uh, Askin speaking, uh, descendants of Neolithic people in the area. Okay. So around the Campanya region, right? So I didn't do much research in these Askin

speaking people, but it's kind of interesting. Like, you know, it's so it's like, you got like in Italy, you know, during like, I'd say, you know, you got like the main, the main like groups, I guess you can kind of think of there's, there's others, but the ones I hear about a lot are the Atreskins, the Latins, and the Italians, right? So you had your Atreskins, I think because you hear about these a lot because of, you know, Rome and everything, but the atreskins were like north of Rome. And they actually influenced Rome a lot, but you know, like, yeah. But then you had your Latins, which was like Rome, and like where Rome came from and all that, like those were the Latin people. Yeah. And then you have your Italians, which were like south, the southern, you know, like Romans. And you also had like a Greek holidays and stuff like that, which we'll get into in a minute.

But the Ascan people were part of the Italians, right? They were the culture. Not many of them, I wouldn't even say culture. You know, like, I don't know, region, I guess. Right. Yeah, no, let's. Yeah, like the people, yeah. It came, it came in the influence of the Greeks.

Like I said, like the Greeks were around the area. They settled around in Italy, like in the early, like the 8 of the Greeks. Like I said, like the Greeks were around the area. They settled around in Italy in the early, like the eight century BC. So you're talking like 700 BC. So that's pretty early. Okay. For, yeah, the Greeks spread out like a lot. So that lasted for a while.

The Greeks had the control of the area for about a little over 100 years. And then the Etruscans came, like the Greeks had control of the area for about, you know, a little over 100 years. And then the Atrustkins came, like I was saying. The Atrustkins had a lot of control in Italy before Rome came to power. And they took that, like, influence. And that remained like that for a while until another Greek king, and 474 BC beat the Atrustkins in a battle. And he went back control of that whole area, like Campagna area.

It's not like Pompeii, they're not like fighting for Pompeii, right? No, but the city state that held Pompeii. Yeah, like the Campagna region or whatever, right? Yeah. After that, like toward the end of the 400s, the Sam Knights, which will kind of play an important role in Roman history. They took over.

They rose to power on there and took over the whole area. Okay. And Pampay was first mentioned in history, though, at 310. So like really like, yeah. Like so like honestly, like we don't even know if like Pampay even really like, again, played any part and any of these people taken over.

Like this is just like a regional things we know from like writings and stuff, right? Well, right, I was gonna say like it's that region though. That region has had like a specific amount of, a lot of fighting. No worthy, right, no worthy figures. These people came in and that brought influence and then these people took over after a battle

and then like to hear that like, it's not only culturally of note because of The incident right like Pompeii is not just not worthy because It died. It's also a part of a region that has been like kind of contested by some of the most important people in the area Oh for sure throughout most of history before it right? Yeah, no like because I mean like that area I guess not so much anymore, because I was just looking at maps and like it didn't like I was like the best like agriculture, I got agricultural world map.

It's really cool, but I always look at Rome or like Italy because I got a lot of Rome in Rome in its tree. And like yeah, the, I guess that specific area like Naples and the Compignor region was pretty good. There's lots of mountains and everything in Italy. And so, yeah, there's not very many good growing regions. So if there's a good farming region there, that's where people are going. There's lots of good places to grow grapes and stuff, but like you know you can't live off grapes. Yes, but so yeah, so like I said it was first mentioned in history and 310 BC when like it was during the second Sam night war, which like I was telling you the Sam nights were

like a big big tribe in that area. They went against the Romans, right? And a Roman fleet landed at the the Sarnas port of Pompey and they they tried to attack a nearby city So they did it like they just like you know didn't even care about Pompey because like it wasn't again It wasn't that big of a city right and like this nearby city of New Syria and Unsuccessfully though, but they didn't end up winning the war though the second Sam night war okay, and so the Romans kind of had control over like the the Romans they were it was a weird way like Not to like go into too much about it, but like they like, they kind of,

they would let people just govern themselves. Like they don't have a little bit of influence, then if they can't act it up, then they'd have more and more influence. You know, like if you, you know, they'd let you try, you know, like if you can try to be, you know, cover yourself, just give us money. They would conquer and then make places,

Basel states, like you're just a way here yeah exactly yeah except I mean there's certain spots for there like no we need to have direct control right now but you know like that's kind of a room work you know so try to you know let it chill but then again during the Samnites and the Italians rebelled again during the social war and this was something that like happened like right before you know kind of what it didn't lead to like the end of the Republic but it was like some of the beginning things because it was besieged by not other than Sola which I know I mentioned him right Sola was the first person to march on Roman everything right so yeah so an

89 BCE he besieged Pompeii and you, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he when they more became a role were Romified, right? There was a riot in the amphitheater there and 59 CE. That was reported by Tacitus, which was a Roman historian, right? And also an earthquake, though, in 62 CE, which was like, you know, like 17 years before the eruption. So that might have been, you know, like, I think it was reported like Earth, I don't know if it was reported, but like, it was likely there was earthquakes, obviously. Right. Like, or small tremors before the eruption. So like, maybe some people started getting out and stuff like that. Maybe everybody, you know, we don't know who all survived it out. But there was some first hand accounts or somewhat first hand accounts, right?

Okay. Which I'll get into. So we know about this eruption, right? Right. Right. Thanks to Pliny the Younger. And he was like a, Okay, which I'll get into so we know about this eruption right right thanks to Pliny the younger and he was like a Roman senator and stuff like that He was I think he was a philosopher. I know his his uncle Pliny the elder was a philosopher And he was also a commander of a nearby Roman fleet at the time of the eruption and Pliny the elder wrote to his You know his nephew was like his, you know, his nephew was like, hey, you know, it's crazy. Yeah, if you were, if you were going to come here

this month, you might want to look into that. Yep. And like, so like, but they were both they were, they were close to each other though. So they were able to get a couple of letters back and forth, I think within the like a few days, but he actually ended up dying. Plenty of the elder trying to save him. Oh, wow. He's like died on the, on the beaches and Stabbie, like I mentioned earlier, okay, by town. Yep. So like, it's pretty crazy. Like, Plenty, the, Plenty of the younger told Tacitus about that, which, you know, was the historian and then he wrote that down. So like, yeah, we have like a first-hand account of the eruption of all that and stuff.

That's, I think, pretty interesting, you know, that's what I love about Rome. Is that you have things like that, you know? Archaeological evidence and site excavation and Volcanoological studies, you know, were able to figure out how the eruption took place. That's how like they figured out like, you know, when this much or what happened.

So what, just after noon, right, Ash and pumice and like volcanic debris and all that, began shooting out of Moposuvius and towards Pompeii and the Australian city. So like you were saying, it was, it wasn't flowing, it was more, you're talking rain, you know, not a cloud coming at you. Well, I mean, I feel like just for the consistency, steak,

and stuff like that, I mean, take the connotation and snow out. Imagine a blizzard because of the flake. Yes. Of the, of the vault can't. A blizzard with hail. Yeah, that blizzard with hail. Good point, yeah, because there's chunking of it, yeah. Yeah, that that's, I think, would be like the closest thing

of what I know. Oh, wait, a hot blizzard. A blizzard that burns your throat and your lungs when you breathe it in. Yeah. Yeah. So it quickly covered the city again with nine feet of debris, nine feet or three meters,

crushing buildings and homes and people and everything in its wake, right? A lot of people, like I said, ran to the bay, tried to escape, they did it, but a lot did, I'm sure. Like, you know, there's, you know, there's both, and I was obviously, it was a shipping harbour, so there's lots of boats and stuff like that.

But they found people, some people are like, holy crap, it's a family and stuff, like, man, if you look at, like, there's plenty of documentaries and pictures and stuff like that, like, go look at them. It's pretty crazy, like, you know, some of the remains there there. And like I think if it was just that ash and pumice, it wouldn't have preserved that

well. But there was another like this pyroclastic material, which is like the lava, you know, and like all that and like heating, there was this heated gas, like afterwards, after this ash and pumice, right. So that's just like it like spewing out like it's Insights right and that's like the cough of like getting like yeah, huh? Then it's like there comes the lava and the gas and like you know that This like this stuff. It's called a new as our dentase. I'm sure I'm saying that wrong

But like that started spewing out around the morning August August 25th. And that would have just killed anything else that survived. Anybody that would have survived, like the initial like ash and pumously rain, because you got to think like that's, you know, it's bad, but like, it'd be like a, I don't know, a sandstorm or something like that with rocks. Like, you know, you could survive it. It's, there's some of that stuff, you know. It's plausible that you could, yeah. But especially if you rain shelter too, that stuff, you know, it's plausible that you could yeah, but especially if you were a shelter too

That's exactly yeah, but like once you get that that power classic material and that heated gas It's just like you're done for it killed everything or like it was everything in that area was gone You know, and that was another night play so like you're talking you know 18 feet or like six meters Of the so it's even more impressive that this stuff was able to survive underneath all that weight well I think because it was filled in with all that ash and everything you know it kind of yeah like it's it kind of it's not it's reinforced it right because you're like rock on rock right at that point it was a quickly like a period right right? Yeah. So like the ruins though, after again, like I said, 17 centuries, it wasn't really like,

it was undisturbed for 17 centuries. It was actually found in the late 16th century though. So like, it was in the Renaissance when it was found. So I'm sure like that was late, you know, lateish Renaissance, but archaeological work didn't be gone on the area until 1709 with Herculaneum. That was when, sorry, that was when it was discovered. The excavation begins in 1738, Pompeii. The excavation started in 1748.

And then in 1763, is when they found a sign, like the sign sign still there It like said Pompeii like oh yeah Yeah, I'll pay sign We know we're right now okay Yeah, like oh cool rap on pay now. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so like for the first like a couple hundred years It was the word the digging was done badly so like just imagine all the stuff That was probably missed with all that man like right yeah, but it wasn't until 1860 when

Gwissip if they already became a director of the Excavations and made it more methodical so like he like he separated out like nine regions gave it numbers Number the houses and all that slick how they do archaeology now, right? Yeah, yep, so like feel really He developed this technique that made cast. He's the guy that did the castings and all that. Which like is cool. It looks cool, but it actually kind of destroyed like the archaeological significance of it,

in a sense. You know? He like ports the men to like the hollows of the volcanic ash. Like we could have maybe gained some more insight. And I think that they have with scans and stuff. We could scan it now essentially. Yeah. And again, that two thirds, or what I mean,

you have that other part of it that is still preserved, no matter what. Yeah, that they're still preserved. Exactly. And the good thing about it is that it's really preserved. Like it's not like exposed to the elements. You know, like that's the thing about ruins. And why we don't see them anymore is because they're,

you know, a lot of them get, they do get covered up, granted. They do over the thousands of years, but, right. Like they don't get, they get covered up over time. So they wear and like, they, you know, break them down. And people people takes take these from this was like preserved like it's just like instantly, you know So like it was it's very it's very helpful. It's like it's an amazing site. You know, I can't wait to go to it I'm going to like one of these days on fans one of them. Yes. Yes

But you know escalation continued like all the way you know like now, you know, like since it was discovered till now, you know, it stopped and more work to a little bit, but like after that began like In earnest more, and like new areas were discovered and by the 1990s, like I said, two thirds of the city had been excavated. Now, the reason that they wanted to stop was because like even though they're excavating it, you know, and even though we have modern techniques and that's excavating, right? Like I said, the weather, the weathering and all that is still like, it's messing up the things. And plus, all the tourism, man, there's so much tourism.

And that's really screwed up a lot of it, unfortunately. You know, as much like, I wanna go. But still song, bro. It's exactly, it's going there. They didn't make that song Everybody's just going there like but a but a but a but a but a yeah if you close your eyes and stop Babe I can go exactly well. I mean that's the thing. I would be one of those tourists But I would be as careful as I could Touching anything. Yeah, just to kind of wrap things up though, there was like one interesting

finding in Herculaneum that I really think was cool. Pyrr scrolls, right? And they were found, you know, other things, Act 8. But like I think in the 1800s. And they just thought it was like charcoal or something. And they needed some charcoal. So like, oh, all right, well, let's, you know, let's throw it in the fire for charcoal. Yeah. And then like as they, you then as they were moving around and stuff, after burning a few, they realized they were like,

charred remains of these scrolls. Of like, it was like a library worth of scrolls up from that time. Now I'm like, how do you not know? If it's a library worth of them. Yeah, but it looks like it's a pile.. I've read the book of them. Yeah, but- If you look at them, it looks like it's a pie, well, like, it's like, I mean, things, scrolls weren't like on bookshelves and-

Exactly, I don't think it was on bookshelves. I don't think it's exactly, I don't know how it's fine. I think it was like, it almost like a tunnel. Because you gotta think it's in the ground, you know? Because even- Yeah, that's what I'm starting to think now too, is I was like, yeah, I guess it kind of makes sense because it's probably just sitting there.

Exactly. You know, it's not, obviously it wouldn't be on a bookshelf. If it's not stored in a certain way, what else are you supposed to assume it is, yeah? Exactly, yeah, yeah. We have been able to like, with scanning and stuff, like read some of them. I think there's, it works still ongoing, you know?

So like, hopefully they get some really cool information. And like, it's believe it, the villa that they founded at one point, if this was like, you know, a hundred or so years before, was actually owned by Caesar's father-in-law. So. Oh, wow. OK.

Yeah. That's kind of interesting. Yeah, that's pump-pay, man. I like, there's so much more to it I really wanted to talk more I wanted to do more research for like I can go out like hours and hours about Robo I don't want to oh we'll come back to Rome. I'm sure you can be over. Yeah. Don't worry. Oh, we will many many times Definitely, but for now everyone Thank you for joining us here on the Brain Soda podcast. Share this episode with your friends. Find us on Facebook, YouTube,

Tiktok, Instagram, and on Patreon. You can support us monetarily and get early access to our episodes. For Frog, for Brad, I'm Kyle and we will see you here again soon. See ya. Blandy, blam. Brainsoda.