Dear Hank & John - 86: This Week in Ryans

Episode Date: March 27, 2017

Do taller people have bigger organs? Are more expensive clothes actually better? Is there a secular way to say you're "praying" for someone? And more! Email us: [e-mail]

Hey John, we have an announcement. That's right, it's a special cold open to announce that over at our Patreon, patreon.com slash deerhankinjon, where you can go to directly support this podcast, and also the other things that Complexly does online video educational projects. If you donate at $5 a month or more, you will get access to a new secret, very brief podcast, called This Week in Ryan's. That's right. Every week a brief five to 10 minute podcast

about a different Ryan every week forever. Every week forever. There's a lot of Ryan's, John. There's people with the first name Ryan. There's people with the last name Ryan. There's places called Ryan. There's things called Ryan. And we're gonna talk about all of them

over the course of the next 30 years of our lives And it's gonna be available as a five dollar Patreon perk at patreon.com slash dear henga john and you might be asking yourself Dear fan of the pod. Do you really need money to do dear hankin john? Well, let me tell you something. No, we don't in fact Well, let me tell you something, no, we don't. In fact, that money is going to be going into our production company, which is where all of the Patreon money so far has been going,

where we use it to do things like SciShow and Crash Course and healthcare triage and sex planations and the financial diet and a bunch of other things that we do at our production company. So this is just kind of a way to help us pay the bills on our other, just it's all part of the same family of content. And it all goes into the same pot where we try and try and make money to pay for the bills.

That's right, we want to make educational video. And we also want to make this week in Ryan's. And so it lines up nicely with our interests. So if you're interested, please head over to patreon.com slash deerhankinjohn. Thanks to everybody who supported our podcast over the year. And thanks also to everybody who's about to start listening to this week in Ryan's.

We're very excited about it. We're gonna make this week's this week in Ryan available for free at the end of this podcast. So you can get a sweet, sweet taste of the silliness that is to come. Hello and welcome to Dear Hank and John. Thore's up for Think of a Dear John and Hank. It's a comedy podcast where me and that guy, he's my brother John.

We answer your questions, give you DB's advice and bring you all the weeks news from both Mars and AFC Wimbledon. Hey John, how you doing? I'm doing alright, Hank. Things are good, as you know there's a little bit of work stress in our lives right now, but other than? I'm doing all right, Hank. Things are good. As you know, there's a little bit of work stress in our lives right now, but other than that, I'm great. Yeah, yeah. I was trying to come up with a thing to have happened to me this week, but it's all boring,

and it's all meetings. We're doing the yearly evaluations of all the people at the company. We're like, it's not evaluations. It's just sort of like a check-in. And so like all the people who are the people who report to me, I like, but let's have our check-in. And then we talk about how their jobs are and how they like it and how things are going. And it's great, but it's a lot of people. And I'm happy that I do it, but then

also, it's like, oh, that's a new thing to add to the list of things. But yeah. I'm not very good at meetings or check-ins. I kind of designed my life around the idea that I was never gonna have to go to a meeting because I find meetings to be a form of oppression. And also, when I am in a meeting, my friends and co-workers can attest to this.

I like shake somewhat violently, and roll my eyes and mutter to myself, and frequently we'll whisper quietly, has this meeting reached its conclusion? Yeah. I just find them to be extraordinarily inefficient. That said, I understand that everyone in the world but me sees value in meetings,

so I am almost definitely wrong, except I still kind of think that I'm right. I mean, you are definitely kind of right. There's definitely inefficiencies to meetings, but also there's no other way for humans to talk to each other about the things that they have to do than to schedule it sometimes. So my life has lots of meetings in it, John.

That's who I have become. And I take most of the bullets for you in terms of meetings. So just appreciate me. I know. And I do. I deeply appreciate that. I just want to pause and say, Hank, thank you for attending so many meetings on my behalf. Okay.

Do you have a short poem for us this week? I don't. No, I've been in too many meetings. I haven't even read any poetry this week. It's a darkness. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay, well, goodbye Yellow brick road

where the dogs of society howl. You can't plant me in your penthouse I'm going back to my plow that's by Elton John That's a good one. We're a good one. Yeah, we should have you do this every week Should we answer some questions from our listeners? Yeah, okay. This one's from Allison It's a really good open John We did really good job since we've Allison who asked we killed it It's like man that meeting conversation was hilarious

This Allison asks dear Hank and John, I'm always confused of how to respond when someone compliments the outfit I'm wearing. If they say, that looks nice on you, I always say thank you. But what if they just say, like, I like your shirt? I didn't make this shirt, I just bought it. Are they complimenting me on purchasing a cute shirt? Should I respond with, I think so too?

Though it seems self-congratulatory. I've been pondering this for years. Can you help? Allison, I can. Can you, John? Uh, no, so I guess I'm going to count on you for this one. Uh, the only thing, it's so nice to have been alive for 36 years so that I can have answers when people do what I consider to be a bit loony things like this. You say, I got it at the gap. That's what you say. It's a little bit like if somebody is like, oh, how's your pasta?

Oh no, no, I strongly disagree. I strongly, like if somebody says to me, oh, I like your suit, the correct answer is not, I got it at Burberry. That is the wrong answer. No, that's what they're asking. It's a way of asking, like, where did you get the clothes? No, they're not, they're trying to make polite conversation

and you are inserting a brand into a conversation that needs no brand. I just think, I think, like, that is the only thing, like I figured out what to say when somebody says, I like your shirt, I say, or I say, like, my wife got it for me. I'd like tell the story of the shirt. Because there's nothing else to say.

What else is there to say? You could say thank you. I think you can just say thank you, because they are ultimately complementing you on doing a nice job of picking out a shirt for today. I do, yes. I guess that's correct. And even like the bold fashion choices you have made,

like look at that. Look at that contrasty plaid you have chosen for your cute shirt. You know what I actually find, Hank? I find that in general when I tell people that I like their shirt or that I like their dresser or that I like their suit, what I actually mean is, unlike the vast majority of times,

I notice your shirt. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Yeah, like I was aware that it existed. Whereas usually I don't actually like it. Like in all probability, I think that it's a little over the top, but I did notice it. And so I kind of have to say something because it's what I'm thinking about right now. Right, exactly. So is it a bad sign if somebody says that they like your shirt?

Should you retire that shirt? I think you might have to say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I distracted you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I forced you to notice my shirt. I think you might have to say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I distract you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I forced you to notice my shirt. That was not nice of me. I think you're right. I think we came to a really good conclusion on this one. Allison, stop, stop wearing that shirt.

Oh God, I'm so glad we were able to wrap that one up quickly. So basically, anytime somebody gives you a compliment, just respond by saying, I'm sorry. Okay, our next question comes from Tyler. Tyler writes, Dear John and Hank, I'm an atheist and recently I've become a bit frustrated at something concerning English. I'm finding that there's no good secular alternative to saying I'm praying for you in English.

This came up when a friend of mine was having a lot of anxiety issues. I don't want to tell them I'd be praying for them since I'd be lying. Yet for some reason, I'm always unsatisfied with saying I hope things get better. Has that just doesn't seem to have the same weight. Is there a better alternative that I'm not thinking of? Or am I just overthinking this whole thing? Memento Mori Tyler. So, hey, you and I will have very different answers for this question,

but I do not think that you have to believe in God to pray for someone, or to pray. So, that's my answer. Well, yes. So do you have to think that the prayer does anything for it to be a prayer? Oh, I think, yeah, probably, probably, but I, yeah, I guess so.

Because that's the thing that, it's not like a linguistic problem, it's a practical problem where there's like, I'm jealous of the phrase, I'm praying for you and I'm incapable of using it, honestly, because I, like, because I'm praying for you, indicates like, I am not just thinking about you,

I'm trying to do something for you. I'm trying to have an effect on this situation with through my understanding of the universe and how it works. And so I can say you're in my thoughts or I've been thinking about you a lot or you've been on my mind. That kind of thing is sort of the secular equivalent.

These people are in our thoughts. And you just leave out the prayers, part of in our thoughts and prayers. So, yeah, it's not a linguistic problem, it's a practical problem. You don't think that you can have a thought that will affect the ultimate outcome. But, just in saying that you are trying to have an effect, you kind of are. And so it's kind of a shame that we don't have

a thing that we can say that feels honest. Well, I think thinking of you does feel honest and maybe does help. I think maybe it does help, but yeah, I hear you on this being a challenge. And one that frankly, I'm very glad not to have. Yeah, how about we answer this question from Ryan Hank? I want to answer this question from Ryan mostly because he literally sent in an image of his driver's license to prove that he is a Ryan.

I mean, is it worth it? I think it's a good question. Oh, yeah, it is. It's a great question. I'm really interested in this question. It's a hard one. Great. Oh, it's from, it says, dear green brothers. In fact, he says, dear brothers green. I'm a 26 year old military vet who lives in Charlotte County, Florida, which happens to be one of the most conservative and the oldest by media and age places in the country. Despite my surroundings, I consider myself deeply liberal. I've tried to make friends with neighbors and people in my community, but it is becoming unbelievably hard.

Most are five decades my senior or prone to saying things that are homophobic, racist or Islamophobic. I'm fully aware that most conservatives don't hold these views, but I unfortunately live in an area where it is a little too common. Because of all these factors, I do most of my socializing on the internet, but I feel that I'm missing out on an aspect of life not having any real life friends. Any dubious advice would improve my situation. Any dubious advice that would improve my situation would be greatly appreciated. I have to say, Ryan,

I have spent time in Charlotte County, Florida quite a lot, and I agree with you, it is an old conservative place. And it's where my in-laws live, and oh my, oh my. It is not full of a lot of young military veterans who sign off their email on our courage commitment. You forgot the great sign off. That's a good one. It's good.

You're right. I think it's difficult. Any time you feel like there's nobody like you in your real life community and that's a feeling that, you know, I knew very well when I was young, that I feel kind of lucky to not feel now. But I would say that just because there are a lot of old people in Charlotte County, Florida, it does not mean that there are no young people.

In fact, there are lots of young people. And I, like, when I go, I'm amazed that I see like high schools. I'm like, who is having children in this town? There's people, there are people who are young people who have elementary school aged children, and I have no idea where they came from, because when I walk around the town, I do not see those people, but they are there.

So the question is how do you meet them? Yeah, well, they mostly work in, in, at the hospital, in one way or another. You know, they work in, They work in the care of the people who are the sort of weirdly enough the industry of the town. So you just have to go. So Ryan, you gotta go become a nurse.

Yeah. You gotta be coming, I think we found it. Or just like, her members all the way up. I'm sorry when people compliment your clothes and become a nurse. Yeah, just like stub your toe real bad and like go into urgent care and like look around and be like anybody want to be my friend? That is a much better idea. Why become a nurse when you could just become a patient? So much easier.

Alright Ryan, stub your toe, go to urgent care. Nobody will think that's weird. Um, be like, ow my toe, does anyone want to be my friend? They're so used to drug seeking patients, but you'll be that rare patient who's just friend seeking. Yeah. I do find it weird when I see my doctor in real life, and I'm like, hey, oh, I just saw my psychiatrist in real life, Hank.

Oh yeah, yeah. It was incredibly uncomfortable. Thank God he didn't actually see me because I dove under the table. I was having a drink with my beautiful wife on day night. And who do I see striding up at a pretty good clip? And by the way, if my psychiatrist is listening to the pod, I don't know how involved he is in my private life,

but please just pause for 30 seconds. But yeah, I mean, who do I see striding up? I know how involved he is in my private life, but please just pause for 30 seconds. But yeah, I mean, who do I see striding up? And I was like, Sarah, Sarah, that's Dr. Patel. And she was like, who? And I was like, Dr. Patel. And she was like, go say hi. And I was like, say hi.

No, no, this is, we are having a crisis. This is an emergency. Yeah. Did you become okay? Yeah, well, he ended up having a drink in the same restaurant. So I just like turned my chair so that he couldn't see me. Yeah, I was fine. Everything chilled out after that. Long story short, Ryan, get a psychiatrist

and go out to bars and try to run across your, I don't think that we're doing a good job of answering this question. It is really hard to make friends in adulthood. I still don't really know how to do it, Ryan, and I think part of what's difficult about the time of your life is not just where you live or the kind of people you live near, but also that it's just kind of a hard time in life. Yeah, it is. I mean, I like finding, it's weird because it's like, well, let's just find the places where people like you are going. But it's like, well, if people like me were going to places,

I would be the people who go to those places. Those places don't exist. Like in the town where my in-laws live, there isn't a movie theater. Like there isn't places to go and do things. There are like the weird beach bars that I don't think are necessarily Ryan's scene. So, yeah, I definitely, I commiserate with that

and figure, like, again, it's like, why isn't there Tinder for friends? And it's because, it's just too much, it's too weird. You know, it has to be natural and it's very hard to find natural ways to find folks. Outside of... I think for the record, there are some,

there are tenders for friends and people do use them. But Hank and I are so far outside of that world that we are not going to be able to advise you on them. I have no idea how you call someone through Tinder. I assume that there's a kind of like Tinder call functionality, but I'm not hip and with it in that world. All right, I think we have another question. This one comes from Joseph who writes, Dear John and Hank, I was looking at clothes on the internet and my mother told me expensive doesn't mean better. And I was wondering if you agree because I haven't heard fashion advice on the pod yet and you're both fashion icons.

Thank you for noticing, Joseph. Is it $3.97 sent gray t-shirt from Walmart as good as a $145 gray t-shirt from Ralph Lauren Purple label? I didn't even know that Ralph Lauren had a purple label. This is incredibly exciting news for me. I don't understand the extra expense. Should I spend more money? Butt buttons and threads, Joseph. Now Hank and I are going to have very different answers here because Hank continues to shop for his clothing primarily secondhand. That's not true.

I do both. That's why I said primarily. Joseph, there are some people in the world who are not able to enjoy the finer things in life, like my brother. You know, and you put them in one t-shirt, and it's as good as any other t-shirt, because to him, it's just the pleasure of not being naked and warm. That's all he cares about.

But people like us, Joseph, we understand that when you pay $145 for a gray t-shirt, it is a really gray t-shirt, it is a really good t-shirt. No, I'm just kidding. Never been with him $22 plus shipping for your t-shirts at dftba.com available right now. Dftba.com, there's no other place to get t-shirts on the internet that's even worth pursuing.

To Joseph, I say, first of all, you haven't heard fashion advice on the pod. We just gave some, so apparently this is fashion day. Second, there is a difference between a $4 t-shirt and $150 t-shirt. And the thing is, there's definitely more value. It's just that there's not $140 more value. That's the weird thing about luxury products is you keep making it better until for every increment of better,

you are getting the prices going way, way out of proportion to the increment of betterness. And it's almost like, and I've noticed this about people who have the opportunity to do this, that people start to become experts on excellence. And so they can tell the difference between a hundred dollar t-shirt and a hundred and fifty dollar t-shirt in a way that to me or indeed any one else except for like, you know, the 5,000 people who buy t-shirts like this would is just completely obtuse and makes no sense. But there is a difference and there's lots of differences when it comes to like, I mean, I run a merch company.

So like, there's softness and, but there's also things like, was the cotton sustainably raised? What are the factories, factories, where people are treated well? Was it made in America, or was it made in a place where there isn't a lot of oversight? And so there are differences, but what? But that's not the difference between a $25 t-shirt

and $150 t-shirt. You can get a $25 t-shirt that was made in the US with sustainably produced cotton. Yes. When you're paying $150 for a t-shirt, you're paying $150 for a luxury experience. And I totally agree with you, Hank. There's this Sarah, and I always talk about this great line that Ira Glass, the host of this American life, had after he moved to New York. He said, it's three times as expensive, but only twice as fun.

Which is, yeah, that's definitely the, that's definitely the T-shirt experience. That T-shirt is 10 times as expensive and only like 1.3 times better. Right, it's the same thing with red wine or stereo equipment or any number of things that you can get really, really into if you want to devote a lot of your resources to it. But I agree with Hank that when you stop noticing the difference in quality and when it stops being material to your quality of life, you should stop trying to differentiate.

Yeah, don't try to figure out why something is better. Don't dedicate your time to figuring out why you should be spending more money on something, definitely live in that ignorance for as long as you can. Yeah, I agree, Hank, why don't I let you ask a question? Yeah, that's nice, thank you. This one is from Natalie who asks, dear Hank and John, I have a problem.

This morning I bought a bag of popcorn for exactly $2.99. A paid-in cash, so I was expecting to receive a penny. However, of course I find pennies useless, so I was planning in advance to place that penny in the donation box next to the register. The problem is, the cashier did not give me my penny. She didn't even ask if I wanted the change. She simply said, have a nice day and close the register. I didn't know what to say, so I just walked away.

Penelice. I mean, that's not that I feel like that's the literal definition of penelice, but not really what we mean when we say that. I don't know how to feel about this. I didn't particularly want the penny, but I also feel like I was owed the penny. Did this shop just steal from me and buy extension from charity?

Should I be upset that I was not giving the money or should I just go on with life since pennies are so useless anyway. Ave Ott-K-Vale, Natalie. It says, it's hail and farewell in Latin. That's good, that's good. That's from an elegant poem by the Roman poet, Catalyst. Oh good, good. It's from an elegant poem by the Roman poet, Catalysts. Oh good, good.

Yeah, uh, I- It's addressed to Catalysts' dead brother or strictly speaking to the ashes of Catalysts' dead brother. Oh, yes, yes, I guess that makes sense. This happens to me frequently, John. Has this happened to you? It has. And I do not believe that stores are under any obligation

to carry any pennies. So it may be that they are refusing to engage with the penny as currency. Yeah, I mean, Fred, like I think that this cashier might have thought that they were doing you a favor because who wants a fricking penny? I, like technically the cashier should give you the penny and the cashier is probably trained to give you the penny.

In fact, sometimes there's like inventory that goes on and they count the change in the cash register, and if it's not right, then they can get in trouble. But probably that not at that place, if this person is so blasey about pennies. But yeah, I almost considered a personal favor to not have to even think about the fact that the penny ever existed.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I would see this as a gift to you rather than taking a penny away from charity. Because PS, that charity doesn't need a penny. It needs a dime or more. Yeah, yeah, yeah Agaree. All right Hank, let's answer another question. This one comes from Ian who writes hello green brothers Especially since the most recent election. I found it harder to find an independent news source I often read through various subreddits that seem to be unbiased

But also try to balance that with reading subreddits populated by the left or the right and DeFranco daily, because I feel like he filters out a lot of stuff purely through research and cross checking. How should I get my news without spending hours doing research and cross checking? I want to make sure I consider all sides without falling for fake news or unsubstantiated stories. No interesting sign off, e. Yeah, so I've been doing an experiment

the last few weeks, where I read my local hometown newspaper, the Indianapolis Star and the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and the Economist as well as the New Yorker. And it gives me a wide variety of news stories. I think a lot of what people cite as biased comes from the opinion pages of those newspapers which are a really small portion of what they do. Like I think sometimes their reporting is wrong or it's incomplete, but I don't think that it's

consistently biased. Like I think if you read The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal or The Economist's coverage of Brazil or South Korea, you won't find it to be consistently biased, and I think the same is mostly true of their US coverage. I think, so I am a big believer in newspapers and news organizations when it comes to the actual gathering of news and the reporting of news. I think newspapers and news organizations that are well-established do a better job of that than anyone else at the moment. I think when it comes to news analysis, which is a different thing, and most of what Phil does is, I think, ultimately news analysis telling you kind of why the news matters or what's important about it. I think traditional news companies don't do as good of a job, although

I think there are very good opinion columns at times in all of those newspapers and magazines and in many others, but I think that's what the internet is good at, is news analysis. But I don't think it's, I think the old line media companies are still pretty good at news gathering and news reporting. Yeah, I think there's a very important distinction there. A lot of what we see on the internet is sort of like, what's the scandal of the day and what should my take be? What are some good takes on the scandal of the day? And the scandals are always things that have really sharply defined sides. And, but maybe aren't the most, like, they often haven't been all the way worked out.

They're like stories in progress, and so the people are having opinions about things that haven't been all the way understood yet. And so these like, like, tremendous, like, these big stories that are in progress of coming out, everybody's gonna have lots of opinions about them, and it can, it's much easier to have your opinion be influenced by sort of like what you would like the world to be like. And a lot of what you see on the internet, and also like with things like the Daily Show, is we're talking about how the news is covering the news,

not about the news itself. And the news becomes the news. The media, like you're covering the media, rather than covering what the media is covering. And like what, like the actual covering, like the actual journalism stuff is hard. And people like me and you, Phil DeFranco, don't do that.

The daily show also, for the most part, doesn't do that. And if we just spend all our time ragging on them, the times they get it wrong, and talking about how these people are completely useless and don't do any good stuff because I can find these two examples of how they screwed up stories in the last year. It's like, well, but you're not trying to do that.

No one else is trying to do that. You're just going after them when they get it wrong very occasionally, when the vast majority of the reporting that gets done is good journalism, even like across the board, like when you're talking about a more conservative paper like the Wall Street Journal or a more liberal paper like the New York Times, like the Wall Street Journal or a more liberal paper like the New York Times. Like the Wall Street Journal isn't gonna talk about global warming all the time, but you will find that the journalism

that gets done there for the most part overlaps. The people, the stories that are getting done, like they agree with each other. And, but those don't get sucked into the outrage cycle because there's a agreement. Right, that's what I would highlight is that there's a lot That goes in I think to being an informed person that the outrage cycle leaves out because it's either a very complicated story or because it's a story on which a lot of people agree

So if you look at the news right now, for instance, we're not seeing a ton of reporting about Somalia, even though there's a famine there. We're not seeing a ton of reporting on the internet anyway about these huge corruption scandals that are ongoing in Brazil and now reaching outside of Brazil. And we're not seeing a ton of coverage on the internet about many other international stories,

but also national stories. I highlighted this in a video I made recently, but we're not talking that much about the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, even though it has huge implications for all of us, because it's not a story that's easy to get outraged about. It's not a story that's easy to take sides on. And so I think on those stories, which I would argue are actually like the bulk of stories

when it comes to being an informed person, I think the news media does a relatively good job. And I also think that like local, for me, my local newspaper does a really good job keeping me informed about issues that are really relevant, in some ways more relevant to my life because they are local issues when it comes to the laws and regulations and leaders that affect my city and my state. That stuff's really important to my day to day life

in a way that some of the larger conversations aren't. So I agree with you, and I think we have to call the media out when they do a bad job of reporting, but we also need to celebrate when they do a good job. Yeah, and when you sit down with the newspaper and you read the stories, you're like, oh, this was actually interesting and useful, and I had no idea that it existed, which is... It also becomes in a way less scary. Like I find the news to be really overwhelming and scary a lot of times right now, and I feel like what the heck is happening, like this, and a lot of it is true. Like we are not living in normal times in the United States politically or socially, and

it's important to acknowledge that, and it's important to acknowledge that, and it's important to be honest about that. But at the same time, when I read stories, carefully reported stories and newspapers, I realized that, you know, we've always been living in strange times, or at least we've often been living in strange times. Yeah.

I agree, I agree. I would like to ask a question that I would like to answer, John. Okay, but you can also try to answer it if you want. It's from Stella who asks, dear Hank and John, I'm sorry if my English is horrible, but I'll try my best. So I was wondering if there was any difference in organ

or other things inside our body, size, and shape between the tallest person in the world and the shortest person in the world. I mean, like, do tall people's hearts and lungs, are they like longer? Or the difference is just in the arrangement of the shortest person in the world. I mean, like, do tall people's hearts and lungs, are they like longer, or the difference is just in the arrangement of the organs. Are tall people's insides more spacious, and short people's insides denser?

Organ's in body parts, Stella. I mean, I don't know. Bodies are amazing. Like the fact that you can have a seven foot tall person and like a four-foot-tall person. Or, you know, like the differences and sizes of human bodies and even like crazier with dogs and stuff. Like, these are the same species, but like there's chihuahua and there's great names.

Like, the body figures out how to make itself proportional no matter what size you are, and we're not entirely sure how that works. There's a lot of different stuff that goes into it, but yes, bigger people have bigger organs, smaller people have smaller organs, otherwise it would not fit inside, and that would be a tremendous problem.

And also, yeah, there are no empty spaces inside of tall people, which is good. I'm glad about that. It would be real weird. But it's pretty cool. I kind of want there to be an empty space inside of me. Sometimes I feel like, you know, everybody has that feeling. Sometimes like there's an empty space inside of them that nothing can fill.

And it would be nice if that were literally true. If I could be like, oh yeah, it's that part between my lungs and my diaphragm. That's where the emptiness is. Nope, you're pretty packed solid in there, John. We are all pretty packed solid. It's kind of remarkable. You don't really want to look unless you're like, you know, doctrine, but it's pretty cool. Pretty cool if a little.

I mean, one of my central ambitions is never to see the inside of my abdominal cavity. It's good, it's a good one to have. Hank, we need to get on to the news from Mars and AFC Wimbledon so that we can get to the all important Ryan part of the podcast. Agreed, agreed.

We've got to get to this week in Ryan, which again, you can get patreon.com slash deerhank and john. You can sign up a new level and you can get a weekly Ryan podcast. But let's get to the news from bars and aFC Wimbledon. And let's just start with the news from aFC Wimbledon Hank because it's awesome. Oh, good.

It's awesome. It's wonderful. Hank, on March 14th, you don't come to Dear Hank and John for necessarily up-to-date AFC Wimbledon news. On March 14th, AFC Wimbledon welcomed to King's Meadow the franchise currently applying its trade in Milton Keynes. It was a difficult and complex and emotionally exhausting thing to do, to have to welcome the team that used to be, or at least fancies themselves,

the team that used to be you. And throughout the game, AFC Wimbledon fans sang one of my all-time favorite songs, Where Were You, Where Were You, Where Were You, When You Were Us. And for the first time in League 1, AFC Wimbledon defeated the Milton Keynes team, 2-0, beautiful game. Really, I listened to the whole thing on Radio WDOM because because it was not on TV. And, oh man, oh gosh, it felt good.

I would like to say that I didn't care about the result because Wimbledon had already won by getting back to League One, but actually I did, I did care about the result. And it was, oh, it felt good. Oh God, it felt good. Oh, good, John, I'm excited for you. So, even more importantly. The fact that that's finally John, I'm excited for you. So even more importantly, that's the first time that's happened, right?

It's the first time that it's happened in a league competition. They lost earlier. So it was Lyle Taylor, the messy from Montserrat who scored the second goal. And helpfully, I just wanna give a quick shout out to Lyle Taylor because he was kind enough to celebrate right in front of our advertising hoarding that says the Nerdfighter community is helping AFC Wimbledon get it Wimbledon.

And so that picture is in all of the, was in all of the newspapers in London. So thank you Lyle Taylor for celebrating in front of our advertising. I know that you did that on purpose and I appreciate it. That is, that is the dopest, John. Also, I should add one more thing. Since then, AFC Wimbledon has drawn a game, NIL-NIL. And critically, that means that with 38 games played, with eight games left in the League 1 season,

AFC Wimbledon are on 51 points, meaning that they are only one point from absolute definite safety. So if Wimbledon just win or tie, one of their last eight games, they will almost definitely not get relegated. So that's great. Woo-hoo! What's the news from Mars? Well, I guess the news from Mars is that President Trump signed a bill funding NASA.

It's kind of strange. It's not part of the budget. It's just sort of like, it's like it was a bipartisan support thing that's like here. NASA, you're going to get funded. And it didn't have any of the cuts to the Earth Science Departments that was in Trump's larger budget, which is good news because like it's good for NASA to study the Earth because of how you know, as Leon Musk will tell you, it's a pretty good planet and we need to try and keep it that way. But part of that was helping to get NASA's big hunk of cash to help us get to Mars. Elon Musk, on the other hand, the actual Elon Musk, is not a fan of the bill.

He says, this bill change is almost nothing about what NASA is doing. Existing programs stay in place, and there is to be clear, no added funding for Mars. And it was sort of like pitched as like a, this is gonna be a Mars thing, but Elon later tweeted, perhaps there will be some future bill that makes a difference for Mars,

but this is not it. Well, I'm glad that NASA has funding though, because I do think that of the things that our government does. NASA is probably the most beautiful. It is pretty awesome. It's pretty awesome. Followed closely by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which partly funds the Articignment and Crash Course. Also very awesome. Also very awesome, thanks. Well, Hank, thank you for potting with me. and Crash Course. Also very awesome. Also very awesome, thanks.

Well Hank, thank you for potting with me. But before we go, it's time for our brand new podcast, this week in Ryan. This week in Ryan's, we're fighting over who gets to say it. I think it's got to be me, right? You're not that, you're like the peripheral character of your Hank and John, so it should probably be me, right? This week in Ryan's. All right, John, who is the Ryan this week?

Well, Hank, we're starting out with the most famous Ryan in the world according to rankor.com, which lists, does rancor, wait, rancor ranks people by first name? Hank, rancor's slogan is vote on everything, including apparently your favorite Ryan's. So the most famous Ryan in the world according to rancor.com Is Ryan Gosling that does not surprise me. That does that is what I would have said I now I'm very curious. I'm curious who the most famous Hank is John. I have a weird name I have a weird name. I'm probably I'm probably in the top five

The most famous Hank by far is Hank Williams. Yes, I think Hank is area may also be. It could be Hank, it could be Hank Aaron. Also Hank Hill who's not real, but still. Let me real quick go to rancor.com and tell you the most famous hanks in the world. Number one, Hank is area. I don't know that this is a very good website. Hank is area is pretty famous. He was married to Helen Haunt

Hank I've got some bad news According to rancor.com you are actually the 21st most famous Hanks you're behind Hank Brown who is a former US Senator from Colorado You're not even the most famous Hank with a color last night That would be Hank Brown or possibly if you consider hank with a color last day. That would be hank brown. Or possibly if you consider snow to be a color hank snow, who is a celebrated Canadian country music artist. Ah, well, John, before we go down this rabbit hole any further,

what do we do about Ryan Gosling? Yeah, Ryan Gosling, of course, famous for his recent role in Wala Land, but most famous for having a face that I love to look at. Can I just Google, I mean just Google, if I just Google Ryan abs, I'm not gonna put his last name in, I'm gonna see it. Oh yeah. That's a great idea. Who's the first Ryan's abs that I say, oh it's Ryan Locky. It's Ryan Lockty. It's not even Ryan Gosling.

Yeah, he's gonna be the star of a future episode of this week in Ryan's. I am looking at Ryan Gosling's abs now, though, and I'm not disappointed. But moving on, because of course, Ryan Gosling is not only a beautiful face and an astonishingly fit pair of abs. Pair abs? Just the two of them. They're just two of abs. Paraps. Just two of them. He only, one of the little, in fact, that Ryan Gosling is, that he only has two abdominal muscles. Man, Hank, do you know what Ryan Gosling is

from? Uh, is he from Canada because he's a goose, a small goose? He is from Canada. He is a Canadian actor and musician. And do you know how he got to start? He got to start on the Mickey Mouse Club. Oh, oh that i thought that was an american thing he was also on goose bumps he was on goose bumps in his last name is goose his last name is tiny goose and he was on goose bumps he was on goose bumps oh my goodness he's from Canada where the geese come from

it is amazing his dad Thomas Ray Gosling was a traveling salesman for a paper mill and his mom was a secretary and is now a high school teacher. And one thing that you might not know about Ryan's great, great grandfather, George Edward Gosling is that he was English. That's not interesting. Hold on, let me find something interesting. Well, IMDB will tell you the movies that they're most known for, which I also always find interesting.

I would have thought that Lala Land would be number one, but they have Drive, then Lala Land, then the Big Short, then Crazy Stupid Love. I also want to know the movies he's least known for, but probably it's Goosebumps and the Mickey Mouse Club. I don't know. I mean, I feel like I saw them in the Mickey Mouse Club a few times, but then I do have small children, and at this point, we are very far down the Mickey Mouse rabbit hole. His first ever role was in 1995 in the TV series, are you afraid of the dark, which I was probably watching in 1995, as Jamie Leary.

And Jamie Leary, you can click on that because apparently it's a clickable thing. It does not, I've got a quote from Jamie Leary. He says, that's my brother, he's not dead. What? I don't know, that's the quote that they pulled out of the episode. For Jamie Leary said that, I don't know why. We're gonna have to watch it, John.

It's that episode are you referred to the dark from 1995. Called the Tale of Station 109.1. It's a haunted radio station. I think, do you know what Ryan Gosling's childhood nickname was? Uh, well, his current nickname is Ryan Mini-Gus Gosling. That's right, but we're just, we are only coining that now. So obviously that wasn't his childhood nickname because when people look back on history, and at some point, like I think Ryan Gosling will probably stop being Ryan in the movies,

and it'll just say, you know, starring Eva Mendes and Mini-Gus Gossling. Yeah, obviously. His childhood nickname was Trouble. Ryan Trouble Gossling. When I look into his eyes, I can see that he might be a person whose childhood nickname was Trouble. Well, in first grade, having been heavily influenced

by the action film First Blood, he took steak knives to school and threw them another children during recess, which led to his suspension. That is a bad idea. Yeah, right, no you're bad. Bad, bad, bad, don't put that in your autobiography. Hey, are you at all familiar with the singer-songwriter,

Ryan Cabrera? Well, John, I feel like he's off limits. He's not off limits because wait for it. Ryan Cabrera, noted singer-songwriter, has a tattoo on his calf of Ryan Gosling. Wow. Ryanception. I'm looking at it right now.

It's Ryanception. Ryan Gosling also has tattoos. Of one of them, he said, one of my tattoos is supposed to be a monster's hand dropping a bloody heart. Ryan Gosling also has tattoos. Of one of them, he said, one of my tattoos is supposed to be a monster's hand, dropping a bloody heart, but I did it myself with the tattoo kit so it looks like a cactus. Oh man.

And I'm looking at the tattoo right now and I mean, it's not good. How can Ryan Gosling be so hot and so bad at getting tattoos? I mean, this is the worst tattoo I've ever seen. I mean, we'll put it up on the Patreon, but oh my God, this is the worst tattoo I have ever seen in my entire life. It looks like Beavis from Beavis and Budhead had a baby with a cactus that then spit out a heart.

I'm looking forward to seeing the picture of this, John. I Googled Ryan Gosling tattoo and I just got a lot of tattoos of Ryan Gosling, not Ryan Gosling's tattoos. There are a number of them, including this one, which is a tattoo of Ryan Gosling's face superimposed on a spider and it says Ryan Gosling. It's really good. I like it a lot actually. I'm gonna save that one for the Patreon as well. Well this this John has been this week in Ryan's. We started out with the most start out with the most famous Ryan of all the Ryan's Ryan

Gosling at least for now and he's you know the Justin Tim of all the Ryan's, Ryan Gosling, at least for now. And he's... Do you know that Justin Timberlake's mom was Ryan Gosling's legal guardian for six months? What? What? Did you know that Ryan Gosling called AJ McLean in the early 1990s to ask if he could join

the back street boys? Wow. I mean, did you know that there's a person who has a tattoo of Ryan Gosling, except instead of Ryan Gosling's beard, it's a pepperoni pizza? Ha ha ha ha. Jave and that one for the,

save it out for the Patreon. Do you know that Ryan Gosling is in a band called Dead Men's Bones that only sings songs about paranormal phenomena? Wow, no, That's wonderful. I like Ryan Gosling much more now than I did at the beginning of this this this week and Ryan. I think at the end of each episode of this week and Ryan Hank we should just pause and real quickly give a grade rating to Ryan that we have spent the last five to ten minutes meeting. And I give Ryan Gosling based on my quick read of his Wikipedia page and some trivia.

An A-. No, John. We cannot just give them grades. We have to give them a thing out of a thing. Like, no, we're like, I give, I grade Ryan Gosling 62 mini-gooses. It shouldn't be a consistent rating system though, so the Ryan's the world can know whether or not they stack up against other Ryan's. Definitely not. No, no, we are not here to make the Ryan's feel bad. I'm not here to make Ryan's feel good. Mostly, I would think, unless

there's a, I'm sure there's terrible Ryanions out there at some point we're going to get to get some bad rions. Rex Ryan. I don't know about it. I think that's lovely. Point being we've got it we've got to think of a rating system but we haven't thought of one so we'll do that by next time because I have to go pick up my kid now. Okay well this has been once again, this week in Ryan's. This weekend, Ryan's.

I think I'm really competing to try to be the voice of this weekend, Ryan. I like it, I like it. I think that should be a thing. John, what did we learn today? Real quick. Well, we learned that Ryan Gosling is the most famous Ryan in the world

and Hank Green is the 21st most famous Hank. We also learned that if someone compliments you on your shirt, you really just need to apologize for your shirt. You've made a horrible mistake. Horrible mistake. And of course we learned that this week's podcast for some reason didn't have the usual fake sponsors that we have. Nope, no fake sponsors, because it's brought to you by one,

Ryan's, and two, you, our Patreon patrons, and also just the people Ryan's and two you our Patreon patrons and also the people who listen who aren't Patreon patrons which is also to be clear fine. Yes, we are grateful to all of you. And lastly, we learned that you can pay ten times more for a shirt but it will only be about one point one times better than the cheap one. That's same, it depends on the exact context. But I broadly agree with you. Thank you for potting with me. Hank, thanks to everybody for listening. Dear Hank and John is produced by Rosie on a Halsey Rollhausen shared in Gipson. Our editor is Nicholas Jenkins. Victoria

von Jerno is our head of community and communications. Our music is by the great Gunnarola. You can email us at Hank and John at gmail.com. You can find Hank on Twitter at Hank Green. It's hard to find me on Twitter these days except except it sports with John and Leon Mus number four Earth. Thanks again for listening, and as we say in my hometown. Don't forget to be awesome.