Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 166: Do Changing Seasons Affect Your Brain? | Ear Biscuits Ep. 166

Episode Date: October 22, 2018

Does Fall fill you with excitement or despair? R&L examine why seasonal changes influence your thoughts, feelings, and state of mind on this week's episode of Ear Biscuits. Sponsored By:Stitch Fix: Vi...sit stitchfix.com/EAR for an extra 25% off when you keep all 5 items in your box.Express VPN: Visit expressvpn.com/EAR for 3 months free when you purchase a 1 year packageButcher box: Visit butcherbox.com/EAR, enter EAR for free Bacon + $20 off first box To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This, this, this, this is Mythical. Before we get into this, we wanna let you know that this week's Ear Biscuit is supported by Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service that finds and delivers clothes, shoes, and accessories to fit your body, budget, and lifestyle. I love it because I hate going shopping. I've said it before, I'll say it again.
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Starting point is 00:01:13 and you'll get an extra 25% off when you keep all five items in your box. That's stitchfix.com slash ear to get started today. Stitchfix.com slash ear. Now on with the biscuit. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week at the round table of dim lighting,
Starting point is 00:01:32 we're going to be exploring the question, do changing seasons affect your brain? Let's get into some season change. I mean, we're gonna filter this through, of course, so many years. I mean, we're gonna filter this through, of course, so many years. I mean, we're so old, some of us older than others. By the time you're listening to this, I'm 41. Oh man, I'm not that old.
Starting point is 00:01:58 But we both lived through many a season change, Rhett. And even out, I mean, out here in LA, things are different. I don't know how seasons work out here. I think maybe we can talk about that too. That's actually what got me interested in talking about this. What got me interested was that it finally got a little cooler here.
Starting point is 00:02:17 So I'm like, is it a season? Yes and no, I think is the answer to the question. So yeah, we're gonna talk about that, about what it was like in North Carolina, what it's like here, and also get into some of the science around what the seasons do to your brain, because they do some things to your brain.
Starting point is 00:02:38 For real, they do. You've got stacks of notes based on I love notes. Reams of readings that you've done. I love stacks. I just searched my own psyche for my experience with fall. Fall is upon us. Some of you listening are deep in the depths of fall.
Starting point is 00:02:56 Some of you are in parts of the world where it's, I don't know, it could be spring. That could happen. Well that would be all the people in the southern hemisphere. Right. Yeah. And we're not gonna leave you out because we're gonna talk about seasons changing in general. We're actually gonna be all the people in the southern hemisphere. Right. Yeah. And we're not gonna leave you out
Starting point is 00:03:06 because we're gonna talk about seasons changing in general. We're actually gonna talk about the tilt of the Earth, which is the reason for the season. You wanna be technical about it, the reason for the season is the tilt of the Earth. Calm down, buddy. It's fascinating. Calm down, you're getting tilted.
Starting point is 00:03:22 But before we do that, I wanna talk to you about something that happened yesterday while we were on a short trip. We had a meeting. You can tell them what the meeting is. Give them a little window into our professional lives, man. All right. Don't be shy. I don't like that thing where it's like,
Starting point is 00:03:43 we're working on a secret project. First of all, it's not a secret, it is. Well, hold on. You know what, this is why you can't go solo. Just so you know. Because you would totally crash and burn. Nobody. You would say something, you would say something,
Starting point is 00:04:02 it would be no, I wouldn't be here to keep you from saying it. And maybe it would be provocative, I wouldn't be here to keep you from saying it. And maybe it would be provocative, maybe it would be like a Howard Stern thing and then you'd take off and have this incredible career where it's you'll never know what he's gonna say next. What we're doing professionally is not provocative. I mean it's just.
Starting point is 00:04:17 But it is secret. What I'm saying is that you can say that we went to a meeting at a place that makes decisions about what they want on their particular channel. We went to a TV meeting, yes. This is not the first or the last time that we've done it. And on the way to the meeting. TV network meetings, man, they're fun.
Starting point is 00:04:35 And on the way to the meeting. Hey, get to know us, look at us. Maybe we can work together on something. We pull up, well, now you're making it sound like a general meeting, no, it was a pitch meeting. Well, don't tell him that. Well, hold on, but now you're making it sound like a general meeting. No, it was a pitch meeting. Well, don't tell him that. Well, hold on, but now you're just making stuff up. It was a pitch meeting.
Starting point is 00:04:51 It wasn't a general, it was a pitch meeting. We had a specific idea that we're trying to get people excited about. That's all I was gonna say. Okay, well you just said, maybe we'll work together. That's not what happened. It was, hey, do you like this idea? I was trying to back off of it after you made me nervous
Starting point is 00:05:03 that for some reason I can't say it. So you started lying? That we went, we have a show idea and we're having meetings. There's an art to withholding pieces of the truth without being dishonest. We have a show idea. You almost went too far and then you started lying.
Starting point is 00:05:17 If you have a network that's right, we have a show idea that might be right for you. Okay, there you go. That's innocuous enough. And this is, here's the pitch. See, that's what I'm not, I'm not gonna tell him. So on the way to this meeting, we pull up to a stoplight, it's Link and I and Stevie,
Starting point is 00:05:34 all three of us together in my car, and we pull up at a stoplight and I see a guy get out of his car next to us at a stoplight and go to the back of his hatchback and open up the back. And the light was red. Immediately, Link gets out of the car and goes to the man who was right next to us. And the first thing that I thought was,
Starting point is 00:05:58 this man is having a problem that Link can see. Like Link is the one on that side of the car. He can see that this man needs help and without even saying, hold on, I'm gonna help this guy. I sprung into action. You sprung into action, you got out and you're helping. I was gonna save the day. But then I see you going directly towards the man's door,
Starting point is 00:06:16 that he's in the back of his car and Link is going towards the open driver's door. He left his driver door open. And then looks like he's about to get in the car and I'm like, oh no, Link's doing a Link joke. He's gonna get shot. Like that's what I started thinking. Yeah, I walked towards the open driver door
Starting point is 00:06:34 and then I was like, what am I going for here? This is the streets of LA. I realize. You don't just see a man get out of his car and then go get in his car. I thought it would, I don't know, I can't tell you what I was thinking except that. I know exactly what you were thinking
Starting point is 00:06:50 because you told me after. I thought it would be funny. Well here's what happened. So I hear the windows, the doors, our doors open so I can hear what's happening and Link's like, I was gonna get in your car. That's what he tells the guy and then the guy looks at Link and he's like, such an LA response. That's what he tells the guy. And then the guy looks at Link and he's like,
Starting point is 00:07:06 such an LA response. He's like, funny guy. I didn't say I was gonna get in your car, did I? No, you said, I was gonna get in your car, but I decided not to or something like that. Yeah, that's the truth. And he was like, funny guy. Like he wasn't worried, he wasn't scared,
Starting point is 00:07:24 he wasn't panicking. Well he looked at me. He knew exactly what you were trying to do. And be worried or scared. And then you got back in the car and I said. And he got back in his car. I said, couldn't have said it better myself. That's exactly what I was thinking.
Starting point is 00:07:39 Funny guy. But then you said you did it to get your mojo up for the meeting. Oh yes, that was right. Yeah, I'm just- Explain that to me. Well, you know, as I've, without any misgivings, have shared freely with you that we had a pitch meeting
Starting point is 00:08:01 at a television network. And I mean, it was the first of its kind for us in many years. And I just wanted to get my mojo up. I just wanted to have like a shot of adrenaline. I just wanted to feel like. You wanted to feel alive. I wanted to feel alive.
Starting point is 00:08:18 I wanted to feel like. You wanted to put a ripple in the universe. I wanted to rip the universe open and to pass through it. And so by potentially getting in someone else's car, I wanted to rip the universe open and to pass through it. And so by potentially getting in someone else's car, you thought that that was a way to get into a different part of the universe? I was never gonna sit down in his car.
Starting point is 00:08:35 Well, I can't say that. I did, but I can't say what I was gonna do because I didn't plan what I was gonna do. He got out of his car, he went around to the trunk. I was like, wow. And before I knew it, I was getting out of his car, he went around to the trunk, I was like, wow, and before I knew it, I was getting out of the car. I was like, you know what, just be instinctive,
Starting point is 00:08:50 just go with it, engage your instincts for a moment and see what happens and I found myself standing in the middle of a couple of lanes of traffic. Did you size him up? Was what he looked like, did it have any impact on your willingness to get out of the car and act like you're getting- He seemed like a nice guy that I'd like to have
Starting point is 00:09:15 a traffic centric engagement with. Cause he was an older guy, he's probably in his 50s and he was shorter than you. Well, I didn't profile him if that's what you're asking. Well, I'm asking the question because I can't believe how many things you've done in your life and still have not gotten punched by a stranger. I mean, it's gonna happen at some point.
Starting point is 00:09:35 I keep waiting for the day for it to happen. I'm not proud of- I need to be rolling. I'm not proud of what I did because I do feel like it was stupid. And I did have this overwhelming sense of. What if he had died? When I got back in the car. How would I have explained that?
Starting point is 00:09:49 You did. I would have made up a story. Just for your own legacy, I would have made up a story. I would have said, this guy looked like he needed help, Link got out of the car and then the guy killed him. So you would have sent the guy away to prison? Yeah. Just for my legacy? No, no, I would've said that he,
Starting point is 00:10:08 it would've been obvious that he killed you. He would be guilty of killing you either way. That's true. And he may later confess in prison and be like, he just got out of the car. I think it was he was trying to be funny. He's a funny guy. And no one would believe that.
Starting point is 00:10:21 No, no, he was trying to help you. And I had to get Stevie to go in on it with me. Man, and that's why I'm sorry that I would, I mean, that I would have put you in that position. Because think about the alternative. I'm at your funeral and I'm like, well, I know a lot of you have questions about what happened to Link
Starting point is 00:10:38 and I'm just gonna tell you the story. We were at a stoplight, a guy got out of his car and then Link tried to get into his front seat. I think he thought it would be funny. Incidentally, this is the pitch. This is the show that we then went in. I was like, all right, a guy stops at a stoplight. It's a reality show.
Starting point is 00:11:00 It's a prank show where you wait for people to get out of their cars and then you get into their cars. I just, I wanna grab life by the ball sack, man. And I just wanna see where it swings. Yeah, but he didn't have one of those hanging from the back of his truck. It was just a hatchback. Grab life by the ball sack, see where it swings.
Starting point is 00:11:20 And sometimes you get hung out to dry. And that's what happened. You know what? And I regret it. Yeah but the thing is, I got back in the car and I was like, I'm 40 years old, what am I doing? To take your analogy all the way,
Starting point is 00:11:32 going around grabbing things by the ball sack is a great way to get punched. That's all I gotta say. Like you go up to just a bull and grab it by the ball sack, you're gonna get bucked, man. That's what happens. Bucked, I'm not riding it. No, you're gonna get kicked.
Starting point is 00:11:44 Kicked. You know what I'm saying? You gotta be careful about man, that's what happens. Bucked, I'm not riding it. No, you're gonna get kicked. Kicked. You know what I'm saying? You gotta be careful about grabbing the universe's ball sack. I really, I just wanted to get pumped up, man. I mean, some people, they do some calisthenics backstage before they burst out through that curtain of life. I honestly, it was so impulsive. I just wanted, I thought that being impulsive
Starting point is 00:12:10 would be something good for the meeting. But you didn't carry that into the meeting. You didn't do anything spontaneous. Yeah, because you were like, what if you died? I mean, you buzz killed it, man. You could have at least waited until after the meeting. You could have been like,? I mean, you buzz killed it, man. You could have at least waited until after the meeting, you could have been like, yeah, Link, you're doing it, man. Yeah, but if you had done something equivalent to that
Starting point is 00:12:32 during the meeting, it may have compromised the pitch. What I really wanna know is, is there something I could have said or done when standing out there to redeem it? Because that was the point where I was just like floating in the ether of a commitment to nothing. I was like a standing question mark at the stoplight.
Starting point is 00:12:53 You could have said, do you need some help? And then he would have been like, no, thanks. Yeah, I felt like something funny could have happened, but that also wasn't, what's the funniest thing that could have happened, but that also wasn't, what's the funniest thing that could have happened? I think what happened. I think you achieved it, man.
Starting point is 00:13:10 Okay, well there you go. I think that was as funny as that could be. Some guy to be like, funny guy. Did talking about it here redeem it? Yeah, it made it totally worth it, I'm glad you did it. It gave us an opening for this episode of Ear Biscuits. Well stop complaining. But we are going to get to talking about the seasons
Starting point is 00:13:28 and the seasons and the changes of the seasons. Who knows what Rhett will say. But first we wanna let you know that this episode of Ear Biscuits is supported by ExpressVPN. Whether in a cafe or a hotel, we often rely on public Wi-Fi to use the internet on the go, right?
Starting point is 00:13:45 However, something as simple as paying your online bills from a Starbucks can leave your data exposed. Yeah, I'm always thinking about that. I'm in there. And then you end up doing it, but it's like, ah, is this bad idea? I mean, I once used the public Wi-Fi at an airport and tweeted about it, and then Ashton Kutcher
Starting point is 00:14:05 tweeted at me how big of an idiot I was. Yeah. It's the kind of love I'm getting. Yes, a hacker. Well, it was loving. It was, it was a love lick. I was love licked by Ashton Kutcher and I lived to tell about it.
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Starting point is 00:15:27 for three months free with a one year package. Visit expressvpn.com slash ear to learn more. Ear Biscuits is also supported by ButcherBox. ButcherBox delivers healthy 100% grass fed and grass finished beef, free range organic chicken and heritage breed pork. The incredible quality of ButcherBox meats start with a commitment to raising animals humanely
Starting point is 00:15:47 and free of antibiotics and hormones. Each box comes with at least nine to 11 pounds of meat, which is enough for 24 individual sized meals. And you can choose from five different box types, all beef, beef and chicken, beef and pork, mixed box, or custom box that lets you choose your own cuts. Here's how it works. You choose your box and then the meat is frozen
Starting point is 00:16:08 at the peak of freshness in individual vacuum packed biodegradable packaging. That's where I live, the peak of freshness. The peak of freshness. All meat is delivered right to your doorstep in that state. Well you know what, not, I mean whatever state you're in. You know, a state of happiness. A state of being in biodegradable packaging.
Starting point is 00:16:25 Well, let's just say your doorstep. Yeah, your doorstep. Where you live. Right, yeah. Wherever you want your food delivered. Whatever state you're in. And this is great. ButcherBox believes in a healthier food system where everyone has access to meats the way nature intended,
Starting point is 00:16:36 which means free of antibiotics and hormones and humanely raised on open pastures. Cook with the peace of mind knowing you're feeding your family high quality, healthy meat. Now it doesn't come with a cleaver. They wanted to send us a cleaver, but we said, Link, he's not good with cleavers, so just send us the meat we will.
Starting point is 00:16:54 So provide your own cleaver. You don't even need to provide your own cleaver because it's already been cleaved. Is cleaved a verb? Yeah, of course. Think of ButcherBox as your neighborhood butcher delivered right to your door in a timely manner on dry ice. I love dry ice.
Starting point is 00:17:07 Throw it in the pool afterwards. Don't do that. Free shipping anywhere in the 48, lower 48 states, we like to say. Plus their website is super informative and easy to use. But if you do have a cleaver, you can throw that in your pool. Actually, don't do that either.
Starting point is 00:17:21 Yes, please, no cleavers. Hey, here's something for free bacon. And $20 off your first box. I'm listening. Go to butcherbox.com slash ear and enter ear. Did you say free bacon? Free bacon, $20 off your first box. Butcherbox.com slash ear, enter ear.
Starting point is 00:17:40 All right, that bacon's going right in my ear. Now on with the biscuit. I woke up this morning and I took Jade out. Hello, Jade. Oh, here she is. Look, a little visual aid here, if you're watching the video. She doesn't seem comfortable with that.
Starting point is 00:17:56 I'm holding Jade up. Jade'll sit in my lap forever, man. She's the perfect thing for my lap. Perfect thing for my lap. Perfect thing for my lap. I love her to death. I think about her dying all the time because I love her so much and I know that I will outlive her.
Starting point is 00:18:13 She will die. She will die before you, unless you die prematurely. Which could happen, but I plan to outlive her. So I try to prepare my heart for when she's gone and appreciate every moment I have with her, like right now. Why don't you just get her cloned, man? I took her out to, I will, that's a good idea.
Starting point is 00:18:32 It's getting cheaper and cheaper by the day. I mean, seriously, you can get the same exact dog. Dogclone.com slash ear. The soul actually transfers to the clone. That's the cool thing about it. That is cool. Yeah. The soul of the dog will actually be transmuted. That was gonna be my first question
Starting point is 00:18:47 so I'm glad you preemptively answered it. I was taking her out to use the bathroom and I was like, man, woo, it's a little bit, woo, a little bit nipply out here. Yep. It's like, what, 66 degrees? Whoa, I might need a sweater. It was like 60 degrees when I took her out this morning
Starting point is 00:19:05 to pee-pee. I'm like man, fall has finally descended upon me. Right. And I just got, I just got, I mean, I got emotional shivers down my spine. I just started to get excited, man. I mean, we talked in an Ear Biscuit weeks and weeks ago about back to school as a feeling
Starting point is 00:19:26 and I felt a lot of those same things and knowing that I know many of you fall, you're in the depth of fall already. The depth of your fall. Or you're on the opposite side of the hemisphere and you're waiting for it. But I got this excitement bug, man. Ooh, I got bit by it.
Starting point is 00:19:43 I'm like, yes! I started immediately thinking about my sweaters and my jackets. I love, you know I love a good jacket. Yeah, that doesn't, you don't, you also wear sweaters and jackets like the entire summer. But now I don't look crazy. Yeah, right.
Starting point is 00:19:58 The other night we were going somewhere with our wives. Oh, we were going to a concert, and a First aid kit concert. Check them out, y'all, first aid kit. Love that band. Sisters from Stockholm, Sweden. And- Sounded great in person too.
Starting point is 00:20:14 Got their start on YouTube. You know, anyway, they're great. But we're going to a concert, and I had looked at the weather, and the weather said that it would be like 68 degrees as a minimum while we're at the concert. And so I was like, that's light jacket weather. Just to give you an idea of what happens to your body
Starting point is 00:20:35 when you move to Los Angeles is 68 degrees. You're like, hmm, I might, I don't know about 68, y'all. I might need a light jacket. But keep in mind, light jacket. Link. I'm at my house having the same conversation with Christy about how close it goes. Christy tells us at the concert that Link,
Starting point is 00:20:56 Link is ready to walk out the door and he's got his down jacket on. Like the collapsible, North Face style quilt his down jacket on. That the one, like the collapsible, you know, like North Face style quilted down jacket. Yeah, the one I got in Melbourne, Australia because it was freezing down there. That typically you wear while skiing. If you don't see like active ice in your vision, your field of vision, you're not really supposed
Starting point is 00:21:18 to have one of those on. But it was gonna be 68, so. Well hold on, I was not wearing it. And why not? Because you, again, because you. Because I was walking out the door and Christy busted out laughing at me. You have people in your life
Starting point is 00:21:31 that keep you from doing dumb stuff. It's good, you should be thankful. Child locks, that's what you need to put on your car. Child locks on the passenger seat? I don't think that exists, man. It's only the back seat. Oh really? Yeah. I'll start riding back there. Okay, good. I'll't think that exists, man. It's only the back seat. Oh really? Yeah. I'll start riding back there.
Starting point is 00:21:46 Okay, good. I'll own it. Yeah, exactly. Chauffeur me around to my pitch meetings. Seatbelt locks it, man. She started busting out laughing, I'm like, what? I was like, we just looked up the weather, it's gonna be like, it didn't start with a seven, it started with a six.
Starting point is 00:22:01 Right, and like I said, I mean, I did have a light jacket on, which I already think that to the majority of the people listening, to hear that it's gonna be 68 degrees and say that you need a jacket is already crazy town because 68 is like a setting that some people have their home on. You know what I'm saying? Like, my mom probably has it on 68 during the summer,
Starting point is 00:22:20 in the house. She's not wearing a jacket. Well, after Christy busted out laughing, I was like okay, I guess you're right. And then I just, I took it off. And I didn't bring a jacket at all. Yeah, but then you bought a sweatshirt at the concert. And I put it on immediately.
Starting point is 00:22:35 Yeah, and my wife bought the same sweatshirt. Now you guys can't be together anymore because you might end up wearing, both wear first aid kit sweatshirts, which would be weird because people think it's like, means you're like a med person. Like we're the two medics. Me and Jessie are the two medics.
Starting point is 00:22:50 Oh that guy's got a first aid kit in his sweater. So does she. Oh they're a team. They're together. Where's the ambulance? They hold both ends of the cot. What's the cot called? The stretcher. The stretcher. But they sleep on cots.
Starting point is 00:23:03 They sleep on cots. It's a mobile thing. Why don't they sleep on the stretcher. The stretcher. But they sleep on cuts. They sleep on cuts. It's a mobile thing. Why don't they sleep on the stretcher? But I think the point is, is that when you're in Los Angeles, you have, now we're gonna talk about whether or not there are seasons or not and what constitutes a season. But we have much less pronounced seasons than we did in North Carolina.
Starting point is 00:23:24 What do you remember from back when we experienced like, oh, the colors of leaves changing and, to me, what stands out for you? To me, the most. It's your favorite season, right? Yeah, the fall, fall's my favorite season, which is interesting based on what the research says about how the fall and the winter make you feel for most people, which is interesting based on what the research says about how the fall
Starting point is 00:23:45 and the winter make you feel for most people, which we'll get into, but it's always, I've always gotten this very nostalgic sort of almost excitement when I feel the weather getting colder again. Now, I also feel like I get that again as it gets warmer. I feel like the transition is what I'm excited about because I like change.
Starting point is 00:24:06 You like newness. But there was always something about it getting cold at a time when it was like, oh, it's my birthday and then it's Thanksgiving and Christmas and I'm in school. And again, I liked school. I didn't like the schooling part, but I liked the whole idea of school and friends and everything, even if I wasn't even willing
Starting point is 00:24:27 to admit it to myself. But for me, the sort of the definitive sign was that first frost, which is something that we do not get out here. So all of a sudden, one morning, you'd be up, you'd be going outside to get in the car to go to school, and then my parents' entire lawn, and of course the neighbor's lawn,
Starting point is 00:24:47 and then the grass across the street would all be covered in ice, a layer of frost. That would be gone as soon as the sun hits it. It like melts within minutes. But it kind of like crunches a little bit as you walk to the car on that centipede grass that was in my front yard. And there were those very specific physical signs.
Starting point is 00:25:09 I mean, the changing of the leaves is one thing. You know, I'm excited about, we will have already been there when you're listening to this, but we haven't yet left for North Carolina to do the concert, but I am excited about hopefully seeing some leaves. I think I might. Changing colors.
Starting point is 00:25:25 I think I might pick up a handful of leaves and just like crunch them up and deeply breathe. Don't bring them back to California though. That's like a violation of some sort of interstate thing. That sounds like a customs thing that happens state to state. Yeah, yeah, California customs, man. They don't like you to bring in vegetation.
Starting point is 00:25:46 I might eat it. They'll stop you at the border if you have a cactus. I might eat a leaf just to feel the crunch of my mouth. Better be careful. Some are poisonous. I'll spit it out. I'll spit it out. You'll just chew it like tobacco. I mean, leaf piles, man.
Starting point is 00:26:00 Of course, you know I was avid in the lawn care in my high school days. And man, there would be the three week period I think where the leaves would just dump. And you would, I got this, my papa got this thing behind his lawnmower, which is the lawnmower I used, and it was a trailer with a big leaf catcher on it and it had a big leaf catcher on it and it had a big rotating thing that brushed all the leaves up inside of it.
Starting point is 00:26:30 And I could make huge piles of leaves on the side of the road for the town to come pick up. And you just run, I mean, as a youngster, I'd run and jump in those things, man. There'd always be dog shit in there. I distinctly remember that. I would jump in a leaf pile. But when did it get in there,
Starting point is 00:26:49 before or after the pile was formed? I don't know, a little bit of both, I think. I've been in a lot of leaf piles, I've never seen any. Really? Oh, without fail, I'd find it. I think it was the neighborhood you were in. Dog lot. Yeah, Nana and Papa's neighbor,
Starting point is 00:27:08 Kelly had a dog named Pepper, and Pepper would pepper the leaf piles. If you know what I mean. So he would go into the leaf pile after. I actually had a fear of jumping into leaf piles after a lot of that, and I'm just realizing that now. That's interesting, man. I've never heard anybody talk about that specific concern.
Starting point is 00:27:29 You know, it might have been one of those things that just happened once. It probably happened one time. Now I can't jump in a leaf pile without thinking about sinking into some steamy hot pepper log. Yeah, it's permeated all of your leaf memories. But I still love it. Yeah, we don't get a lot of that.
Starting point is 00:27:47 I'll tell you something else. Remember the exhilaration of going to the high school football games? Oh yeah. And it was getting cold and you'd sit on those bleachers and it was like, okay, you know, that was the moment, man. You're like, you're walking through and you see,
Starting point is 00:28:03 you know, who see everybody's there and you like this girl but you don't wanna talk to her so you're talking to your friends about her and it's all the drama. And no one watches a football game because our football team was absolutely horrible. I mean, I never once made sense of anything that was happening on the football field.
Starting point is 00:28:21 Well, we actually got a little bit better while we were there and then they got good after we left. That's right. But they got really good. Our high school football team was in Sports Illustrated for the longest losing streak of any high school team in like the, I think the 80s. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:37 The 80s and maybe the early 90s. I mean, we were absolutely awful. But yeah, and again, I think for me, it has to do with my association with school and sort of like the social, I was really into just, oh, what is it gonna be this year? Like, what are me and my friends gonna do? But it's different than the back to school hope
Starting point is 00:28:56 because by that point, You were already in it. You were in it and it was, you were in drama mode. It was like, oh, what's going on? Like, who's mad at who and just that and the other. So I've been talking with Locke about, you know, him being back in school and being in high school. And we were talking about it last night
Starting point is 00:29:19 and I was like just asking him about different aspects of the day and I remember asking him about different aspects of the day. And I remember asking him about eighth grade and like the way that the kids ate lunch. I was, he would talk to me about, well, at lunch the day I did this and then we played a little basketball and I was like, none of this is really computing based on the understanding that I have of how lunch went.
Starting point is 00:29:44 And all of the lunch eating in California schools, or at least in Southern California schools, is done outside, okay? So like the food is served out of windows that are outside. They're up under like some awnings, so there's some shelter just in case there's like the one in 100 chance it might be raining. But then the seats are outside.
Starting point is 00:30:10 Yeah. And then there, lot of lockers are outside. And then the classrooms you enter in from the outside and a lot of classrooms. And then even if you don't, the buildings are separate. And so you have to go outside. And I was telling Locke, I was like,
Starting point is 00:30:25 you know the funny thing is, he's like, you guys ate inside? I was like, of course. In fact, in North Carolina at Harnett Central High School, we would go into school at eight o'clock and I would not go outside again until three o'clock. Why did I need to go outside? There was no reason to go outside.
Starting point is 00:30:44 No. And it blew his mind that I was inside all day and I was like, well, the reason we were inside all the day is because it's either really, really hot, it's either really, really, really cold, there's bugs. All these things don't really happen here. It does get really, really hot here. But that's why fall was such a special time.
Starting point is 00:31:03 Yeah, and that's what got me thinking about this. It was that transition period where it's like, oh, the mosquitoes are gone. You might wanna do a little camping. Right. You know, go out to Jordan Lake, do a little camping. And it just made me think, what has it done to us? We've been out here eight years now.
Starting point is 00:31:21 What has it done to us psychologically, being in a place that doesn't really have seasons? Because we certainly pine for it. Yeah. And are we being damaged by it? Okay, well, what I found is pretty interesting. So, hit me with it. This is what typically happens in the fall-winter shift.
Starting point is 00:31:48 The change of the seasons into fall and into winter. Most people experience, there's a mood shift that takes place. Mood shift, we're talking emotions here? Yeah, yeah, and so okay, so HuffPo interviewed Kathryn Rocklin, I may not be saying her last name right, from the University of Pittsburgh.
Starting point is 00:32:08 Who cares, you did your best. That's right, and mood shift. Well she might care. During the fall and winter often includes less energy, feeling less social, losing interest in favorite activities, craving carbs, and changes in sleep. And there's, I know that they probably have done more thorough research on this,
Starting point is 00:32:31 but I don't know the necessarily the adaptive reasons for why these things happen. But the reason that it happens is the changes in the amount of light, the amount of sunlight that you are experiencing, the length of the day, your body is responding to the length of light, the amount of sunlight that you are experiencing, the length of the day. Your body is responding to the length of the day. So that got me thinking, so it's not just the temperature change,
Starting point is 00:32:53 it's about the length of the day. Now Los Angeles and Fuquay-Varina are within one and a half degrees in latitude. So they're very close, we're pretty close. So from a length of day shift, we're actually experiencing about the same length of day that we did when we were in North Carolina. So we may not be feeling and seeing all these indications
Starting point is 00:33:18 of seasons changing, but in reality, the days are getting shorter and so we are susceptible to these same things that can kind of send you into these places in terms of your mood. And there was another study, one study that was done that kind of zeroed in on serotonin showed that people produce less serotonin,
Starting point is 00:33:37 which is one of the hormones that regulates mood and contributes to your feelings of well-being and happiness in the winter months. So the shorter days can actually bring that down. So there's hormonal things that are happening in your body that can literally make you feel worse, make you feel, it's called seasonal depression. It's something that happens to a lot of people.
Starting point is 00:33:57 And that's, I would think that'd be more associated with winter than with fall. Well, once you've made it through the transition. It's all constantly changing. I mean fall is just a little bit less light than winter and winter is the peak of less light. So and then as you started coming out of that, it all starts reversing in the spring.
Starting point is 00:34:19 Can't trick or treat until it gets dark though. So count your blessings. It's all for that. But so I thought that LA doesn't have seasons. I mean, yeah, of course, like you said, you went out this morning and it felt a little cooler, and it does, and it has been really, really hot. So it does, there is a fluctuation in temperature,
Starting point is 00:34:37 but there's not all those indications. Well, Adrian Cuddler wrote for Curbed, said that LA actually has five seasons. What? LA has an extra season? Yeah, and they are the winter rainy season. Okay. So pretty much the only time that it rains in Los Angeles
Starting point is 00:34:56 is during the winter. Like, I honestly cannot remember the last time it rained. It sprinkled this morning for a second. Okay. I saw it happen. Okay, but up until then. But I wouldn't even call that rain. But up until then, it's been since before summer started that I have seen a drop of rain in Los Angeles.
Starting point is 00:35:17 I don't remember actual rain, yeah. So there's a winter rainy season. Specifically. There's the spring. There is a spring and that's sort of what people who aren't from Los Angeles think of when they think of Los Angeles, which is like 72 and sunny. That's spring.
Starting point is 00:35:34 That's classic LA weather. But then there's that weird thing, the gloomy early summer, like the June gloom, which we experienced. I remember the first year I experienced that and I was like, it never rains but it's always cloudy. Is that smog? And no, it's like the marine layer and there's some weird thing that happens
Starting point is 00:35:51 with the weather systems where there's just cloud cover that is. I thought the smog was trapped because of the heat and that's what June gloom was. I didn't know it was marine layer. Well, it's a combination of both. But you're not, I mean, smog doesn't get to a place where it blocks out the sun.
Starting point is 00:36:08 Right. We're not in Beijing. I mean, this is- They have five seasons in China too, by the way. They have summer and then they have late summer. Are you, is this like knowledge that you have from Lily being there? Or are you just making a joke now?
Starting point is 00:36:24 No, I read it, I read stuff too. I just don't print it out and make a stack like you do. And then there is, again. I don't have anything to prove. This is one of those things that was a shock. The miserably hot late summer. This is what we're just coming out of. I remember the first year we were here, I was like,
Starting point is 00:36:40 why is it so hot in September? I remember it was 100. That's the fourth season. I'm not to the fifth one yet. It was 117 degrees in Burbank. Yeah. The first year that we were here. And I was like, what have we done?
Starting point is 00:36:54 Yeah. And it was in September. Yeah, you forget it's a freaking desert. And that has happened many, many times. LA has gotten very, very hot, especially when you're in the valley, you're on this side of the hills that block you from the ocean breeze.
Starting point is 00:37:09 But then the fifth season, which is actually the longest, technically from October to April. Let me guess what it's called. You've already looked at my notes. No, I haven't. Fall. No. You haven't said fall. It's the Santa Ana season.
Starting point is 00:37:27 So there is no fall? There is no fall, that makes sense. Yeah. Okay. That's basically the Santa Ana season. So we have five seasons and fall isn't even one of them. Right. We could have six seasons if we just wedge fall in there.
Starting point is 00:37:40 Santa Ana. Yeah, so Santa Ana, this is something that, so I lived in California when I was four, five, and six, over in Thousand Oaks, which is west of LA. And I remember my mom talking about the Santa Anna winds. Oh, the Santa Anna winds are coming again. And it was like this iconic thing. And it actually is this,
Starting point is 00:38:00 you just do a little Googling around Santa Anna winds. There are all these pop culture references to it. It's been in songs, it's been in movies. There's a lot of folklore around it. Over 100 years, people have been observing these things, calling it that. Leprechauns? No leprechauns.
Starting point is 00:38:16 There's all this, people believe things about the Santa Ana winds and what they bring. But let's say what they are before we say what they are. Okay, so I'm gonna give you the, again, this is, Adrian wrote this in this Curbed article and this is exactly how he described it. This is technically what is happening.
Starting point is 00:38:35 Okay. And from a practical standpoint, in the next couple of weeks, we will be at home in the middle of the night and there will be a howling wind that makes you think that your roof is going to come off in the middle of the night and crap gets blown all over the place,
Starting point is 00:38:54 things get ruined. Well, I've got an umbrella, like a patio umbrella that- I've lost two of those. And you put it down in one of those square weighted things that's really heavy and then you screw it in at the base. And yeah, I remember this, oh, it's like the winds are picking up, the weather, the only reason you start to watch the weather is when they say it's really
Starting point is 00:39:19 gonna kick in and then I'll go outside and I'll secure like patio furniture pillows and I put the umbrella down. Well, that's not good enough. The winds are so strong that the umbrella that was down was still blown over and kind of picked up. The wind didn't go underneath it and like Mary Poppins it, it just pushed it over on the side, but still had so much force that it picked up the entire.
Starting point is 00:39:48 The concrete base. The entire concrete base. It's dangerous. Took it over top of a chair and the outdoor coffee table we have, and then burst a palm tree in a huge ceramic thing that we have and just obliterated it. I've lost two of those.
Starting point is 00:40:05 I have a hard time picking this thing up. And look at, I mean, look at these guns. Yeah, it's incredible. So this is the technical description. Pleasant summer winds form over the Pacific Ocean. Okay. But Santa Ana start in the Great Basin beyond the Sierra Nevadas in the winter.
Starting point is 00:40:22 So this is northeast of Los Angeles, a long ways away up in the Sierra Nevadas. They form up there in the winter when the air is cold and the jet stream leaves behind high pressure systems which spin clockwise, cold and dense, until the heavy air starts to slide down the mountains towards the coast. Lower pressure at the coast helps suck that cold air through the mountains towards the coast. Lower pressure at the coast helps suck that cold air
Starting point is 00:40:46 through the mountains towards Southern California. So you got this dual action thing happen with high pressure and low pressure. And as it cascades down towards the Los Angeles basin, the air heats up, dries out, and it speeds up as it snakes its way through narrow passes and canyons, barreling out finally in the flats, blowing 110 miles per hour,
Starting point is 00:41:07 and sometimes on 110 degrees. Some days, 110 degrees. So you've got wind that's hot and fast, and it is mind-blowing to experience. I remember as a kid, my brother and I- It was like wolves howling. Would put on our biggest jackets and like hold our jackets open and lean against the wind.
Starting point is 00:41:32 Squirrel suited? Yeah and just full weight, just. Like leaning into the Santa Ana winds. And it's just like cultural, it defines Los Angeles in a lot of ways for an extended period of time. It'll blow the water out of your pool, man. Yeah, well, maybe a little bit.
Starting point is 00:41:53 I mean the top of it. It'll blow the top off your pool. So we do. Topless pool. So we do have seasons. But. We have five. But they're not the same. But we are experiencing, so have you ever? So we've been talking about experiencing fall and you just said we don't even have five. But they're not the same. But we are experiencing, so have you ever, So we've been talking about experiencing fall
Starting point is 00:42:08 and you just said we don't even have it. Well, no. I'm gonna call it fall and we have six. What we do have is we do have the shortening of the days. Now, let us know, hashtag Ear Biscuits, is this something that you experience? Tell us about your experience of like, do you feel a mood shift when the days get shorter?
Starting point is 00:42:28 Is this something that you have experienced? I definitely start to feel a little sadness when I'm driving home from work and it's like, okay, I try to get home by 6.30, which means I get home at seven. But at least you tried. After a while. That's what I tell my wife. Yeah, that works. I get home and she's But at least you tried. After a while. That's what I tell my wife.
Starting point is 00:42:46 Yeah, that works. I get home and she's like, why aren't you here? I was like, I tried to be. I tried to get here on time and that never works. But my intentions, my intentions were pure. And when it's dark, it makes me more disappointed. It's like I get home, at the same time I would get home in the summer,
Starting point is 00:43:08 but it would be light then and I would just feel like, well, you know, I could take Jade for a walk. You don't, but you could. Yeah, I want to. I mean, but you could. There's all kinds of things you could do. Right. You know, you don't do anything different.
Starting point is 00:43:20 Right, I don't. But there's an idea. There's an idea. There's a feeling that you could do things that are different. Well, there's a. There's an idea. There's a feeling that you could do things that are different. There's a visibility. Yeah, yeah, it's watching the sunset. I love watching the sunset from my house.
Starting point is 00:43:31 Yeah. And then the sun starts setting while I'm still here working, then I get home and it's just dark. When I leave the office and it's already dark. It is a little depressing. There's a sinking feeling. And especially after Halloween.
Starting point is 00:43:47 Because I can't rationalize the trick or treating thing anymore. You know, it's like until then I'm like, yeah, well, you can't trick or treat till it gets dark. How do you think you would respond if you lived up in the Arctic Circle and once winter came, the sun was bye bye for months? How do you think you would do in that situation?
Starting point is 00:44:12 Total darkness. Totality of the times. There's no sun. That's, yeah, that's, oh, I mean, yeah, that's horrible. That sounds, I mean, yeah, I could definitely see that that would be depressing. Okay, so, interestingly. And by the way, they also have the opposite
Starting point is 00:44:34 where they'll have like full 24 hour light. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that can also mess you up. That could drive you a little nuts. I think that drives you, like makes you feel nutty and then when it's dark, it makes you feel sad. Well. That's my theory. Okay, so yes, typically, I mean there are,
Starting point is 00:44:53 you know, there are high concentrations of depression in places that are, that experience these very, very long winters with no sun. But a woman named Carrie Leibowitz, a Stanford PhD student, spent a winter in Norway in a town called, I'm going to mispronounce this, Tromso is what it looks like to me, but I'm sure it's. Who cares? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:15 You tried your best. Tromso with an O that has like a line through it at the end of it. Oh. You know how that says? That's a Z. That's Canadian for zero. Trom-zero, I don't think that works. But she spent a year there studying people's mental health, specifically like, okay, what is it like to live up here
Starting point is 00:45:31 in this cold place that's dark for long periods of time? She wrote a very long extensive article in the Atlantic. I'm gonna give you the basics here. So you would expect them to be depressed at a higher rate, right? But the people in this town do not seem to be affected by seasonal depression, even though the sun does not rise in their winter.
Starting point is 00:45:54 And she found out that the secret, she theorizes based on being with them. Tanning beds. How did you know? Is it? No. Oh dang it, man. No. Seriously? You thought it was gonna be tanning beds. How did you know? Is it? No. Oh dang it man. No. Seriously?
Starting point is 00:46:07 You thought it was gonna be tanning beds? I thought it was gonna be some sort of like a light bulb simulated sun situation. No. Like everyone's got a tanning bed closet. No, the secret is their mindset. I'm sorry that it's not tanning beds. So anyway, they have a word,
Starting point is 00:46:26 kosselig, which means cozy. And they think about winter in terms of kosselig, and again, I'm probably saying it wrong, the coziness that you can experience when it gets cold, when you need to be inside, when you need to be with other people, when you need to be next to a fire, when you need to put on these winter clothes,
Starting point is 00:46:49 when you can ski and do, I mean, it's dark, but they're doing all these things. And so she observed that they looked forward to winter with a sense of anticipation to experience this coziness in relationship with their community and other people, and they actually had mood enhancement and didn't suffer. On the other hand, Americans tend to-
Starting point is 00:47:13 Isolate. They tend to complain about the winter and they actually tend to bond with other Americans by complaining about the weather in general, but complaining about winter specifically. And so we have a disposition towards winter in our country where it's like, oh, it's bad, it's cold. We've done this.
Starting point is 00:47:37 We perpetuate this, I don't wanna say it's a myth because I have believed it, that like, we go to these cold places, and we went to Minneapolis for our show and we went in November, it was late October or November and we were in Minneapolis and we had to go, and they have the tunnels that connect the buildings so you don't ever have to go outside.
Starting point is 00:47:59 And the sealed bridges, I can't remember what they're called. But the way we talked about it was like, we had to go into hell for a limited period of time until we get back to the wonderful, perfectly warm Los Angeles. But it's all about mindset. You can go through something that is very, this applies with anything, but super extreme experience
Starting point is 00:48:23 if you take this mindset and they take this anticipation of Kosselig into the winter and it has this effect where they're happy. They've created an experience of coziness that then as a community, they look forward to it. Because I mean, again, even the translation of the word cozy is something, oh, that's so inviting. Oh cozy, I wanna wrap up with that.
Starting point is 00:48:55 It's marketing. I mean, it's like, it's social marketing, right? To say, hey, it's getting to be cozy time. These are the activities and the mindsets that we have at this time. And it becomes, it seems to me you're describing an elongated holiday. I mean, you may be still working, I'm sure,
Starting point is 00:49:17 but I mean, I'm picturing blankets and like special hats. Special hats. Special hats. Special hats. I mean, I get so excited. If I could put a scarf with my jacket, or like when we would go to Sundance Film Festival every couple of years, we'll head up there. And I bought those huge freaking boots.
Starting point is 00:49:43 Yeah. And I wanna go back just to wear the boots. Because you don't have an opportunity to wear the boots. Because it's so cozy and it's like I can't do it here. And I mean honestly. I might try to wear them to a concert in a couple weeks but that'd be a bit ridiculous. Skiing, I mean I absolutely love skiing. Yeah but they can ski at any time.
Starting point is 00:50:05 It's not, they don't. I don't think so. They don't have like snow during the middle of the summer. On their big old mountains? I don't know, maybe way up there. I picture them like, there's. What I'm talking about for you. Oh, for me.
Starting point is 00:50:20 I mean, like that, I actually have found myself really looking forward to being able to ski. Now, it's gonna be a little bit complicated. Oh, I agree with that. With kid schedules and stuff like that. But like, so we- But creating things that are,
Starting point is 00:50:34 you're saying skiing, but creating special things that only happen- Are enabled by this horrible weather. Enabled by it, yeah. And that may just mean sitting outside with some coffee. Fires! By a fire with a big old blanket around you. Wellabled by it, yeah. And that may just mean sitting outside with some coffee, by a fire with a big old blanket around you. Well, that's another thing.
Starting point is 00:50:48 Invest in a really cozy blanket. Well, having a fire in the house is something that, really, there's maybe a day or two that it's actually justified in Los Angeles. Oh yeah. But. It's a Oh yeah. But. It's a magical thing. But you'll be going home when it's, again,
Starting point is 00:51:08 when it's like, oh it was 62 today. And as you're going home, you'll see, oh that person started a fire, they're having a fire in the fireplace. Yeah you see the chimney. Right, because people are looking, and again, we noticed this in Australia too. We noticed it in Melbourne because it was beginning to be,
Starting point is 00:51:24 it was, when we went in the end of the summer, it's becoming, it was still, it was the peak of winter for them in July. Which was not cold at all. It was no colder than it gets in LA. It wasn't cold to us Angelenos and they had on all the, that's why you bought the jacket while you were there.
Starting point is 00:51:40 Yep. And already had one. And they were enjoying themselves, they were getting cozy. Because you naturally want to experience the season so you exaggerate the differences that are available. People at the equator, man, they can't do this. They can never put a jacket on.
Starting point is 00:52:04 I'm sure there's been studies of them. Unfortunately, I don't have any of those in my stacks. What else do you have? Well. I see something about space. Yeah, well, I wanna talk about that. But one- You wanna talk about seasons and space?
Starting point is 00:52:17 I do, but one of the really interesting things I found is that people actually experience cognitive decline in winter. There was a study of like 3,500 seniors, not high school seniors, but older people. And they experienced a improvement in cognition during the summer and autumn. And then in the winter and spring,
Starting point is 00:52:46 there was a significant decline. Because they were studying people and like when Alzheimer's sets in and like the different parameters for studying people. So you have to assume that this translates to people. So you should be doing your best, your best thinking is gonna be done in the summer. I think, I don't know if that's related to light.
Starting point is 00:53:05 My theory would be that with more activity, I think you're getting more. You're pumping around the blood? Yeah, getting that brain spryer when you're more active. Another interesting thing, again, that's not necessarily related. More babies are made in the fall and winter, right? Well, speaking of babies, speaking of babies,
Starting point is 00:53:27 your season of birth is etched into your brain. This is a Wired article. So spring babies are more likely to develop schizophrenia. Summer babies tend to grow up to be more sensation-seeking. Hey, that's me, June 1. And scientists theorize this is due to infants exposure to viruses over the winter period, as well as the amount of daylight they're exposed to,
Starting point is 00:53:51 which might influence genetic expression during early development. And it's interesting because- So what about fall babies? Well, what they observed in men, only in men, is that if you were born in the fall, up until like December, the closer you got to December, the more gray matter you had
Starting point is 00:54:12 in one particular part of your brain. And then if you're on the opposite end of that, going all the way up to June, which is when you were born, you had less gray matter. But it wasn't like a cognitive thing. It wasn't like, oh, one's smarter. It actually contributed to something else that expressed. Sounds like your brain is mushier.
Starting point is 00:54:31 But that was only in men. It didn't apply to women. There were some interesting findings. They don't know exactly what to do with them, but basically, you may have seen this stuff about when you're born and how it places you into the school system and what age you are determines a lot about your future, especially in sports.
Starting point is 00:54:49 Yeah. I think it was a documentary I watched that was about like every kid who, like all the hockey players in the NHL, like most of them were born in like, I don't know what the month is, but it's based on when they got into rec league hockey in Canada based on their age. Yeah. But what does that have to do with seasons?
Starting point is 00:55:12 No, I'm saying you know that, but I'm saying it isn't just, that's a very practical thing. I'm saying biologically you're affected by the month that you were born in, the season that you were born in. Oh gosh, now you're sneezing, you're allergic to these facts. So I'm just saying it was an interesting thing to find out that the season that you're born in
Starting point is 00:55:31 actually is etched into your brain in ways that they're discovering more and more about. But probably the most interesting thing that I found is this space.com, which first of all, space.com is a website, which is something I was very, I mean, it, space.com is a website, which is something I was very, I mean, it seems obvious that it is a website, but I was very happy to discover it
Starting point is 00:55:50 and actually sad that I had to be 41 now to find space.com. Is it a good website though? Because I picture like a black website with white writing. You're picturing like a 1998 website. No, it is black with white writing. You're picturing like a 1998 website. No, it is black with white writing. It is? Of course it is, it's space.com.
Starting point is 00:56:10 But it seems like a good website. But there was an article in there that talked about the tilt of the Earth, the tilt of planets, and how this is a good predictor for whether or not there might be alien life. And we actually have the tilt of our Earth to think for being here. Let me explain why. So there are certain things that happen
Starting point is 00:56:39 in the history of a planet that end up causing a tilt. And it's usually something about the way it was formed or some sort of event, something crashed into it or whatever, and basically at some point, a planet becomes tilted in reference to the star that it's rotating around, that it's in orbit around. And slowly over time, the gravity of the sun is taking the tilt out of the planet,
Starting point is 00:57:10 these terrestrial planets, trying to get it back to normal. And just to clarify, so normal would be, tilt is just defined by the planet itself spinning. And so it's spinning on an axis that is not perpendicular to the sun that is orbiting around? Yeah, well, I don't wanna get into the fact that it's orbiting and it's not flat and it's tilt. Let's just simplify it and say this is the sun
Starting point is 00:57:39 and this is the planet right here or this is my mug. Well, I know it's your mug, your mug. This would be no tilt, and this is tilt as it goes around. And the tilt creates the seasons, right? Because if you have no tilt at all, what you have is you have absolute maximum sun exposure in the equator. And then you have.
Starting point is 00:58:02 It's a constant. Absolute, very little sun exposure in the poles. It's completely indirect light, right? And it never alters. Right, and what happens is is over time. You have day and night but you don't have seasons. These initial events that cause tilt. Once the tilt goes away,
Starting point is 00:58:23 scientists theorize that what happens is the atmosphere is completely annihilated because you have extreme heat. It settles. And then you have extreme cold and it can actually annihilate the atmosphere and basically you don't have a covering that allows for life.
Starting point is 00:58:41 And so. It's not dynamic enough to. So the nature of the star, that allows for life. And so- It's not dynamic enough to- Yeah, yeah. So the nature of the star, like the gravitational characteristics of the star, different types of stars, determine how quickly that tilt is taken out of a terrestrial body.
Starting point is 00:58:58 And so our sun is the kind of star that has allowed for an extremely long period of tilt to exist, which the seasons and the atmosphere have what create the conditions for life to develop. And then, like, but a red dwarf star. So basically what they're doing is they're looking out there and they make these observations about, you know, planets that are in the Goldilocks zone, the habitable zone, and they're like, oh, this is a rocky planet that is about this distance
Starting point is 00:59:29 from this star, we can surmise that there is a possibility that there's life there. But what they're finding now is that if that planet isn't tilted in a certain way, even if the other conditions seem right, probably isn't life there and it's related to how long it's been in the system but also the nature of the star. That was just fascinating to me.
Starting point is 00:59:50 That was like this tilt, this whole reason that we have these seasons and we feel things and we've adapted and we've basically adapted in the context of experiencing these seasons. It might even be the reason that we're here to begin with. And I did. Space.com. Dang, that was loud. Kiko, you're gonna have to regulate that moment.
Starting point is 01:00:14 Scare the crap out of me. I hate to do that to listeners. Yeah, but you know what, they'll go to space.com now. I was on the, until you shocked me out of it, I was on the board of being inspired by the tilt of the earth to embrace the seasons as a form of change, a push and a pull, a pendulum swing that makes life viable
Starting point is 01:00:43 and allows me to embrace change not just because it's different and I got tired of what I was experiencing. Oh, it's cooler. I can wear my jacket unapologetically with a scarf. But I was toying with the this is an opportunity to go even deeper and say, I'm being serious here. No, I see where you're going.
Starting point is 01:01:06 As the seasons change that it's a moment to pause and I don't know, in a hokey way, maybe just to be grateful for something on a planetary level what you just shared. Thank you for making that connection. To me it's like, oh yeah, it's not just my own experience but our entire planet is viable because of these changes and I can apply that analogy to any change in my life,
Starting point is 01:01:41 perhaps. That would be a stretch but I'll try. Well, I mean, another way to say it is that this- What do you hear me saying? This tilt, this tilt that creates the change and makes change a fundamental part of life is what creates life. So life is change, right?
Starting point is 01:02:06 And getting, even if you're on the equator, I mean obviously it's very static down there, but because of the tilt, even though it may be a static situation, but it's not, you can live there, you know, it's not in, you can live there. It's not burning up. But I think it's just, change is something that is a part of life that you can't avoid,
Starting point is 01:02:36 but it's also the thing that drives and kind of creates the energy of life. But it comes in ways that you, change happens, it never happens on your terms, it never happens in the way that you want it to happen. But how you interpret it, to go back to the cozy, I think is a great point of inspiration for me to say, okay, if I find I'm experiencing change
Starting point is 01:03:04 I find I'm experiencing change and maybe this is an opportunity for me to find my cozy. Like where is the cozy in the change because I can't fight it. And to welcome it. To wrap yourself up in it. To anticipate it and to welcome it. You know, again, the reason I talk about this, I've talked about a few times is because I read this book
Starting point is 01:03:28 a couple years ago called The Guide to the Good Life, which was a professor who basically took stoic philosophy and applied it to his life practically. He was teaching it and he was like, I'm actually gonna try to do this. And it's an incredible book. And I think there's a lot that we can learn from the stoics. It's an incredible book. And I think there's a lot that we can learn from the Stoics.
Starting point is 01:03:47 But one of the key things that they sort of, they embraced is when you experience a trial, you see it as a blessing. You see it as something you can be grateful for because you're like, oh, this is a part of the process that is going to continue to refine me and to make me into who I'm supposed to be. And I can just get completely overwhelmed
Starting point is 01:04:12 with the fact that this change that I did not anticipate, that I didn't want, that's a complete inconvenience, maybe even a tragedy, is horrible. And everything's horrible. That's one approach. And the other approach is to say, in fact, there's a book called The Obstacle is the Way that was sent to us.
Starting point is 01:04:35 Is that Ryan? Holliday. Ryan Holliday who sent us a bunch of his books. I haven't gotten to that one yet. My wife has read it. But basically it just says that that trial, that's actually, you should be anticipating those things and welcoming those things as they happen.
Starting point is 01:04:54 Grab life by the balls and give it a swing. The ball sack, that's what you said. Grab life by the ball sack and give it a swing. And when the winds of change blow, find the cozy. And get a special hat. Get a special hat. Yeah, everybody should have a special hat. Mythical.store.
Starting point is 01:05:16 Oh, that's probably bad timing, I should've. Space.com, yeah. Space.com, a partner of Mythical.store. Gave us a turn for the philosophical today. Yeah. And thanks to, I'd like to thank the season of fall, which apparently doesn't exist in this Southern California area.
Starting point is 01:05:35 I would like to thank the Santa Ana winds that are gonna blow in at extremely high temperatures, extremely high velocity. Blow my ball sack off. Don't go outside nude, man. I'm gonna have my jockstrap on. You'll lose that thing. I'm gonna be out there in the front yard.
Starting point is 01:05:54 It's like a sail. Leaning into the wind with a jockstrap on. And you know what? That's me just embracing the obstacles. Hashtag Ear Biscuits. I'm sorry. I apologize for so much scrotal humor. Yeah, you're still going, huh? Yes. Hashtag Ear Biscuits. I'm sorry. I apologize for so much scrotal humor. Yeah, they're still going, huh?
Starting point is 01:06:09 But let us know what you think. Continue the conversation, not only with us, but with other listeners. All you gotta do is search hashtag Ear Biscuits. That's something. And then start communicating with each other and with us. And of course, we'll speak at you again next week. Yes we will. You know what, we didn't even mention corn mazes.
Starting point is 01:06:34 Next episode, all about corn mazes. We talk about, have you ever been in a corn maze? Still in one.

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