Futility Closet - 162-John Muir and Stickeen

Episode Date: July 17, 2017

One stormy morning in 1880, naturalist John Muir set out to explore a glacier in Alaska's Taylor Bay, accompanied by an adventurous little dog that had joined his expedition. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the harrowing predicament that the two faced on the ice, which became the basis of one of Muir's most beloved stories. We'll also marvel at some phonetic actors and puzzle over a season for vasectomies. Intro: In 1904 a 12-year-old J.R.R. Tolkien sent this rebus to a family friend. In 1856 Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner with a gold-headed cane on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Sources for our feature on John Muir and Stickeen: John Muir, Stickeen, 1909. Ronald H. Limbaugh, John Muir's "Stickeen" and the Lessons of Nature, 1996. Kim Heacox, John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire, 2014. Ronald H. Limbaugh, "Stickeen and the Moral Education of John Muir," Environmental History Review 15:1 (Spring 1991), 25-45. Hal Crimmel, "No Place for 'Little Children and Tender, Pulpy People': John Muir in Alaska," Pacific Northwest Quarterly 92:4 (Fall 2001), 171-180. Stefan Beck, "The Outdoor Kid," New Criterion 33:4 (December 2014), 1-6. Edward Hoagland, "John Muir's Alaskan Rhapsody," American Scholar 71:2 (Spring 2002), 101-105. Ronald H. Limbaugh, "John Muir and Modern Environmental Education," California History 71:2 (Summer 1992), 170-177. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "John Muir" (accessed July 2, 2017). "John Muir: Naturalist," Journal of Education 81:6 (Feb. 11, 1915), 146. William Frederic Badè, "John Muir," Science 41:1053 (March 5, 1915), 353-354. Charles R. Van Hise, "John Muir," Science 45:1153 (Feb. 2, 1917), 103-109. Listener mail: Delta Spirit, "Ballad of Vitaly." Wikipedia, "Aftermath (2017 Film)" (accessed July 14, 2017). Wikipedia, "Überlingen Mid-Air Collision" (accessed July 14, 2017). Anthony Breznican, "'The Princess Bride': 10 Inconceivable Facts From Director Rob Reiner," Entertainment Weekly, Aug. 16, 2013. Wikipedia, "Charlotte Kate Fox" (accessed July 14, 2017). Wikipedia, "Incubus (1966 film)" (accessed July 14, 2017). Wikipedia, "Esperanto" (accessed July 14, 2017). Toño del Barrio, "Esperanto and Cinema" (accessed July 14, 2017). Wikipedia, "Phonetical Singing" (accessed July 14, 2017). Wikipedia, "Deliver Us (The Prince of Egypt)" (accessed July 14, 2017). This week's lateral thinking puzzle was inspired by an item in Dan Lewis' Now I Know enewsletter. (Warning: This link spoils the puzzle.) You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at [e-mail]. Thanks for listening!

Welcome to the Futility Closet podcast, forgotten stories from the pages of history. Visit us online to sample more than 9,000 quirky curiosities from a Tolkien rebus to a beating in the Senate. This is episode 162. I'm Greg Ross. And I'm Sharon Ross. One stormy morning in 1880, naturalist John Muir set out to explore a glacier in Alaska's Taylor Bay, accompanied by an adventurous little dog that had joined his expedition. In today's show, we'll describe

the harrowing predicament that the two faced on the ice, which became the basis of one of Muir's most beloved stories. We'll also marvel at some phonetic actors and puzzle over a season for vasectomies. And a quick programming note, we'll be off next week, so look for the next episode on July 31st. By the end of his life, John Muir had been showered with so many admiring epithets that he once made a list of 58 of them, including the Bard of the Sierra, the Sage of the Yosemite, the Nursling of the Mountain's Breast, the Archbishop of the Hills, the King of Outdoors, the Poet of the Sierras, the Ice Chief, the Historian, and the Thoreau of the Far West. historian, and the Thoreau of the Far West. He was such a unique and charismatic champion of America's national wilderness that he's become almost a mythological figure in our history, like Johnny Appleseed, a lone man who loved the land so much that he became a living symbol of conservation. He led Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft through Yosemite during

their presidencies, urging them to preserve the natural American West for future generations. And they listened to him. In the 1870s, Yellowstone was our only national park. He helped to add Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon to the list. He also founded the Sierra Club and served as its president until his death. And his enthusiasm advanced the whole idea of national parks worldwide. In the 1980s, John Muir was voted the most important person in the history of California, and his birthday is still a holiday there. Muir is so closely associated with American life that it's easy to forget that he was born in

Scotland, the son of a shopkeeper and grain dealer in East Lothian. But he immediately fell in love with the natural world. He later wrote, we used to wonder how the woodpeckers could bore holes so perfectly round, true mathematical circles. We ourselves could not have done it with gouges and chisels. His father was persuaded to emigrate to America for cheap land and religious freedom, and they departed Glasgow in 1849 when Muir was 11. They established a farm in an 80-acre wilderness in Marquette County, Wisconsin, when that part of the country was still a frontier, and Muir fished, hunted, swam, learned to ride, and learned to identify plants and insects. He loved reading as much as he loved nature. His father needed him for work,

but told him that if he was determined to read, he could get up as early in the morning as he liked and do it then. So Muir designed an alarm clock that would wake him up at 1 a.m. to read. His father protested, but John held him to his promise. He tinkered with other similar inventions, and eventually he showed these at a local fair, and the encouragement that he got eventually led him to the University of Wisconsin, where he studied botany and chemistry. When the Civil War broke out, he went to Canada, where he lost his sight in his right eye in an accident in a machine shop. After that, he wrote he abandoned all mechanical inventions in favor of the inventions of God. He began to wander further and further afield, intoxicated with the American wilderness. He walked a thousand miles from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico,

then made his way to Cuba and San Francisco, considering himself a citizen of the wilderness rather than of any particular location. On the first page of his notebook to identify himself, he wrote John Muir, Earth, Planet, Universe. In asking directions once on the way page of his notebook to identify himself, he wrote, John Muir, Earth Planet, Universe. In asking directions once on the way out of town, he told a man that he wanted to go anywhere that is wild. He was drawn to the Sierra Nevada, the great California mountain range, and made his explorations largely by himself. He carried everything he needed on his back, which was surprisingly little, bread and tea, his scientific instruments, and a notebook. He carried no gun and usually no blanket, and he seldom slept in a tent unless he happened to meet other people. In the mountains, he developed his skills as an amateur botanist and geologist,

and between 1868 and 1875, he was probably the best mountaineer in the United States. After 10 years in California, he began to visit Alaska, where the story I want to tell took place. The United States had acquired that region only 12 years before, and in those days, before the gold rush, only a few people were exploring it, prospectors, scientists, journalists, and naturalists. At 42 years old, Muir was just beginning to make a name for himself as a writer, publishing scientific and popular articles in San Francisco in the east. On his first trip to Alaska in 1879, he'd spent six months exploring the Alexander Archipelago in the state's panhandle west of British Columbia. Now, the following summer,

he'd returned to retrace the route. At Fort Wrangell, he met the Reverend Samuel Hall Young, a Presbyterian missionary who'd accompanied him on his previous outing. They brought three local Indians as well, and at the last minute they took aboard their canoe Young's little mongrel dog, Stikine, who was named after the localist Stikine Indians, who had admired him at Fort Wrangell. Young called him the handsomest dog I've ever known, but Muir was unimpressed, calling him simply a small black dumpling of dullness. The dog was intrepid, but in an inscrutable sort of way. He was the first to explore each new landing place they reached, and the last to leave. Often he'd literally swim after the canoe as they were departing. He'd follow Muir quietly as he explored

the woods, never showing fear or fatigue and never asking for help. Though he kept to himself, he was brave and tireless and seemed to love adventure. The little band spent two weeks traveling and exploring in the archipelago, slowly making their way north. Finally one evening they reached Taylor Bay and camped near an unexplored glacier that stretched inland more than 20 miles. Early the next morning, August 30, 1880, Muir rose early, ate a bit of bread, and set out to explore it. As he made his way out of camp, Stikine joined him. Muir tried to convince him to stay in camp as a storm was blowing, but he insisted on coming, so Muir gave him a piece of bread, and the two set out together for the glacier. Muir later wrote, thus began the most memorable of all my wild days. They worked their way along

the east side of the glacier, and after three miles they climbed up on top of it. Muir cut steps in the ice for Stikine with his ice axe. The storm was still blowing, and Muir couldn't see the farther side of the glacier, which was seven miles away, but they walked along in the ice for a mile or so, jumping over small crevasses and walking around larger ones. That seemed manageable, so eventually Muir set out to cross the glacier, using the lines of its structure to keep his bearings. Stikine followed behind. As they approached the western side, they encountered some enormous crevasses, 20 to 30 feet wide and a thousand feet deep. But Stikine followed gamely wherever Muir went, jumping over gaps six or eight feet wide without a second thought.

The dog was only about two years old, and nothing seemed new or dangerous to him. Muir kept warning him to be careful, but he trotted on as if heedless of the danger. In about three hours, they reached the farther side and then turned north, traveling up the glacier's western side in the margin of the forest. After some distance, they had to turn around to be sure of getting back across the ice before dark. This time they set out to cross the glacier by a different route, and they'd covered only two miles when it began to snow. Stikine showed no trace of fear, but Muir began to worry about finding his way. They were losing time as they had to double back and forth now continually to avoid the deepest chasms and the tallest blocks of ice. Muir began to hurry, with Stikine close behind him.

Both of them were wet and hungry, and in the blowing snow, Muir couldn't see far enough ahead to judge his way. Finally, they reached a very wide and straight crevasse that blocked their path. Muir traced it a mile in each direction and found no way around it. In all that length, there was only one place where they could hope to jump across, and at that point, the near side was higher than the farther side, so they would not be able to retrace their steps later if they needed to. But they'd come a long way and were losing daylight, so Muir took the risk and made the jump, and Stikine followed as confidently as ever. They ran on for a few hundred yards and met the widest crevasse yet, this one 50 feet wide. Worse, as they explored it, Muir found that in both directions it met up with the crevasse behind them, the one they had just jumped.

So they were both standing in a narrow island of ice two miles long and surrounded by deep crevasses on all sides. They couldn't go back the way they'd come, the jump was too high. The only other way out was by a narrow bridge of ice that crossed the gulf in front of them. They'd have to clamber down to its near end, eight feet below the brink, travel 70 feet along its length, which spanned the gap diagonally, and then clamber up the farther side. This was the gravest peril Muir had ever faced in the mountains, and he was cold, wet, hungry, and oppressed by the snow in the gathering dark, but he had to try it.

He went a bit to one side and cut a series of steps down the face of the chasm, ending at the nearer end of the bridge. Then he made a little platform six inches wide, and he perched on that while he used his ice axe to flatten the top of the bridge, which he made a little platform six inches wide, and he perched on that while he used his ice axe to flatten the top of the bridge, which rose to a knife edge. He straddled the bridge and began to work his way across, flattening its top as he went along and pressing his knees against the sides. He tried not to look down or think of the distance still ahead of him. When he finally reached the farther side, he cut another platform and stairway and finally clambered up to the top. But now he looked back

and saw Stikine on the farther side, gazing mournfully into the abyss. As he had cut his way across, he could hear the dog whining and muttering behind him. With a cry, it had run off to try to find some other way across, but of course there was none. When Muir reached the other side and looked at him, Stikine cried louder than ever and ran back and forth, looking again for some alternative. Muir called to him, telling him that he had cut the bridge flat for his feet and that he must try to cross. The dog would go quiet then look again down at the bridge and cry in despair. Muir could not leave him alone on the ice overnight. He called to him, pleaded with him, pretended to march off without him, but the dog only lay down and moaned in misery. Finally Muir went to the brink of the chasm and ordered him by

words and gestures to come on. I'll just read what happens since I can't write better than John Muir went to the brink of the chasm and ordered him, by words and gestures, to come on. I'll just read what happens, since I can't write better than John Muir. He knew very well what I meant, and at last, with the courage of despair, hushed and breathless, he crouched down on the brink of the hollow I had made for my knees, pressed his body against the ice as if trying to get the advantage of the friction of every hair, gazed into the first step, put his little feet together, and slid them slowly, slowly over the edge and down into it, bunching all four in it and almost standing on his head. Then, without lifting his feet, as well as I could see through the snow, he slowly worked them over the edge of the step and down into the next and the next in succession in the same way

and gained the end of the bridge. Then, lifting his feet with the regularity and slowness of the vibrations of a second's pendulum, as if counting and measuring one, two, three, holding himself steady against the gusty wind and giving separate attention to each little step, he gained the foot of the cliff while I was on my knees leaning over in silence, and it was here I feared he might fail, for dogs are poor climbers. cord. If I'd had one, I would have dropped a noose over his head and hauled him up. But while I was thinking whether an available cord might be made out of clothing, he was looking keenly into the series of notched steps and finger holds I had made, as if counting them, and fixing the position of each one in his mind. Then suddenly, up he came in a springy rush, hooking his paws into the steps and notches so quickly that I could not see how it was done, and whizzed past my head, safe at last. And now came a scene. Well done, well done, little boy, brave boy, I cried, trying to catch and caress him. But he

would not be caught. Never before or since have I seen anything like so passionate a revulsion from the depths of despair to exultant, triumphant, uncontrollable joy. He flashed and darted hither and thither as if fairly demented, screaming and shouting, swirling round and round in giddy loops and circles like a leaf in a whirlwind, lying down and rolling over and over, sidewise and heels overhead, and pouring forth a tumultuous flood of hysterical cries and sobs and gasping mutterings. When I ran up to shake him, fearing he might die of joy, he flashed off two or three hundred yards, his feet in a mist of motion, then, turning suddenly, came back in a wild rush and launched himself at my face, almost knocking me down, all the time screeching and screaming and shouting as if saying, Saved! Saved! Saved! Then away again, dropping suddenly at times with his

feet in the air, trembling and fairly sobbing. Such passionate emotion was enough to kill him. Moses' stately song of triumph after escaping the Egyptians and the Red Sea was nothing to it. Who could have guessed the capacity of the dull, enduring little fellow for all that most stirs this mortal frame? Nobody could have helped crying with him. But there is nothing like work for toning down excessive fear or joy. So I ran ahead, calling him in as rough a voice as I could, command, to come on and stop this nonsense. For we had far to go, and it would soon be dark. Neither of us feared another trial like this. Heaven would surely count one enough for a lifetime. The ice ahead was gashed by thousands

of crevasses, but they were common ones. The joy of deliverance burned in us like fire, and we ran on without fatigue, every muscle with immense rebound glorying in its strength. Stikine flew across everything in his way, and not till dark did he settle into his normal fox-like trot. At last the cloudy mountains came in sight, and we soon felt the solid rock beneath our feet, and were safe. Then came weakness. Danger had vanished, and so had our strength. We tottered down the lateral moraine in the dark, over boulders and tree trunks, through the bushes and devil-club thickets of the grove where we had sheltered ourselves in the morning, and across the level mudslope of the terminal moraine. We reached camp about ten o'clock and found a big fire and a big supper. A party of Hoonah Indians had visited Mr. Young, bringing a gift of porpoise

meat and wild strawberries, and Hunter Joe had brought in a wild goat. But we lay down too tired to eat much and soon fell into a troubled sleep. The man who said, the harder the toil, the sweeter the rest, never was profoundly tired. Stikine kept springing up and muttering in his sleep, no doubt dreaming that he was still on the brink of the crevasse. And so did I that night and many others long afterward when I was overtired. Thereafter Stikine was a changed dog. During the rest of the trip, instead of holding aloof, he always lay by my side, tried to keep me constantly in sight, and would hardly accept a morsel of food, however tempting, from any hand but mine. At night, when all was quiet about the campfire, he would come to me and rest his head on my knee with a look of devotion as if I were his god. And often,

as he caught my eye, he seemed to be trying to say, wasn't that an awful time we had together on the glacier? Jeff and Andy are two ordinary guys who were fed up with getting ripped off when buying razors, so they started Harry's to fix shaving. They knew there was only one way to ensure quality, so they bought their own blade factory. And by taking less profit and selling directly to you over the internet, Harry's offers their blades at half the price. Harry's has sent me some of their razors to try, and I really do like their quality.

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To get your free trial set, including a razor handle, a five-blade cartridge, and shave gel, go to harrys.com slash closet right now. That's harrys.com slash closet. I'm doing some puzzle updates today, so skip ahead if you don't want possible puzzle spoilers. puzzle spoilers. The puzzle in episode 159 was about Vitale Kaloyev, who killed the air traffic controller that he believed was responsible for the airplane collision that had killed his family. Ali Spencer wrote, Dear Sharon, Greg, and Sasha, you may get a few emails about this one, but I was able to quickly solve the lateral puzzle from episode 159 because of a song by Delta Spirit called Ballad of Vitale. The song tells the story from start to finish with the plane going down to the murder and finally to when Vitale

was released from prison. Thank you so much for the awesome podcast. I look forward to it every Monday and recommend it to all my podcast and non-podcast listening friends alike. And thanks, Ali. I guess by now I should stop being surprised to find out that some of the stories we cover on the show have been turned into songs. Now I'm just waiting for someone to write in and tell us there's a song about the Birmingham sewer lion. Maybe there is. Koloyev, as a couple of our listeners let us know. Rini Rika, one of our Russian correspondents, wrote, Dear Sasha, Sharon, and Greg, and I did notice that Sasha gets top billing now. I just wanted to add that there is a movie released in April 2017, which is based on this story. The movie is called Aftermath, and Schwarzenegger has the leading role. It wasn't

received that well, though, but I guess it is difficult to portray such a story right and to receive it as well. And Rini cites the Wikipedia entry for the movie, but notes that it's consistent with what she's read in the Russian news media for herself. According to Koloyev, unlike the main character of the film, he did not try to seek anybody's pity or apology, but only wanted to achieve justice. his pity or apology, but only wanted to achieve justice. In addition, he stated that the real air traffic controller, Nielsen, unlike the air traffic controller portrayed in the film, showed no signs of remorse, but on the contrary, behaved with arrogance and contempt. And I can't say that we're surprised to hear that the movie was not a very accurate representation of the actual events. That seems to be an unfortunately common theme for movies based on true stories from what we've seen. In her email, Rini also said, I cannot believe it was episode number 159. It just hit me

how large this number actually is when I was typing it into the subject line. I guess I never have enough of the stories you tell, so it didn't feel like you've told so many already. But do you realize that your podcast has been with us for over three years now? Time flies. Thank you for your commitment and the very good job you're doing. This made me look up when you've launched your first episode. It was on Monday, the 24th of March, 2014. The next Monday, the 24th of March, is in 2025.

I guess we will all expect a special episode on that day. And we honestly can't believe it's been three years and 160 some episodes either. That seems almost crazy to me. Impossible, yeah. And I guess we've now been given plenty of notice that we need a special episode in March of 2025. Philip wrote, hi, you three. So we can imagine we're in any order we want in that one. In episode 159, you mentioned in passing the Uberlingan midair collision.

I think that the cause and consequences of the accident are quite interesting. There were many things coming together to cause this accident. But what I find compelling is the fact that there was no clear order of whom to listen to, the air traffic controller or an automated system. It boils down to this. The air traffic controller, Peter Nielsen, was late in noticing the impending crash. When he did, he instructed one pilot to descend and the other to climb, as is standard procedure in such cases. He did not know that the automatic system, TCAS, Traffic Collision Avoidance System, had detected the danger at virtually the same time and issued the exact opposite orders to the pilots. One pilot listened

to the air traffic controller and the other to the TCAS. Both descended and crashed into each other. One of the consequences of this accident was to clarify that in such an event, the TCAS takes precedence over the air traffic controller. That's awful, because that means they were aware that there was a danger there. Everyone involved knew there was a danger, it's just they did happen to do the wrong thing. Right. Philip also said, thanks for your show. I am listening to the new episodes and working my way backwards through the archive. I am at episode 30 now. I am not quite sure what I will do while cleaning the house when I am through with the archive. And I have to say, I kind of cringe at the idea of people working their way backwards through the shows, as I'm sure the earlier shows were rougher

in several ways than the later ones. So it just gets worse and worse. Yeah, I think it's better if maybe you go forwards and then hopefully you'll hear us improving. Maybe, hopefully. I guess if you go backwards, you avoid puzzle spoilers that you'd hit otherwise, right? No, because you'd hear the puzzle spoilers if we update the puzzles. You're right. You're right. Yeah. Be safer to go the other way. Yeah. And the puzzle in episode 160 was about a teenager who didn't understand people when they spoke to her in the same language that she was speaking in. Mike Davis wrote, as always, thanks for providing such a fantastic

podcast each week. The lateral thinking puzzle in the latest episode involved an actress who had to learn her lines phonetically, as she did not speak the language she was giving her lines in and responding to. I thought you would both be interested to know there is a movie we are all very familiar with, in which the exact same thing took place during filming. Andre the Giant had such a poor grasp of the English language at the time that he filmed his role for The Princess Bride that he learned most of his lines phonetically. Amazing considering what a well-known voice he has

for many of us, mainly from that movie. And looking into this a bit, I saw that, yeah, Rob Reiner, the director of The Princess Bride, says that he himself recorded all of Andre's lines on tape and sent the tape to Andre for him to memorize phonetically. I hadn't known that before. No. Tamiya, who said, My name was never read out by a native English speaker, so you could make my wish come true, wrote,

The lateral thinking puzzle from episode 160 reminded me of a Japanese TV drama that I've heard of called Masan. It's based on the lives of Masataka Taketsuru and his wife Rita Cowan, who were one of the first whiskey distillers in Japan. The American actress Charlotte Kate Fox, who played Rita and had no prior knowledge of Japanese, acted out almost all of her scenes in Japanese. And when I looked this up, I found this to be simply amazing. Masan was a 150-episode daily TV show that aired for six months starting in September 2014. Fox appeared in all 150 episodes, acting almost entirely in Japanese despite not knowing the language. According to Wikipedia, every line of Fox's script had to include three additional lines. The first was a Romanized version of the Japanese line so that Fox could read it, followed by the line translated into English so that she could understand it, and last was a word-for-word literal translation of the line into English, which followed the Japanese word order.

And this last version would allow Fox to react appropriately at the correct time to either her or the other performer's lines, as the word order of sentences can be different between the two languages. Every script for 150 episodes. Yes, so apparently her scripts were just like enormously thick because she had to have every line, three versions of it. That's incredible. When we first heard about the phonetic acting of Tara Strong in the puzzle, it really surprised us. But you know, once I thought about it more, I realized that it must happen all the time with

science fiction and fantasy, because they're the actors often have to use a made up language. There can't be that many actors that are truly fluent in Klingon or Dothraki. But then again, if you pronounce your Klingon or Dothraki poorly, there really can't be that many people who are going to know the difference. So kudos to Fox. That's a good point, though. Sometimes they have to go through a whole scene. I hadn't thought about that.

Where obviously when you're acting it out, there aren't subtitles or anything. You're just speaking this long monologue in some invented language. So you can't possibly have been fluent in it before you started. That's a good point. Glenn Habibi wrote to say, Hello, Greg, Sharon, and Sasha. The puzzle from episode 160 reminded me of an interesting anecdote. In 1966, a film entitled Incubus was produced, starring William Shatner, and the entire

film was done in the constructed language Esperanto. The filmmakers thought this would be an attractive hook to boost ticket sales. In reading Mr. Shatner's biography, he discusses having made the film and points out that he and the other cast members had no knowledge of the language at all, but rather just all learned their lines phonetically. He points out also that he saw the film himself many years later and found it amusing that he was watching himself in a movie, recalls having made the movie, but has no idea what it's even about or what anybody is even saying. Thanks for a great podcast. Incubus is actually the second movie to be made in Esperanto, but the first, which came out in 1964, used actors that actually spoke the language. The actors in Incubus did not, so it was more like

having actors trying to speak Dothraki. But Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed language in the world, with an estimated 2 million people that speak it, and there are even people who have spoken it since birth. So that means that there are a decent number of people who are able to tell that the team that made Incubus did a pretty atrocious job with the language. Greg Askins let us know about a phenomenon called phonetical singing, where you learn the lyrics of a song phonetically. And I actually think that would be easier to do than acting phonetically, since it's easier to memorize things when you set them to music. But following some links on the Wikipedia entry on this, I learned that for the movie Prince of Egypt, the Israeli singer Ofra Hazza had to phonetically sing 18 different versions of the

song Deliver Us in 18 different languages, which does not sound easy. All phonetically. Yes. That's crazy. And lastly, for a rather different take on the puzzle, Katie Sakelski wrote, Well, it wouldn't truly work out unless the teenager in question was something of a prodigy, but I missed the word teenager when listening to the lateral thinking puzzle in episode 160 and was certain the answer was going to be that the person in question was a dental hygienist. In my experience, they are always talking to and asking questions of patients, even though the teeth cleaning tools in our mouths prevent us from answering in clearly understood English.

That's true. That's a valid answer. So thanks so much to everyone who writes in to us. We really appreciate your feedback and comments. And if you have any you'd like to send, please send them to podcast at futilitycloset.com. It's Greg's turn to try to solve a lateral thinking puzzle. I'm going to give him an odd sounding situation, and he has to try to work out what's going on, asking only yes or no questions. This puzzle was adapted by me from Dan Lewis's Now I Know e-newsletter. A vasectomy is a simple surgery that a man can have to make sure that he doesn't father any children.

Why do urologists report that they see a considerable increase in requests for vasectomies in March? March. March. March. I am going to guess. I don't know this. Oh, no. You're going to guess it right away, aren't you? But you go back nine months from March, and I guess that's like July.

Am I on the right track? No, which I'm glad about because I thought, oh, no, he's going to guess it right in one question. If a lot of unwanted pregnancy. No, no, no. But then you, when did you say it was? March. March.

Because they get the vasectomy when they got the news of the conception, right? Oh, yeah. If that's what this is. That's true. And there's nothing in March that would lead you to find out. Yeah, that's a good point. Or is that it? Is it like something about New Year's Eve or something?

No. All right. That's actually a really interesting line of thought though. Right. New Year's Eve. And then a couple months right. That's actually a really interesting line of thought, though. Right. New Year's Eve, and then a couple months later, you get the news, and you're like, oh, no. Maybe that's true and just completely not what you're looking for. Right. We'll say that that's probably true, too, but I have a different reason in mind.

Okay. So I'm barking up the wrong. Yeah, completely. All right. So you're saying the incidence of men requesting vasectomies goes up in March. In March. Well, gosh, if it's not that. Okay, are the men requesting the vasectomies because they want to avoid, obviously, having

more kids? Yes. That's the reason. That's the reason in general. But then why do they want to do it in March, specifically? But I'm saying the men who decide to do this in March, the men who belong to this group, whoever they are, that's the reason. Yes.

Well, I would think, I would think if you want to prevent, I mean, I would guess that the reason most men, if there's one thing that unites men in getting vasectomies, it would be the news of a recent pregnancy. That would be my guess. Is that it?

No, no, nothing like that at all. Does it have to do with just the cost or the inconvenience or the opportunity to do it somehow becomes more attractive in March? Something becomes more attractive in March. Something about doing it in March is more attractive to many men. Yes.

Really? Specifically in March, yes. But none of those things, not just practicalities about getting it done or... Right. Something else becomes attractive. Well, something makes March the most attractive month for them, they think, to have it done. Does this have to do with like the side effects or the recuperation afterwards just for...

It has something to do with that. Really? With the surgery itself? Something to do with that, yes. Makes the procedure, would you say makes the procedure not more attractive, but less unattractive? I would say so, but it depends on exactly how you mean it. I would say so with what I have in my head for the meaning of that. The recovery?

Something about the recovery. Less pain? No. Not that? No. It's that they want to be recovering from the procedure in March. Wow, that sounds like such an obvious hint. Like there's so much information in there.

I had to be able to leap right to it. Yes, except that this wouldn't apply to you, so you might not be thinking about it, but it would apply to many other men. They want to be recovering in March. Yes, and it hinges on the fact that a vasectomy is an elective surgery, obviously, so you can choose when to do it. You can time it. Yeah, where you can't time when to do most other surgeries. Okay, so does it have to do with that they'll have just a free time to be sort of, you know, sit on the couch or whatever you do in March? In March.

Is it because they'll be doing something else like watching TV or something? Yes. Really? Yes. In March? In March. Does it have to do with like playoffs or something? Yeah, I'll tell you because you probably don't know.

It's because they want an excuse to stay home and watch March Madness basketball games, which is a men's college basketball tournament that's one of the most famous annual sporting events in the US. It's a men's college basketball tournament that's one of the most famous annual sporting events in the U.S. In 2014, Dr. Ed Sabina, the chairman of the Department of Urology at the Cleveland Clinic, said, We do have in March typically about 50% more vasectomies than in other months. A lot of patients come in and say, I have to have this during March Madness. You have to talk to my wife about it. Tell her what my limitations are and that I'll need to be on the couch.

They'll even tell us to exaggerate a little about how long it takes to recover. He said that some of his patients even come in for the procedure wearing the jerseys of their favorite teams. You know, that makes some sense. Sure. If you're going to need to be on the couch recovering, you might as well have something fun to watch on TV. And normally they'd be at work and they'd miss the games. So this is an opportunity to stay home and watch the basketball games. Yeah. Good for them. I wouldn't have thought of that, but good for them. We're always on the lookout for puzzles.

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