Ologies with Alie Ward - Minisode: Some Small/Smol Announcements

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

A short little episode to tell you about a change we're making to Ologies that I am genuinely very pumped about, as well as some weird secrets I did not intend to tell. But my point is that you can now have a kid-safe show and feed that is safe for kids and classrooms and a road trip with your shy parents. Subscribe to Smologies on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get podcasts.Sponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!Follow @Ologies on Instagram and XFollow @AlieWard on Instagram and XEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jacob Chaffee, and Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam MediaManaging Director: Susan HaleScheduling producer: Noel DilworthTranscripts by Aveline Malek Website by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn

Oh, hey, it's an announcement episode. It's a mini-sode. I hope you're as excited as I am. I'm actually genuinely excited, and I'm not excited the way people say, I'm so excited when they're on, like, a conference call where no one's excited. I'm actually excited. Okay, this is also just a general, like, hey, what's up? And here's what's changing coming up soon.

Oh, I've been waiting for this day for at least a year. Maybe, like, maybe probably closer to two. Okay. First off, though, thank you to patrons at patreon.com slash Ologies for supporting the show and you send in the best questions we hear them every episode also thank you to everyone wearing Ologies merch from Ologiesmerch.com we have hats for your summer or winter needs totes we even have swimsuits you can wear our logo on your butt and Ology's merch.com

is linked in the show notes. Also, thank you to anyone who's ever left reviews. I have honestly read them all and they are usually so sweet, only occasionally it feels awkward. But thank you for the reviews. This week I will read one is proof from ABCDEFSmileyFace123 who wrote, so amazing what? I can't imagine how this world would be without Allie and her guests. Keep on sciencing. Thank you for that, ABCDEFSmileyFace123. And I know you can't imagine it without me or my guests.

And I suppose it's timely that I happen to read this one on an episode without actual guests, but it's rare. And here we are. Also thank you for the review, CampbellSoup, who wrote, I love knowing that you will read this. Look at that, I did. Okay, we're gonna get into this mini-soad with some not life altering, but exciting for me,

announcements about the future of the podcastologies. What's it gonna be? Here we go. Mini-soad. Mini-soad. Mini-soad. Okay, first, I've been mentioning some May 16th news for a bit. I've been like, we've got some exciting stuff for you. And the news is that Smologies is becoming its own show. It's its own show already if you're listening to this. We just put it up. It's fresh as hell, hot off the griddle.

This is something that makes me so thrilled. That's how thrilled I am. So I've been talking about this for like a month and it's been a long time coming. And this means that forevermore starting today, you can subscribe to this new show. It's called Smologies. There are shorter, G-rated and classroom safe cuts of these classic ologies episodes. Maybe you're a parent who tries to find them in the feed going back three years, or maybe you're not interested in them and you've dodged them in our regular Ologies feed for years, or you've tried to, yeah, find them by

scrolling through our back catalog. But we're now releasing them in their own dedicated place, and you can click the show notes. It'll take you right there. You can subscribe right away, and then you'll just get them when we release them. Once a week, we're alternating with some ones we've already put out, but it'll be populating that feed from now on. You can also obviously just look for Smology's wherever you find podcasts. It's just Ologies with an SM at the front, and you'll know you're at the right place because we have a new logo

with new pictures for Smology's that are all really colorful. So you'll know you're there. Now in a minute, I'm going to tell you the backstory of Smology's and why I'm so excited about this for real excited and why it's a weight off my soul. But here's the trailer that we put up as an episode zero on the new Smology show feed and right after it we're gonna take a quick break for sponsors of the show who make it possible for us to donate to causes every week and then right afterward I'm gonna be telling you some secrets, some

that are juicy, some that are embarrassing, and also just some thoughts about authenticity and where I feel the show is going. Okay, here's the trailer. Just a little taste, so this is a trailer that we put together. Boom, Smologies, its own freaking show. Look at you, you made it.

Welcome to the podcast Smologies. This is exciting. Do you love the podcast Smologies. This is exciting. Do you love the podcast, Ologies? But you could use less swearing out of my mouth so you can listen in the carpool line or around your school's vice principal. Well, we made this for you. Welcome to Smologies.

Completely kid safe, classroom friendly, all ages, and shorter versions of Ologies podcast classics. So Ologies is an award-winning science podcast that examines one ology per episode, from rocks to toads to personalities to clouds to bears. And around here, we ask super smart people the questions that are on all of our minds, even if they're a little silly.

The language is clean, but the topics are, oop, science. The giant panda has poo that smells like tea. They're eating bamboo, it literally smells like tea. Did you know you can eat bugs? So I've had a lot of termites. So one they're my favorite because I've had them the freshest. Straight from the mound, boiled for a minute, salted, consumed, and they tasted just like popcorn.

And entophagic anthropologists say it's better for the planet than cheeseburgers. Speaking of planets and all things cosmological. There's water on the moon? There's ice, water ice on the moon. Yes, yes. We'll learn new things as we bust old myths and flim flam. A lot of people think that there aren't any fireflies

in the Western United States. And that's not true. So happy. A pumpkin, believe it or not, is a berry. Oh, what? How? Why? It's a berry.

Because it said, I'm going to be a berry. And it's very true. Some snakes today still have these little remnants of legs. They got nubbins? They got nubbin legs, yep. What? A ho-hum day gets exciting when ologists reveal the wonder of the things all around us.

And someone's like, tell me about trees. I'm just like, where to begin? Because life is electric. There we go, and they turn around and they get all the other electrons riled up. Hey, let's go. And learning is like a secret code. Our bodies are so cool that they speak their own language,

which is the genetic code. I'm sitting in this class like, oh my gosh, none of my friends are in this class. They have to learn about this. This is so cool. Through the eyes of ologies, things become wonder-filled, fascinating, and bigger. This is nature.

This is evolution. This is just all, this is our world we live. This is a planet we live on. Which just kinda like, just blows my mind. This is fishes, I think about fishes every day with that sort of tone. Like this is on our planet with us, or these creatures. We answer the gross questions.

Can snakes fart? And the big ones too. Where did we come from? Where are we going? How did life originate? We go back in time. Now imagine your rubbish heap, your dump, was right outside in your backyard. Just imagine what people would find. But it really is exciting because what you're doing is you're recovering the remains of ancient cultures. That's what really archaeology

is. And into the future, like the surprising merits of video games, excuse me? Your brain gets better at looking at a difficult skill or task and saying, let me try it because I have a great and long history of getting better at things that I'm bad at. And that's what gaming does for most people. So join us as we take a trip through all the ologies of the world. Studies you never knew existed. Experts you've never heard so casual. Science somehow makes you laugh.

So subscribe for Smology's, the smaller, shorter, and all ages versions of ologies podcast episodes. And tell your friends you like it because this audio reaches more ears through your word of mouth. Join us every week. We'll be here with some new friends who also happen to be ologists or toads. I love that you had a toad friend. Like the toad was your friend.

It kind of was my friend. Smology's, shorter, G-rated episodes of ologies. Classroom safe, kid friendly. Subscribe now and never miss an episode. Smology's. Smology's. kid-friendly. Subscribe now and never miss an episode. Smolagies. Smolagies. Smolagies. Smolagies. Smolagies. Smolagies. Smolagies. Stop! Isn't this a great story? Okay, so that's up.

You can get the link in the show notes or at alleyward.com slash smologies. Please do pass it on to anyone who needs shorter versions of Ologies episodes or is about to embark on some road trips with kiddos this summer or with people who would not like to hear a lot of swear words and talk about lizard dicks in full length episodes. I'm going to tell you a story about that really quick. Okay, so this one time I was driving my parents down to LA. This has nothing to do with small, tangentially. So this one time I was driving, oh my God, I can't believe.

I was driving my parents down to LA. My dad was getting cancer treatment down here and my parents didn't make a lot of road trips and I didn't make a lot of road trips with my parents, but it was a seven hour drive. And so I'm trying to keep them occupied, and obviously my dad's kind of sick, no one feels like just chit-chatting the whole time, so I was like, let me put on a podcast, you guys know what podcasts are.

So I was like, how about This American Life? I turn on this episode, and it's an episode about a guy generally just being like a real fuckboy and Language not family friendly at all content not family friendly. And so my parents are obviously like We listen to probably like 15 minutes of it before I'm like, I'll just change I'm gonna change this Here's what my parents didn't know and my dad is now past So he will never know I had dated that guy I Had dated that guy a few years prior and I was like, oh These stories hit a little different but they never knew that anyway

So I just turned on a random podcast and I was like, this is not something I want to listen to in the car with my parents. So smallogies are good for things like that, for example. Wish I would have known about them that time I drove with my parents on a road trip. And my parents and I, I love them, but we don't have the kind of relationship where I'll be like, oh my God, I fucked this guy. That's not the kind of relationship that I wouldn't, even the fact that my mom listens to all of G's in general makes me say, oh, should I change who I am on this?

And that I, mom, I love you if you're listening. And I have to remind myself to try not to do that. Anyway, that's another reason why I'm really happy that small G's is in its own feed, because just knowing that there are like kids in the room, I feel like over the last couple of years, I watch what I say a little bit more, which isn't fun for me. It's probably not something that you might notice,

but I hesitate a little bit more, and this show is much more fun when I can just be myself. So that's why I'm excited that Smallo-Geez is getting its own feed. People can find it there. People can just binge listen. Parents aren't dodging stories or swear words or whatever they don't want to hear. It's just boom, you can listen to them all at once.

And then I don't have to worry about like, who's listening right now? Did someone accidentally autoplay on this episode? And I'm like ruining someone's childhood because now they have to have an uncomfortable conversation with their parents that their parents are not emotionally willing to go there with. That's why I'm excited. Also I started Smology's three years ago because I would sometimes get angry emails from people who are like, this information should be accessible to children and it's not. And I'm like, I love that you have kids.

I personally don't. Thank you all for having kids. Because if you didn't have kids, I wouldn't have doctors and I'm like, I love that you have kids. I personally don't. Thank you all for having kids, because if you didn't have kids, I wouldn't have doctors when I'm old. But I personally, my body cannot make them. So I don't have them. I have a dog. That's enough responsibility.

That's all I can handle. So a lot of people were like, why aren't you making those records? And I was like, why can't I make it for adults who are still living and breathing on the planet? A lot of people have sort of lost a connection with like wonder and what the world does. A lot of us are fed like what nail color is this celebrity wearing today? And there's a lot better content I think we could be talking about, which is why I made etiologies and why I want to make it for adults.

I also have worked in children's TV. I still do. I'm still on Innovation Nation on CBS every Saturday morning. I've worked on Innovation Nation on CBS every Saturday morning. I've worked on Ada Twist as a science consultant on that on Netflix. A lot of people are like, oh, my kid loves you as the science friend on Brainchild on Netflix. I was like, I love doing all that. But there's a lot of science content for kids, which is great, but there's not a lot that's for adults that's just like conversational and weird. So that's what I wanted to do.

I wanted to make stuff about bugs and stars and vampires and pigeons and even genocide because I feel like learning about these things keeps us connected to each other and the world and that's not always a probes for kids. So I love that this show, Ologies, has the authenticity, the swearing, the whatever content, an ant expert screaming fuck over and over again talking about bullet ants. But also a lot of Ologies stories start with like, I saw this thing about rocks as a kid and I became obsessed or like squid or whatever. And so Smology's, I also want to exist because maybe that could be a jumping off point

for someone to be excited about something for their whole life. So, the fact that it's like, we got this one, we got these episodes in these feeds, and those episodes in those feeds make me very happy. I've also been so stressed out because I feel like if people are new to ologies, and they're like, what are these Smologies ones?

Oh, they're shorter, I'll just click on this one. And they may not be getting like the full in-depth, maybe raunchy, more off-the-cuff stories that we like to offer our clients in full-length episodes. So for years I've been like, oh man, I hope someone doesn't just be like, oh, Smology's okay, Smology's okay, but doesn't know like what the tone of the show usually is.

So I'm really happy that we've made this switch. And then in its place, I'm gonna be doing one or two field trip episodes a month so I can take you with me to some cool places and honestly so that I could just get out of the house more. I just, I gotta get out of the house more. So tune in here for some field trips as well as our usual long form episodes of Ologies. So Smology's, they are kids safe, they're classroom happy, they're shorter,

and they are their own show. So you can please look for that colorful new artwork by Bonnie Dutch actually, who's a friend of the pod for a long time, and who's a professional artist in Portland, who honestly hire her for your art needs because she's fast and she's very good. And you can go to the link in the show notes to subscribe right away, look for that colorful logo. And this week we'll be dropping two episodes. We're putting out new ones. We're re-releasing some that have already been on this feed. So we can just stack them up in there.

Also let me know where you'd like me to go for some of the new field trip episodes like museums or natural wonders. You got any roadside attractions? I should see some weird conferences, a garlic festival, whatever. Because these field trips won't just be about my colonoscopies or surgeries. Those were just happenstance and they got me out of the house, which is good. So okay, happy Smologies. Let's get on with business.

New Ologies out next week and the next week's Ologies pertains to one of my favorite pets. Get ready. It's so good. Also just thanks for being here and thanks for being on the new Smology Speed. Also thank you to Noel Dilworth, our scheduling producer. Again, Bonnie Dutch, who made the new cover art design for Smologies. Erin Talbert, who adminzeologies podcast Facebook group. Kelly R. Dwyer works on our websites.

Aveline Malik, who makes our professional transcripts. Assistant editor Jake Chafee, Jared Sleeper, and Zeke Rodriguez-Thomas of Mindjam Media, who edited many of the first-run smologies, and of course Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio, who makes sure that these smologies are out the door and edits and produces them. If you listen to the end of each Smologies episode, I don't tell a secret there, but I do give a piece of advice. And this week, it's that if I'm stalling on a project or maybe displaying what my therapist might gently call avoidance behaviors, I literally have to say in my head

that the actual worst it can be is not done or not started. So instead of thinking of some magic perfect version that could exist in one universe, and in my head I have to achieve it, I think of anything that is existing or progressed as the best possible outcome. It's like the done is better than perfect thing but for initiating tasks. Like starting it is the only way it can ever be good. So all you have to do is start it. Also you can like set a timer

to work on something. Don't even do 10 minutes, just do seven minutes. It's more than five and do it for seven minutes and if you go yeah okay this isn't so bad. There you go and you've built some confidence. So just start the thing, make the thing. Just jump in, do a thing, work on it, don't worry about it being perfect. All right? You're already here first, probably for the millionth time. Okay so go subscribe to Smology's so that I know that this was a good idea to give it its own show. Also tell your parent groups, your teachers, Facebook, friends, what have you. Your kids are gonna start loving dolphins and bugs and weird stuff and algae and sea urchins, wearing hats and more. So you're welcome.

And thank you for listening all these years. This is exciting to me. Okay, bye bye. Hacodermatology, homology, cryptozoology, lithology, nanotechnology, meteorology, cryptophagatology, nephology, seriology, pseudonyms. It's showtime, baby!