Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - Mariko Aoki Phenomenon

Episode Date: January 4, 2022

Have you ever had the sudden urge to go to the bathroom while browsing in a TJ Maxx or a book store? Well, apparently many people have. This phenomenon was first mentioned by Mariko Aoki to a Japanese magazine in 1985, and has recently made its way to TikTok. Dr. Sydnee and Justin investigate some different theories and philosophies around the sudden need to poop while book shopping.Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Saw bones is a show about medical history, and nothing the hosts say should be taken as medical advice or opinion. It's for fun. Can't you just have fun for an hour and not try to diagnose your mystery boil? We think you've earned it. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a moment of distraction from that weird growth. You're worth it. that weird growth. You're worth it. Alright, talk is about books. One, two, one, two, three, four. We came across a pharmacy with a toy and that's busted out. We were shot through the broken glass and had ourselves a look around.

Some medicines, some medicines that escalate my cop for the mouth. Wow. Hello everybody and welcome to Sawboats, Mayor of the Tour of Miss Guy and Medicine. I'm your co-host, Justin McRoy. And I'm Sydney McRoy. Sid, this is our interesting transitional episodes, our last episode, this year. We're recording it in 2021,

but you are listening to it in the future. Greetings from the past. Greetings from 2022. I hope things are better. Turning around a little bit. I mean, one can hope. It's just a few days away. Yeah. So it's not.

It's like, don't say, okay, I'm knocking on all the edges of wood. In our homes, I don't believe in those sorts of superstitions. Justin, I am a scientist. Oh, really, Sydney. Well, what kind of science have you prepared for us this week on our science program, Science Watch? As a scientist, it is my job to investigate all unique human phenomena, no matter how strange they may seem.

Can you give me and I also thought I also thought this would be a fun way to end this year. And begin and begin a new and begin a new and something light, something funny and fun and interesting and not too heavy because I'm sure there will be heavy stuff to talk about in the future. because I'm sure there will be heavy stuff to talk about in the future. So I was looking at TikTok, you know, spacing out and dissociating while looking at TikTok. Our new favorite pandemic pastime. I think we've all engaged in. And I noticed some people talking about TJ Maxx, specifically about the idea that, and I don't know this, this is not my experience. I just saw this on TikTok.

The idea that when you are in TJ Maxx for a while, you have the urge to go number two. Okay, now listen, you're, from what you've told me, you're gonna be talking about number two a lot. And this episode I'm afraid that you're going to be okay with saying the P word. Do you want me to say defecate? You didn't, that's the worst.

That's the worst. It's almost worse. That's the worst one. Either way, people were talking about that on TikTok and then a bunch of people in the comments were like, me too, me too, me too. I can't believe that. I thought it was just me.

And somebody said in the comments, oh yeah, that's the Mariko Ayoki phenomenon. And I was like, what? I have got to look that up. So I did. And this is a whole thing that I was not familiar with. I have not personally experienced what apparently many people have. And now I would like to share this with you.

Specific to TJ Maxx. No, no, it's not specific to TJ Maxx, but it is. Okay, so the history of this, and by the way, Justin, would you, I have put the, because you were learning Japanese. At the top of my document here, I have put the Japanese name for this, if you would like to. Japanese name for this, if you would like to. Aoki, Mariko, getting to show. Okay, well I figured that was how you say it. Aoki. Am I pronouncing that? Aoki is...

Aoki and Mariko. Aro is... Do I have the stress on the right syllable? Yeah, it's good. Aro is blue and key. In this case, this is congee for tree. So blue tree. Well, this is a person's name. Yes, but it translates to blue tree. Oh, interesting. It doesn't probably actually translate to that.

And just those are the two. I know these two congee and they mean blue and tree. And I assume Gensho means phenomenon. Let's let's probably our best. The other two words are the name of that. That's enough of an amorphous idea that I'd be shocked if it's like exactly 100% one to one, but I bet it's pretty darn close. I know that one of these congees means reason. That's all I know.

OK. So back in February of 1985, this is where this phenomenon, well, our awareness of it really originates. A 29-year-old woman from Tokyo, named Mariko Ayoki, had a letter published in the magazine. Her last name is first in the, did you notice that in her name? Oh yeah. At Ayoki Mariko, because you would tell they do that.

Yeah. I'm using her entire name because I thought that was appropriate since I don't know her personally. You would, yeah, you could go with Ayoki. I know usually on this podcast um, podcast, we get pretty casual with our historical figures, like ancient history, but for recent history here, since this is an American podcast, we will drop the song, but Eoki's song would be okay. If you want to go with that. Anyway, she wrote a letter to a magazine, which would

you like to, to give us the name of the magazine? Honnozashi, that's book magazine. Yes, book magazine. The magazine of books, that's these ones. Book magazine. And she wrote a letter to this magazine, and the reason that is given for why it was published is that the editor's thought was a little funny.

It was kind of a funny little letter that they got, and they thought, oh, people will be interested in this. It's a funny letter. Yeah, it was kind of funny. So they published they got and they thought, oh, people will be interested in this. This is a funny letter. Yeah, it was kind of funny. So they published this letter and in it, she said, basically, every time I'm in a bookstore for a while, I get the urge to go poop. Why does this happen?

Why is it that when I'm in a bookstore browsing the shelves looking around, I am struck by the very sudden urge that I must immediately go poop. Why does this happen? And apparently, a lot of, so they published this little letter, like, oh, this is funny. And they got a huge reaction. A ton of readers were like, oh my gosh, I do too.

Oh, that's, yeah, I have had that exact same sensation and wanted to talk about it and wanted to share like their interpretation of, for me, it's like this. And for me, it also happens here. And for me, it's like, and they got such a response that the magazine, book magazine, did like a follow up feature length article in their next issue that came out in April of 85 that was titled titled The Phenomenon Currently Shaking the Bookstore Industry, which is a little bit of sensationalism, I think. I don't know that it was currently shaking the bookstore industry as much as apparently it had

been all along, and no one was aware. But this really drew a ton of attention to it when this article was published. And a lot of people began to sort of understand it as like a thing that actually happened. Now as I was trying to read about like the history of this, it was noted that I guess and I liken this to, you know, in the US, we have a tendency to put gate at the end of things, like if something's like a scandal, it's whatever gate, you know, like when you made that really spicy mix last night, it was like spicy gate because then I ate it and I was like, oh my gosh, this is so spicy. Spice gate.

You said, you said, this is delicious. You said multiple times. It was. It was just really spicy. No, you said multiple times. It was, it was just really spicy. No, you said multiple times. Spicy chicken. Spicy chicken. Three different instances.

Well, the stuff you made this morning was so much better because it wasn't so, it was a bit. But you said, this is a gate that we have just, this is a gate. Oh, it's a gate. No, it's a very gate. I'm rarer and I don't know. I know medical history.

I don't know, you know, modern Japanese history. But my understanding is that culturally, this was a time where a lot of things would have been called phenomena. That was a popular thing. And to the rest of the world, I will adjust it. I thought a little bit of the spice was nice. It just, yes.

It was hot buttered Cheerios with hoisin sauce. And almost aet in there. So because of this, the need to defecate after being in a bookstore for a little bit, urgently I should say, became known as the Mariko Ayoki phenomenon. And as I'm going to talk about this. I'm gonna talk about this. I know, I know, I just know. At least reached out. It was like, hey, you're about to have your 15 minutes and it's for this. Hey.

This is gonna be your, I mean, speaking as the berries and cream guy, like this is her berries and cream. Well, look at the next thing I wrote, before you get worried. Yeah, okay. She reportedly has no problem with this. Well, look at the next thing I wrote before you get worried. Yeah, okay. She reportedly has no problem with this. So I worried about this too. As I was researching this, I was like, oh. Yeah, you can't put that.

What if this poor woman did not want to be known for this? She has had multiple follow up interviews with Book Magazine where they talked to her about it and where she says like, yeah, I'm totally fine with this being named after me and this phenomenon being associated with me. Like it does not bother me. I'm not a centerpiece one or then two questions. What for question one, how do you feel about this pooping syndrome in your interview?

Question two, so do you still have to poop when you're in both stores? Indivine review. Well, I, so we're going to go through this medicallyby-step, but I think it's important to note this Phenomenon seems to have really captured the imagination of a lot of people It really seems to be for whatever reason something that has interested a lot of people has Resulted in a lot of research and scholarship and focus a lot of people seem to latch on to this idea So that why were there multiple follow-up interviews for that reason because a lot of people seem to latch on to this idea.

So why were there multiple follow up interviews for that reason? Because a lot of people had questions. Now, as much as there has been scholarship done since then, it is worth noting because as I was reading through this, there were several mentions people have said, like now I know we attribute this to Marie-Goyeoki, but there were mentions of this prior to 85.

And it seems to be mainly, and this is also probably a function of where this research has been done. So like most of the literary references prior to this were in Japanese literature, but a lot of the research and interest was in Japan and it continues to be so, I don't know, there may be references to this outside of Japan, but that's where they've been investigating. But there are like mentions of this in different books, like as far back as the 1950s. There are mentions on some radio programs and some magazines. So like this wasn't the first time that this idea that you go into a bookstore and then urgently have to poop has been introduced,

it was just that this article is what broke through the public consciousness and really introduced it as its own idea. Yeah. Because by the 1990s, by the 1990s, it was just sort of an accepted fact. Once you put it in a platform like home, it's actually, it's like, who's not reading that magazine. And then as you get into the 2000s with the internet, like an idea like this can really take off, right? Because then everybody everywhere can know about it. And people can write about it. They can try to validate it, try to do surveys about it,

try to replicate it and see, is this something that is really real? And the studies that have been done on this, they range from, so first of all, there are a lot of surveys of people who experience it, like to try to understand it better, sort of like qualitative research. Tell me about where it happens, what is it like, what does it feel like, you know, what, what did you do the night before, what did you eat that day, like all these different,

sort of collecting data from people who already experience it, and then like demographics, like age, gender, that kind of thing. And then there's also like studies of the general population, like they've done surveys in Japan, like to ask people where you most likely to need to feel the urge to poop, like while you're standing on a train platform or while you're sitting in your office or while you're in a bookstore and while you're in a bookstore comes up pretty high on the list of like where you might need to have to poop. They've also done things like a blinded study to see, okay, is this real or is this just people thinking it because they read about it? So they did one study where they had people like wander around a bookstore,

which I love the idea of like tell them, what did you tell them? Here's what I need you to do for this study that you've signed up for. Go in this bookstore and wander around. Yeah. And just be there. Just be there.

Just be in the bookstore. Just be there. And then after they were done, they set them down and interviewed them. And they were like, so did you poop? But would you feel personally, if I had, would feel like a trap to be? Yeah, that would feel very targeted, Sydney. I'm like, so, uh, why we have here?

Did you poop in there? You're pooping there? Why don't they? Here, that's a stupid way of doing that study. You know what you should do? Do it, uh, well, just stand outside the door of the bookstore and say, did you have a poop while you're in there? Or what, what's the deal?

Honey, if you sit outside the door of a bookstore and just ask people on their way out, it's like you've been inside. I would be dressed like a scientist. You would be arrested. I wouldn't dress like a scientist because I don't want to put people on edge. So it would be more like just like a regular guy.

And I wouldn't have anything obvious to write with or to write on. It would just be standing and I would sort of. No, no, no, okay. You are your customer in borders. You're a customer. Good pull. Can I do Walden Books and stuff?

You're a customer at Walden Books. You have just browsed the shelves for a while. You're exiting Walden books at the Huntington Mall. The Dalton books are. Uh-huh. And there is a guy standing there outside. Now, which scenario is more unsettling? He's in a lab coat with like science goggles and a clipboard and he's like, excuse me, sir. Did you poop all you're in there? And he's like writing down your information or just some guy in like,

you know, a Shrek T-shirt. Why are you making foot on my Shrek T-shirt? Is there anything out of clean? He's hanging out in the Shrek T-shirt and he's like, hey man, hey man, real quick, real quick. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Did you, uh, Shrek, did you poop in there? And he didn't have a clip or any, so he's not writing anything down. It just seems like he needs to know for his own interest. Which one is worth? Moving on. Okay.

They're both bad. I will say. So, uh, they got some data from this, from all these studies that were done over time and different people were doing this, different thinkers, researchers, psychologists, just people who wanted to know more. And some data that emerged from this is that, wow, we don't really know how frequently

it occurs. They've estimated it could be up to one in ten people. Wow. Studies were like one in ten to one in twenty now again, who knows. I need to know how many people usually are pooping in the, I guess there's not, you can't do a control, right? Because if once you're in there, you're in there. I guess the control would be go into a clothes store and see if you have to poop.

Yeah, well, you could compare it to other stores or like a sham bookstore, but I don't know how you create a bookstore that isn't a bookstore, but people think it's a bookstore. Uh-huh. Like you go in and just pictures of books on, like you go touch them and they're just cardboard

Things with pictures and books on them. Okay. Can I make a request? I need you to move my brain is doing so quickly on theories for this Okay, I'm gonna get to I know I have a lot of thoughts We're gonna get to theories on it, but before we do that We're gonna have to hit the billion department. Let's go No, the billion department always brings you have to hit the billing department. Let's go! Oh no, the billing department always rings to you after proof. The medicines, the medicines, the escalate macaws before the mouth. Hi, I'm Anna Belger Rich and I'm Laura House. And we're the host of Tiny Victories. My tiny victory is that I sewed that button back on the day after it broke

We talk about that little thing that you did that's a big deal to you But nobody else cares did you get a Guggenheim genius award? We don't want to hear from you We want little bit of tiny victories my tiny victories a tattoo that I would add on to this best weekend Let's talk about it my victory is that I'm one year cancer free Let's talk about it. My victory is that I'm one year cancer free, but my tiny victory is that I took all of the cushions off the couch, pounded them out, put them back, and it looks so great. So if you're like us, if you want to celebrate the tiny achievements of ordinary people, listen to tiny victories.

It's on every Monday on Maximum Fund. Alright, Sid. I was getting anxious, but I'm going to let you keep your own pace. I'm so excited to talk about why this is happening. I have lots of theories. Okay. Well, there are a lot of theories. Trust me.

So, a little bit more info on who gets it. It seems to be mainly an adult thing. Seems like 20s and 30s are like prime years for this. Certainly there were a couple kids, a couple older adults, but mainly 20s and 30s. It does seem to have like a slightly female predominance. There was one study that noted it never happens in quote, sporty males.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I don't know what that means. Just regular sporty males in a bookstore. Sporty males in bookstores don't poop. I mean, they regular sporty mails in a bookstore. Sporty mails in bookstores don't poop. I mean, they poop, but not in the bookstore. Yeah. It is noted that Mariko Ayogi's mom thinks it has a genetic predisposition

because her uncle has it too. Oh, interesting. So that's an interesting, you know, piece of information. People describe it different ways. Three things are always consistent. You're in the bookstore for a while. Like, it's not something that hits you when you walk in. Like, you're in there for a little bit. You get the urge to poop and the urge itself is very sudden. Like, it's not like, I think I have

to go to the bathroom. It's like, oh no, oh no, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like that. I guess you could make it. Like cartoon noises. Some people say it is when you have found the book you want. Some people say it's when you have found the book you want. Some people say it's like when you're ready to make your final selection, like you're ready to narrow it down. Others say it's that when you're just sort of like you get to a part of the bookstore and you look around

and you're closed in by a bunch of shelves, there's shelves all around you. That's what triggers the urge. Some people get other symptoms with it, like shortness of breath or dizziness. A lot of people panic, but part of that is just like, I need to get to the bathroom. Most seem to be able to make it to the toilet, not all. Oh man.

Most can like successfully get to the bathroom before they poop, but not everybody. Yeah, okay, wait, wait, wait. So the scientists is like, did you poop in there? And you're like, well, yes I did. wait so the scientists is like did you poop in there and you're like well yes I did and then the scientists is like just one more question uh before I let you go um one more question did you poop in your pants? well yes I did there's been a lot of debate about libraries do libraries count because some people are like oh it absolutely happens in? Because some people are like, oh, it absolutely happens in libraries. And other people are like very distinct. No, no, no, it never happens in the library,

but it absolutely does happen in the book. What if they're doing the use book fair of stairs on the fourth floor in the AV area? They're selling books. Then all of a sudden. There are, they did ask in a lot of these studies, bookstore employees, because that seems like a good place to start. And most of them don't have, like they seem pretty immune to it. Like if you work in a bookstore, you are not doing, you know, thank goodness, that'd be hard. Other types of stores are mentioned.

Like people will say, this also happens to me, you know, in clothing stores or shoe stores or whatever, you know, other places you might go and spend a little bit of time browsing TJ Maxx perhaps, but not as consistently as the bookstore the bookstore seems to come up the most I appreciated they asked people to describe what the urge feels like when you get the urge to experience it before Well, I think what they were looking for was like the intensity. And like a lot of these explanations

are what most of us feel like I think when we have to poop, which is like. Just the regular poop feels like a heaving sensation in the rectal passage or a filling up sensation in the lower abdominal area. So like, you know, like you got to poop. But other people said things like it was, quote, hellish, hellish, and Armageddon class. Wow. So when we talk about an intense urge to poop, I think it's important

to remember. Very intense. Very intense for some people. I mean, not everybody experiences, but there were people who like, as a result said that before they would go to a bookstore, they would ensure they weren't wearing white pants There was one person who said he would never Go to bookstores because of this and there was somebody who wouldn't even live near bookstores because just the thought or sight of a bookstore Made them have to poop so badly. Yeah, that they avoided all like mention and appearance of bookstores in their lives Okay, so why okay? Can I can I be my theory? Okay, there's lots of theories that they avoided all like mention and appearance of bookstores in their lives. Okay. So why?

Okay. Can I, can I give you my series? Okay. There's lots of theories. Okay. I'll go through mine quickly then. Okay. Are you going to tell us if you experience this at some point?

Are you, is that like a, you're saving it towards the end? I've already said I've never experienced this. You know me, if there's a public bathroom, I just got to get it there. You know me. This is true about Justin. If he uses every public restroom we encounter like at a restaurant. That's like that's like step one. We sit down. We order the drinks. He's in the bathroom. Yeah. Okay. Um, I mean, I don't, I mean commentary there.

It's just an embarrassing person. I try never use public restaurants. Uh, yeah. Uh, we're, you say, it's my mother. Okay. Uh, here's number one. And I really like this, this theory. I'm, Yeah, we're you say Okay Here's number one and I really like this this theory. I'm I'm I think it's probably a constellation of things because this is not some weird Freak occurrence. It is having to poop. I mean we all right. That is something we all do So I think there's probably a little bit of the hiccup phenomenon as I call it where it's just like what was the last thing The air to day before you last thing you did before your hiccups were cured. Well, that didn't cure your hiccups. But one, what is something that is sold in book stores

other than books? Coffee. Yeah. This is something people have brought up. That's one. The other one is that I was thinking about is, you go into, there's almost no need in the same age to go into a bookstore. Like you really compared to a lot of stores like you probably don't need to go

into the bookstore. You're going to the bookstores like you like to go into the bookstore, right? So you're going to be less directed and you're just kind of like, I don't know, it's gonna see what's at the bookstore. Right. So you're just like spending maybe a little bit longer there. you're relaxing a little bit, you're a little more comfortable. Oh, what's that? Oh. Mm. Mm.

I think I need to poop. The relaxation theory. The relaxation theory. Yeah. That is one of the theories. I like the coffee thing though. Some people have said, okay. Because even if you don't drink the coffee there, right,

you may have an association with that. And Japan is huge into coffee, right? Like, I don't know that. I don't know if coffee in book And Japan is huge into coffee, right? Like, I don't know that. I don't know if coffee in bookstores is like a thing, right? But they're in Japan, but like, here very much is a thing. Yeah.

So I wonder if like even the smell of a coffee, you have this association. And the coffee bookstores smells like coffee. That would be my thing. That is one of the, so you're kind of hitting on one of the major theories is just association. Which is, was one of the thoughts that I have as to why maybe I've never experienced this.

They say people who read on the toilet maybe they experience more often because they associate books and reading with going to the bathroom. So you're in a bookstore, it makes you, you know, it's just that sort of association. I've never been much to do that. So perhaps that's why some people experience it. So that has been thought as one explanation. The coffee has been brought up, is it just that you're walking around and drinking coffee and walking around and drinking something like coffee

could make you have to defecate? So maybe it's just that. There is another theory that for a while they investigated is it the smell of ink and paper that somehow stimulates the olfactory nerve and then it makes you have to poop somehow? Well, they check this out actually. Oh, really? Once on a Japanese TV show, the real side of Unan, and they tried to get people to poop by smelling ink, like they gave them ink to

smell and then said, do you have to poop? And it didn't work. And the big thing that kind of undoes this theory is if the smell of ink and paper makes people have to poop, why are the bookstore employees or people who work in places where books are manufactured? why are they not all the first ones to you know have this and they're not. And actually, Mariko Ayoki at one point even noted, I used to work somewhere in like a production facility where there was ink and paper and I never experienced it there. So our first subject in this research kind of debunked that theory. This led to like a conspiracy theory actually that perhaps it was something the paper industry was doing to sell more toilet paper. kind of debunked that theory. This led to like a conspiracy theory actually that perhaps it was something the paper industry

was doing to sell more toilet paper. We're putting something in the paper in the bookstore that makes you have to poop so that we can sell you more toilet paper later. I think the crack that said. Which would be, that would be a wild move. A wild playbook in this paper industry. By a big paper.

Some, and I've actually, I've read a couple of gastroenterologists' opinions who have said this might actually have something, not that they're saying it's true, but like, yeah, there's some sense here, that when you are in a bookstore, if you're really looking at a lot of different things, you're bending down to pick up books, you're bending over to look at things, maybe you're squatting to like look at idols on lower shelves. It gets as bustles going. And maybe it's just a positional thing. Squatch sit around to make it go out like a play-down.

Well, it's like a posture thing. I mean, if you think about items like the squatty potty, which put you in a better pooping position, maybe you're just putting your body in a really ideal pooping position, a lot in a bookstore if you're in there for a while And so then it makes you have to poop. So it could be and there were there were GI docs were like, you know, maybe maybe anxiety comes up a lot and in both ways like is it anxiety related in the sense that You're out in public and what if you do have to poop, is there a bathroom nearby?

And that fear of not being able to get to a bathroom actually stimulates, because we know that there are, you know, the neurotransmitters from your brain affect your gut directly. So we know that in conditions like irritable bowel syndrome and things like that. It is not uncommon to have feelings of nervousness or anxiety lead to cramping, diarrhea, bloating, even nausea, different things like that. It's like the more extreme extension of a nervous tummy or butterflies in your stomach, right? I'm really impressed by how casually you're throwing out poop, the word poop, you're getting really good at saying it without any hesitation. Well, this whole episode, you know, you've been trading yourself. There's, and then there's also exactly like you said.

So is it anxiety that causes you to poop or is it the opposite? Is it that when you're in a bookstore, it's a relaxing situation. You're taking your time, your browsing books that you might want to buy, you're enjoying yourself. Usually bookstores are that you might want to buy, you're enjoying yourself. Usually bookstores are soothing environments, they might have some nice music playing. People generally aren't incredibly loud in a bookstore, and maybe you're just so relaxed, and that is, you do need in terms of like your parasympathetic nervous system,

you do need to relax to poop. And so maybe, maybe the hustle and bustle of society is constipating you and the calm of a bookstore is a respite for your bows. I love this. The best for presents to me. There have been some more like philosophical kind of suggestions that like, some is like, when confronted with the overwhelming amount of like Information and data and like the human this human creation of all that is in a bookstore Overwhelmed and you must be achieved as a society I must add to this great work

Or like an academic fervor. Like you get inside, you see all of this work and you just can't. You don't know how I'll express it. Your body must. I have no mouth, and I must poop. This is, I should have sent a pooit. Look at this.

And this gets into some more, like, some more, like, sort of metaphysical kind of, like, I must empty myself to allow room for the information and the experience of the books and all this, like that sort of kind of take on it. Or just something as simple as the anxiety of having to choose one book over another, you get to the point where like,

I've been in here a while, I need to pick a book, which one do I pick? Is it bad? This is gone far enough. It's been investigated, could a certain eye movements cause the urge to poop as in like scanning bookshelves, scanning titles? Like they've tried to get people to like,

do gaze studies where they follow their eyes to do that and does that trigger this urge. And then this idea of like again, I thought this was interesting. I saw somebody draw the connection to meditation. So and you meditate, I don't, but they talk about how in meditation breathing is something that grounds you to like your physical self, to the moment, to your presence still here on earth while your mind is going elsewhere, is kind of transcending your physical presence, right? Well, what if in the bookstore, all of the creativity and beauty and information is taking you out of yourself and into this realm of ideas and creativity and things.

And pooping is a way of grounding your body in its physical self in the moment. That one's not true. That was me, he says. He spent a lot of time on that. It was nothing. I just thought it was interesting. It's not interesting. It's not interesting. I just thought it was interesting. No, it's coffee. I cracked it. And squatting. Coffee squats. It could just be squatting and coffee,

but it could also be something about our urge to connect our insides with our outsides and ground us as we allow our mind to be taken by flights of ideas. Or to be, or to be nothing. It could be, this is the other thing. A lot of people who studied it have also said, you know, maybe this is a different phenomenon

what's been called the bottom mine off phenomenon. It's frequency bias. It's when you just notice, it's when you've never noticed this before, but then once it's called to your attention, you can't stop noticing it. It's like after you read the works or Douglas Adams and all of a sudden 42 pops up everywhere. Exactly.

It's just you're just noticing it. So when this letter was published from Mariko Ayoki about having to poop in bookstores, every time somebody had to poop in a bookstore after that, they noticed it. And maybe that's all this is. Well, never know. Either way, maybe after listening to this podcast, you're going to notice every time you have to poop in a bookstore or TJ Maxx. And hey, if you do have to poop in a bookstore, tweet that at Sydney Manor.

No, don't. Sydney wants to know about where you're pooping, how you're pooping. That's your personal information that you don't have to HIPPA protects you from sharing. Oh, wow. HIPPA protects me from telling you my personal pooping information. That's not true, but what if it was, but what if it was? Thank you so much for listening.

And thanks to taxpayers for using their song, Saul Bones, is the, you know, their song is called Medicines. It's not called Saul Bones. I've only said this, 328 times. Thanks to the taxpayers for these, there's a song Medicines is the International Rappers Program. And thanks to you for listening.

Oh, you know what, I have a quick little plug. You know, show you might like, if you like this show, if you like learning a little something, our friend Michael Beck makes a podcast called Ask the Ascot, A-S-C-O-T, episodes or Tim Manslong, it's just our smart friend Michael Beck, who is the pure listener of the adventure zone,

I still has a voice for my character, Taco. This is very smart, very funny. Very smart, very funny, ask the Ascot, check it, totally out. And that's gonna do it for us, until next time. My name is Justin McRoy. I'm Sydney McRoy. And as always, don't drill a hole in your head! Alright! Maximumfun.org Comedy and Culture

Artist-Oat? Audience-supported. Are you feeling elevated levels of anxiety? Do you quake uncontrollably even thinking about watching cable news? Do you have disturbing nightmares? Only to realize it's two in the afternoon and you're up. If you've experienced one or more of these symptoms, you may have FNO. News overload.

Fortunately, there's treatment. Hi, I'm Dave Holmes, host of Troubled Waters. Troubled Waters helps fight FNO. That's because Troubled Waters stimulates your joys zone. On troubled waters, two comedians will battle one another for pop culture supremacy. So join me, Dave Holmes, for two, two, two doses of troubled waters a month.

The cure for your f*** news overload, available on MaximumFun.org, or wherever you get your podcasts. on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts.