Episode 1: Classic Metal

Random Facts: History Lesson

Since tonight is Classic Metal, I wanted to supply you with some historical random snippets of knowledge.

#1: Going from the science side of things: Did you know Albert Einstein was offered the role of Israel’s second President in 1952, but declined.

#2: Did you know that England’s King George 1 was actually German, sorry Led Zeppelin Scorpions for the steal. Yeah, the Scorpions are from Hanover, Germany to be honest this was news to me a couple of years ago, I didn’t know that, and know you do too!
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#3:  People were buried alive so often in the 19th century that inventors patented safety coffins that would give the "dead" the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive. That’s a little morbid, but hey you never know maybe next week’s theme will be Death Metal (haha joke)
Source: https://list25.com/25-strange-facts-from-history-you-probably-didnt-learn-in-school/5/
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/51-historical-facts-that-are-totally-messed-up?utm_term=.jiVOdqeQ1#.ptWd1lBqy
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/51-historical-facts-that-are-totally-messed-up?utm_term=.lgV1xdrNo#.noV3ymOp2

Episode 2: Pirate Metal

Guest Micki!

Random Facts: 3.14...... Math!

Since tonight is Pirate Metal AND Pi Day, I wanted to supply you with some food, historical, and mathematical random snippets of knowledge.

#1: Pie was not always America's favorite dessert – in the 19th Century, fruit pies were a common breakfast food eaten before the start of a long day. The Ancient Egyptians around 2,500BC are known to have eaten pies made with ground oats or wheat wrapped around a filling of honey or figs.

#2: A pizza that has radius "z" and height "a" has volume Pi × z × z × a.

#4:  Also Steven Hawking died yesterday at age 76 evening. On Pi-Day Eve, how upsetting is that?  
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Source: https://www.livescience.com/58249-surprising-facts-about-pi.html

Episode 3: Death Metal

Random Facts: Animal and Scandinavia

Since tonight is Death Metal night AND Maddie the Dog’s ninth Birthday, I wanted to supply you with some animal and Scandinavian random snippets of knowledge.
 
#1: Male fireflies emit light a lot more often than females in order to attract mating partners. Sometimes the females ‘flash back’ to lure the males closer so they can eat them alive.
 
#2: Dimmu Borgir is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Oslo, Norway, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, Faroese and Old Norse.

#3: Greek philosopher Chrysippus is said to have died of laughter after getting his donkey drunk, trying to eat figs.

Source: https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/36-random-animal-facts-that-may-surprise-you
Source: https://www.thefactsite.com/2010/09/300-random-animal-facts.html
Source: https://www.thedodo.com/16-amazing-animal-facts-1094218100.html

Episode 4: Symphonic Metal

Random Facts: Music Trivia

Since tonight is Symphonic Metal night, I wanted to supply you with some instrumental facts and random snippets of knowledge.
 
#1: Ringo Starr is a left-handed drummer who plays a right-handed drum kit, leading to his peculiar and uncharacteristic drumming style..
 
#2: Rick Allen, the drummer for Def Leppard, lost his arm after a car accident in 1984. He thought he could never play in the band again and became very depressed until a fellow drummer helped him design an electronic drum kit that could be played with only one arm. He returned to the band in 1986.
 
#3: American composer John Cage (1912–1992) composed a work in 1952 entitled 4' 33", which consists of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence.

Source: https://factrepublic.com/100-interesting-facts-musical-instruments/

Episode 5: Classic Metal

Random Facts: History Lesson

Since tonight is Classic Metal, I wanted to supply you with some historical random snippets of knowledge.

#1: Before there were alarm clocks, there were “knockers-up”, who were hired to shoot dried peas from a blow gun at people’s windows in order to wake them up in the morning.

#2: In 1929, a group of women nicknamed the ‘Spruce Girls’ donned some specially made spruce wood swimming costumes and posed for photos on a beach in Hoquiam, Washington. The women were promoting the Grays Harbor timber trade during ‘Wood Week’ – a promotional scheme to advertise local lumber businesses.
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Despite catching the attention of nearby residents and the press, the trend for wooden swimming costumes never caught on.
​
#3: Why have two wheels when you can cycle to your destination on just one? Rousseau of Marseilles thought just that when he designed the monowheel in 1869. The driver would sit inside an enormous wheel, which was just over two metres high, and they would control the steering by simply maintaining their balance – there was no proper steering device.
 
In the early 20th century, some designs of monowheels were improved by the addition of small engines and aeroplane propellers to help with the steering. Many different models emerged over the years, but the monowheel never caught on as a popular mode of transport. 

Source:http://boredomtherapy.com/weird-history-facts/
Source: http://www.viralnova.com/weird-history/
Source: http://www.wordsiseek.com/interesting-historical-facts/
Source: https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/13-weird-historical-facts/
Source: https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/6-weird-inventions-in-history/

Episode 6: Progressive Metal

Random Facts: Hip New Knowledge (HNK)

Since tonight is Progressive Metal, I wanted to supply you with some Cool upcoming random snippets of knowledge.

#1: Remember all the trouble Pluto that dwarf planet got well imagine being the person who NAMED the not so planet. Venetia Burney, who at age 11 suggested the name “Pluto” for the ninth planet in our solar system, lived to see it demoted to a dwarf planet in 2006.

#2: Never fear if you don’t speak the language of the said country you are in because the expression "Huh?" is understood in all languages.

#3: Most students I know can’t wait for Summer break, ‘Sleep is for the weak’ during school months but when do we college students catch up? Have you tried sleeping through summer? Hibernation is for the winter. Estivation is sleeping through the summer!

Source: http://mentalfloss.com/

Episode 7: Local Metal

Random Facts: Northwest Grown

Since tonight is Local Metal, I wanted to supply you with some Northwest snippets of knowledge.

#1: Before it became a state, the territory was called Columbia (named after the Columbia River). When it was granted statehood, the name was changed to Washington, supposedly so people wouldn't confuse it with The District of Columbia.

#2: During the Great Depression, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia river as part of a project to increase the production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the United States.

#3: Puget Sound's many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the United States.

#4: Spokane was the smallest city in size to host a World's Fair. – 1974

#5: And speaking of World’s Fair: Seattle is home to the first revolving restaurant in the 48 contiguous United States (and the second revolving restaurant in the world). Located atop the Space Needle, at a height of 500 feet above sea level, the restaurant was opened in 1961.

Source: https://www.50states.com/facts/washington.htm

Episode 8: Viking Metal

Random Facts: Viking Trivia

​Since tonight is Viking Metal, I wanted to supply you with some Awesome Viking related snippets of knowledge.

#1: Between rowing boats and decapitating enemies, Viking men must have stunk to high Valhalla, right? Quite the opposite. Excavations of Viking sites have turned up tweezers, razors, combs and ear cleaners made from animal bones and antlers. Vikings also bathed at least once a week—much more frequently than other Europeans of their day—and enjoyed dips in natural hot springs.

#2: This may come as a disappointment, but most Viking men brandished scythes, not swords. True, some were callous pirates who only stepped off their boats to burn villages, but the vast majority peacefully sowed barley, rye and oats—at least for part of the year. They also raised cattle, goats, pigs and sheep on their small farms, which typically yielded just enough food to support a family.

#3: Now let’s talk about the ladies: Viking girls got hitched as young as 12 and had to mind the household while their husbands sailed off on adventures. Still, they had more freedom than other women of their era. As long as they weren’t thralls, Viking women could inherit property, request a divorce and reclaim their dowries if their marriages ended.

Source: https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-vikings

Episode 9: Classic Metal

Random Facts: Music Trivia

I asked and you responded!
I asked what you wanted Nerd talk to be about tonight since you didn’t get to pick the sub-genre… So here is some Music Trivia:

#1: did you know that the woman on Black Sabbath's seminal debut album has never been identified? 45 years since the record's release and nobody knows who she is.

#2: Led Zeppelin performed in Denmark under the name ‘The Nobs’ because Eva von Zeppelin, granddaughter of the inventor of Zeppelin airships, threatened to sue them otherwise for tarnishing the family name.

#3:  The term ‘heavy metal’ was coined by Steppenwolf in the song Born To Be Wild – but they weren’t talking about a music genre in the song, they were referring to a motorbike.

#4: In a 2014 episode of The Simpsons, Bart wrongly referred to metal band Judas Priest as ‘death metal’. Following outrage from fans, the following episode opened with Bart writing on the blackboard: ‘Judas Priest is not “Death Metal”’.

#5: The last time Monty Python star Graham Chapman appeared on film before he died was in the music video for the Iron Maiden song Can I Play With Madness.
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Source: http://loudwire.com/100-metal-facts/
Source: https://www.loudersound.com/features/11-essential-heavy-metal-facts-from-the-qi-elves

Episode 10: Folk Metal

Random Facts: Mythology

Since it is Folk Metal night how about some Mythology! That sounds cool dontcha think?

#1: The cosmology of the worlds in which all beings inhabit—nine in total—centers around a cosmological tree, Yggdrasil. The gods inhabit the heavenly realm of Asgard whereas humanity inhabits Midgard, a region in the center of the cosmos. Outside of the gods, humanity, and the jötnar, these Nine Worlds are inhabited by beings, such as elves and dwarfs. Travel between the worlds is frequently recounted in the myths, where the gods and other beings may interact directly with humanity.
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#2:  Moon Rabbit: 
Asian folklore:
In the Buddhist Jataka tales (Tale 316), a monkey, an otter, a jackal, and a rabbit resolved to practice charity on the day of the full moon (Uposatha), believing a demonstration of great virtue would earn a great reward. When an old man begged for food, the monkey gathered fruits from the trees and the otter collected fish, while the jackal wrongfully pilfered a lizard and a pot of milk-curd. The rabbit, who knew only how to gather grass, instead offered its own body, throwing itself into a fire the man had built. The rabbit, however, was not burnt. The old man revealed himself to be Śakra and, touched by the rabbit's virtue, drew the likeness of the rabbit on the Moon for all to see. It is said the lunar image is still draped in the smoke that rose when the rabbit cast itself into the fire. The legend is popular and part of local folklore throughout Asia in China, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.
The reason why there's a rabbit on the Moon is explained in the buddhist fable Śaśajâtaka, whose name also remember one of the Sanskrit words for the Moon: that literally means “(the one) whose mark is a hare”.

Indigenous American Folklore:
Similar legends occur in Mexican folklore, where people also identified the markings on the Moon as a rabbit. According to an Aztec legend, the god Quetzalcoatl, then living on Earth as a man, started on a journey and, after walking for a long time, became hungry and tired. With no food or water around, he thought he would die. Then a rabbit grazing nearby offered herself as food to save his life. Quetzalcoatl, moved by the rabbit's noble offering, elevated her to the Moon, then lowered her back to Earth and told her, "You may be just a rabbit, but everyone will remember you; there is your image in light, for all people and for all times."

Native American Folklore:
A Native American (Cree) legend tells a different variation, about a young rabbit who wished to ride the Moon. Only the crane was willing to take him. The trip stretched the crane’s legs as the heavy rabbit held them tightly, leaving them elongated as cranes' legs are now. When they reached the Moon, the rabbit touched the crane’s head with a bleeding paw, leaving the red mark cranes wear to this day. According to the legend, on clear nights, Rabbit can still be seen riding the Moon.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythology

Episode 11: Groooove Metal

Random Facts: Hip Cool and Random

Groooove Metal tonight so I was thinking some Hip new factorinos:

#1: If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

#2:  In the early days of the telephone, operators would pick up a call and use the phrase, "Well, are you there?". It wasn't until 1895 that someone suggested answering the phone with the phrase "number please?"

#3: There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye hip arm leg ear toe jaw rib lip gum).

#4: Okay so this one means my childhood is a lie: The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth. I was told that it was named after the Baseball Player Babe Ruth, since his favorite snack were peanuts.

#5: The newspaper serving Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, the home of Rocky and Bullwinkle, is the Picayune Intellegence. Do kids now a days or people my age know who Rocky and Bullwinkle are? I grew up watching the show and I loved it, but that might be due to the fact Minnesota is my second home.

Source: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bingbin/

Episode 12: Southern Metal

Nerd Talk: Meteorology  

What do you think of when you think of the South?
I think the crazy weather they get.
Let’s Dive in shall we?
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#1. Tornadoes:
In the United States, there are two regions with a disproportionately high frequency of tornadoes. Florida is one and "Tornado Alley" in the south-central United States is the other. Florida has numerous tornadoes simply due to the high frequency of almost daily thunderstorms. In addition, several tropical storms or hurricanes often impact the Florida peninsula each year. When these tropical systems move ashore, the embedded convective storms in the rain bands often produce tornadoes. However, despite the violent nature of a tropical storm or hurricane, the tornadoes they spawn (some as water spouts) tend to be weaker than those produced by non-tropical thunderstorms.
Tornado Alley is a nickname given to an area in the southern plains of the central United States that consistently experiences a high frequency of tornadoes each year. Tornadoes in this region typically happen in late spring and occasionally the early fall. The Gulf Coast area has a separate tornado maximum nicknamed "Dixie Alley" with a relatively high frequency of tornadoes occurring in the late fall (October through December).
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#2. Hurricanes:
The simplest characterization of hurricane intensity is embodied in the Saffir-Simpson scale: from Category 1 ---barely a hurricane--- to Category 5 ---the worst imaginable. "Major Hurricanes" are those in Categories 3, 4, and 5 with winds stronger than 110 miles per hour equivalent to 100 kt or 50 m s-1. Category 5 hurricanes are the most extreme and also the most rare. Only two, the 1935 Labor Day Storm and Camille in 1969 are recorded to have struck the United States. Andrew, at the very top of Category 4 was the third strongest U.S. landfall, and the second strongest on the mainland, given that the 1935 storm hit the Florida Keys.

#3: Dust Storms:
Sand and dust storms are common meteorological hazards in arid and semi-arid regions. They are usually caused by thunderstorms – or strong pressure gradients associated with cyclones – which increase wind speed over a wide area. These strong winds lift large amounts of sand and dust from bare, dry soils into the atmosphere, transporting them hundreds to thousands of kilometres away. Some 40% of aerosols in the troposphere (the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere) are dust particles from wind erosion. The main sources of these mineral dusts are the arid regions of Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia and China. Comparatively, Australia, America and South Africa make minor, but still important, contributions. Global estimates of dust emissions, mainly derived from simulation models, vary between one and three Gigatons per year.

Source: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology/tornado-alley
Source:http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/WWW000/nhurr00.html
​Source: https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/focus-areas/environment/sand-and-dust-storm

Episode 13: Local Metal

Nerd Talk: Volcanology


​Believe it or not we here in Washington are surrounded by active Volcanoes, dormant maybe, but active none the less. Volcanology has erupted (ha pun) in this region of the world since the eruption of Mount St. Helens in May of 1980, but that hasn’t been the last eruption of the explosive mountain the most recent was actually July 10, 2008. It is a fantastic way to study the geology and geography of our ranges here in the Northwest. We actually have 10 in here Washington State alone! Let’s start off with the basics (101 as the cool kids say it) Volcanology is A volcanologist is a geologist who studies the eruptive activity and formation of volcanoes, and their current and historic eruptions. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, especially active ones, to observe volcanic eruptions, collect eruptive products including tephra (such as ash or pumice), rock and lava samples. One major focus of enquiry is the prediction of eruptions; there is currently no accurate way to do this, but predicting eruptions, like predicting earthquakes, could save many lives.

Now what are the volcanoes in Washington state?

Glacier Peak:
Glacier Peak is a stratovolcano in northern Washington and the most remote of the Cascade volcanoes. Its name comes from the 11 glaciers on its flanks. Glacier Peak forms a prominent peak in the rugged forested terrain of the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area in the North Cascades. Glacier Peak is a dacitic-andesitic stratovolcano with summit and flank lava domes; it resembles Mount St. Helens in its explosive vigor.
Several major explosive eruptions and episodes of lava dome growth occurred in the past 10,000 years. Ash deposits from these eruptions are found over wide distances to the east. Voluminous pyroclastic flow and mudflow deposits extend into the Puget Sound lowlands to the west. Some of these deposits diverted river courses into adjacent valleys.
The latest eruption of Glacier Peak was only a few hundred years ago and was noted by Pacific Northwest Indians. Hot springs are found on its flanks.

Mt Adams:
stratovolcano 50 km east of Mt St Helens volcano is the by volume second largest volcano of the Cascades Range, after Mt. Shasta.
Mount Adams is the center of a 200 km3 volcanic field. The andesitic-dacitic volcano was built by several overlapping cones. It is elongated along a NNW-SSE line and has a flat summit with an ice cap and more than 60 flank vents.
The upper region of Mount Adams comprises 10 glaciers, barren moraines, and alpine meadows. Below 2000 m elevation, most of the volcano is covered by dense forest.
Mt Adams: is popular among climbers and hikers. The only settlements near the volcano are Trout Lake and Glenwood villages, which are the base for excursions during the summer months. The nearest larger towns are Yakima (85 km NE), Goldendale (65 km SE), White Salmon-Hood River (55 km S), and Portland-Vancouver (100 km SW).
Volcanism at Adams volcano began about 940 thousand years ago (ka), with 3 main cone-building stages occurring at about 500, 450 and 30 ka. Adams was active throughout the past 10,000 years: about 25 minor explosive eruptions from summit and flank vents can be traced by ash deposits and 6 lava flows from that period are found on the flanks between 2100 and 2600 m altitude. The largest Holocene lava flow traveled at least 10 km and occurred between about 7,000-4,000 years ago.
The most recent eruption occurred about 1000 years ago (radio-carbon dated). It was a relatively small explosive eruption, recognizable as the uppermost ash layer in the area.
A study of postglacial activity suggests future eruptions may occur as strombolian, phreatomagmatic, or phreatic.
A larger hazard is posed by possible flank sector collapse, which would produce a catastrophic debris flow, similar to what happened at Mt. St. Helens in 1980.
An example of such a large debris-avalanche deposit is the Trout Lake Mudflow found high on the southwest side of the summit. It has been radiocarbon-dated to have occurred about 5100–5300 years ago. Trout Lake Mudflow was a single, massive avalanche that reached up to 60 km from the source.
A third hazard are lahars (mud flows) which would be generated by melted ice by an eruption.

Mount St Helens volcano hardly needs introduction. In its spectacular eruption in 1980, it placed itself deep into collective memory, in particular within the NW states of the USA. Prior to this eruption and its gradual reawakening, little attention had been given to the volcanic nature and the beautiful mountain was a popular landmark for excursions.
The eruption in 1980 followed a long repose interval, typical of the volcanoes in the Cascades Range, and is now one the best studied eruptions in history. It started with steam and ash explosions on 27 March 1980, the first eruption in the contiguous USA since the 1914-17 activity of Lassen Peak, California. Activity gradually built up, including the formation of an enormous growing bulge of the northern sector, which at the end measured more than 50 m, caused by intruding magma. The eruption culminated on 18 May when almost the entire northern sector of the mountain collapsed in a giant debris avalanche reaching 30 km. The flank collapse triggered a massive lateral blast wave that totally destroyed everything within a 10 km radius and knocked down trees as far as 30 km. Simultaneously, a vertical Plinian eruption column was erupted from the crater and reached 23 km altitude.
Despite extensive evacuation measures, several people were killed in the eruption, including volcanologist David Johnston (USGS) who was on his turn monitoring the volcano when the eruption occurred.
Prior to the 1980 eruption, Mount St. Helens formed a conical, youthful volcano sometimes called the Fuji-san of America. During the 1980 eruption the upper 400 m of the summit was removed by collapse of the slope, that left a 2 x 3.5 km horseshoe-shaped crater now partially filled by a lava dome. Mount St. Helens is a very young volcano and only about 40-50,000 years old.
It has been the most active volcano in the Cascade Range during the past 10,000 years, and the modern edifice was constructed during the last 2,200 years, when the volcano produced basaltic as well as andesitic and dacitic products from summit and flank vents. Historical eruptions in the 19th century were witnessed by early settlers.

Mt Baker:
50 km east of Bellingham, Washington, is the northernmost of Washington's volcanoes and one of the lesser known ones in the Cascade Range.
Mt Baker Volcano has been very active during the last centuries, but has been in repose now for more than 130 years.
Early settlers in the Puget Sound region observed 19th-century activity, which consisted of relatively small phreatic eruptions. Sherman Crater, the historically active crater immediately south of the summit, started to emit steam since 1975, but no other signs suggest a reawakening in the near future.
The main hazard from Mt Baker are lahars, caused by melting of glacial ice covering the upper slopes. Baker is drained in the north by North Fork Nooksack River, in the west by Middle Fork Nooksack River, and east by Baker River. These valley are at risk of such lahars in case of a new eruption.
The eruption in 1843 killed fish in Baker River, ignited forest and caused minor ash fall in nearby areas. Steam emissions continued at the Sherman Crater and Dorr fumarole field on the north flank until the 1940's and 1950's. Mount Baker is an andesitic stratovolcano constructed above the east flank of an older eroded volcano (Black Buttes volcano) and SW of the early Pleistocene 4.5 x 8 km rhyodacitic Kulshan caldera.
The Schreibers Meadow cinder cone on the SE flank erupted about 9800 years ago. All other historic activity within the past 10,000 years seem to have taken place on the summit vent. A major magmatic eruption at Mount Baker occurred about 6500 years ago. It was followed by caldera collapse and left large lahar deposits in the Nooksack river valley.

Mount Rainier:
the highest peak in the Cascade Range, is located 87 km SE of Seattle and forms a majestic backdrop to the landscape of the region. The volcano is covered by 26 main glaciers, and melting of glacial ice by a future eruption causing lahars are a significant hazard for the region.
Reported 19th-century eruptions can not be verified by any deposits, but it is likely that some phreatic activity took place in 1894.
Previous eruptions have produced large debris avalanches and lahars, some of which have traveled all the way to the Pacific Ocean and reached Puget Sound.
Mount Rainier is a typical andesitic stratovolcano. It has produced large lahars and debris avalanches. Its present summit was built within a large crater breached to the northeast formed by collapse of the volcano during a major explosive eruption about 5600 years ago, that produced the widespread Osceola Mudflow.
Mt Rainier's eruptive history has been studied in detail. It includes about a dozen major eruptions during the past 2600 years, the largest of which occurred about 2200 years ago.
The present-day summit cone is cut by two overlapping craters. Extensive hydrothermal activity is present in the summit craters. It has produced melting of glacial ice created a complex system of steam caves found in the summit icecap.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanology
Source: https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/washington.html

Episode 14: Hair/Classic Metal

Nerd Talk: Music Trivia

Here is some Music Trivia:

#1. Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" was originally written for Celine Dion.

#2: The Guns and Roses song "Sweet Child of Mine" was written in five minutes.

#3: This one I actually knew already but you my friends might not know, "Zombie" by The Cranberries is about terrorism in Northern Ireland.

$4. The song "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams is about yup you guessed it, yeah the sex. In this interview, he said: "Some parts [of the song] are autobiographical, but the title comes from the idea of 69 as a metaphor for sex. Most people thought it was about the year 1969." Fooling all of us, ‘cool kids’.

#5: The song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is not about an LSD trip. It's about a painting John Lennon's son drew for him.
​

Source:https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/songs-youll-never-be-able-to-listen-to-the-same-way-again?bffb&utm_term=.biDnJNl5E#.wwbO0nZ4Y

Episode 14: Avant- Garde

Nerd Talk: Random Facts


​I haven’t done Random facts for a while… So here is some Random Facts:

#1. George Washington died in 1799. The first Dinosaur fossil was discovered in 1824 (Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus), so George never knew that Dinosaurs existed…

#2: New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.

#3: Almost” is the longest word in English with all the letters in alphabetical order.

#4. France was still executing people by guillotine when the first Star Wars movie came out in 1977.

#5: In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital fired some workers for betting on when patients would die.
​

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130170343.html
Source: https://thoughtcatalog.com/jacob-geers/2016/04/really-funny-random-weird-facts/3/ 

Episode 15: Gothic Metal

Nerd Talk: Horror!


Since it is Gothic Metal tonight, how about some horror stories/Movie facts?

#1. In the Philippines, some theaters hired priests to bless the people watching the Conjuring after people complained that they felt ‘a negative presence’ after watching the movie!

#2: Paranormal experts say if you see someone unusual in your dream it is actually a ghost watching you whilst you sleep!
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#3: THE EXORCIST WAS THE FIRST HORROR FILM TO BE NOMINATED FOR A BEST PICTURE OSCAR. The horror genre has never gotten much love from the Academy. Though there still seems to be a bias against scary movies during awards season, The Exorcist earned 10 Oscar nominations in 1974, including a Best Supporting Actress nod for Linda Blair, who was just 15 years old at the time.

#4. PSYCHO IS THE FIRST AMERICAN FILM TO FEATURE A TOILET. Psycho is the first American film to show a toilet on screen. It's also the first American film in which we hear a toilet being flushed. (That's just how repressed Americans were in the 1950s.)
​
#5: The mask for Michael Myers was only described as having “the pale, neutral features of a man,” and for the movie the design was boiled down to two options—both were cheap latex masks painted white and bought for under $2 apiece at local toy stores by production designer Tommy Lee Wallace. One was a replica mask of a clown character called “Weary Willie” popularized by actor Emmett Kelly, and the other was a stretched out Captain Kirk mask from Star Trek. Carpenter chose the whitewashed Kirk mask because of its eerily blank stare that fit perfectly with the Myers character. So thank you William Shatner!
Source: https://www.wattpad.com/298054023-1000-interesting-facts-horror-facts
Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/70635/40-fascinating-facts-about-your-favorite-horror-movies

Episode 16: Local Metal

Nerd Talk: Washington Trivia
​(AKA fourth grade history 2.0)


Local stuff tonight, seeing it is the last Wednesday of June.
I could bore you with Washington State History, but Fourth Grade did that for me, how about simple random trivia about Washington:

1. Washington has no state Dinosaur, I’m upset about that since Paleontology is super cool (not to mention I’m reading Jurassic Park right now)
​
2. Couple years back there were sittings of group of rare six gilled sharks in Puget Sound! I’ll Put a link to a video I discovered that explains how Seattle Aquarium teamed up with local divers to discover these Magnificent creatures.
​(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQwThFPjdGM)

3. Washington has three National parks: Mount Rainer National Park, North Cascades National Park, and Olympic National Park. However one of my favorites a state park not a national park: Flaming Geyser. I have so many cool and fun memories from that place. That was actually the first place I used my ‘fancy camera’. 
​

Source: ​https://kcts9.org/programs/wildlife-detectives/sixgill-sharks-puget-sounds-open-secret

Episode 17: Classic/Hair Metal ('MURICA)

Nerd Talk: Pyrotechniques 


​When you think of Fourth of July what is the first thing that comes into your head?
Mine are the fireworks, pyrotechnics, crazy bombs going off in the skies above.
SO how about some trivia:

1. During the 4th of July, Americans light about 175 million pounds of fireworks, which is equivalent to about 100,000 lightening bolts.

2. While fireworks were invented in China around 200 B.C., it took until about the 15th century before they became part of European celebrations. In England, “fire masters” would light fireworks at parties with the help of their assistants or “green men.” Green men would wear hats of green leaves to put out any sparks while entertaining the crowd. Early fireworks in the form of empty bamboo stalks were invented in China in 200 B.C. However, when the Chinese later invented gunpowder sometime between A.D. 600-900, fireworks became even louder and flashier.

3. So how did ‘Murica figure to use fireworks on it’s b-day well thank Mr. Adams: On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail, that he thought fireworks should be used to celebrate America’s independence from England. Americans have been celebrating their independence with fireworks ever since.
​

Source: https://www.factretriever.com/firework-facts

Episode 18: Glam Metal

Nerd Talk: Minerololgy

What to talk about what to talk about… Glamor makes me think of Diamonds and jewelry so let’s talk about Minerololgy: Yay science!

Little history lesson before the interesting facts: Early writing on mineralogy, especially on gemstones, comes from ancient Babylonia, the ancient Greco-Roman world, ancient and medieval China, and Sanskrit texts from ancient India and the ancient Islamic World. Systematic scientific studies of minerals and rocks developed in post-Renaissance Europe. The modern study of mineralogy was founded on the principles of crystallography and to the microscopic study of rock sections with the invention of the microscope in the 17th century.

Now that that is done let’s lighten things up:

1. Scientists have stated that there are over 3,000 different types of minerals.

2. When magma cools at a slow rate, large mineral crystals are produced, however when it cools at a fast rate, small mineral crystals are produced.

3. Three main groups of minerals are identified on the basis of the Property of color: idiochromatic, allochromatic, and pseudochro-matic:

Idiochromatic minerals are "self colored" due to their composition. The color is a constant and predictable component of the mineral.

Allochromatic minerals are "other colored" due to trace impurities in their composition or defects in their structure. In this case, the color is a variable and unpredictable property of the mineral.
​
Pseudochromatic minerals are "false colored" due to tricks in light diffraction. In these cases, color is variable but a unique property of the mineral.
 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineralogy
Source: http://www.softschools.com/facts/geology/minerals_facts/384/
Source: http://www.geologyin.com/2017/02/14-facts-you-should-know-about-minerals.html#MvL9yFDCpfMeEMOT.99​

Episode 19: Thrasher Metal (AKA punk)

Nerd Talk: Cool Shark facts! (unfortunately a week early)


I think sharks are super cool by far my favorite are the rays!
When my family went to Tampa Bay we went to an aquarium that let you touch and feed the rays and (nurse sharks?) that was where I fell in love with the pancakes of the sea!
Eagle rays are my favorite I have a stuffed one his name is Caesar I got him for my birthday during that trip down south.

ANYWAY time for cool facts about sharks and rays!

#1. Sharks have been living in Earth’s oceans for 450 million years. Same time as the dinosaurs and made it through the KT extinction! Take that dinos!

#2. Unlike fish, sharks can only swim forward. That is because their fins are stiff and cannot be controlled by muscles. They also differ cause unlike Fish they have eye lids!

#3. The oldest known species of living shark in the goblin shark that has been around for 120 million years. The second oldest is the frilled shark that has been around for 80 million years.

#4. The smallest shark is the dwarf lantern that is only grows to six inches and the largest is the whale shark that grows to a whopping 41.5 feet in length. The biggest shark to EVER live was the massive Megalodon that averaged 50 feet in length. Don’t worry though, these terrifying sharks have been extinct for 16 million years. Have you seen the previews for the movie they are making about the Megalodon? It has been taunting me since I first saw the preview….

Source: https://www.sharksider.com/50-amazing-shark-facts/

Episode 20: Local Metal

Nerd Talk: Computer History!


​I picked the music so YOU picked the talk! Yeah teamwork.
I asked and you responded, picking Computer History Lesson from the poll I put out this afternoon.
The pacific northwest is a big factor in the computer world, with Microsoft being one of the big leaders in software.
But let’s go back to the beginning…

#1. It will probably shock some of us that electronic computers of any kind have only been around since the 30’s! Granted calculating devices of any kind have been around for several hundreds of years.

#2. And speaking of the electronic computers, ENIAC was the first electronic computer which was weighed around 27 tons and it’s taken up space around 1800sf (square feet).

#3. The first 1GB hard disk drive was announced in 1980 which weighed about 550 pounds, and had a price tag of $40,000.

#4. Here is a little pop culture/history lesson: Genesis Device demonstration video in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was the first entirely computer generated movie sequence in the history of cinema. That studio later become Pixar.

Source: http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/

Episode 21: Classic Metal

Nerd Talk: Random Facts with Betti


I thought it would be fun to go back to how I started my radio career with good ol’ Random Facts with Betti.

#1. Since Seafair just ended I feel like this little history lesson is cool: So, Seafair was born in an era where Seattle didn’t have any major league sports teams and the city was looking for a big event to make a name for themselves. (Aka the 1950’s) I remember partaking in the Parades during the hot July month… five years of fun marching in the streets in a hot band uniform with the sun in my eyes. Good times…

#2. I love dinosaurs, not as much as I love legos or my dogs, but still they are awesome. When I was searching the web I discovered that there were omnivorous dinos! Oviraptor, Gigantoraptor, Therizinosaurus, Eoraptor, Gallimimus, Pelecaniminus to name a few!

#3. Here is a silly fact, did you know that 7% of grown ADULTS believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows? Seven percent doesn’t sound like much but considering the population of USA is 325.7 million… seven percent of that is roughly 16.4 Million grown adults! So are YOU one of these adults?

Source: http://mynorthwest.com/gallery/a-look-back-history-of-seafair-in-seattle/?
Source: https://dino.wikia.com/wiki/Omnivore
Source: https://www.thefactsite.com/2011/07/top-100-random-funny-facts.html

Episode 22: Symphonic Metal

Nerd Talk: Japan vs. Metal


​You should have seen me practically bouncing and falling off my chair as the premiere song played.
One of the reason I was so ecstatic that I FINALLY was able to play Japanese Artist is because they have some AMAZING interpretations of the Metal genre as a whole.
​ So tonight’s Nerd Talk is going to be about what Japan offers to the metal scene!

#1. With an eye always on the Western world, the people have taken cues from the metal scene at large, first adopting the twin guitar attack of the New Wave of non other than British Heavy Metal of all places, combining it with the wide-eyed stage aesthetic of glam, dubbed visual kei, without conforming to the hair metal craze on much of a musical level.

#2. Known for their appreciation of art culture, often times delving into avant-garde territories regardless of what their metal foundation is, be it black metal, death metal, sludge or anything in between or outside these parameters. The result is a scene that thrives on originality and creativity, discarding sheepish imitation without at least some sense of ingenuity.

Source: http://loudwire.com/best-japanese-metal-bands/

Episode 23: Betti Metal

Nerd Talk: Betti Facts


​I don’t think we have done just a get to know Betti at least not on air…
How about Trivia of Betti:

#1. I love to Garden, it kind of runs in the family, my mom likes to garden (she is more flowers I’m more produce), her dad liked to garden and now me and my plant children.

#2. I don’t have a favorite color, I have several: Indigo is my all time favorite color though, that was the color of my prom dress, I didn’t have to hem it or anything (yay short people problems)

#3. I have been to the entire continental US States besides New Mexico. I grew up very lucky to be able to travel via roadtrips and planes, my family looked for Baseball Parks and State Capitals, and of course State Parks. I’ve a lot of awesome memories of some pretty awesome places.

#4. I can wiggle my ears, this one is a bit silly, but I had to figure out my silly talent. My sister pointed at dinner one evening that my ears seemed to twitch, laughing to myself I wiggled them again on queue and she freaked out. Apparently only about 10-20% of people can do this (whether it is inherited or trained like mine was)

#5. I have actually had 11 surgeries in my almost 22 years of being Betti. So I was born with craniofacial frontal-nasal Dysplasia, or to the non-scientific people a huge hole in my forehead and I was missing the cartilage in my nose, so I had nostrils but no actual bridge to my nose. I actually volunteered at the hospital that operated on me for 6 years just a way for me to say ‘thanks’. My most recent (and hopefully last) surgery was my junior year of high school, just doing minor adjustments to the now bone above my right eye orbit.   

Source: https://www.livescience.com/33809-wiggle-ears.html

Episode 24: Sludge Metal

Nerd Talk: Weird Science!


​I asked and YOU responded!
When I was planning this episode I wanted to incorporate actual ‘science’ science this week.
When I think of Sludge I think of gross or weird things.
So how about some weird science!

#1. When we are kids we are taught that we give the trees CO2 and in return they give us O2 and the cycle continues HOWEVER at least half of Earth's Oxygen comes from the ocean, not trees. Tiny aquatic plants called phytoplankton live near the surface of the water, drift with the currents, and generally do what plants do - make oxygen as a byproduct of taking in sunlight and carbon dioxide. Childhood science ruined.

#2. Here is for the Trekies out there, There's a migraine medication (Sumatriptan) that can actually cause some people's blood to turn dark green when taken in large does. It causes something called sulfhaemoglobinaemia which basically means there's sulphur in your hemoglobin. That's not exactly a good thing. So now we know why Vulcans have green blood all that Sulfer!

#3. Coffee is the most widely used recreational drugs we know of. Ever heard someone say I’m addicted to coffee? Well they just admitted to you something a little deeper than it seems. It's also one of the most addictive. It's a stimulant, like cocaine. When someone says they need a cup of coffee or that they are grumpy before coffee in the morning, they aren't kidding. They may be having withdraw symptoms. The more you know…

#4. Ever wonder why Russia from Hetalia is sometimes holding a Sunflower? Well here is the reason, Sunflowers are sometimes used to clean up nuclear waste and radioactive soil. Sunflowers actually pick up radioactive isotopes, so as they grow, they literally suck the radiation up out of the soil. The flowers and stems are then radioactive, so no word on if they glow at night. Cool, huh?

Source: (https://list25.com/25-weird-science-facts-you-may-not-know/4/) 

Episode 25: Local Metal

Nerd Talk: Oceanography


​I asked and you responded!
So I saw the Meg a couple weeks ago and was so happy that it wasn’t just a remake of Jaws (not that I have anything wrong with Jaws) but it actually had legit science to it!
So see it, it is awesome.
It even has a Shark Week reference that made me and my friend smile very wide!
So why am I bringing this up?
Well Oceanography was a huge part in the movie and since we live in the Puget Sound area why not go for it tonight?

#1. Ninety percent of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans. In 1993, scientists located the largest known concentration of active volcanoes on the sea floor in the South Pacific. This area, the size of New York state, hosts 1,133 volcanic cones and sea mounts. Two or three could erupt at any moment.

#2. At the deepest point in the ocean the pressure is more than 8 tons per square inch, or the equivalent of one person trying to support 50 jumbo jets.

#3. Many of the rules that apply on land are turned upside down in the ocean, some literally. Beneath the surface, often not far from popular vacation beaches, are underwater lakes, waterfalls and even upside-down lakes!

#4. The longest mountain range in the world is under water. Called the Mid-Oceanic Ridge, this chain of mountains runs through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and into the Indian and Pacific oceans. It runs more than 35,000 miles long, has peaks higher than those in the Alps and it comprises 23 percent of the Earth’s total surface.

#5. We didn’t send divers down to explore the Mid-Ocean Ridge until 1973 — four years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon — when a French-American crew of seven entered the 9,000-foot-deep Great Rift in the French submersible Archimede.

​

Source: https://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/education_oceanographic_facts.html
Source: https://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/nature/fun-surprising-facts-about-the-oceans

Episode 26: Hair/Classic Metal

Nerd Talk: History Lesson!


​I asked and you responded!
Since we are listening to classic Metal from the 60’s to the 80’s why not keep the theme and have a history lesson!
Yay!

#1. In the 13th century 30,000 children went on what is known as the Children's Crusade. They were convinced God would allow them to take back the Holy Land without incident, but most died on the journey or were sold into slavery.

#2. In Medieval times the accused often faced a "trial by ordeal," where they were forced to stick their arm into a vat of boiling water. If their arm emerged unscathed, it was believed God protected them, thus proving their innocence.

#3. Before the mid-19th century dentures were commonly made with teeth pulled from the mouths of dead soldiers.

#4. People were buried alive so often in the 19th century that inventors patented safety coffins that would give the "dead" the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive.

#5. After finding a 36,000 year old steppe bison preserved in the ice, Alaskan zoology professor R. Dale Guthrie and his team ate some of its flesh. Guthrie said "the meat was well aged but still a little tough."

Source: (https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/51-historical-facts-that-are-totally-messed-up)

Episode 27: Power Metal

Nerd Talk: Alternative Energy


​Since we are in the 21st century we have acquired and discovered some pretty weird alternative energy sources.
Playing off the theme of the evening let’s charge right to Nerd talk!

#1. Researchers and chemists at Virginia Tech are developing a way to convert sugar into hydrogen, which can be used in a fuel cell, providing a cheaper, cleaner, pollutant-free and odorless drive. The scientists combine plant sugars, water and 13 powerful enzymes in a reactor, converting the concoction into hydrogen and trace amounts of carbon dioxide.

The hydrogen could be captured and pumped through a fuel cell to produce energy. Their process delivers three times more hydrogen than traditional methods, which translates into cost savings. Yay Gas prices lowering!

#2. There are three known "exploding lakes," in the world, called such because they contain huge reservoirs of methane and carbon dioxide trapped in the depths by differences in water temperature and density.
If temperatures should change and the lake turns, these gases would immediately fizz to the surface like a shaken bottle of soda, killing the millions of people and animals living nearby. In fact, such an event happened on August 15, 1984, when Cameroon's Lake Nyos unleashed a huge cloud of concentrated carbon dioxide, instantly suffocating hundreds of people and animals. That would be a fun name for a band, ‘exploding lakes’ or ‘Lake TNT’.

#3. I thought this one was actually quite cool. One hundred billion times more power than humanity currently needs is available right now, out in space. It comes through solar wind, a stream of energized, charged particles flowing outward from the sun. Brooks Harrop, a physicist at Washington State University in Pullman and Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State’s School of Earth and Environmental Science, think they can capture these particles with a satellite that orbits the sun the same distance Earth does. Science is cool guys trust me.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/11/21/11-bizarre-sources-for-alternative-energy.html

Episode 28: Concert Metal
​(Pirate, Stoner, Heavy, Power)

Nerd Talk: Random Facts with Betti


It’s been a while since we have done just a random facts with Betti.
Let’s do that shall we?

#1. Did you know that There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. The kangaroo population is estimated at about 40 million.

#2. The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear. Any cup-shaped object placed over the ear produces the same effect. Sorry to ruin your childhood.

#3. The earliest recorded case of a man giving up smoking was on April 5, 1679, when Johan Katsu, Sheriff of Turku, Finland, wrote in his diary "I quit smoking tobacco." He died one month later.

#4. For all of the young people going back to college: The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado. So take that to your Geography teachers.
​
#5. A little history for this one: Each of the suits on a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the middle ages: heart represented the Church, spades represented the military, clubs represented agriculture, and diamonds represented the merchant class.

Source: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bingbin/

Episode 29: Local Metal (September)

Nerd Talk: Useless Knowledge


​I asked and YOU responded!
This is a little different from Random Facts with Betti, this is ‘School is in session’ aka useless knowledge.
This is not saying that school provides anything but useless knowledge but high school and elementary school supplies quite a lot of it!
So here is School is in Session with Betti!

#1. The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
 
#2. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan. There were no records of anyone named Wendy before the book was published.
 
#3. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
 
#4. Here's one to use at work tomorrow: Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
 
#5. Speaking of the number five All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

Source: https://www.ranker.com/list/19-random-useless-facts-or-useless-knowledge-you-need-to-know/theothermother

Episode 30: Classic Metal

Nerd Talk: Science News!


I asked and YOU responded!
Science News is on for this evening, I will give you a variety of different up-and-coming facts.
So how about that!

#1. For Zoology: The largest known specimen of fruit bat also known as flying foxes has a wing span of six feet! That’s the length of a giraffe’s leg! How crazy is that?

#2. For Chemistry: For the first time in the world, scientists created metallic hydrogen by applying almost five million atmospheres of pressure to liquid hydrogen. That’s about five million times the pressure we experience at sea level, and 4,500 times that at the bottom of the ocean. It is the first time a state of hydrogen has existed in a metallic state on Earth. In its metallic state, hydrogen could act as a genuine superconductor and could revolutionize everything from energy storage to rocketry.

#3. For Genetics: Major strides have been made in the field of regenerative medicine. The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is currently leading projects to speed up the development of artificially growing human tissue and even organs in a lab to help patients worldwide. These new initiatives may one day repair nerve damage and even grow entire limbs and organs. I mean it is still amazing to be a organ donor all the same.

#4. For Astronomy: On April 19 this year scientists at the European Organization for Astronomical Research (ESO) found the best candidate for extraterrestrial life so far. The super-Earth named LHS 1140b was found in the habitable zone of a dim star 40 light-years away from Earth. It receives about half as much sunlight from its star, LHS 1140, as the Earth does from the Sun.

#5. For Geology: The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus. It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. In the aftermath of the last ice age, water levels in the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea rose independently until they were high enough to exchange water. The Black Sea was originally a land-locked fresh water lake and was flooded with salt water during the Holocene. The influx of salt water essentially smothered the fresh water below it, which meant that no oxygen could reach the deep waters. This created a meromictic body of water. This type of underwater environment is hostile to many biological organisms that destroy wood in the oxygenated waters and provides an excellent site for deep water archaeological survey.
​

Source: https://study.com/academy/lesson/fruit-bat-facts-lesson-for-kids.html
Source: https://futurism.com/the-most-significant-scientific-discoveries-of-the-year-so-far
​Source: https://listverse.com/2011/08/21/top-10-recent-geological-discoveries-and-hypothesis/

Episode 31: Speed Metal

Nerd Talk: Video Game History!


I asked and you responded!
I mixed video game history and random facts!
#1. Here is one for the board game fans: More Monopoly money is printed each year than REAL money is printed throughout the WORLD!

#2. The classic coin-op ‘Space Invaders’ was originally developed so that all the enemies moved at the same speed. However, as players destroyed the alien invaders the computer had fewer objects to draw, so it could render the objects faster. The result? As you destroy critters, the remaining ones “march” toward Earth faster.

#3. Since the theme is Speed Metal why not talk about SEGA: Programmer Yuji Naka started with a simple concept—players would control a character inside a ball that rolled through levels in long tubes. Eventually the character evolved to be a rabbit—and like Mario, he could stop and pick things up. However when it was determined his rabbit ears would be too difficult to animate and stopping to pick up items would slow the pace of the game, developers looked to animals that would roll up like balls to retain the style of game and fast action they were going for. A hedgehog was eventually chosen—over an armadillo—and he was first called Mr. Needlemouse.

#4. Chex Quest, which was based on the Doom game engine, is a non-violent first-person shooter released in 1996 as a Chex cereal promotion. It's the first video game ever included as a cereal box prize. HOWEVER The very first video game (and video game character) ever to get its own cereal? Donkey Kong. The Cap’n Crunch-like cereal was “barrels of fun for breakfast,” and not surprisingly the cereal itself was shaped like tiny barrels.
​
#5. Video game designer Mr.Miyamoto gave Mario his iconic mustache so players could see his nose. Because of limited graphics capabilities, Miyamoto made other design shortcuts too, giving the plumber a hat because hair was too hard to draw and animate, and having him wear overalls so players could see his arms move.

Source: http://mentalfloss.com/amazingfactgenerator
Source: https://www.idtech.com/blog/fun-video-games-facts-to-sound-like-expert

Episode 32: Dark Metal

Nerd Talk: Astronomy


Dark Metal tonight and I thought doing a little Astronomy would be fun…

#1. Here is something I didn’t actually know: A single day on Venus is longer than an entire year on Earth.

#2. A single day on Venus is longer than an entire year on Earth. Maybe I should move to space, live at a space station. Grow a couple more inches.

#3. You can't walk on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune because they have no solid surface. Hence the gas giants.

#4. Olympus moon, which is 3 times higher than the Mount Everest, is the highest mountain known to man and is located on Mars. So Mount Everest is 29,029 feet Olympus moon would be around 87,000 feet tall!
​
#5. Whilst the sunset here on earth appears to be red or orange on mars it has a blue hue to it! How crazy is that!

Source: https://www.scoopwhoop.com/astronomy-facts/#.i6wmaoi7b

Episode 33: Black Metal

Nerd Talk: Film history


We all say ‘oh technology’ but what about in the movie industry?
To think it all started with classical Greek plays performed live in ancient amphitheaters and five-cent machines at carnivals to our modern digital technology and special effects! Oh Technology!

#1. During the Victorian era, One of the first inventions involving still pictures which appeared to be moving was the thaumatrope, in 1824. The thaumatrope was a disk or card with images on both sides and strings attached to the side.

#2. The daguerreotype, invented in 1839 by French painter, was the first commercially successful photographic process. It worked by capturing still images on silvered copper plates.

#3. All these inventions were tricking the eye into believing that stills were moving. A true motion picture needed to have split-second pictures on transparent film. Etienne-Jules Marey invented the chronophotographic gun in 1882, which took 12 frames per second on the same picture. This was a huge step for cinema and a landmark in the history of film.

#4. Charles Francis Jenkins invented the first patented film projector, called the phantoscope, in the early 1890s. The Lumiere brothers in France invented the cinematographe around the same time, which was a portable, hand-held projector. The word cinema was born from this invention and the brothers showed ten short films on their projector in the world’s first movie theatre, the Salon Indien.

#5. For thirty years, the silent era reigned until 1923. Until then narration and dialogue were presented in intertitles. In the 1920s, film stars were being made, their face recognized and praised. Also in the 1920s, sound made its appearance in “The Jazz Singer,” which used the vitaphone system. “Talkies” were the movies of the future and sound-on-film methods were developed including the movietone, phonofilm and photophone. With the introduction of sound, the Golden Age had begun.
​

Source: https://www.internationalstudent.com/study-film/history-of-film/

Episode 34: "Halloween" Death Metal

Nerd Talk: Halloween history and trivia


​How about history and trivia about Halloween?

#1. History:
It originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (sow-in), when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints; soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, and crazy costumes!

#2. Did you know?
One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.
 
#3. What do you think of besides Pumpkins?
Candy corn’s origins are a little iffy, but it seems to have come out around the 1880s, a time when candy companies were mixing up slurries of mellowcreme and molding the confection into the shape of pumpkins, chestnuts, turnips and other agricultural products.

​#4. Pumpkin carving
The Irish brought the tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack O'Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not a pumpkin. Pumpkins did not exist in Ireland. Ancient Celtic cultures in Ireland carved turnips on All Hallow's Eve, and placed an ember in them, to ward off evil spirits.

​#5. Halloween symbols aren't random.
Black cats, spiders, and bats are all Halloween symbols because of their spooky history and ties to Wiccans. All three were thought to be the familiars of witches in the middle ages, and are often associated with bad luck. Bats are even further connected to Halloween by the ancient Samhain ritual of building a bonfire, which drove away insects and attracted bats.
​

Source: https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
​Source: https://www.history.com/news/candy-corn-invented
Source: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/facts/jack.htm
​Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/13-facts-you-never-knew-about-halloween-2013-10

Episode 35: Classic/Hair Metal

Nerd Talk: Random Facts with Betti


I asked and YOU responded!
Random Facts with Betti shall begin:

#1. We all know and a few love Nicholas Cage, he, in fact, bought a pet octopus once because he sincerely thought it might help with his acting. On top of that good ol’ Nick thought that doing Magic shrooms would help he and his cat find the declaration of independence.

#2. Ready to enter the danger zone? Approximately 40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year. The more you know.

#3. Today in 1974, Ted Nugent won a National Squirrel-shooting contest after picking off a squirrel at 150 yards. The heavy metal guitarist also shot dead 27 other mammals during the three day event.

#4. Alright ladies this one is for you to know: Studies show that men actually experience more emotional pain post-breakup than women. So be nice about things.
​
#5. You know when the food on your plate is just THAT good, well Some people experience the same feeling of arousal when thinking about food as when having sex. The term I have heard and I’m sure a few of you have as well is ‘foodgasm’.

Source: https://thoughtcatalog.com/jacob-geers/2016/04/really-funny-random-weird-facts/
Source: http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/search_result
Source: https://thoughtcatalog.com/jacob-geers/2016/04/really-funny-random-weird-facts/2/
Source: https://thoughtcatalog.com/jacob-geers/2016/04/really-funny-random-weird-facts/3/

Episode 36: Avant- Garde

Nerd Talk: Chemistry


Avant- Garde as an adjective means favoring or introducing experimental or unusual ideas.
So what better way to be experimental than with Chemistry!

#1. Ozone, the triple oxygen molecule that acts like a protective stratospheric blanket against ultraviolet rays, is created in nature by lightning. When it strikes, the lightning cracks oxygen molecules in the atmosphere into radicals which reform into ozone. The smell of ozone is very sharp, often described as similar to that of chlorine. This is why you get that “clean” smell sensation after a thunderstorm.

#2. Typically, when something is cold, it shrinks. That’s because temperature describes atomic vibration — the more vibration, the more space it takes, hence expansion. Water is an exception. Even though it vibrates less when it’s frozen, the ice occupies more volume. That’s due to the strange shape of the water molecule. If you remember your Chemistry 101, the water molecule looks like Mickey Mouse. Because of how oxygen and hydrogen bond, the water molecule is an open structure with a lot of space. When water freezes it releases energy because lots of extra strong bonds can be made.  But it does take up more space.  And so, ice expands when it freezes.

#3. Coating cotton cloth with DNA, researchers found the genetic material reduced the fabric’s flammability. When it’s heated, the phosphate from DNA produces phosphoric acid which replaces the water in cotton fibers as a flame-retarded residue. The bases, which contain nitrogen, react to produce ammonia which inhibits combustion. So DNA is flame-retardants!

#4. But when a collision takes place, the car’s sensors trigger an electrical impulse which in the fraction of a second dramatically raises the temperature of the salts. These then decompose into harmless nitrogen gas, rapidly expanding the airbag.

#5. A remarkable transition occurs in the properties of liquid helium at the temperature 2.17K (very close to absolute zero), called the “lambda point” for helium. Part of the liquid becomes a “superfluid”, a zeroviscosity fluid which will move rapidly through any pore in the apparatus.

Source: https://www.zmescience.com/science/chemistry/amazing-chemistry-facts/

Episode 37: Colonial Heavy Metal

Nerd Talk: Thanksgiving Trivia


Since it is the Eve of the Great feast we Americans call thanksgiving why not have some tasteful trivia:

#1. In the U.S., Thanksgiving is celebrated on the Fourth Thursday in November, however Canadians observe Thanksgiving on the Second Monday in October. So we both have this day of giving thanks but just different times of the year.

#2. There is no evidence that turkey was eaten at the first Thanksgiving, a three-day meal shared between the pilgrims and Wamponoag tribe in 1621, but Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow noted in his journal that the Wampanoag guests arrived with an offering of five deer.

#3. The first official Thanksgiving feast took place in Plymouth Colony. Founded by a group of separatists who later became known as the Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony was, along with Jamestown, Virginia, one of the first colonies to be founded by the English in North America. The first settlement was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. This settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

#4. Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving begins the Christmas shopping season and is sometimes known as "Black Friday". One of the busiest shopping days of the year, "Black Friday" was so termed to mark it as the day retail businesses would make their profits for the year and be operating in the "black" and not the "red". The more you know!

#5. There is the Halloween Special and Christmas special but what about the Peanuts Thanksgiving Special: Each plate setting includes an ice cream sundae (vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry) in a large sundae bowl. Snoopy serves up the food, throwing the plates to each guest Frisbee-style. Each guest also gets two slices of buttered toast, and a handful of pretzel sticks, popcorn, and jelly beans.

Source: http://www.usefultrivia.com/holiday_trivia/thanksgiving_trivia_index_ii.html

Episode 38: Local Metal (November)

Nerd Talk: Local News


I asked and you answered!
​Local news begins right now:

#1. The Mariners have gone through a lot of changes within their team, managers, and even ballparks: the old Kingdom to Safeco Field in 1999, now Safeco is getting a name change! That will change in 2019. Forbes reports that T-Mobile has secured naming rights. It was announced back in 2017 that the Mariners weren't going to renew their expiring contract with Safeco Insurance. The 20-year, $40 million deal expired after this past season. Last week, the "Safeco" signage was being removed. 

#2. Another Seattle topic for this evening, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, no official schedule has been set, but the short answer: Demolition will begin after the tunnel opens. The current plan is for the viaduct to close around January 11, 2019. The viaduct first has to close to connect the tunnel to the rest of SR 99, which will take a few weeks. Then, after the tunnel opens to traffic, the viaduct will be demolished. In other words: Avoid Seattle, Traffic will be even more horrendous than usual.

#3. Auburn is getting ready for their Christmaas Season this Saturday with its traditional Santa Parade along Main Street and lighting of the Christmas tree on the City Hall Plaza. People can enjoy Gingerbread House contests, Snacks and Crafts, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the Musical”, The White River Museum is hosting plenty of activities for the kids and adults alike. And don’t forget about the Red, White & Blue Holiday Concert: The 133rd Washington Army National Guard performs holiday classics and all the favorites of the season at 2 p.m. this Sunday at the Auburn Performing Arts Center. Tickets are free with a food donation but required and can be picked up in advance at the Auburn Parks, Arts & Rec Office.

Source: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mariners-renaming-safeco-field-in-2019-as-new-company-buys-naming-rights-report-says/
Source: https://seattle.curbed.com/2017/8/3/16092162/alaskan-way-viaduct-demolition
Source: http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/auburn-to-light-up-the-holiday-season-2/

Episode 39: Classic Metal (December)

Nerd Talk: Random Music News


​Personally I think this is the coolest part of the show and Alkaline is the only show that does this:
If I pick the music YOU pick the talk!
​Since it was a tie between Music News and Random facts with Betti.
Let’s do random Music news tonight!

#1. Aussie icons Midnight Oil have been confirmed as the headliners for "the world's most remote music festival", Birdsville Big Red Bash, in 2019. The Sydney outfit will head to Simpson Desert in Queensland for the two-day event (16-18 July), alongside fellow national legends. Many more acts will be announced on the line-up soon.

#2. Since it is nearing Christmas (20 days from now) Radio loves a good controversy and broadcasters haven't had a whole lot of drama. But in an otherwise quiet years – aside from political advertising – it's looked a lot like another sedate season of holiday music. At least that was the case until last week when the radio industry – and pretty much everyone else in media – freaked out over the lyrics of a song first recorded nearly 70 years ago. Whether it is from feminists or Climate Change protestors/activists ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ has now been considered to be a banned Christmas song?

#3. Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine claims that for the next album coming out next year has quote ‘toned it down’ with the political stuff. Hopefully before their Megacruise tour of October of 2019.

#4. The Wilson Sisters are at it again! The Heart LIVE album not only includes the Sister’s songs but also Guns n Roses AND Alice in Chains as guest artists singing with the Sisters. The new album “Live in Atlantic City” will come out on January 25th of 2019 on CD, LP, and DVD!

#5. This is upsetting to a lot of people, myself included, Bruce Springsteen shot down fans’ hopes for a 2019 tour with the E Street Band, saying he planned to spend the next year off the road.

Source: https://themusic.com.au/article/ITw5NTQ3Njk/midnight-oil-to-headline-world-s-most-remote-music-festival-in-2019/\
Source: https://jacobsmedia.com/baby-its-cold-outside-when-should-radio-stations-drop-songs-to-accommodate-the-cultural-climate/?utm_source=Jacobs+Media+Strategies+Blog&utm_campaign=e22f047320-Blog_Daily_FullInfo&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5007ff924d-e22f047320-166581677
Source: http://loudwire.com/megadeth-dave-mustaine-toned-it-down-political-stuff-next-album/
Source: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/heart-live-in-atlantic-city/
Source: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/bruce-springsteen-2019-tou​r/

Episode 40: Electronic Metal

Nerd Talk: Technology News


When we think of Electronics what do we think of?
Technology!
Tech news it is this evening~!

#1. Intel’s previous 10nanometer (nm) road maps have consistently and repeatedly slipped, and there’s good reason to believe that the company faces insurmountable engineering challenges on that project. An October report from Semi-Accurate even suggested that Intel has canceled its 10nm plans altogether, though the grand old chipmaker denied the rumor and said it was “making good progress on 10nm.” The two may, in fact, both be true, judging from Intel’s new disclosures. Intel suggests it will do something it calls 2D stacking, which is a separation of the various processor components into smaller chiplets, each of which can be manufactured using a different production node. Thus, Intel could deliver nominally 10nm CPUs, which will nonetheless have various 14nm and 22nm chiplet modules within them.

#2. I’m sure we have all heard about the Ai taking over the world but for the roadways it has actually hit a ‘roadblock’. So, the dream of a fully autonomous car may be further than we realize. There’s growing concern among AI experts that it may be years, if not decades, before self-driving systems can reliably avoid accidents. As self-trained systems grapple with the chaos of the real world, experts like NYU’s Gary Marcus are bracing for a painful recalibration in expectations, a correction sometimes called “AI winter.” That delay could have disastrous consequences for companies banking on self-driving technology, putting full autonomy out of reach for an entire generation.

#3. Google’s Night Sight mode for Pixel cameras. Other than the original Pixel’s release, Night Sight is the largest single leap forward in mobile imaging performance, and it’s doubly impressive for being purely a software upgrade. Pixel owners, from the first-generation device to the latest Pixel 3, have had a couple of weeks to play around with it, and one of the hidden advantages of Night Sight is noticeable is that it makes a subtle difference in improving daytime images too. The Night Sight relative to the regular camera is requiring a couple of extra seconds of exposure time to do its magic. There’s no danger of the camera overexposing daylight scenes. It’s smart enough to know how much light it needs to capture a scene and delivers basically identical exposure levels to the Pixel’s default camera.

#4. ZeniMax Media and Facebook today (12.12) settled a long-running legal dispute over the creation of the Oculus Rift VR headset, which ZeniMax claimed was the result of stolen trade secrets (including code and research) shared by ex-ZeniMax employees who had been hired by Oculus, who joined Palmer Luckey, Brendan Iribe, and the rest of the Oculus VR team in 2013 before Facebook bought the VR company for $2 billion. The trial began at the start of 2017, A Texas federal jury ruled in the company’s favor last year. Facebook was initially ordered to pay $500 million, with certain individuals liable for $50 million and $150 million of that judgement, respectively. In June, a judge cut the total to $250 million — $200 million for breach of contract and $50 million over copyright infringement — and let the two executives off the hook. ZeniMax appealed that decision, but today’s settlement puts an end to that effort.
​

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/12/18137401/intel-foveros-3d-chip-stacking-10nm-roadmap-future
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/3/17530232/self-driving-ai-winter-full-autonomy-waymo-tesla-uber
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/26/18112276/google-pixel-night-sight-day-sample-photos
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/12/18138129/facebook-zenimax-oculus-vr-settlement-announced

Episode 41: Jingle Bell Metal

Nerd Talk: Silly Christmas Traditions


Since Christmas is next week, and we all have at least one or two traditions (whether it is family or friends) Here are some wacky Christmas Traditions:

#1. Some people write jokes on the candy canes like you see on Popsicle sticks. Whoever eats one has to read one, even if it’s a terrible knock-knock joke one of the kids wrote. (Especially if it’s a terrible knock-knock joke one of the kids wrote.)
 
#2. So this next one my family does this, Have Santa hide one gift per person somewhere in the house, and…NOW GO FIND IT. YES THIS IS A RACE.

#3. Create a wacky interview sheet and have everyone answer the questions each year, including the strangest food tried that year, funniest story to tell, and what weird things they want to do the next year.

#4. This is another one my family does! The story goes that when German families decorate the Christmas tree, the last ornament to be hung is the Christmas pickle -usually a blown glass ornament that may have been passed down through generations. It is tucked away in a hard-to-see spot (it is green, after all). The first child who finds the pickle on Christmas morning gets a special gift and good luck all the next year. The trouble with this legend is that people in Germany were unfamiliar with it. Glass tree ornaments were indeed made in Germany, in the shape of fruits and vegetables and other objects. These ornaments became very popular in America when F.W. Woolworth began importing them in the 1880s. An old German legend no doubt helped to sell more glass ornaments!

#5. St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, or Santa Claus is the weirdest Christmas tradition ever, but he is so well known and so well documented that his origins are beyond the scope of this particular post. As a tool to encourage good behavior in children, Santa serves as the carrot, and Krampus is the stick. Krampus is the evil demon anti-Santa, or maybe his evil twin. Krampus Night is celebrated on December 5th, the eve of St. Nicholas Day in Austria and other parts of Europe. People dress as Krampus and roam the streets looking for someone to beat with a stick. Since it is also a night for drinking, the beatings probably don't hurt much.

​And of course we have all the silly home videos that pop out of the old cabinet after dinner. One other thing my family does is have two “Christmases”. One with my dad’s side of the family Christmas Eve and Christmas day is with my mother’s side (not this year though they are all busy). 

Source: https://www.momtastic.com/parenting/580971-christmas-traditions/
Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/20333/8-truly-strange-christmas-customs

Episode 42: Local Metal (December)

Nerd Talk: Random Local Facts


​Votes are in!
​Random facts with Betti with a local twist:

#1. As most of us know Washington produces more apples than any other state in the union. We’re also first in the country for pear, red raspberry, spearmint oil and sweet cherry production.

#2. With more than 3,000 glaciers, Washington is the most glaciated state in the U.S. Apart of that makes sense seeing we are the closest (well besides Alaska duh) to what was once the land bridge connecting Asia and North America.

#3. This I don’t think I ever knew before looking up after the poll ended at 8pm this evening. Snoqualmie Falls is 100 feet higher than New York’s Niagara Falls. At 269 feet tall compared to 167 feet.

#4. Robot collectors can rejoice at the Robot Hut in eastern Washington, which is home to one of the largest robot collections, including replicas of metallic sci-fi characters and toy robots. Sounds fun doesn’t it?

#5. As I have mentioned several times on the air and elsewhere too, I really enjoy Gardening. One of the reasons are the beautiful Rhododendrons in our yard. Speaking of that, the Rhododendron Species Foundation and Botanical Garden in Federal Way contains more than 10,000 rhododendron species, including that of the state flower, the Coast Rhododendron.

Source: http://www.experiencewa.com/articles/wander-here-19-interesting-facts-about-washington
Source: https://www.movoto.com/guide/wa/washington-facts/

Episode 43: Classic Metal

Nerd Talk: Music News


Since it is the first Wednesday of the month I picked the music tonight and you picked the talk!
Votes are in and Music news is the winner!

#1. So, there was a rumor going around that Van Halen (the original cast meaning) will get back together, unfortunately that is not at all happening. Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar aren’t even on speaking terms with the two Van Halen brothers.

#2. Black Sabbath are among the acts set to be honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. The award celebrates performers who have made outstanding contributions of artistic significance to the field of recording. "From their power riffs to their dark, gothic imagery," says The Recording Academy, "Black Sabbath arguably invented the heavy metal signposts and influenced every heavy rock band that followed." Joining the iconic hard rockers as recipients of the prestigious recognition from The Recording Academy are George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Billy Eckstine, Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, Sam & Dave, and Dionne Warwick.

#3. KISS lead guitarist Tommy Thayer says that the group's upcoming End Of The Road tour is not a gimmick and unlike their earlier farewell tour, the upcoming trek really will be the band's last tour. The original reunited lineup of the iconic band embarked on a lengthy farewell tour in 2000 and 2001 but after it concluded Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons decided to continue the group with Tommy Thayer replacing Ace Frehley and former "Revenge" era drummer Eric Singer returning to replace Peter Criss. Now the current lineup is preparing to launch their End Of The Road tour which is billed as the band's final trek. "It is not a gimmick; it is legitimate," he told the TASSnews service in Russia. "This will be the final tour of KISS. The shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg will be the last KISS is going to play there." He also explained why the band decided to say goodbye. "We decided that while the band is still very good and we are doing the best shows, we have been doing... in the history of the band, that we wanted to go out when we're in top form and do a final tour," the guitarist explained. The first North American leg of the tour is set to kick off at the end of January in B.C. Are you going? I am!
 
#4. Pink Floyd are streaming video of a rare 1968 Belgian TV performance of "Astronomy Domine", the opening track from their 1967 debut, "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn." The group's appearance on the Brussels TV program in February of 1968 saw new addition David Gilmour on guitar in place of outgoing founding member Syd Barrett, whose departure from the lineup wouldn't be officially announced until early April of that year. The trip to Brussels, Belgium in mid-February 1968 also led to the filming of a second video for "The Scarecrow", with bassist Roger Waters lip-syncing Barrett's vocals as the group mimed the song in the city's Parc de Laeken (Laeken Park). "Piper" reached No. 6 on the UK charts and No. 131 on the US Billboard 200 upon its original release.
​
#5. Stevie Nicks prepares for her induction into the 2019 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, the singer says she is most thrilled to have made history this past week as the first woman to be honored twice by the music industry institution. Originally inducted as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1998, Nicks will re-enter the Rock Hall at a March 29 event at New York's Barclays Center alongside fellow honorees Def Leppard, The Cure, Janet Jackson, Radiohead, Roxy Music and The Zombies.

Source: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/van-halen-michael-anthony-reunion/
Source: https://www.classicrockrevisited.com/news.php

Episode 44: Speed Metal

Nerd Talk: Guinness World Records! 

 Faster than a speeding bullet?
Maybe not?
When I think of speed I want to know how fast things can really go!

#1. On 16 Aug 2009, Usain Bolt (JAM) won the World Championships 100 m in 9.58 sec in Berlin, Germany. His average speed was 37.57 km/h (23.34 mph), with a peak speed nearer 44 km/h (27.34 mph). Making him the current fastest Human for running in the world!

#2. Most people think of Tanks not being so fast since there are, well, tanks. A production standard S 2000 Scorpion Peacekeeper tank developed by Repaircraft PLC (UK) achieved a speed of 82.23 km/h (51.10 mph) at the QinetiQ test track in Chertsey, Surrey, UK, on 26 Mar 2002. Powered by an RS 2133 high-speed diesel engine, the tank was fitted with appliqué hull armor, ballistic skirts and a replaceable rubber pad track.
​
#3. Unlike Tanks, Roller Coasters are super fast! Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, UAE, can accelerate up to 240 km/h (149.1 mph) and travel 52 m (170 ft) upwards in 4.9 sec. It opened to the public on 4 Nov 2010.

#4. Remember the wind storm on Saturday? Well we had winds topping around 60 mph. HOWEVER On 12 Apr 1934, a surface wind-speed of 371 km/h (231 mph) was recorded at Mt Washington (elev. 1,916 m; 6,288 ft) in New Hampshire, USA.

#5. Add a bit of Astronomy here: Mercury orbits the Sun at an average distance of 57.9 million km (35.9 million mi), and has an orbital period of 87.9686 days. Its average orbit speed – 107,030 mph (172,248 km/h) – is almost twice as fast as that of the Earth.

Source: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/products/books/superlatives/fastest

Episode 45: Progressive Metal

Nerd Talk: Oh Technology

What is the meaning of Progress or to be Progressive?
Could be improvement of something?
Evolving species?
​Or even that crazy new iphone everyone is talking about.
Oh Technology.

#1. Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has showcased its new 10x optical Zoom Camera this month. This is built on the company's 5x hybrid optical zoom system which was first showcased in 2017, however was never released commercially. Apparently, instead of using one camera this new phone uses three cameras, each magnifying each other. Unfortunately, the company has not revealed the products release date for mass production yet. To be determined.

#2. Using observations from the ALMA radio observatory in Chile, researchers have observed, for the first time, a warped disk around an infant protostar that formed just several tens of thousands of years ago. This implies that the misalignment of planetary orbits in many planetary systems -- including our own -- may be caused by distortions in the planet-forming disk early in their existence dun dun duuuuuh.

#3. We have all remember our parents yelling at us about playing video games on a school night. That being said, This fantastical scenario is the premise of a video game developed for middle schoolers by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers to study whether video games can boost kids' empathy, and to understand how learning such skills can change neural connections in the brain. Results published this week in npj Science of Learning reveal for the first time that, in as few as two weeks, kids who played a video game designed to train empathy showed greater connectivity in brain networks related to empathy and perspective taking. Some also showed altered neural networks commonly linked to emotion regulation, a crucial skill that this age group is beginning to develop, the study authors say. On average, youth between the ages of 8 and 18 rack up more than 70 minutes of video gameplay daily, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. This spike in gameplay during adolescence coincides with an explosion in brain growth as well as a time when kids are susceptible to first encounters with depression, anxiety and bullying. The team wanted to learn whether there were ways to use video games as a vehicle for positive emotional development during this critical period.

#4. Human skin contains sensitive nerve cells that detect pressure, temperature and other sensations that allow tactile interactions with the environment. To help robots and prosthetic devices attain these abilities, scientists are trying to develop electronic skins. Now researchers report a new method in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that creates an ultrathin, stretchable electronic skin, which could be used for a variety of human-machine interactions. Electronic skin could be used for many applications, including prosthetic devices, wearable health monitors, robotics and virtual reality. A major challenge is transferring ultrathin electrical circuits onto complex 3D surfaces and then having the electronics be bendable and stretchable enough to allow movement. Some scientists have developed flexible "electronic tattoos" for this purpose, but their production is typically slow, expensive and requires clean-room fabrication methods such as photolithography. Mahmoud Tavakoli, Carmel Majidi and colleagues wanted to develop a fast, simple and inexpensive method for producing thin-film circuits with integrated microelectronics.

Source: https://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/oppo-announces-10x-optical-zoom-camera-and-bigger-in-display-fingerprint-scanner/articleshow/67563291.cms
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190101094456.htm
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180809175051.htm
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181128114927.htm

Episode 46: Metalcore

Nerd Talk: Metal Metal


Core Elements for Metalcore, some of the coolest elements on the Table are radioactive, super heavy, make up 90% plus of the known universe!
This is real Nerd Talk:

#1. The only liquid nonmetallic element, bromine is a heavy, reddish liquid that will literally burn a hole through your skin. It can only be transported in lead tanks! It is the Smelly element No. 35, that is a fairly abundant element but has a rare property: it is the only nonmetal to exist in liquid form at room temperature, and one of only two elements (the other being mercury) that is liquid at room temperature and pressure. Bromine is very harmful to the atmosphere so watch out!

#2. It's the eighth most abundant element on earth, but potassium is never found free in nature, because it's so reactive. Pure potassium is a soft metal that can be cut with a knife, but don't let its cuddly nature fool you: when you drop this in water, potassium can ignite the hydrogen gas it creates to start a fire IN water.

#3. Francium only has a half-life of only about 10 minutes and exists only as single atoms which suddenly appear like soap bubbles and then vanish just as quickly. It is freakishly radioactive on top of that; it is the second most electropositive element after cesium!

#4. Hey, what are you up to, curium? "Oh, just GLOWING IN THE DARK because I'm so radioactive." This element, named after Marie Curie, is made by bombarding plutonium with helium ions. It's so dangerous that it's rarely created on earth, although Mars rovers had it in their x-ray spectrometers.
​
#5. This sweet bad boy is the second densest element AND the most corrosive-resistant. That's right: iridium is so durable it can't be affected by water, chemicals, or acids. One of the rarest elements in the earth's crust, it likely comprised part of the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Its platinum-like exterior is as flinty as the cool steel in its heart.

Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/the-13-most-badass-periodic-elements
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francium#History
Source: https://www.livescience.com/32072-bromine.html

Episode 47: Local Northwest Metal (January)

Nerd Talk: Botany/History Lesson 


Votes are in!
​It was a split between Botany and History Lesson so I did my best to mix them both.

#1. During the 1600s, tulips were so valuable in Holland that their bulbs were worth more than gold. The craze was called tulip mania, or tulipomania, and caused the crash of the Dutch economy. Tulips can continue to grow as much as an inch per day after being cut.

#2. The difference between nectarines and peaches is that nectarines don't have fuzzy skins. You can graft peach branches onto a nectarine tree or nectarine branches onto a peach tree so you have both types of fruits. Cool, huh? Personally I LOVE Nectarines, especially the white ones!

#3. The flower of the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanium) is the largest unbranched flower in the world and can reach up to 15 feet tall. The bloom produces a smell like that of rotting meat, giving it the common name of corpse flower. A similar smell comes from Rafflesia, another plant that hails from the rainforests of Sumatra. Both plants developed their scent so they could be pollinated by flies; they don't compete with other blooms for butterflies and hummingbirds.

#4. Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is one of the oldest living tree species; it dates back to about 250 million years ago. Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is another ancient species; it dates back about 150 million years. Both were known in the fossil record before they were found alive. However The world's tallest-growing tree is the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), which grows along the Pacific Coast of the United States, mainly in California. Interestingly enough, it's not the world's oldest-growing tree; that award goes to a bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata).

#5. Sunflowers look like one large flower, but each head is composed of hundreds of tiny flowers called florets, which ripen to become the seeds. This is the case for all plants in the sunflower family, including daisies, yarrow, goldenrod, asters, coreopsis, and bachelor's buttons.

Source: https://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/garden-care/fun-facts-about-plants/

Episode 48: Classic Metal (February)

Nerd Talk: Music News


I asked and YOU responded!
How about some Music news!

#1. Steven Tyler has dozens of music-related accolades, including a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the frontman of the famous rock band Aerosmith. But Janie’s House? Monday moments before cutting the ribbon — which was actually a long scarf attached to microphone stands, in true Tyler fashion — on Janie's House, a project between Tyler and Youth Villages to renovate a home for girls who have suffered abuse or neglect. Janie's Fund, housed within Youth Villages, has raised over $4 million, much of which goes toward helping girls as they age out of the foster system. Tyler was in Bartlett for the scarf-cutting ceremony on the second Janie's House. The first is in Atlanta. The home can hold about 14 girls at a time, and features bright paint on the walls with inspirational quotes from Tyler, including the song lyrics from "Dream On."

#2. Psych-rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announced a North American headlining tour for this summer. The Australian band’s 20-show trip will launch August 13th at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and wrap September 6th at the Bomb Factory in Dallas. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 8th. They will actually be in Seattle’s Paramount August 18th, my birthday.

#3. Spotify has announced the acquisition of two media companies: Gimlet Media Inc. (the podcast network and digital media company founded by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber in 2014) and Anchor (a podcast production app that allows users to produce and distribute podcasts). Anchor, according to the press release, plans to “bring its platform of tools for podcast creators and its established and rapidly growing creator base” to Spotify, which first introduced podcasts to its platform in 2015.
​
#4. Yesterday, P!nk revealed she has a new single and album on the way, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and now she's set to receive a very special BRIT Award. The BRIT Awards announced today (Feb. 6) that P!nk will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at this year's awards show, making her the first non-British artist to receive the prize. P!nk is receiving the award in recognition of her chart-topping ­success that spans two decades in the U.K., with achievements like becoming one of the country's best-selling female artists, receiving nine BRIT nominations total, and winning a BRIT Award for international female solo artist in 2003.

Source: https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/2019/02/04/aerosmiths-steven-tyler-scarf-cutting-ceremony-near-memphis-janies-fund/2766440002/
Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-plot-north-american-summer-tour-791046/
Source: https://pitchfork.com/news/spotify-acquires-podcast-companies-gimlet-and-anchor/
Source: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8496970/pink-brit-awards-outstanding-contribution-to-music-award

Episode 49: Notso Metal

Nerd Talk: Valentines Day Trivia


Since tomorrow is actually Valentines Day, or as I like to call it Singles Awareness Day (SAD for short),
how about some trivia!

#1. Sorry men, it looks like you’ll be spending twice as much as women this year on gifts. The average man spends $130 on Valentine’s Day, while women spend about $70.

#2. Teachers receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by kids, mothers, wives and girlfriends.

#3. You think that only humans give humans gifts think again! Every year, around 9 million people buy their pets a Valentine’s Day gift. I don’t think my dog, Rusty, is gonna get anything… maybe a new little sister?

#4. When People think Valentines day they think flowers well…. The only other day that beats Valentine’s Day in floral sales is Mother’s Day.
​
#5. Ordering a bouquet? Have it tied in lace. The word “lace” comes from the Latin laques, meaning “to snare or net,” as in to catch a person’s heart.
​

​Source: https://www.1800flowers.com/blog/flower-facts/valentines-day-fun-facts-2017/

Episode 50: Experimental Northern Metal

Nerd Talk: Crazy Science Experiments


​Some say that Magic is science and vise Versa, you can really blame science for some strange things or for you doing something more strange than normal doings.
So how about 3 of the STRANGEST science experiments!

#1. A psychoanalyst who in the 1940s who was really really focused on sexuality, Wilhelm Reich believed that the human libido had its own kind of crazy chi energy. He called it orgone. He built orgone accumulators, boxes made of metal, steel wool and various other materials so that people could sit inside and absorb all that sexy orgone goodness. Orgone was so awesome it caused weather, the sky being blue, gravity and sexuality. Apparently orgone radiation was pestered by an opposite force (called deadly orgone radiation) that caused plants around Wilhelm's lab to die and menacing clouds to form. Anyway, to combat the deadly orgone, Wilhlem did what any rational man would do, he build a "cloud buster," a bunch of tubes that had cables leading to water. Oh Science

#2. Charles Claude Guthrie wasn't exactly a cackling, evil madman, but due to the constraints of the time he lived in (early 1900s), the man performed a couple of experiments that today would get you shunned by all but the maddest of scientists. Guthrie was instrumental in developing modern day transplant practices, and while that would be a pretty cool legacy for any man to have, he was also probably the first guy to sew the head of one dog onto another dog, at least for business purposes. And just to clarify, that wasn't a head transplant. He made a two-headed dog. To make things a little more freakish, the second head and neck of the transplanted to the main dog would, literally, drain the other of the resources… like a parasitic twin.

#3. Hwang Woo-Suk, a Korean scientist who made some waves with apparent breakthroughs in stem cell research, also happened to be a massive fraud. In 2006, he was indicted on embezzlement and bioethics law violations linked to ‘faked’ stem cell research. Rather than blow the money on long, sleepless weekends in Vegas, he spent over a half million dollars in private donations trying to clone woolly mammoths. And while that may be bad enough already, apparently he thought involving the Russian mob, just to take this up a notch on the belt was a good plan, and gave a chunk of that donated cash to the Russians in exchange for some organized crime-related extinct animal cells. While stem cell research could lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of numerous diseases, it will not apparently lead to Hwang's vision of a woolly Jurassic Park.

Source: http://www.cracked.com/article_16079_the-10-craziest-scientific-experiments-ever-conducted.html

Episode 51: Local Metal (February)

Nerd Talk: Star Trek Trivia


​I picked the Music so YOU picked the talk!
Since it is the anniversary of the death of Leonard Nimoy, it seems fitting that you chose Star Trek Trivia! Embrace you inner nerd for this one kids!

#1. If one looks at the original series, much of the technology being used ultimately became real. The communicators are like modern cell phones, the earpieces worn by Uhura and Spock are basically Bluetooth devices, the Universal Translators are echoed by the use of modern voice recognition software, tricorders have become the LOCAD-PTS, a portable biological lab used by NASA, and the use of interactive video screens (telepresence) is akin to current video conferencing. While Enterprise crewmembers recorded audio on hard-cased cassette tapes, they looked like soon-to-be modern floppy discs, which are now outdated in our digital era.
#2. While Spock’s skin has a slight green tint to it, the original plan was to give him red skin. But back in the mid- to late 1960s, a majority of households still had black and white televisions, so his skin would appear very dark when viewed on their sets. In one early episode, however, Spock looked really green. Someone messed up the color palette that day. One wonders if the chance to see the shows in color during their subsequent syndicated runs helped lure new viewers and give excited longtime fans the chance to re-watch the episodes in a way they had never seen them before.

#3. Leonard Nimoy did not create the Vulcan salute that means "Live Long and Prosper" out of thin air for the season two opener "Amok Time," which was the first time we got to see Spock among his people on Vulcan. It was actually borrowed from something he had witnessed as a child when he was attending a service at an Orthodox Jewish synagogue with his family. "Five or six guys get up on the bimah, the stage, facing the congregation," Nimoy told the Yiddish Book Center in 2014. "They get their tallits over their heads, and they start this chanting—I think it's called duchening—and my father said to me, 'Don’t look.' So everyone’s got their eyes covered with their hands or they've got their tallit down over their faces ... And I hear this strange sound coming from them. They’re not singers, they were shouters. And dissonant. It was all discordant … it was chilling. I thought, 'Whoa, something major is happening here.' So I peeked. And I saw them with their hands stuck out from beneath the tallit like this [does salute with both hands] towards the congregation. Wow. Something really got hold of me. I had no idea what was going on, but the sound of it and the look of it was magical.” The hand gesture represents the Hebrew letter Shin, which represents the word Shaddai, a name for God. It looks like a lot of people have been blessing each other without knowing it.

#4. In the original pilot, Gene Roddenberry’s girlfriend and future wife, Majel Barrett, was Kirk’s first officer (who still had to deal with the Captain’s presumptions about women on the bridge). Test audiences allegedly did not like her character because they thought she was too pushy and tried to be like the men, but modern audiences would not think of any of those things. When Pike was kidnapped, she led a mission to the planet to rescue him and proved herself to be a capable leader, but this was about a year before the women's liberation movement began gestating in America. The Star Trek universe finally got its first female captain with Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager, which aired between 1995 and 2001.

#5. "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!" Bones was always making a variation on that gripe when asked to ascertain or do something outside of his medical expertise, and it is one of many Star Trek lines that has become a permanent part of pop culture lexicon. However, the idea originated with a 1933 film called The Kennel Murder Case, which starred William Powell and Mary Astor. In the film, the character of Dr. Doremus utters these quips: "I'm a doctor, not a magician." "I'm a doctor, not a detective." "I'm the city butcher, not a detective." Bones McCoy had many variations to offer throughout the Star Trek TV and film series, and he certainly made the gag his own. And then to continue the medical officer (well EMH Mark 1) tradition in Next Generation’s First Contact (which is one of my favorite star trek movies), “I’m a doctor, not a doorstep!” when the Borg prepare to breach the Medical Bay.

Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/84877/20-enterprising-facts-about-star-trek

Episode 52: Classic Metal (March)

Nerd Talk: Rock n Roll Hall of Fame


I picked the music so YOU, my beloved listeners picked the talk!
You were again split between Random facts and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame!
So how about a mix of the two?

#1. Established in 1983 by a group of leading figures in the music industry—including Atlantic Records cofounder Ahmet Ertegun and Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone magazine—the nonprofit Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was responsible for the creation of the museum and hall of fame, which began inducting honorees in 1986. After considering the bids of other American cities that had been pivotal to rock history (including New Orleans, Memphis, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City), the foundation located the museum in Cleveland, where disc jockey Alan Freed had coined the term “rock and roll” in the 1950s and which had put together a package of public and private funding to aid in the facility’s development.

#2. Musicians become eligible for induction into the hall of fame 25 years after the release of their first recording. The foundation’s nominating committee, made up of rock historians, selects nominees each year in the performer category, who are then voted upon by an international body of some 500 rock experts. Those nominees with the highest vote total (and more than 50 percent of the total vote) are inducted, five to seven performers being chosen each year.

#3. In 2009 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s 25th anniversary was celebrated with a two-day concert event in New York that featured some of rock’s biggest names!

#4. I found this really cool! The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s education programs have become one of the most celebrated and award-winning emanating from any fine arts museum in the nation. Music gives us a microphone to speak to the world. And music has the power to bring generations, nationalities and people together. Now more than ever, it’s critical to study and understand how music is changing our world as well as reflecting it.
​
#5. The Class of 2019 includes: The Cure, Def Leopard, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead, Roxy Music, and the Zombies!

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rock-and-Roll-Hall-of-Fame-and-Museum
Source: https://www.rockhall.com/2019-inductees/
Source: https://www.rockhall.com/learn

Episode 53: Novelty Metal

Nerd Talk: Video Game News


​
Since YOU picked the music I got to pick the talk and since it seems to be childhood remembered how about some video game news!

#1. Google has begun teasing its video game initiative. During a session at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week, the company will announce its “vision for the future of gaming.” This likely involves a combination of cloud streaming and hardware. But whatever it does, Google’s gaming service could show up dead on arrival. In the teaser trailer that it posted to YouTube yesterday, Google invited gaming fans to “gather around.” The 37-second clip doesn’t show off hardware or any other details. Instead, it’s a series of scenes from what look like various blockbuster video game genres. It jumps from a sports arena to a remote jungle cavern to a military aircraft. These vignettes bring games like FIFA 19, Tomb Raider, and Call of Duty to mind without using any of their names. It is not required for tech giants to produce gaming consoles or streaming software but it might help by putting another a card in their hands.
​
#2. Hollow Knight released in 2017 and debuted on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in 2018; however, the exceptional Metroidvania-style game has never been available in a physical format--until now. Both a standard edition and a collector's edition of Hollow Knight are now available for pre-order, with the collector's edition exclusive to Fangamer. According to Fangamer, pre-orders for Hollow Knight's physical edition will start shipping on May 31, which means you can expect to receive your copy in early June. Team Cherry, the developers of Hollow Knight, initially partnered with Skybound Games to bring a physical release to the market last year, but the studio announced last November that the deal had fallen through, possibly due to limited resources. So for fans of the game, news that a physical edition is finally happening is a welcome surprise.
#3. Phoenix Labs has announced the console release for Dauntless has been delayed. The developer also released further details for what's included in the Hunt Pass Season 3--which went live today--for the PC version of this free-to-play action RPG. Currently only available on PC via Phoenix Lab's launcher, Dauntless was originally being ported to Xbox One and PS4 for release in April 2019, with a versions for Switch and mobile later in the year. The Xbox One and PS4 versions have now been delayed to Summer 2019, with Phoenix Labs stating it is using the "additional time to polish gameplay, stress-test for scale, and complete additional features." The PC version of Dauntless is also scheduled to migrate over to the Epic Games Store, a move which has also been delayed to coincide with the release of the game on Xbox One and PS4. Currently in open beta on PC, Dauntless will officially launch when it releases on Epic Games Store, Xbox One, and PS4. As Phoenix Labs plans on having all Dauntless players' saved date be tied to an Epic account, the game will support cross-platform play and progression across all systems. Cross-platform support will extend to the Switch and mobile versions of the game as well when they eventually launch. Listening to the community, Phoenix Labs has decreased the number of Title rewards you can unlock while increasing the number of Transmog rewards.
​
#4. Halo developer 343 Industries made some big Halo announcements today, and excited fans responded by sending pizza to the studio. Now, the developer has pleaded with fans to please stop sending pizza. Community manager Brian Jarrard wrote on Twitter that he and the studio are appreciative, but it's just too much pizza."The Halo community is awesome. We're excited, too! Please don't send any more pizzas to 343 Industries," Jarrard said. "The building receptionist isn't here, so it's getting logistically challenging and we really don't want to see food go to waste." Why the pizza? Before all the big Halo reveals today, Jarrard tweeted the pizza emoji for some reason, and now people are running with it and flooding 343's offices with pizza.

Source: https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/13/google-needs-to-actually-make-games-if-it-wants-to-matter/
Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/hollow-knight-is-finally-getting-a-physical-editio/1100-6465534/
Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-oneps4-versions-of-monster-hunter-like-dauntl/1100-6465555/
Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/please-dont-send-any-more-pizzas-halo-dev-says/1100-6465545/
​

Episode 54: UK (Plus Ireland) Metal

Nerd Talk: St. Patrick's Day


Seeing we are listening to music from the United Kingdom and we just had St. Patrick’s day how about some interesting trivia?

#1. Irish immigrants began observing St. Patrick’s Day in Boston in 1737 and the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in America was held in New York City in 1766.

#2. On or around St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish taoiseach (Tee- Shock), or prime minister, presents the U.S. president with a crystal bowl of live shamrocks as a symbol of the close ties between the two countries.

#3. In Chicago, the Plumbers Local 110 union dyes the river Kelly green. The dye lasts for around five hours.

#4. Saint Patrick didn’t wear green. His color was “Saint Patrick’s blue.” The color green became associated with St. Patrick’s Day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.

#5. Saint Patrick is credited for driving the snakes out of Ireland, but according to the fossil record, Ireland has never been home to snakes as it was too cold to host reptiles during the Ice Age. The surrounding seas have kept snakes out since.

Source: https://worldstrides.com/blog/2017/03/9-interesting-st-patricks-day-facts/

Episode 55: Local (NW) Metal

Nerd Talk: Crazy Fair


Let’s just get amped up for the fair seasons, there is almost always something going on down in Puyallup Fair Grounds, but how about some crazy stories, food, and records held around the area?

#1. We all know that the Puyallup Fair is known to share the love for the Fisher Raspberry scones, but how about If scone-flavored ice cream isn’t enough to satisfy your scone cravings, wash it down with an exclusive raspberry scone beer from Puyallup River Brewing Co. “The way we get the biscuit flavor is by using biscuit malt and aromatic malts to make it sweeter, and there are tons of raspberries in it—just look at the color of it!” founder/brewer Eric Akeson says. The brew is a beautiful magenta will be sold at the End of Summer Bash in the Grandstand.

#2. For the last 116 years, people from all over the region have traveled far and wide to enjoy the Eastern Idaho State Fair. This year, over 248,000 people (up from 2017’s record of 239,448) showed up to enjoy the nine-day event, making this the most attended event in the history of the fair.
​
#3. Hopefully our parents told us as kids to be safe on those crazy fair rides, however Oregon doesn't have a government-funded inspection program. Instead, it relies on insurance companies to verify that each ride has been inspected and is ready for use. After that, carnivals supply proof of inspection by their insurance companies and a $28 fee, and Oregon's Building Codes Division hands out permits that are then required to be pasted on the rides. So if you want safety stay up in Washington for the state fair!

Source: https://www.seattlemag.com/eat-and-drink/new-washington-state-fair-foods-bugs-bizarre-burgers
Source: https://www.eastidahonews.com/2018/09/eastern-idaho-state-fair-sets-116-year-attendance-record/
Source: https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2016/05/carnival_season_just_how_safe.html​

Episode 56: Classic Metal AND Concert Music (BöC)

Nerd Talk: Music News


​Since I picked the music YOU picked the talk. It seems fitting that we do Music News since I just went to a concert, what else is happening in the world of music? 

#1. Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only will reunite again as the “original” Misfits for a special show at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, June 29th.
 
The Misfits will headline the gig, which will also feature Rise Against, the Distillers, Anti-Nowhere League and Cro-Mags. Tickets will go on sale April 5th at 10 a.m. local time via LiveNation. Complete information is available on the Misfits’ website. Along with Danzig and Only, the “original” Misfits lineup boasts guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, drummer Dave Lombardo and guitarist Acey Slade. After leaving the Misfits in 1983, Danzig finally reunited with Only and Doyle in 2016 for a pair of shows at Riot Fest in Chicago and Denver.

#2. Shortly after Britney Spears wrote on Instagram that she needed to take “a little ‘me time'” – the singer’s first social media post in nearly three months – news emerged that Spears recently entered a mental health facility. According to the report, first reported by TMZ and confirmed by Variety, the continued health problems faced by her father Jamie Spears has taken its toll on Britney, who was suffering from emotional distress. In January, Spears postponed her Las Vegas residency following her father’s life-threatening ordeal; the singer revealed in a statement that two months earlier, Jamie’s colon “spontaneously ruptured,” resulting in emergency surgery and a 28-day hospital stay.

#3. The band The Melvins formed a few years before anyone used the word “grunge” as the name of a genre, but they embodied the term perfectly with their deep, sludgy riffs and left-of-center songwriting. Since 1984, they’ve released dozens of albums of uncompromising and sometimes experimental music, and constantly challenged rock norms. When we compiled our recent list of the 50 Greatest Grunge Albums, two of their standout LPs — 1991’s Bullhead and 1993’s Houdini — made the cut. The band’s frontman, vocalist-guitarist Buzz Osborne, was surprised to hear the news, but not for the reason you may guess. “Amazing. Are there 50 great grunge records?” he asks on a phone call a week before the list came out. “I guess it depends on how wide your parameters are. I’m not overly intrigued by that whole genre. … It’s OK, there’s a few things that are good. But I think most of what people put under that moniker is just garbage. I don’t care about any of it. I might as well be listening to Freaking Bon Jovi. You know, big production, big everything.” Despite this, Osborne was game to list a few of his own favorite grunge records to give a better picture of how he saw the genre. “To me, grunge was more punk rock than rock or the hair-metal thing,” he says. “It was putting an emphasis back on the music.”

Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/glenn-danzig-jerry-only-misfits-los-angeles-reunion-concert-816649/
Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/britney-spears-mental-health-facility-817379/
Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/melvins-buzz-osborne-grunge-albums-812782/​

Episode 57: Brazilian Metal

Nerd Talk: Crazy Brazilian Food


​I’m just gonna let you all know right now, I don’t speak Spanish.
I am fairly certain I will probably butcher some words I apologize in advance!!
So how about some crazy and normal Brazilian food! Besides the beautiful natural scenery of Brazil, tourists can also appreciate Brazilian cuisine that has a mix of cultures derived from Africa, Europe and indigenous Brazil.

Starting off with the good stuff:

#1. Pão de Queijo is a bread made of cheese, but cassava flour is used instead of wheat flour. They are little rolls of bread with cheese baked into it, and can be found in small portions or larger sizes. They are traditionally from the state of Minas Gerais in Southeastern Brazil and are very popular all over the country. Pão de Queijo are often eaten as a snack or served at breakfast.

#2. Brigadeiro is definitely a food that you need to try, it is very popular among Brazilians and also many foreigners. A Brigadeiro is a truffle made of chocolate and condensed milk, covered with chocolate sprinkles. It are usually eaten at birthday parties or other types of celebration. Brigadeiros are typically served in small ball shapes like chocolate truffles, but it is also common to eat it with a spoon if it is not rolled.

Now for some CRAZY ones:

#3. The capivara is a rodent found in South America and has the appearance of a giant rat but without the long tail. So, for those that are not accustomed to it, it may seem a bit strange to eat this animal. The consumption of capivara meat is quite common in Southern Brazil. It is considered a luxury item with great commercial value and is sold as an exotic meat in restaurants. It is important to know how to prepare it, because unlike many other types meats, bad preparation can cause damage to the meat, which will then become stiff and have a strong taste.

#4. Rabada is a very popular dish in Brazil and is a stew of oxtail to which tomatoes, onions and peppers along with fresh and dried spices are added. For some people ​​eating the tail of an animal may seem disgusting. Oxtail is traditionally accompanied by rice, polenta or boiled potatoes and watercress.

#5. Acarajé is the most popular street food in the Northeastern state of Bahia. It is made with black-eyed peas, onion, ginger and salt then fried in dende, which is a reddish oil from the palm fruit. When done, they are split in half and filled with vatapá, caruru (okra stew), fried shrimp, salad and pepper. Vatapá is a mixture of wet bread or breadcrumbs, cornmeal, ginger, chilli pepper, peanuts, cashews, coconut milk, palm oil, onions and tomatoes. As you can see by the ingredients, acarajé is considered a heavy food even by Brazilians, so if you are not used to eating it you can feel sick. Usually, people who sell it warn tourists about the strong taste of acarajé and offer a version that is “lighter”, with less chilli.

Source: https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/brazilian-food-to-try-and-to-avoid

Episode 58: US Metal

Nerd Talk: Capitalism vs. Easter


For those who aren’t aware Easter is this coming Sunday.
I know not all of you are religious or Christian, but I know we have all seen the copious amounts of Candy in the stores, Easter bunny stuffed animals popping up every where, but where did those come from?
Has Capitalism gone too far or is it just beginning?

#1. DYEING EASTER EGGS
The tradition of decorating eggs of all kinds—even ostrich eggs—may go all the way back to the ancient pagans. It’s easy to see why eggs represent rebirth and life, so associating them with spring and new growth isn’t much of a stretch. To celebrate the new season, it’s said that people colored eggs and gave them to friends and family as gifts. When Christians came along, they likely incorporated the tradition into their celebrations. According to some legends, Mary or Mary Magdalene could be responsible for our annual trek to the store to buy vinegar and dye tablets. As the story goes, Mary brought eggs with her to Jesus’ crucifixion, and blood from his wounds fell on the eggs, coloring them red. Another tells us that Mary Magdalene brought a basket of cooked eggs to share with other women at Jesus’ tomb three days after his death. When they rolled back the stone and found the tomb empty, the eggs turned red.

#2. THE EASTER BUNNY
At first glance, it’s hard to imagine what a giant rabbit has to do with any type of religious holiday. But according to Time, the tradition again dates back to the pagans. They celebrated a goddess of fertility named Eostre—and you may recall that fertility is exactly the trait rabbits are most famous for. It’s thought that German immigrants brought their tradition of an egg-laying hare called "Osterhase" to the U.S. in the 1700s.

​#3. EASTER HAM
Believe it or not, even that juicy ham on your dining room table dates back to pagan rituals honoring spring and the goddess Eostre. The tradition goes back to at least 6th-century Germany, according to Bruce Kraig, the founder of the Culinary Historians of Chicago. Hunters often slaughtered hogs in the forest in the fall, then left them to cure all winter. By spring, pork was one of the only meats ready to go for spring celebrations. As with other pagan rituals, Christianity adapted the tradition for their own needs as the religion spread.

​#4. HOT CROSS BUNS
Like the bunny and the eggs, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when people started making hot cross buns—sweet rolls studded with raisins or currants and marked with a cross on top—during the week leading up to Easter Sunday. It’s said the tradition started in the 12th century with a monk who was inspired to mark his rolls to celebrate Good Friday. The first written record we have of them dates back to an issue of Poor Robin’s Almanac from the 1730s: "Good Friday comes this Month, the old woman runs, With one or two a Penny, hot cross Bunns [sic]."

#5. HOLLOWED OUT CHOCOLATE RABBITS?
Now that we know why Easter is associated with rabbits, little chocolate leporidae actually make sense. But why are so many of them hollow inside? As it turns out, it’s not just to get kids used to disappointment at a young age. According to the R.M. Palmer company, one of the oldest makers of chocolate bunnies in the U.S., the empty insides are really just in consideration of your teeth. "If you had a larger-size bunny and it was solid chocolate, it would be like a brick; you’d be breaking teeth," Mark Schlott, executive vice-president of operations, told Smithsonian. Of course, there’s also the "wow" factor—confectioners can make a larger, more impressive-looking bunny for a reasonable price if there’s nothing inside of it.

Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/94189/origins-11-easter-traditions

Episode 59: Local Northwest Metal

Nerd Talk: Random Astronomical facts with Betti

I asked and YOU responded!
​Random Facts with Betti will have an astronomy theme to it since those were the two voted on!

#1. For those of us used to Earth's relatively inactive moon, Io's chaotic landscape may come as a huge surprise. The Jovian moon has hundreds of volcanoes and is considered the most active moon in the solar system, sending plumes up to 250 miles into its atmosphere . Some spacecraft have caught the moon erupting; the Pluto-bound New Horizons craft caught a glimpse of Io bursting when it passed by in 2007.
o's eruptions come from the immense gravity the moon is exposed to, being nestled in Jupiter's gravitational well. The moon's insides tense up and relax as it orbits closer to, and farther from, the planet, generating enough energy for volcanic activity. Scientists are still trying to figure out how heat spreads through Io's interior, though, making it difficult to predict where the volcanoes exist using scientific models alone.

#2. Water ice was once considered a rare substance in space, but now we know we just weren't looking for it in the right places. In fact, water ice exists all over the solar system. Ice is a common component of comets and asteroids, for example. But we know that not all ice is the same. Close-up examination of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, for example, revealed a different kind of water ice than what is found on Earth.
That said, we've spotted water ice all over the solar system. It's in permanently shadowed craters on Mercury and the moon, although we don't know if there's enough to support colonies in those places. Mars also has ice at its poles, in frost and likely below the surface dust. Even smaller bodies in the solar system have ice – Jupiter's moon Europa, Saturn's moon Enceladus, and the dwarf planet Ceres, among others.

#3. This I actually forgot about, For many years, scientists believed that Earth was the only tectonically active planet in the solar system. That changed after the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft did the first orbital mission at Mercury, mapping the entire planet in high definition and getting a look at the features on its surface.
In 2016, data from MESSENGER (which had crashed into Mercury as planned in April 2015) revealed cliff-like landforms known as fault scarps. Because the fault scarps are relatively small, scientists are sure that they weren't created that long ago and that the planet is still contracting 4.5 billion years after the solar system was formed.

#4. Let’s Go next door shall we? Venus (aka morning and evening star) (aka Earth’s sister) was, if you can believe it, thought to be a tropical paradise. OH BOY WHERE THEY WRONG! With the Russians first setting a goal to scope out the ‘tropical paradise’. Thinking the hottest planet in our solar system seemed to have dense clouds of sulphuric acid surrounding Venus make it impossible to view its surface from outside its atmosphere. It was only when radio mapping was developed in the 1960s that scientists were able to observe and measure the extreme temperatures and hostile environment. It is thought Venus did once have oceans but these evaporated as the planets temperature increased. Yeah, no. To top all of the breakthroughs off, a day on Venus lasts longer than a year. As we know, it takes 243 Earth days to rotate once on its axis (sidereal day). Our Demon sister’s orbit around the Sun takes 225 Earth days, compared to the Earth’s 365. A day on the surface of Venus (solar day) takes 117 Earth days. On top of that! Venus, just to be sassy and special, is rotating in the opposite direction to the Sun, this is also known as a retrograde rotation. A possible reason might be a collision in the past with an asteroid or other object that caused the planet to alter its rotational path. It also differs from most other planets in our solar system by having no natural satellites.

Source: https://www.space.com/35695-weirdest-solar-system-facts.html
Source: https://space-facts.com/venus/

Episode 60: Classic Metal (May)

Nerd Talk: Star Wars Trivia


I asked and YOU responded!
Since this past week not only had Batman Day (May first) and Star Wars day (May fourth) why not have some trivia about Star Wars to continue the night!

#1. The Emperor was married to King Kong
Well, in a manner of speaking. When Emperor Palpatine first appears as a hologram in The Empire Strikes Back, the person under the black mantle and facial prosthetics is not Ian McDiarmid, who played Palpatine on screen in Return of The Jedi. It’s not a man at all: the first Emperor we see is actually Elaine Baker, then-wife of Star Wars makeup designer Rick Baker. As Gizmodo points out, Rick Baker once donned the monkey suit in the 1976 King Kong remake, so we can technically say that Emperor Palpatine and King Kong were legally wed. (Just try not to imagine their children.)

#2. Luke Skywalker was almost a girl
A long time ago (January 1975, to be exact) a fledgling screenwriter named George Lucas was working on the second draft of an epic sci-fi space opera he called “Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode One: The Star Wars.” Of the many, many problems (and one of little-known Star Wars facts) with this clunky script that would eventually become Star Wars: A New Hope, one that seemed easily fixed to Lucas was the serious lack of female characters. So, Lucas did something radical: rewrote his story’s main character, Luke Starkiller, as an 18-year-old girl. At least one concept drawing by artist Ralph McQuarrie exists of this short-lived gender swap, but a few months later, with Lucas’ next draft, Starkiller was a boy again. Star Wars wouldn’t get a female lead until nearly forty years later.

#3. The opening text crawl took 3 hours to shoot
The famous floating text that opens A New Hope may have been one of the greatest special effects achievements in the film. As Mental Floss points out, the text was filmed practically “by carefully placing 2-foot-wide die cut yellow letters over a 6-foot-long black paper background with a camera making a slow pass over them to mimic the crawl.” What’s now a default option on filmmaking software took LucasArts three hours to capture.

#4. George Lucas lost a $40 million bet to Steven Spielberg.
Another one of these little-known Star Wars facts? In the late ‘70s, Lucas was working on A New Hope at the same time his buddy Steven Spielberg was working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Visiting the Close Encounters set one day, Lucas reportedly fell into a panic, Spielberg says: “He said, ‘Oh my God, your movie is going to be so much more successful than Star Wars! This is gonna be the biggest hit of all time. I can’t believe this set.’ He said, ‘All right, I’ll tell you what. I’ll trade some points with you. I’ll give you 2.5 percent of Star Wars if you give me 2.5 percent of Close Encounters.’ So I said, ‘Sure, I’ll gamble with that.’” Gamble is right. Star Wars made $775 million at the global box office compared with Close Encounters’ $304 million. Adjusted for inflation, TIME reports, “Spielberg’s edge could come out to as much as $40 million.” The kicker? Lucas actually made good on his bet. (Doesn’t hurt when you’re a billionaire.)

#5. The trash in the Death Star garbage compactor scene was REAL!
​Apparently, the smell was so bad that Mark Hamill burst a blood vessel from trying to hold his breath, and the camera angle had to be adjusted for the rest of the scene so as not to show his injury. As for Peter Mayhew’s yak-hair Chewbacca suit? It reeked for the rest of production.
​

Source: https://www.rd.com/culture/star-wars-facts

Episode 61: Chilean Metal

Nerd Talk: Chile, Chili, Chilly

Chili is food, Chile is a country, one can have Chilly weather.
So many choices:

#1. Want a strange chili? How about a chocolate 3-bean chili? This rich, indulgent chili has a few secret ingredients creating its signature flavor. A pinch of bittersweet chocolate and a drizzle of honey turn classic beef and three-bean chili into a much more decadent dinner.
Or maybe you want some Fire and Ice? This spicy chili might bring the fire, but a frozen red wine topping brings icy coolness to the bowl. Beef short ribs, pinto beans, and fire-roasted salsa add comforting flavors to this one-of-a-kind chili recipe.

#2. Food Down, Country to go! At 7,500 feet, Chile’s Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth with a landscape of surreal beauty. Some parts of the region have never received a drop of rain and the Desert is probably also the oldest desert on earth. The desert runs through a 1,000 kilometer long strip of land between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, spreading out over an area of 363,000 square kilometers.
​If that wasn’t cool enough, The oldest known deliberate mummy is a child, one of the Chinchorro mummies found in the Camarones Valley in Chile around 5050 BC. So far a total of 282 Chinchorro mummies have been removed from burial sites along the narrow coastal strip from Ilo in southern Peru to Antofagasta in northern Chile. Of these, 149 were created by Chinchorro artisans, and the rest were the work of nature.

#3. You can hear Thundersnow when the conditions are right! If you’ve ever heard the unmistakable rumble of thunder in the middle of a snowstorm, that’s not your ears playing tricks on you. It’s likely thundersnow, a rare winter weather phenomenon that’s most common near lakes. When relatively warm columns of air rise from the ground and form turbulent storm clouds in the sky in the winter, there’s potential for thundersnow. A few more factors are still necessary for it to occur, namely air that’s warmer than the cloud cover above it and wind that pushes the warm air upwards. Even then it’s entirely possible to miss thundersnow when it happens right over your head: Lightning is harder to see in the winter and the snow sometimes dampens the thunderous sound.
Finishing off this Nerd Talk with some childhood ruined news. As a child some of us are told that all snow flakes are unique, so snow crystals usually form unique patterns, but there’s at least one instance of identical snowflakes in the record books. In 1988, two snowflakes collected from a Wisconsin storm were confirmed to be twins at an atmospheric research center in Colorado.

Source: https://www.bhg.com/recipes/chili/offbeat-chili-recipes/?slide=slide_10830#slide_10830
Source: https://www.bhg.com/recipes/chili/offbeat-chili-recipes/?slide=slide_5470#slide_5470
Source: https://www.quasarex.com/blog/top-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-chile-facts-about-chile
Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/89881/15-surprising-facts-about-winter-weather

Episode 62: Canadian-Made Metal

Nerd Talk: France Vs. England


We should all know are own historic backgrounds.
America’s Independence from Britain is kinda a big deal.
Canada on the other hand, even though our sister Country is free, they had to struggle with TWO ‘mother countries’: France and England.

#1. First Nations people have lived in Canada for thousands of years, and Europeans made contact with them around 1000 A.D., when Norse settlers arrived in what is now Newfoundland. But the age of Canadian colonization didn’t start until 1497, when John Cabot landed somewhere in Newfoundland. The land Cabot explored was briefly claimed by both the Spanish crown and the Portuguese Empire, and since Cabot’s voyage was funded by England, they could have claimed the land, too. However, England lagged and while they did so, the French laid claim to territory they called “Canada” in the 1530s, along with land that extended to the eastern Atlantic and up to Hudson Bay. As France built up its vast colonies, the English got in on the game, too. They established settlements in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Hudson Bay—and developed a taste for Canadian colonialism that would end in war.

#2. England’s Canadian colonies were largely agricultural, and its settlements were much larger than French ones. French colonies were less populous, but they used their resources strategically, developing alliances with Aboriginal Canadians and creating lucrative trading networks. At the same time, both England and France vied for global supremacy elsewhere, and this pitted Canadian colonists against one another. In an attempt to curb France’s economic power worldwide, British troops focused their efforts on French overseas outposts like Canada. And since France was so vastly outnumbered in Canada, it struggled to defend itself against British attacks. In 1754, England and France began to duke it out in Canada itself. France allied itself with Aboriginal Canadians to boost its small troop numbers, but it was no match for British forces. By 1759, the British had roundly defeated the French and the French and Indian War (part of the broader conflict called the Seven Years War) ended soon after. In 1763, France ceded Canada to England through the Treaty of Paris.
​
#3. In 1931, England put Canada on equal footing with other Commonwealth countries through the Statute of Westminster, which essentially gave its dominions full legal freedom and equal standing with England and one another. However, Britain still had the ability to amend the Canadian constitution, and Canada took time to cut its legal ties to England. Meanwhile, it adopted its own national symbols, like the Canadian flag, featuring the maple leaf, which debuted in 1965. It took five decades after the Statute of Westminster for Canada to make its final step toward full sovereignty. In 1982, it adopted its own constitution and became a completely independent country. Although it’s still part of the British Commonwealth— a constitutional monarchy that accepts the British monarch as its own. Elizabeth II is Queen of Canada. However, her role is essentially ceremonial, and she does not interfere in Canadian self-governance.

Source: https://www.history.com/news/canada-independence-from-britain-france-war-of-1812

Episode 63: Northwest Metal (May edition)

Nerd Talk: Random Facts with Betti


​We haven’t had just a random Facts with Betti for a while, and YOU noticed.
​So here we go!

#1. Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realize what is occurring, relax and correct itself.

#2. In eighteenth-century English gambling dens, there was an employee whose only job was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid.

#3. Researchers at the Texas Department of Highways in Fort Worth determined the cow population of the U.S. burps some 50 million tons of valuable hydrocarbons into the atmosphere each year.  The accumulated burps of ten average cows could keep a small house adequately heated and its stove operating for a year.

#4. THE MOST UNUSUAL CANNONBALL: On two occasions, Miss 'Rita Thunderbird' remained inside the cannon despite a lot of gunpowder encouragement to do otherwise. She performed in a gold lamé bikini and on one of the two occasions (1977) Miss Thunderbird remained lodged in the cannon, while her bra was shot across the Thames River.

#5. One of the reoccuring themes in Disney Movies is a parental missing or dead. However 101 Dalmatians, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and Mulan are the only Disney cartoons where both parents are present and don't die throughout the movie.

Source: http://www.djtech.net/humor/useless_facts.htm

Episode 64: Classic Metal (June edition)

Nerd Talk: Paleontology


​It was a split between another week of Random facts with Betti and Paleontology,
​so how about some random dino facts?

#1. People, and our genus’ ancestors have only been on Earth about 2.5 million years. Dinosaurs lived on Earth for about 160 million years, which is about 64 times longer than people been around. Granted their time was cut short by a seismic Meteorite 65 Million Years ago in the now gulf of Mexico, doesn’t mean that we won’t be blown away either.  

#2. Speaking of which, many scientists believe that a massive meteorite hit the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico 65.5 million years ago and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs as well as the pterosaurs and plesiosaurs. The 112-mile-wide crater was caused by a rock 6 miles in diameter. It would have hit Earth’s crust with immense force, sending shockwaves around the world. No land animal heavier than a large dog survived. However, animals such as sharks, jellyfish, fish, scorpions, birds, insects, snakes, turtles, lizards, and crocodiles survived.

#3. Though mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, and Dimetrodon are commonly believed to be dinosaurs, they are not technically dinosaurs. The term “dinosaur” refers to just land-dwelling reptiles that have a specific hip structure, among other traits. Actually the Genus Dinosauria has been changed and beings in the said genus have been reorganized so many times throughout the centuries.

#4. The earliest named dinosaur found so far is the Eoraptor (“dawn stealer”). It was so named because it lived at the dawn of the Dinosaur Age. It was a meat eater about the size of a German shepherd. The first Eoraptor skeleton was discovered in Argentina in 1991. However, another dinosaur has recently been found in Madagascar that dates as being 230 million years old. It has not been named yet. Not to be confused with the youtuber and host of Game Grumps: Egoraptor (aka Arin Hanson).

#5. Everybody has a Favorite Dinosaur, mine used to be Pachycephalosaurus, now it is none other than Spinosaurus: Spinosaurus was a carnivorous dinosaur that lived during the Middle Cretaceous period, about 93-100 million years ago, in what is now Egypt, Morocco, and the Republic of Niger. Its name means “spine lizard” due to its large, flat back spines, and it is classified as a spinosaurid, which is a type of large, meat-eating dinosaur. The order, suborder, and family of Spinosaurus is Saurischia, Theropoda, and Spinosauridae. As far as we know, it was the largest carnivorous dinosaur, with a length of up to 60 feet and a weight of up to 9.9 tons (although, until a few years ago, paleontologists believed T-rex was the biggest carnivorous dinosaur). Spinosaurus was first discovered in 1915 by the German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in Africa. However, the bones he discovered were destroyed by Allied bombs in 1944, during World War II. Spinosaurus may have been able to swim. Paleontologists from the University of Pennsylvania have found evidence that leads them to believe that the Bayharia Oasis in Egypt, where the first spinosaur fossils were found, used to be a Mangrove swamp similar to today’s Florida Everglades.

Source: https://www.factretriever.com/dinosaur-facts
Source: https://iknowdino.com/5-facts-about-spinosaurus/

Episode 65: Concert Music June p1.

Nerd Talk: Automotive Science


​I asked and YOU responded, a solid Auto-Science and news is what you asked for so that is what we will get!

#1. Nascar is always fun to watch, not as fun as Demo Derbies but then again what is? Car racing has been around for quite some time, really from the beginning if we are stretching, not the greenest sport for the environment however we are trying our best to clean it up. (haha) “Gen 2” car features a brand new chassis design, battery and powertrain. The amount of energy stored is almost double, from 28 to 52 kWh, and the power output is increasing yet again, from 180 to 200 kW race power and 200 to 250 kW qualifying power. The major change is that, given the increase in energy capacity, we no longer require two cars per driver with a pit stop in the middle of the race. The drivers will now be able to cover the entire race distance [45 minutes plus one lap] with only one car. Given that the power levels are increasing, you can easily deduce that it meant increasing even further the efficiency of the powertrain. All these developments are very exciting as they pave the way for the next generation of electric road cars that will not only be very fun to drive but will also feature a much improved range.

#2. Car companies predict that self-driving cars will save millions of lives. They talk about a future without personal auto ownership, drivers' licenses, car insurance or the search for parking. When you need a ride, simply use an app to call an autonomous taxi. But not everyone is sold on the dream. In fact, 73 percent of respondents told the American Automobile Association in a recent survey that they wouldn't want to ride in a self-driving car. They don't want to give up control to a machine. They don't trust it, don't think it's safe. After two years of waiting, If you are finally the proud owner of a Model 3, the latest and least expensive Tesla—and among the most autonomous cars on the road. I've used its Enhanced Autopilot a lot. It's had some near misses and required some adjustments, but you can now say whether it's really safer than your own driving. The Future might not be as far as we think…
​
#3. The Hyperloop is similar to the small vacuum tubes that can be found at banks and retail stores that are often used to move money quickly in sealed containers. Now if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, I’ve posted a link in the show notes to one of these small vacuum tubes working. Now the concept is to make the tubes and capsules much larger in order to carry passengers and maybe even other vehicles.
Instead of using just air pressure alone to move, the Hyperloop will have similar technology to bullet trains that use magnets to propel themselves forward. The tube that the Hyperloop will travel through will have some of the air pumped out of it. This will allow the capsule to travel through much more easily without having to deal with a significant amount of air pressure.

Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/custom-media/pictet/racing-towards-better-electric-vehicles/
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-good-is-teslas-enhanced-autopilot-feature/?redirect=1
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-hyperloop/
​

Episode 66: German Metal

Nerd Talk: German Scientists


Since YOU picked the music I picked what nerd talk should be about and we all know Germany had some big and important, along with some demented, contributions to science as a whole.
So, how about some of the trivia on some of the Scientists that reign from Germany.

#1. Starting things off we have the obvious: Albert Einstein is portrayed as the father to special relativity and general relativity theories, mass-energy similarity and photoelectric effect in physics, formulating the most influential conceptions of all ages. Through the famous equation E = mc² the definite relation between light speed (c2) and mass (m) which move the matter explained, helping the reshape science and technology. In 1921 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his “services to theoretical physics”, in particular his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, a pivotal step in the evolution of quantum theory.

#2. Carl Bosch was a German chemist and engineer and Nobel laureate in chemistry. Carl Bosch is a well-known individual due to this work on growing the process of Haber ammonia process by synthesizing the ammonia, hydrogen and nitrogen. He is also recognized for formulating methods of chemical high-pressure. He received the Siemens-Ring in 1924 for his contributions to applied research and his support of basic research. In 1931 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Friedrich Bergius for the introduction of high pressure chemistry. Today the Haber–Bosch process produces 100 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer every year.

#3. Let’s have a lady on our list:
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard became an important figure of science as she and her counterparts Eric F. Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis for investigating the mechanisms that lead to an early development of embryo. She won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1991 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995, together with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis, for their research on the genetic control of embryonic development. The experiments that earned Nüsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus their Nobel prize aimed to identify genes involved in the development of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) embryos.
​
#4. Now for something we nerds can relate to:
Herbert Kroemer became a known scientist for his distinguished work jointly with Zhores Alferov and Jack S. Kilby that led to the establishment of modern computers, microchips and the IT. Heterostructure devices invented by him, lead to the development of fibre-optic communications – widely used in computers and video-players.

#5. How about another lovely Lady?
​Maria Goeppert-Mayer was the second female Nobel Prize Winner for proposing nuclear shell model of nuclear atomic nucleus. As for her co-theory of shells, they proposed a model where nucleus has several shells “orbital levels”, where protons and neutrons are allocated amongst these shells in a distinguishing level of stability.

Source: https://www.studying-in-germany.org/most-incredible-german-scientists/

Episode 67: Washington Metal 

Nerd Talk: Random Music Facts!


​Since I picked the music YOU picked what nerd talk should be about:
Random Facts with Betti Music Edition.

#1. We all have used this an excuse: ‘yeah that’s good but have you heard the original? That’s way better’ Science can back you up, yes you are bias HOWEVER You don't like the original version of a song because it's better. You like it because it's the one you heard first. So covers of songs tend to butt heads with originals all the time. Don’t worry you aren’t alone.

#2. Here is something that makes some sense. Flowers can grow faster by listening to music. So imagine what music does to babies in the womb when the mother listens to music…?
​
#3. I am not only a Radio Hostess but I’m also a musician. I have preformed my fair share of parades, concerts, and football games. Fortunately I will never have to worry about playing the world's longest concert, apparently it goes so slow, it will last 639 years.

#4. Why do we love music? Why do invest in Concerts or CD’s? Music triggers activity in the same brain structure that releases the "pleasure chemical" dopamine during sex and eating.
​
#5. Which country has the most Metal Bands? Apparently Finland does. It has more heavy metal bands per capita than any other country in the world. Whether it actually heavy metal or any genre is up to YOU to find out for yourself!

Source: https://www.factslides.com/s-Musi

Episode 68: Classic Concert metal!

Nerd Talk: British random facts with Betti

Since I picked the music YOU picked what nerd talk should be about Random facts with Betti with a British Twist.
​Jokingly, the day before the independence day from Britain we play only British Metal.
​
#1. The British drink over 163 million cups of tea daily, about 20 times the number of cups consumed by Americans. To top all that off: The UK has the highest rate of obesity in the world with almost 25% of the British adults being obese.
​
#2. Although Britain has been involved in many wars lasting decades, it has also been involved in the shortest war. The Anglo-Zanzibar War fought in 1896 lasted only 38 minutes. The British Navy used Britney Spear’s songs to scare away the Somali pirates along the coast of Africa. Of all countries that celebrate Independence Day, 58 are independent of the UK, the highest by any country. They might have won the battles but they lost the wars.

#3. As most of you know, Football (aka Soccer) is the national Sport. Here is something most of you DON’T know: Football got its start in England when a skull of a Danish warrior was unearthed by Anglo-Saxon farm workers. They kicked the skull around to show their anger and amuse themselves. The early soccer was known as “Kick Dane’s head.”
​
#4. Over 6,000 people are hurt or die in Britain annually for tripping over their trousers or falling downstairs while putting them on. More than 3,000 people in the UK were hospitalized in 1999 for tripping over a laundry basket. Death penalty was outlawed in the UK following the wrongful execution of a man for killing his wife and daughter in 1950.
​

Source: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/fun-facts-about-the-united-kingdom.html

Episode 69: Russian Metal

Nerd Talk: Russian Technology


We all love the Russian dash cam videos the internet supplies us with.
But what else can Russia bring to the table?
How about some fascinating Russian technology for our nerd talk tonight!

#1. Tetris is a tile-matching puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Soviet Russian game designer Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov. The first playable version was completed on June 6, 1984. He derived its name from the Greek numerical prefix tetra- (all of the game's pieces contain four segments) and tennis, Pajitnov's favorite sport. The name is also used in-game to refer to the play where four lines (the maximum simultaneous clearance number) are cleared at once. Tetris was the first entertainment software to be exported from the Soviet Union to the United States, where it was published by Spectrum HoloByte for the Commodore 64 and IBM PC. The game is a popular use of tetrominoes, the four-element case of polyominoes, which have been used in popular puzzles since at least 1907. The game, or one of its many variants, is available for nearly every video game console and computer operating system.

#2. Fire fighting foam is foam used for fire suppression. Its role is to cool the fire and to coat the fuel, preventing its contact with oxygen, resulting in suppression of combustion. Fire fighting foam was invented by the Russian engineer and chemist Aleksandr Loran in 1902. He was a teacher in a school in Baku, which was the main center of the Russian oil industry at that time. Impressed by the terrible and hardly extinguishable oil fires that he had seen there, Loran tried to find such a liquid substance that could deal effectively with the problem, and so he invented his fire fighting foam. Then in 1904 the first such extinguisher was produced in 1904 by Aleksandr Loran! So thank you Russia

​#3. Now let’s go back to the 12th Century: The pernach is a type of flanged mace developed since the 12th century in the region of Kievan Rus' and later widely used throughout Europe. The name comes from the Russian word перо (pero) meaning feather, reflecting the form of pernach that resembled an arrow with fletching. The most popular variety of pernach had six flanges and was called shestopyor (from Russian shest' and pero, that is six-feathered). Pernach was the first form of the flanged mace to find wide usage. It was perfectly suited to defeat plate armour and plate mail. In later times it was often used as a symbol of power by military leaders in Eastern Europe.

#4. Now for something that I am not only enthrald about but didn’t even realized was happening up until a few month ago! Remember the Space Race America had with Russia? Well we may have landed on the moon first, Russia had another card in their deck: Venus. Venera 13, a Soviet spacecraft, was the first lander to transmit color images from the surface of Venus. Although other landers arrived before and after it, pictures from Venera 13 are more widely circulated because they are in color. The spacecraft was designed to last about half an hour on Venus' harsh surface, but it ended up transmitting data for more than 2 hours after its landing on March 1, 1982. No lander has ventured to the surface of Venus since the 1980s, although several orbiters have made the journey. Documentation on the Venera program is sparse because it took place in the former Soviet Union. More formally known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at the time, the country was the predecessor of today's Russia and surrounding nations. The union dissolved into independent states in 1991. Unlike the United States' public space program, the Soviet Union preferred to keep all information about its spaceflights private until officials deemed it appropriate to release the news. The Western world was shocked when the Soviets launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, on Oct. 4, 1957. At the time, few Americans realized that the Soviets had the technology to send satellites into space. Sputnik's launch initiated a "space race" between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that took place under the backdrop of the Cold War. The Soviets also kept plans for other achievements private until they were accomplished. Some prominent examples include the flight of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961, and the first spacewalk by Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Russian_innovation
Source: https://www.space.com/18551-venera-13.html

Episode 70: Spanish metal

Nerd Talk: Spanish Inquisition 


Hopefully we have all seen the Monty Python Sketch on the Spanish Inquisition.
However, what actually was the Spanish Inquisition?
Well how about we dive into our history books once again…

#1. The Inquisition was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy throughout Europe and the Americas. Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures and its persecution of Jews and Muslims. Its worst manifestation was in Spain, where the Spanish Inquisition was a dominant force for more than 200 years, resulting in some 32,000 executions.

#2. Who did What?
Inquisitors would arrive in a town and announce their presence, giving citizens a chance to admit to heresy. Those who confessed received a punishment ranging from a pilgrimage to a whipping. Those accused of heresy were forced to testify. If the heretic did not confess, torture and execution were inescapable. Heretics weren’t allowed to face accusers, received no counsel, and were often victims of false accusations.

#3. Was it Just in Spain?
NO! As Spain expanded into the Americas, so did the Inquisition, established in Mexico in 1570. In 1574, Lutherans were burned at the stake there, and the Inquisition came to Peru, where Protestants were likewise tortured and burned alive.
In 1580 Spain conquered Portugal and began rounding up and slaughtering Jews that had fled Spain. Philip II also renewed hostilities against the Moors, who revolted and found themselves either killed or sold into slavery.
Philip II died in 1598 and his son, Philip III, dealt with the Muslim uprising by banishing them. From 1609 to 1615, 150,000 Muslims who had converted to Catholicism were forced out of Spain. By the mid-1600s the Inquisition and Catholic dominance had become such an oppressive fact of daily life in Spanish territories that Protestants avoided those places altogether.

#4. Finally In 1808, Napoleon conquered Spain and ordered the Inquisition there to be abolished. Unfortunately after Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, Ferdinand VII worked to reinstate the Inquisition but was ultimately prevented by the French government, which helped Ferdinand overcome a fierce rebellion. Part of the agreement with France was to dismantle the Inquisition, which was defunct by 1834. The Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition still exists, though changed its name a couple of times. It is currently called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Source: https://www.history.com/topics/religion/inquisition#section_2

Episode 71: Zero Down/Seattle Metal

Nerd Talk: Zero Down Interview!


Here’s the deal for tonight Nerd talk will actually be interview time with Zero Down’s Lenny and Hawk:

#1. Let’s start off with the obvious question: How did you guys meet? I mean three of you aren’t even from Washington state
"_________"

#2. My listeners love you guys. Your songs are easy to sing along with, there is this electric energy- that when I saw you last year (for the first time) it was almost comical watching you on stage messing each others hair up, practically dancing around stage, playing and pushing off each other. Not a lot of bands give that off/or pull that off energy. When you listen back either to a live show or regular album how do you critic for next time either positive or negative?  
"_______"
​
#3. Matt and Ron are still active members of other bands if I did my homework correctly… how do you guys manage that? I mean communication is key to any work environment, I’m sure the music industry is no different.
"Lenny is the time keeper..."
 
#4. Who were some of your role models? When I think Punk anything I think the Clash or Sex Pistols…
"_______"

#5. So this concert that is coming up July 27th at Slims for The Hillbilly Headbangers Ball, Hawk you told me that this is going to be it for the concerts for a while? Taking a siesta or is this it for a while? Will you still be producing albums?
"This is it. With Lenny moving back to Nashville. We might be doing a get together when Lenny comes to visit."
​

Episode 72: Zero Down and Seattle Metal!

Nerd Talk: Interview!


Here’s the deal for tonight Nerd talk will actually be interview time with Zero Down’s Lenny and Hawk:

#1. Let’s start off with the obvious question: How did you guys meet? I mean three of you aren’t even from Washington state
Lenny: Well I moved here, with my band (No Direction) from Knoxville in '88.
Hawk: After my band (DUMT) split up and Lenny's band split up we were talking one day and he's like 'wanna start a band?' This band has been very easy to be in, for a band that has been together I mean for the 18 years that we have been together.
#2. My listeners love you guys. Your songs are easy to sing along with, there is this electric energy- that when I saw you last year (for the first time) it was almost comical watching you on stage messing each others hair up, practically dancing around stage, playing and pushing off each other. Not a lot of bands give that off/or pull that off energy. When you listen back either to a live show or regular album how do you critic for next time either positive or negative?
 Lenny: for the studio, it's been a progressive thing "how can we be better in the studio" we have put five full lengths out from the first to the last one. First couple were punk and 70's rock production has changed with the stylistic changes
Hawk: For live shows, make a setlist and go. Since we have been doing this for so long. the funnest time of my life is looking into the crowd and see someone laugh and I like to go into the crowd
Lenny: Before we record a record we play those songs live. We are pretty good at seeing what songs are working in the live but for whatever reason not working in live but sound great in studio.
Hawk: We just came from practice and we are trying to make a setlist that has a bit of everything from each album... 
#3. Matt and Ron are still active members of other bands if I did my homework correctly…
Lenny and Hawk: Chris: Braincell Genocide, Ronny: Shivering Denises, Matt: the Squirrels and Bitter End
​#3.5. How do you guys manage that? I mean communication is key to any work environment, I’m sure the music industry is no different.
Lenny: I'll take credit for all of that!
Hawk: Every band needs a Lenny. He sends out the emails for practice... At our age, I mean I have been playing music since 1987. If all five of us cant make it for practice then we do it next week... Lenny 
Lenny: We have seen it all... need to micromanage all these children
Hawk: I will be 49 in a couple
Lenny: I'm going to be 54... I was 23 when I moved here in '88.
Hawk: Everybody talks about the grunge, but the Metal scene here in Seattle was huge: 
Lenny: no segregation, everybody went to everything. Cross pollenated, my roommate was in Nirvana 
#4. Who were some of your role models? When I think Punk anything I think the Clash or Sex Pistols…
Hawk: 8th-9th grade: Mötley Crüe, freshman in high school: Iron Maiden (locally: The Accused, the energy on stage was electric) All come full circle
Lenny: Oh my god that's all over the place. Punk: Black Flag, the Kennedy's, circle jerks: but Judas Priest was the gateway drug to metal. The Accused was the band we looked up to... They were the footprint. 'we want to get to there!' 
#5. So this concert that is coming up July 27th at Slims for The Hillbilly Headbangers Ball, Hawk you told me that this is going to be it for the concerts for a while? Taking a siesta or is this it for a while? Will you still be producing albums?
Hawk: well this is our last show for the foreseeable future. It's not like we are never going to play together again.... I made this band with Lenny and I wouldn't feel right continuing on without Lenny
Lenny: As far as Creating music and recording, it is easy now a days even if you aren't 
Hawk: In the wonderful words of the great JB 'Never say Never'

Episode 73: Australian Metal

Nerd Talk: Australia's Most Venomous!


​As most of us know, Australia has some nasty creatures, from Spiders, snakes, and crazy sealife. Here are the most Venomous Creatures in Australia.
The usual way to measure and compare that is by using the LD50 scale. Historically the LD50 is the ‘lethal dose’ of venom – expressed in mg/kg – that would kill 50 per cent of the animals in a sample group. The lower the LD50 score, the more toxic the venom.

#1. Inland taipan:
An LD50 of 0.025 makes this the world’s most venomous snake. Its venom contains nerve-damaging neurotoxins, myotoxins that target muscle tissue and procoagulants that lead to excessive bleeding. An average bite yields 44mg of venom, which could kill 25–30 people. Symptoms range from headaches and nausea to paralysis, typically leading to death within 45 minutes. Fortunately, this snake lives in the arid interior, and so people rarely encounter it. No human deaths have been attributed to it and antivenom is available.

#2. Geographer cone snail:
One sting from this predatory snail could kill many adults. One component of its venom, which needs to be deadly and fast-acting to swiftly kill its fish prey, has an LD50 of 0.012. It contains neurotoxins that in humans affect vision and speech. Australia’s only recorded death occurred in 1935. These snails are found near Indo-Pacific ocean reefs and are most likely encountered when they are stepped on. Because stings can be painless, people may not realize they have been stung. Cone snail drug 100x more potent than morphine!

#3. Box jellyfish:
One of the most venomous marine creatures known, the box jellyfish can kill a healthy adult in minutes. This jellyfish is found in northern Australian waters and has caused more than 70 deaths here since 1883. It has an LD50 of 0.272. As well as haemo-toxins and neurotoxins, the venom contains dermatonecrotic substances, which cause skin-scarring. Venom is delivered by millions of tiny, harpoon-like stinging cells on up to 60 tentacles, and an encounter is said to be excruciating.

#4. Sydney funnel web spider:
Australia’s, and possibly the world’s, deadliest spider, it can kill an adult in an hour. With its venom high in neurotoxins, it has an estimated, but unverified, LD50 rating of 0.16. It has been responsible for 13 known deaths in Australia, although none have been recorded since antivenom was developed in 1981. A bite yields an average dose of 0.14mg of venom, is extremely painful and can cause muscle spasms and convulsions. Renowned for being aggressive and with fangs that can pierce toenails, it is found in bush and urban areas in the Sydney basin. Not only is this the most venomous Spider in Australia but also in the WORLD!

#5. Blue-ringed octopus:
Although no bigger than an open hand, a blue-ringed octopus has an LD50 rating of 0.3 for some elements of its venom. One bite contains enough neurotoxins to paralyse many people. They are responsible for at least two known deaths in Australia prior to the 1960s. A bite can induce muscle weakness, breathing difficulties and paralysis within 10 minutes. Death can occur rapidly unless CPR is performed swiftly. There’s no antidote and bites sometimes go unnoticed. It’s found in tide pools and coral reefs in Indo-Pacific waters.

Source: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2015/05/top-10-most-venomous-animals-in-australia/

Episode 74: Classic Metal (August)

Nerd Talk: Music News


Since I picked the music YOU picked the talk!
You wanted Music News, so how about what’s going on in the Metal Music World?

#1. A recent study has posited that listening to heavy metal is actually good for the mental health of fans of the genre. The results fly in the face of past thinking that caused a moral panic around the music, often focused on accusations of devil worship or illicit sex that aligned metal music with plummeting mental health. But although non-fans have been shown in past research to experience greater anxiety after listening to metal, professor Nick Perham — a metalhead with a PhD in psychology — theorized in June for The Conversation that listeners more attuned to metal's extremes experience a mental benefit in how they handle anger. "Despite the often violent lyrical content in some heavy metal songs, recently published research has shown that fans do not become sensitized to violence, which casts doubt on the previously assumed negative effects of long-term exposure to such music," the researcher wrote. "Indeed, studies have shown long-terms fans were happier in their youth and better adjusted in middle age compared to their non-fan counterparts." Perham continued, "Another finding that fans who were made angry and then listened to heavy metal music did not increase their anger but increased their positive emotions suggests that listening to extreme music represents a healthy and functional way of processing anger." But perhaps the most astounding postulation in the paper is that certain authorities' opposition to metal can actually help the minds of metalheads by giving them the tools to argue their position logically. "Heavy metal can promote scientific thinking but alas not just by listening to it," he said. "Educators can promote scientific thinking by posing claims such as listening to certain genres of music is associated with violent thinking. By examining the aforementioned accusations of violence and offense — which involved world-famous artists like Cradle of Filth, Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Manson — students can engage in scientific thinking, exploring logical fallacies, research design issues and thinking biases." Talk about a wake-up call for metal lovers. Next time someone accuses your favorite music of being violent or angry, perhaps you could enlighten them with Perham's theory that it helps control anger and promotes critical reasoning in fans. In fact, the professor's study was just published again this week in Neuroscience News. Looks like Quiet Riot were right the whole time.

#2. As if it seemed like KISS had already managed to plaster their faces and logo on everything humanly possible, enter Pokemon. The Japanese franchise just introduced a new team of characters to its collection, and one of them looks inspired by KISS's signature white and black makeup, especially Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, in all three of its forms. They have long tongues, too. Simmons reportedly commented on the matter, according to Newsweek. "Pokémon has been a part of our household for decades, ever since our kids first discovered them," Simmons said in a statement. "And to see Pokémon pay homage to KISS, is flattering." Though this wasn't a collaboration between Pokemon and the band, it's still pretty funny. People have taken to Twitter reacting to the similarities between the rockers and the new cartoon creatures, and Simmons joined in on the discussion himself. Too bad he didn't think of it first!

#3. It’s always tragic when a metal fan dies, and his death goes on trial for all to see, be it the 19-year-old Lamb of God fan who died in Prague, resulting in the Manslaughter case against vocalist Randy Blythe, or the two boys that allegedly tried to kill themselves in a suicide pact for their favorite band Judas Priest; there’s nothing victorious about a musician winning a case that involved an unnecessary death. One of the most publicized metal death cases wrapped up on Aug. 7, 1986, when a judge threw out a lawsuit that claimed Ozzy Osbourne and two record labels encouraged a teenager in California to shoot himself in 1984. The 19-year-old, John McCollum, had been listening to Ozzy’s “Suicide Solution” the night he committed suicide with a .22 caliber handgun. His parents filed suit in civil court in October, 1985, claiming that it was criminally negligent of Osbourne to include “Suicide Solution” on the 1980 album Blizzard of Ozz, and that his labels Jet and CBS Records shared in the responsibility for the young man’s death. The suit stated that all three parties acted irresponsibly because they released the track “with the knowledge that such [a song] would, or at the very least, could promote suicide.” McCollum was suffering from alcohol abuse and emotional problems when he chose to end his life. His parents insisted that young, impressionable adults were particularly susceptible to being influenced by Osbourne's music and that, therefore, Osbourne, Jet and CBS should be held accountable. Osbourne has always insisted that he wrote “Suicide Solution” as a warning about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The case was originally thrown out that December when a judge ruled that Osbourne had the absolute First Amendment right to write a song about suicide. In August 1986, the California Court of Appeals upheld the verdict, insisting that there was nothing in the song that presented a clear and present danger. "Musical lyrics and poetry cannot be construed to contain the requisite 'call to action' for the elementary reason they simply are not intended to be and should not be read literally,” Superior Court Judge John Cole said. “Reasonable persons understand musical lyrics and poetic conventions as the figurative expressions which they are.” Furthermore, added the judge, the defense failed to provide evidence that would prevent Osbourne from being fully protected under the First Amendment. “We have to look very closely at the First Amendment and the chilling effect that would be had if these words were held to be accountable,” Cole said. Cole added that even if Osbourne had intended to express that suicide was preferable to the rigors of daily living, he had the constitutional right to make such a statement.

Source: https://loudwire.com/new-pokemon-kiss-gene-simmons/
Source: https://loudwire.com/heavy-metal-good-for-health-study/
Source: https://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-exonerated-suicide-solution-fan-death-lawsuit-anniversary/

Episode 75: French Metal

Nerd Talk: French things that are not actually french

Have you ever noticed how often we label something as "French" in the English language even though it's not French at all?
Does French kissing really come from France and does the phrase "pardon my French" have anything to do with the Gallic language?
The Local has taken a look at 12 examples to figure out what led us to believe they came out of France.

#1. French bulldog: According to the most common opinion, English lace workers who settled in Normandy in the mid-1800s brought the small bulldogs along with them. The farmers of the area took a liking to them and they also apparently became very popular among Parisian prostitutes. English breeders kept sending over bulldogs they considered too small, and the type ended up being considered a breed and named “Bouledogue Français”. The French bulldog we know today is an international breed and is different from the ones from back then but the name has stuck.
​
#2. French toast Yes, we call it French toast but the dish wasn’t invented in the Hexagon. In fact, the simple recipe can be traced back to 4th century Rome when it was referenced in a cookbook. Just like it’s made today, the Romans soaked the bread in milk and eggs and fried it in oil or butter. Great for using up left-over bread, the dish is popular in many countries including France. But asking for something like “toast à la française” in a restaurant won’t get you anywhere. It’s called “pain perdu” in French.

#3. French fries: Apparently, both Belgium and France claim French fries as their own, but it is argued that American and British soldiers coined the term when they were stationed in Belgium, naming them after the local language. American politician Bob Ney proved he didn’t care much about the origins of the salty treat when he came up with the brilliant idea of changing their name to Freedom fries in response to France opposing the invasion of Iraq.

#4. Pardon my French: The expression “Pardon my French” is usually uttered in an attempt to excuse profanities or curses, even though they haven't been said in English. It is suggested that the expression stems from 19th century England when people actually used French expressions but were aware that the person they were talking to may not understand them.

#5. French horn Based on early hunting horns, the French horn may have some roots in France but it is in fact German in origin. The International Horn Society refuses to use the misleading term "French horn" and instead refers to the instrument simply as "horn".

#6. French plait (French braid): French women may have a reputation for being extremely fashionable but they can't claim the invention of this braided hairstyle, which apparently has been around for thousands of years. Women wearing their hair braided this way have been depicted in early Greek and Celtic art, and apparently even engraved in stone in an Algerian mountain range. Though clearly not Gallic, we still call it French plait and the French themselves refer to it as “tresse française”.
​

Source: https://www.thelocal.fr/galleries/4/ten-french-things-that-arent-french-at-all

Episode 76: Local Metal (August)

Nerd Talk: Random Local Facts


​Since it is the last Wednesday of the month, you picked the nerd talk.
You wanted random facts, since we are playing Washington Metal why not some random facts about Washington State?

​#1. Hells Canyon is the claimed to be the deepest river gorge in North America at 7,993 feet deep, however that claim is disputed because the reference for the canyon’s depth is a mountain over five miles away and not perceivable from the river.

#2. The world’s first gas station opened in 1907 at Western Ave. and Holgate St. in Seattle. Seattle was the first American city to put police on bicycles. Apparently, in Seattle, it is against the law to carry a concealed weapon that is over six feet in length. The first general strike in the nation was in Seattle in 1919 – it lasted five days, February 6-11, as 60,000 shipyard workers walked off their jobs and there were many more to come. Oh Seattle, what are we going to do with you?

#3. Mount St. Helen’s lost 1,131 feet of elevation in the May 1980 eruption and spewed forth about one cubic mile of dust, ash and debris.  The blast leveled over four billion feet of usable timber, enough to build 150,000 homes. The highest point in Washington is Mount Rainier. It was named after Peter Rainier, a British soldier who fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War. I guess the ‘real’ name of Mount Rainer, given to the great mountain by the natives of Puyallup is Tahoma, meaning ‘that frozen water’.

#4. Everybody loves the Market right on the water, The Farmer’s Market at Pike Place, since 1907, is the longest continuously operating farmer’s market in the US. Did you know that Pike Place Market is said to host a bevy of ghosts and just might be the most haunted place in the state of Washington, guess those farmers still want to serve us from way back then!

#5. Washington is home to 3 National Parks, 1,462 National Register of Historic Places, 17 National Natural Landmarks, 24 National Historic Landmarks, and 186 State Parks. How many of those have you been to? I love state/national parks one of my favorite though are the Black Hills of Wyoming: roll down your windows, turn off the radio, don’t speak just drive.

Source: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/wa-facts/

Episode 77: Classic Metal (September)

Nerd Talk: Music News


I asked and YOU responded! A solid agreement was had by all: Music News.
So what is happening in the world of Metal?

#1. Remember all of the instances this year where the members of Guns N' Roses hinted that new music was in the works? One fan may have figured it out — GN'R are rumored to have a new song featured in the upcoming movie Terminator: Dark Fate. Australian Guns N' Roses fan page Guns Over Oz initially posted the rumor on their Facebook. "A source who was working on Terminator: Dark Fate has informed that 4 members of guns n roses went to a private viewing of a rough copy of the upcoming Arnold Schwarzenegger sequel movie to see if they want to put a song on the soundtrack. Apparently, Slash was at axls house to record overdubs on a song for the rush release. At this point the song name is unknown. But yes 100 percent verified. Guns n roses new music." Over the last several months, multiple sources reported that Slash had been spending some time at Axl Rose's house, insinuating that they were laying down guitar tracks for new music. Kruise Kontrol Amplification posted a since-deleted photo of an amp that the guitarist was supposedly using to record new material in Rose's home studio. If the rumors are true, this would be the first new release from the original GN'R trio of Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan since 1993's The Spaghetti Incident?. It also wouldn't be the first time the rockers have had involvement with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Terminator franchise, as the Use Your Illusion II track "You Could Be Mine" was included on the soundtrack for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The upcoming sequel is due for release Oct. 23, and Guns N' Roses kick off the next leg of their Not in This Lifetime tour Sept. 25 in Charlotte, N.C.
 
#2. The heavy metal community was already in the grip of Iron Maiden fever when the band released its fifth studio album, Powerslave, on Sept. 3, 1984. Ever since 1982’s The Number of the Beast, Maiden proved to be one of the most exciting and intelligent bands to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. By the time they released Powerslave, their mascot Eddie the Head was almost as well-known to fans as the musicians themselves, and the band took full advantage of their audience’s affection for Eddie, adorning the undead figure in an Egyptian headdress reminiscent of King Tut and featuring his cartoon image on art work for the propulsive singles “2 Minutes To Midnight” and “Aces High.” But what really made Powerslave a masterful release was the work of bassist and songwriter Steve Harris, who penned four of the eight songs, including the majestic “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” a nearly 14-minute-long recasting of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem of the same name. The song featured numerous movements and quoted several lines from the original, including, “Water, water everywhere and all the boards did shrink/ Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” The song was Maiden’s longest number for many years until the band released the 18-minute track “Empire of the Clouds” on its 2015 album The Book of Souls. For the album, Harris wrote songs about a variety of subjects – the mythology of ancient Egypt (“Powerslave”), World War II fighter pilots (“Aces High”) the arms race (“2 Minutes to Midnight”), the futility of Western-style gun battles (“The Duellists”) and the aforementioned Coleridge poem (“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” – in order to give listeners a new perspective on the band that stretched far beyond tales of vengeance and the occult. Powerslave debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard album chart and, like Number of the Beast and Piece of Mind, it eventually went platinum. In 1995, Iron Maiden reissued the album with a bonus disc that contained the B-sides of the singles: “Mission From ‘Arry” a cover of Beckett’s “Rainbow Gold,” a cover of Nektar’s “King of Twilight” and a live version of “The Number the Beast.” Powerslave received a second re-release in 1998 with a disc featuring the videos for “Aces High” and “2 Minutes to Midnight.”

#3. Arch Enemy lead vocalist Alissa White-Gluz will voice a character in the upcoming Gears 5 video game, the third-person shooter and sixth Gears of War installment due Sept. 10 for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. As first unveiled by developer Rod Fergusson, the Coalition studio head currently steering the Gears of War franchise, the Arch Enemy rocker will see her video game likeness presented in the "vocal power" behind the Swarm Hunter in Gears 5. It's perhaps a fitting next step for the singer well-versed in guest appearances in music with the likes of Carnifex, American Murder Song and more.

#4. Sabaton were involved in a serious car crash on Aug. 30, leaving the band members “broken, badly beaten, bleeding and stitched up.” The band was forced to cancel a show in Poland, but promised to keep their upcoming North American dates. The battle metal band was filming a music video in the Sahara desert, most likely for “Seven Pillars of Wisdom,” which was written about Lawrence of Arabia for Sabaton’s latest album, The Great War. Sabaton finished the music video, but were involved in the accident upon returning from the shoot.

#5. KISS guitarist and vocalist Paul Stanley offered his commentary on the surge of mass shootings in the U.S. following last week's Midland-Odessa shooting that killed seven and injured 25. Airing his thoughts on social media, the musician posited that "prayers and sympathy are not enough." Stanley's Sept. 1 Twitter comments came alongside a photo showing a group of locals huddling around what appears to be a wounded person on the road following the deadly mass shooting. The image was published by The Sun among others. "We don't have more 'crazy' or 'mentally unstable' people in the US," Stanley said. "What we DO have are commonplace mass shootings with automatic and semi-automatic high powered firearms. THAT cannot be disputed. Tell me what we and our government must do. Prayers and sympathy are not enough."
​

Source: https://loudwire.com/kiss-paul-stanley-mass-shootings/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Source: https://loudwire.com/kiss-paul-stanley-mass-shootings/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Source: https://loudwire.com/arch-enemy-alissa-white-gluz-gears-5-video-game/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Source: https://loudwire.com/arch-enemy-alissa-white-gluz-gears-5-video-game/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Source: https://loudwire.com/guns-n-roses-rumor-new-song-terminator-movie/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

Episode 78: Concert Music/Stani Metal

Nerd Talk: Silk Road


With the Middle East being well the middle of the Euro-Asian Super Continent.
I wonder how the Silk Road impacted the Middle East since it was in THE MIDDLE of it?

#1. Let’s start with the Obvious What was it?
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe. Established when the Han Dynasty in China officially opened trade with the West in 130 B.C., the Silk Road routes remained in use until 1453 A.D., when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them. Although it’s been nearly 600 years since the Silk Road has been used for international trade, the routes had a lasting impact on commerce, culture and history that resonates even today.

#2. Okay, so what did that have to do with the Middle East? From antiquity there had been trading cities in the Middle East that lived and got rich on the transit trade that reached from China to the Mediterranean. Their traders naturally knew that there was an India to the east, beyond that an island empire where the spices came from, and even further east, China with its silk and porcelain. They also knew that trading ships left Basra at the mouth of the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates to cross the eastern sea, and that their captains knew the ways and means of moving about on those oceans. In the Middle East, the narrow land bridge that joins the East with the West, the importance of that fertilising transit trade was particularly great. It was a region with many deserts and steppes, whose agricultural resources were limited. So it was a win-win for everyone really, rich and poor alike.

#3. For the culture of the Moslems, trade was an essential element. Their courts were centres of luxury and cultural splendour, but it was always the traders that enriched them. They created and spread a culture that encompassed the entire Islamic world. This culture arose through the mingling of the Persian and Byzantine traditions, with a superstructure of Islam; adding influences from India, Indonesia, China and Africa. And for that highly-developed culture, with its flourishing cities, its mosques, palaces, markets, universities, scholars and writers, its craftsmen and of course its traders, who enriched and moved the whole mixture, the European discovery of the routes to India was something like a short-circuiting of the fertilising trade routes.
​

​Source: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/silk-road
Source: https://www.moneymuseum.com/pdf/yesterday/02_Accross_the_Times/Bedeutung%20Seidenstrasse%20en.pdf

Episode 79: Italian Metal

Nerd Talk: Italian Plumbers


When we think of Italian there are a few things that instantly pop into our head.
Food, old ladies and old wrestlers, and plumbers…
So how about we dwell on that Red capped Plumber shall we?

#1. How did Mario come to be? Well in 1981 Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario while developing Donkey Kong in an attempt to produce a best-selling video game for Nintendo. Originally, Miyamoto wanted to create a video game that used the characters Popeye, Bluto, and Olive Oyl. However, Miyamoto was unable to acquire a license to use the characters so he ended up making an unnamed player character, Donkey Kong, and Lady (later known as Pauline). In the early stages of Donkey Kong, Mario was unable to jump, and the focus was to escape a maze. However, Miyamoto enabled Mario to jump, saying "If you had a barrel rolling towards you, what would you do?" therefore Miyamoto originally referred to him as Jumpman. But that as we all know now was taken down and Mario was born! Let the Side scrolling begin!

#2. Alright so we have DK, Mario and soon to be Peach. So what about the others? Like Bowser and Luigi? In the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros., Mario and his younger brother Luigi are portrayed as Italian-American plumbers who have to defeat creatures that have been coming from the sewers below New York City.
In Super Mario Bros. for the NES, Mario saves Princess Toadstool (later known as Princess Peach) of the Mushroom Kingdom from King Koopa (soon to be Bowser). In Super Mario Bros. 2, the player can choose between Mario, Luigi, Toad, or Princess Peach. In Super Mario Bros. 3, (MY PERSONAL FAVORITE) Mario quests to save the rulers of seven kingdoms from Bowser and his children, the Koopalings, Mario is introduced to new power-ups that augment his abilities. Raccoon Suit forever!

#3. Alright so we have the basic characters. Let the merchandising Begin! Technology improving brings 3d Mario in Mario64 (another favorite) and sider scrollers are put on hold for gaming consoles that AREN’T handheld. I still have my Gameboy where’s yours?? Anywho, some things are great for showing off characters others not so much (ie. The 1993 live action Mario Brothers Movie). With the Dreamcast out of commission how are we going to get SEGA to co-op? Let the games begin but the war still rages on… Sonic verse. Mario…… at the Olympics 10 years ago!

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario

Episode 80: Concert Music (Dragonforce/Starkill/Dance with the Dead)

Nerd Talk: Science Trivia


Since you picked the music I picked the talk!
How about some good, old fashion Science Trivia.
Did my best to diversify the nerdy nerd talk tonight just like the metal sub-genres we have tonight!

#1. Hawaii moves 7.5cm closer to Alaska every year. As most of us know the Earth’s crust is split into gigantic pieces called tectonic plates. These plates are in constant motion, propelled by currents in the Earth’s upper mantle. Hot, less-dense rock rises before cooling and sinking, giving rise to circular convection currents which act like giant conveyor belts, slowly shifting the tectonic plates above them. Hawaii sits in the middle of the Pacific Plate, which is slowly drifting north-west towards the North American Plate, back to Alaska. The plates’ pace is comparable to the speed at which our fingernails grow.

#2. Here is something I didn’t know, Polar bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras. Thermal cameras detect the heat lost by a subject as infrared, but polar bears are experts at conserving heat. The bears keep warm due to a thick layer of blubber under the skin. Add to this a dense fur coat and they can endure the chilliest Arctic day.

#3. Astronauts have to be in quarantine once they return to Earth. No one knew what to expect when humans first visited the Moon. People thought that astronauts might return to Earth with new diseases. So when the astronauts from Apollo 11, 12 and 14 came home they went into isolation for three weeks. This gave doctors and scientists time to check them for signs of infection. It soon became clear that there weren’t any microbes living on the Moon, so there was no need to quarantine astronauts when they arrived home. However, today they still go through a period of quarantine before they travel. This helps to make sure they are free from infection so that they don’t become sick during their mission.

#4. Love the colors of the Morning and evening skies, but don’t know how it works… It’s a phenomenon called Rayleigh. Scattering causes light from the Sun to bounce off tiny particles in the atmosphere and scatter in different directions. Sunlight consists of many different colours: from red, which has the longest wavelength of all visible light, through to violet at the blue end of the spectrum, which has the shortest wavelength. Due to this short wavelength, blue light is scattered more effectively than other colors, and this is why the sky normally appears blue to us. At sunrise or sunset, however, when the Sun is low on the horizon, the light rays must pass through more of the atmosphere – and therefore bounce off more molecules – than at other times of day. This means that more blue light gets scattered away before the light reaches your eyes. Other colours – such as red, orange and yellow – can therefore continue to pass through the atmosphere unaffected, creating beautiful colors at the start and end of the day.

Source: https://www.howitworksdaily.com/15-amazing-science-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind/
Source: https://www.howitworksdaily.com/astronauts-quarantined/
Source: https://www.howitworksdaily.com/question-of-the-day-%ef%bb%bfwhy-does-the-sky-look-red-at-sunrise-and-sunset/

Episode 81: Concert Metal (Hammerfall and Sabaton)

Nerd Talk: Scandinavian Facts


Since you picked the music I picked the talk! 
Since both bands tonight are from Sweden how about some meteorology facts about that Scandinavian Country?

#1. Believe or not Sweden has its northern coldness and southern hotness just like the united states has. The country enjoys a mostly temperate climate despite its northern latitude, mainly because of the Gulf Stream. In the mountains of northern Sweden, has a long winter of more than seven months with, of course the sub-Arctic climate predominates. The south, on the other hand, near Stockholm has winter weather for only two months and a summer of more than four.

​#2. Believe it or not Sweden is very similar to over here in Seattle area… with rainfall anyway. Annual rainfall averages 24 inches and the maximum rainfall occurs in late summer. Sweden boasts considerable snowfall, and in Sweden's north snow remains on the ground for six months each year. 

#3. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets for part of each summer during June and July, which is called the Midnight Sun, one of Scandinavia's natural phenomena. The opposite occurs in the winter when the night is unending for a corresponding period. These are the Polar Nights (another one of Scandinavia's natural phenomena). Swedish Lapland experiences near-continuous daylight from early June into August. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sweden's far north areas also experience polar nights, periods of complete darkness during winter months within the polar circles.

#4. The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, typically become visible in Swedish Lapland at the beginning of September. They last through March, and the best place to see this incredible phenomenon is at the Aurora Sky Station in​ Abisko National Park.

Source: https://www.tripsavvy.com/sweden-monthly-weather-averages-413498

Episode 82: Local Metal (Week early due to Halloween)

Nerd Talk: Spooked Stars

Since it is Spooktober how about something for nerd talk be about something that spooks big name Metal stars.

#1. Ozzy Osbourne - Rats
The Prince of Darkness is afraid of something? Yes, by his own account, Ozzy Osbourne has many fears. Chief among them the little vermin that scurry along the ground. “I tell you what I am scared of … rats. They’ve got so many diseases we don’t have the cure for,” Osbourne explained in a 2018 interview with 'The Guardian.' “It’s crazy that anyone would think I’d be in league with the devil, because I’m terrified of all kinds of . I’m very superstitious. I have to try not to be, otherwise I wouldn’t leave the house.”

#2. James Hetfield - Responsibility
In a 2014 video discussing his addiction recovery, Metallica frontman Jame Hetfield admitted that responsibility has always frightened him. “I’ve been afraid of responsibility my whole life – not wanting to take responsibility for myself.” The rocker went on to recall an elementary school project where he was told to work with a group of fellow students. “I was, ‘Hey, how about we do this?’ and all these ideas. Then they said, ‘Okay now, choose your leaders who’s responsible for the stuff.’” Hetfield immediately retreated. “I shrunk, man. I got scared. The group was like, ‘You’re the leader because you had all the ideas.’ I was like, ‘No, no, no’ – and I bailed. I was afraid of responsibility. Afraid of failure, maybe; afraid that I didn’t know what I was really doing.” Though his fear of responsibility lingers to this day, Hetfield has been making strides to work past it. His continuing addiction recovery, including a 2019 stint in rehab, is one such step.

#3. Axl Rose - People
In 2008, Guns N’ Roses finally delivered their long-awaited LP ‘Chinese Democracy.’ Much fanfare preceded the release, due to its outrageous cost and the fact it took more than a decade to make. Despite that, frontman Axl Rose refused to give interviews or make appearances to promote the album, going completely off the radar for multiple months. Reports surfaced that the singer was suffering from anthropophobia, the fear of people and society. Rose never commented on the rumors and eventually reemerged for touring in 2009.

​#4. Gene Simmons - Flying
He’s outspoken, full of bravado and never lacks for confidence. So, what could possibly scare the Demon? Turns out Gene Simmons is another rocker who has battled a fear of flying. Kiss bandmate Paul Stanley revealed the phobia in his book ‘Backstage Pass,’ noting that Simmons pushed past the fear to visit his lifelong friend in hospital. “When I had my first operation to rebuild my ear from rib cartilage,” Stanley noted, “Gene flew up to see me in the hospital – despite an intense fear of flying at the time.”

#5. Joe Elliott - Thanking the Wrong City
It’s extremely common for people to have nightmares about their workplace. Rock stars are no different. In a 2017 conversation with 'Kerrang!,' Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott admitted he has “an absolute phobia” of getting up onstage and thanking the wrong city. His fear, however, doesn’t breed compassion. In the same interview, Elliott confessed to sabotaging the band Krokus while the two groups were on tour together. The Def Lep boys would change Krokus’ monitors to read the wrong city’s name, resulting in a couple of cringe-worthy moments.

​Source: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/rock-star-fears-phobias/

Episode 83: Halloween Metal

Nerd Talk: Halloween Treats


It’s no surprise that candy delights kids and adults alike.
​We love sweets so much that the average American eats about 22 pounds of candy each year.

#1. Now I’m not one for chocolate, but Reese PB Cups are something that I just can’t turn down. Harry Burnett Reese sold the Lizzie Bar and Johnny Bar, candy bars he named after his daughter and son, respectively. But his chocolate-covered peanut butter cup creation, which he named after himself and called Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, was his real hit. I also love Butterfingers but here is something that I could not wrap my head around… In 2009, Butterfinger debuted Butterfinger Buzz, a candy bar containing 80 milligrams of caffeine (the equivalent of a can of Red Bull). But due to low sales, the product was discontinued.

#2. The origin of the Baby Ruth chocolate bar has been on the table for discussion for decades now. Well, introduced in 1921, when baseball player Babe Ruth was a national hero, the Curtiss Candy Company reformulated their Kandy Kake confection and gave it a name reminiscent of sports royalty: Baby Ruth. But when Ruth licensed his name for another bar in 1926, Curtiss cried foul, claiming it would cause consumer confusion and swearing that they had named their bar not after the baseball legend but after Ruth Cleveland, the deceased daughter of President Grover Cleveland. Even though “Baby Ruth” had died of diphtheria in 1904 and would be an odd choice for a candy bar name, the courts agreed; Ruth never got in on the treat trade. So did that clear anything up for you?

#3. You wouldn’t expect a dentist to be responsible for helping to pioneer a new type of candy, although maybe he was hoping it would drum up some cavity-related business. In 1897, dentist William Morrison partnered with confectioner John C. Wharton to devise a machine that used centrifugal force to turn sugar into cotton-like strands. The result was cotton candy, but that name didn’t come until the 1920s. Morrison and Wharton called their treat “Fairy Floss.” And who says this treat is just for summer carnivals? These days, you can buy cotton candy in several Halloween varieties, including Werewolf Hair and Pumpkin Guts.

#4. The first dispensers geared toward children were shaped like Santa Claus, a robot, and a space gun. THE WORD PEZ COMES FROM THE GERMAN WORD FOR PEPPERMINT: PFEFFERMINZ. Invented by anti-smoking advocate Eduard Haas III, PEZ were originally marketed as mints to help smokers kick the habit. The candy’s slogan in the 1920s? "Smoking prohibited, PEZing allowed."

Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/507656/50-sweet-facts-about-your-favorite-halloween-candies

Episode 84: Classic Metal (November)

Nerd Talk: Random Facts with Betti


I asked and YOU responded!
You wanted to have classic Random Facts with Betti.
So Let us begin!

​#1. This one we can all relate to, at least people who are Washingtonians: We can smell rain. Weather patterns produce distinct smells, and one of these is a lightly pungent scent of ozone that springs from fertilizers and natural sources and can be carried in a thunderstorm's downdrafts from higher altitudes, alerting those with sensitive noses that the rain is about to fall.

#2. For the science side of things: Marie Currie’s notebooks are STILL radioactive! The mother of modern physics was known for her work with radioactive materials and the discovery of elements like polonium and radium. Unfortunately, her research took a hefty toll on her health, leading to aplastic anemia, which caused her death. The exposure to radioactivity didn't just affect her, it also affected most of her belongings, including her clothes, furniture, and books. Now, more than a century later, her notebooks have to be stored in a lead box, as they are still radioactive (and will be for another 1,500 years!).

#3. Yet another relatable trivia fact: The average person will spend six months of their life waiting for red lights to turn green. Driving can be a fun and liberating activity—until you get stuck at a red light, that is. The National Association of City Transportation Officials says that the average time spent waiting at a red light is 75 seconds, accounting for approximately 20 percent of all driving time. That's a whole lot of time doing nothing and just another reason to switch to public transportation. So it’s ok, we aren’t the only ones waiting for Traffic.

#4. You wouldn’t expect a dentist to be responsible for helping to pioneer a new type of candy, although maybe he was hoping it would drum up some cavity-related business. In 1897, dentist William Morrison partnered with confectioner John C. Wharton to devise a machine that used centrifugal force to turn sugar into cotton-like strands. The result was cotton candy, but that name didn’t come until the 1920s. Morrison and Wharton called their treat “Fairy Floss.” And who says this treat is just for summer carnivals? These days, you can buy cotton candy in several Halloween varieties, including Werewolf Hair and Pumpkin Guts.

#5. At least, they may share the same distant ancestor. After studying the DNA of blue-eyed individuals from Scandinavia, Turkey, Jordan, and India, Danish researchers found that they all had identical gene sequences for eye color. They believe this trait comes from a single individual, called the "founder," whose genes mutated between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Before that, everyone had varying shades of brown eyes. I don’t know about you but I have Green eyes… Green eye color is the rarest color found around the world, and it is estimated that only around 2% of the world's population has green colored eyes.

Source: https://bestlifeonline.com/crazy-random-facts/
Source: https://owlcation.com/stem/Facts-about-People-with-Green-Eyes

Episode 85: Baltic Metal

Nerd Talk: Sea Monsters

Since you picked the music I picked the talk!
How about the five most awesome Sea Monsters of all time, I think that is fitting whilst we are up north…

#1. Cthulhu:
Even though Cthulhu is entity created by fantasy-horror writer H.P. Lovecraft in 1928. Cthulhu is characterized as the priest or leader of the Old Ones, a species that came to Earth from the stars before human life arose. The Old Ones went dormant, and their city slipped under Earth’s crust beneath the Pacific Ocean. They communicated with humans by telepathy, and, in hidden corners of the world, uncivilized people remembered and worshipped Cthulhu in rites described as loathsome. These groups had statues of Cthulhu that seemed to be made of materials not found on Earth and chanted the phrase “In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming”. When conditions are right, the city will rise, and, with the help of the eternal Cthulhu cult, Cthulhu will awaken and again rule the world.

#2. Hydra:
​Now, here's one that was in the legit Greek myths: The Lernaean Hydra was a monster in Greek mythology. It had many heads and every time someone would cut off one of them, two more heads would grow out of the stump. It lived in the lake Lerna in the region of Argolid in the Peloponnese. Slaying the Hydra was one of Hercules' Twelve Labors. There are many names and types believe it or not for Hydra, and no I’m not talking about the Evil terrorist group from Captain America, in many cultures there is a Hydra-like creature: Zmey Goraynych (Slavic/Russian), Yamata no Orochi (Japan), Jörmungandr (Nordic), Typhon (Greek/Roman- its father by the way on Greek family tree), Apep (Egyptian), and Tiamat (Babylonian).

#3. Kraken:
When I think of a Kraken, I think of a gigantic Squid hybrid and Pirates. The word "kraken" is Scandinavian in origin and, as such, was never a part of classic Greek myth like some people believe. According to the Scandinavian mythology, the Kraken is a horrifying giant sea creature (said to be 1 mile long) that attacks ships and is generally described as an octopus or squid. According to some tales, the Kraken was so huge that its body could be mistaken for an island. It is first mentioned in the Örvar-Oddr. This is a 13th century Icelandic saga involving two sea monsters, the Hafgufa (sea mist) and the Lyngbakr (heather-back). The Hafgufa is supposed to be a reference to the Kraken

#4. Moby Dick:
Although Moby Dick was not a real whale, real-life events inspired the classic novel… Moby-Dick, the allegorical novel about Captain Ahab’s search to kill a great white whale. Born in 1819, author Herman Melville grew up during the peak of American dominance of the whaling industry. Weaving contemporary accounts and his own experiences as a whaler, Melville created his American masterpiece. The young Melville was famously inspired by the story of George Pollard, the former captain of the whaler Essex. While on a two-year whaling expedition crisscrossing the Pacific, the Essex was rammed by a sperm whale. Quickly abandoning ship and thousands of miles from land, Pollard and his crew escaped in leaky lifeboats to begin a horrific ordeal resulting in sickness, starvation, and cannibalism.

​#5. Leviathan:
Biblical scholars may know leviathan from Isaiah 27:1: "In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish the leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." Technically any sea creature that is on the gigantic side of things can be considered a Leviathan, though, there are certain video games where they are a genus all of their own. If you want to try it out Subnautica is a perfect example where a Leviathan is considered to be the goddess of the waters.  
​

​Source: https://io9.gizmodo.com/twelve-of-the-greatest-sea-monsters-of-all-time-5507691
Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-myths-legends-europe/legendary-kraken-00267
Source: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/mobydick.html
Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cthulhu
Source: https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Monsters/Lernaean_Hydra/lernaean_hydra.html
Source: https://www.tvovermind.com/king-ghidorah/

Episode 86: Turkish Metal

Nerd Talk: Anti-turkey

Seeing we are taking a trip to Turkey tonight how about that other Turkey we will be dining on next week?
Or in this case, when the grocery stores get cold turkey on the turkeys!
​Here are some substitutes for the coma-inducing bird of choice.

#1. Squab. This small teasingly gamy bird with its moist meat, tender bones and silken skin. When squab is called pigeon, many Americans blanch, fearing perhaps that their dinner was netted in city parks. Ancient Egyptians savored pigeons and raised them in towering white dovecotes. No surprise, the then gracefully friendly Cairo to be a mecca for squab eaters. The prime source was Alsabbiah, then a 100-year old cafe in the midst of the din of the exuberant hawking and bargaining of the Khan el-Khalili bazaar. In this big spacious setting, the so-called Hamam Meshwi were gilded over smoldering wood flames that were kept bright with fans made of turkey tail feathers fluttered by cooks. The smoky, savory birds were heaped onto platters, two to three per person, for unbridled, finger-licking joy. 

#2. Duck. The most ingenious and stunningly delicious recipe for duck was created by some long-forgotten genius of a Chinese cook who invented Peking Duck, A.K.A. Beijing Kao Ya. Each duck is hung in cool moving air for 24 hours so that skin becomes taut and when roasted easily separates from flesh as the fat melts out. The result is parchment-crisp skin folded into delicate pancakes along with earthy-sweet hoisin sauce and wisps of scallions and cucumber. Female guests are served the dish with diamond bright sugar crystals to be sprinkled on in honor of an empress who thought feminine palates too delicate for salt. The contrast of the coarse sweet crystals against the crisp, savory skin was truly a gustatory revelation.

#3. Goose. Bob Cratchit’s triumphant goose would be no match for the epic specimen one merry December 25th in the pop-up Christmas card of a city that is Austria’s Salzburg. As prepared at the legendary Goldener Hirsch Hotel, the robust bird was roasted to crisp-but-moist perfection, its golden skin seeming like one huge crackling. The rich, dark meat was offset by winey red cabbage and airy dumplings. A lavish meal appropriate for days of visiting confectionery baroque churches in Mozart’s hometown.

#4. Quail. Birds in small packages can provide maximum flavor, never more so than by way of compote de caille en gelée as once having it as a cold appetizer in the Alsatian city of Strasbourg. The tender little boned quail was stuffed with foie gras and braised in rivulets of butter, then chilled to set in a tawny, wine-scented aspic. Small though it was, it packed more of a seductive scent and flavor than any turkey ever could.

#5. Pheasant. The Upper East side of Manhattan may not be geographically far from where we are, but stylistically it is worlds away. The neighborhood was the setting for an unforgettable Pheasant Souvaroff, a great classic that is one of gastronomy’s most elaborately sensual delights. The golden bird was baked in a big cocotte in the company of foie gras, truffles and madeira. To retain its aroma and moisture, the cover was hermetically sealed to the pot with a rope of dough. When broken open in the dining room, it emitted a divine scent that turned nearby diners green with envy, as in “Why am I not having that, too?”

​Source: https://www.thedailybeast.com/forget-turkey-eat-these-six-birds-instead-on-thanksgiving

Episode 87: Concert Metal 
Abigail Williams, Blood and Thunder, Aenimus, Kalmah, Ensiferum

Nerd Talk: Killer Birds

Since you picked the music I picked the talk!
​How about we talk about the three most dangerous birds in the world!

#1. Cassowaries: even though they are curious, and they do attack from time to time, but attacks on humans are relatively rare. Those attacks that do occur overwhelmingly involve soliciting food from people. One of the most recent incidents came in 2012, when a tourist in Queensland, Australia, was kicked by a cassowary off a ledge and into a body of water but remained unharmed otherwise. One of the most famous attacks (and the one of the two known to result in a confirmed death) occurred in 1926: one member of a group of teenaged boys hunting cassowaries was killed after a cassowary leapt upon him while he was on the ground. The bird slashed the boy’s jugular vein with its 4-inch long, razor sharp toenail.

#2. Lammergeiers: also called bearded vultures, are big eaglelike vultures of the Old World (family Accipitridae). These birds often reach lengths of more than 1 meter (40 inches), with a wingspread of nearly 3 meters (10 feet). They inhabit mountainous regions from Central Asia and eastern Africa to Spain and dine on carrion, especially bones, which they drop from heights as great as 80 meters (260 feet) onto flat rocks below. This cracks open the victim’s bones and allows the birds access to the marrow. Attacks on humans are either rare or even anecdotal; however, the Athenian dramatist Aeschylus is said to have died at Gela (on Sicily’s south coast) when a lammergeier dropped a tortoise on his bald head after mistaking it for a stone. Although Aeschylus did die at Gela, experts believe that the story describing the strange cause of his death was fabricated by a later comic writer.

#3. Ostriches: Ostriches are seen individually, in pairs, in small flocks, or in large aggregations, depending on the season. The ostrich relies on its strong legs—uniquely two-toed, with the main toe developed almost as a hoof—to escape its enemies, chiefly humans and the larger carnivores. A frightened ostrich can achieve a speed of 72.5 kilometers (45 miles) per hour. If cornered, it can deliver dangerous kicks capable of killing lions and other large predators. Deaths from kicks and slashes are rare, with most attacks resulting from humans provoking the birds. One of the most interesting ostrich-attack stories involved the American musician Johnny Cash, who kept an exotic animal park with ostriches on his property. Cash encountered an aggressive male ostrich several times during his walks in the woods in 1981. On one occasion, Cash brandished a 6-foot stick and swung it at the bird, who dodged the swipe and slashed at Cash with its foot. Cash noted that the blow struck him in the stomach, and if it weren’t for a strong belt buckle, he said that the ostrich’s toe claw would have cut his abdomen open and killed him.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/list/6-of-the-worlds-most-dangerous-birds

Episode 88: Classic Metal

Nerd Talk: Music News


​Since you picked the music I picked the talk!
Music News for Next Year is super exciting for Metal Fans, with Ozzy Ozbourne’s tour now on schedule, rumors becoming true, AND

#1. Well, the rumors were true — Motley Crue and Def Leppard have announced a 2020 stadium tour with '80s comrades Poison and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Dubbed The Stadium Tour, the run is set to kick off July 7 in Miami, Fla. and will conclude in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sept. 5th. Poison frontman Bret Michaels has been teasing the announcement for months now, simply stating that the band had some sort of "incredible" plans for a 2020 tour. Def Leppard have been touring pretty actively over the last several years, but Crue are the real reason why the announcement is such a big deal, considering they swore off touring at the end of 2015. After a successful year, mostly in thanks to the release of their Netflix biopic The Dirt, the Motley boys announced their official return in mid-November. Since the movie's release this past March, Crue saw a 350% increase in streams of their music across all streaming and digital platforms. Apparently, the only way they'd ever have been able to tour again is if all four members agreed. The "cessation of touring agreement" was supposedly blown up, so here we are. Ask and you shall receive!

#2. Former Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider is a man of many talents. Beyond music, the entertainer has dabbled in acting, screenwriting and he even once hosted a morning radio show. Now, Snider is setting his sights on something akin to the Great American Novel. The Twisted Singer icon previously put pen to paper in telling tomes such as Shut Up and Give Me the Mic (2012), Dee Snider's Teenage Survival Guide (1987) and the upcoming We're Not Gonna Take It: A Children's Picture Book. But now, the musician-cum-writer is composing a novel. "I know I've been kind of quiet lately," Snider shared yesterday. Of course, Twisted Sister called it quits back in 2016, but that doesn't mean Snider stopped performing live altogether.

#3. Scorpions are getting help from a familiar face in rock and metal for their upcoming album. Producer Greg Fidelman, best known for his work with Metallica, Slipknot and others, is on board to helm the German rockers' next effort. Guitarist Matthias Jabs revealed as much during a chat last month with the Metal Bar. Speaking with host Riccardo Ball, the musician laid out the timeline for Scorpions' upcoming year, indicating that recording sessions for the forthcoming collection will revolve around the group's month-long residency in Las Vegas plotted for July 2020. "We've been writing some material before we went on tour this summer," Jabs explained. "It's always difficult to come up with stuff on tour. You get the inspiration but actually [to] put it down, that's a different story when you travel every day. So we'll be back [in] early March." He continues, But didn't the Klaus Meine-led act announce a farewell tour not all that long ago? "We said almost ten years ago that it's time to call it a day," Jabs admitted, "But we realized on the so-called final tour that we were having too much fun. The fans and the promoters and everybody, the business didn't want to let us go." He added, "Why should we stop?"
​

Source: https://loudwire.com/scorpions-new-album-metallica-slipknot-producer/ds
Source: https://loudwire.com/motley-crue-announce-2020-stadium-tour-def-leppard-poison-joan-jett/
Source: https://loudwire.com/dee-snider-writing-a-novel/

Episode 89: Swiss Metal

Nerd Talk: Swiss Tivia

Since you picked the music I picked the talk!
What is Switzerland known for besides being neutral, chocolate making, watchmakers?

#1. The earliest moves toward Swiss neutrality date to 1515, when the Swiss Confederacy suffered a devastating loss to the French at the Battle of Marignano. Following the defeat, the Confederacy abandoned its expansionist policies and looked to avoid future conflict in the interest of self-preservation. It was the Napoleonic Wars, however, that truly sealed Switzerland’s place as a neutral nation. Switzerland was invaded by France in 1798 and later made a satellite of Napoleon Bonaparte’s empire, forcing it to compromise its neutrality. But after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, the major European powers concluded that a neutral Switzerland would serve as a valuable buffer zone between France and Austria and contribute to stability in the region. During 1815’s Congress of Vienna, they signed a declaration affirming Switzerland’s “perpetual neutrality” within the international community.

#2. Swiss chocolate makers Henri ‘Nestle’ and ‘Daniel Peter’ invented milk chocolate. It is no surprise that Switzerland is one of the world’s leading exporters of chocolate, along side the US, Germany and Belgium. What IS a surprise is that is not the top exporter that would actually be the US… Blame Hershey Pennsylvania. 

#3. Here is something that is hard to believe (at least) Teaching in Switzerland is one of the uppermost paid professions. They must see how important and valueable teachers and teaching as a whole is. Take notes America…

#4. Here is something I found fascinating. Jean-Henri Dunant, a Swiss businessman and the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross, received the very first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. I would think that it would be a doctor of medicine not a businessman.

#5. Switzerland was originally called Helvetia by Julius Caesar when he conquered the Helvetii, a group of Celtic tribes, who lived in the area between the Alps and the Jura Mountains. Switzerland calls itself Eidgenossenschaft (Society of the Oath) after the word Eidgenossen (Oath Fellowship), which recalls the pact signed by three lords in 1291, marking the birth of the Swiss nation. The Swiss call themselves Eidgenossen.

​

​Source: https://www.history.com/news/why-is-switzerland-a-neutral-country
Source: https://www.seriousfacts.com/switzerland-facts/
Source: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/093015/4-countries-produce-most-chocolate.asp
Source: https://www.factretriever.com/switzerland-facts

Episode 90: Christmas Metal

Nerd Talk: Crazy Christmas


​Since you picked the music I picked the talk!
You wanted to listen to some interesting Trivia on the Christmas….

​#1. “Jingle Bells” was written for Thanksgiving, not Christmas. The song was written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh”. It was supposed to be played in the composer’s Sunday school class during Thanksgiving as a way to commemorate the famed Medford sleigh races. “Jingle Bells” was also the first song to be broadcast from space.

#2. In Germany, Poland, and Ukraine, finding a spider or a spider’s web on a Christmas tree is believed to be a harbinger of good luck. According to one legend, a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus, according to the other – a spider web on the Christmas tree turned silver and gold once the sunlight touched it. One way or another, decorating a Christmas tree with artificial spiders and spider webs will inevitably bring you luck and prosperity!

#3. In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas (the Dutch version of Santa Claus) arrives from Spain, not from the North Pole. And that’s not the only weird thing about the Dutch Christmas. Sinterklaas has his little helpers, but they are not adorable hard-working elves: they are black-faced boys and girls who can steal your kids if they misbehave, and bring them to back Spain which is, according to the Dutch, a severe punishment.

#4. The “X” in “Xmas” doesn’t take “Christ” out of “Christmas. Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas, however, some people think that this spelling is not right, because it takes the “Christ” out of Christmas. Don’t worry, no one is taking the “Christ” anywhere. In the Greek alphabet, the letter X (“chi”) is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ or Christos.

#5. Rudolph’s red nose is probably the result of a parasitic infection of his respiratory system. According to Roger Highfield, the author of the book “The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey” the world’s most famous reindeer has a red nose due to a parasite. However, Rudolf’s relationship with his parasite is symbiotic: after all, the red nose illuminates the path through the winter night for the whole reindeer team.

​Source: https://www.pastbook.com/txt/12-fun-christmas-facts/

Episode 91: Local Metal (December-kinda)

Nerd Talk: Best of 2019


Since I picked the music You picked the talk!
And you wanted a look back on the past Decade:
I took from three sources not just one, so if the top games, movies and scientific discoveries don’t match up with yours don’t worry…

#1. According to IGN the top five movies of the decade are:

2010’s Inception starring Jim Vejvoda
2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road starring Terri Schwartz
2012’s The Master starring Simon Cardy
2010’s The Social Network starring Dale Driver
2017’s Blade Runner 2049 starring Matt Purslow
 
#2. According to Forbes the top five video games (any console):

*DOOM2016 — id Software
*The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2017 — Nintendo
*Portal 2: 2011 — Valve
*Tomb Raider: 2013 — Crystal Dynamics
*The Last Of Us: 2013 — Naughty Dog

​#3. According to the Smithsonian top five scientific discoveries of the Decade:
​
*An image of the environment around the black hole at the center of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the sun.
* The ability to modify genomes to prevent disease or change physical traits has advanced significantly in the last decade.
* Reconstructed color patterns of Sinosauropteryx based on the pigmentation of fossil plumage.
* A natural color view of Titan and Saturn taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on May 6, 2012, at a distance of approximately 483,000 miles (778,000 kilometers) from Titan.
* A girl getting inoculated with an Ebola vaccine on November 22, 2019 in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

​

Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/12/31/best-movies-of-the-decade
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2020/12/31/the-best---and-most-important---video-games-of-the-decade-20102019/#5a407ce67c84
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/top-ten-scientific-discoveries-decade-180973873/

Episode 92: Classic Metal

Nerd Talk: This day in Music History

Since I picked the music You picked the talk! And you wanted this day in music history! So Let’s go back and see what happened on January 8th…
#1. 1979 - Rush
Canadian rock band Rush were named the country's official Ambassadors Of Music by the Canadian government.
#2. 1991 - Steve Clark
Steve Clark guitarist with Def Leppard, was found dead at his Chelsea flat by his girlfriend, after a night of heavy alcohol consumption combined with prescription drugs. The autopsy revealed he had died from an overdose of codeine and had Valium, morphine and a blood alcohol level of .30, three times the British legal driving limit. In 2007 Clark was ranked No.11 on Classic Rock Magazine's "100 Wildest Guitar Heroes".
#3. 2001 - Axl Rose
A woman who believed that Axl Rose communicated with her via telepathy was arrested for stalking the Guns N' Roses singer for a second time. Police detained Karen Jane McNeil after she was spotted loitering outside his house.

​#4. 2010 - Led Zeppelin
Jimmy Page launched a new set of stamps in the UK which featured classic album covers from the last 40 years including Coldplay, Power, Corruption And Lies, New Order, David Bowie and Parklife by Blur.

#5. 2016 - David Bowie
David Bowie released his twenty-fifth and final studio album Blackstar, coinciding with his 69th birthday and two days before his death. It became his first and only album to reach No.1 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the US. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the album won awards for Best Alternative Music Album; Best Engineered Album; Best Recording Package, and the title single won Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock Song. The album was also awarded the British Album of the Year award at the 2017 Brit Awards.
​

Source: https://www.thisdayinmusic.com

Episode 93: Dutch Metal

Nerd Talk: Dutchland!


​Since this is Dutch metal why not some interesting factoids about those Crazy dutch!

#1. Orange-coloured carrots appeared in the Netherlands in the 16th century. Before that carrots were white, yellow, black, purple or red. Orange carrots are said to have been bred in honour of the House of Orange, who led the Dutch Revolt against Spain and later became the Dutch Royal family. Orange is still the official colour of the Netherlands and a sign of patriotism. The Dutch national football team wears a bright orange shirt. And the country's largest financial institution, the ING Group, makes abundant use of the national colour on its logo and on the decoration of its banks.

#2. The 'Netherlands' mean "Low Country" in Dutch. About half of its surface area is less than 1 metre above sea level. Its highest point is 321 metres (1,053 ft) above sea level. Ironically Dutch people are the tallest in the world, with an average height of 184 cm for men and 170 cm for women.

#3. The Netherlands has the highest population density (493 inhabitants per square km - water excluded) of any European country with over 1 million inhabitants. Worldwide, only Bangladesh and Taiwan, among major countries, have a higher density of population.

#4. There are 1180 windmills in the Netherlands. Tulips were imported from the Ottoman Empire and became very popular in Holland in the early 17th century. Nowadays, the Netherlands is the world's first producer and exporter of tulips.

Source: https://www.eupedia.com/netherlands/trivia.shtml

Episode 94: Korean Metal

Nerd Talk: Korean Cuisine


​We all love food, it’s a universal language; but more importantly, some of us love Korean food. It’s delicious, full of flavor, and embedded with thousands of years of culture! There are so many interesting things about Korean food that I have learned over the years, and now I would like to share them with you.

#1.  There are hundreds of different types of kimchi. One of the most popular dishes from Korea, it may surprise some that there is more than just one type of kimchi. So many varieties, so much deliciousness and so much fun to make!

#2. Korea is one of the world’s largest consumers of garlic. I have yet to have a Korean dish that did not have garlic in it. It is in soups, served raw with grilling meats, in marinades, and even in some drinks! Data shows that Korea has averaged 7.6 kilgrams per capita from 2011 to 2017 (the highest year being 8.9 in 2013). Amazing, right?

#3. Rice was used to pay taxes. Rice has always been fundamental in Korean cooking and Korean life in general since it’s cultivation. The value of rice became so high that it was once used as currency and to pay taxes during the Three Kingdoms Period (it is called Three Kingdoms Period, but there was actually four) in Silla. Rice was seen as luxury dish and the farmers who produced it couldn’t eat it.

#4. Koreans don’t have a Western approach to dessert. In the western world, we see dessert as sweet treats like cakes, pies, ice cream, and other fun, sugary foods. In Korea, however, that's not the case. Before western food began to influence the culinary scene in Korea, dessert was more along the lines of fresh cut fruit, teas, and some times old, traditional cookies or rice cakes that were more for special occasions. This is still true, with Western desserts being more prevalent when going out to cafes and such, while dessert at home is still pretty traditional.
​

Source: https://snackfever.com/blogs/magazine/10-korean-food-facts