Followups XVI

Sneaky Dragon’s David Dedrick assists as we talk about a great grandmother brawl, a hoarder in Connecticut, a Spaniard who attacks his family after having a dream about ostriches, a testicular cancer survivor who pushes a giant ball around the US, and a bunch of horse stuff. Also, which is the Lesser of Two Evils? Killing your loved ones while asleep or being drawn and quartered?

Music: “Someone’s Rocking My Dreamboat” by Artie Shaw with Paula Kelly

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8 Responses

  1. I think the ball guy would actually have quite a bit of work to do, crossing the States with that giant ball, regardless of the ~3000km walk. 🙂 A ball that big, if you didn’t want it to burst easily, would need to be made with a pretty thick skin, and just the skin alone would weigh at least 10kg, I would have thought, and he has to drag that 10 kilo weight across the country. I agree with David’s point that it seems a little narcissistic though, but I’m sure it’s well-intentioned.

    Great episode guys, and thanks for all the amazingly caustic stories, David! You’ve definitely had more than your fair share.

  2. Listening to Desert Poppy’s sleep problems and her comment about insurance possibly covering a sleep study, I am once again grateful for Canadian healthcare! My psychiatrist suggested that perhaps, since I suffer from depression and low energy, I should get a sleep study. The chances that I would have sleep apnea were low – I am a female of healthy weight, under age 40, but I did it, just in case. Turns out I have moderate to severe sleep apnea, stopping breathing at least 50x per hour. If I had to pay for it, there is no way I ever would have gone (not to mention the cost of weekly psychiatry)!

    Thank you, universal healthcare!

    Desert Poppy – I hope you find a way to have a sleep study done, insurance or otherwise. Perhaps even a university study of some kind??

  3. Just to let you know that on your podcast you asked if a horse has ever been given a peg leg. The answer is yes, watch bionic pet on Netflix.

  4. DesertPoppy sounds like me! I frequently get night terrors, and it had become so bad I was assaulting the imaginary shadow people (or sometimes giant spiders) by throwing things at them and yelling. Scared the crap out of my roommates on several occasions. Thankfully, through talking me down and forcing me to think logically about them, my wife has helped me recognize when I’m having a night terror before I start lashing out at it. Now I just lie in bed and try to focus on whatever it is and rationalize that it’s not an intruder.

    I’ve found that keeping the bedroom as pitch black as possible helps a lot; without light sources, there are no shadows to mistake as other things when I’m half asleep. Also, noises affect the terrors too; my former roommate used to stay up all night and while they did try to stay quiet, just the sound of them moving back and forth through the house was enough to cause a terror. Now that it’s just my wife and I, the terrors are much less frequent.

    On a side note, both my wife and I talk in our sleep, and she has woken up several times in the middle of a sleep conversation with me. We have coherent, responsive conversations in our sleep.

  5. Hi guys, really enjoyed this episode as always. However, I had an issue about the comment Kevin made about the seal hunt at the top of the episode. As a Canadian podcast I believe that you should not be perpetuating negative, and false, stereotypes surrounding the seal hunt. Rather, you should present the facts of both sides as you do with other controversial topics you cover on your podcast.

    First of all the hunting of seal pups, also known as white coats, has been been banned since 1987. Many extremist organization purposely utilize images of white coats to bring validity to their claims, knowing full well these pups are not hunted. A tiny white baby seal is a much better poster child than the full grown animal. (http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2005/fishaq/0316n06.htm)

    Furthermore, Newfoundlanders do not “club” seals. The word club brings forth the image of hunters standing over a seal, mercilessly bashing the animals head in with a large stick. This does not happen. Instead sealers use a hakapik. This traditional weapon is as heavily regulated as guns. In actual fact, the hakapik is a humane tool. In 2002 the Canadian
    Veterinary Medical Association determined that 98% of all seals hunted were killed in a humane fashion. (https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/documents/animal-welfare-and-the-harp-seal-hunt-in-atlantic-canada)

    Although more sealers are now using guns I personally believe, as do many experts, that the hakapik is more humane option. Even an excellent marksman can miss a target causing unnecessary suffering to the animal. This does not occur with a hakapik. The seal is not killed any less humanly than any other animal harvested for meat. At least the seals do not need to live in a cage before they are harvested.

    Most anti seal hunt groups are very extremist in their views and fail to educate themselves on the facts of the hunt as well as the economic benefit the hunt provides. Many Newfoundland families rely on the hunt for their survival. For example, in 2010 Pamela Anderson offered to pay Newfoundland sealers $1 million dollars to end the seal hunt. This worked out to be $165 dollars per sealer. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/pam-anderson-s-1m-offer-to-end-hunt-a-farce-sealing-head-says-1.2468502)

    More recently, in November there was a peaceful pro seal hunt protest outside of a Sarah McLachlan in St. John’s Newfoundland. A small group gathered outside of the concert wearing seal fur clothing in opposition to McLachlan’s anti seal hunt views. A photo of a women and her small child wearing seal fur went vial and both her, and the little were verbal assaulted and threatened. (http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2014-11-26/article-3952081/Mother,-child-targets-of-insults,-death-threats/1)

    “How would she feel to see her baby skinned and around the neck of a polar bear,”

    “Wonder how she would feel If somebody dragged her baby off her. Clubbed it to death and used its skin as a fashion item.”

    I find the viciousness and ignorance of many anti seal hunt individuals to be astounding. All I ask is that individuals educated themselves on this matter and to be wary of some of the information available online. In most cases the information on anti seal hunt sites is false or purposely written to entice an uninformed reader. If following this research you still do not agree with the seal hunt then that is your prerogative; although I will respectively disagree with your opinion. I look forward to the day when we as a nation can have a a respectful conversation about the seal hunt that does not degrade into harassment and threats. In the meantime I will wear my seal skin boots with pride and enjoy a flipper pie.

    More information:
    http://www.sealharvest.ca/site/?page_id=16
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/faqs-the-atlantic-seal-hunt-1.803159
    http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/17/mark-critch-pam-anderson-seal-hunt_n_4460728.html

  6. Funny enough, Kevin is right and I am Other Country’s People, for I’m Spanish like a dream ostrich. O.C.P. is just my name and surnames’ initials: Óscar Carrera Pérez. By the way, Toren nailed the pronuntiation of Málaga, but the stress is on the first vowel.
    Sorry for posting a link to an article in Spanish, but I didn’t find a translation!

  7. Great episode! Usually the follow-ups don’t do it for me, but this one actually hit the spot.

    That said, I’d been waiting for a mention of Sean Bean in Black Death, a B-movie from a few years ago. He dies horribly (isn’t that the only reason he’s ever in a movie?) by drawing and quartering. It was a great death. Super dramatic. Lead up to it was just the right amount of drawn-out, and IMO the gore was the perfect level of exagerrated- not too much to be completely stupid, but more than is probably reality. Another thing worth mentioning, It was either Joe or Kevin who said that the victims ends up in 4 pieces, when really it shouldn’t be called quartering at all. There are two arms, two legs, and the TRUNK after all is said and done.

    You guys are AWESOME! XD

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