March 31, 2022 • 35 mins
People these days are, for better or worse, increasingly accustomed to living in an area of constant communication. But how did people communicate over long distances before the rise of things like telegraphs, telephones and the internet? In the second part of this week's special two-part episode, guests Bill Whorley and Mark Kendall, the creators of the hit new podcast Ridiculous News, join the guys to talk about some of the weirdest ways people used to communicate in days of yore.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
(00:27):
back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always
so much for tuning in. That's the man, the myth,
the legend, the rumors are true. He's here with us today.
Give it up from Mr Max Williams and they called
me Ben. We are starting with this part two episode
in media rests the fancy phrases in the middle of
(00:48):
the story and cannot wait for you to hear nol
take it away with smoke signals, which are a very
real thing, as will come to find without further or
do let's dive in. It's gotta be fun, y'all. Nowadays,
I think a lot of us when we see smoke,
(01:08):
we assume something has gone wrong, right like whenever we're
you know, we've all lived in Atlanta for some time,
and news of a fire spreads really quickly because everybody
can see the smoke. But for our second, weird way
people used to communicate, I don't even know if this
weird so much as ingenious. Uh no, you you kicked
(01:31):
it with some some smoke signals? Have you ever like? Okay,
I've seen them mentioned in fiction. I think we all
have right, and sometimes like there's like a fire and
there's like a blanket. Yep, that's right, Okay, the dot
dash situation, well, there's a couple of different ways, okay.
But the thing that I found interesting about it is
(01:51):
that it's a lot older than I would have thought,
because it's usually associated with like kind of Native American cultures,
but often in kind of a weird way. I mean,
it's sort of like, what are you communicating with smoke signals?
As if that's some like ludye like antiquated way of
communicating because you're too stupid to use a telephone or
Something's usually the connotation. But it's actually super smart because
(02:13):
these you know, um, Native American cultures, Northern American Native
tribes would actually use these bonfires to communicate super complex
like coded messages. Have you ever heard of like was
it the code talkers wind talkers? Excuse me? So basically
like that was a group of Native American UH soldiers
(02:33):
with the American heritage that essentially used some of these
old coding and cipher devices to create codes that were
used by the U. S. Army very very effectively. Um,
this was against the Germans. If I'm not mistaken in
the Japanese correct Vietnam exactly. So you know, there were
(02:53):
kind of ciphers built into these, you know, series of
let's say it's one puff equals one thing, two puffs,
three puffs. Elevation mattered, so you do it on like
a sloping hill, and it came from higher up that
meant one thing, middle meant something else, down low meant
something else. And you could do because it's obviously visible
to anybody around, but it would be such that only
(03:15):
the communicator and the receiver would know what it actually was.
You might have a sense that there's communication going on,
but because it's essentially encrypted, no one could actually suss
out and what they what they meant. But it actually
goes back to um ancient Chinese times. UM when you know,
along the Great Wall there were these guard towers where
(03:37):
these signal fires essentially were they were colored smoke, and
they have the color would determine the size of the
invading party. Um. They were sort of space in such
a way that for like hundreds of kilometers, people you know,
could see them from the internal castles that the Great
Wall protected. They would know they needed to like get
their troops ready to go for invading parties. UM. And
(03:58):
also you know along the the wall, which was you know,
it's like so large you can see it from like space. UM.
They needed to have an effective way of communicating very quickly.
So again it's about covering distance effectively and with enough
specificity to know what you're actually supposed to do. Back
as early as the second century BC, a Greek historian
(04:18):
of all people named Polybius, which is a great name,
he invented a method that essentially was like a precursor
to the telegraph UM, but like a two thousand years
before that was ever even envisioned. UM. He created a
series of coded messages that were communicated through these five
beacons that were also along these two walls. There's these
(04:41):
kind of observation points and you could light a specific
number of beacons on each wall. UH. And then the
Greek alphabet were encoded UM into a series of you know,
puffs or whatever it might be, or flashes kind of
so it really was like early Morse code essentially UM.
And yeah, it was. It was absolutely super super effective,
(05:01):
and UM was able to communicate very specific messages, you know,
from from quite far away. As early as the second
century I mean it's kind of nuts. That's crazy because
that it's uh transcontinental as well, that multiple cultures who
may not have been in contact with each other all
figured this out. This is so impressive. It's a species
(05:23):
full of mc divers, you know what I mean. It
makes sense though, right, because it's it's something that everyone,
you know, we all kind of have access to fire
ever since it was it was a prometheus, the fire,
and Prometheus brought the fire of the gods, brought the
fire of the guests. So but that's what like, you know,
fire is considered one of the great innovations technology, right
that we still harnessed today. So it was something that
(05:44):
everyone had to use to cook their food. It's sort
of like signaled this like next level of human evolution
only because we were able to you know, convert proteins
to be more nourishing to our bodies, but also use
it as technology to you know, decimate our enemies and
like burned down whole swaths of you know the world,
but also like you know, communicate using puffs of smoke,
(06:05):
which is kind of cool. Um. So a lot of
that stuff came from a really cool article from the
Davidson Institute, the educational arm of the Wiseman Institute of
Science Education. UM. And there's an article there by Dr
You're not escher uh called where there's smoke, There's a
message UM. So highly recommend checking that out because it
(06:27):
actually goes into a lot of what you were talking about, Bill.
It goes into some other kind of like signal fires.
Another early use of smoke signals that we still see today,
more ritualistic than anything. But the Vatican when they you know,
it's the white smoke means they did a good job,
and the black means they had to hold out because
(06:49):
they do these secret ballads. Was the cardinals, I guess,
from all the different regions common and assemble and they
do the vote, and sometimes they can be stymied, like
almost like a hung jury for a long time. And
so everyone's waiting with bated breath to see and the
black smoke comes out and collective grown and the white
comes out and collective ecstasy because we've got a new
(07:10):
weird god conduit. I like that. I like that idea
because that's I love that example because I was thinking
the whole time. I was like, what if Mark and
Bill and Max and Nolan and I go camping and
we get separated and won't be able to say, wait,
we remember how to do smoke signals? Right. I was
(07:31):
like that would come in handy. But now you you've
provided probably the best modern example of how this communication
carries on. And I wonder if they'll ever No, they
won't change it. The Catholic Church. Anything Catholic Church is
kind of traditional. It takes kind of a lot. The
Catholic Church moves slower than like governments, you know, and
that's saying a lot. But yeah, no, it's it's neat.
(07:54):
I would say that this is much more of a ritual,
you know, kind of like tradition than it is like
a functional thing. But um, speaking of functional examples, I'm
gonna pull out the old Wikipedia here. I don't usually,
but I will because it has some really neat examples
of some specific uses of smoke signals and different cultures, uh,
Native American culture. Lewis and Clark, in their journals, they
(08:17):
often you know, made notes of observing these ways Native
Americans were using um, smokesicles to communicate, and they actually
adopted some of these themselves to communicate other tribes about,
you know, whether they were there, you know, the presence
of their party and the idea they wanted to meet
with local tribes because they need to communicate using the
tools that they were comfortable with in order to seem
(08:39):
like a friendly kind of friendly you know, force there
because they weren't there to conquer. There were more there
to like hang out, check things out, and then give
that information to other people to then conquer later, you know.
But they didn't talk about UM in the Yamanas culture
of South America. This is super interesting Magellan, you know,
and he was exploring UM, he often would see these fires.
(09:02):
They would actually like light whole swaths of like fields
on fire. Probably not the best way of doing this,
you know, not so contained literally just like forest fires,
not particularly controlled. UM. But to the point where Magellan
actually in his writing referred to some of the areas
that he was exploring as Tierra del Fuego, which would
(09:23):
mean like the land of fire. UM. And uh, people's
attention well more of a flex like like I like, hey,
we're coming for you. That would seem like an active aggression.
That might be a way because I'm struggling with having
people who need to feel the need to talk to
me and all the all times, all hours of the day,
(09:43):
different time zones and so on. So what do you
think we could get away with saying something like, hey,
we can only be communicated with through fire? Yeah, okay,
Well I think the issue there though, is like you
gotta be looking in the right direction. You're not just
gonna accidentally see hopefully. You know, it always happens in movies, right,
like they just oh, what's that? Come on? You aren't
(10:05):
gonna have been right there to say the thing the
moment the person in desperate need of rescuing build up
unless you figured it out in advance, right, which when
does that happen? It reminds me too, like for example,
you know, in the Lord of the Rings films, they've
got the signal fires with between Gondor and whatever else
nerdy imaginary the beacon of I don't know, the king
(10:29):
has returned, and then we'll in the movie five times.
But you know, there are some issues around that. The fires,
because they were literally fires, so they would have to
be maintained, you know, and to to be the right
you know level if we would actually notice them, and
what if it was like raining when they needed to
use them, or like snowing or something with the smoke signals.
(10:52):
It can be like a low fire and you're literally
just generating the smoke. We mentioned it sort of at
the top. You use essentially just a blanket or anything,
and you just go one flap and then that kind
of billows one up in another flap and then it
like you know, it'll create these little puffs. There is tension.
I like that because that's like, that's so humanity always
had that equivalent of seeing those three little dots on
(11:14):
the text, right, like is that what do you think?
I think? Um, But it's true, man, it's it's again.
Fire is the ultimate technology. We still use it today
for like engines and so many of the things that
drive no pun intended like ore you know, society, UM
(11:35):
still working with combustible engines and things that's literally fire
is the prime mover in those So these are just
early examples of how that technology was harnessed for communication.
So I don't know as far as the takeaway, I mean,
I think that was it. It's just like anything can
be technology and can be you know, with enough moxie
and stick to itiveness and a little bit of you know,
(11:57):
know how, and the clever idea can be funneled into
something game changing, you know, and that parallel thinking that
we always see in history, whether it be with religions
or use of technology, that's that's the same game deal.
We're all humans, we all have similar equipment, you know,
whatever our language barriers and like upbringing in background are.
(12:18):
So it makes sense that like lots of cultures would
have simultaneously kind of figured this out. Honestly, we're all
We've only touched on pigeons and smoke signals, and I'm
already way more impressed with the ancient world, you know
what I mean. Yeah, I fell asleep put it on
a pair of pants like two weeks ago, and so
like I feel like I'm the chihuahua looking back at
(12:39):
the ancestry of wolves, you know what I mean. So
we we have okay, so we have these smoke signals,
which were brilliant. No, you described as parallel um parallel thinking,
which is I think absolutely true. Of what do you
(13:00):
do with this is something we talked about just very
briefly off air, and maybe we throw to you for this,
Mark Uh. You mentioned the idea of messages in a bottle,
which could also potentially communicate over great distances. Uh. Not
only came here for you and I talked about this
off air, but one of my one of my first
(13:22):
initial questions was, I love this idea because I've wondered
if it's true or if it's just like a thing
that happens in adventure films and romantic comedies, far side
comics and far side comics. Yes. Yeah, well, uh, Ben,
you know, messages and bottles, it's been around for thousands
of years. But you also are right and that there's
(13:44):
a lot of hoaxes surrounding messages in bottles, and it's
also kind of been romanticized a lot. So maybe you
kind of think about, like, you know, you know, star
cross lovers, they're sending each other message messages and bottles
back and forth. And while there might be like some
versions of that, the pity is, you know, like messages
and bottles have been used for a wide range of things. So,
(14:04):
going all the way back to three ten b C.
The earliest known message in a bottle was sent by
the Greek philosopher uh Theophrastus. Uh and so the Theophrastus
is great uh and and so this person they were
one of Aristota's pupils, and they wanted to test their
hypothesis that the Atlantic Ocean flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
(14:26):
So it was used as a form of like scientific exploration,
trying to collect data. And we see this actually throughout
the centuries is that it's like, aside from simply trying
to communicate, they're simply just trying to understand the space
that they are, uh, the space that we all live
in together. But you know, messages and bottles they've contained
all kinds of things, you know, so it might be
(14:48):
like a warning, it might be trying to reach out
to someone. It might be like I mentioned earlier, trying
to crowdsource data. Um, you might just be kind of
like trying to reach out or mourn those who have lost. Uh. So,
like a wide range of things. And then what was
interesting as I looked at examples of messages and bottles
throughout time, uh kind of like the spirit behind a
(15:11):
message in a literal bottle has kind of expanded to
other forms of technology as well, whether it's us shooting signals, messages,
items out into space, you know, whether it's us like
I don't know, putting something out onto the void that
is social media and troping to hear something back. You know,
I think that there's always been like this attitude of
(15:31):
people trying to like send something out and maybe get
something in return. And I feel like, you know, a
nice clean way that that is embodied is in messages
and bottles. So we're still doing as as a species,
the same kind of thing like that, like when you
when you see those uh there are multiple satellites voyagers
probably the most famous where they said, Okay, let's imagine
(15:54):
we want to introduce ourselves to the universe and we'll
just throw in all the stuff that we are impressed with, right,
and they're like, hey, let's let's kind of gloss over
some of the not so impressive stuff. Listen, like, because
you know, that's just such thematically that's amazing. Yeah, I mean,
(16:14):
like even a time capsule. I mean I was an elementar,
same thing, and we put a time capsule into the ground.
I think it's probably been dug up by this point,
so someone you know, it's probably read something about how
I enjoyed Ninja Turtles in the nineties, but we've all
done Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. I hear that on
the showers were four dollars and nine nine cents golden time.
(16:38):
But you know, Mark, you make a good point about
the time capsule aspect, you're using it to kind of
trace the trajectory of a of a thing, because it's
hard to do this with much precision, right, Yeah, it's
hard to do it with precision, but people would still try.
And I think that people kind of are enamored by
the idea of a message in a bottle, which is
kind of contributed to like the way that it's been
(17:00):
kind of like talked up throughout history. And you see
that in like some of the like exciting examples throughout time.
So like going back to the hundreds for example, you know,
like Queen Elizabeth, Uh, there was a rumor that she
appointed a royal uncorker of ocean bottles, and so that
meant that that person was the only person that was
(17:21):
authorized to open any ocean bottle that that came through.
And if you were to open it and you weren't
the uncork you get killed. You get killed, yeah yeah, yeah,
for the high crime of impost yeah. And so yeah,
So the story is is that like apparently, uh, Queen Elizabeth,
(17:41):
she believed that some bottles might contain like secret communications
from spies and so like that was the idea. However,
people think that it's most likely that it was a
myth only because like apparently researchers were unable to find
mention of this like before certain author mentioned it. Victor
I mentioned it in his novels. But but the idea
(18:03):
is like maybe there was something similar, you know what
I mean, So like I don't know what went down,
but maybe Queen Elizabeth was like, you know, that's my bottle,
don't do that, and he's like, I'm gonna open it,
and he's like, well, I'm gonna take your hand, you
know what I mean, like the origin a bottle service. Yeah,
like I've always been a little too costly, it always
I'd never I'm just too square. I don't understand it.
(18:23):
But I think, actually, no, I think the Quister may
have used that one of his scenarios to fool us.
I think he mention you're you're asolutely right he did,
because it was it was it one where that was
like a true thing in the lie story. I think
he always does that. Yeah, he might, uh, just be
careful on your own show, beetlejuice rules don't say his
(18:44):
name too often he pops out. We didn't tell you
about that when we signed you up for this. Yes, sorry,
different things, but this is so so okay. So there
there are a lot of myths kind of around this theme,
but there are I think. I think the idea is that, like, yes,
so there's certainly very many true stories that people finding
messages and bottles uh, and it's a These are very
(19:05):
impactful stories. But at the same time, I think something
that you see pop up every once in a while
is that there, um, you know, hoaxes or other stories
that maybe aren't adcent true to get mixed in with that.
So for example, you know, the Titanic, right, the Titanic
goes down, uh, and afterwards, you know, there were many
reports of messages uh in bottles being found with notes
(19:26):
from survivors. You know, for example, Uh, there was a
bottle that was found on the west coast of Iceland
in October of nineteen twelve containing the message I am
one of them that were wrecked on the Titanic Harry Wilson. However, uh,
you know, there was no record of a Harry Wilson
on the Titanic passenger or creweless which suggests that it
maybe this wasn't really a thing. However, there was a
(19:49):
note that was penned by Jeremiah Burke, age nineteen uh.
His note read from Titanic goodbye all Burke and Glanmire
cork Um and the they had been with the Burke
family for nearly a century after it was washed ashore
and dunk at nineteen thirteen, only a few miles from
his family home. And so apparently this letter is real
(20:11):
and is now part of the Titanic Exhibition um UH
in the Cobe Heritage Center. So just for example, you
have one that was like probably not real, but you
have another one that was real. And and as I read,
I think around like the eighteenth nineteenth century, messages and
bottles became like somewhat popular, right, and so some might
(20:31):
be real, some might not be. And then you would
even have like papers reporting on the messages that they found,
you know, from different people, and so maybe some of
them were genuine, some of them were not. What's that
thing not quite the same thing, but but it reminds
me of what's it called miss connections like connections. Yeah,
(20:53):
I would wonder is there some sort of collection, like
a museum exhibition with like a bunch of message gin
bottle like papers, scraps, you know, I want to see
that would be cool. I don't know. I don't know
if there's a museum that specifically dedicated to that. However,
there are like certain people that are dedicated specifically towards
finding opening messages and bottles. Wow, so there's like they're
(21:18):
enthusiasts who are quite serious about this. I read about
one enthusiast that had found like this is at that
point it feels like, knowing what we know about ocean currents,
they're probably hot spots where you can see this. And
also question, I'm this is an ethical question because you
guys are you know, I think it's safe to say
(21:39):
most people are probably more ethical than me. What what?
Thank you, Bill? Thank you for Bill gave a very
solid nine. Went sure. But here's the question if this
is if this is ethical? I think it's safe to
say that as long as the message wasn't terrible or
(22:01):
you know, very evil. Uh, most people would love to
be on a beach and then find find a message
in a bottle. Right, It's cool because you're kind of
part of someone's story. Yeah, yeah, I think I think so.
I mean, it's just like, uh, there's some that are
actually like quite heartwarming or or either heartwarming or like, um,
(22:22):
what's the word, just kind of like providing closure perhaps,
you know. So uh so for example, uh right, uh,
there was a bottle that was discovered in the River
Thames sent from World War One private Thomas Hughes, and
they wrote a message for his wife. They tossed it
in the English Channel as he left to fight in
(22:42):
France in nineteen fourteen. Right. Unfortunately, you know, he was
killed in battle two days later. But the bottle, however,
was delivered to his eighty six year old daughter in
New Zealand when it was found later, because it was
like it was eventually recovered and and and someone found
it and they delivered it. So that goes to my question,
knowing that this could bring joy to people, is it
(23:04):
unethical to do the hoaxes, Like if I'm just doing
like a nice message, you know, like hello from um buggalaboodo,
this made up country of fart nanny. You know. You know, Ben,
(23:26):
I'm so glad that you asked that because I almost forgot.
I actually almost forgot. I was on ponts and I
came across the bottom he's got and I have been
over yet. I don't know why. Maybe there's enough messages
in here for all of you to read them. I
(23:48):
don't know. Wouldn't that be wild if there were four?
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know, Max, Max, you should probably get one of these, Max,
if you would like, or I can read it for you.
It's up, it's up to you. I'll read it for you. Max.
(24:09):
I think it's intended for you, but I don't know. Now,
these are all random, so I we all randomly picked
them up. So I don't know. I don't know, And
we don't know the providence of this bottle. Yeah, I
don't I don't know, bottle. That's all we know. You
know what. It's probably from post it's probably from what
you can tell, what you can tell, because it's like
(24:30):
post Leon. I think he pioneered the three by five
note cards. That's right. It's like a red line at
the top and then like several blue lines. Yeah, yeah,
I like that. Yeah, So I guess. Hey, I don't know.
Maybe we go one at a time these messages. What
if we start with NOL and then we go, No,
what are you cool with that? I mean, this is
(24:52):
this is like better than a fortune cookie. It's actually utiful.
Add a pinch of cinnamon to your chocolate chip recipe. Wow,
that's thoughtful. Yeah. I also got a very this one.
Just I kind of needed this today. Guys. It just
says I love you, Oh, which is what a message
(25:19):
to get. Yeah, that's very personal signature, no signature, a
little bit of a smudge, I think maybe yeah, personal touch. Okay, sure,
we'll take a shot at this. Try to avoid eighty
five if you can. Lots of traffic mm hmm. And
smaller prints also good for six percent off Mott sticks
(25:43):
at Taco bellt good through seven one, two thousand, four
and twenty two. I am keeping this. I keep this.
I know you found think it's our responsibility to keep.
We should split the monz relastics. That's very Yeah. But
what'd you get this one? Max? I picked this up randomly,
but I think it is intended for you. All it
(26:04):
says is you know what you need to do? Max,
I don't know. Well, he knows. He's nodding his head curiously.
He's definitely alight. I've never seen some of who knows
he what that means? And like, uh, if you're familiar
(26:41):
with the mentalist Darren Brown, Uh, this I don't know
how to explain what just happened. So like that, this is,
this is amazing and I completely believe that you could
find a bottle like this on Ponsta lay On Live
in the neighborhood. Uh. And there's lots of it ventures
and misadventures to be had. Um. Honestly, you know what
(27:05):
I'm gonna no, Max, I propose we make this in audible?
Is that sports reference that pull that off? Was like
com is the audible is the one where you make
a call on the fly and thinking about Peyton Manning
when he makes the gestures and the sounds. Aunt, I
(27:28):
know that one. Okay, okay, okay, So without fully understanding
reference I made, the reference does work? Okay, great, Well
here's the audible that I'm going for. Um, Mark, you
have just amazed us so much and we've had such
a fun time on this episode that I feel like
(27:48):
we can save what I was going to talk about,
which was yodeling. Uh, and we should we should end
on this because I have finally received a message in
a bottle Noel, I don't know the top the the
artifact that you brought in. Yeah, not even topping. I
(28:08):
just need to think of I got some stuff to
think about. I think we all do, and I know
you would prepared it a bit of a yodel for us,
but well, that may be an episode for another day,
my friend, because because we end strong right and we
can get we can get a teaser sound cue from
our good buddy Max Williams for a good yodel. You'll
(28:32):
have to come back in the future, folks when we
can do an episode on the history of yodeline, which
is fascinating. Yeah. I don't know why I said that
such a defensive, like argumentative way. I'm holding a finger
up as though I'm reprimanding us. It's uh last but
not least, but uh, let's let's end on the best here. Guys,
(28:55):
Mark Bill, thank you so so much for coming to
spend time with us. I am too, Yeah, uh for
spending time with us today. We have been singing the
praises of ridiculous news uh to yodeling it even from
alongside the Swiss miss and we thought, you know, what
(29:16):
better way to what better way to let everybody know
why we're so excited than to have you guys joined
us on the show today. Thank you for being so
generous with your time. Uh. We'd love to hear a
little bit more as we end about other projects you
do and about things people can expect from Ridiculous News
and where to find the show. Yeah, so Mark and
(29:40):
I beyond doing a Ridiculous News and also a big
shout out to you y'all, Ben and Knowl and Max
uh for having us on. It really means the world.
You guys are so much fun to be around. Um
and and Ben, I'm knowing you for a while. I've
always been such a wonderful friend. Um And No, I
know I haven't known you at So you guys are
(30:04):
the best and it's been a pleasure a get to
know you and working on developing the show together and
welcoming you into the the e Are you extendard Ridiculous universe?
I'm glad we're working on it. Changes every time we say,
it's just it's not at all. Well, you know, beyond
(30:26):
hearing about ridiculous stories, the stuff you don't hear, the
stuff below the fold, the stuff that's interesting and funny.
Mark and I are also improvisers, so there'll be a
lot of characters on the show. Mark might do something
like today where he brings a bottle in, or he
might talk to a character from a specific news story,
and we have a lot of fun with that. M
h and uh. And in the interest of full disclosure,
(30:49):
both Mark and Bill, you have you have sat through
teaching me improv in the past. I'm using I'm using
that correctly because no one can tell you. Uh. We
we do a lot of We do a lot of
improv on the show. Uh. And so we we love
the sergy. Check out Ridiculous News. Check out the videos
(31:11):
that are coming out with cool, cool, cool productions. Uh,
we're big fans of those. Um No, I guess we
we gotta thank Bax right, we get good looking. Now
we're in a different studio arrangement today, so Max is
Mike isn't able to be recorded. So that's why you're
he's conspicuously absent in voice, but not in spirit. We
(31:35):
can's just yelling at me. He's a lot of sounds,
but very resident angry as a very poetic voice. Uh No,
I wanna as always man, It's it's a blast to
hang out on first. I'm so glad we're doing this
a little more often. I think we've decided to agree
to do it maybe once a week between this show
(31:56):
and stuff that I want should gonna try. We've got
some changes coming in our work since you are office situations.
So I think we're gonna turn over a new a
new uh coin, turn over a new chapter, open a
new page. Sure ye, other mixed metaphors, we'll uh will
carry another pigeon. They're not all gonna land. But of course,
(32:17):
big thanks to the police for their seminal hit message
in a bottle. Uh, so we don't get the emails
about not mentioning that. And let's all give a very
big bond voyage to our no. I just gotta save
man safe travels. You are heading to Berlin right after this,
right after this. Yeah, I have been tasked by Mike
(32:39):
john So I think you guys all know, friend of
the show for a producer, incredible producer uh in the
I Heart Podcast network to find the Berlin metro station
where that scene in Possession takes place, where Isabella uh
what is your last name? Not Johnny, I believe like
freaks out and smashes her flower bouquet like. Lately, it's
(33:00):
been used as a meme where it's like Monday's be like,
So I'm gonna do that for you, Mike, I got
your back. I'm also gonna eat some schnitzel and spitzel
and drink a beer out of a boot. And our
pal Ben Jester, who's here in the office today as well,
told me you're supposed to turn the boots sideways halfway
through or else your guts will explode. Oh wow, well
(33:21):
from all the from all the bubbles, oh Max, with
the facts. You don't know that that happened, but it did.
He said it was true. So okay, since the facts,
And where can people find you? Guys work individually, absolutely
so for Coogo Cool Productions, you know they can check
out Coogle Cool pro dot com. That's our website. But
(33:42):
to check out our videos the comedy we got going on,
we're on social media, so if you go to Mark
Kendall Comedy, you'll find us on Instagram, uh, Facebook, TikTok,
and then at Kendall Comedy for Twitter and as usual.
If you want to find ridiculous history on the Internet,
you can do so in our Ridiculous History ridiculous Historians
rather Facebook group. You can find us. On Instagram, you
can find Ben and I as human people. I'll probably
(34:04):
be posting some stories with the boot and hopefully my
guts not exploding at how now Noel Brown on Instagram
exclusively Ben Bowling about yourself. You can find me calling
myself at Ben Bowling on Instagram in a burst of
creativity bow l I n. That's a way to get
a quick look behind the scenes and all the various
projects and misadventures I am currently working on. If you
(34:25):
are more Twitter painted, uh, you can find me at
Ben Bowling hs W on Twitter. Uh. And that's the
same thing. There are a lot of spoilers will ask
questions as we go into research for shows. That's also
where you can find our good buddy Max Williams. Max
Williams The Rumors Are True is on Twitter where he
(34:46):
describes the activities mainly as sports related and trolling me. Yes,
you can find me at a t L underscore Max Williams.
That is where you'll find all my fun Twitter POSSI stuff,
mostly just trolling band. That's about eight percent of what
I do on Twitter. We'll see you next time, folks.
(35:12):
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
(00:27):
back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always
so much for tuning in. That's the man, the myth,
the legend, the rumors are true. He's here with us today.
Give it up from Mr Max Williams and they called
me Ben. We are starting with this part two episode
in media rests the fancy phrases in the middle of
(00:48):
the story and cannot wait for you to hear nol
take it away with smoke signals, which are a very
real thing, as will come to find without further or
do let's dive in. It's gotta be fun, y'all. Nowadays,
I think a lot of us when we see smoke,
(01:08):
we assume something has gone wrong, right like whenever we're
you know, we've all lived in Atlanta for some time,
and news of a fire spreads really quickly because everybody
can see the smoke. But for our second, weird way
people used to communicate, I don't even know if this
weird so much as ingenious. Uh no, you you kicked
(01:31):
it with some some smoke signals? Have you ever like? Okay,
I've seen them mentioned in fiction. I think we all
have right, and sometimes like there's like a fire and
there's like a blanket. Yep, that's right, Okay, the dot
dash situation, well, there's a couple of different ways, okay.
But the thing that I found interesting about it is
(01:51):
that it's a lot older than I would have thought,
because it's usually associated with like kind of Native American cultures,
but often in kind of a weird way. I mean,
it's sort of like, what are you communicating with smoke signals?
As if that's some like ludye like antiquated way of
communicating because you're too stupid to use a telephone or
Something's usually the connotation. But it's actually super smart because
(02:13):
these you know, um, Native American cultures, Northern American Native
tribes would actually use these bonfires to communicate super complex
like coded messages. Have you ever heard of like was
it the code talkers wind talkers? Excuse me? So basically
like that was a group of Native American UH soldiers
(02:33):
with the American heritage that essentially used some of these
old coding and cipher devices to create codes that were
used by the U. S. Army very very effectively. Um,
this was against the Germans. If I'm not mistaken in
the Japanese correct Vietnam exactly. So you know, there were
(02:53):
kind of ciphers built into these, you know, series of
let's say it's one puff equals one thing, two puffs,
three puffs. Elevation mattered, so you do it on like
a sloping hill, and it came from higher up that
meant one thing, middle meant something else, down low meant
something else. And you could do because it's obviously visible
to anybody around, but it would be such that only
(03:15):
the communicator and the receiver would know what it actually was.
You might have a sense that there's communication going on,
but because it's essentially encrypted, no one could actually suss
out and what they what they meant. But it actually
goes back to um ancient Chinese times. UM when you know,
along the Great Wall there were these guard towers where
(03:37):
these signal fires essentially were they were colored smoke, and
they have the color would determine the size of the
invading party. Um. They were sort of space in such
a way that for like hundreds of kilometers, people you know,
could see them from the internal castles that the Great
Wall protected. They would know they needed to like get
their troops ready to go for invading parties. UM. And
(03:58):
also you know along the the wall, which was you know,
it's like so large you can see it from like space. UM.
They needed to have an effective way of communicating very quickly.
So again it's about covering distance effectively and with enough
specificity to know what you're actually supposed to do. Back
as early as the second century BC, a Greek historian
(04:18):
of all people named Polybius, which is a great name,
he invented a method that essentially was like a precursor
to the telegraph UM, but like a two thousand years
before that was ever even envisioned. UM. He created a
series of coded messages that were communicated through these five
beacons that were also along these two walls. There's these
(04:41):
kind of observation points and you could light a specific
number of beacons on each wall. UH. And then the
Greek alphabet were encoded UM into a series of you know,
puffs or whatever it might be, or flashes kind of
so it really was like early Morse code essentially UM.
And yeah, it was. It was absolutely super super effective,
(05:01):
and UM was able to communicate very specific messages, you know,
from from quite far away. As early as the second
century I mean it's kind of nuts. That's crazy because
that it's uh transcontinental as well, that multiple cultures who
may not have been in contact with each other all
figured this out. This is so impressive. It's a species
(05:23):
full of mc divers, you know what I mean. It
makes sense though, right, because it's it's something that everyone,
you know, we all kind of have access to fire
ever since it was it was a prometheus, the fire,
and Prometheus brought the fire of the gods, brought the
fire of the guests. So but that's what like, you know,
fire is considered one of the great innovations technology, right
that we still harnessed today. So it was something that
(05:44):
everyone had to use to cook their food. It's sort
of like signaled this like next level of human evolution
only because we were able to you know, convert proteins
to be more nourishing to our bodies, but also use
it as technology to you know, decimate our enemies and
like burned down whole swaths of you know the world,
but also like you know, communicate using puffs of smoke,
(06:05):
which is kind of cool. Um. So a lot of
that stuff came from a really cool article from the
Davidson Institute, the educational arm of the Wiseman Institute of
Science Education. UM. And there's an article there by Dr
You're not escher uh called where there's smoke, There's a
message UM. So highly recommend checking that out because it
(06:27):
actually goes into a lot of what you were talking about, Bill.
It goes into some other kind of like signal fires.
Another early use of smoke signals that we still see today,
more ritualistic than anything. But the Vatican when they you know,
it's the white smoke means they did a good job,
and the black means they had to hold out because
(06:49):
they do these secret ballads. Was the cardinals, I guess,
from all the different regions common and assemble and they
do the vote, and sometimes they can be stymied, like
almost like a hung jury for a long time. And
so everyone's waiting with bated breath to see and the
black smoke comes out and collective grown and the white
comes out and collective ecstasy because we've got a new
(07:10):
weird god conduit. I like that. I like that idea
because that's I love that example because I was thinking
the whole time. I was like, what if Mark and
Bill and Max and Nolan and I go camping and
we get separated and won't be able to say, wait,
we remember how to do smoke signals? Right. I was
(07:31):
like that would come in handy. But now you you've
provided probably the best modern example of how this communication
carries on. And I wonder if they'll ever No, they
won't change it. The Catholic Church. Anything Catholic Church is
kind of traditional. It takes kind of a lot. The
Catholic Church moves slower than like governments, you know, and
that's saying a lot. But yeah, no, it's it's neat.
(07:54):
I would say that this is much more of a ritual,
you know, kind of like tradition than it is like
a functional thing. But um, speaking of functional examples, I'm
gonna pull out the old Wikipedia here. I don't usually,
but I will because it has some really neat examples
of some specific uses of smoke signals and different cultures, uh,
Native American culture. Lewis and Clark, in their journals, they
(08:17):
often you know, made notes of observing these ways Native
Americans were using um, smokesicles to communicate, and they actually
adopted some of these themselves to communicate other tribes about,
you know, whether they were there, you know, the presence
of their party and the idea they wanted to meet
with local tribes because they need to communicate using the
tools that they were comfortable with in order to seem
(08:39):
like a friendly kind of friendly you know, force there
because they weren't there to conquer. There were more there
to like hang out, check things out, and then give
that information to other people to then conquer later, you know.
But they didn't talk about UM in the Yamanas culture
of South America. This is super interesting Magellan, you know,
and he was exploring UM, he often would see these fires.
(09:02):
They would actually like light whole swaths of like fields
on fire. Probably not the best way of doing this,
you know, not so contained literally just like forest fires,
not particularly controlled. UM. But to the point where Magellan
actually in his writing referred to some of the areas
that he was exploring as Tierra del Fuego, which would
(09:23):
mean like the land of fire. UM. And uh, people's
attention well more of a flex like like I like, hey,
we're coming for you. That would seem like an active aggression.
That might be a way because I'm struggling with having
people who need to feel the need to talk to
me and all the all times, all hours of the day,
(09:43):
different time zones and so on. So what do you
think we could get away with saying something like, hey,
we can only be communicated with through fire? Yeah, okay,
Well I think the issue there though, is like you
gotta be looking in the right direction. You're not just
gonna accidentally see hopefully. You know, it always happens in movies, right,
like they just oh, what's that? Come on? You aren't
(10:05):
gonna have been right there to say the thing the
moment the person in desperate need of rescuing build up
unless you figured it out in advance, right, which when
does that happen? It reminds me too, like for example,
you know, in the Lord of the Rings films, they've
got the signal fires with between Gondor and whatever else
nerdy imaginary the beacon of I don't know, the king
(10:29):
has returned, and then we'll in the movie five times.
But you know, there are some issues around that. The fires,
because they were literally fires, so they would have to
be maintained, you know, and to to be the right
you know level if we would actually notice them, and
what if it was like raining when they needed to
use them, or like snowing or something with the smoke signals.
(10:52):
It can be like a low fire and you're literally
just generating the smoke. We mentioned it sort of at
the top. You use essentially just a blanket or anything,
and you just go one flap and then that kind
of billows one up in another flap and then it
like you know, it'll create these little puffs. There is tension.
I like that because that's like, that's so humanity always
had that equivalent of seeing those three little dots on
(11:14):
the text, right, like is that what do you think?
I think? Um, But it's true, man, it's it's again.
Fire is the ultimate technology. We still use it today
for like engines and so many of the things that
drive no pun intended like ore you know, society, UM
(11:35):
still working with combustible engines and things that's literally fire
is the prime mover in those So these are just
early examples of how that technology was harnessed for communication.
So I don't know as far as the takeaway, I mean,
I think that was it. It's just like anything can
be technology and can be you know, with enough moxie
and stick to itiveness and a little bit of you know,
(11:57):
know how, and the clever idea can be funneled into
something game changing, you know, and that parallel thinking that
we always see in history, whether it be with religions
or use of technology, that's that's the same game deal.
We're all humans, we all have similar equipment, you know,
whatever our language barriers and like upbringing in background are.
(12:18):
So it makes sense that like lots of cultures would
have simultaneously kind of figured this out. Honestly, we're all
We've only touched on pigeons and smoke signals, and I'm
already way more impressed with the ancient world, you know
what I mean. Yeah, I fell asleep put it on
a pair of pants like two weeks ago, and so
like I feel like I'm the chihuahua looking back at
(12:39):
the ancestry of wolves, you know what I mean. So
we we have okay, so we have these smoke signals,
which were brilliant. No, you described as parallel um parallel thinking,
which is I think absolutely true. Of what do you
(13:00):
do with this is something we talked about just very
briefly off air, and maybe we throw to you for this,
Mark Uh. You mentioned the idea of messages in a bottle,
which could also potentially communicate over great distances. Uh. Not
only came here for you and I talked about this
off air, but one of my one of my first
(13:22):
initial questions was, I love this idea because I've wondered
if it's true or if it's just like a thing
that happens in adventure films and romantic comedies, far side
comics and far side comics. Yes. Yeah, well, uh, Ben,
you know, messages and bottles, it's been around for thousands
of years. But you also are right and that there's
(13:44):
a lot of hoaxes surrounding messages in bottles, and it's
also kind of been romanticized a lot. So maybe you
kind of think about, like, you know, you know, star
cross lovers, they're sending each other message messages and bottles
back and forth. And while there might be like some
versions of that, the pity is, you know, like messages
and bottles have been used for a wide range of things. So,
(14:04):
going all the way back to three ten b C.
The earliest known message in a bottle was sent by
the Greek philosopher uh Theophrastus. Uh and so the Theophrastus
is great uh and and so this person they were
one of Aristota's pupils, and they wanted to test their
hypothesis that the Atlantic Ocean flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
(14:26):
So it was used as a form of like scientific exploration,
trying to collect data. And we see this actually throughout
the centuries is that it's like, aside from simply trying
to communicate, they're simply just trying to understand the space
that they are, uh, the space that we all live
in together. But you know, messages and bottles they've contained
all kinds of things, you know, so it might be
(14:48):
like a warning, it might be trying to reach out
to someone. It might be like I mentioned earlier, trying
to crowdsource data. Um, you might just be kind of
like trying to reach out or mourn those who have lost. Uh. So,
like a wide range of things. And then what was
interesting as I looked at examples of messages and bottles
throughout time, uh kind of like the spirit behind a
(15:11):
message in a literal bottle has kind of expanded to
other forms of technology as well, whether it's us shooting signals, messages,
items out into space, you know, whether it's us like
I don't know, putting something out onto the void that
is social media and troping to hear something back. You know,
I think that there's always been like this attitude of
(15:31):
people trying to like send something out and maybe get
something in return. And I feel like, you know, a
nice clean way that that is embodied is in messages
and bottles. So we're still doing as as a species,
the same kind of thing like that, like when you
when you see those uh there are multiple satellites voyagers
probably the most famous where they said, Okay, let's imagine
(15:54):
we want to introduce ourselves to the universe and we'll
just throw in all the stuff that we are impressed with, right,
and they're like, hey, let's let's kind of gloss over
some of the not so impressive stuff. Listen, like, because
you know, that's just such thematically that's amazing. Yeah, I mean,
(16:14):
like even a time capsule. I mean I was an elementar,
same thing, and we put a time capsule into the ground.
I think it's probably been dug up by this point,
so someone you know, it's probably read something about how
I enjoyed Ninja Turtles in the nineties, but we've all
done Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. I hear that on
the showers were four dollars and nine nine cents golden time.
(16:38):
But you know, Mark, you make a good point about
the time capsule aspect, you're using it to kind of
trace the trajectory of a of a thing, because it's
hard to do this with much precision, right, Yeah, it's
hard to do it with precision, but people would still try.
And I think that people kind of are enamored by
the idea of a message in a bottle, which is
kind of contributed to like the way that it's been
(17:00):
kind of like talked up throughout history. And you see
that in like some of the like exciting examples throughout time.
So like going back to the hundreds for example, you know,
like Queen Elizabeth, Uh, there was a rumor that she
appointed a royal uncorker of ocean bottles, and so that
meant that that person was the only person that was
(17:21):
authorized to open any ocean bottle that that came through.
And if you were to open it and you weren't
the uncork you get killed. You get killed, yeah yeah, yeah,
for the high crime of impost yeah. And so yeah,
So the story is is that like apparently, uh, Queen Elizabeth,
(17:41):
she believed that some bottles might contain like secret communications
from spies and so like that was the idea. However,
people think that it's most likely that it was a
myth only because like apparently researchers were unable to find
mention of this like before certain author mentioned it. Victor
I mentioned it in his novels. But but the idea
(18:03):
is like maybe there was something similar, you know what
I mean, So like I don't know what went down,
but maybe Queen Elizabeth was like, you know, that's my bottle,
don't do that, and he's like, I'm gonna open it,
and he's like, well, I'm gonna take your hand, you
know what I mean, like the origin a bottle service. Yeah,
like I've always been a little too costly, it always
I'd never I'm just too square. I don't understand it.
(18:23):
But I think, actually, no, I think the Quister may
have used that one of his scenarios to fool us.
I think he mention you're you're asolutely right he did,
because it was it was it one where that was
like a true thing in the lie story. I think
he always does that. Yeah, he might, uh, just be
careful on your own show, beetlejuice rules don't say his
(18:44):
name too often he pops out. We didn't tell you
about that when we signed you up for this. Yes, sorry,
different things, but this is so so okay. So there
there are a lot of myths kind of around this theme,
but there are I think. I think the idea is that, like, yes,
so there's certainly very many true stories that people finding
messages and bottles uh, and it's a These are very
(19:05):
impactful stories. But at the same time, I think something
that you see pop up every once in a while
is that there, um, you know, hoaxes or other stories
that maybe aren't adcent true to get mixed in with that.
So for example, you know, the Titanic, right, the Titanic
goes down, uh, and afterwards, you know, there were many
reports of messages uh in bottles being found with notes
(19:26):
from survivors. You know, for example, Uh, there was a
bottle that was found on the west coast of Iceland
in October of nineteen twelve containing the message I am
one of them that were wrecked on the Titanic Harry Wilson. However, uh,
you know, there was no record of a Harry Wilson
on the Titanic passenger or creweless which suggests that it
maybe this wasn't really a thing. However, there was a
(19:49):
note that was penned by Jeremiah Burke, age nineteen uh.
His note read from Titanic goodbye all Burke and Glanmire
cork Um and the they had been with the Burke
family for nearly a century after it was washed ashore
and dunk at nineteen thirteen, only a few miles from
his family home. And so apparently this letter is real
(20:11):
and is now part of the Titanic Exhibition um UH
in the Cobe Heritage Center. So just for example, you
have one that was like probably not real, but you
have another one that was real. And and as I read,
I think around like the eighteenth nineteenth century, messages and
bottles became like somewhat popular, right, and so some might
(20:31):
be real, some might not be. And then you would
even have like papers reporting on the messages that they found,
you know, from different people, and so maybe some of
them were genuine, some of them were not. What's that
thing not quite the same thing, but but it reminds
me of what's it called miss connections like connections. Yeah,
(20:53):
I would wonder is there some sort of collection, like
a museum exhibition with like a bunch of message gin
bottle like papers, scraps, you know, I want to see
that would be cool. I don't know. I don't know
if there's a museum that specifically dedicated to that. However,
there are like certain people that are dedicated specifically towards
finding opening messages and bottles. Wow, so there's like they're
(21:18):
enthusiasts who are quite serious about this. I read about
one enthusiast that had found like this is at that
point it feels like, knowing what we know about ocean currents,
they're probably hot spots where you can see this. And
also question, I'm this is an ethical question because you
guys are you know, I think it's safe to say
(21:39):
most people are probably more ethical than me. What what?
Thank you, Bill? Thank you for Bill gave a very
solid nine. Went sure. But here's the question if this
is if this is ethical? I think it's safe to
say that as long as the message wasn't terrible or
(22:01):
you know, very evil. Uh, most people would love to
be on a beach and then find find a message
in a bottle. Right, It's cool because you're kind of
part of someone's story. Yeah, yeah, I think I think so.
I mean, it's just like, uh, there's some that are
actually like quite heartwarming or or either heartwarming or like, um,
(22:22):
what's the word, just kind of like providing closure perhaps,
you know. So uh so for example, uh right, uh,
there was a bottle that was discovered in the River
Thames sent from World War One private Thomas Hughes, and
they wrote a message for his wife. They tossed it
in the English Channel as he left to fight in
(22:42):
France in nineteen fourteen. Right. Unfortunately, you know, he was
killed in battle two days later. But the bottle, however,
was delivered to his eighty six year old daughter in
New Zealand when it was found later, because it was
like it was eventually recovered and and and someone found
it and they delivered it. So that goes to my question,
knowing that this could bring joy to people, is it
(23:04):
unethical to do the hoaxes, Like if I'm just doing
like a nice message, you know, like hello from um buggalaboodo,
this made up country of fart nanny. You know. You know, Ben,
(23:26):
I'm so glad that you asked that because I almost forgot.
I actually almost forgot. I was on ponts and I
came across the bottom he's got and I have been
over yet. I don't know why. Maybe there's enough messages
in here for all of you to read them. I
(23:48):
don't know. Wouldn't that be wild if there were four?
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know, Max, Max, you should probably get one of these, Max,
if you would like, or I can read it for you.
It's up, it's up to you. I'll read it for you. Max.
(24:09):
I think it's intended for you, but I don't know. Now,
these are all random, so I we all randomly picked
them up. So I don't know. I don't know, And
we don't know the providence of this bottle. Yeah, I
don't I don't know, bottle. That's all we know. You
know what. It's probably from post it's probably from what
you can tell, what you can tell, because it's like
(24:30):
post Leon. I think he pioneered the three by five
note cards. That's right. It's like a red line at
the top and then like several blue lines. Yeah, yeah,
I like that. Yeah, So I guess. Hey, I don't know.
Maybe we go one at a time these messages. What
if we start with NOL and then we go, No,
what are you cool with that? I mean, this is
(24:52):
this is like better than a fortune cookie. It's actually utiful.
Add a pinch of cinnamon to your chocolate chip recipe. Wow,
that's thoughtful. Yeah. I also got a very this one.
Just I kind of needed this today. Guys. It just
says I love you, Oh, which is what a message
(25:19):
to get. Yeah, that's very personal signature, no signature, a
little bit of a smudge, I think maybe yeah, personal touch. Okay, sure,
we'll take a shot at this. Try to avoid eighty
five if you can. Lots of traffic mm hmm. And
smaller prints also good for six percent off Mott sticks
(25:43):
at Taco bellt good through seven one, two thousand, four
and twenty two. I am keeping this. I keep this.
I know you found think it's our responsibility to keep.
We should split the monz relastics. That's very Yeah. But
what'd you get this one? Max? I picked this up randomly,
but I think it is intended for you. All it
(26:04):
says is you know what you need to do? Max,
I don't know. Well, he knows. He's nodding his head curiously.
He's definitely alight. I've never seen some of who knows
he what that means? And like, uh, if you're familiar
(26:41):
with the mentalist Darren Brown, Uh, this I don't know
how to explain what just happened. So like that, this is,
this is amazing and I completely believe that you could
find a bottle like this on Ponsta lay On Live
in the neighborhood. Uh. And there's lots of it ventures
and misadventures to be had. Um. Honestly, you know what
(27:05):
I'm gonna no, Max, I propose we make this in audible?
Is that sports reference that pull that off? Was like
com is the audible is the one where you make
a call on the fly and thinking about Peyton Manning
when he makes the gestures and the sounds. Aunt, I
(27:28):
know that one. Okay, okay, okay, So without fully understanding
reference I made, the reference does work? Okay, great, Well
here's the audible that I'm going for. Um, Mark, you
have just amazed us so much and we've had such
a fun time on this episode that I feel like
(27:48):
we can save what I was going to talk about,
which was yodeling. Uh, and we should we should end
on this because I have finally received a message in
a bottle Noel, I don't know the top the the
artifact that you brought in. Yeah, not even topping. I
(28:08):
just need to think of I got some stuff to
think about. I think we all do, and I know
you would prepared it a bit of a yodel for us,
but well, that may be an episode for another day,
my friend, because because we end strong right and we
can get we can get a teaser sound cue from
our good buddy Max Williams for a good yodel. You'll
(28:32):
have to come back in the future, folks when we
can do an episode on the history of yodeline, which
is fascinating. Yeah. I don't know why I said that
such a defensive, like argumentative way. I'm holding a finger
up as though I'm reprimanding us. It's uh last but
not least, but uh, let's let's end on the best here. Guys,
(28:55):
Mark Bill, thank you so so much for coming to
spend time with us. I am too, Yeah, uh for
spending time with us today. We have been singing the
praises of ridiculous news uh to yodeling it even from
alongside the Swiss miss and we thought, you know, what
(29:16):
better way to what better way to let everybody know
why we're so excited than to have you guys joined
us on the show today. Thank you for being so
generous with your time. Uh. We'd love to hear a
little bit more as we end about other projects you
do and about things people can expect from Ridiculous News
and where to find the show. Yeah, so Mark and
(29:40):
I beyond doing a Ridiculous News and also a big
shout out to you y'all, Ben and Knowl and Max
uh for having us on. It really means the world.
You guys are so much fun to be around. Um
and and Ben, I'm knowing you for a while. I've
always been such a wonderful friend. Um And No, I
know I haven't known you at So you guys are
(30:04):
the best and it's been a pleasure a get to
know you and working on developing the show together and
welcoming you into the the e Are you extendard Ridiculous universe?
I'm glad we're working on it. Changes every time we say,
it's just it's not at all. Well, you know, beyond
(30:26):
hearing about ridiculous stories, the stuff you don't hear, the
stuff below the fold, the stuff that's interesting and funny.
Mark and I are also improvisers, so there'll be a
lot of characters on the show. Mark might do something
like today where he brings a bottle in, or he
might talk to a character from a specific news story,
and we have a lot of fun with that. M
h and uh. And in the interest of full disclosure,
(30:49):
both Mark and Bill, you have you have sat through
teaching me improv in the past. I'm using I'm using
that correctly because no one can tell you. Uh. We
we do a lot of We do a lot of
improv on the show. Uh. And so we we love
the sergy. Check out Ridiculous News. Check out the videos
(31:11):
that are coming out with cool, cool, cool productions. Uh,
we're big fans of those. Um No, I guess we
we gotta thank Bax right, we get good looking. Now
we're in a different studio arrangement today, so Max is
Mike isn't able to be recorded. So that's why you're
he's conspicuously absent in voice, but not in spirit. We
(31:35):
can's just yelling at me. He's a lot of sounds,
but very resident angry as a very poetic voice. Uh No,
I wanna as always man, It's it's a blast to
hang out on first. I'm so glad we're doing this
a little more often. I think we've decided to agree
to do it maybe once a week between this show
(31:56):
and stuff that I want should gonna try. We've got
some changes coming in our work since you are office situations.
So I think we're gonna turn over a new a
new uh coin, turn over a new chapter, open a
new page. Sure ye, other mixed metaphors, we'll uh will
carry another pigeon. They're not all gonna land. But of course,
(32:17):
big thanks to the police for their seminal hit message
in a bottle. Uh, so we don't get the emails
about not mentioning that. And let's all give a very
big bond voyage to our no. I just gotta save
man safe travels. You are heading to Berlin right after this,
right after this. Yeah, I have been tasked by Mike
(32:39):
john So I think you guys all know, friend of
the show for a producer, incredible producer uh in the
I Heart Podcast network to find the Berlin metro station
where that scene in Possession takes place, where Isabella uh
what is your last name? Not Johnny, I believe like
freaks out and smashes her flower bouquet like. Lately, it's
(33:00):
been used as a meme where it's like Monday's be like,
So I'm gonna do that for you, Mike, I got
your back. I'm also gonna eat some schnitzel and spitzel
and drink a beer out of a boot. And our
pal Ben Jester, who's here in the office today as well,
told me you're supposed to turn the boots sideways halfway
through or else your guts will explode. Oh wow, well
(33:21):
from all the from all the bubbles, oh Max, with
the facts. You don't know that that happened, but it did.
He said it was true. So okay, since the facts,
And where can people find you? Guys work individually, absolutely
so for Coogo Cool Productions, you know they can check
out Coogle Cool pro dot com. That's our website. But
(33:42):
to check out our videos the comedy we got going on,
we're on social media, so if you go to Mark
Kendall Comedy, you'll find us on Instagram, uh, Facebook, TikTok,
and then at Kendall Comedy for Twitter and as usual.
If you want to find ridiculous history on the Internet,
you can do so in our Ridiculous History ridiculous Historians
rather Facebook group. You can find us. On Instagram, you
can find Ben and I as human people. I'll probably
(34:04):
be posting some stories with the boot and hopefully my
guts not exploding at how now Noel Brown on Instagram
exclusively Ben Bowling about yourself. You can find me calling
myself at Ben Bowling on Instagram in a burst of
creativity bow l I n. That's a way to get
a quick look behind the scenes and all the various
projects and misadventures I am currently working on. If you
(34:25):
are more Twitter painted, uh, you can find me at
Ben Bowling hs W on Twitter. Uh. And that's the
same thing. There are a lot of spoilers will ask
questions as we go into research for shows. That's also
where you can find our good buddy Max Williams. Max
Williams The Rumors Are True is on Twitter where he
(34:46):
describes the activities mainly as sports related and trolling me. Yes,
you can find me at a t L underscore Max Williams.
That is where you'll find all my fun Twitter POSSI stuff,
mostly just trolling band. That's about eight percent of what
I do on Twitter. We'll see you next time, folks.
(35:12):
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.