Countries across the world are reopening, but borders remain closed to US residents. Science indicates coming summers may, one day soon, literally be too hot for human beings. A European infectious disease museum found its opening delayed by... oddly enough, an infectious disease. Join Ben Bowlin and Dylan Fagan for more Strange News Daily, and share your stories on Twitter: #strangedaily.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I Heart Media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan
and this is the Strange News Daily. Welcome to the show.
(00:45):
Before we begin our first story today, we have an
important announcement for you. This is the series finale of
Strange News Daily, and what a ride it's been of
For today's episode, we decided that we would do something
different and I'm immensely fortunate to announce that our own
(01:09):
super producer, Dylan Fagan, has agreed to join us on
the air for today's recording. Dylan, thanks for coming on
your show. Thanks for having me on your show. Ben,
It's good to be here. What a what a ride?
You know. I think the length of this pandemic really
hit us when we realize that we have done eight
(01:31):
plus episodes of Strange News Daily. Yeah, and we probably
could have done eighty more episodes of Strange News Daily.
Just from Home, Yeah, just from home. And what we
wanted to do with our time today was the same
thing we do it every episode to give you three
weird or interesting stories. But this is going to be
(01:54):
something where you and I can talk a little more
about what these stories these are, what they mean for
the future, and then we can also explore maybe some
of our own respective work in other avenues. I've got
a story to pitch for you to to start off.
I hope you like it. I'm sure I will. What's
(02:17):
it all about, Well, Dylan, as you know, we are
moving into the dog days of summer here in Atlanta, Georgia.
I don't know about your opinion, but I I think
summer is just terrible here. Yeah. I went for a
walk yesterday. My shirt was soaked within a minute. Yes,
(02:39):
it's like walking. Walking outdoors in Atlanta, Georgia during summer
is a lot like walking into soup. We've got a
lot of fans of soup in the audience. Thank you
for all the correspondence about that, But I think we
can agree. You know, call us old fashioned, but we're
the type of guys who think soup belongs in a
bowl or a cup. Yeah, I don't want to wade
(03:00):
through it. And even though summers here are notoriously humid,
very hot, we have a little bit of strange news
that comes to us from Dr Jimmy Lee and the
British Broadcasting Corporation. It appears that one day soon summer
could become potentially and literally too hot for human beings. Yeah.
(03:29):
And when when we say too hot here, we mean
not just uncomfortable, right, not just why am I showering
in my own sweat? We mean that in many parts
of the world, often in developing countries, millions of people
could be exposed to levels of heat so high that
their organs could physically shut down. Like. I don't know
(03:54):
about you, Dylon, but I have a hard time making
it through a week without thanking my lucky stars or
air conditioning. It's just a necessity. Yeah. Our last house
had a busted air conditioner, and even when it was
eighty two degrees in the house, it just couldn't imagine
it being any hotter. Yeah. I've also lived in uh
In in multiple situations without air conditioning, and sometimes I
(04:18):
you know, I was living in Central America there were
times where it got so hot that I just sort
of laid down on the floor with like in my
skivvies waiting for the sun to set. And then I thought,
I'll do everything vampire rules until the fall or winter. Uh,
this is interesting. We have to understand what the experts
(04:40):
are talking about here. They're talking about something called heat stress.
Heat stress is something that you may have experienced. Listeners.
It's when you, uh, your body reaches a temperature such
that you start to get faint, you start even experienced
dizziness or nausea, and it happens because your body is
(05:02):
unable to cool down, and that means your core temperature.
We're mammals, right, so we have we have a neat
little series of mechanisms inside us that kind of keep
us in a livable internal temperature. But if we don't
get that cool down time, our internal temperature rises, and
this means that organs can shut down. Our main way
(05:24):
of combating heat physiologically is the sweat. Sweats one of
those weird things that we've all just accepted as normal.
But it's very strange when you think about it, you
know what I mean, Other animals rolled around in the
mud to cool down. I guess I'm glad we don't
do that. Maybe it's better than panting too. Yeah, you
(05:46):
and I are both huge dog fans, so panting I
feel like dogs kind of got the short end of
the of the stick on that one. What are your thoughts?
It doesn't look comfortable. I just feel bad. Yeah, but
they probably look at us and say listening so much,
that's true. They're probably look at a lot of things
that we do and think they're just ridiculous. You know,
(06:09):
like this has nothing to do with anything. But have
you ever thought about a dog's perspective on taking a
walk to use the restroom? It's like, hey, you know,
a couple of times a day, this person that I
usually trust with my life put this thing around my neck.
(06:30):
They dragged me outside, they make me poop in front
of them, and then they take the poop. I don't
know where it goes, the just they take it, and
I know that there's a room in the house that
they specifically use for this exact reason that I'm not
allowed to use. And then they dragged me back inside. Uh.
And you know, the if there's an Unsolved Mysteries Netflix
(06:54):
series just for dogs, then one of the episodes is
going to be what happens to the poop? What happens
to the poop? And why did they put the other
stuff in the trash can when I'm obviously the receptacle
for all of those things? Right right, Okay, look, I
I say we pitched this series. We just need to
find the canine equivalent of what's the guy's named, Robert Stack? Yeah,
(07:18):
I think it would be a German shepherd. You know,
I'm really glad you said that, because I thought I
was profiling. But yeah, and so now now when we
think about this problem of heat stress, we have to
think about how how we measure it and how it's
affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Because you know, Dr Lee
(07:43):
and a lot of other people in the medical field,
I have to wear what's called PPE personal protection equipment
that also will stop your sweat from evaporating, kind of
like the reason it feels so hot in human and
ironments is because the humidity interferes with that sweat cooling
(08:05):
process that we have. So when we look at the
impact of climate change, we we see some problems on
the horizon because when temperatures rise, that's the thing we
all focus on, right the rise and just absolute temperature.
We also have to focus on the intense rise in humidity.
(08:29):
It's not just gonna get hotter, it's also going to
be that uh, that different kind of humid heat, meaning
that people who are already working in uh, maybe factories
with high temperatures, maybe out in agricultural industries, they're going
to be at an even higher risk of extreme heat
(08:51):
and high humidity. There was a study published in twenty
that said heat stress might affect one point to build
in people by that's four times the amount of people
being affected now. But there's light at the end of
this hellishly hot tunnel, right, Okay, global solutions are tough,
(09:15):
but what, Dylan, what can we as individuals due to
maybe cool down a little? Well? I think the most
important thing is to stay hydrated, drink plenty of fluids
before you work um, and to take regular breaks. This
says that Dr. Lee's hospital has started putting out semi
frozen drinks to help the staff cool down, but that
(09:36):
avoiding heat stress isn't as easy as it sounds, you
know when you're just talking about it, because you continually
have to change out your personal protective equipment, get a
new set of equipment. And also he says that people
don't want to drink a lot of fluids because then
they end up having to go to the bathroom a lot.
And then on top of that, there's people's desire to
(09:58):
keep working through difficulties, to not let patients down. You know,
during a COVID type crisis, during a pandemic, that you
are highly motivated to take care of those in your care,
and so that actually puts you at a higher risk
of heat injury because you're not focusing as much on yourself.
So I think it's a it's just remembering to take
care of yourself. And the Global Heat Health Information Network
(10:21):
has drawn up guidelines to actually help medics cope with
COVID nineteen. Yeah. Yeah, And this this is important stuff
because you know, I think many of us listening today
have been in a situation where you maybe maybe you
have a costume. Maybe you're a person who wears what
are they called I'm not cool enough to know the rompers, right,
(10:44):
like you know the things I'm saying. People who aren't
doctors also wear things that make it pretty tough to
go to the bathroom at times. Yeah, time square, almos
times square, elmos. Yeah. A demographic that needs more attention
and support. Uh. This is important for medical professionals combating
(11:06):
COVID right now, but they're also functioning kind of his
canaries in the mind because Dr Lee says that the
some of the issues that the medical professionals are facing
maybe early indicators of some of the issues that human
beings in general will be facing in the coming years.
(11:30):
One other kind of down red solution exercise is really
good for you. If you keep yourself aerobically fit, you're
increasing your heat tolerance. I know no one wants to
hear that, but it's true. So so what would say
is a takeaway here is that this situation is probably
going to continue if you are fortunate enough to have
(11:52):
a cool, working a c system. Give it some love,
you know what I mean, Give it a name, walked
by it, give it a compliment, and then make sure
you keep an eye on it. I think we as
a species are going to spend the next few decades
collectively trying to beat the heat. Our second story today, Dylan,
(12:25):
when's the last time you took a trip? Oh my gosh,
that wasn't to the grocery store. Oh wow, I went.
I went to Connecticut in January and I kind of
wished that hadn't been the last place I had gone.
But how about you. Let's see, my last big trip
was I got out of Chile right before all the
(12:48):
border closures hit, and it was a yeah, it was.
It was weird. You know, I get into some weird
situations off air, but I circumstances found me in hil
A and I almost wasn't gonna go until it was
pointed out to me, Hey, things are getting kind of hairy.
This might be your only chance. Yes, and uh, the
(13:13):
airport was empty when I got in, and it was
packed when I got out, with people trying to get
out of Chile or get to their home country. And
now you know, as as you and I and every
listener has seen, borders are increasingly tricky, especially here in
(13:33):
the US. We haven't done a great job with coronavirus.
That's that's our next story. Now, you know, the easiest
countries for you to travel to in the US are
typically going to be Canada and Mexico, but that is
not the case right now. Non essential border travel between
the US, Mexico and Canada. The ban on that has
(13:55):
been extended until at least the end of August. We
have the official quote from a Prime Minister of Canada,
Justin Trudeau. Yes, he says that Canada and the United
States have agreed to extend the current border measures by
one month until August, and that we're going to keep
working closely with our American neighbors to keep people safe
(14:16):
on both sides of the border. So this is, without
a doubt, to say the least, a bummer. A lot
of people live in Canada and work in the US,
or they live in the US and they work in Canada.
That travel technically has not been banned yet. But then
there are also a ton of a ton of people
who just want to you know, you travel to Canada
(14:38):
or you want to travel to the US, and now
it's much more difficult. This rule was first issued in
March of this year, and it just keeps getting extended
one month at a time because, frankly, this is a
little scary. Frankly, no one knows how long this situation
will last until there's some sort of vaccine created. Passenger
(15:03):
volume along the borders has fallen by or more at
a lot of the official crossings. UH Canada has also
issued a rule recently where anybody traveling to the country
from the US via an unofficial border feel like just
a state road in the hinter lands somewhere. Uh, they
(15:26):
will be turned away by Canadian authorities. We know that
similar things are happening in Mexico. I believe that UM
traffic is falling there as well. Right. Yeah, Santy Cedro, California,
which is on the US Mexico border, traffic has fallen
from more than two point nine million people in this
(15:49):
February to one point three million people in May. It's
it's a drop, and you know, I have to ask, Dylan,
have you been to Mexico or Canada. I have not, actually,
but like you were saying, especially, I can think of,
you know, people in Michigan work. They traveled to Canada
to work in factories. Now Seattle and Vancouver are fairly
(16:11):
close to each other. I'm sure that there's a lot
of people who have either been used to traveling for
work across that border or just haven't been able to,
you know, leave their house to go to work in months. Yeah,
it's strange, and the situation seems set to continue as
all our listeners in the US, No, UH, Canada, Mexico
are by no means exceptions to the rule, multiple countries
(16:35):
and regions have instituted either mandatory quarantines for people traveling
from the US or they have completely banned all but
the most essential travel. European countries, for instance, aren't keen
to let US citizens in for the time being. And
this is a clearly understandable thing. Especially No, we don't
(16:59):
know if people outside of the US are aware of this,
but some specific states have started instituting mandatory quarantines on
people from other states. Right New York and Illinois are
two of the big ones that i've I've heard of
where people from Georgia like US would need to quarantine
for fourteen days. That's true, that's true. And you know,
(17:25):
when we think about that, it's a safety measure of course,
first and foremost, but it also functions and will function
as a barrier to travel because imagine, if you're like
a lot of people, when you plan for a big trip,
you plan for a big expense, and you can get
pretty close, you know, in the budget for that. So
(17:45):
we could enter a future where travel is open again
for Americans, but it still comes with that two week
mandatory quarantine. So that means that if you want one
week on let's say a romantic getaway to Paris or something,
then that automatically becomes a three week stay in Paris.
(18:07):
That's a lot more planning and a lot more money.
So feel free to send us your advice via Twitter
for how how to how to take a romantic getaways
in the mind. I don't know about our listeners, but
I can only imagine a lot of us have been
uh trying to hold like date nights in the house.
(18:28):
Hey girl, let's get dressed up. We're gonna go to
the living room exactly. Yeah, I've been there. You know,
maybe WA's a French film. Maybe find a nice uh
French them zoom background, you know, really really mix it up.
So if you have any great zoom backgrounds of Paris,
(18:51):
please send them our way. Yes, yes, seriously. For our
third and final story today, Dylan, you and I wanted
to explore something that seemed at least a little bit humorous.
(19:16):
I don't know, at least it's ironic, and I can't
I can't clown these people too hard because a vaguely
similar thing happened to me. What's going on over in Europe? Man?
It seems that the contagious disease exhibit that was delayed
by the pandemic is finally opening in Europe. And this
is a museum in the Dutch city of Leaden is
(19:37):
finally opening exhibition about contagious diseases. They opened yesterday and
there was a long delay actually opening this at the
Reeks Museum bor Have, Yes, the reached museum bor Have.
I'll take credit for the mispronunciation there because I'm definitely
(19:58):
not a native speaker this, but it's it is somewhat
ironic that this, uh, this exhibition on contagious disease that
people were very excited about visiting, was delayed, postponed, closed
because of an infectious disease. The name of the exhibit
is in a burst of creativity contagious. That's that's literally
(20:21):
with an exclamation mark, Yes, with an exclamation mark. The
Dutch King Villa Alexander had just returned from his scheme
vacation in Austria and he had he had self quarantined
with his family. He opened, uh, the contagious We have
to say it the same way every time he opened
(20:43):
the contagious exhibition, like as you said, Dylan on Thursday,
and the exhibition itself you know, it talks about everything
from the bubonic plague two smallpox to HIV or AIDS,
but it also is clearly impacted by the pandemic. Um.
(21:07):
You know, I don't know about you, but I love
weird museums. Every city i'm in, every city I used
to be in, I would always go out of my
way to visit some museum. And it's interesting to see
this one updated in real time. Yeah. I love weird museums,
and I also love when they kind of put things
around the exhibition, Like if you want to an exhibition
(21:29):
about dinosaurs and it kind of had like caution t
rex crossing ahead kind of stickers or something. I like that.
This one, this contagious exhibition, has social distance stickers on
the floor, which I think, in any other time would
just be a nice addition to put you kind of
in the moment. But these social distance stickers are actually
(21:52):
really good suggestions that you should follow. Yeah, your point.
You know, it reminds me of our earlier music UM's
story on that poop museum in Japan, where people would
virtually travel through the museum. Uh. Yeah. The museums are
a tremendously impactful way to educate and teach people. And
(22:17):
while it is a shame that this museum was delayed
and it's opening due to the pandemic, I have to
say you couldn't have picked a better time, right, No,
I mean, I'm sure that interest is through the roof.
And I also feel like it's uh, for some reason
walking through this exhibition, I'd feel more comfortable going there
(22:38):
than a lot of other places right now. I don't know.
Maybe it's just the atmosphere. Maybe it's being surrounded by
a doctor addressed in PP You're a plague doctor replica.
This kind of puts me in the moment. Yeah, And
it really hits you with the contextualization there because you
can see photographs from the museum's opening where they show
(22:59):
just as you described Dylan, a plague doctor from the
days of diseases of your Uh. You see a model
of that uniform which is historically accurate, and then you
see another mannequin wearing the exact kind of equipment that
medical professionals where today to combat COVID, and uh, they
got a lot in common. I'm gonna say, I am
(23:22):
going to say that our mask today seem a little
less creative, not quite as cool. But um, you know,
I'm glad that technology has come a long way. Yeah,
I am as well, agreed. One thing that's interesting. While
we're talking about plague doctors, you probably have the image
in your head already, folks. It looks like a very
weird stylized bird mask with goggles and a beak. The
(23:46):
reason that beak exists is not because of some superstitious
belief about birds and disease. It's because the face mask
was stuffed with spices, and spices were thought to combat
the infection. Maybe maybe it was kind of thing where
you thought, if I can't smell it, it's not there.
(24:07):
Maybe it's also vampire rules. If you put garlic in
your beak, how's a vampire gonna get to you? Yeah? Yeah,
I think we need a mini series called Vampire Rules.
I think that's where we're trending today. And this as
our third story, is our final story before we hit
the road. As you said earlier, Dylan, we want to
(24:30):
thank everybody for coming with us on this wild ride.
Strange News Daily is transforming. You'll be able to find
a weekly version of it occurring on the stuff they
don't want you to know. Feed publishing every Monday starting
next Monday. And Dylan, I have to say, I am
(24:53):
immensely fortunate for this adventure with you. I've always we've
we've known each other for years, voice worked on different things,
sometimes in adjacent roles. Uh, sometimes we're just I think
we actually hang out well on ballants, we actually hang
out more than we worked together. But could you could
(25:13):
you tell everybody in the audience a little bit more
about where to find your work here in podcast? Yeah? Um,
so I try and stay busy. My main show that
I've been working on for four seasons, his Family Secrets
with author Dani Shapiro, and the fourth season will come
out in October. And um, they're just beautiful moving stories.
(25:34):
Also working on a show with the website Mental Fass.
We did a season last year about Theodore Roosevelt and
this season will be about Arctic exploration and that will
also be out in the fall. Yes, History Versus Now,
you know I'm a big fan of that. What I'm
excited about the upcoming season there. Uh, if you like
(25:57):
shows in our network like Ridiculous, His Story or like
stuff you missed in the history class, you're gonna love
History Versus. Right in to History versus right into family secrets.
UH tell him Dylan Fagan sent you and we cannot
wait to hear what you think. As always want to
(26:21):
thank you for tuning in. You can follow up with
Strange news by tagging hashtag Strange Daily. Let us know
how you enjoyed the show. Please don't be a stranger.
You can also find me on the instagrams or the
h Twitter's, the internets. I am at Ben Bullen hs
(26:42):
W on Twitter. I am at Ben Bullen on Instagram,
and if for any reason you're interested in seeing what
I'm not really doing, uh, you can follow me on
Instagram at telling ca Fagan and there's a link to
my website there where I have art of different source
mostly music billan Fagan dot com. I'm gonna go ahead
and do a plug. I know this is cool with
(27:03):
Dylan because I checked with you before we went on air.
You can also find uh find some tremendous music by
Dylan and uh one of our colleagues just search Magic
Hours no spoilers. Hey, thank you Dylan, and thanks to
our research associate Sam T. Garden, we are hitting the
(27:27):
figurative road for now. We'll see you on down the line.
This has been strange news daily. Don't be a stranger.
Find us, let us know what you think about what's
going on in your neck of the global woods. We'll
talk soon. Until then, stay strange.
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I Heart Media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan
and this is the Strange News Daily. Welcome to the show.
(00:45):
Before we begin our first story today, we have an
important announcement for you. This is the series finale of
Strange News Daily, and what a ride it's been of
For today's episode, we decided that we would do something
different and I'm immensely fortunate to announce that our own
(01:09):
super producer, Dylan Fagan, has agreed to join us on
the air for today's recording. Dylan, thanks for coming on
your show. Thanks for having me on your show. Ben,
It's good to be here. What a what a ride?
You know. I think the length of this pandemic really
hit us when we realize that we have done eight
(01:31):
plus episodes of Strange News Daily. Yeah, and we probably
could have done eighty more episodes of Strange News Daily.
Just from Home, Yeah, just from home. And what we
wanted to do with our time today was the same
thing we do it every episode to give you three
weird or interesting stories. But this is going to be
(01:54):
something where you and I can talk a little more
about what these stories these are, what they mean for
the future, and then we can also explore maybe some
of our own respective work in other avenues. I've got
a story to pitch for you to to start off.
I hope you like it. I'm sure I will. What's
(02:17):
it all about, Well, Dylan, as you know, we are
moving into the dog days of summer here in Atlanta, Georgia.
I don't know about your opinion, but I I think
summer is just terrible here. Yeah. I went for a
walk yesterday. My shirt was soaked within a minute. Yes,
(02:39):
it's like walking. Walking outdoors in Atlanta, Georgia during summer
is a lot like walking into soup. We've got a
lot of fans of soup in the audience. Thank you
for all the correspondence about that, But I think we
can agree. You know, call us old fashioned, but we're
the type of guys who think soup belongs in a
bowl or a cup. Yeah, I don't want to wade
(03:00):
through it. And even though summers here are notoriously humid,
very hot, we have a little bit of strange news
that comes to us from Dr Jimmy Lee and the
British Broadcasting Corporation. It appears that one day soon summer
could become potentially and literally too hot for human beings. Yeah.
(03:29):
And when when we say too hot here, we mean
not just uncomfortable, right, not just why am I showering
in my own sweat? We mean that in many parts
of the world, often in developing countries, millions of people
could be exposed to levels of heat so high that
their organs could physically shut down. Like. I don't know
(03:54):
about you, Dylon, but I have a hard time making
it through a week without thanking my lucky stars or
air conditioning. It's just a necessity. Yeah. Our last house
had a busted air conditioner, and even when it was
eighty two degrees in the house, it just couldn't imagine
it being any hotter. Yeah. I've also lived in uh
In in multiple situations without air conditioning, and sometimes I
(04:18):
you know, I was living in Central America there were
times where it got so hot that I just sort
of laid down on the floor with like in my
skivvies waiting for the sun to set. And then I thought,
I'll do everything vampire rules until the fall or winter. Uh,
this is interesting. We have to understand what the experts
(04:40):
are talking about here. They're talking about something called heat stress.
Heat stress is something that you may have experienced. Listeners.
It's when you, uh, your body reaches a temperature such
that you start to get faint, you start even experienced
dizziness or nausea, and it happens because your body is
(05:02):
unable to cool down, and that means your core temperature.
We're mammals, right, so we have we have a neat
little series of mechanisms inside us that kind of keep
us in a livable internal temperature. But if we don't
get that cool down time, our internal temperature rises, and
this means that organs can shut down. Our main way
(05:24):
of combating heat physiologically is the sweat. Sweats one of
those weird things that we've all just accepted as normal.
But it's very strange when you think about it, you
know what I mean, Other animals rolled around in the
mud to cool down. I guess I'm glad we don't
do that. Maybe it's better than panting too. Yeah, you
(05:46):
and I are both huge dog fans, so panting I
feel like dogs kind of got the short end of
the of the stick on that one. What are your thoughts?
It doesn't look comfortable. I just feel bad. Yeah, but
they probably look at us and say listening so much,
that's true. They're probably look at a lot of things
that we do and think they're just ridiculous. You know,
(06:09):
like this has nothing to do with anything. But have
you ever thought about a dog's perspective on taking a
walk to use the restroom? It's like, hey, you know,
a couple of times a day, this person that I
usually trust with my life put this thing around my neck.
(06:30):
They dragged me outside, they make me poop in front
of them, and then they take the poop. I don't
know where it goes, the just they take it, and
I know that there's a room in the house that
they specifically use for this exact reason that I'm not
allowed to use. And then they dragged me back inside. Uh.
And you know, the if there's an Unsolved Mysteries Netflix
(06:54):
series just for dogs, then one of the episodes is
going to be what happens to the poop? What happens
to the poop? And why did they put the other
stuff in the trash can when I'm obviously the receptacle
for all of those things? Right right, Okay, look, I
I say we pitched this series. We just need to
find the canine equivalent of what's the guy's named, Robert Stack? Yeah,
(07:18):
I think it would be a German shepherd. You know,
I'm really glad you said that, because I thought I
was profiling. But yeah, and so now now when we
think about this problem of heat stress, we have to
think about how how we measure it and how it's
affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Because you know, Dr Lee
(07:43):
and a lot of other people in the medical field,
I have to wear what's called PPE personal protection equipment
that also will stop your sweat from evaporating, kind of
like the reason it feels so hot in human and
ironments is because the humidity interferes with that sweat cooling
(08:05):
process that we have. So when we look at the
impact of climate change, we we see some problems on
the horizon because when temperatures rise, that's the thing we
all focus on, right the rise and just absolute temperature.
We also have to focus on the intense rise in humidity.
(08:29):
It's not just gonna get hotter, it's also going to
be that uh, that different kind of humid heat, meaning
that people who are already working in uh, maybe factories
with high temperatures, maybe out in agricultural industries, they're going
to be at an even higher risk of extreme heat
(08:51):
and high humidity. There was a study published in twenty
that said heat stress might affect one point to build
in people by that's four times the amount of people
being affected now. But there's light at the end of
this hellishly hot tunnel, right, Okay, global solutions are tough,
(09:15):
but what, Dylan, what can we as individuals due to
maybe cool down a little? Well? I think the most
important thing is to stay hydrated, drink plenty of fluids
before you work um, and to take regular breaks. This
says that Dr. Lee's hospital has started putting out semi
frozen drinks to help the staff cool down, but that
(09:36):
avoiding heat stress isn't as easy as it sounds, you
know when you're just talking about it, because you continually
have to change out your personal protective equipment, get a
new set of equipment. And also he says that people
don't want to drink a lot of fluids because then
they end up having to go to the bathroom a lot.
And then on top of that, there's people's desire to
(09:58):
keep working through difficulties, to not let patients down. You know,
during a COVID type crisis, during a pandemic, that you
are highly motivated to take care of those in your care,
and so that actually puts you at a higher risk
of heat injury because you're not focusing as much on yourself.
So I think it's a it's just remembering to take
care of yourself. And the Global Heat Health Information Network
(10:21):
has drawn up guidelines to actually help medics cope with
COVID nineteen. Yeah. Yeah, And this this is important stuff
because you know, I think many of us listening today
have been in a situation where you maybe maybe you
have a costume. Maybe you're a person who wears what
are they called I'm not cool enough to know the rompers, right,
(10:44):
like you know the things I'm saying. People who aren't
doctors also wear things that make it pretty tough to
go to the bathroom at times. Yeah, time square, almos
times square, elmos. Yeah. A demographic that needs more attention
and support. Uh. This is important for medical professionals combating
(11:06):
COVID right now, but they're also functioning kind of his
canaries in the mind because Dr Lee says that the
some of the issues that the medical professionals are facing
maybe early indicators of some of the issues that human
beings in general will be facing in the coming years.
(11:30):
One other kind of down red solution exercise is really
good for you. If you keep yourself aerobically fit, you're
increasing your heat tolerance. I know no one wants to
hear that, but it's true. So so what would say
is a takeaway here is that this situation is probably
going to continue if you are fortunate enough to have
(11:52):
a cool, working a c system. Give it some love,
you know what I mean, Give it a name, walked
by it, give it a compliment, and then make sure
you keep an eye on it. I think we as
a species are going to spend the next few decades
collectively trying to beat the heat. Our second story today, Dylan,
(12:25):
when's the last time you took a trip? Oh my gosh,
that wasn't to the grocery store. Oh wow, I went.
I went to Connecticut in January and I kind of
wished that hadn't been the last place I had gone.
But how about you. Let's see, my last big trip
was I got out of Chile right before all the
(12:48):
border closures hit, and it was a yeah, it was.
It was weird. You know, I get into some weird
situations off air, but I circumstances found me in hil
A and I almost wasn't gonna go until it was
pointed out to me, Hey, things are getting kind of hairy.
This might be your only chance. Yes, and uh, the
(13:13):
airport was empty when I got in, and it was
packed when I got out, with people trying to get
out of Chile or get to their home country. And
now you know, as as you and I and every
listener has seen, borders are increasingly tricky, especially here in
(13:33):
the US. We haven't done a great job with coronavirus.
That's that's our next story. Now, you know, the easiest
countries for you to travel to in the US are
typically going to be Canada and Mexico, but that is
not the case right now. Non essential border travel between
the US, Mexico and Canada. The ban on that has
(13:55):
been extended until at least the end of August. We
have the official quote from a Prime Minister of Canada,
Justin Trudeau. Yes, he says that Canada and the United
States have agreed to extend the current border measures by
one month until August, and that we're going to keep
working closely with our American neighbors to keep people safe
(14:16):
on both sides of the border. So this is, without
a doubt, to say the least, a bummer. A lot
of people live in Canada and work in the US,
or they live in the US and they work in Canada.
That travel technically has not been banned yet. But then
there are also a ton of a ton of people
who just want to you know, you travel to Canada
(14:38):
or you want to travel to the US, and now
it's much more difficult. This rule was first issued in
March of this year, and it just keeps getting extended
one month at a time because, frankly, this is a
little scary. Frankly, no one knows how long this situation
will last until there's some sort of vaccine created. Passenger
(15:03):
volume along the borders has fallen by or more at
a lot of the official crossings. UH Canada has also
issued a rule recently where anybody traveling to the country
from the US via an unofficial border feel like just
a state road in the hinter lands somewhere. Uh, they
(15:26):
will be turned away by Canadian authorities. We know that
similar things are happening in Mexico. I believe that UM
traffic is falling there as well. Right. Yeah, Santy Cedro, California,
which is on the US Mexico border, traffic has fallen
from more than two point nine million people in this
(15:49):
February to one point three million people in May. It's
it's a drop, and you know, I have to ask, Dylan,
have you been to Mexico or Canada. I have not, actually,
but like you were saying, especially, I can think of,
you know, people in Michigan work. They traveled to Canada
to work in factories. Now Seattle and Vancouver are fairly
(16:11):
close to each other. I'm sure that there's a lot
of people who have either been used to traveling for
work across that border or just haven't been able to,
you know, leave their house to go to work in months. Yeah,
it's strange, and the situation seems set to continue as
all our listeners in the US, No, UH, Canada, Mexico
are by no means exceptions to the rule, multiple countries
(16:35):
and regions have instituted either mandatory quarantines for people traveling
from the US or they have completely banned all but
the most essential travel. European countries, for instance, aren't keen
to let US citizens in for the time being. And
this is a clearly understandable thing. Especially No, we don't
(16:59):
know if people outside of the US are aware of this,
but some specific states have started instituting mandatory quarantines on
people from other states. Right New York and Illinois are
two of the big ones that i've I've heard of
where people from Georgia like US would need to quarantine
for fourteen days. That's true, that's true. And you know,
(17:25):
when we think about that, it's a safety measure of course,
first and foremost, but it also functions and will function
as a barrier to travel because imagine, if you're like
a lot of people, when you plan for a big trip,
you plan for a big expense, and you can get
pretty close, you know, in the budget for that. So
(17:45):
we could enter a future where travel is open again
for Americans, but it still comes with that two week
mandatory quarantine. So that means that if you want one
week on let's say a romantic getaway to Paris or something,
then that automatically becomes a three week stay in Paris.
(18:07):
That's a lot more planning and a lot more money.
So feel free to send us your advice via Twitter
for how how to how to take a romantic getaways
in the mind. I don't know about our listeners, but
I can only imagine a lot of us have been
uh trying to hold like date nights in the house.
(18:28):
Hey girl, let's get dressed up. We're gonna go to
the living room exactly. Yeah, I've been there. You know,
maybe WA's a French film. Maybe find a nice uh
French them zoom background, you know, really really mix it up.
So if you have any great zoom backgrounds of Paris,
(18:51):
please send them our way. Yes, yes, seriously. For our
third and final story today, Dylan, you and I wanted
to explore something that seemed at least a little bit humorous.
(19:16):
I don't know, at least it's ironic, and I can't
I can't clown these people too hard because a vaguely
similar thing happened to me. What's going on over in Europe? Man?
It seems that the contagious disease exhibit that was delayed
by the pandemic is finally opening in Europe. And this
is a museum in the Dutch city of Leaden is
(19:37):
finally opening exhibition about contagious diseases. They opened yesterday and
there was a long delay actually opening this at the
Reeks Museum bor Have, Yes, the reached museum bor Have.
I'll take credit for the mispronunciation there because I'm definitely
(19:58):
not a native speaker this, but it's it is somewhat
ironic that this, uh, this exhibition on contagious disease that
people were very excited about visiting, was delayed, postponed, closed
because of an infectious disease. The name of the exhibit
is in a burst of creativity contagious. That's that's literally
(20:21):
with an exclamation mark, Yes, with an exclamation mark. The
Dutch King Villa Alexander had just returned from his scheme
vacation in Austria and he had he had self quarantined
with his family. He opened, uh, the contagious We have
to say it the same way every time he opened
(20:43):
the contagious exhibition, like as you said, Dylan on Thursday,
and the exhibition itself you know, it talks about everything
from the bubonic plague two smallpox to HIV or AIDS,
but it also is clearly impacted by the pandemic. Um.
(21:07):
You know, I don't know about you, but I love
weird museums. Every city i'm in, every city I used
to be in, I would always go out of my
way to visit some museum. And it's interesting to see
this one updated in real time. Yeah. I love weird museums,
and I also love when they kind of put things
around the exhibition, Like if you want to an exhibition
(21:29):
about dinosaurs and it kind of had like caution t
rex crossing ahead kind of stickers or something. I like that.
This one, this contagious exhibition, has social distance stickers on
the floor, which I think, in any other time would
just be a nice addition to put you kind of
in the moment. But these social distance stickers are actually
(21:52):
really good suggestions that you should follow. Yeah, your point.
You know, it reminds me of our earlier music UM's
story on that poop museum in Japan, where people would
virtually travel through the museum. Uh. Yeah. The museums are
a tremendously impactful way to educate and teach people. And
(22:17):
while it is a shame that this museum was delayed
and it's opening due to the pandemic, I have to
say you couldn't have picked a better time, right, No,
I mean, I'm sure that interest is through the roof.
And I also feel like it's uh, for some reason
walking through this exhibition, I'd feel more comfortable going there
(22:38):
than a lot of other places right now. I don't know.
Maybe it's just the atmosphere. Maybe it's being surrounded by
a doctor addressed in PP You're a plague doctor replica.
This kind of puts me in the moment. Yeah, And
it really hits you with the contextualization there because you
can see photographs from the museum's opening where they show
(22:59):
just as you described Dylan, a plague doctor from the
days of diseases of your Uh. You see a model
of that uniform which is historically accurate, and then you
see another mannequin wearing the exact kind of equipment that
medical professionals where today to combat COVID, and uh, they
got a lot in common. I'm gonna say, I am
(23:22):
going to say that our mask today seem a little
less creative, not quite as cool. But um, you know,
I'm glad that technology has come a long way. Yeah,
I am as well, agreed. One thing that's interesting. While
we're talking about plague doctors, you probably have the image
in your head already, folks. It looks like a very
weird stylized bird mask with goggles and a beak. The
(23:46):
reason that beak exists is not because of some superstitious
belief about birds and disease. It's because the face mask
was stuffed with spices, and spices were thought to combat
the infection. Maybe maybe it was kind of thing where
you thought, if I can't smell it, it's not there.
(24:07):
Maybe it's also vampire rules. If you put garlic in
your beak, how's a vampire gonna get to you? Yeah? Yeah,
I think we need a mini series called Vampire Rules.
I think that's where we're trending today. And this as
our third story, is our final story before we hit
the road. As you said earlier, Dylan, we want to
(24:30):
thank everybody for coming with us on this wild ride.
Strange News Daily is transforming. You'll be able to find
a weekly version of it occurring on the stuff they
don't want you to know. Feed publishing every Monday starting
next Monday. And Dylan, I have to say, I am
(24:53):
immensely fortunate for this adventure with you. I've always we've
we've known each other for years, voice worked on different things,
sometimes in adjacent roles. Uh, sometimes we're just I think
we actually hang out well on ballants, we actually hang
out more than we worked together. But could you could
(25:13):
you tell everybody in the audience a little bit more
about where to find your work here in podcast? Yeah? Um,
so I try and stay busy. My main show that
I've been working on for four seasons, his Family Secrets
with author Dani Shapiro, and the fourth season will come
out in October. And um, they're just beautiful moving stories.
(25:34):
Also working on a show with the website Mental Fass.
We did a season last year about Theodore Roosevelt and
this season will be about Arctic exploration and that will
also be out in the fall. Yes, History Versus Now,
you know I'm a big fan of that. What I'm
excited about the upcoming season there. Uh, if you like
(25:57):
shows in our network like Ridiculous, His Story or like
stuff you missed in the history class, you're gonna love
History Versus. Right in to History versus right into family secrets.
UH tell him Dylan Fagan sent you and we cannot
wait to hear what you think. As always want to
(26:21):
thank you for tuning in. You can follow up with
Strange news by tagging hashtag Strange Daily. Let us know
how you enjoyed the show. Please don't be a stranger.
You can also find me on the instagrams or the
h Twitter's, the internets. I am at Ben Bullen hs
(26:42):
W on Twitter. I am at Ben Bullen on Instagram,
and if for any reason you're interested in seeing what
I'm not really doing, uh, you can follow me on
Instagram at telling ca Fagan and there's a link to
my website there where I have art of different source
mostly music billan Fagan dot com. I'm gonna go ahead
and do a plug. I know this is cool with
(27:03):
Dylan because I checked with you before we went on air.
You can also find uh find some tremendous music by
Dylan and uh one of our colleagues just search Magic
Hours no spoilers. Hey, thank you Dylan, and thanks to
our research associate Sam T. Garden, we are hitting the
(27:27):
figurative road for now. We'll see you on down the line.
This has been strange news daily. Don't be a stranger.
Find us, let us know what you think about what's
going on in your neck of the global woods. We'll
talk soon. Until then, stay strange.
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