Be Observant - The Residence

A campy, play-like show about murder at the White House? Yes, please! The Residence is a delightful, fast-paced jaunt into ridiculous fun - and a shocking amount of accuracy! - at the iconic bit of Americana and we chat about a variety of topics. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome back to Killer Fund Will we explore the intersection
of crime and entertainment every other week. I'm Christy and
I'm Jackie, and today today we are talking about the
camp be fun of the residents.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
I mean, it's a fun white House. Who Done It?

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, I mean it's a Who Done It?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Set in the White House. It's just fun.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
There are so many parallels, just so many different things
that it makes it even that much more fun.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yes, we're going to talk about a little bit of
that here in just a minute. I have watched the
whole thing and then the first episode again, and I
didn't realize how much I missed. Oh of the first episode, Like,
it's so fast.

Speaker 4 (00:51):
It is really fast.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
It's a fast fast and it's very clever, and I
think it runs a little.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Bit like play.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
It does have that feel.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's got a very particular cadence and delivery, not just
from one character but from many characters. If you don't
like that kind of thing, you won't like this. But
I think it works really well for this It's very fun.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Yeah, it does. It works really well.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
It has that like and it's funny because I had
described it as like a knives out kind of feeling yes, right,
that kind of and it really does hold up to that.
And then it was really funny because like one of
the episodes is called nine Knives Out, it was really great,
but then like just it was a great it's a
great cast.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Oh yes, the cast is fantastic.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
Let's talk about them.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Uzzo.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
A Duba is Cordelia cup the consulting detective for the
Metropolitan Police Department. She is probably best known for playing
Suzanne quote unquote Crazy Eyes and Orange is the New Black.
That was like her really big breakout, and and she's
been in Missus America. She did voiceover in light Year.

(02:07):
It was yeah, she's done lots of really cool stuff
and she's great. Gian Carlo Esposito is ab Winter. He's
the White House chief usher and of course we know
him from Breaking Bed and Better Call Saul, and he's
in The Mandalorian. He was in The Gentleman, which we've covered.

(02:31):
Susan colecchi Watson is Jasmine Haney, the assistant usher at
the White House, and her biggest thing is this is Us.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, yeah, she was in all of that, So I
never saw any of This is Us.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Oh really, nope, it's.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
So crazy, and I know, I know, I need to
go and catch myself up with it a little bit.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
But I know her face very very well.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
She's done so many one offs well.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
But she was also a recurring character in n Cis
Oh Okay, and I distinctly as soon as she came
on the screen, it's.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
Like, Oh, it's her, it's her, it's her, you know.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
And it was great to watch her play this role
that was like literally nothing like her other role. She
really disappears in it. And I always thought she was
so good on in CIS that I always wondered, I
wonder what else she's she's doing, Like she's too good
to stay here right, like or to stay in this
like lower character quote unquote level like right, you know, yeah,

(03:31):
And so I need to I would like to watch
this as us.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
But I'm sure it's great like with her in it.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
But Jason Lee is Trip Morgan, who is the President's
brother who lives at the White House kind of against
his will. And his biggest thing was he was the
title character in My Name Is earl Okay, and he
was also in Almost Famous and lots of smaller parts

(03:57):
and other stuff. So kind Minogue plays herself, Yeah, which
is a delight. Ken Marino is Harry Hollinger, the President's
friend and closest advisor. And he's like one of those
actors that you've seen him in so many things, but
he's not been a principle in very many things. So

(04:19):
he's like, he's there for a few episodes, right, but
he was in Veronica Mars for more than just a
couple of episodes and a zombie, both of which we've covered, right,
and then lots of one off short character arcs and
lots and lots of different stuff.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
He did have a kind of a more principal role
in the other two, Okay, Yeah, and so that's what
I associate him with. It's that is a raunchy show. Okay,
not safe for work, y'all. Okay, but he's freaking hysterical.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Oh yeah, it's really.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Oh well, then I'm gonna have to find that.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, it's it's I mean, it's delightfully disgusting.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
And Randall Park is Edwin Park, the FBI agent who's
following Cordelia around. And of course he's been my favorite
thing he's been in the office because it was the
most hysterical prank maybe that they did on the office.
It was so great and fresh off the boat. He

(05:25):
was great in that, and lots and lots of marvel stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, he's really kind of hit.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
His own I'm like so happy for him because he's
just a delightful human being.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
It's so fun.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, yeah, all right, recap. A state dinner at the
White House is a very big deal for employees under
the smoothest of circumstances. This is not the smoothest of circumstances.
There's been a death of an integral staff member at
the residence, and a bunch of people are already on edge.

(06:00):
Because this is an underperforming administration, things quickly go awry.
The jurisdiction is kind of unclear, but the DC Metropolitan
Police Department steps in and calls consulting Detective Cordelia Cup
to investigate. The eccentric Cordelia is so meticulous that it

(06:23):
annoys the attendees, panics the suspects, and delights the audience.
There's no doubt that the weird and wonderful Cordelia will
get to the bottom of this.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
It's so fun.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Thoughts. Yeah, I had some.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
I'm sure so Aby is lying dead. You see this
at the very beginning on the star covered carpet, and
I just love the campy lightning over the top of
the White House to like give it this.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Really like clue. It feels like the movie Clue.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yes, that's one of the parallels that I thought about.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
It's just it's so funny.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Nobody dies it on a beautiful night, these kind of things, right, right,
it always happens. There's like there needs to be some
some rain and things. Yes, Nan, mother in law to
the president. Isn't it the state dinner? Because she doesn't
like getting dressed. I'm like hard related, I get it.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
And Jane Curtin is so funny. She just saw amazing. Yes,
I've adored her for so long.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yes, she plays such a good like almost cameo, right,
but yeah, like.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
She's so funny.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
I'm not getting dressed.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Dressed.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
The TV was very loud, but.

Speaker 4 (07:53):
You know you can only take that because she's in
her room and you can leave hu right that attitude
outside of her room exactly.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yes, it's fine. You know nobody was like, please get dressed.

Speaker 4 (08:05):
Nobody, No, nobody.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
No, NaN's son is the president's husband, Like we're gonna
have gay president. Way before we have a female president.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
Most definitely, most definitely.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Makes me want to cry a little bit.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah no, I yeah, I have made big, big, big
feelings and thoughts about that.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah huh.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
But we're going to talk about Harry. The president's bestie
is a jerk and very suspicious, and I'm like, he's
so suspicious that there's no way he can be the
killer because he is so sess in episode one, like, I.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Know it can't be.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Can't even though they want you to. They're like practically
pushing you at Harry. Yeah, and I'm like, well, that's
the reason why can't he can't? Hard to upset because
they made this big deal about how like they've upset
even the Australians. And I'm like, is Australian code for Canadian?

Speaker 4 (09:13):
Yeah that's interesting because I.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Was like, I think the Australians can get their feelings
hurt by stuff, but.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Canadians tend to take a little more in stride. But
maybe then I don't know either, have no idea.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
I'd have to look that up.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah I didn't. It's hard to know. I tried to look.
It's not really there, so that's why it's here In
the thoughts but not somewhere else. Cordelia scoffs at how
many quote unquote dudes there are looking into Aby's death.
Oh my god, I'm like, it's such a sausage party.

(09:47):
She's so right, Yes, she's so right.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
It's so funny.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, Cordelia wants to see what she sees at the
State dinner, and I was like, yeah, because sometimes she
don't know what you need to see until you see it,
so you have to go and look at it. Yeah,
that's that's actually how investigations spokes to or Yeah, imagine
that everybody else is like no, no, confirmation biased, that's

(10:14):
how that works.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
No, they really wanted it to be.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
They wanted yes, her to know and just go look
for the evidence, and they would have taken anything she said.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
And then it wasn't until the second time that I
watched the first episode that I got that it was
Australian Prime Minister Ruse r o O s like kangaroos.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, oh I didn't get it.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
I didn't get it. That's his name, yes.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Prime Minister Ruse, which when you just say it is like, yeah,
that's a perfectly normal name.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
And then are us right, Uh, huh.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Or yeah or r O s E or something like that.
But no, and it wasn't until I was like very
carefully doing this. Yeah, r O O s like short
for kangaroos, which makes sense later in later episodes there's
a consternation about the the dessert, the dessert, And now

(11:20):
I understand why it was a problem.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, because yes, it makes more fun with him than than.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yes, it's not it's not just saying something about Australia.
It's making fun of the Prime Minister, which I did
not get. I was like, why are they so mad
about it?

Speaker 4 (11:39):
Well, and they don't communicate it. They don't like help
him understand.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
No, poor BALKI I know I will.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
Never not call him.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
I'm sorry, but he deserves better than that. But also, yeah,
I love Balky.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Uh, Yeah, you know, I love Perfect Strangers.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
I loved it, loved it.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
It was not filmed at the White House, shocking, but
it was a very extensive set in Los Angeles. It
required multiple stages. It took them over a year to
build the set because they were very very intent on

(12:20):
getting it super accurate, like secret pocket staircases that really
are in the White House. So thank you ScreenRant for
that information, which is delightful. And then you mentioned the
Knives out. Yes, every episode is the title of a

(12:40):
murder mystery something either a short story or a book
or a movie or a television show. So the first
one is The Fall of the House of Usher, which
like fits perfectly. It's a short story from eighteen thirty
nine by Edgar and po where a mysterious illness takes

(13:03):
over siblings in the Usher family. It's quickly concluded that
their death is a result of the mansion that they're
living in because it's haunted. Like, oh well, that's kind
of fun. So it like literally uses the word usher.
And then it's also the falling of the House, and

(13:27):
like it works on so many levels.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
It's so fun. Like you said, really clever it is.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
It's just yes, clever.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
And even the dialogue, like there's at one point where
they want her to have solved the crime with some
clue that they have, and basically they shout it out
like it's the clue, right, it's the Yeah, it's okay,
it's great. It's heavy winter in the pool room by
the right. Yeah bye, yeah, I don't want to buy Yeah, well,

(13:56):
I mean they it's pretty it's out there.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
The first episode was boiled. The first episode.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
They want him to have died by his own hand, right,
that's the thing that they're like, they really want and
the evidence does not point that way.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
No, no, but this one he could they call it
out later?

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Oh yeah, right right.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
So anyway, Yeah, it was created by shondaland the wonderful
Shonda Rhymes, who's we've covered inventing Anna that because she
seems to have a deal with Netflix recently. She started

(14:37):
out with ABC and is the first female producer to
have four series have over one hundred episodes, Amazing, Grey's Anatomy,
Private Practice, Scandal, and Station nineteen. Two of those are
spin offs from Gray's Anatomy. So Grey's Anatomy to spin

(14:59):
off and then another show. And then of course she
did Bridgerton. Oh yes, yeah, So it's just it's a delight.
I'm always glad to see her.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
She didn't she didn't she do Gilmore Girls?

Speaker 2 (15:13):
No? Oh no, that's uh, Amy Sherman Pelladines, Amy.

Speaker 4 (15:18):
Yes, Paladino, Okay, thank you.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
I get them mixed up sometimes because they're both amazing, yes,
and anything they make I like.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
And so wait when when are they going to collab?

Speaker 3 (15:29):
Oh huh, I hope for another Gilmore Girls reunion. That'd
be freaking amazing. We need a collab. They need to
be righting some uh huh.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah. Yeah, all right, So resources. I didn't think I
would have any resources, but I did fit I kind
of figured something out.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
Okay, a co worker died at their workplace. Yes, So
that's what.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
We're going to talk about as far as resources go.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
The ape says that really our coworkers are like our
extended family, right. We spend more hours with our coworkers
than we often do with our own family. So it
can have a really big emotional impact on us and

(16:19):
really affect our work for a while. And it can
have a physical impact you for especially if it's like
an sudden on the job death as we see here,
And it can happen even after a protracted illness, where

(16:40):
you can have you have a deep sadness that can
lead to disruptive eating or sleeping patterns and really a depression.
So you need to look out for that. People who
want to kind of avoid it may throw themselves into
work and then to suffer burnout. So what you can do,

(17:02):
share your feelings, particularly with your coworkers who are experiencing
similar things, that can be very cathartic for you. And
if there's employee assistance programs, take advantage of them. And
if you're having a really hard time getting over it,
of course visit a professional therapist, psychologists, psychiatrist. If you're

(17:25):
an employer, there's things you can do also, like consider
letting your employees go home in the immediate aftermath. I
know that this is a disruption to your production, whatever
that is, but also this is traumatic. You want to

(17:47):
let people not wallow or feel uncared for. If you're
going to do a debriefing of some kind, particularly if
it was on the job accident, even if you don't
have it planned yet or you're not sure what you're
going to say yet, say we are going to get
together and talk about this at such and such times,
so that employees know that this isn't going to be ignored.

(18:11):
Keep them informed, even if you don't know what's happening.
You're looking into it. We don't know it that much yet.
We'll let you know when we do know something. You
might temporarily need to change work schedules or have more breaks,
and then also be aware of the indirectly traumatized employees.
Particularly if you're large, you may have people who know

(18:36):
the people who directly worked with the person who died,
and they're also either picking up slack or feeling emotional
about it in some way. Make sure that you're offering
that help to lots and lots of different people and
to cope. You may consider the Harvard Business Review suggests that,

(19:00):
you know, keeping the memory of the lost coworker alive
can be really important doing things like fundraising for their
favorite charity or if it was a medical death like something,
you know, raise money for a charity that helps fund
research something like that. And try not to rush your

(19:21):
grieving process for yourself. If you're an employer, try not
to rush the grieving of your employees. It's a hard,
sad thing.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
Yeah, So here's how it works.

Speaker 4 (19:37):
Christy erects her search history. Hey, an essay.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
We promise it's nothing more nefarious than a podcast to
find out what's true some of the psychological motivations behind
the character's actions and real life applications that relate to
our topic. I have no idea what Christy decided to
look up could be the same thing that captured my
curiosity or something I never thought of?

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Is it true? No?

Speaker 1 (20:02):
I mean no, but it's kind of shocking how much
was accurate. So is the Chief Usher accurately portrayed?

Speaker 3 (20:16):
I mean, I'm gonna guess you got a lot of that, right, Yes, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
It seems like it.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
So according to screen rant, the chief Usher is really
everything from budget to people to operation. Really he's the
head guy in charge of everything, a head person because
it could be a woman, but typically it's been a man.
It is not an easy job, as we see, because

(20:44):
you know there's a lot of interpersonal relationships happening there,
and you have a budget for things, and you're trying
to navigate things like state dinners. Yeah, like events, right,
These are like not small events in any way. But
they were very right about it not being a political position.

(21:06):
They're typically appointed by the President and first Lady, but
if somebody's there and doing a good job, it's very
likely they'll just ask them to continue. Because it is
such a big job. It requires some experience to really
do it well and do it right. So they kind

(21:28):
of made it seem like Jasmine was just like a
shoe in that Aby was going to appoint her and
she was going to be the next one. Yeah, that's
not necessarily how it would work, right, right, But certainly
him going to whoever the administration is and saying, look,

(21:52):
this is the person I've been training, you should move
them into this position would hold a lot of weight.
Current White House usher is Robert B. Downing and he's
been in his role since December of twenty twenty one.
And then a man named Ike Houver was chief usher

(22:13):
for twenty four years back in the day. Wow, So
he served under many presidents. So somebody like ab going
from president to president.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Is not super unusual.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Are those White House stats accurate about the number of
rooms and windows?

Speaker 3 (22:29):
And it felt like it had to be close enough
to accurate, only because why would you You couldn't make
it up and have it sound right.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
Sure, unless it was pretty damn close to the truth.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
It was very correct.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
There are one hundred and thirty two rooms, six levels,
one hundred and forty seven windows, twenty eight fireplaces, eight staircases,
three elevators. They didn't mention the thirty five bathrooms or
the four hundred and twelve doors. The White House kitchen
is able to serve dinner to according to white House

(23:09):
dot gov.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
A maximum of one hundred and forty guests.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
So this state dinner portrayed in the residence really was
pushing the limits of what could be prepared there. In
the White House kitchens, they can serve or deuvs for
up to one thousand people.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
That makes sense.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
And then they mentioned the Bowling Alley and the Flower Shop,
both of which are in the White House famously. Yes,
the Bowling Alley was first put in by Harry Truman
in nineteen forty seven, and Richard Nixon moved it to

(23:51):
its current location in nineteen sixty nine. There's also a
chocolate shop, a family theater, which which I hadn't even
thought about, but yes, there's a forty two seat theater
where the movie studios typically make screeners available. Because the
president can't just go to the movie theater that's a

(24:13):
huge security risk, so they have it there, which is great.
There's a calligraphy office, well, uh huh, the graphics and
calligraphy office, and they do the invitations, place cards, greetings
for formal events. I think they did mention the solarium
as well. And then of course the game room is

(24:35):
a real room with a pool table.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Typically.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Did Lincoln ever sleep in the Lincoln bedroom. No, No,
he did not, he did not.

Speaker 4 (24:44):
That was misafe named.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
Highly even know really went to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom.
Lots of people. I couldn't find accurate numbers for how
many people have slept in the Lincoln bedroom. And I
know that there was some controversy during the Clinton administration
about how many people were sleeping in the Clinton bedroom
and that some of the people who had been people

(25:08):
who slept in the Clinton bedroom or in the Lincoln
bedroom during the Clinton administration continued to be supporters of
Hillary Culton during her presidential run, which makes sense to me,
but it seemed like a big deal to some people.

Speaker 4 (25:24):
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, people will grasp his straws, right.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
The Obama administration actually decided they weren't going to let
anybody stay in the Lincoln bedroom.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
That that became a thing.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
They were like, we don't want to appear like we're
doing any favors for anybody. They outside of the norm,
So they were avoiding scandal.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
To be fair, they no, no, no, no, that's not the
right right now. To provide context, I think I think
we have to remember that being the first black family
in the White House as president, yeah, right, that they
already knew what it was like to have to be

(26:10):
not just good or excellent, but above board and extraordinary
in order to be considered like you're okay. Yeah, And
so so many years of that understanding prepared them for
understanding the idea of avoiding the appearance of impropriety at
a level that most of our previous.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
Presidents and path post uh huh ye.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
Don't understand because they were privileged enough to be.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Given that grace, right, yeah, exactly, And.

Speaker 4 (26:43):
So I think they made a good decision.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Sure, probably other.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Presidents should have, but it was unfair that they had
to be the ones to be like, oh, we'll just
not have anybody visit us, right, because.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
They are not They may have had people visit them,
but they didn't stay in the Lincoln.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Bedroom or like to give people that they cared about
like that opportunity, you know, like yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
But they yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
It was actually used as President Lincoln's executive office, and
he utilized the suite for cabinet meetings.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
The Rosewood bed was.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
Never slept in by Lincoln, but his wife Mary Todd
Lincoln did purchase it, and the room boasts a framed
original copy of the Gettysburg Address, like one of the
five that are in existence that Abraham Lincoln literally wrote
by hand and signed, but it was actually the Emancipation

(27:46):
Proclamation that was signed in that particular room.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, it's really cool. It's really neat.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
That's just yes, insult to injury.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
What the Emancimation's inamation in that room?

Speaker 1 (28:02):
H And they don't have but they don't have a
signed copy that they can include it to be framed
in that room.

Speaker 4 (28:09):
But the Obamas didn't let anybody stay there. That's insult
to entry.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
I know of anybody who has ever been president. I
feel like it should have been reserved for them.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, it's super fair.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Ooh ooh ooh that got me going for I know, okay,
I know, okay, see breath.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
What about birding?

Speaker 4 (28:32):
Okay? Okay. Dad loved this.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Part of her character, son.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
I loved, very fun beyond loved it.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
It's such an interesting little quirk and it really gives
you insight into her character about how nerdy she is.
She's nerdy about a lot of things and particular this.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
I loved it because it set.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Her apart from the world of hustle uh huh, with
integrity being sacrificed on the altar of getting it done
and moving forward and good enough, and how they would
be willing to just have a falsity and live with
it and make that the truth rather than find out
the truth. And her character and the birding has to

(29:23):
be patient, yes, and slow.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
And quiet and quiet and observant.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
And it's everything that is the antithesis to the whole
culture there. And they wonder why they can't figure anything
out and why she has to come in and do it,
and like it's the perfect example.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
Why yes, because she has the patience for something like birding,
which is not just bird watching.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
No, it's not.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
It is not. It's a little different.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
So it does fall under in Wikipedia the the title
of bird watching, but it is a it's a recreational
activity but also a form of citizen science. Yes, so
you can observe. There's lots of ways to do it.
You don't need any special equipment. Many people like to

(30:17):
use like binoculars and things or particular listening devices to
help them pick things out or understand what it is
that they're hearing. But you don't need any of that,
and it goes back calling it burning like quite a

(30:39):
way is nineteen sixty nine. A birding glossary said, a
birder is the acceptable term to describe a person who
seriously pursues the hobby of birding, and they might be
professional or amateur. A bird watcher is an ambiguous term
used to describe a person who watches birds for any

(31:00):
reason at all and not refer to themselves as a
serious burder.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
So if you just.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
Like watching the birds, right, that's bird watching. Yes, right,
So if you put a feeder out and whatever, a
birder is going to document much like.

Speaker 4 (31:16):
She did, ye she was in it.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
It's almost it's empirical adjacent, but it's also empirical and
that the observations are as accurate of you know, avoiding
a bias and not allowing confirmation bias, particularly like I'm
looking for this bird and now you've seen it, right,
being able to distinguish the two, being willing to be wrong, right, and.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
To see detail, you know, and to document that.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
It's it's really amazing. I could never be that because
I can't draw.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
You could look at them through a camera. I just
got that patient.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
Yeah, well, that's why I got my dad this handy
dandy bird feeder with the camera in it.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
That's right, so you can watch it on his Oh
my god, loan so much.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
And you know it has AI so we can auto
identify anything.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
Oh that's he don't need it though he knows what
they are.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Oh yeah, he's like, I don't need that because he knows.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Bird watching tourism is one of the fastest growing nature
based tourism sectors in the world. And Cordelia was correct
that Theodore Roosevelt was an avid birder, and he did.
He did create a list for the birds that he

(32:41):
knew he had seen in and around Washington. So it
wasn't just on the pent the White House grounds. That's
kind of what she indicated. That there was ninety three
birds that he'd seen in the No, it was ninety
three that he could recall having seen, and it was

(33:01):
published in a birding magazine, an Audubon Society thing that
that he published this list of birds that he'd seen
on the White House grounds and around Washington, d C.
I counted ninety two on the list, so ninety three
might not be completely accurate, but really close he did

(33:23):
create the Summer Birds of the Adirondacks while he was
in college for the Audubon Society. It was really more
of a list. Yeah, she made it sound like a book. Yeah,
it was a list of birds he saw over the summer.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
During his presidency he established fifty one preserves for birds,
five national parks, eighteen national monuments, and one hundred and
fifty national forests.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Very environmental, Yes, I know, it just like would not
be great.

Speaker 5 (34:00):
Let's keep it going. Yeah, that's America is great then, right,
Uh huh, so we probably.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Should keep that.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
Yeah, okay, I agree. Just thinking about that, I agree.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
Additionally, the dimorphic jewel babbler, which was the bird that
Cordelia was seeking to find on her next birding trip
when she was called back to the White House, is
native to Papa New Guinea, and it is not an

(34:31):
endangered species. And it is fairly common, but tends to
be very shy, so it can be a difficult one
to find. You're more likely to hear it than to
see it. So despite the fact that it wasn't a
it isn't an endangered bird in any way. It's on
her list of I really want to see it. Yes,

(34:54):
super cool, Yes, all right. So Cordelia said there had
been ten deaths in the White House, the last being
in nineteen fifty two.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
True.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Oh, I really was uncertain about this one, okay, because
I feel like there might be some I don't know,
I feel like there might be an argument to be made.

Speaker 4 (35:14):
About it being true.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Okay, maybe not, okay, because what do you call a
white house? Are we just talking about this white house?

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Are we talking about the White House like as in
the office of the White House, no matter what building
it was in, right, So I could see, but I
don't know, Okay, I was uncertain.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Well, eight men have died while in power in the
White House. Okay, but when you look at just deaths
in the White House, it's almost accurate.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
I'll get to the almost in just a minute. So
William Henry Harrison had been in office about thirty days,
so that back then inauguration was like in March, and
he died of pneumonia on April fourth, eighteen forty one,
just about thirty days after he took office. Because he

(36:08):
gave the longest inauguration speech in history and wasn't dressed
well for the weather and got sick.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
I'm like he was in the news a lot inauguration
because because of the comparison of the speech and all that,
and the fact that it was so cold, yes, so
wildly cold.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah, yes, same thing yep.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
And then Zachary Taylor eight food at a Fourth of
July celebration. Gastro Intestinal issues led to his death on
July ninth of that same year. So two presidents have
passed away in but there were other deaths as well.

(36:52):
So Lydia Tyler was the wife of John Tyler, who
took over after William Henry Harrison died. He was the
vice President. He assumed the presidency and a couple of
years later his wife died of a stroke in the house.
Little Willie Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, died of typhoid fever.

(37:16):
Frederick Dent, who was the father of First Lady Julia
Dent Grant Ulysses Grant. He was aged eighty eight when
he died in the White House at In eighteen seventy three,
Elishah Hunt Allen died of a heart attack in the

(37:38):
White House at a New Year's reception. Caroline Harrison, first
Lady to President Benjamin Harrison, and the one who brought
electricity to the White House and got rid of rodents
in the White House died of tuberculosis in eighteen ninety one.

(37:58):
Ellen Wilson, jow Wilson's first wife, died of kidney disease.
Charles Ross, the press secretary for Harry Truman, died of
a heart attack in the White House in nineteen fifty
and then the one that Cordelia mentions is Margaret Wallace,

(38:19):
the mother of First Lady Bess Truman, died in the
White House in nineteen fifty two. Now, this show was
filmed from January to April twenty twenty four. Okay, on
May the fourth of twenty twenty four, a man by
the name of James Chester Lewis Junior was driving at

(38:44):
a high rate of speed and he ran two lights
and ran into a security barrier and ended up on
just barely the White House crowns, and his injuries were
very bad, and he was pronounced at the scene, So
technically he died at the White House, and they would

(39:05):
not have been able to include that because it had
already been filmed.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
Okay, well, there you go, there you go, there you.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Go, So, Jasmine tells a B he's going to be
a happy, drunk bibliophile at hay On.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
Why Like what?

Speaker 4 (39:23):
Yeah, I don't know what that is.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Okay, so I didn't know either.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
I had to look at it, but yeah, I just
rolled with the punches there in context, I felt like
I understood what was happening.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Right right, But like it's a location and he's going
to be happy there.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
For reasons, right right?

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Yeah, hay On Why so h a y hyphen O
n hyphen Wye is a town on the border between
England and Wales. It's renowned for books and bookshops and
they hold a festival every year.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
It used to be just books.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Now it's all kinds of art and literature and science
and politics and all kinds of things comedy and music,
and it happens annually, so that would make sense why
he would be there. It is happening this year May
twenty second to June first of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
O fun.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Yeah, so a cool thing.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
Yeah that sounds delightful.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, Harry didn't want Cornelia to investigate because she solved
the tricky Ratzenberger case and they thought it was the wife,
but it was actually the daughter who caught who taught
the corky to shoot a gun? Can a corky be
trained to shoot a gun?

Speaker 4 (40:43):
I'm gonna I'm gonna go with no.

Speaker 6 (40:45):
No, unless that gun is rigged a certain way, right,
you know, if it's like pavlogs like gun, you know
it's hooked to something.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
Or oh, or like skinner skinner box.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Okay, and the dog and then here's pushes the button
and the butter fires the gun.

Speaker 4 (41:05):
I see how I mean, anything's possible.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
But it'd be hard to frame somebody that way. So no, No,
Corky's can't be taught to shoot a gun. They do
thrive with a job to do, so you need they
do need a lot of They're a little bit like
border collies. You need to give them something to do

(41:29):
or they're going to find something to do. And they
tend to be clever, stubborn and wilful and they might
make a good retrieve for dog. But they don't have
what's called a soft mouth. No, they're likely to chew
on whatever it is. But they do make a good
hunting companion. But you have to be careful because their

(41:49):
little short legs might not be able to, Yeah, might
not be able to get a for thick ground cover,
and they tend to bark or howl at the noise
of gun, so maybe not the best hunting dog. However,
in twenty eighteen, a man in the New Mexico Desert

(42:11):
was shot by his dog.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
I remember this this, I mean trained to know.

Speaker 4 (42:20):
But can a dog figure out how to cause an accident?

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Oh yes, And that is exactly what happened because tex
Gillion loaded up his loaded rifle into his car with
his three dogs, Charlie, Scooter, and Cowboy, and Charlie was
one hundred and twenty pounds Rottweiler mix, and he got

(42:47):
knocked because this idiot put the gun facing barrel up
in the front seat basically pointed at himself.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Charlie leave.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
The dog got in the front seat, and when they
hit a bump, Charlie like moved around a little and fell,
fell and shot the man in the in the chest.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
I mean.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
At that point, I mean, I'm starting to wonder if
like the dogs are just starting to kill us off, right,
because you know, that's dumb, It's really dumb.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
And at this point you can't blame the dog.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
No, and even he doesn't blame the dog. He tex said,
Charlie did not mean to do it. He's a good dog.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
He survived.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
That's wild, by the way, But also like, of course
he's a good dog.

Speaker 4 (43:46):
But also you do have to wonder, are the dogs
are like looking at.

Speaker 5 (43:49):
This like, nah, you don't deserve to Yeah, old man, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
First chance I get he hits the brakes, I'm moving forward.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
You just gotta wonder. Of course that's not true. I'm
just being silly about it.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
But it's just.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Kind of like, wow, y'all, I don't do stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Point stuff like that. Don't point a loaded weapon a yourself.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
Yes, don't.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
Like, dude, if you just put the safety on.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
I mean yeah, if it had put it in the
I'm gonna say it, because depending on the rifle it
may not have.

Speaker 5 (44:22):
Had right but unloaded, unloaded you're traveling, you don't need
it loaded right now.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
That's just lazy.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
That's just lazy because you know you were amimaled because
it only takes.

Speaker 4 (44:35):
Right like you know you're gonna have to reload.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Yes, why, Yeah, it's ridiculous, but it is a good story.

Speaker 4 (44:44):
It is a good story.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
I am I'm happy you survived, and I'm happy he
still loves his donkey.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
I don't know if he's still alive. They had to
leave the bullet in him. He was seventy four when
it happened in twenty eighteen, so who knows.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
I'm glad he survived that incident, that's right, and I
could love his doggy.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yes, that's right. Are there security cameras at the White House?

Speaker 1 (45:06):
They said that there's no security cameras in the residents.

Speaker 4 (45:10):
I did wonder though, like, okay, in the residence.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
Right, So it is tricky and it's difficult to know
because rightly they do say, yes, there are security measures,
there are security cameras, but they don't disclose the location
of them or how many there are. And my guess
is they're probably a closed circuit thing because they don't

(45:37):
want them hacked. It's a big deal. But the White
House does boast bulletproof windows. They are the most impenetrable
windows known to man, and in twenty eleven, an attacker
fired seven rounds from a semi automatic rifle and even

(45:58):
the consecutive shots didn't shatter at the windows.

Speaker 4 (46:02):
Wow, I know, that's why.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
It's really impressive. They're infrared sensors around the perimeter, which
you know later on you see a lot of activity
about things happening outside on the grounds. They would have
known all of that, right, I mean, a squirrel, a rat,

(46:26):
all of these things are picked up by these infrared sensors.
It's very sophisticated.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Yeah, all I can think it was like it was
a Mission impossible movie. Yes, when he's like learning the
dance to go through the infrared, I can.

Speaker 4 (46:40):
Do it all the super funny. There's a few of
those movies where they have the dance. There's one with
the cathe Zeta Jones.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
I know exactly which one you're talking about, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
Because she has to do like the body roll snake
thing and yeah, anyway, yeah, that's funny. Yeah, I can imagine,
but still could imagine. They wouldn't have cameras, I mean
the rest in their bedrooms.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Certainly not in the bedroom.

Speaker 4 (47:06):
Maybe in the living room area.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
I can see why they maybe wouldn't want that.

Speaker 4 (47:11):
Yeah, maybe just at the elevator right right.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
So it's hard to know. Yeah, and the White House
is protected by drones because in January of twenty fifteen,
an employee who was off duty from their work at
the White House was playing with their drone and figured
out they could just fly it right over and it

(47:38):
was undetected until it they lost control of it and
it crashed on the grounds and the infrared sensors pick
it up. So that employee did not get in trouble
because their intent was not nefarious, and they exposed a
huge gap in what was going on with the security
at the White House. So now they have their own

(48:00):
rones that fly around and can shoot down another drones.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
Yeah, can you imagine that slack message? Oh my gosh,
hey channel, I hope your day is good, but.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
I got some news.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
So I got some much news ebojis.

Speaker 4 (48:24):
Like somebody may want to take a look at that.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
I hope they were more serious than emoji's.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (48:32):
I can't love me a good emoji.

Speaker 3 (48:34):
But I do.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
I do too, But not for things like security breaches
that the White House or war plans.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Maybe okay, but if I am lowly employee alerting them
to the large security thing, I might.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
Want to act a little dumber.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Yeah that's fair.

Speaker 4 (48:51):
So I could just be like, hey.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
I just flew the drone over the White House and
thought that might be weird, just just you know, for
your situational awareness.

Speaker 4 (49:01):
F ysay, have a great weekend. He's a Brella sign.
I'm out, but like that.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yeah, not attacks on you know, actual military targets.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Right, yeah, but for that kind of thing. Yeah, maybe
maybe it's a good emoji. Maybe a good thing. Yeah.
So there were three Crocodile Dundee movies and were they
made by Australians.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
First, Oh, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
I don't think so.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
I think they were in partnership with Australian like film
councils and stuff because they were on location for some things.
But I don't think it was produced by.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
But it was.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
I didn't think it was either. For first of all,
I forgot that there were three and evidently, and they
even say it later, they were like, yeah, Crocodile Dundee
in Los Angeles was disappointing.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
It was actually disappointing really like it's not it wasn't
like just like Sony fixtures.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
No, it was the it was an indie movie made
by Australians and it's the most successful Australian movie of
all time.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Yeah, Carly, uh huh.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
Yes, I did not realize that there were three of them,
but there were all the sources that we use to
inform our discussion here on Killer Fun Podcast can be
found on our social media. Join us on Facebook at
Killer Fun Podcast, exploring the intersection of crime and entertainment.

(50:40):
You can find us on Twitter at Killer Funpod, or
you can send us an email at Killerfunpodcast at gmail
dot com and I'd be happy to share a link
to whatever information you're looking for. We love to hear
from you. You might learn a little something too. Psychology break.
So poor Jasmine was faced with the heartache of a

(51:04):
missed promotion, however temporarily, but I thought that was something
that people might experience and might be something to figure
out how to cope with, because it is tough. Psychology
Today has an article how to cope with a missed

(51:24):
promotion Because you see a promotion as like this tangible
acknowledgment of your skills, right that it's how you've contributed
to the organization and reward for that. And then when
you get overlooked for a promotion, you have things like

(51:45):
self doubt or questioning of your abilities, a diminished sense
of self worth, and then this felt more like a
broken promise of a promotion.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
Yeah. So.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Franz Hook wrote an article for LinkedIn in September of
twenty twenty four, and he suggests that if you've been
passed over per promotion, particularly one that you were promised
and then didn't get for whatever reason, you should really
acknowledge that it's going to have an emotional impact on you.
You feel rejected or portrayed or overlooked, And particularly if

(52:28):
somebody said this is your promotion and then for whatever
reason you didn't get it. Maybe there was a change
in leadership and they didn't feel like you were the
person they wanted in that position or whatever. Share your feelings,
but be strategic about it. Tell your manager because it
might provide you closure or it might uncover the reasons

(52:52):
why you didn't get the promotion. But you do need
to stay calm and professional. Ask for feedback, try to
focus on solutions. How can I not be passed over
next time? Whatever? You really do need to seek clarity
about your future. Is this still the right employer for you?

Speaker 4 (53:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (53:17):
That takeing time ah to come through and not to
make any hasty decisions, right.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
I mean, is there even a path for you going
forward at this particular job?

Speaker 2 (53:29):
Do you need to set new goals?

Speaker 1 (53:32):
And then you need to evaluate how you're able to
continue to be committed to this organization. Can you be
committed to this organization or do you need to really
look outside of the organization. And of course, doubt is
going to have an impact on your effectiveness and your

(53:52):
position and whether you are respected at your company, and
it does make get hard to perform your best.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
And then did they.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Offer this as an empty promise to keep you there
a little longer? Yeah, you need to figure out what
your next steps are because it's either going to be
the next time that promotion comes up it will be
yours or if you're going to get passed over again,
it's maybe not a good fit for you anymore. And
then Nan, she did not want to get dressed up

(54:29):
for the state dinner. No, And I'm like, it's probably
because she hates her son in law and it is
an undercover or not so undercover alcoholic that she did
not want to get dressed And then there's a lot
of other reasons, like for people who just don't have
time for it, and that they just don't see the

(54:51):
benefit and getting dressed up and whatever. And of course
then there's lots of you know, fashion advice about how
getting dressed up can make you feel better yourself, all
of these things.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
I'm gonna talk about any of that.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
Because I think, Okay, there's all these things that are great,
but there was a lot.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
There's a lot of it.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
There's a lot of it that'll be on our social
media when you go find that. I would say the
thing that I came across that spoke the most to
me was a blog at Fashion journal dot com and
Australian outlet by Kate Emma Burke. And she has worked

(55:36):
in fashion love the industry as during her adult life,
but her generalized anxiety disorder really prevents her from being
really effective when it comes to dressing herself, like she
can do a really good job of And I'm like, Okay,
I don't want to talk about why she's an alcoholic

(55:56):
in the White House. I don't think it's because she's
too self assured that she doesn't want to get dressed.
She just can't be bothered because she does not want
to spend anything with her horrible son in law, who
may not be horrible, she might be horrible, but this

(56:18):
lady Kate was talking about how she'd spent years in
therapy understanding that she had anxiety, and even after having
all of that actual knowledge and understanding of herself, she
still finds getting dressed to be an exercise in stress, disappointment,

(56:40):
and frustration, particularly when it's like a fancy event.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
She just feels.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Uncomfortable in everything she wears, like at some point, like
she might be comfortable in it when she puts it on,
and then her anxiety causes her to be uncomfortable in
it after a short amount of time. And I just
thought that that was, like, it's okay, It's okay if
you feel that way, and you need to continue to

(57:06):
work through it and work around it and figure out
why these things are uncomfortable. Are you uncomfortable in it
because it's something within you? Or are you choosing clothes
that literally become uncomfortable when you wear them for a
certain length of time And those things can help you
be more comfortable in your clothing. Yeah, And nobody is
comfortable in high heels, I mean really, I mean very

(57:31):
few people are truly more comfortable in high heels. Yeah,
particularly if you don't wear them all the time. She
was wearing a robe and slippers.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's true.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
I mean, like determining what the cause is is helpful
because you also don't want to escape good it.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
No, but you can also say, Okay, I understand that
I don't feel comfortable and I need to evaluate why
and also know that there are times when I'm going
to have to dress up and I'm just going to
be uncomfortable.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
Well, and that's the thing, right, right, Like determining are
you uncomfortable and does that equate a pathology?

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Right sure?

Speaker 4 (58:16):
Or or are we just.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
Resigning ourselves to a being less resilient than we should be.
And there's reasons for why people do that, But when
the resilience is so close at hand for so many
people in the very situation, you have to wonder, like
if you are not unable to overcome that your generalized
anxiety disorder is not managed right, So it's not it's

(58:41):
not okay to just be like I just you know,
it's one thing to set a boundary because it's not
something you can mitigate the consequences of, but for every
day basic events, like you should be able to manage it, right,
and a little discomfort is just not the end of
the world. If you got dressed up for a fancy
of it and you're uncomfortable, you probably look amazing.

Speaker 4 (59:01):
Yeah, that's how it goes.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Yeah, I don't know any did you did any client
you ever dressed actually feel comfortable?

Speaker 4 (59:09):
Or what does she actually say? Is she uncomfortable?

Speaker 3 (59:12):
Well, then then that might be some sort of right right,
exactly right, because I don't think that it's a matter
of oh, well you would be comfortable if you were
in your sweats or whatever.

Speaker 4 (59:23):
You're probably just as uncomfortable.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
For a different reason.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
You'd be at home in your sweats and uncomfortable, but
this but this time you're like, it's because I don't
have my blanket, or it's because I don't have this,
or so there's always that excuse making sure right, So
it's learning to function and your dysfunction instead of trying
to actually function.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Right, that's super fair. Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
The psychology of burders why do people bird? I came
across this.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
It was very interesting.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
So there's an ethnologist, which I had to look that up,
somebody who studies animal behavior, Nicholas Tinbergen, and he thinks
that men bird because of a.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Hunting instinct in them and then.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Simon Baron Cohen, a clinical psychologist, also thinks that men
have a tendency to systemize things and that's why they're
drawn to it, and that women tend to be more
interested in the knowledge for themselves, right, like they're they're

(01:00:34):
curious about it. It's not so much about a quote
unquote hunting instinct. They did a study in New York
that concluded that mostly men and women like to bird
for the same reasons that they're interested in birds.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
Right, that's one of those water kind of research here.

Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
But yeah, absolutely, but that men tend to enjoy knowing
the things about the birds so that they can share it,
and women just like to know it. Men like to
see rarer or discover different types of birds or the birds,

(01:01:20):
see a bird outside of its natural inhabitant because it's
more competitive, and women just tend not to be as
motivated by that. It's largely white as far as who
is doing birding. Ninety percent of all birdwatchers in the
US are white, and only if you are African American

(01:01:44):
or black.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
Yeah, it's interesting because you know, I don't know, I
don't know if they mention it, but have they mentioned
the fact that for some reason, the older you get,
the more interested in birds you get.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
This is very true if they did not mention that,
but they did say that it tends to be also
a kind of affluent sort of.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
Hobby.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Yeah, particularly for people who are going to travel, because
you have to have a certain amount of means in
order to be able to travel, and you need to have.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Enough leisure time.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
I might go, which is I think maybe why older
people tend to that.

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
I think that is the joke.

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
The lower you get, the slower you get, and I'm
more like but also on the good so I'm more
patient observant, right, But then that.

Speaker 4 (01:02:36):
Land lends you to these things.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
Like one day you're like putting on the uncomfortable heels
so that you can look amazing, and the next day
you're telling your friend, oh, that's the yellow coated whenever
it makes.

Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
This sound, and it happens in a blink of an eye.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Yes, that's one way I don't have to worry about
my husband getting old. He does see them, that's somewhere
I was gonna go with him.

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
But that's also true.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
He doesn't see them as well. He also has a
mild phobia of birds, does not like birds.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
Oh, the ones. Huh.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
He's fine to like look at them in the zoo
when they're over.

Speaker 4 (01:03:23):
There, right, but not like like in.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
That like you know, in the zoo they have where
you can go in interact with the little birds. And
now you've got the little feeders and they'll come and
they'll fly up to Oh no, he hates that he
broke a pair of glasses in there when our son
was a little guy because he was afraid because the
bird flew near him.

Speaker 4 (01:03:41):
Yeah, okay, that makes sense, make sense that heard.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
That makes me think of my son in his bet
that he made with us, because when he was little,
little he was really afraid of birds flying in the car,
flying in the window right now. To be fair, this
is probably our fault because when they were little, we
took him through the drive through Safari and Ostrich came
in and licked his head and he thought it was
funny at the time.

Speaker 4 (01:04:04):
But I do have to wonder if it's worry about
birds coming in the car.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
They have been related.

Speaker 3 (01:04:11):
But he was really worried about this when he was
a little tike, you know, and he he would tell
us this, oh twy to put up the window, that
the birds will a fly. No bird is gonna fly
in here. That doesn't happen very often at all. Like,
you really don't have to worry about the one day
They're not gonna fly in the house, I promise, like
and then okay, So then he grew out of that

(01:04:31):
a little bit, you know, because now he's a you know,
elementary school like tike, all right.

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
And then one day we came home and so I
had one of those.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Big burlap wreaths on the door, and we opened the
door and there had been a little finch nest right,
and the bird flew in. And so this tiny little
bird flies into our house, you know, and we're.

Speaker 4 (01:04:53):
Like, oh, man, I didn't even see that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:56):
Alex walks up the stairs and sticks all the landing
it turns around and go I told you so, And
then he says, I made you a bet.

Speaker 4 (01:05:08):
I was like, what had He reminded me?

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
Oh, the one day in the car, he was like,
if a bird fight's in this car, you owe me
fifty dollars. Right.

Speaker 4 (01:05:16):
This is when he was a little tyight, you know.
And I was like, it's not gonna happen to orry
about it, you know. And and then he was like
he said, I told you so, he said, we made
a bet. You owe me fifty dollars you night.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
I think that was a bet about the car. But okay,
did he get his fifty dollars?

Speaker 4 (01:05:36):
I mean he did not in the direct cash money way.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
Yes, yes, that's right.

Speaker 4 (01:05:41):
I can guarantee you he got fifty dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Stuff sometimes super fair.

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
It was just a very funny moment, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
Real life.

Speaker 1 (01:05:57):
Cordelias said, birds have incredible focus, and they do. They
do have incredible focus. Part of their incredible focus is
not just like what is food what is not food,
and being able to ignore the things that are not food.
But they have a gaze stabilization that is absolutely amazing.

(01:06:22):
So when you look at something and you move, you
are able to keep the thing you're looking at in
focus and still so you can read it or keep
your eye on it or whatever. Birds do this much
better than humans do because they have a lot of
vertebra and muscles in their neck, so they can hold

(01:06:44):
their head in place while their body is in motion.
According to David Letnik from Stanford University, they keep their
head absolutely horizontal at all costs because that way they
have the most liable information.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
Yeah, that's I can make sure it now.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
Yes, Well, they had the link which I'll put on
social media. They have a video of a kingfisher and
it is incredible because he's on a stick, a branch
of some kind and it's moving quite a lot, and
its head stays in one place and its body it's

(01:07:27):
like a lot like you know those toys where you
would have like you would hold the head and the
legs that swing back and forth of their own. It
was like that, yeah, and it was just absolutely incredible.
And the gaye stabilization is just it's so complicated and
we don't understand how they do it very well. Part

(01:07:49):
of it is controlled by what they see and what
they're focusing on, and their vestibular system, which is like
their inner ear kind of thing, is very well attuned
to give them this sense of balance and spatial orientation
that we don't understand very well. And birds, some of

(01:08:13):
them have really incredible memories.

Speaker 4 (01:08:15):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
So in particular this article from the Duke Research Blog
of Duke University by Sophie Cox, they're talking about black
capped chickadees and they hide food in crevices and have
episodic memory of it because they don't go back to

(01:08:41):
the same place to store food. It's not like they're
storing a bunch of food in one location. They're storing
food in a bunch of locations, and they literally remember
it because it's like literally behind a flap, it's hidden
in some way, and they have to create these memories
is in order to be able to find it again.

(01:09:02):
It's not just like they go back and smell it.
It's not like the squirrels, you know, where they bury
a bunch of stuff and then they just go back
and find something that they are somebody else buried.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
This is.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
Really incredible cashed food that they memorize where they have
hidden it. And they've looked at the brains of in
particular these chickadees, and in both birds and humans, the
hippocampus forms these episodic memories, and the chickadees hippocampus is

(01:09:39):
much larger than in birds who don't do this sort
of food storing.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
Yeah, it's like flashball memory. Yes, it's like flashbal memory
because on a different level.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
Right, Yes, on an incredible scale. So the only White
House that Kylie Minogue has performed in is the one
on that soundstage. She has not had the opportunity to
perform at the White House summer. Yeah, well, that's all right.
There are many musicians who've entertained at the White House. Yeah,

(01:10:10):
so some notable ones according to Shondaland, which is an
article specifically about the residents, and they have some some
notable ones. Johnny Cash and June Carter in nineteen seventy
performed for Richard Nixon, and Johnny Cash said at the time,
we pray, mister President, that you can end this war

(01:10:32):
in Vietnam sooner than you hope or think can be done.
In nineteen eighty, Willie Nelson performed for Jimmy Carter and
they are they became friends and the uh it was
notable because supposedly Willie Nelson got high on the roof

(01:10:55):
of the White House, very very on brand.

Speaker 4 (01:10:59):
I hope that's so.

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
I hope it's true too.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
I hope yourne caught it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:09):
Stevie Wonder and Elton John performed together in nineteen ninety
eight for the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He was
there visiting Bill Clinton and then Stevie Wonder shows up
a lot at the White House. Okay, he was there
in two thousand and nine.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
First of all, because you know he's a pianist and
so he can he can entertain very easily.

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
Yes, you know, that's right. He performed again with Paul
McCartney in twenty ten. The Foo Fighters were there in
two thousand and nine as part of a USO event,
Dave Groll, Jack White, Emmailu, Harris Jonas Brothers, Faith Hill,

(01:11:55):
and then one of my favorites, Prince.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:11:59):
Yes, Prince and Stevie Wonder performed together in June of
twenty fifteen.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
So Barack Obama had asked Prince to perform prior to
that and Prince had declined. But in June of twenty
fifteen he went and did a private party for friends
and family at the White House and.

Speaker 3 (01:12:22):
Stevie Wonder also appeared. So that was kind of fun.
That's pretty cool. I can't think, I help but think
like the birds. You know, we talk about the birds
and they're so talented. I don't know about you, but
I love scrolling the bird videos on on Instagram where
they sing, you know, and there's this one bird that's
really good at singing. Rihanna, so good what and yeah,

(01:12:45):
like the monster song, it's very funny. But I love
them dancing.

Speaker 4 (01:12:50):
Like, oh yeah, it's if you are having any kind
of day.

Speaker 2 (01:12:53):
Oh yeah, that is too meditative moment. Are a cockatoo
or a parrot? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
There was one that I loved that was on Instagram
and it was called Chicken. Oh because yea, and Chicken
was a rescue he'd been in a bad situation and
they called him chicken because he'd pulled out all his
feathers and he looked like a chicken from the neck down,

(01:13:21):
and poor Chicken passed away.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
But yeah, but Chicken was really funny.

Speaker 4 (01:13:28):
And there's so many just so funny. I love them all.
That really is.

Speaker 3 (01:13:31):
It's a meditative moment. You don't have to feel like
you're old for watching it, that's right. You don't have
to be a birder, yeah, or even be a bird watcher.

Speaker 4 (01:13:40):
No, this is an entirely different genre, that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
This is this is birds getting down.

Speaker 4 (01:13:45):
Yeah, So like, you know, whatever, that tell us what
to call?

Speaker 3 (01:13:49):
That tell us tell us what to call the society
of us who meditate to the funny bird videos.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
Right next time HBO has their first, like major show
out of Spain.

Speaker 4 (01:14:04):
That's pretty great.

Speaker 1 (01:14:05):
Yeah, so it's pretty cool. They have it like dubbed
in English so it's easy to watch and it's called
when no one sees us.

Speaker 4 (01:14:14):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:14):
I can't see me too. I'm so excited. I have
to finish this one first. There.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Oh, I've got three episodes last. Oh, it won't take
you long, it.

Speaker 4 (01:14:22):
Won't take me long. So bud, they're so good.

Speaker 1 (01:14:27):
Tell a friend. It's more fun when you can listen
with a friend, rate and review wherever you get your shows.
And until next time, be safe, be kind, and wash
your hands y