WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:03.459 Hey everyone, Dave here. Welcome back to another 00:00:03.459 --> 00:00:06.940 installment of Interdimensional Swap. This week, 00:00:06.940 --> 00:00:10.419 I'm super excited to bring you a relatively new 00:00:10.419 --> 00:00:12.259 podcast. I believe it started just this past 00:00:12.259 --> 00:00:13.880 year, like in February or something like that, 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.440 called What About Weird? It's a really interesting 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:19.339 show. It's hosted by two friends, Echo and Elena. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.280 And pretty much the entire premise of the show 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:24.640 is that they just tell you a bunch of weird shit. 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:30.339 They cover everything from UFOs. cryptids, paranormal, 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:33.219 a bunch of strange science, and a bunch of really 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:35.899 fucked up history that even I didn't know about, 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:38.840 which is actually what this week's episode is 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:40.700 about. Or not this week's, but the episode they 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:42.460 gave me to share with you this week. This is 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:46.280 what that episode is about. It's an episode about 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:50.020 the American hippo bill. Basically, someone wanted 00:00:50.020 --> 00:00:51.780 to turn America... Have you ever seen the movie 00:00:51.780 --> 00:00:53.840 Okjong? I think that's what it's called. Kind 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:57.479 of like that, in a weird sense. But anyways... 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:00.000 Here's their episode. Definitely check them out. 00:01:00.020 --> 00:01:03.159 Give them a follow. And like I said, they're 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:05.920 pretty new. So, you know, be sure to leave them 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:11.359 a five -star rating and a very nice review where 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.079 you can. All right. So with that out of the way, 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:30.489 enjoy. Wait, what about weird? Hello, my name 00:01:30.489 --> 00:01:33.030 is Elena. And I'm Echo. And this is our podcast, 00:01:33.269 --> 00:01:35.430 What About Weird? A podcast where we discuss 00:01:35.430 --> 00:01:37.969 all things weird from cryptids and aliens to 00:01:37.969 --> 00:01:40.849 strange science and unhinged history. Today, 00:01:40.849 --> 00:01:44.010 I'm going to be talking about a interesting piece 00:01:44.010 --> 00:01:47.769 of almost legislation. So the year is 1910 and 00:01:47.769 --> 00:01:50.650 there's national meat shortage and a growing 00:01:50.650 --> 00:01:55.010 ecological... I can't talk right now. I'm still 00:01:55.010 --> 00:01:59.329 shaking from running in the woods. After my dog. 00:01:59.909 --> 00:02:03.129 I love him. But he's crazy. Let's start over. 00:02:03.349 --> 00:02:04.969 We're not cutting this. I'm just going to start 00:02:04.969 --> 00:02:08.289 my bit over. It's 1910. There's a national meat 00:02:08.289 --> 00:02:11.710 shortage and a growing ecological crisis from 00:02:11.710 --> 00:02:14.349 a form of invasive plant. Representative Robert 00:02:14.349 --> 00:02:19.590 F. Baustred. I am going to mess up all of the 00:02:19.590 --> 00:02:23.090 names here because some of them are German, but 00:02:23.090 --> 00:02:25.110 most of them are French and just weird and I 00:02:25.110 --> 00:02:31.169 can't read. So Robert F. Baustard, maybe? Representative 00:02:31.169 --> 00:02:34.629 of Louisiana proposed a plan to solve both of 00:02:34.629 --> 00:02:38.090 these issues. And the plan was hippopotamus ranching. 00:02:39.370 --> 00:02:43.650 Like, raising them like cattle? Exactly. Oh my 00:02:43.650 --> 00:02:48.460 god. Hippopotamus ranching. Great. That's a great 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:52.180 idea. Yeah. What could go wrong? Yeah. It's not 00:02:52.180 --> 00:02:54.900 like they kill people or anything. It's 1910. 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:58.300 We're still drinking mercury. Anything goes. 00:02:58.539 --> 00:03:02.060 Okay, so let's start by talking about what these 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:04.060 problems were that they were trying to solve. 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:06.819 So to begin with, there was a growing amount 00:03:06.819 --> 00:03:10.879 of water hyacinth. Water hyacinth is a free -floating 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:13.819 plant known for pretty stalks of... bluish purple 00:03:13.819 --> 00:03:15.699 flower. I've seen it in, you've probably seen 00:03:15.699 --> 00:03:17.560 it in gardens and stuff before here and there 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:20.219 in containment. But it's actually illegal in 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:21.979 a lot of places because it spreads so easily 00:03:21.979 --> 00:03:24.939 if it gets out. But it has clusters of leaves 00:03:24.939 --> 00:03:29.360 and spongy stalks and it can lift out of the 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:32.360 water a fair bit. It's very similar to, it's 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:35.699 related to water lilies, except water lilies 00:03:35.699 --> 00:03:38.919 are rooted. These just are free floating. They 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:41.120 can float wherever. So do they have a root system 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.400 at all? Yes, they do. It has roots going down. 00:03:44.659 --> 00:03:50.479 Have you ever started a little clipping in water? 00:03:50.780 --> 00:03:52.219 Oh, yeah, like when you propagate something? 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:53.900 Yeah, things like that, except that's just the 00:03:53.900 --> 00:03:57.159 way this plant lives. Interesting. Yeah, I went 00:03:57.159 --> 00:03:59.639 down a whole rabbit hole of researching this 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:01.780 plant before I realized I had the rest of a different 00:04:01.780 --> 00:04:07.430 topic to talk about. So the plant's roots and 00:04:07.430 --> 00:04:10.789 their stems will link to form rafts in the water 00:04:10.789 --> 00:04:13.030 and in the mud. And these were clogging, these 00:04:13.030 --> 00:04:16.350 were also clogging the waterways. And they were 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:18.790 choking out native species as the plant matter 00:04:18.790 --> 00:04:23.170 decayed. They would tangle up even more and clog 00:04:23.170 --> 00:04:27.129 the riverbed. And they would, they were drawing, 00:04:27.209 --> 00:04:29.790 as they decomposed, it reduced the amount of 00:04:29.790 --> 00:04:32.939 oxygen in the water. And water hyacinth, even 00:04:32.939 --> 00:04:35.600 alive, reduces the amount of oxygen in the water. 00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:39.040 This was killing native fish, which people were 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.399 needing to, you know, obviously fish and eat. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:43.839 Right. Which, going back to the meat shortage, 00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:45.639 which I'm going to, I'll talk more about later, 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:48.040 but people are using that to supplement their 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:50.920 food. But if they can't fish because the fish 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:54.079 are dying, what are you going to do? In addition 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:57.480 to clogging up the waterways and killing the 00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:01.139 fish, These mats of material would build up like 00:05:01.139 --> 00:05:05.220 a dam and would cause a lot of flooding. To top 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:08.740 it all off, water hyacinth spreads at an insane 00:05:08.740 --> 00:05:12.319 rate. It can double in mass in 6 to 14 days, 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:14.819 which means a small amount could be a big problem 00:05:14.819 --> 00:05:16.899 in a hurry. Yeah, it sounds like the poison ivy 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:21.180 in my backyard. Yep. That's just half the plants 00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:23.779 around here. I tried doing the math, but my brain 00:05:23.779 --> 00:05:25.480 wasn't working. I was trying to figure out how 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:28.439 much. You know, one square, how long did it take 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:30.420 one square foot to get to an acre? And then I 00:05:30.420 --> 00:05:33.240 was like, I don't think I'm doing this math right. 00:05:33.300 --> 00:05:35.680 And also, who cares? Yeah. I'm going to do all 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:37.639 this math and it's, everybody's eyes are just 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:41.720 going to glaze over. So you said this is 1910. 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:45.160 Where is this at though? Louisiana, Florida, 00:05:45.420 --> 00:05:48.379 and Mississippi. Okay. So like basically down 00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:53.100 south. Yes. Like the Bayou States. Okay. But. 00:05:54.109 --> 00:05:59.149 You're going to hear a lot about Louisiana and 00:05:59.149 --> 00:06:02.110 a little bit about Florida, but it's mostly Louisiana 00:06:02.110 --> 00:06:04.230 because the guy proposing this is from Louisiana. 00:06:04.550 --> 00:06:07.930 Okay. And that's where it took over the most. 00:06:08.250 --> 00:06:10.610 And that explains all the French names. Yes. 00:06:10.810 --> 00:06:16.149 Okay. Yeah. Yep. So water hyacinth is native 00:06:16.149 --> 00:06:18.689 to South America. It was introduced to North 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:23.060 America. At the 1884 New Orleans Cotton States 00:06:23.060 --> 00:06:25.339 Exposition, which is similar to a World's Fair, 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:28.379 it was given out to attendees as a little, like, 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:32.699 freebie ornamental water plant to spruce up their 00:06:32.699 --> 00:06:36.279 home ponds and stuff. And attendees thought it 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:37.720 was so beautiful, they brought it home, put it 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:39.259 in their ponds. If they didn't have ponds, they'd 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:41.420 put it in creeks and rivers and lakes behind. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:43.920 That's very terrible. And from there, it just 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.339 spread. It spread like wildfire taking over. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:50.240 And remember, I said it. It will multiply to 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:54.040 twice the mass in 6 to 14 days. So in less than 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:58.639 a month, you know, your pond could, depending 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:00.740 on how much they gave you, a little, like, koi 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:03.019 pond could be totally filled in, like, a month. 00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:06.500 Okay, so now we've talked about the water hyacinth. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:08.420 Let's talk about that meat shortage I mentioned. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.899 So why was there a meat shortage? There was a 00:07:11.899 --> 00:07:15.480 population boom at the time. I was reading the 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:23.379 population. had boomed by about 21 % from the 00:07:23.379 --> 00:07:27.800 1900 census to the 1910 census. And this was 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:33.079 due to a number of factors. One, a lot of medicine 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:34.939 was improving. So people were living longer. 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:37.480 Children were living longer. People weren't dying 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.339 as early. People weren't dying from all kinds 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:42.740 of disease. And then there was better farming. 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:45.759 So people were able to get nutrients better. 00:07:45.819 --> 00:07:48.529 So they had a better... Like, why is my brain 00:07:48.529 --> 00:07:51.689 not working? Why is my brain not working? Immune 00:07:51.689 --> 00:07:54.209 system. Why did it take me so long to come up 00:07:54.209 --> 00:07:56.250 with the word immune system? I'm like, it has 00:07:56.250 --> 00:07:59.750 to do with sickness. Yeah. It's the sick system. 00:07:59.850 --> 00:08:02.170 When you're malnourished, you're way more likely. 00:08:02.389 --> 00:08:07.589 Exactly. Exactly. And there was also a lot more. 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:11.639 transportation better transportation transportation 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:14.720 was faster and safer than it had ever been so 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:18.420 people were immigrating en masse to america and 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:21.560 it was putting a lot of stress on the food supply 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:24.759 yes the farming techniques were getting big better 00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:26.779 but there were more people coming more people 00:08:26.779 --> 00:08:30.639 living and it was putting stress on agriculture 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:33.759 in addition to the increased population there 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:36.179 was a lot of diseases going around the livestock 00:08:36.179 --> 00:08:40.399 that was killing off cows and stuff i had a hard 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:44.519 time finding what um what diseases were going 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:47.759 around i'm assuming probably mad cow or something 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:52.340 i don't know i i am not a cow expert cows can 00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:57.779 get tuberculosis bovine tuberculosis maybe yeah 00:08:57.779 --> 00:09:01.039 you you would know more about cows than i would 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:05.460 all of this was the with the meat industry going 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:09.389 through a lot of um stress from the diseases 00:09:09.389 --> 00:09:13.350 and then stretching that pressure even thinner 00:09:13.350 --> 00:09:17.250 with the um increase in population a lot of people 00:09:17.250 --> 00:09:21.090 were forced to turn to vegetarianism out of necessity 00:09:21.090 --> 00:09:23.789 and out of cost we fucking hate that america 00:09:23.789 --> 00:09:28.470 yeah we can't say especially in 1910 no we we 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:36.940 eat steak bacon man um I think I have it later 00:09:36.940 --> 00:09:39.899 on, but some people were so upset about not having 00:09:39.899 --> 00:09:44.159 meat. There's certain nutrients you can get from 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:46.639 meat that people hadn't figured out how to create 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:49.259 supplements for. Right. Like vitamin B12 and 00:09:49.259 --> 00:09:51.519 stuff. Did we even understand protein and stuff 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:53.580 back then? I don't know when we started. I don't 00:09:53.580 --> 00:09:55.919 know. With like nutritionalists or whatever. 00:09:56.340 --> 00:09:58.519 So a lot of people weren't getting the proper 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:01.320 nutrients they need for meat. And a lot of people 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:06.490 were considering eating. horses and eating even 00:10:06.490 --> 00:10:10.850 eating their pets oh my god um or wild animals 00:10:10.850 --> 00:10:13.669 and stuff and it wasn't directly related to all 00:10:13.669 --> 00:10:18.750 of this but only four years earlier the book 00:10:18.750 --> 00:10:22.429 the jungle by upton sinclair i think that's how 00:10:22.429 --> 00:10:24.009 you pronounce his name yeah that sounds right 00:10:24.009 --> 00:10:26.669 upton sinclair who's a muckraker raker journalist 00:10:26.669 --> 00:10:31.230 um his book came out and I don't know if you 00:10:31.230 --> 00:10:32.809 learned about it in school. I know I did, but 00:10:32.809 --> 00:10:36.250 it was basically exposing the horrors of the 00:10:36.250 --> 00:10:38.370 meat industry. And a lot of people were so appalled 00:10:38.370 --> 00:10:41.549 and realizing how absolutely nasty and gross 00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:44.769 it was. And it led to a lot of like federal food 00:10:44.769 --> 00:10:47.629 safety laws and stuff that weren't around. And 00:10:47.629 --> 00:10:49.629 there was a huge reform movement. So people, 00:10:49.730 --> 00:10:53.210 even if people could afford meat, they were skeptical 00:10:53.210 --> 00:10:55.950 of it because they'd seen all, they read about 00:10:55.950 --> 00:10:59.509 all the horrors of the meat industry. And it, 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:03.820 didn't directly lead to this book didn't directly 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:07.639 lead to the hippo bill being put forth but it 00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:10.720 opened people's eyes to the possibilities and 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:14.399 made people more open to it to the possibility 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:18.519 of eating hippo meat because they were under 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:20.620 the assumption it would be cleaner and safer 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:22.740 and nicer because it's going to be out in the 00:11:22.740 --> 00:11:30.259 wild and um so the the hippos would eat They 00:11:30.259 --> 00:11:32.500 were known to eat water hyacinth. I have it somewhere. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:36.600 I'm not sure where, but okay, I have it coming 00:11:36.600 --> 00:11:39.580 up. But the hippos were known to eat water hyacinth 00:11:39.580 --> 00:11:43.600 in Africa where it had been introduced. So they 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:45.360 were like, well, we'll bring the hippos, we'll 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:49.740 ranch the hippos, and they'll get rid of the 00:11:49.740 --> 00:11:52.879 water hyacinth. So we couldn't just get more 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:56.539 cattle from somewhere else? Why? Because the 00:11:56.539 --> 00:11:59.809 diseases. Because they would catch the diseases 00:11:59.809 --> 00:12:02.289 that was going around. Okay, so that makes sense 00:12:02.289 --> 00:12:06.649 to me. But then why hippos? There's deer, there's 00:12:06.649 --> 00:12:13.309 lamb and sheep. Why was there that jump? I'm 00:12:13.309 --> 00:12:14.730 going to get to it later, but they proposed a 00:12:14.730 --> 00:12:18.610 whole bunch of other exotic animals that they 00:12:18.610 --> 00:12:21.350 were under the impression that, well, this isn't 00:12:21.350 --> 00:12:24.990 a cow or this isn't a sheep, so it must be immune 00:12:24.990 --> 00:12:30.419 to cow and sheep diseases. I know there's certain 00:12:30.419 --> 00:12:33.480 diseases that can get into deer from cattle and 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:39.159 stuff. Yeah. But they're like, we'll have Tibetan 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.220 yaks in the Rockies and stuff. We'll talk about 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:44.820 that later. But there's probably almost no scientific 00:12:44.820 --> 00:12:47.480 basis at this point to actually know whether 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:50.620 or not these are transferable diseases between 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:53.259 these different species. So they're just fucking... 00:12:54.009 --> 00:12:57.250 I don't know. Because I said so. And I'm a science 00:12:57.250 --> 00:13:00.450 man. They're like, let me think about the most 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:03.490 insane fucking animal that I could think of. 00:13:03.549 --> 00:13:06.090 And we're going to eat that because it couldn't 00:13:06.090 --> 00:13:09.169 possibly get these diseases. And because they 00:13:09.169 --> 00:13:12.190 don't, they don't look mean. And also they're 00:13:12.190 --> 00:13:14.710 like three times the weight of cattle. You know 00:13:14.710 --> 00:13:18.889 what? You take the effort to raise one. I get, 00:13:18.909 --> 00:13:21.830 I don't know how much this, this man did. I'll 00:13:21.830 --> 00:13:26.049 get into his background of Broussard's background, 00:13:26.389 --> 00:13:29.409 but I don't think he was the person in charge 00:13:29.409 --> 00:13:34.289 of doing a lot of farming. Oh, okay. But I think 00:13:34.289 --> 00:13:37.950 his assumption was, well, one cow is only the 00:13:37.950 --> 00:13:41.929 third of the weight of one hippo, so what could 00:13:41.929 --> 00:13:48.649 possibly go wrong? So the answer to both these 00:13:48.649 --> 00:13:52.750 problems that the government specifically Robert 00:13:52.750 --> 00:13:57.710 Brewstard and some pals of his came up with was 00:13:57.710 --> 00:14:00.970 Lake Cow Bacon. That's what they were calling 00:14:00.970 --> 00:14:06.289 it. Lake Cow Bacon? Lake Cow Bacon. This was 00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:10.210 a name that was come up with... Words. This name 00:14:10.210 --> 00:14:17.009 was come up... I can't talk. New York Times created 00:14:17.009 --> 00:14:19.840 this name. There we go. It was the New York Times. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.200 Blame it on them. It's terrible. I would not 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:26.059 eat something named that. Lake Cow Bacon? It 00:14:26.059 --> 00:14:27.700 doesn't sound appetizing to you? If I saw it 00:14:27.700 --> 00:14:29.519 at the grocery store, I would say, no, thank 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:35.440 you. See, I'm picturing, like, a terrible, terrible 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:39.340 cross between a cow and a pig in a little swimsuit 00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:43.320 on a floatie. Lake Cow Bacon. It's, like, fucking 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:48.220 green for some reason. I even put in my notes, 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:51.840 If this seems out of left field, just hear Louisiana 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:56.259 Representative Robert F. Brustard out. And you're 00:14:56.259 --> 00:14:58.659 just like, no. I got to this point, I was like, 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:04.360 no. What if I don't want to hear him out? So 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:06.299 like I said, hippos had been known to eat water 00:15:06.299 --> 00:15:09.460 hyacinth in Africa, where it had also been introduced 00:15:09.460 --> 00:15:12.419 and become invasive. It was introduced all over 00:15:12.419 --> 00:15:14.860 the... So they're like, this is going to address 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:19.899 our problem with this overpopulation of this 00:15:19.899 --> 00:15:23.860 plant. And we're going to eat them. Yes. Okay. 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.240 That makes a lot more sense to me now. Yeah, 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:27.860 that's why they're thinking do both of those. 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:32.840 And people in Africa and some people, a couple 00:15:32.840 --> 00:15:36.620 of people backing Brustard here and helping him 00:15:36.620 --> 00:15:40.529 push this idea. had spent time in Africa during 00:15:40.529 --> 00:15:43.210 the Boer War and had eaten hippo. And we're like, 00:15:43.250 --> 00:15:45.509 it's actually pretty good. That's what they were 00:15:45.509 --> 00:15:47.590 saying is like, it's actually pretty good because 00:15:47.590 --> 00:15:52.149 the high fat content in it, it's juicier and 00:15:52.149 --> 00:15:55.789 more flavorful. So they were thinking, it's tasty. 00:15:56.250 --> 00:16:01.269 Or so people say. It's tasty. And probably can't 00:16:01.269 --> 00:16:05.289 get cow diseases for all we know. And it'll eat 00:16:05.289 --> 00:16:08.070 the water hyacinths that are causing us the flooding 00:16:08.070 --> 00:16:13.370 and the fish dying and the tangled roadways or 00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:16.750 the waterways and everything. You know, what 00:16:16.750 --> 00:16:19.710 could possibly go wrong? It's a win -win. So 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:21.509 let's meet some of the people involved in this. 00:16:21.850 --> 00:16:26.929 First off, we have... I have no idea how to pronounce 00:16:26.929 --> 00:16:31.669 this man's middle name. But Robert F. Brewstard. 00:16:31.830 --> 00:16:34.649 I'm trying to... I wrote his middle name here. 00:16:34.710 --> 00:16:41.149 It's like foiling me. Falling me? I don't know. 00:16:41.370 --> 00:16:50.990 What? F -O -L -I -G -N -Y. I would need to see 00:16:50.990 --> 00:16:57.830 it. Hold on. F -O -L -I -G -N -Y. F -O -L -I 00:16:57.830 --> 00:17:03.830 -G -N -Y. Folligny? Robert Fligny Brewstard? 00:17:04.029 --> 00:17:07.490 That sounds terrible. That can't be it. Who was 00:17:07.490 --> 00:17:12.029 the brother of Edwin S. Brewstard, who was a 00:17:12.029 --> 00:17:17.990 U .S. Senator. Robert was a representative in 00:17:17.990 --> 00:17:25.990 the Louisiana House of Representatives. Born 00:17:25.990 --> 00:17:30.940 in Louisiana on the Mary Louise Plantation. near 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:37.700 new iber um louisiana in 1864 he was from a well 00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:41.000 -off family attended georgetown university and 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:44.259 later became the night inspector of customs at 00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:47.619 new or in new orleans later being appointed to 00:17:47.619 --> 00:17:53.119 the to assistant way state weyer and statistician 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:58.079 um he after that he went on to law school at 00:17:58.810 --> 00:18:04.470 Tulane University in New Orleans after graduating 00:18:04.470 --> 00:18:09.450 in 1889 he had he was admitted into the bar the 00:18:09.450 --> 00:18:14.329 same the bar exam the same year and began practice 00:18:14.329 --> 00:18:17.990 in New Iber and then I have a whole bunch of 00:18:17.990 --> 00:18:21.869 other shit I copied and pasted from the Louisiana 00:18:23.589 --> 00:18:26.250 House of Representatives website that really 00:18:26.250 --> 00:18:29.029 doesn't matter. It's just a list of... Do we 00:18:29.029 --> 00:18:33.230 care about this man this much? Point being, to 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:36.329 wrap this up, he went to university. He went 00:18:36.329 --> 00:18:39.210 to law school. He did some stuff between university 00:18:39.210 --> 00:18:41.450 and law school. He was from a well -off family. 00:18:43.589 --> 00:18:49.170 And he grew up on a place that used to be a plantation. 00:18:49.789 --> 00:18:52.930 So well -off. That's why I said... Given his 00:18:52.930 --> 00:18:55.930 past, I don't think he was the one branching 00:18:55.930 --> 00:19:01.349 anything. And being a person in law school, yeah, 00:19:01.490 --> 00:19:04.049 it makes him well -equipped to write a bill of 00:19:04.049 --> 00:19:08.630 sorts, but I don't know, this being a sort of 00:19:08.630 --> 00:19:13.829 agricultural and ecological bill, I don't think 00:19:13.829 --> 00:19:15.950 he has any fucking idea what he's talking about. 00:19:16.369 --> 00:19:20.789 No. He is the man to, like you said, write the 00:19:20.789 --> 00:19:24.619 law. Not everything else. So, the next character 00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:30.339 on the roster we have is Frederick Russell Burnham? 00:19:31.180 --> 00:19:35.700 Burnham? I think it's Burnham. He was one of 00:19:35.700 --> 00:19:37.859 the key supporters of the bill, and he was dubbed 00:19:37.859 --> 00:19:41.519 by multiple sources, and I quote, the most interesting 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:47.400 man in history. I read so many articles on this 00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:49.920 man. I think we should do an episode on. He was 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:53.359 just there. He was like in the frontier of America 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:56.559 for so many historical events just accidentally. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:00.579 Why haven't we heard of him then? I've literally 00:20:00.579 --> 00:20:04.079 never heard this man's name ever. He is the inspiration 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:07.880 for the Boy Scouts of America. He didn't found 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:11.720 them, but he was the inspiration. So he was born 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:15.569 in southern Minnesota. I wrote his early life 00:20:15.569 --> 00:20:17.670 was riddled with fascinating stories and historical 00:20:17.670 --> 00:20:19.690 events, but I'm going to pass over it for the 00:20:19.690 --> 00:20:22.490 sake of brevity. Cause I was reading it and it 00:20:22.490 --> 00:20:24.970 was like, when there's nothing much for the first, 00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:26.829 like six, it was like right when he was born, 00:20:26.849 --> 00:20:28.650 there was some stuff and then nothing until he 00:20:28.650 --> 00:20:31.970 was like 13. And then it's 13 to like every single 00:20:31.970 --> 00:20:34.069 year, there's something going on in this man's 00:20:34.069 --> 00:20:37.109 life. And I'm like, okay, let's not, he's just, 00:20:37.150 --> 00:20:41.829 this man had a lot going on. So. Burnham was 00:20:41.829 --> 00:20:44.049 an American scout and adventurer and a soldier 00:20:44.049 --> 00:20:48.029 who was very well known at the time for his exploits 00:20:48.029 --> 00:20:51.650 across American West, Africa, and other parts 00:20:51.650 --> 00:20:54.170 of the British Empire. He grew up on the frontier 00:20:54.170 --> 00:20:59.710 and he was an expert frontiersman, marksman, 00:20:59.710 --> 00:21:04.630 tracker, and he gained a lot of early experience 00:21:04.630 --> 00:21:10.329 as a scout during the Apache Wars. When he was 00:21:10.329 --> 00:21:13.430 older, he went to Africa, where he served under... 00:21:13.430 --> 00:21:16.670 He served as chief of scouts under Lord Roberts, 00:21:16.930 --> 00:21:19.190 who is considered the most successful British 00:21:19.190 --> 00:21:21.869 commander of his time, during the Second Boer 00:21:21.869 --> 00:21:25.789 War in South Africa, where he had seen hippos 00:21:25.789 --> 00:21:28.630 eating water hyacinth, and he had eaten hippo 00:21:28.630 --> 00:21:31.970 meat, which is why he's part of a supporter for 00:21:31.970 --> 00:21:38.380 this. Right. His survival skills and... And everything 00:21:38.380 --> 00:21:42.940 in self -reliance put him in a good place to 00:21:42.940 --> 00:21:50.599 become a British spy. Hmm. Outside of just military 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:56.980 service, he befriended Robert Baden -Powell during 00:21:56.980 --> 00:22:00.740 the Matbo War. I don't know if I'm pronouncing 00:22:00.740 --> 00:22:04.359 that right. In Rhodesia. This man's just all 00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:07.779 over the place. Just throw a dart at a globe 00:22:07.779 --> 00:22:10.400 and this man was there. But like I was saying, 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:17.579 his wilderness expertise inspired Baden Powell 00:22:17.579 --> 00:22:21.440 to start the Boy Scouts, who was like, this guy 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.920 is such a man. I want all boys to be like him. 00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:26.240 Let's start a program to make the boys like this 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:31.359 man. Gotta make the boys like Burnham. So Burnham 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:33.559 was deeply interested in conservation and exploration. 00:22:34.589 --> 00:22:38.349 And he was also a big participant in a lot of 00:22:38.349 --> 00:22:43.049 oil ventures and mineral prospects throughout 00:22:43.049 --> 00:22:52.509 California and Mexico. And he made a lot of big 00:22:52.509 --> 00:22:57.210 changes to how scouts worked, like military scouts 00:22:57.210 --> 00:23:01.410 and stuff. See, I have a few more people here. 00:23:01.529 --> 00:23:04.869 I know it's a lot going on here. I thought it 00:23:04.869 --> 00:23:07.190 was fascinating to know all the different characters 00:23:07.190 --> 00:23:10.529 that led up to this absolute character of a bill. 00:23:11.170 --> 00:23:13.069 Because if I was just like, oh, this guy and 00:23:13.069 --> 00:23:14.789 this guy and this guy, you'd be like, well, that's 00:23:14.789 --> 00:23:16.470 weird how they come up with this. All these random 00:23:16.470 --> 00:23:21.829 people just listing them. Yeah. But it helps 00:23:21.829 --> 00:23:24.470 give some context to the bill. Right. Because 00:23:24.470 --> 00:23:26.250 the actual bill itself, there's not a lot to 00:23:26.250 --> 00:23:29.079 it. It's like, let's ranch hippos. It's fascinating 00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:31.799 to me to find all the characters behind it to 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:34.119 help push this and the faces people were seeing 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:36.240 and the context that people were seeing in it. 00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:38.980 Right. Because the different people that are 00:23:38.980 --> 00:23:43.519 backing it really help give it gravity. Yeah. 00:23:43.619 --> 00:23:47.160 And help you understand why they even thought 00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:49.039 this was a good idea. Yeah. And why people were 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:52.220 even considering it semi -seriously. Mm -hmm. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.099 Let's see. So the next person we have up is Captain 00:23:56.099 --> 00:23:59.119 Fritz. I think is how his name is pronounced. 00:23:59.819 --> 00:24:08.640 D -U -Q -E. Or Q -U -E -S -N -E. Do Keese. Do 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.440 Quest. Good old Fritz D. We'll call him Fritz 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:15.640 D. If I remember. I wrote his last name. I wrote 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:17.920 a lot of these guys' last names. God, I'm terrible 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:21.180 with names. Me too. It's so bad. Me too. What 00:24:21.180 --> 00:24:23.720 episode was it where we called someone, like, 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:29.829 Ramp? Dan Stambert. Oh, yeah. Rambert Stambert 00:24:29.829 --> 00:24:31.529 Lambert. That was it. Rambert Stambert Lambert. 00:24:31.569 --> 00:24:34.910 Jeff the Talking Mugger. Yeah. That's just why 00:24:34.910 --> 00:24:36.970 we're bad at names. It's just Rambert Stambert 00:24:36.970 --> 00:24:44.150 Lambert. Peak name right there. So, we'll call 00:24:44.150 --> 00:24:47.470 him Fritz D. Try and remember to call him that. 00:24:47.609 --> 00:24:50.970 Or do Cass. You could go really hard and, like, 00:24:50.970 --> 00:24:54.450 try and do an accent and everything. Don't put 00:24:54.450 --> 00:24:57.809 the pressure on me. I can't, I can't do accents 00:24:57.809 --> 00:24:59.750 when, I can do accents when no one puts pressure 00:24:59.750 --> 00:25:03.470 on me. Oh, okay. Well, sorry I asked. Yeah. Be 00:25:03.470 --> 00:25:11.529 sorry. Be very sorry. Feel bad. Duquesne. Duquesne. 00:25:11.630 --> 00:25:15.170 Okay. I need to, this is going to bother me. 00:25:15.170 --> 00:25:17.410 Bring up like the AI voice and it's going to 00:25:17.410 --> 00:25:20.950 be so off. It's going to be. Duquesne. Actually. 00:25:21.650 --> 00:25:26.019 Duke. Dukesne. Dukesne? That might be close. 00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:30.720 I don't, I don't fucking know. Dukesney? It's 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:33.599 got to be like 10 minutes of Elena being like, 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:40.980 do you have the time to listen to me whine about 00:25:40.980 --> 00:25:45.500 nothing and everything all at once? So he was 00:25:45.500 --> 00:25:50.160 born in South Africa. He was a soldier and a 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:53.400 spy and a journalist and also an adventurer in 00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:59.339 Africa. He did a lot of sabotaging and deception. 00:25:59.819 --> 00:26:05.380 It was sort of his whole bag was like intelligence 00:26:05.380 --> 00:26:09.819 and sabotage. Imagine like being like your job 00:26:09.819 --> 00:26:12.759 title. What are you good at? Intelligence and 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:16.960 sabotage. I'm good at sabotaging intelligence. 00:26:20.180 --> 00:26:28.400 Put that on the business card. So he fought against 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:31.799 the British during the Second Boer War. Being 00:26:31.799 --> 00:26:34.000 from South Africa and fighting in this war, he 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:38.720 had also had eaten hippo, seen hippos eat the 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:40.559 water hyacinth, which is part of the reason why 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:47.940 he was backing this. Uh -huh. So aside of just 00:26:47.940 --> 00:26:51.140 the Second Boer War, he was in both world wars, 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:54.099 which wouldn't come till later, but just an interesting 00:26:54.099 --> 00:26:57.160 point that he was, he was in, it said he was 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:00.920 a known spy, well -known spy, which I feel like 00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:02.700 if you're well -known for being a spy, you're 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:06.279 not a good spy. But everything I read said he 00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:10.099 was a great spy. This is the best spy ever. We 00:27:10.099 --> 00:27:13.039 all know him, but he's really good. We put his 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:15.299 face, he just wears a fake mustache and nobody 00:27:15.299 --> 00:27:18.019 knows who he is. It's like Clark Kent. Yeah, 00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:20.940 glasses and a fake, he has like the glasses with 00:27:20.940 --> 00:27:23.019 the big fake nose and the fake mustache and nobody 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:25.819 knows who he is. I don't know, is that Groucho 00:27:25.819 --> 00:27:29.980 Marx? He like takes them off, they're like, oh 00:27:29.980 --> 00:27:34.940 shit, it's Fritz D! But they just have, like, 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:37.000 employee of the month, and it's a picture of 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:39.339 him. But they change it so it's a different disguise 00:27:39.339 --> 00:27:41.880 every month. His last disguise that he used. 00:27:41.980 --> 00:27:44.819 And everyone's like, oh, I knew there was something 00:27:44.819 --> 00:27:47.839 odd about that guy. An interesting thing about 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:53.299 good old Fritz D was that he had actually, he 00:27:53.299 --> 00:27:57.339 was actually a wartime, like, personal adversary 00:27:57.339 --> 00:28:02.160 of... Frederick Russell Burnham, the most interesting 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:06.039 man that I had mentioned. I had read a couple 00:28:06.039 --> 00:28:07.900 sources saying that at one point they had even 00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:10.759 been assigned to kill each other, but then just 00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:16.160 didn't. So, next person we have is William Newton 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:18.509 Irwin. There's not a whole lot out there about 00:28:18.509 --> 00:28:20.589 him. That's a good name. William Newton Irwin? 00:28:20.750 --> 00:28:22.710 I love it. Yeah, I tried looking this guy up 00:28:22.710 --> 00:28:24.529 to find more information about him, and apparently 00:28:24.529 --> 00:28:26.569 a lot of people also thought it was a good name, 00:28:26.710 --> 00:28:29.509 because there's so many people named William 00:28:29.509 --> 00:28:33.089 Newton Irwin. Really? There's a lot of William 00:28:33.089 --> 00:28:35.750 Newton Irwins. I found a lot about this guy. 00:28:35.829 --> 00:28:39.930 I found stuff from, like, William Newton Irwin, 00:28:40.009 --> 00:28:44.049 attorney at law in 1976. William Newton Irwin 00:28:44.049 --> 00:28:49.059 on Instagram. uh businessman what like it's just 00:28:49.059 --> 00:28:51.480 a name for getting shit done i think like every 00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:54.960 william newton irwin i found was like out there 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:57.599 doing professional shit that's literally the 00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:59.960 next animal like it is going to be named william 00:28:59.960 --> 00:29:02.940 newton irwin it'll be another chameleon like 00:29:02.940 --> 00:29:06.539 edward bartholomew what what is your chameleon's 00:29:06.539 --> 00:29:09.400 name sir charles frederick crew the third why 00:29:09.400 --> 00:29:11.599 do i think there was an edwin in there or edward 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:14.920 you could say any name and i'd be like yep that's 00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:21.539 it William Newton Irwin, your chameleon. So your 00:29:21.539 --> 00:29:24.720 chameleon was a researcher with the U .S. Department 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:29.740 of Agriculture and Bureau of Plant Industry in 00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:35.200 1910. And he was one of the experts that Broussard, 00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:40.059 the original guy, the politician had brought 00:29:40.059 --> 00:29:45.130 in to testify. And the other two experts that 00:29:45.130 --> 00:29:51.529 he had brought in were the other two guys, Fritz 00:29:51.529 --> 00:29:57.589 D. and Burnham. Right. Like I said, there's not 00:29:57.589 --> 00:30:01.269 a lot about Irwin, but I found a great quote 00:30:01.269 --> 00:30:05.309 from a more recent news article looking back 00:30:05.309 --> 00:30:11.130 on his career saying that he appears to have 00:30:11.130 --> 00:30:14.460 spent his career campaigning ideas that were 00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:18.220 simultaneously perfectly logical and extravagantly 00:30:18.220 --> 00:30:21.559 bizarre. Erwin was the one who actually convinced 00:30:21.559 --> 00:30:28.519 Brustard of the hippo bill. He was the one to 00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:31.019 be like, hear me out. This is a good idea. I 00:30:31.019 --> 00:30:32.480 just need you to get this into the government. 00:30:32.579 --> 00:30:35.400 You're the guy with the political power. Interesting. 00:30:38.959 --> 00:30:40.779 I've got to start finding different words for 00:30:40.779 --> 00:30:42.619 interesting. I literally looked up a list on 00:30:42.619 --> 00:30:48.519 my phone. Quite intriguing. How riveting. Riveting. 00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:52.319 Take a drink every time we say interesting. I 00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:54.119 hate it. Every single time I say it now, I'm 00:30:54.119 --> 00:30:57.980 like, fuck. There's literally anything else. 00:30:58.829 --> 00:31:00.910 I have noticed that a lot with myself with a 00:31:00.910 --> 00:31:03.549 lot of listening back to the podcast. I'll hear 00:31:03.549 --> 00:31:05.750 myself say the same words and I'll be speaking 00:31:05.750 --> 00:31:10.730 and I'll say it and I'm like, ah, this is a good 00:31:10.730 --> 00:31:16.220 one. Unputdownable. Unputdownable. William Newton 00:31:16.220 --> 00:31:20.079 Irwin is unputdownable. As the U .S. Department 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:23.640 of Agriculture Bureau, Agriculture's Bureau of 00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:27.680 Plant Industries, 1910, he's quite unputdownable. 00:31:28.740 --> 00:31:33.119 Yes, yes, indeed. It's like, okay, what is he, 00:31:33.140 --> 00:31:38.549 a fucking book? All of these dudes are... from 00:31:38.549 --> 00:31:40.930 like the south why am i doing a british accent 00:31:40.930 --> 00:31:42.809 i don't know it just makes it so much better 00:31:42.809 --> 00:31:45.029 if you're being fancy you're gonna use a british 00:31:45.029 --> 00:31:48.009 accent them's the rules i i didn't make them 00:31:48.009 --> 00:31:52.269 i just follow them um so this quote goes on to 00:31:52.269 --> 00:32:01.190 say that um with um in regards to erwin um any 00:32:01.190 --> 00:32:03.490 resistance to the ideas that he came up with 00:32:03.490 --> 00:32:08.740 came down to plain simple -mindedness So anytime 00:32:08.740 --> 00:32:10.779 someone's like, that's a crazy idea. He's like, 00:32:10.819 --> 00:32:13.000 oh, you're just being simple minded. He's like, 00:32:13.019 --> 00:32:17.000 you're actually just a dumb bitch. Yeah. Honestly, 00:32:17.380 --> 00:32:19.319 I like that he's not gaslighting anyone. He's 00:32:19.319 --> 00:32:23.059 just like, you're fucking stupid. Stop being 00:32:23.059 --> 00:32:25.740 stupid and have some whimsy in your life. He's 00:32:25.740 --> 00:32:27.880 not even trying to explain. He's just like, it's 00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:29.980 because you're fucking dumb. You don't get it. 00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:38.029 You're just a big old dummy. So lastly. When 00:32:38.029 --> 00:32:41.789 it comes to people involved in this. He wasn't 00:32:41.789 --> 00:32:45.369 directly involved, but we have the man, the myth, 00:32:45.529 --> 00:32:50.910 the legend. Can you guess who it is? In the 1910s? 00:32:50.910 --> 00:32:55.390 I have no idea. Teddy Roosevelt. I knew it! Whenever 00:32:55.390 --> 00:32:58.349 there's something whack going on around this 00:32:58.349 --> 00:33:00.049 time, you can bet your bottom that... I should 00:33:00.049 --> 00:33:02.250 have just fucking guessed it. Teddy Roosevelt's 00:33:02.250 --> 00:33:04.150 gonna be involved. That's literally... I was 00:33:04.150 --> 00:33:07.900 this close. I knew it was him. So... While Roosevelt 00:33:07.900 --> 00:33:11.500 was not directly involved in promoting the bill, 00:33:11.599 --> 00:33:15.740 he did put his support behind it. Even though 00:33:15.740 --> 00:33:19.140 his presidency ended the year before, his influence 00:33:19.140 --> 00:33:23.980 was, he still had a lot of influence. And having, 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:28.819 being notorious for traveling and being for conservation 00:33:28.819 --> 00:33:31.200 and stuff. Remember, this is the guy that really 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:37.819 started the national parks and stuff. a lot of 00:33:37.819 --> 00:33:41.220 conservation and stuff so his his word meant 00:33:41.220 --> 00:33:47.559 a lot um to people and um like politically and 00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:52.000 intellectually especially in a environmental 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:55.839 sense at the time so him saying that he was he 00:33:55.839 --> 00:33:58.319 was the man to listen to to these for these sorts 00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:01.519 of things so now that we've talked about everyone 00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:03.480 who's sort of loosely involved we're not going 00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:05.539 to bring up roosevelt too much i just wanted 00:34:05.539 --> 00:34:07.140 to bring up that it was important that he backed 00:34:07.140 --> 00:34:11.260 it at the time because it helps add context so 00:34:11.260 --> 00:34:18.420 here we are back in 1910 and um march 24th 1910 00:34:18.420 --> 00:34:21.139 rostard was standing in front of the house committee 00:34:21.139 --> 00:34:24.920 on agriculture and he was putting out this plan 00:34:24.920 --> 00:34:27.960 that he had for the american house the american 00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:32.639 hippo bill also known as house resolution 23261 00:34:34.550 --> 00:34:39.230 He believes that the importance of hippos constantly 00:34:39.230 --> 00:34:42.010 having this insatiable hunger, as they believed, 00:34:42.110 --> 00:34:46.250 or, if you will, hungry, hungry hippos. I couldn't 00:34:46.250 --> 00:34:48.829 get through this podcast without making that 00:34:48.829 --> 00:34:54.230 joke. Brought from Africa would help rid Louisiana, 00:34:54.570 --> 00:34:57.469 Florida, and some of Mississippi of the water 00:34:57.469 --> 00:34:59.829 hyacinth that had been plugging their waterways 00:34:59.829 --> 00:35:03.019 and causing all these problems. And then when 00:35:03.019 --> 00:35:09.679 the hippos had been fattened up, they would take 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:13.519 them to be slaughtered. And it would be a revitalizing, 00:35:13.559 --> 00:35:19.440 low -cost meat supply. And like I mentioned earlier, 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:25.039 they were under the belief that one hippo would 00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:28.940 be worth three cattle. Because on average, hippos 00:35:28.940 --> 00:35:33.760 are between... 3 ,000 to 9 ,000 pounds, as opposed 00:35:33.760 --> 00:35:37.980 to the average beef cattle being around 1 ,200 00:35:37.980 --> 00:35:42.619 pounds. Wow, that's crazy. I mean, so that could 00:35:42.619 --> 00:35:45.659 be, like, way more than three times the cow. 00:35:46.219 --> 00:35:50.380 But how would you control that? Because I'm not 00:35:50.380 --> 00:35:52.840 a cattle rancher, but I feel like if you can 00:35:52.840 --> 00:35:55.659 try to control an angry cow, it's hard enough. 00:35:56.659 --> 00:35:59.079 That's the thing is you can drive cattle on a 00:35:59.079 --> 00:36:02.880 horse or like get on a fucking gator and like 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:05.059 gator nuts and like alligator, you know, like 00:36:05.059 --> 00:36:07.719 one of those. They look like a golf cart except 00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:11.900 they're not. A four -wheeler? Yes, but they're 00:36:11.900 --> 00:36:13.800 like closed in like a golf cart is. They're called 00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:17.559 a gator. Okay, I was picturing like shoe gators, 00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:18.820 you know what I mean? The ones that go over your 00:36:18.820 --> 00:36:22.500 shoes to keep like ticks and stuff out. Oh. I 00:36:22.500 --> 00:36:24.559 think it's like a brand name. That's what I like. 00:36:24.780 --> 00:36:27.340 But anyway, you like get on those. Which they 00:36:27.340 --> 00:36:30.320 didn't have at the time. Or you like get on a 00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:33.219 horse. Like the official way that you like drive 00:36:33.219 --> 00:36:35.340 cattle and deal with cattle, you get on your 00:36:35.340 --> 00:36:38.860 fucking horse. There's no fucking way you could 00:36:38.860 --> 00:36:41.400 drive hippos with your horse. Unless you're like 00:36:41.400 --> 00:36:48.000 riding a bison. I mean, maybe. So I know we've 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:50.840 already run a little long on this. That's okay. 00:36:51.099 --> 00:36:54.539 I have like seven pages on this. Wow. I went 00:36:54.539 --> 00:36:56.920 deep. If I hadn't done all the research on the 00:36:56.920 --> 00:37:00.739 people behind it. So the news was really pushing 00:37:00.739 --> 00:37:04.400 it. Like I said, the New York Times had dubbed 00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:10.739 it like cow bacon. William Newton Irwin was saying 00:37:10.739 --> 00:37:14.269 that this could easily add. over a million tons 00:37:14.269 --> 00:37:17.409 of meat a year to the supply, which would be 00:37:17.409 --> 00:37:21.769 huge, huge, huge, huge for this struggling meat 00:37:21.769 --> 00:37:25.610 industry. And he was also saying that there's 00:37:25.610 --> 00:37:27.989 no reason they couldn't find a place in the United 00:37:27.989 --> 00:37:31.369 States for more than 100 species of animals that 00:37:31.369 --> 00:37:34.809 are all over the world that have yet to be domesticated. 00:37:34.809 --> 00:37:36.829 There's so many animals we haven't domesticated. 00:37:36.869 --> 00:37:38.960 Why don't we domesticate them? Because that's 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:42.159 the goal, right? It's not to protect the ecology 00:37:42.159 --> 00:37:45.679 or the animal species. The goal is for us to 00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:49.760 demonstrate to the animals. Power! I need power 00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:58.480 over nature to be a man! So that was the back 00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:02.320 point behind this. The main point they were pushing 00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:04.880 was... Hippos will eat water hyacinth. We can 00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:06.860 farm them. But the point behind it they were 00:38:06.860 --> 00:38:09.780 pushing was there's all these exotic species 00:38:09.780 --> 00:38:15.019 that we can farm that we haven't started farming. 00:38:16.099 --> 00:38:22.139 They could put small antelopes on family farms. 00:38:22.340 --> 00:38:25.159 They could put herds of Cape buffalo alongside 00:38:25.159 --> 00:38:29.900 cattle to be driven across the West. They could 00:38:29.900 --> 00:38:42.619 farm rhinoceroses. They could farm rhinos in 00:38:42.619 --> 00:38:46.579 the southwestern desert. They could put Tibetan 00:38:46.579 --> 00:38:51.579 yaks in the Rockies. And there was so many more. 00:38:51.639 --> 00:38:54.619 They had a plan for all these different exotic 00:38:54.619 --> 00:38:56.880 animals for every nook and cranny and corner 00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.840 of the country. And they are like, this will 00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:04.420 fix the meat industry. If this bill was passed, 00:39:04.760 --> 00:39:10.079 all Americans, no matter what their socioeconomic 00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:14.239 class, none of them would ever have to go without 00:39:14.239 --> 00:39:20.900 meat again. And for just about $200 ,000 or about 00:39:20.900 --> 00:39:25.750 $8 million today, America's, quote, unoccupied 00:39:25.750 --> 00:39:29.750 and unused government lands could be filled with 00:39:29.750 --> 00:39:40.250 domestic animals from all over. In the past, 00:39:40.489 --> 00:39:43.210 the U .S. had already imported foreign animals. 00:39:43.309 --> 00:39:48.969 Between 1891 and 1902, over a thousand reindeer 00:39:48.969 --> 00:39:51.190 had been brought from Russia to fill the vacancies 00:39:51.190 --> 00:39:57.050 left by diminished caribou herds in alaska and 00:39:57.050 --> 00:39:59.849 at the time of the hearing when this bill was 00:39:59.849 --> 00:40:04.530 being proposed in 1910 around 20 000 reindeer 00:40:04.530 --> 00:40:07.309 were now residing in the frozen tundras of alaska 00:40:07.309 --> 00:40:10.730 of the alaska territory all we have to do is 00:40:10.730 --> 00:40:15.150 save to be saved from vegetarianism wrote the 00:40:15.150 --> 00:40:20.070 daily arizona silver belt is to cultivate a tapes 00:40:20.070 --> 00:40:24.329 for hippopotamus rhinoceros camel elk springbok, 00:40:24.590 --> 00:40:27.610 dike -dike, giraffe, and other African animals. 00:40:28.090 --> 00:40:30.610 Perhaps these animals, some of them at least, 00:40:30.730 --> 00:40:36.050 are not as bad as they sound. That's how people 00:40:36.050 --> 00:40:39.690 from Arizona sound. BTW. If you don't know. The 00:40:39.690 --> 00:40:42.409 only person I know in Arizona is from California. 00:40:43.230 --> 00:40:47.510 So... Yes, this is how people from Arizona... 00:40:47.510 --> 00:40:50.150 Everyone just sounds like this. It's 1910. We 00:40:50.150 --> 00:40:56.000 all sound like this. So like I said, there was 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:58.719 this serious meat shortage at the time. I keep 00:40:58.719 --> 00:41:02.840 bringing that up. Beef prices were really soaring 00:41:02.840 --> 00:41:06.739 because in addition to all of those, I don't 00:41:06.739 --> 00:41:08.380 know why I didn't put this earlier, but in addition 00:41:08.380 --> 00:41:11.880 to all of the diseases and stuff, the rangelands 00:41:11.880 --> 00:41:17.559 and stuff were overgrazed. And so that was also 00:41:17.559 --> 00:41:25.239 crippling the meat industry. Like, six places 00:41:25.239 --> 00:41:27.219 I just wrote the same thing over and over again. 00:41:27.239 --> 00:41:29.719 This is what I get for writing my notes while 00:41:29.719 --> 00:41:35.179 I'm tired. That's how my next love is going to 00:41:35.179 --> 00:41:37.659 be. My notes are self -bucked up looking. It's 00:41:37.659 --> 00:41:39.199 so bad. Well, also, this bill is literally just 00:41:39.199 --> 00:41:42.400 all over the place. And this makes more sense 00:41:42.400 --> 00:41:52.079 than just the bill itself. So... So, what did 00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:55.440 the actual bill say? Like... I have some quotes 00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:57.460 from the bill at the very end of this. We'll 00:41:57.460 --> 00:42:03.340 get to. But the problem with, among the, in addition 00:42:03.340 --> 00:42:08.119 to the problem of like starvation and malnutrition 00:42:08.119 --> 00:42:11.440 that the meat, what was dubbed the meat question. 00:42:12.500 --> 00:42:16.739 In addition to that, it was a major hit to the 00:42:16.739 --> 00:42:23.760 self -reliance, reliance, reliance and. this 00:42:23.760 --> 00:42:28.059 sort of strong self -reliance independence mentality 00:42:28.059 --> 00:42:30.900 that was being cultivated in america at the time 00:42:30.900 --> 00:42:38.219 and it was a there was a big push for um the 00:42:38.219 --> 00:42:43.679 uh like it was since there's people were pushing 00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:46.199 and pushing and pushing for so long on all of 00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:49.619 their resources all of their land that started 00:42:49.619 --> 00:42:53.900 to hit the boundaries First, they start to hit 00:42:53.900 --> 00:42:57.820 the boundaries of the land, of their resources, 00:42:58.019 --> 00:43:02.559 and there's this creeping feeling of, oh, shit. 00:43:03.239 --> 00:43:05.860 So I'm going to try and wrap this up. So I'm 00:43:05.860 --> 00:43:08.119 halfway through my notes. Let's summarize this 00:43:08.119 --> 00:43:10.039 up. I'm sorry this has gone on too long already. 00:43:10.619 --> 00:43:14.489 Again, rabbit holes. But people were hitting 00:43:14.489 --> 00:43:17.110 these limits around this time. The American West 00:43:17.110 --> 00:43:21.190 was the like frontier mentality was dying. And 00:43:21.190 --> 00:43:23.769 this free roaming spirit was sort of going away. 00:43:23.829 --> 00:43:28.010 And it was bringing a lot of people down with 00:43:28.010 --> 00:43:31.090 feeling like, well, now I'm sort of trapped. 00:43:31.309 --> 00:43:34.530 Now there's, we have to figure out how to live 00:43:34.530 --> 00:43:37.210 in this new world. A lot of things were being 00:43:37.210 --> 00:43:39.449 flipped upside down. A lot of technology had 00:43:39.449 --> 00:43:43.210 come around, you know, just in the last. Like 00:43:43.210 --> 00:43:46.070 20 years, the telephone had been invented. Carrier 00:43:46.070 --> 00:43:49.090 pigeons were going away. Trains were speeding 00:43:49.090 --> 00:43:52.230 across the landscape. Everything was changing 00:43:52.230 --> 00:43:54.449 and the world was feeling, started to feel a 00:43:54.449 --> 00:43:59.349 lot smaller. And with the hippo bill, it sort 00:43:59.349 --> 00:44:03.489 of had the, it still had this wild west mentality 00:44:03.489 --> 00:44:07.710 to it of anything is possible. There's a great 00:44:07.710 --> 00:44:09.829 big world out there and we can make it ours. 00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:14.880 And so it opened up that like feeling cramped. 00:44:15.960 --> 00:44:20.239 A lot of people were more open to the idea of 00:44:20.239 --> 00:44:22.840 the hippo bill because it was so wild and out 00:44:22.840 --> 00:44:25.940 there and help it let them feel this anything 00:44:25.940 --> 00:44:31.460 is possible feeling. So a lot of people actually 00:44:31.460 --> 00:44:35.030 thought this was a really great idea. Because 00:44:35.030 --> 00:44:37.050 it helped, like I said, helped them regain that 00:44:37.050 --> 00:44:39.389 sense of wonder. It would take care of the water 00:44:39.389 --> 00:44:41.309 hyacinth problem. It would take care of the meat 00:44:41.309 --> 00:44:45.650 problem. Honestly, if I lived back in 1910, I 00:44:45.650 --> 00:44:48.989 don't know, maybe I'd be like, this sounds interesting, 00:44:49.269 --> 00:44:52.389 let's try it. When all of this had been, everything 00:44:52.389 --> 00:44:54.510 had been said, everyone says their piece and 00:44:54.510 --> 00:44:57.949 stuff. Congress, the reaction of Congress to 00:44:57.949 --> 00:45:02.650 this bill was actually serious. They were seriously 00:45:02.650 --> 00:45:08.760 considering it. Um, and it drew a lot of attention, 00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:15.280 um, from public figures, from newspapers and 00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:18.480 just the public in general, especially with the 00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:22.960 backing of Burnham and good old Fritz D, the 00:45:22.960 --> 00:45:27.539 Department of Agriculture and Roosevelt. So a 00:45:27.539 --> 00:45:29.360 lot of people were taking it seriously because 00:45:29.360 --> 00:45:31.920 they had all these very important influential 00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:35.000 voices behind it at the time. And the average 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.800 American's reaction was a mix of curiosity and 00:45:38.800 --> 00:45:42.340 skepticism, but they weren't laughing it out. 00:45:42.420 --> 00:45:43.900 They're like, actually, this might be a good 00:45:43.900 --> 00:45:45.760 plan. It's a little ridiculous, but it might 00:45:45.760 --> 00:45:49.719 actually work. Unfortunately, with both Congress 00:45:49.719 --> 00:45:52.440 and the public, it did slowly lose motivation 00:45:52.440 --> 00:45:54.860 because, mostly just because of the logistics. 00:45:55.679 --> 00:45:59.059 They're like, how are we going to make this work? 00:45:59.239 --> 00:46:01.019 How are we going to? There were some people, 00:46:01.139 --> 00:46:03.059 there were some members of the public that were 00:46:03.059 --> 00:46:05.739 openly volunteering to go on expeditions to bring 00:46:05.739 --> 00:46:07.659 hippos back because they thought it was such 00:46:07.659 --> 00:46:10.940 a good idea. But just the logistics, like you 00:46:10.940 --> 00:46:14.039 were saying, how do you, how do you ranch hippos? 00:46:14.139 --> 00:46:17.260 Yeah. How do you, how do you do it? How do you 00:46:17.260 --> 00:46:19.440 kill these things? How do you make this sustainable? 00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:21.679 Literally have 12 foot tall fences with like 00:46:21.679 --> 00:46:23.619 fucking guard towers and train guards. Yeah, 00:46:23.619 --> 00:46:26.610 you have to make like brick. Like how, what's 00:46:26.610 --> 00:46:29.449 the logistics? It just kind of fizzled out. It 00:46:29.449 --> 00:46:31.409 wasn't like it was immediately shot down. Because 00:46:31.409 --> 00:46:34.789 unless you have a ton of money to literally travel 00:46:34.789 --> 00:46:38.070 to Africa, grab a bunch of hippos, which like 00:46:38.070 --> 00:46:40.469 that's going to be a feat in itself, get them 00:46:40.469 --> 00:46:43.449 on a boat, bring them over here on what, like 00:46:43.449 --> 00:46:46.550 a boat? And then like set up a farm for them? 00:46:46.920 --> 00:46:50.320 yeah so difficult yeah you're gonna have to spend 00:46:50.320 --> 00:46:52.059 all this money to bring all these animals over 00:46:52.059 --> 00:46:55.099 that we have no idea how to rant nobody's ranched 00:46:55.099 --> 00:46:56.960 them and maybe nobody's domesticated them for 00:46:56.960 --> 00:46:59.739 a reason you know like people have domesticated 00:46:59.739 --> 00:47:02.880 birds and chickens all over you know people have 00:47:02.880 --> 00:47:05.980 domesticated versions of goats and cows and all 00:47:05.980 --> 00:47:08.739 over maybe there's a reason we haven't domesticated 00:47:08.739 --> 00:47:11.780 hippos we knew how dangerous they were right 00:47:11.780 --> 00:47:14.639 like i'm pretty sure yeah i mean i think it just 00:47:14.639 --> 00:47:17.559 takes a few people going to poke a hippo with 00:47:17.559 --> 00:47:20.559 a stick to find out yeah it you know you know 00:47:20.559 --> 00:47:22.300 they say the more you fuck around the more you 00:47:22.300 --> 00:47:26.539 find out and 1910 was the era of fuck around 00:47:26.539 --> 00:47:29.760 and find out so true in addition to it just kind 00:47:29.760 --> 00:47:32.760 of fizzling out because of logistics a lot of 00:47:32.760 --> 00:47:36.260 people were like i don't know how appetizing 00:47:36.260 --> 00:47:38.900 it it doesn't sound very appetizing we're not 00:47:38.900 --> 00:47:43.260 used to it it's just too foreign animals in general 00:47:43.260 --> 00:47:46.280 don't sound appetizing like anytime that i remember 00:47:46.280 --> 00:47:50.780 i'm eating an animal i'm like let me read let's 00:47:50.780 --> 00:47:54.639 read the proposal of the bill the import importation 00:47:54.639 --> 00:47:58.179 and domestication of hippopotamus a large of 00:47:58.179 --> 00:48:00.099 the hippopotamus a large well -known species 00:48:00.099 --> 00:48:03.619 of african quadrupeds would provide a new and 00:48:03.619 --> 00:48:06.949 useful source of meat to the citizens of the 00:48:06.949 --> 00:48:09.789 United States and aiding the removal of aquatic 00:48:09.789 --> 00:48:13.309 plants impeding navigation in our southern waterways. 00:48:13.530 --> 00:48:16.090 I have a number of other quotes here that I'm 00:48:16.090 --> 00:48:18.670 not going to read because fuck that shit. So 00:48:18.670 --> 00:48:22.650 that is the story of how America tried to solve 00:48:22.650 --> 00:48:27.329 two pressing issues with one whack -ass, actually 00:48:27.329 --> 00:48:30.929 slightly practical, but not really attempt at 00:48:30.929 --> 00:48:37.079 feeding the nation. And holding on to frontier 00:48:37.079 --> 00:48:40.579 mentality in a changing world. I am curious of 00:48:40.579 --> 00:48:43.480 your thoughts. Given that there is actually a 00:48:43.480 --> 00:48:45.920 bit of a meat shortage growing right now, do 00:48:45.920 --> 00:48:48.579 you think people might be open to something like 00:48:48.579 --> 00:48:52.639 this? Or no? Or do you think it would even be 00:48:52.639 --> 00:48:56.059 proposed today? Just out of curiosity. With the 00:48:56.059 --> 00:48:58.980 government we have now, yes, I think it would 00:48:58.980 --> 00:49:02.519 be proposed. Some fucking idiot would say something 00:49:02.519 --> 00:49:05.079 like that. But where I think... where we're moving 00:49:05.079 --> 00:49:07.360 in the future is I think we're starting to realize 00:49:07.360 --> 00:49:13.179 that the farming of livestock isn't great for 00:49:13.179 --> 00:49:16.019 the environment. Yeah. It's just not great in 00:49:16.019 --> 00:49:19.159 general. And I mean, some people might say we 00:49:19.159 --> 00:49:22.000 don't really have a water hyacinth problem. Right. 00:49:22.159 --> 00:49:25.539 Um, anymore, as far as I know, but yeah. And 00:49:25.539 --> 00:49:28.219 I think because of so many people aware of how 00:49:28.219 --> 00:49:31.360 aware of the meat industry, I don't think it 00:49:31.360 --> 00:49:33.880 would go very far. I think a lot of there's, 00:49:34.139 --> 00:49:36.119 There's some people that are red -blooded Americans 00:49:36.119 --> 00:49:40.380 who wouldn't want to stop eating meat and beef. 00:49:40.440 --> 00:49:43.059 But I think a lot of people would be like, I 00:49:43.059 --> 00:49:44.480 mean, a lot of people are doing it anyway because 00:49:44.480 --> 00:49:46.960 of cost. They'd be like, well, I can eat meat 00:49:46.960 --> 00:49:51.699 once a week. you know my thing though is i think 00:49:51.699 --> 00:49:55.739 where we're going in terms of the meat industry 00:49:55.739 --> 00:49:59.159 is i think we are moving more towards lab -grown 00:49:59.159 --> 00:50:01.500 meats yeah here's the thing about a lot of these 00:50:01.500 --> 00:50:04.199 lab -grown meats is people are like oh it's just 00:50:04.199 --> 00:50:07.900 like chemicals no it's not like that is actual 00:50:07.900 --> 00:50:11.239 fucking meat yeah that they figured out how to 00:50:11.239 --> 00:50:13.360 grow in a laboratory environment and it's like 00:50:13.719 --> 00:50:17.239 tissue for grafting for people we've grown are 00:50:17.239 --> 00:50:19.840 we working on growing organs yeah absolutely 00:50:19.840 --> 00:50:23.300 yeah it's that is wonderful and i think it's 00:50:23.300 --> 00:50:26.000 it will save us a lot yeah and on a molecular 00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:29.940 level there it's literally the same i must admit 00:50:29.940 --> 00:50:34.820 though the idea of lab grown meat does not sound 00:50:34.820 --> 00:50:39.710 appetizing right But that's the only problem 00:50:39.710 --> 00:50:42.449 with it is the fact that it doesn't sound appetizing. 00:50:42.449 --> 00:50:43.730 Well, that was part of the problem with this 00:50:43.730 --> 00:50:47.110 bill is that people said, you know, lake cow 00:50:47.110 --> 00:50:49.510 bacon doesn't sound appetizing. Right, which 00:50:49.510 --> 00:50:51.849 is true. But also, I don't know if I like the 00:50:51.849 --> 00:50:54.329 idea of eating a bunch of weird exotic animals. 00:50:54.429 --> 00:50:57.510 Like, honestly, I will take lab -grown meat every 00:50:57.510 --> 00:51:00.849 single day of the week over, like, someone saying, 00:51:00.909 --> 00:51:02.949 I'm going to kill this random animal in Africa. 00:51:03.050 --> 00:51:04.530 Do you want to eat some? I'm going to be like, 00:51:04.590 --> 00:51:07.650 no, bro. And I mean, I think the problem is that 00:51:07.650 --> 00:51:10.789 another problem now would be that we're expanding 00:51:10.789 --> 00:51:16.429 so much and so much rural area is being taken 00:51:16.429 --> 00:51:19.190 up. Right. That we wouldn't have room to ranch 00:51:19.190 --> 00:51:22.070 these things. No. Even if we wanted to. Like 00:51:22.070 --> 00:51:24.050 we're probably running out of room to, which 00:51:24.050 --> 00:51:28.070 is why we have giant sheds for big ass barns 00:51:28.070 --> 00:51:32.969 with no sunlight for farm animals now. You know, 00:51:32.969 --> 00:51:35.449 like it's only going to get as our population 00:51:35.449 --> 00:51:38.570 grows, we're only going to become more crowded 00:51:38.570 --> 00:51:41.070 to the point where there's not going to be a 00:51:41.070 --> 00:51:44.750 whole lot of agricultural land left. And so we're 00:51:44.750 --> 00:51:47.469 either going to be forced to like shove all of 00:51:47.469 --> 00:51:52.030 our livestock into even smaller spaces or we're 00:51:52.030 --> 00:51:55.030 going to be forced to find either meat alternatives 00:51:55.030 --> 00:51:59.489 or lab grown alternatives because like. I don't 00:51:59.489 --> 00:52:00.969 know. Or a meatless alternative. We're going 00:52:00.969 --> 00:52:03.650 to have to find alternatives. Yeah. Probably 00:52:03.650 --> 00:52:06.630 not anytime soon, but like not, maybe not in 00:52:06.630 --> 00:52:08.610 our lifetimes, but this is definitely something 00:52:08.610 --> 00:52:10.409 that. Yeah. It's going to become a pressing issue. 00:52:10.510 --> 00:52:12.849 Like scientists are already thinking about and 00:52:12.849 --> 00:52:15.670 considering. So. Yeah. Given the time, we should 00:52:15.670 --> 00:52:18.210 probably start wrapping up. Sorry. It lasts so 00:52:18.210 --> 00:52:20.610 long. I do want to read this one thing I found 00:52:20.610 --> 00:52:23.849 on. I'm going to, I'll post this picture on the 00:52:23.849 --> 00:52:26.849 Instagram. I have a bunch of these in my file. 00:52:26.909 --> 00:52:29.920 So I remember, but. I found this great picture 00:52:29.920 --> 00:52:35.480 on Wikipedia, on the Wikipedia page for this 00:52:35.480 --> 00:52:40.659 bill. It's a picture of two hippopotamuses. And 00:52:40.659 --> 00:52:42.739 it just says, two hippopotamuses in their natural 00:52:42.739 --> 00:52:47.760 habitat, which is not Louisiana. That's where 00:52:47.760 --> 00:52:50.639 I'm going to end it for now. Thank you for listening. 00:52:50.719 --> 00:52:53.059 If you liked it, please rate the podcast and 00:52:53.059 --> 00:52:54.719 share it with the weird people in your life. 00:52:54.940 --> 00:52:57.900 Follow us on Instagram at whataboutweird .pod 00:52:57.900 --> 00:53:00.059 where we often share pictures related to the 00:53:00.059 --> 00:53:03.019 episodes. If you have any topic suggestions or 00:53:03.019 --> 00:53:06.119 personal weird stories, please DM us or email 00:53:06.119 --> 00:53:10.219 us at whataboutweirdpod at gmail .com. And as 00:53:10.219 --> 00:53:14.340 always... What? Wait. What is our thing? What 00:53:14.340 --> 00:53:20.880 the fuck is our... Oh, always remember... And 00:53:20.880 --> 00:53:31.019 as always, fuck you. Okay. Go again. Always remember 00:53:31.019 --> 00:53:33.599 to ask about the weird. Bye for now.