This WA Day (Western Australia Day), Matt was the Distant Relative™ via facetime. His family was trying to burn out a tree stump in the back yard, for the 10th time.
During lunch, a production assistant brought ice cream cones to the "beach" and was attacked by seagulls, who stole both cones.
I'm wondering whether the planet is warming because of the increased relative proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, or the absolute amount. If it's the proportion, then could we alleviate the problem (theoretically at least) by putting loads more nitrogen and oxygen into the atmosphere?
We usually talk about it in ppm (parts per million), which is relative. Matt compares CO₂ to the bouncer of a club who lets high-frequency radiation through but not low-frequency radiation. The same amount of bouncers in a hallway that's twice as long are still as likely to catch you as before. However, the Earth is a sphere, so diluting would actually have a slightly positive effect. This apparently corresponds to a club where the bouncers stop you from leaving because you're too sober.
While it may technically work, you'd need about 85 times the atmosphere to reduce the greenhouse effect to pre-industrial levels. This would increase the atmospheric pressure by 85 times, while the human record (some deep sea diver) is around 75 times. If we manage to live like this, global warming is solved!
Bec is not giving it a ding until they hear back from any deep sea divers.
Andrew thought of this because in episode 018 (news), Bec mentioned she likes falling over like a plank. Andrew however has a medical condition which causes them to pass out randomly and unexpectedly. This goes along with a condition that means they dislocate their joints when doing this rather than breaking them. How would you reduce injury and/or make it the most funny? Since life is limited, less pain and more laughing is always good.
Bec is not giving pain relief or medical advice. She mentions Rowan Atkinson's "Funny Business", which Matt has also seen. Matt warns that standup comedians talking about comedy is a very dry subject.
Context: Something serious can be made funny if you know the consequences are not serious. Bec proposes Andrew should either only frequent soft places (bouncy castles, trampolines, pillow factories), or Andrew could wear something soft and protective.
Incongruenty: Pattern breaking, related to the rule of three. Anything can be funny if it appears somewhere unexpected (horse in an office), looks unexpected (the horse is tiny), or behaves unexpected (the horse is answering the phone). Andrew passing out unexpectedly is already funny by that measure.
Superiority/ranking: Andrew should look like they have a lot of money or power, i.e. should dress like the Monopoly man.
Public shaming: Something happening to you is funnier if you look like you deserve it (e.g. running over an ice lake). Andrew should be a jerk all the time, steal candy, down low too slow, ...
Relief: Building up tension and then releasing it, usually in verbal comedy and story telling. This would require timing on Andrew's part, which is not applicable.
Psychological distance: If you're distant (e.g. they're on TV, you don't like them), you might find it funnier.
Matt also suggests a T-Shirt with "It's okay, I thought it was funny as well" on the back. Bec warns of an "explosion at a clown factory", where too much funny factors make something unfunny.
Bec's conclusion: Andrew needs to become a sports mascot. It's padded and cartoony. Sports games have a lot of tension, relieved by mascots. They also are priviledged, getting to interact with the players. You're physically distant and thus psychologically distant. This is both career and life advice.
Matt tells an anecdote where he wore a galah mascot costume and ran into windows. He entered the video into Australia's Funniest Home Videos and got 500 bucks for it. Bec hopes Matt or a listener will find the footage.
Awaiting ding from Andrew.
@christhechemist wanted to know if Matt factored in the energy required for maintaining the leaves. Matt confirmed that he did.
Dexter (now aged 8 113/365) did a Dexter again and got to the same result as Bec, which is 1.224 bags. He also sent a drawing of the cage, which includes Pudding.
People are still sending in species suggestions, including the Pelegibacter ubique, a type of SAR11 bacteria. All SAR11 bacteria would form a line 10 times the width of the Milky Way galaxy, but include lots of species again. Matt is not convinced, and accepts the arctic krill as the final answer. No further solutions are accepted.
At the time of recording, the podcast has hit 200 Patreon supporters. Sophie is officially the 200th supporter. The podcast is on track for the current goal of pi hundred supporters in the second year, mentioned in problem 012-5.
A new survey is running to help with a problem for one of the next episodes. Matt wants to know what people call the substance they put on their skin when they go out into the sun.
Bec and Matt thank and welcome their new producer, Lauren Armstrong-Carter.
It is not Bec's card.