282: Spiking It To Ya

Summary

Good Job, Brain! – Episode 282: "Spiking It To Ya"

Released: December 11, 2024
Summary by [Podcast Summarizer]

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into “spiky” things—literal and metaphorical—covering everything from wordplay and cryptic crossword clues, to famous people (and dogs!) named Spike, to spiky animals, historical railroad spikes, and even “spiking” drinks. As always, the show is a lively trivia bonanza, brimming with fun facts, rapid-fire quizzes, and plenty of playful banter from hosts Karen, Colin, and Chris (with Dana absent this week).

---

Main Segments & Highlights

1. Show Intro & Word of the Day – "Zeugma"

[00:15 – 04:09]

• Listener Word Submission: Karen introduces "zeugma," a rhetorical device joining literal and metaphorical uses, using the line from The Lion King song "Be Prepared":
  • “Your teeth and ambitions are bared. Be prepared.”
  • “It's a figure of speech that combines both the literal and the metaphorical use of the word together.” – Karen ([02:44])
• Historical & Etymological Fun:
  • Not in the Scrabble dictionary, but “zeugma” is acceptable.
  • The Greek origin means “yoking together.”

2. Cryptic Crossword Clue [Christopher Meloni]

[04:09 – 06:36]

• Chris presents a cryptic crossword clue:
  • “Stabler destroyed lemon in front of me. (6 letters)” ([04:32])
  • Solution: “Meloni” (anagram of "lemon" + "I"), referencing actor Christopher Meloni, who played “Stabler” in Law & Order: SVU.

3. General Trivia Segment (Trivial Pursuit & Video Games)

[06:56 – 16:01]

• Trivial Pursuit Pop Quiz:
  • Gibraltar as the British territory adjacent to Spain.
  • “Supernatural” as the paranormal TV show with a black 1967 Chevy Impala.
  • The U.S. does have a central bank—the Federal Reserve ([10:09]).
  • “Gone Girl” adaptation, sum of pentagon angles (540°), chess pieces moving diagonally.
• Video Game Lightning Round (Celebrating Chris' new Tetris game):
  • Tim Schafer’s Double Fine studio.
  • Pokémon began on the Game Boy.
  • “Stranglehold” video game sequel to “Hard Boiled.”
  • The infamous Xbox “Red Ring of Death.”
  • Names of Streets of Rage heroes; Xbox One X codename “Scorpio”.
    • “I love seeing people be competent. So.” – Karen ([14:18])

---

4. Spiky Things Main Topic

A. Famous "Spikes" Quiz

[17:05 – 28:36]
Chris explores cultural figures named Spike, spanning from TV, comics, animation, games, and even real life:

• Trivia Questions:
  1. Spike Spiegel in “Cowboy Bebop”
  2. William Pratt ("Spike") in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” & “Angel”
  3. Snoopy’s brother, Spike, with all of Snoopy’s siblings—“Hard living dog” ([20:17])
  4. Multiple dog “Spikes” in Looney Tunes (Chester & Spike, Tree for Two) and Tom & Jerry (Son: Tyke)
  5. Spike the dog in Rugrats, voiced by Bruce Willis in Rugrats Go Wild ([22:43])
  6. “Ape Escape” protagonist is a boy named Spike; “Dudley Boys” wrestler team.
  7. “Wrecking Crew” (Mario & Luigi) adversary: Foreman Spike.
  8. "Degrassi" series—Amanda Steptoe as Christine “Spike” Nelson.
  9. “Old Yeller” – famous 1950s dog actor Spike.
  10. Why “Spike” is a nickname: “Put it [spiked collar] on a pit bull’s neck, they call him Spike…spiky hair, they call him Spike. It’s just a nickname.” – Chris ([27:35])

B. Spiky Things Grab Bag Quiz

[28:36 – 36:45]
Karen leads a lightning round of spiky-themed general trivia:

• Hair:
  • Bleached, spiky “frosted tips” style in 2000s boy bands.
• WWII Obstacles:
  • “Czech hedgehogs” and “dragon's teeth” as anti-tank defenses; called “Toblerones” in Switzerland ([30:36]).
• Animals:
  • Porcupine spikes = “quills;” hedgehog spikes = “spines.”
  • Porcupine babies = “porcupettes;” hedgehog babies = “hoglets.”
• Helmet:
  • The “Pickelhaube”—spiky Prussian/German helmet ([33:00])
• Sports:
  • “Spiking” in volleyball; invented by William Morgan for less physical exertion than basketball. Morgan was James Naismith's student.
• Fruits:
  • Durian, jackfruit, rambutan, and pitaya (dragon fruit) have spiky exteriors.
• Fairy Tales:
  • Spindle plays big roles in Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin.

---

5. Feature Segment: The Golden Spike – U.S. State Quarters & Railroad History

[39:17 – 56:23]
Colin takes over with nostalgic tales about pub quiz state quarters trivia, before delving deep into the history of the “Golden Spike” commemorating the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

• Memorable Moments:

  • Utah’s quarter features two locomotives and a giant spike—the “Golden Spike,” not Utah’s natural wonders.
  • The actual Golden Spike event in 1869 at Promontory Summit:
    • Gold spike was only tapped, not hammered.
    • Leland Stanford (namesake of Stanford University) was honored to drive the spike: “He missed it. He’s standing there. He had one job.” – Colin ([53:03])
    • The telegraph operator faked the “done” signal anyway.
    • Spike was immediately removed for safekeeping; the commemorative railroad tie burned in the fire after the 1906 SF earthquake.
    • The Golden Spike survives in Stanford’s Cantor Arts Museum.
  • “It’s like one of those things, like, for me, about American history where the more you dig into it, it’s a lot of yes and no. Like, yes, there was a golden spike. No, it wasn’t really hammered into place, and it was immediately removed…” – Colin ([56:15])

• Bonus: Karen shares the “Spitting Horse Quarter” (Delaware, 1999), a mint error making the horse look like it’s spitting.

---

6. Lightning Round: "Spike" – Alcohol Edition

[57:04 – 66:56]
Karen quizzes the group on the main or signature ingredients of various alcoholic beverages—because “spiking” a drink.

• Sample Questions & Answers:
  • Cider: Apples
  • Mead: Honey
  • Rum: Sugarcane
  • Kirsch: Cherries
  • Calvados: Apples
  • Tequila: Blue agave
  • Tapache: Pineapple
  • Pisco: Distilled grapes
  • Eau de vie: Pears (with full pears grown in the bottle! [62:01])
  • Kefir: Milk
  • Chambord: Raspberries
  • Mirin: Rice
  • Cynar: Artichoke ([64:12])
  • Frangelico: Hazelnut
  • Malört: Wormwood (Chicago’s “grossest” spirit; “At first you taste it…then it turns bad. The only thing to do is to drink more Malört.” – Chris [65:56])
  • Crème de cassis: Blackcurrant
  • Jerkum: Plum

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It's a big family... a word play trope with double meanings." – Karen on zeugma ([02:56])
• “I love seeing people be competent. So.” – Karen ([14:18])
• “Hard living Snoopy... hard living dog.” – Chris ([20:17, 20:41])
• “They literally look like big line of Toblerones.” – Karen, on Swiss defensive dragon teeth ([30:36])
• “Porcupines have quills. Hedgehogs have spines.” – Karen ([31:13])
• “Turns out [the Pickelhaube helmet] is terrible for warfare... High on form, low on function.” – Karen ([33:14])
• "In Switzerland they call dragon teeth, 'Toblerones.'" – Karen ([30:34])
• “If you were Leland Stanford, what’s the most embarrassing thing you could do? ...Miss.” – Karen & Colin ([53:02])
• “If it can be fermented, it has been fermented.” – Colin ([67:10])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:15 – Word of the Day: Zeugma
• 04:09 – Cryptic Crossword Clue (Christopher Meloni)
• 06:56 – General Trivia (Trivial Pursuit Card)
• 12:35 – Tetris discussion, Video Game Trivia celebration
• 16:13 – Introduction to “Spiky Things” topic
• 17:05 – Chris’s Famous “Spikes” quiz
• 28:36 – Spiky things grab-bag trivia (hair, obstacles, animals, helmets, fruits, fairy tales)
• 39:17 – Colin’s State Quarters & Golden Spike history lesson
• 56:44 – The “Spitting Horse Quarter”
• 57:04 – Lightning round: Alcohol and their base ingredients

---

Overall Episode Vibe

This episode typifies Good Job, Brain!’s signature blend of warmth, witty banter, deep-cut trivia, and joyful knowledge-sharing. Narrative tangents unfold into history lessons, personal stories, and mini “quiz shows,” all united by the playful theme of “spikes.” The hosts’ camaraderie and humor shine through, making even the most obscure facts engaging and memorable.

---

For trivia fans and the trivia-curious, “Spiking It To Ya” delivers both laughs and brain fuel, with plenty of quick quotes and facts you'll want to share at your next quiz night!

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

[B]

Hello, passionate poshes and pashminas eating passion fruit. Welcome to Good Job Brain, your weekly quiz show and offbeat trivia podcast. This is episode 282, and of course, I'm your host, humble host, Karen. And we are your armadas of barracudas eating enchiladas in verandas.

[A]

I am Colin.

[C]

And I'm Chris.

[B]

Well, we survived another week. Here we are Friday night after a long week of work and kids. Time to unwind by recording a podcast.

[A]

Yeah, unwind by chugging some Diet Coke and firing up the old laptop.

[B]

I have something from a listener Caroline shared, something called a zugma. O. Zugma. Zugma.

[A]

How do you spell that?

[B]

Z, E, U, G, M, A.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Is this, like, up, dog? Because I've been burned before. I can't remember.

[B]

What'S Zugma?

[C]

Balls.

[B]

Any idea what this could be?

[A]

Zugma. Okay. I could be anything. It could. It could be anything.

[B]

All right, so what is zugma? Well, let's. Let's take a trip. Audio trip. I'm going to play a clip. We're going to listen to it, and maybe you can identify not what a zugma is, but, like, maybe you can identify where the clip is from.

[C]

Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bad. Be prepared. Yes, our teeth and ambitions are bad. Be prepared.

[B]

Be prepared for what?

[C]

It's. It's when Jeremy Irons is singing.

[B]

So that clip is obviously from one of the best movies on earth, the LION KING. Yes, 1994. From the song Be Prepared when the hyenas and the evil Jeremy line. Jeremy Irons, lion or singing. He says something in the lyrics that I just played. Your teeth and ambitions are bared. Be prepared. That is a Zoogma. There are many different types of Zoogma. It's like kind of a big family. But one of them is this. It's a figure speech that combines both the literal and the metaphorical use of the word together.

[A]

Okay, okay. All right.

[C]

Your teeth are literally exposed.

[B]

Yeah. And then your.

[C]

And then your ambitions are metaphorically exposed.

[B]

Another example is I lost my house and my mind. I literally lost my house. And then it made me go crazy. You know, I lost my mind. And so it's that. That pairing, that kind of word play. Yes. Taking the two meanings, double meaning, kind of build it into to one.

[A]

So where did. Where does the word literally come from? Like, is it named after a person or is it like.

[B]

No, it's like Greek word meaning Yoking together. Roping together.

[A]

I like it. So, importantly, Karen, I need to know, is Zugma in the official Scrabble dictionary?

[B]

Oh, whoa, that's a good one. Let's see.

[A]

Because that could be very handy. A little five letter.

[B]

It shows up.

[A]

Hey, now we are in business.

[B]

Not only Zugma, but you can build off of it and spell zug. Muzzle.

[A]

Okay. Yeah. Starting with that. Ass off the. No one loved that move more than my mom. She's just such an expert at that. Oh, yeah. Let me just pluralize your word.

[B]

You have to start my own.

[A]

Yeah. Yep, yep. All right. Zugma. That is a fantastic word.

[C]

So over the last couple episodes, we've been doing cryptic crossword clues. I wasn't going to do one for this episode, but then actually, as I was putting together my quiz, I saw something and it inspired me. And I had to do another cryptic clue. Just one this time. Just one this time.

[B]

That's okay. We got a fever.

[C]

And we had the fever.

[B]

Is more critics.

[C]

So here is my cryptic crossword clue that I wrote for you guys this episode. Stabler destroyed lemon in front of me. Enumeration 6.

[B]

Stabler destroyed lemon in front of me. Okay, so. So what we're doing, Colin, we should.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Trying to find out what the trigger. Trigger word is. The indicator will go from there.

[A]

So I see one at the end. I see in front of me. Right.

[B]

And destroyed. So destroyed may be anagram messing it up. And then in front means placing.

[A]

I think.

[B]

So Stabler. Elliot Stabler from Law and Order svu. Am I right about Law and Order?

[C]

Elliot Stabler is the name of a character. Absolutely correct.

[A]

You are absolutely correct about that.

[B]

Or something that's like a horse stable.

[A]

Yeah. Something related to stables. Right. Okay. Okay. All right. Destroyed meaning, like, broke up. The letters of lemon, you think? Or like.

[B]

Oh, there's only six letters, right?

[A]

Yes, that's right. But. And then in front of me. So if it's six letters, and let's just say it's literally, like, ends in letter M, E. Right. So maybe.

[B]

Okay, that makes sense. That's six letters. Right. So anagram of lemon. And then ends with I. Yep.

[A]

Meloni, Christopher Meloni, Melanie. Oh, Karen, you got it there with the Elliot Stabler. I'm like, I can. I'm picturing his face this whole time we're doing this. I'm like, maybe, maybe not. Maybe, maybe not.

[B]

But wow.

[A]

Okay, so lemon. So just to spell it out. I mean, literally, so. So lemon anagrammed into melon in front of Me so Melon plus I. Melon I. Meloni. As in the actor Christopher Meloni?

[C]

Indeed.

[A]

Wow. So we know what you were doing when you came up with this one, Chris, in other words.

[B]

Yeah. Was Law and Order playing on tv? No.

[C]

No, I was. I was looking at actors and it turns out that Christopher Maloney actually played a character with a certain name that is relevant to the topic of this show.

[A]

I see.

[B]

All right, well, without further ado, let's jump into our first general trivia segment. Pop quiz, hotshot. And when I say general, I do have a general Trivial Pursuit card. Random from the box. And you guys have your barnyard buzzers. So we got buzzing the right answer and. And I got a stack of some mystery cards afterwards that we're going to answer some trivia question. Kind of celebrating Chris and Chris's achievements this week.

[C]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

Yeah. All right, here we go. Well, first Trivial Pursuit card. Get your barnyard buzzers ready, listeners. Let's answer some questions. See if you can be faster or better than.

[A]

Or both.

[B]

Or both. All right, here we go. Blue wedge for geography. Which British territory is adjacent to Spain?

[A]

Which British territory is adjacent to Spain?

[B]

Okay, the next two, as in touching.

[A]

Feel like we should know this, Chris.

[B]

I know.

[C]

I feel like we should know this. I can't think of it though.

[B]

You know, my first thought was Ibiza. Ibiza. I was like, oh, a lot of British people go party there. But then I was like, that's an island.

[A]

Yeah, I was again, the only ones I could think of were the tiny little islands. But that's not adjacent.

[B]

Is the gateway to the Mediterranean.

[A]

Gibraltar. Gibraltar. Gibraltar. Yes, of. Of course.

[C]

I am not going to pretend that I knew that.

[A]

All right. Okay.

[B]

Pink wedge for pop culture. Which long running paranormal TV series sparked fans interest in and desire to own a black 1967 Chevy Impala hard top.

[C]

Chris Knight Rider.

[B]

Incorrect. No, paranormal.

[C]

Oh, I thought that was paranormal because the car. Oh, okay, maybe the car doesn't have.

[A]

A ghost in was high tech. Yeah, it wasn't a ghost.

[C]

Night Rider. What long running paranormal series inspired people to want to own A what?

[B]

Black 1967 Chevy Impala hardtop.

[A]

Black. To figure into the long running files. Let's think a little bit more recent files. Paranormal.

[C]

That was just. That was just the other day that show was on.

[A]

Okay. I mean, I have no idea when these cards are printed either is the thing. It's like this card could be 16. Okay. All right, all right, all right.

[C]

Is this a reality show or.

[B]

No, no, it's Not Ghost Hunters.

[C]

Okay. Scripted.

[B]

Two hunky brothers.

[C]

Really?

[B]

It is supernatural.

[C]

Never heard of it in my life.

[B]

What? The Winchester brothers.

[A]

Oh. So, okay, so they drove. So they drove this car in the show, I assume. Okay. All right.

[B]

Yes, yes.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Car was not a talking character. Here we go. Yellow wedge. The United States does not have a central bank. True or false, Colin?

[A]

True. The United States does not have a central.

[C]

I don't think so.

[B]

The answer is false. The Federal Reserve System is the central.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I'm like, we have a Federal Reserve.

[B]

It's like, it's confusing. It's like. We don't call it a central bank.

[A]

That was really what I was going by. That's really all I was going on. Okay.

[B]

Lousy. Lousy. All right, shake it off, shake it off. Purple wedge, which Jillian Flynn bestseller, was adapted to a blockbuster thriller starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. Chris.

[C]

Gone girl.

[B]

Gone girl. All right, here we go. Green wedge. What is the sum of the interior angles of a pentagon?

[C]

Oh, geez.

[B]

Some of the interior angles.

[C]

Interior angles. Okay, well, okay, so a square is 360 degrees.

[A]

Correct?

[C]

Okay. A pentagon is more than that.

[B]

How many is a triangle?

[C]

Interior angles, open up a little bit more. How many is a triangle?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

One. 180, right?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Like an equal 180, right, right.

[C]

360.

[A]

Classic example. Mm.

[C]

So what is it? Three, you think it's 360 plus 180, whatever that may be.

[B]

540 you got there.

[C]

Interesting.

[A]

Very nice.

[C]

I was not told there would be math.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All right, last question on this card. Orange wedge. Name three of the four chess pieces that can move diagonally on the board. You know what? Name all four, please.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Right.

[A]

All right. So we can do this together, right? Queen. Yes.

[C]

Bishop.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Are we. Are we saying the. The knight? Oh, no. The king can move diagonally.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

The pawn can also move diagonally. Situations.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

L shaped.

[C]

L shaped.

[A]

L shaped.

[C]

It ends up being. It ends up being diagonal, though.

[A]

But I. I directly. Diagonal.

[C]

Reject the premise.

[B]

Yes. What a good point. Point A to point B. It is diagonal. It's not 45 degrees diagonal. No one said that.

[A]

Exactly. Yeah, we know what they meant to be.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. All right. So speaking of L shapes, Chris had a bit of achievement this week. Tetris Forever came out. You can go play Tetris and explore the histories.

[C]

This is the. This is the. Good job, brain fans. Tetris game.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Because it is a. It's a. It's A virtual museum of Tetris history. We've got. You got the Tetris games, but then there's also the full on story of the history of Tetris. How Tetris was made. Lots of Tetris trivia.

[B]

It's like reading the plaque, but you play it.

[C]

Exactly, exactly.

[B]

To celebrate your achievement. Here I have a stack of. Here you go. Video game trivia cards. Let me just say it's not very efficient. It's like two questions on a card. Okay, so this is why I grabbed a stack. So let's play. Everybody, let's just see. Let's just see how good our video game trivia knowledge.

[A]

You have not looked at these.

[B]

They don't do the flippy thing. So the answer is like.

[A]

Right, so you can.

[B]

Okay, yeah, buzz in with the answer. Here we go. Question. After leaving Lucas Arts, which video game studio did acclaimed game developer Tim Schaefer form in the year 2000? My friend. Yeah, right, Chris.

[C]

Double fine.

[B]

On which handheld console did the Pokemon games first appear in 1996?

[A]

Over to you, Chris.

[C]

Game Boy.

[B]

Correct. Which 2007 video game was released as the sequel to the 1992 film Hard Boiled? John Woo movie.

[C]

Wow. It's a John Moo movie.

[B]

I think this starred Chow Young Fat too. Like as a video game version of it. Chris.

[C]

Strangle hole.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I have set down my buzzer at this point, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm cheering on my friend Chris.

[B]

I love seeing people be competent. So.

[A]

Yes. It's so sad. Extremely satisfying.

[B]

All right, what was the final home console released by Sega Dreamcast. Correct. You know what? This will just be a. Let's stump. Chris.

[C]

We, you know, at Penny Arcade Expo 1, we did win Chris Kohler's video games like Wind Benson Signs, Money. You had to, had had to go up against me in video game trivia questions. It was not pretty.

[B]

A race of cat like creatures, the Char C H A R R first became Playable in which 2012 MMORPG?

[C]

Final Fantasy 14.

[B]

It is Guild Wars 2 early models of which console were plagued by a hardware fault commonly referred to as the red ring of death?

[A]

Xbox. Xbox 360. I knew 360.

[B]

Okay, last two cards. What are the names of the three playable characters in the first Streets of Rage?

[C]

Axel, Blaze and. Oh God. It's Axel and Blaze and Adam. Oh, I was never gonna get that.

[A]

Incredible.

[B]

Before its release by what codename was the Xbox One X called Scarlet. Oh, you're close.

[C]

Xbox One was Scarlet. Xbox One. Durango. No, Durango. Oh, Scorpio.

[A]

So close. Scarlet. It was in there.

[C]

Wow. If you're getting in there for video game trivia.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It's got to be. It's got to be a little card. Yeah, exactly. Because it can't just be right.

[B]

Yeah. Who's Mario's brother? All right. Good job. Woo. All right, folks, this week, our topic. Colin did not pick it. I suggested it.

[A]

Oh, no. Yeah, you suggested a great one.

[B]

Because I recently went to an Asian supermarket and they were selling durian. Durian and jackfruits. You know, some. Some produce that you don't see at normal supermarkets, but you do see at Asian supermarkets. And I was like, wow, smells like home. I'm looking at all this produce. I was like, man, they all look so freaky and weird and spiky.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that's when. That's when the inspiration hit. And I was like, oh, spiky things. What a. What a weird topic. That I can suggest. I don't know what you guys are doing. I know I have my segments. So this week, we're spiking it to ya.

[C]

So I discovered in looking at the word Spike, and what I might try to come up with is that Christopher Maloney, well known as Detective Elliot Stiebler from law and svu, actually played a character once on a television show whose name was Spike. That television show. That television show was. That's right. Dinosaurs.

[B]

What?

[C]

And there was a. There was a punk dinosaur named Spike played by Christopher Maloney.

[B]

Oh, my God. Dinosaurs. As in the. The puppet. The puppet sitcom. The American.

[C]

That's the one. Oh, my God. That's the one. The dinosaur puppets.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

I really, really love that show. I don't know.

[A]

I did too.

[B]

Like, do people make fun of it or is it bad or. Like, I really thought it was.

[C]

I think you can unironically like it. Yeah.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Good, good.

[B]

Oh, my God. It's the. The teenage punk friend.

[C]

Yep. The teenage punk friend was Christopher Meloni.

[B]

In the suit or just the voice?

[C]

I. That's a good question. I don't. Were they in suits? I don't know. Maybe he was, but I don't think so.

[A]

I think at least a shirt.

[C]

I think it was a. I think it was a voice role. I think it was a voice roll.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

No, he played. He played Spike. And you know, the thing is, there's. Gosh, there sure are a lot of different characters and people out there named Spike. Just that great. Go to name.

[B]

I didn't even think about that when I suggested this.

[C]

So I have a quiz about people named Spike. There sure are a lot of them. Christopher Baloney's, you know, tragicomic hero character from dinosaurs does not figure into this quiz. Just a bunch of other people and a whole lot of dogs. A whole lot of dogs names.

[A]

Oh, I didn't realize we were including dogs and. Okay, all right, all right.

[C]

So get your barnyard buzzers ready, because here is the people that are named Spike Quiz. First question. Spike Spiegel is the protagonist of this 1998 anime series. Karen.

[B]

Cowboy Bebop.

[C]

Cowboy Bebop. Just to get our brains a little loose there. Kind of an easy one. All right, second question. William Pratt, AKA Spike, was played by James Marsters in what two television series.

[B]

Karen, that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

[A]

And Angel.

[C]

Great work. A certain comic strip character, first introduced on August 13, 1975, named Spike has seven siblings who are named Andy, Marbles, Olaf, Belle, Molly, Rover, and Blank. Whoa, everybody. Colin.

[A]

That is, of course, Snoopy.

[C]

Snoopy, sure care. Was gonna say that, too. Yes, Snoopy's. Snoopy's seven siblings. Yes, Snoopy.

[B]

We talked about that once. Our former co host, Dana describes Spike as a hard living.

[C]

Yeah, he's got, like, droopy eyes, a big mustache. Yes. He lives in.

[A]

He lives in Arizona, right?

[C]

No, actually near Needles, California.

[A]

Oh, okay. All right.

[C]

In fact, whoa. In the real town of Needles, California, there is Statue.

[A]

That's wonderful.

[C]

Spike.

[B]

Hard living Snoopy.

[C]

Hard living dog. All right, another. Another dog named spike. In the 1952 Looney Tunes short tree for two, Spike the bulldog pals around with a little terrier named. Named Blank.

[B]

Looney Tunes Terrier.

[C]

This is the classic Sylvester the Cat cartoon where you have Spike the Bulldog and you have a little terrier going. You and me as friends, right? You want to do Spike. Anybody know the name of that dog's name?

[A]

Who was that?

[C]

All right, well, if you, the listeners have got it, you are the trivia mastermind of the day, because that little dog is named Chesky.

[B]

Oh, that's a different dog name, too.

[A]

No way would I have Fester and Spike.

[C]

Oh, Chester and Spike. Classic. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. Classic. Now, I don't want you to confuse Spike the Bulldog from Looney Tunes with the similar but completely different Spike the Bulldog from Tom and Jerry.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

Maybe that's different dogs. Yes, this one, this Spike the Bulldog from Tom and Jerry doesn't pal around with a little terrier, but he does hang around with his rhymingly named son, whose name is Blank. Colin.

[A]

Ike.

[C]

Not. No, it's not Ike. It's his. It's his. It's his little son. The word meaning what? It is indeed.

[A]

Love those Tom and Jerry with the dog. Yeah.

[C]

So I guess everybody loves naming their dog Spike because there's another dog named Spike in another cartoon TV show, Rugrats. In the 2003 movie Rugrats Go Wild, Spike was voiced by this Hollywood icon who also lent his voice talents to the baby. And look who's talking. Who is not named Spike, Karen?

[B]

Bruce Willis.

[C]

It's Bruce Willis.

[B]

I need that. Look who's talking.

[A]

Yeah, the anchor, not dog.

[C]

Spike is also the name of the protagonist of this 1999 PlayStation game about time traveling monkeys. Not a monkey, not a dog. Name it. The protagonist of this 1999 PlayStation game about time traveling monkeys.

[B]

Time traveling monkeys. It's not Super Monkey Ball.

[C]

It is not. It is a rhyming name.

[B]

PlayStation 1.

[C]

Time traveling monkeys. Many listeners are tearing their hair out right now waiting.

[B]

Not Rayman.

[C]

Somebody to say Ape Escape. Ape Escape is the name of that. In the world of the wwe, a wrestler named Spike joined his half brothers Bubba Ray and D. Von in this tag team.

[B]

Oh, Karen, it's not like. It's not like Bash Brothers.

[C]

It's like this is a. You know it or you don't.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

That is the Dudley Boys.

[A]

The Dudley.

[C]

The Dudley Boys. Devon Dudley, Bubba Ray Dudley.

[B]

None of them are actually related.

[C]

None of them are actually related. And Spike Dudley. All right, well, let's shake it off. Let's move on. In the 1984 arcade game Wrecking Crew, foreman Spike attempts to interfere with these two construction workers.

[A]

Oh, Wrecking crew.

[C]

In the 1984 arcade game Wrecking Crew, foreman Spike attempts to interfere with these two construction workers, Mario and Luigi. It's Mario.

[A]

Oh, nice.

[C]

Nice work, Karen. Yes. Christine Nelson, aka Spike, was played by Amanda Steptoe from 1987 until 2010 across three different series in this teen drama franchise.

[B]

Whoa, that's a long time.

[C]

It sure is, Karen. It sure is, Christine. Spike Nelson was played by Amanda Steptoe from 1987 until 2010 across three different series in this teen drama franchise. In this need it even be said long running. Is it teen drama franchise, Colin?

[A]

Is it the Degrassi franchise?

[C]

It is the Degrassi verse. Yes, Degrassi. She played Spike, who had massively spiked hair in Degrassi Junior High and then in Degrassi High. And now in the Next Generation as the mom of one of the kids going to the Dragon.

[A]

Amazing teenager.

[C]

No, it's not like a Grease situation where there's a 40 year old playing. Finally, last question. A real life yellow mastador. That's a mastiff slash Labrador.

[B]

Oh, cute.

[C]

Named Spike was a famous dog actor of the 1950s, appearing in films like A Dog of Flanders and the she Creature. But Spike was best known for his title role in this 1957 smash hit from Disney.

[B]

I was gonna say Old Yeller, but I was like, man, that's real sad night. Smashing.

[A]

But that would fit, right? Old Yeller. I mean, if that would be his best.

[B]

And Labrador. I mean, yeah, that's like kind of a golden retriever doggy.

[C]

I'll read the question again. A real life yellow mastador.

[A]

That's a mastodor.

[C]

All right.

[A]

Old Yeller. Old Yeller.

[C]

Yes. It's. Nobody's buzzing in and everybody's so like, is it this Holland?

[A]

Old Yeller?

[C]

It's Old Yeller as previously suggested by Karen.

[B]

But that was a smash hit.

[C]

Oh, God.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Gosh. One of, like, the highest grossing films of that year. I mean, it was huge. Huge, huge.

[B]

I have a question. Yeah, Like a spike short for something.

[C]

Spike Thalamu.

[B]

Really?

[C]

No, no, it's like a spike. Like a pointy thing.

[B]

Why do people call people Spike? It's such a.

[C]

Put it. Because they, you know, they put a spiked collar on, like, the pit bull's neck, and they call him Spike. Or, you know, somebody has spiky hair, so they call him Spike. It's just. It's a nickname. Yeah. All right. Great job knowing your fictional spikes. I did not ask about the character Spike from Super Mario Brothers 3 who pulls a giant spiked ball out of his own mouth.

[B]

Oh.

[C]

And throws at Mario.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Doesn't spit it. He doesn't spit it. He reaches in with his hand.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And.

[A]

Yeah. It feels more disrespectful that way, to be honest. If I were on the other side. Exactly. That's a measured.

[C]

Who does that? Who does that?

[A]

Did he have it ready to go? Just. Did he produce it on demand?

[C]

That octopus poops his own children at me. And I feel better about that than what you're doing right now.

[B]

All right, here I have a grab bag quiz of spiky things. Things that are spiky, sharp, pointy. Let's buzz in for this. All right, here we go. Question number one. What bleached hairstyle came into popularity in the 2000s thanks to the era of boy bands? O.

[C]

Chris, this is like frosted tips. Is that what you're talking about?

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yes. Frosted Rachel chips.

[C]

The Rachel.

[B]

A lot of dudes looking like porcupines.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

With albino porcupines.

[B]

You know, and we all thought it was like the most attractive thing ever. All right, next question. Czech hedgehogs and dragon teeth were widely used during World War II to do what?

[C]

What? Czech hedgehogs?

[B]

Yes, Czech as in Czech hedgehogs and dragon teeth were widely used during World War II to do what? Colin?

[A]

They were anti tank. Right? To stop tanks from moving.

[B]

They were anti tank obstacles. Check. Hedgehog sounds so nutty. But you've seen, I swear you've seen them before. All the pictures of like Normandy beaches. You see these big like metal giant like jacks big kind of 3D * of like a metal thing. And they're just placed along the beach and they're huge. And they were designed to stop tanks. And dragon teeth are made out of concrete and they're concrete pyramids. So there's these spiky concrete pyramids that would just sit on the ground, basically deter tanks from. From moving. In Switzerland they call dragon teeth. They call them Toblerones.

[A]

Oh, no way.

[B]

They literally look like big line of tolburones. Speaking of hedgehog, let's talk about some spiky animals, huh? What are the spikes on a porcupine called versus what are the spikes on a hedgehog called?

[A]

Oh, I buzzed in a little prematurely.

[B]

Well, Colin, take a stab.

[A]

Well, I, I, so to speak, I believe that on a, on a porcupine, I believe they're called quills.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah, okay, I know, I think I know. Hedgehog.

[A]

Okay. All right, well, tag team, over to you here.

[C]

Chris, are they spines?

[B]

Yes, you're correct. Porcupines have quills. Hedgehogs have spines. Colloquially, we'll use them kind of interchangeably. Quills and spines are different. They're both made of keratin. But quills, porcupines can eject quills. They can pop them out. And quills are structured kind of like arrows where it's like barbed and angled. So it's really hard to pull them out without like doing some real damage. Hedgehogs have spines. The ends of them are, they're a little bit rounder. The spines are part of their body. They can't pop them out. Both animals are born with their quills and spines as babies. Baby porcupines, their, their quills are really, really soft, so they're able to not hurt the mother when they come out. And then baby hedgehogs, they actually have this like, kind of like membrane. This Fluid membrane padding and lubrication. I guess when they come out of their moms and then within a day, that, that, that membrane dissolves and dries away. And that's how they, that's how they're born. They're actually born with their quills and their spines.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

Fun fact. A baby porcupine is called a porcupet.

[A]

A.

[B]

Oh, you think that's cute? Baby hedgehogs are called hoglets. And hoglet.

[A]

You're right. That was cute. That's pretty. That's pretty dang cute.

[C]

It is free. Thank you.

[B]

Okay, next question. Okay, this is German, so I listened to the German pronunciation. Here we go. The pickelhaub is a spiky. What usually associated. Oh. With the Prussian army. Colin. Throwback from the old Prussian.

[A]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is ringing a bell. I believe this is the spiky helmet. Just like the classic. Right. Spiky helmet.

[B]

The Kaiser, German, Prussian spiky helmets. Looks real cool. Looks real badass.

[A]

Yeah, it does.

[B]

Turns out it's terrible. It's terrible for warfare.

[A]

Wildly impractical for day to day warfare.

[B]

During World War I where there was a lot of trench warfares. Who wants a big metal spike on the end of your. Your helmet while you're in the trenches? You poke people. They. They say that they've caused some real damage to horses. They're horses because they have a giant piercy thing on top of their heads. High on form, low on function. Here we go. Next question. While spiking is a move in volleyball where you forcefully hit the ball, slamming it to the other side, did you know that volleyball was derived from badminton?

[C]

I did not know that.

[B]

Don't let it touch the ground.

[A]

Makes sense.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Yep. Yep. Funnily enough, William Morgan, the inventor of volleyball, was a student of whom the inventor of basketball, Colin.

[A]

James Naismith.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Really?

[B]

You know, William Morgan invented volleyball as a less physically taxing option than basketball. I think they're men of a certain age. Maybe basketball is a little bit full court press is a little bit too much. So let's, let's have some exciting sport, but just without a lot of moving.

[A]

That's funny. I, you know, I, I, as you may know, Karen, I played volleyball in high school and I don't think I was aware of this connection.

[B]

All right, next question. So like I said, I was inspired by tropical fruits. I saw jackfruit in durian. There's so many tropical fruits with hard spikes and soft spikes, including the durian. The jackfruit The Rambutan and the Pitaya. Commonly known as what? Oh, pitaya. P I T A Y a. Huh? It's commonly known as.

[A]

Commonly known. So, like, have I. Have I had this item?

[B]

Karen. A hundred percent.

[A]

Is it A hundred percent?

[B]

It's a fruit. Tropical fruit.

[C]

Are those sprites?

[A]

It is.

[C]

What is it?

[B]

Dragon fruit. Dragon.

[C]

Maybe that's what I was thinking of.

[A]

Okay. Yeah.

[B]

Dragon fruit. One of the freakiest fruits out there.

[A]

Oh, man, it totally is. A doctor.

[B]

It's so free.

[A]

It's like an alien egg.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

This bright pink thing and you open it, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What's in here? Last question here. Hope you know your fairy tales. Name two classic fairy tales where the spindle spinning wheel plays a big part of the plot.

[C]

Rumpelstiltskin and Sleeping Beauty.

[A]

The same.

[B]

Turns out the spindle not actually that sharp. So it's kind of like.

[C]

Oh, yeah, right. It's like a. Yeah, like wood.

[B]

It's a big wooden.

[C]

Right.

[A]

Spool.

[B]

Right. In most versions of Sleeping Beauty, she gets pricked. She pricks herself off of the spindle and then that's when she. She falls asleep. And Rumpelstiltskin basically shows up because a woman was trapped, challenged to spin straw into gold and she couldn't do it. So Rumpelstiltskin appears and helps her in exchange for something. Exchange for her child.

[A]

Oh, I thought you were gonna leave it open, you know, for like, you know, as an exercise to the listener. Yeah.

[B]

All right, that's my grab bag Spiky things quiz. Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Factor. The leaves are falling, the kids are schooling, and there's pumpkin in our lattes. That's right. Summer's changing in the fall and brings big change into our routine as well. My oldest kid just started kindergarten, so shout out to all the COVID babies who are also starting kindergarten this year. Finding the time to cook can be tough as I'm adjusting to this brand new schedule. That's why I factor in my back pocket, but not literally in my back pocket. They're in my fridge. They're chef prepped. Dietitian approved. Meals make it easy to eat healthy no matter how hectic the season gets. So eat [e-mail] goodjob 50 off and use the code good job 50 off to get 50% off your first box. Plus four free breakfast for one year. That's code good job 50 off@factorm meals.com for 50% off your first box and free breakfast for one year. Get delicious ready to eat meals delivered with Factor offers only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. Hey. This episode is brought to you by IXL Learning, an online learning program that enriches the homeschool curriculum that offers subjects in school science, math, English language arts, social studies and more. Entrusted by 15 million students worldwide. Back to school looks different when you're a homeschooling family. Whether you're continuing a rhythm or shaking things up with a brand new curriculum, it's a perfect time for reset. IXL is a simple way to bring structure, confidence and progress to your homeschool routine. If you're listening to this podcast, then you know how the right framing can can make any bit of knowledge more memorable and more meaningful. IXL makes it easy to keep learning engaging with interactive content, games, videos, awards and moments of celebration. So make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and Good Job Brain listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixl.com goodjobbrain visit ixl.com goodjobBrain to get the most effective learning program out there and at the best price.

[C]

You're listening to Good Job Brain. Smooth puzzles, Smart trivia. Good Job Brain.

[B]

And we're back. Colin, it's your turn. What you got?

[A]

You guys remember back in the day when we were hitting pub quiz every single week? I mean, like we didn't miss every single week. Yeah, pre kids this is, you know, and sometimes even twice a week, you know, sometimes we would manage to feel, oh, we just dropped in, we dropped in for a beer. It turned out it was pub quiz so we had to stay and oh.

[C]

And you know, we got first place.

[A]

Yeah, you know, no big deal twice if we were feeling crazy. But this was like right in the period when we were getting a lot of a very specific type of trivia question that I loved. I feel like we as a team liked these, which were trivia about the state quarters program. Do you remember we used to get these a lot in public. And just to briefly recap, what I'm talking about was from 1999, over a period of 10 years, the US Mint was issuing special commemorative quarters where the, the front was normal, you know, George Washington. And on the back was a different design one for each of the 50 states. And it was a.

[B]

Do they not make them anymore?

[A]

Well, I mean they still issue them, but this was the big Program.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they have then gone on to do other special editions of U.S. territories and, you know, all kinds of commemorative things, in part because this was such a big hit, the 50 states, 50 quarters program. It was just, it was. It was so well conceived, like five a year for 10 years. And they released the coins, as you may recall, in order that the states effectively were admitted to the Union. Right. Or, you know, formally ratified the right.

[B]

Hold, hold on, Colin. When you said it's a hit, like, what is their measurement for success? Like, just like people were talking about it.

[A]

I mean, both. I mean, so no surprise that there are coin nerds. Right. You know, there are numismatic nerds who will happily, excitedly buy the special sets that the U.S. mint puts out every year. And the U.S. mint, you know, makes a fair amount of revenue putting out special edition commemorative editions. Yeah. I mean, people were writing news articles about it and it got a lot of coverage and it bled into pub quiz. I think the fact that this one really crossed over into the general public consciousness in a way that a lot of the other special coins, you know, maybe didn't. This could show up in pub quiz in any number of ways. Right. It could be, you know, here are five designs of the different styles. State quarters. You match them to the state. So, for example, the. The design on the back of the California quarter that was issued in 2005. It's a picture of John Muir and the California Condor and Half Dome from Yosemite. Like, really, really crammed a lot in there on the very tiny little canvas. Right.

[B]

Obviously they focused on this kind of like nature, natural wonder angle. No bears.

[A]

Nope. No. You know what I mean? I'm sure the bears were on the short list somewhere. Yeah. Chris, like, you know, your, Your great home state of Connecticut. Do you know what's on the Connecticut quarter?

[C]

Oh, nutmeg.

[A]

It is the. I had to look up what this was. It is the charter oak. I was not familiar with the charter.

[C]

Yeah, I do remember. Yeah. Like, it's tree. It's not like a cool. It's like a tree with, like sunglasses on it that's like.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, it's not the California raisins. No, it's. It's a tree.

[C]

It should have been on the California coins.

[A]

The California raisins should have been on the California coin. No. So, Karen, your adoptive home state now of Washington. Do you know what. Do you know what's on the Washington state?

[B]

Is it like a bunch of stuff?

[A]

It's. It's another one that has a Couple of things.

[B]

I will say Mount Rainier.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

You got it. You got Mount Rainier. That's, that's like basically 50% of it. You're halfway. Oh, really?

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. If you had to pick an animal, let's say an animal to go along with Mount Rainier, like an orca. I like the way you're thinking. It's. It's actually a salmon. It is a salmon leaping out of the water against a backdrop of Mount Rainier. And then the caption on there says the Evergreen State. They ran through all 50. Every state has their own design. Some I have know some personal favorites. I'm not going to name them here. I don't want to get any hate mail from states. I don't list. Do you guys, do you happen to know what is the design, the official state quarter design for the great state of Utah? Do you know or can you guess what it might be?

[B]

Your go to is going to be Salt Lake. But then I feel like that's really hard to portray a lot of national parks.

[A]

There's a lot to choose from.

[B]

Tabernacle.

[A]

I don't know what is on the Utah state coin issued in 2007, essentially is a picture of two locomotives nose to nose, practically kissing. Kissing, basically touching. The cow catchers touching against a mountain backdrop and depicted hovering majestically between them is a giant railroad spike.

[C]

Knew we were gonna get there eventually.

[A]

The slogan across it the. The crossroads of the West.

[B]

I see.

[A]

So this coin commemorates a very famous event that happened in Utah, but was not necessarily part of Utah's natural beauty or Utah's indigenous history or anything like that. So this, this incident depicted there of the two railroad engines touching. Giant railroad spike signifying commemorating the completion of the transcontinental railroad.

[C]

Sure.

[A]

We hear about this as kid Will.

[B]

Smith movie in Wild, Wild West.

[A]

Yes, yes, yes.

[B]

That's my frame of reference.

[A]

Yep, yep. But, but no look like, like any great, you know, semi, semi historical fiction carrot, you got to have some basis in fact.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So let's talk very briefly about railroad construction here for just, just a moment. All right. Especially as it was practiced in the, in the mid to late 1800s. It is hard work, I know not to, not to, not to undersell it, but it is hard work building the railroads, broadly speaking. Once you have cleared the right of way, you've got your path, you've graded it out to the right angle, you know, the trains have got to be able to get up it with enough power. They'll be able to get down it safely. You've got your bed down, you know, maybe some crushed rock, you know, whatever, whatever you're laying down. And then you're laying down railroad ties. Big chunks of timber 8ft long, 8 inches square, big chunks of timber. You're laying those down crossways, and then the rails are going to come along perpendicular to those, right? Yeah. Okay. When you put the rails down on the ties, the wooden chunks back in those days almost exclusively, you have to spike them in. You have to make sure that they stay in place. And so on each side of the tie, you've got a railroad spike, you know, maybe around six inches long. You got to do one of two things. You either hammer it in manually the whole way, just bang, bang in there until it's in there. You know, maybe if you're lucky, you've got a machine that might help you and you might just need to set it in there and the machine might help you hammer it out the rest of the way. Right. But, but either way, every tie spikes. Every tie spikes all the way down. Right? All right, so that's a very short kind of little background there. Growing up just in the west, in California, I've heard about like, oh, the completion of the transcontinental railroad is the golden spike. I heard that the last spike that they, that they drove in was, was made of gold. And I was like, is this rude? Terrible?

[B]

Wouldn't it melt? Malleable?

[A]

Yeah, like, like one of the defining characteristics of gold, Right? Exactly. Is how malleable and how ductile it is. It seems like it would just like, squish. So anyway, back to the event. So this, this was on May 10, 1869, near Promontory Summit, Utah, north of Great Salt Lake. This was an event that had been years in the making. It was a major milestone in the development of the U.S. i mean, you know, hard to, hard to overstate how big a deal this was because it was joining up the Central Pacific Railway out on the west coast and the Union Pacific Railways coming out west from the east for the first time. You would in theory be able to travel all the way from coast to coast by rail in a matter of days. Right. So before, before the railroad was completed, you know, you could travel cross country by wagon in like six months. If you wanted to get out to, out to San Francisco from the east coast or stagecoach, if you're lucky, maybe, maybe a little over three weeks, you could do it. And after the railroad was completed, the goal was under two weeks. And if you could afford it, the, the high class first class travel the whole way, you know, as, as short as five days. So this is huge. So like it opened up economy and trade and exploration. This was a huge event. Like people were waiting to hear about this. There was a telegraph station set up there to capture this event. Just ready, literally ready to let the rest of the country know the moment that it was completed. Like, like just hanging on, hanging on every moment. The story of this day has a lot, it's like, it's almost like one of these, like microcosm of, you know, American history in a way. I mean you've got like the wealthy industrialists, the robber barons, the railroads. You've got almost exclusively immigrant crews of workers building the rails. Yeah, I mean to be very clear, back breaking labor, the crew working out from California east was overwhelmingly Chinese workers. The crews working west out from Nebraska area were overwhelmingly Irish. And you know, of course it had a lot of negative impacts too on a lot of the native peoples who lived out in the area where they were building these railroad tracks. Snapshot of what, of what it meant to be an American at that time. So I've heard this story before, at least the broad strokes, the golden spike, the hammer, all this. The other part of the story that always stuck with me is that as I heard this story, the last spike, you know, hammered in here was driven by, by none other than Leland Stanford himself. So Leland Stanford, among, among other things, was a very wealthy industrialist. He was the eighth governor of California. Importantly, as it relates to this story, he was a big wig executive of the Central Pacific Railway. He also, of course Karen, as you, as you know, along with his wife Jane, established a well known university here in the Bay Area. Strictly speaking, Stanford University is not named after Leland Stanford himself, but after their son Leland Stanford Jr. Died at 15 from typhoid, they wanted to name the university in a way of honoring him. Yeah, as a Cal bear, as Karen and I are, it's our rival school. All right, the golden spike. Okay. Stanford, he was given the honor of driving the last spike because he was, you know, very instrumental in making it happen. He was to be provided with indeed a silver hammer. Oh, a silver hammer to drive in this spike. And now when I say hammer, it's not your toolbox hammer. There's a very specific hammer used in driving railroad spikes. It's called a spike maul. M A U L. Yeah, great Star wars character name. Spike Maul. Yeah. Maybe Darth Maul's cousin from, you know, outside Needles. A spike, a spike mall has is a hammer with A pretty long handle and a very elongated business and hammer and the steel end of it.

[B]

Oh, my God, it was. I'd be so scared to miss.

[A]

Yes. And you had to be fairly precise. So it turns out they did not hammer this thing in. In any meaningful sense.

[B]

They, like, set it up.

[A]

So, first of all, I learned not only was there a special hammer, not only was there a golden spike, there was a special tie made just for this event. Special California laurel wood tie with an inscription on it and a plaque and all that. That was laid in place. And they had drilled a hole under where the spike was going to go. And. Yeah. And the spike was to be gently placed into the hole and tapped with the ceremonial hammer. Turns out there were several commemorative spikes made. There wasn't just the one golden spike, everyone. Yeah, there were. There were multiple spikes made. So let me ask you guys, even if it was a ceremonial spike, and even if you didn't really have to swing the hammer to drive it in, if you were standing there on the scene as Leland Stanford, hundreds of people watching, a telegraph person waiting live, what would be. What would be the most embarrassing thing you could do when you went to hammer that thing in? What would it be?

[B]

A fart.

[A]

Okay, fair. What would the second most embarrassing thing be?

[B]

If you miss.

[A]

Yes. Or if you miss the spike? If you miss the spike. He missed it. He's standing there. He had one job. One job. Just. Just tap this thing in. In my mind now it's gone from Leland Stanford, robber baron Superman, swinging this hammer like John Henry himself, Right. Smashing a golden spike to a genteel man in his coat with a silver hammer being asked to. To tap something into place. And missing. The second guy there also missed. Also missed tapping the Sono spike. So now, luckily, the telegraph operator did what I think, honestly, most of us would do in that scenario, which is we just went ahead and sent the signal anyway. We just tapped out. Done. We just said done. Yeah, it's like, it's done. It's good enough. It's like, what are we doing here? What is this exactly? Close enough, boss. You got it, boss. Great job. We're so happy you came down here to show us how it's done, boss. So then, even as a kid, even as a grown up, your next most immediate thought, I'm sure has to be.

[B]

Someone'S going to steal it.

[A]

Someone's going to steal it. Someone's going to steal it, Karen. Exactly. Someone's going to steal it. So the plan never was and was not to leave it There. So they tapped it in. They sent the telegraph line. They very swiftly popped the golden spike right back out of its slot. They took up the special California laurel wood tie as well, because they were worried that souvenir hunters, I mean, rightly they weren't worried it would happen. Just a moment. It's just. I mean, it's not even a question.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Would have happened.

[C]

Right.

[A]

It might even happen that day.

[B]

Ten minutes.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. They took out the laurel wood tie. They took out all of the commemorative spike, took that out, save for posterity. In its place, they put in a normal railroad tie of the time and hammered in a normal railroad spike of the. Yes. Much, much safer. Try to save. So where's all the ceremonial stuff now? However, the beam, the. The railroad tie sadly burned up in the fire after the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. Yes, it had been preserved, but like a great, great many artifacts that was lost and was lost in the fire being made of wood and all these spikes, a couple have been sold to private collectors as fundraising. The actual, actual golden spike, the one hammered air quotes by Stanford himself. You can find it in the Stanford Museum. It's at the Cantor Arts Museum on Stanford campus. So you can go take a look at it if you happen to be in the neighborhood. Yeah. You know, this is one of those, like, one of those things, like, for me, about American history where the more you dig into it, it's a lot of yes and no. Like, yes, there was a golden spike. No, it wasn't really hammered into place, and it was immediately removed from its drilled hole and now lives a very cushy life in an arts museum in Stanford University.

[B]

I was quickly looking at weird quarter coin designs. Sometimes things happen at the mint as they're making these coins, and then you release coins that, like, have a weird error or a crack or something like that, like a weird flaw. And then becomes a collector's edition, including the 1999 Spitting Horse Quarter.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

For the. Our dear state, Delaware.

[A]

The very first one.

[B]

The very first one. It's a guy riding a horse. And just at the horse's mouth is where a crack happened in the. In the mold, in the dye. And so it looks like the horse is spitting like saliva, like, like horsebit gossamer. A beautiful gossip. His horse gleeked glee hard. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Checking off the boxes on your to do list is a great feeling. And when it comes to checking off coverage, a State Farm agent can help you choose an option that's Right. For you. Whether you prefer talking in person on the phone or using the award winning app, it's nice knowing you have help finding coverage that best fits your needs. Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. All right, I got one last segment here. I have a lightning round for all of you. Of course, one of the meanings of spike is to add some alcohol to a beverage. Yep, yep, yep. You take orange juice, put a little pull alcohol in there. You got a screwdriver. So here I have a list of alcohol. Fermented drinks, spirits, liquor, liqueur. And your mission is to buzz in and tell me what is the primary ingredient?

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

Or signature, you know, main ingredient. Made of or flavored with. But yes, what is the primary ingredient?

[A]

All right.

[B]

Hey. People make alcohol out of everything and anything. As discussed rather awkwardly in our first ever episode of Good Job rain back in 2012. Yes. People made alcohol out of potatoes. Sure. Dead seagulls.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

But the ones I have here are alcohols that you would. You would encounter at a bar or a restaurant. And if you're like me and. And don't really drink, don't worry. I feel like I've seen most of these on Great British Bake Off. British people love putting alcohol in their baked goods. So here we go. I'm gonna name the beverage, and you're gonna tell me what is the primary ingredient. We're gonna start off pretty easy, and it's gonna kick it up a notch.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

All right, here we go. Cider. Chris.

[C]

Apples.

[B]

Mead. Colin.

[A]

Honey.

[B]

Honey. Rum. Chris.

[C]

Sugar.

[A]

Sugar cane.

[B]

Sugar cane. Sugar cane. Correct. Kirsch.

[A]

Cherries.

[B]

Cherries. In a Black forest gateau, as they call it, you use some kirsch to have that cherry flavor with some chocolate.

[A]

Delicious.

[B]

All right. Calvados.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

Calvados. That's how they say it in Great British Bake Off. Calvados. Calvados. Calvados. Calvados. It's from the Normandy part of France.

[A]

I'm just gonna take a guess.

[B]

Colin.

[A]

Apricot apple.

[C]

Oh, okay.

[B]

All right. Tequila. Colin.

[A]

From agave.

[B]

Plant can be more specific. A mezcal is also made from agave.

[A]

Oh, okay. It's made from the. From the. The pear part of the agave, Right?

[B]

It is the blue agave.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

That's the difference between mezcal and tequila. More specific. Like blue agave.

[A]

All right, got it.

[B]

Tapache.

[A]

Ooh, Teach. Oh, Colin, is this the one from corn?

[B]

No, this is pineapple. Oh, but you ferment pineapple rinds. Leftover pineapple bits. Yeah. And then tepache. All right, I'm getting harder. Pisco. Pisco. Like a pisco sour. Pisco sour From South America.

[A]

Yeah. What is that? That from what is still made out.

[B]

Of Peru and Chile. All right, Chris.

[C]

Pears.

[B]

Grapes. Grapes.

[A]

Grapes.

[B]

Distilled grapes. All right. O de O, as in French water. Dee of life. Eau de vi. There are a couple different flavors, but the kind of. Usually when you say this, this is the primary, and I said it a lot before.

[A]

The same as, like, aquavit, right, Chris? No, no, it's not the same od.

[B]

It is pear.

[C]

Oh, it's pear.

[A]

We knew pear was going to make an appearance.

[B]

You might have seen these crazy bottles where it's like a bottle and it's this alcohol od. And there's a whole ass. Entire pear in the bottle.

[A]

That's od.

[B]

That's od. And you're like, okay, how do they get the pear in the bottle? A perfect pair with its skin.

[A]

You know, they grow it on there.

[B]

They grow it in the bottle.

[A]

I saw this as a kid once on, I don't know, like, Sesame street or something. And it has stuck with me, Karen. But what did not stick with me was the type of alcohol it was. Right.

[B]

I don't know. Those ships in the bottle, you're, like, constructing, using tweezers through. You're making the ship.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

I thought maybe it was something like they did some, like, weird dehydration and then they slot it through the bottle and then they. They. They rehydrate it and just kind of pops back up.

[A]

Right, right, right into a.

[B]

A nice full figure pair. No, it's like they just stick a bottle in the flower, you know, right in there, tape it up and just wait for the pear to grow and then cut it off. You're like, oh, that's. That's how they did it. All right, next one. Kefir. Kefir.

[A]

K E F I, R. Yeah. Yes.

[B]

Fermented drink made out of milk.

[C]

I was gonna say that. I was gonna say that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Shambord.

[A]

Oh, I've had Chambord.

[B]

Is that beautiful Orbish. Orbish bottle?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Colin, is that from flavored with orange Raspberry.

[A]

Raspberry.

[B]

It's a deep red color.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Mirin. Chris.

[C]

Rice.

[B]

Rice, yes.

[A]

The.

[B]

The cooking Rice Alcohol of Asia. Next one. It's spelled like Sinar, but it's pronounced Chinar.

[A]

Chinar.

[B]

C, Y, N, A, R. Okay, China.

[A]

What country is that from or what region?

[B]

This is from Italy. It's like One of those, like, kind of bitters ap where, like, there's a lot of different ingredients, but there is one main ingredient.

[A]

Okay, okay. All right, all right.

[B]

It is artichoke.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

Really? Yes. It's right there on. On the label, it says Chinar, and then there's a artichoke.

[A]

You can really taste the artichoke. Artichoke.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Huh. I'm gonna have to try and hunt that down. There's. There's an Italian deli not too far from me. A lot of imports. I'll see if maybe they have it.

[B]

I think a lot of these aperitifs all taste like. Like bitters or, like, herby and stuff. It's like, I don't think you're gonna drink. You're like, m. That's.

[A]

The show is an artichoke pouring a big glass of china, Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

A couple more. Frangelico. Frangelico. Shaped like a monk.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Delicious.

[A]

Colin, is this one orange?

[B]

No. Dang it. Orange is not in this quiz.

[A]

Okay, thank you for ruling.

[C]

All right, stop guessing. Orange.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Yeah. Knock it off with the orange, Colin.

[B]

Hazelnut.

[A]

Oh, that's right. Oh, I was.

[B]

Okay, we got three hard ones. Unless you're from Chicago. Malort. Malort. People joke as the grossest alcohol out there.

[A]

Yeah, not great.

[B]

It's not great.

[C]

It's. This is from. Oh, no, go.

[A]

No, go ahead. Is it, like, plum or something? What is it, Chris?

[B]

Nope.

[C]

When I tried this recently, it had kind of a botanical kind of. Yes to it.

[B]

Similar to absinthe.

[C]

Oh, like mint or something.

[B]

Wormwood.

[A]

Okay. So very similar. Very similar.

[C]

It's crazy because, like, at first. At first, it. You taste it, and it's like a. A gin or something like that with the botanical, and it's like, oh, this is not bad. And then it turns bad.

[A]

Oh, no.

[C]

The initial hint of fun is gone.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And the only thing to do is to drink more malort, you know, to cover it.

[B]

All right, last two. Creme de cassis or creme de cassis.

[A]

Oh, creme de cassis. Yeah.

[C]

This feels like some kind of. Is it raisins?

[B]

Close. Black currants.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Always French for. For black currants.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Last one. Jerkum jerkum. Oh, J E R K U M.

[A]

I've heard this before.

[C]

This is made of Robitussin and Skittles.

[B]

And you inhale it and a balloon mixed in a balloon. This is plum.

[A]

Okay. Plum jerkham.

[B]

Plum jerkum. Sounds like.

[A]

I was thinking. I was thinking maybe prune, but yeah.

[B]

Plum Prune is just a dried version of plum. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't really drink anymore, but I just love reading about the ingredients.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the locality and the, the, you know, how they describe flavor. I love, like, reading stuff about it.

[A]

It's like you say, Karen, like, people will ferment anything. Anything, anything. We hear about the successes. Right. But, you know, there's. Yeah. I mean, for the. If, if it can be fermented. It has been fermented. And the only question is, did people like it enough to keep doing it?

[B]

All right. And that's our show. Thank you all for joining me, and thank you, listeners, for listening in. Hope you learned stuff about dogs named spike, about railroad spikes, about spiky animals and spiky alcohol. You can find us on all major podcast apps and on our website, goodjobbrain.com this podcast is part of Airwave Media podcast network. Visit airwavemedia.com to listen and subscribe to other shows like Rainbow Puppy, Science Lab, Unspokable, and Wiser World. And we'll see you next week.

[A]

Bye.

[C]

And Doug, here we have the Limu emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[A]

Fascinating.

[C]

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[A]

Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[C]

Cut the camera.

[A]

They see us.

[C]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[A]

Liberty, Liberty, Liberty Savings vary, underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company affiliates.

[C]

Excludes Massachusetts.