303: Pest Control

Summary

Good Job, Brain! – Episode 303: Pest Control

Airdate: November 27, 2025
Hosts: Karen, Colin, Chris

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Episode Overview

In this fun and knowledge-packed installment, the Good Job, Brain! crew dives into the fascinating and sometimes gross world of pests—everything from bugs and unwanted critters to the blights that have changed history. Expect plenty of laughs, offbeat facts, and competitive trivia. The team quizzes each other on pests in pop culture, unexpected animal behaviors, and the pivotal role of pests in shaping our food history.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Farewell to the Penny (00:35–04:26)

• The episode opens with the team mourning (well, mostly) the official discontinuation of the U.S. penny.
  • Colin notes, "The very last penny minted this week, on Wednesday of this week, two days ago in Philadelphia. One of the oldest minting facilities we have." (00:58)
  • Chris calls it “a boondoggle,” as it costs nearly 4 cents to make one penny, and most are just hoarded in jars and never circulated again.
• Memorable Quote:
  • Chris: “All we're doing is people get the pennies, they don't spend the pennies, and then we're spending money to make more pennies to give people to not spend. And it's just. It's just, it's Nuts.” (02:00)

2. The Wonders of the Sea Walnut (Animal Butt Update) (04:29–07:09)

• Karen gives an “animal butt update,” recalling the sea walnut (a comb jelly) which can grow a butthole only when necessary.
  • Karen: "If it doesn't need it. No butthole." (05:18)
• New fact: Sea walnuts can fuse together and share a digestive tract, so food eaten by one can pass through another.
  • Karen: "Your fused friend can poop it out." (06:29)
  • On separating fused jellies: “Within an hour, they could fuse back again. Nine out of ten times.” (06:44)

3. Pop Quiz Hotshot – Classic Card Trivia (07:09–16:01)

• The hosts play through quirky old-school trivia cards.
  • Highlights include learning Sinbad’s sitcom character was a “computer video game designer,” not a gym teacher as guessed. (12:38)
  • Debate on trivia semantics: The “Color of Money” prequel question leads to a tangent about what prequel really means. (13:54–14:32)
  • “Who makes Mighty Dog Dog food?” It started as a Carnation product. (10:51)

4. Modern Pimple Popping and Beekeeper Video Trends (16:56–19:08)

• Karen confesses to a guilty pleasure: pimple popping videos, and more recently, bee removal videos, which leads into the episode’s pest theme.

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Pest Control—Main Segments

5. Bugs on Film Quiz (Chris’s Segment) (19:08–28:07)

• Jeopardy-style movie trivia where insects and bugs are key plot elements.
• Movie Questions & Notable Quotes:
  • Arachnophobia (20:40):
    • Colin: "What is Arachnophobia?"
  • Starship Troopers:
    • "Much like his previous film Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven's 1997 sci fi film about humans going to war with arachnids has become a cult classic." (21:22)
  • Animated Ant Films Battle:
    • "Battle of the bugs is how CNN described the release of these two animated films in 1998." (21:56)
    • Karen: "What are Antz and A Bug’s Life?" (22:02)
  • The Fly (famous line origin):
    • Chris: "Be afraid. Be very afraid was uttered by Geena Davis in The Fly." (27:18)
  • Oddball reference: "What is Joe's Apartment?" (27:47)
• Notable Moment:
  • DIY buzzers: Karen improvises with her giant Nike shoes as her buzzer. (21:11)

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6. Pesty News & Quiz (Colin’s Segment) (29:24–50:12)

Recent Pest Headlines and Odd Facts

• Mosquitoes now in Iceland:
  • “Scientists in Iceland reported that for the first time ever, what pest was found there?” – Mosquitoes! Due to climate change, they are now surviving Iceland’s weather. (30:03)
• Porcupines chewing car tires:
  • In snowy areas, porcupines are attracted by the salt residue from treated roads—and may gnaw on tires and even car interiors for the salt. (32:02)
• Slug Traps with Beer:
  • Yes, beer attracts and drowns slugs, but may actually recruit more slugs from elsewhere, making the problem worse for some. (34:47–36:02)
• Skunk Spray Facts:
  • Skunks can spray with precision up to 10 feet, but you could still get splashed at up to 15 feet. Myth busted: tomato juice doesn’t actually neutralize skunk stink; hydrogen peroxide and baking soda are better. (37:57–39:58)
  • Fun Fact: Skunk spray is highly flammable! (39:24)
• Tick Removal Myths:
  • Don’t smother or burn—a simple tweezer grab and a careful pull is best for tick removal. (41:03–41:43)
• Seagull Food Theft:
  • New science: Yelling at seagulls (shouting “No, stay away, that’s my food!”) is the only thing proven to make them keep their distance. (42:44–44:45)
  • Chris tells story about being mugged by a hawk for a cheeseburger in Japan:
    • "I got mugged by a hawk... comes down behind me, smacks me in the back of the head... clutches the cheeseburger in its mighty talons, and flies off." (45:13–46:58)

Natural Pest Control

• Ladybugs versus aphids:
  • Releasing ladybugs is a classic, eco-friendly way to control aphids in gardens—though if not released at night, they all fly away at once! (47:16–48:49)
  • Karen: “When aphids give birth to more aphids, the aphids that they give birth to are already pregnant.” (49:13)

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7. Pest Blights That Changed History (Karen’s Segment) (50:53–65:27)

• Karen ties historical pest outbreaks to dramatic shifts in agriculture and diet.

Major Pest-Driven Historical Changes

• French Wine Blight:
  • Pre-1950s, Algeria (not France or Italy!) was the world’s top wine exporter due to a devastating aphid (phylloxera) wiping out European vineyards. Recovery involved grafting French vines onto American rootstock resistant to the pest. “Most of what’s currently grown in Europe has American roots. Like, literally American roots.” (57:32)
• Boll Weevil in Alabama:
  • The city of Enterprise, AL, boasts a statue honoring the boll weevil, the beetle that devastated cotton—forcing farmers to plant peanuts and diversify. “Thanking the haters.” (59:59–60:14)
• Ceylon Tea over Coffee in Sri Lanka:
  • Coffee rust disease wiped out Sri Lankan coffee, so colonists pivoted to growing tea—the now world-famous Ceylon (Sri Lankan) variety. (61:54)
• Vanished American Chestnut:
  • Once abundant and critical for food and timber, the American chestnut was virtually eradicated by a fungal blight introduced via Asian chestnut trees. The American chestnut’s highly-valued wood is now the stuff of legends (and wood “piracy”). (62:42–64:39)
• Gross Michel Banana:
  • The “fake” artificial banana flavor is actually based on the now-rare Gross Michel banana; agricultural blight replaced it with the Cavendish, forever altering banana flavor. (53:06–53:55 and 64:47–65:23)
  • Karen: “You wouldn’t pay $17 to eat this long lost banana?” Chris and Colin: “I would. Of course I would.” (65:11–65:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Chris, on penny production:
  “All we're doing is people get the pennies, they don't spend the pennies, and then we're spending money to make more pennies to give people to not spend. And it's just. It's just, it's Nuts.” (02:00)
• Karen, on sea walnuts:
  “Your fused friend can poop it out.” (06:29)
• Karen, on pop culture trivia:
  “Sinbad’s job was computer video game designer. If only I ever watched that show!” (12:38)
• Chris, on slugs:
  “From how far away is it drawing them in? Is it drawing the slugs from your neighbor's yard too? And now you've got more slugs than you bargained for.” (35:53–36:02)
• Karen, on aphids:
  “When aphids give birth to more aphids, the aphids that they give birth to are already pregnant.” (49:13)
• Chris, on being mugged by wildlife:
  “I got mugged by a hawk... comes down behind me, smacks me in the back of the head... clutches the cheeseburger in its mighty talons, and flies off.” (45:13–46:58)
• Karen, on the Gross Michel banana:
  “That flavor [artificial banana] is indeed based on real banana, but just not the banana... that variety just doesn’t exist anymore.” (53:22)
• Karen and Colin, on historic impact:
  Karen: “Most of what’s currently grown in Europe has American roots. Like, literally American roots.” (57:32)
  Colin: “That is really interesting. That is. I love stuff like that. I really do. That's why we're friends.” (57:39–57:44)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Farewell to the Penny: 00:35–04:26
• Sea Walnut/Amazing Animal Butt Facts: 04:29–07:09
• Pop Quiz Hotshot (Card Trivia): 07:09–16:01
• Digital Pimple Popping & Beekeeper Videos: 16:56–19:08
• Bugs in Film Quiz: 19:08–28:07
• Pest News & Quiz (Colin): 29:24–50:12
• Impactful Pest Blights in History (Karen): 50:53–65:27

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Tone & Atmosphere

The episode is lighthearted, irreverent, and fast-paced, with the usual friendly banter and lots of quirky side tangents. Karen’s punny jokes and the group’s playfulness set the tone, making even gross facts about animal butts and pestilential blights engaging. There’s a balance of rigorous trivia competition and collaborative learning that makes the content fun for trivia buffs and casual listeners alike.

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Final Thoughts

This episode exemplifies why Good Job, Brain! is such a beloved trivia podcast: weird facts, competitive quizzes, deep dives into the impact of pests on history and culture, and, above all, camaraderie and laughter. If you like learning weird, wonderful stuff—and laughing about it—this is a must-listen.

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For More

Listen to the full episode and find more content at goodjobbrain.com.
New episodes available via all major podcast apps and at Airwave Media.

Transcript

[Karen]

You're listening to an Airwave media podcast. Hello, block rockin bloggers blogging about blobfish and blouses. Welcome to Good Job Brain, your weekly quiz show and offbeat trivia podcast. This is episode 303, and of course, I'm your humble host, Karen. And we are your cordial corny corgis eating cornucopias of cornettos in Cornwall.

[Colin]

I'm Colin.

[Chris]

And I'm Chris.

[Karen]

And we got some sad, sad news this. This week. Very sad. You know, on Good Job Brain, we talk a lot about coins, coin history, collecting coins. Big news for America, for United States of America. Pour one out because the penny is going away.

[Colin]

The very last penny minted this week, on Wednesday of this week, two days ago in Philadelphia. One of the oldest minting facilities we have is. Yeah, it is sad. It says it's been more than 230 years of penny production. I read an article on. On AP said when it was introduced in 1793, a penny could buy a biscuit, a candle, or a piece of candy.

[Karen]

And now it's like, yeah, right.

[Colin]

And now it says, you know, of course, right now most of them are cast aside to sit in jars or junk drawers. And each one costs nearly 4 cents to make.

[Karen]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Chris]

Oh, yes. I'll put my cards in table here. I'm not really sad that the penny is going away. It's such a boondoggle. I mean, cost more than it costs 4x, you know, as much as a penny to make a penny. And Colin, I think you hit the nail right on the head with the problem is they make all these pennies and they're given out as change. If people pay with cash and then people take those pennies and they put them in a jar in their house.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Chris]

And that is where they stay forever. And so they have to keep. Keep making more pennies because there's demand for pennies to give out his change, then nobody spends them, nobody puts them back into circulation. And in fact, they. They kind of realized there were so many pennies out there, like, like hundreds of pennies per person, you know, just in change drawers and everywhere, that if they. If all those people at once were to decide to cash in their pennies, it would be. It would be mayhem. Or all we're doing is people get the pennies, they don't spend the pennies, and then we're spending money to make more pennies to give people to not spend. And it's just. It's just, it's Nuts. And so we're not making pennies anymore. Great. Sorry.

[Colin]

Definitely of two minds. I totally agree. And it does make sense, like for sure. All of those things that you mentioned. 100% true. Not to take away from that. However, I'm going to take away from a little bit. I read that the nickel costs almost 14 cents to make. And so it, it is in part for sure that they cost more to make than their face value. But it's really, as you said, more the utility. They're not being put back into circulation, whereas the good old nickel is. Right. I read the dime actually costs under $0.06 to create and the quarter is about $0.15. So both the dime and the quarter are running ahead of. Of cost. Yeah.

[Chris]

But the nickel, I feel, I still feel like people see a nickel and they see that as being money.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Chris]

And they spend it like more so than the penny.

[Colin]

I totally agree.

[Chris]

I don't even like carrying change on me. So like if I do bring home change, it just goes into a change jar.

[Karen]

It's like those big Costco mixed fancy nuts where we're like, you only pick out the nuts you want and then you're the pennies.

[Colin]

Giant jar of Brazil nuts. Just.

[Karen]

No one likes Brazil nuts. They're so big.

[Chris]

Well, they get, you know, they, they, they. That's how they, that's how the jar of nuts makes weight, you know. Yes.

[Colin]

Coming in. Hey, guys. What's going on?

[Chris]

Yep.

[Karen]

Go away. Well, everybody, I have a quick animal butt update. This is. Good job, brain. We love animals, particularly animal butt butts. And in our Butts 2 episode, Chris, you introduced us to a very special animal called the sea walnut. Do you remember the sea walnut and what its special butt power was?

[Chris]

Grows a, grows a butthole only when it needs it, Right?

[Karen]

Yes, it, it has a on demand butthole. What kind of animal is this? It's a sea walnut. It's like a, like a comb jelly. So it's like floppy, clear, very pretty. Like a crystal pepper, I guess. Bell pepper. Seawall nut can grow butthole only when it needs. Needs it. Otherwise there's no butthole.

[Colin]

Amazing.

[Karen]

If it doesn't need it. No butthole.

[Colin]

Ad hoc butthole.

[Karen]

But I have another amazing fact about the sea walnut. Oh yeah, the sea walnut. They confuse with each other and become one.

[Colin]

One entity.

[Karen]

One entity. And you're like, oh, maybe they're just two animals that are like kind of close together. No, no, no, no, no, no. They fuse. And how do the scientists know that they fuse? Well, the team fed the fused entity, the fused jellies, brine shrimp that has been dyed into a fluorescent color so they can clearly see the fused entity eating the brine shrimp. Right. So one comb jelly ate it and the fluorescent dyed brine shrimp food traveled through the gut and then came out from a butthole from the second cone jam.

[Chris]

Oh, no. Wow. Wow. Efficiency.

[Karen]

So not only is it on demand, you can have another. Your friend poop it out.

[Colin]

Right?

[Chris]

Right.

[Karen]

Your fused friend can poop it out.

[Chris]

Oh, my gosh.

[Colin]

Secondhan food outside pooping.

[Karen]

And I wonder if you could fuse more than two together.

[Colin]

Can they unfuse like, or is this like, are they like a team?

[Karen]

Now this sounds a little bit gruesome, but they would slice the fuse jellies in different spots and separate them and then within an hour, they could fuse back again. Nine out of ten times, the slice separated jelly sea can fuse together again.

[Colin]

Teamwork makes the dream work.

[Karen]

Well. All right, I think. Without further ado, let's jump into our first general trivia segment. Pop quiz Hotshot. Here are some random trivia cards. They're not all Trivial Pursuit, though. I have an old favorite. Entertainment singles, Trivial Pursuit. And another card. We've seen this card before in the past 15 years of good Job Brain. Forte. Forte trivia.

[Chris]

Forte.

[Colin]

Which is. Ring a bell?

[Karen]

Kind of a knockoff. It looks like a trivial person.

[Colin]

It does, it does.

[Karen]

It has all the colors, but it's forte. Yes. I'm sad to report that the first category I see is soaps, so love it. That'll be fun.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

All right.

[Chris]

Like Irish Spring and yeah.

[Colin]

Coast. Yeah, exactly.

[Karen]

Neutrogena.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

All right, well, let's jump into forte. Here we go. Blue Witch for soaps.

[Colin]

Let's do it.

[Karen]

Oh, man. Who did Dennis Cole portray in the Young and the Restless? Oh, my God. I can't even come up with a fake answer.

[Chris]

Yes. Dr. Drake Ramore.

[Karen]

Joey Tribbiani. Colin, do you have a real guess?

[Colin]

Wasn't there some, like, villain on one of these shows called, like, Victor something or other?

[Karen]

It's a very soap opera name. It's Lance Prentice.

[Colin]

Opera name.

[Karen]

Lance Drake for more is really good.

[Chris]

Good name.

[Karen]

Not thinking about it. Oh, yep. All right. Oh, pink wedge for cartoons. What is the name of the man cub in the Disney film the Jungle Book?

[Chris]

Chris Mowgli.

[Karen]

Mowgli. Mowgli.

[Colin]

Mowgli. Mowgli.

[Karen]

Yellow for space. Whose single space race was number one on the rhythm and blues charts?

[Chris]

Race, Race.

[Colin]

What, what? What? Rough decade or generation?

[Chris]

Is it a 60s?

[Karen]

I can't even tell you.

[Chris]

I would. I mean, all right, that was when the space race was happening. I don't know if that was, you know, like, based around that. I don't know, man. I never heard of this single. This is not my forte.

[Karen]

Billy Preston.

[Chris]

Oh, okay.

[Colin]

Okay. Definitely no Billy Preston.

[Karen]

Okay, okay.

[Colin]

Don't know. Space race.

[Chris]

All right.

[Karen]

Brown witch for pears. For pears. P, A, I, R, S. Yes.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

Which two United States presidents are mentioned in Carl Sandberg's poem? Cool tombs. Cool tombs, bro.

[Chris]

Oh, wow.

[Colin]

Okay, well, Grant. Yeah, Grant and Lincoln. Right?

[Chris]

Yeah. Yes.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

Cause they're.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

Green wedge for ads. Sorry? Green wedge. Green rounded rectangle for ads.

[Colin]

Green squirrel for.

[Karen]

Oh, there is a. There is a name. What was it? We had a segment, how about the Ample Hills Creamery? Where they wanted the scrounged square.

[Colin]

Round.

[Karen]

Scrounged.

[Colin]

That's great.

[Karen]

All right. Who makes Mighty Dog Dog food? I don't think that brand exists anymore.

[Chris]

Oh, I've heard. I mean, I remember Mighty Dog Dog food from whatever, the 80s.

[Colin]

Is it Ralston Purina?

[Karen]

Incorrect.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Karen]

It's not a dog food brand.

[Chris]

Oh.

[Karen]

Associated with what we think is a dog food.

[Colin]

Is it associated with humans?

[Chris]

So how about, like, yes, General Mills?

[Karen]

Oh, good guess. It is Carnation.

[Colin]

Oh, let's see.

[Karen]

Okay, so Carnation, the milk company created this food line in 1973, but soon after that, in 1985, Purina bought the company.

[Colin]

Okay. But they didn't introduce it. Okay, interesting.

[Karen]

Last question on the Forte card. Orange for Fair Play. Why didn't the Orient Express go to Constantinople after 1930? Chris, you gotta sing it.

[Chris]

Because if you have a date in Constantinople, she'll be waiting in Istanbul. Because it was called Istanbul after 1930.

[Karen]

Yes, correct. Kind of a trick question.

[Chris]

Is a trick question. Yeah, you're right. It is.

[Karen]

Like it still went to that destination.

[Colin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

It's not called that anymore.

[Chris]

But it's. But it's. But it's gettable.

[Colin]

Yeah, yeah. It's cheeky, right?

[Chris]

I mean, if you're.

[Colin]

If you're answering the other, you know, five questions on this card.

[Karen]

Like we.

[Colin]

Are as a team.

[Karen]

Most of them just a regular Friday night, you know. Let's see. All right. Entertainment, Singles. Trivial Pursuit, Blue wedge. Why does this guy's name keep coming up? What was Sinbad's character, David Bryan's occupation on the Sinbad Show?

[Chris]

Show. Oh, my gosh.

[Karen]

Sinbad the comedian. All right. Whoa, Colin.

[Colin]

I was gonna guess, like, stand up comedian, Like Allah Seinfeld or something.

[Karen]

No, oh, my God. This is interesting.

[Chris]

Chris, high school gym teacher.

[Karen]

Oh, that's not.

[Colin]

Good guess. Yeah, good guess.

[Karen]

So, yeah, the comedian has his own show.

[Chris]

Had a show. It's not still running.

[Karen]

His job was computer video game designer.

[Chris]

Get out of here. If only I ever watched that show. That's incredible.

[Karen]

I wonder, like, what the fake game is called in the show.

[Chris]

Seriously. I mean, I also wonder. It's like, did he. Was he. Was he an independent creator or did he work at a game design company? Yeah, I need to know.

[Karen]

Wow, how interesting. Okay, we gotta jump deeper into the Sinbad lore.

[Chris]

All right.

[Karen]

Pink wedge for music. What all girl group crossed into mainstream pop with the 1992 hit what's Up Chris?

[Chris]

Those would be the four non blondes.

[Colin]

I said, hey.

[Karen]

Yeah, yeah, man.

[Colin]

There was a time that song was just seemingly everywhere.

[Karen]

Colin, you're saying there's a time that's a trending tick tock meme right now with the Nicki Minaj cut.

[Chris]

My child knows that. That song. Yeah.

[Karen]

The trap. Yeah. Yellow wedge for movies. What classic movie is the prequel to the Color of Money?

[Chris]

Oh.

[Colin]

Colin, that is the Hustler.

[Karen]

The hustler. Yes. With Mr. Salad Dressing himself.

[Colin]

Yes. Classic.

[Chris]

I'm gonna. I'll take. I'll take a slight umbrage at the idea that it's a prequel to the Color of Money. It is the original film. Color of Money is the se. A prequel is when you. Oh, the movie already exists and you do. What happened before that?

[Karen]

Got it.

[Colin]

I would totally agree with you there.

[Karen]

I never thought about that. There's a difference.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Colin]

There's no intention of it.

[Karen]

You know, the release of the movie, even though chronologically is from before the release of the movie is later.

[Colin]

That's right.

[Karen]

It is.

[Chris]

That's. That's. That's where the word comes from. It's. Oh, you're making a sequel to this movie. Well, we're making a prequel. Prequel.

[Colin]

Yeah. Take that card.

[Karen]

Excuse me. Yeah. Purple wedge for games. What sport using a bow and target became an official sport in the 1900 Olympics? Chris.

[Chris]

Archery.

[Colin]

Is it free? Just that simple.

[Karen]

Yes, it's archery. Okay.

[Colin]

All right.

[Chris]

Don't overthink it.

[Colin]

Yeah, don't.

[Chris]

If you. If you hear. You know, you see hoof prints, think horses, not zebras.

[Colin]

Right, Right. This is the entertainment card, after all. It's not.

[Karen]

Yeah.

[Colin]

Gonna be deep, deep, deep sports cut here.

[Karen]

All right. Green wedge for books. What Comedy Central pundit wrote, I am America and so can you.

[Colin]

Yes, Chris.

[Chris]

Stephen Colbert.

[Karen]

Stephen Colbert. Correct. And Then last question on this card, wild card. What New York Zoo was founded from the New York Zoological Society, now named the Wildlife Conservation Society. Oh, Colin, is that the.

[Colin]

Is that the Bronx Zoo?

[Karen]

You're not from there, you live there. It is the Bronx Zoo.

[Colin]

I did live there. I have gone there. I didn't live at the zoo either. I mean, but yes.

[Karen]

All right, good job, good card. And Colin, you have an announcement for everybody. Your game, your dice game.

[Colin]

My game, my dice rolling, deck, building game, Bare bones. It is back. It is back and better than ever. For a second edition, we have upgraded materials across the board. I plugged it on past seasons of the show and maybe you didn't buy it, maybe you never heard about it. Now is your chance. You can go to bare bones game dot com. Check it out. We got the whole deal up there. Photos and rules and all kinds of stuff. If you are a tabletop and game loving person, couple, family, friend, whatever, go check it out. We think you'll like it. Roll and dice. Who doesn't love dice? Playing some cards. And now through the end of the year, if you go to barebonesgame.com and if you use the coupon code, Good job, brain. All one word, we will give you 10% off your order. And we think it makes a great gift. So buy one, buy two, buy one for your friends, your enemies, your pets.

[Karen]

Guys, I'm in the phase of my life where I just stay up watching videos. Mostly two things. One is pimple popping.

[Chris]

Sure. Yeah.

[Karen]

You know, I used to just only do blackheads but now like I've kind of graduated. Like my stomach has grown a little.

[Colin]

Stronger and I fortified.

[Karen]

Yes, I can do now like when they do cyst removals.

[Colin]

Oh my goodness.

[Karen]

Lipoma removals. I'm all, I'm all into it. Dr. Pimple Popper is a. Just makes very compelling content and she's very caring. And the other, the other realm of videos. I mean, I don't know if it's me, I don't know, it's the algorithm, it's both of us and we just keep kind of validating each other's tastes. Yeah, be removal videos. I think I talked about this before. It is so, so amazing. Look, I don't really see bees that regularly in my everyday life. But there's like places in the country that just, you know, bees become such a problem. They make hives in everything. So like these bee removal videos, mostly they're like professionals with a heat meter. They can see like. Oh, okay, yes. You see the Heat map. And it's just like all red, man. These bees are building hives in model ships. I've seen bees make hives in like barrels underground in, you know, sheds. It's so interesting because it's such a problem that I don't see, that I don't experience. But it is kind of a nuisance for a lot of these homeowners who now they have to deal with not only like a giant colony of bees in their wall after the bees are moved out, now they have to deal with remnants of wax and honey, a big ass hole in their wall. It just seem such a. Such a nuisance. I thought it'd be really cool for a topic to talk about pests and bugs and things that annoy us. So this week we're doing some pest control.

[Chris]

Well, folks, I have a quiz for you that I like to call Bugs on Film. In fact, in fact, it's. It's almost sort of like I actually wrote these like Jeopardy. Questions. So imagine that it's a Jeopardy. Category called Nice Bugs on Film, Creepy Crawly Cinema. I am going to give you some because this is Jeopardy. Answers. Answers referring to films in which bugs of some sort, insects of some kind, had a starring role possibly. And you are going to answer in the form of a question and the answers are all going to be the name of the film.

[Colin]

Okay?

[Karen]

Okay. Okay.

[Chris]

They should get more difficult as it goes along. So you will collect more fake money. But get those barnyard buzzers ready and we'll just jump right in. Sound good?

[Colin]

Let's do it.

[Chris]

Let's go. All right, question one. John Goodman plays exterminator Delbert McClintock in this 1990 horror comedy.

[Karen]

Ah, they took my buzzer again.

[Colin]

Oh, no.

[Chris]

Oh, man. Well, I mean, Karen, you know, I think the rules of Good Job Brain are if you don't keep track of your buzzer, you can't buzz in. So Colin could take a commanding lead here, but Colin did buzz in. Colin, what's the. What is the question to my answer?

[Colin]

What is arachnophobia?

[Chris]

What is arachnophobia? Yes. So what's up, Karen? Do you want to try to find the buzzer?

[Karen]

I'm trying to find something that.

[Colin]

Do you have something on your phone?

[Chris]

I mean, buzzer like.

[Colin]

Oh, just any sound effect on your phone?

[Chris]

Clap two Nike shoes together. Is that Transformers make noise? Is it like a gun Scrape a couple of boo boos against each other.

[Karen]

Each other? That's a good idea. Hold on.

[Chris]

Oh, God.

[Karen]

All right, here I go.

[Chris]

Here we go.

[Colin]

All right, let's see what it sounds like.

[Karen]

Size 16 Nike shoes.

[Chris]

Yeah. Okay, good.

[Karen]

Okay.

[Chris]

It's not bad. It's not bad. Okay.

[Karen]

Okay. I think you can see me. Oh my God. It's bigger than my head. All right.

[Chris]

Yep. Next question. Much like his previous film Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven's 1997 sci fi film about humans going to war with arachnids has become a cult classic.

[Karen]

Karen, what is Starship Troopers?

[Chris]

Starship Troopers, is it? Your next answer. The battle of the bugs is how CNN described the release of these two animated films in 1998.

[Karen]

Taran, what are ants and bugs Life?

[Chris]

Yes, we'll give that to you. What is ants? Released by DreamWorks as the first motion picture from DreamWorks. And of course, A Bug's Life. Lots. By Pixar. Lots of controversy between those two. Between those two movies. Twin movies. But you know, there was a lot of bad blood between the, the creators and there was a lot of thought that in fact ants. The concept for ants had been. Had been stolen. Stolen.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

There's some corporate espionage.

[Chris]

Indeed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Well, next answer. Can't get enough computer animated ants. Well, just watch this movie where main character Lucas is shrunken down and forced to live amongst them.

[Karen]

Lucas. Okay, that's not it.

[Chris]

It's a computer animated film. Can't get enough computer animated ants. Watch this movie where character Lucas is shrunken down and forced to live amongst them.

[Colin]

Oh, this sounds sort of familiar. Oh, Karen.

[Chris]

Karen has clapped in.

[Karen]

Is it the ant bully?

[Chris]

It is the ant bully.

[Colin]

Okay, I was not going to get that. Wow.

[Chris]

Yep, yep. The thousand dollar answer. In her film debut, this character built a cocoon inside the ruins of Tokyo Tower. Karen, who What?

[Karen]

Who is Mothra?

[Chris]

Who is Mothra? Very good. He's a lady Mothra in her larval form.

[Colin]

Good answer.

[Chris]

Built a cocoon inside the ruins of Tokyo Tower. Emerging as. Emerging in moth form.

[Colin]

Good for her. You know what, what's her name?

[Karen]

Mothra. Before she's a moth. Does she have a different name?

[Chris]

You know, I haven't asked.

[Colin]

Oh, yeah. Name is destiny. Yeah.

[Chris]

Caterpie. Yeah. Your next answer. Mr. Grasshopper, Mr. Centipede and Ms. Spider live inside a massive fragment fruit. In this 1996 hybrid live action stop motion film. Karen has shoot in again.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

What is James and the Giant Peach?

[Chris]

What is James and the Giant Peach? A boy just living in a gigantic stone populated by friendly bugs. Yep.

[Karen]

Squishy. Yeah.

[Chris]

They fly him to New York City. Next answer. Rolling Stone. Said that this 2007 animated film was, quote, at its relaxed best when it's about, well, nothing.

[Colin]

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

[Chris]

Everybody. That was like a little trivia grenade. Like you threw it in there and then you get it. I think Karen shooed in before Colin could buzz in.

[Karen]

Karen, what is the B movie?

[Chris]

What is. Yes. B movie? B E Starring. Yes, B E movie starring one Jerry Seinfeld. Jerry Seinfeld. Yeah.

[Karen]

That's a good review. That's a clever, right?

[Chris]

Yes. All right, a few answers left. Your eighteen hundred dollar answer. Giant praying mantises who can imitate their human prey are the antagonists of this game. Guillermo del Toro horror film. Oh.

[Karen]

Del Toro.

[Chris]

It's an early. I believe it's 97 Guillermo del Toro film. Human. Human scientists create a bug to wipe out other bugs. But then the bug that they created doesn't die off. It just becomes gigantic and learns to imitate people in the film known as mimic.

[Colin]

Oh, I didn't know that was Del Toro.

[Chris]

That's what it's. It's Del Toro. Yeah.

[Karen]

God, I gotta take my hands out of these shoes.

[Chris]

Out of these shoes. Yeah. Exactly.

[Colin]

What a long, long time since you've heard Mimic.

[Karen]

Mira Sorvino. Oh, okay, That's Rory Abraham.

[Colin]

That's right.

[Chris]

Yeah. Well, a couple. A couple more for you.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Chris]

Believe it or not, this 1986 horror film was the origin of the phrase, be afraid, be very afraid.

[Colin]

86.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Colin]

Colin, what is aliens?

[Chris]

I'm sorry, no. You lose all your money.

[Karen]

Karen, what is alien?

[Chris]

You also lose. Oh, no, it wasn't a 1986 horror film. And no. And not a lot of people know this because the phrase is just sort of entered the comic lexicon. Be afraid. Be very afraid was uttered by Geena Davis in the Fly.

[Colin]

The Fly Cronenberg. Really? Wow. Okay.

[Chris]

Be afraid. Be very afraid. The Fly. And finally, if you get this one, I'll be very impressed. Billed as MTV's first feature movie, this 1996 box office bomb opened with a chorus of singing cockroaches.

[Karen]

Karen, what is Joe's Apartment?

[Chris]

What is Joe's Apartment?

[Karen]

Starring place, Jerry o'. Connell.

[Colin]

I remember that one.

[Chris]

Yep. All right, well, great job, everybody. I think you all win $5,000. Yeah. 5,000 bucks.

[Colin]

I'll have those go buy some bugs.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Bug out.

[Karen]

All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.

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[Chris]

Extra value meals are back. That means 10 tender juicy McNuggets and medium fries and a drink are just eight dol only at McDonald's for limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery, You're listening to Good job brain smooth puzzles smart trivia. Good job BR.

[Karen]

And we're back. This week we're talking about pests. Colin, what's been annoying you?

[Colin]

I, I am primed to talk about pests. It was a perfect topic, Karen. Like not one, but two newsy pieces about pests in the last few weeks have crossed my radar. So yeah, I was ready to, ready to just kind of grab this one. I have a quiz for you too. We'll do this as a write down quiz. Get your implements ready and we will start with a question about one of these very news articles that I read. Just a few weeks ago, scientists in Iceland reported that for the first time ever, what pest was found there.

[Karen]

Oh, that's not good.

[Colin]

It's not good when your country is in the same headline as first time a pest has been found there.

[Chris]

Right, right, right.

[Colin]

All right. Oh, okay. I'm curious to see answers up.

[Chris]

Oh, Chris.

[Colin]

Chris says mosquito. Karen says mosquito. Karen said you hope it's not that. It is the mosquito. Yeah, they, they found three in fact, the Natural Science Institute of Iceland has confirmed, they say that they, you know, probably got there through, you know, international trade freight. What's interesting and worrying at the same time is that it appears that they are now able to withstand Iceland's climate. Okay, There have been mosquitoes that have been in, in the country of Iceland like on an airplane or something like that. Right. But they've never, they believe they've never been able to kind of get a foothold. And so they, they've been sort of predicting for a while that, you know, as temperatures globally get a little warmer, mosquitoes might finally be able to inhabit Iceland. And it appears that, that that day may be upon us. We'll track this as we go. I'm sorry, Icelanders. Yeah, the mosquitoes, they suck. I mean literally, but they don't, they just don't do anything good for us.

[Karen]

Have you guys Ever played this, this game called Plague, Inc. Where you play as a virus and you're trying to world. One of the places you want to infect so bad is Iceland. And so there are a couple of ways. You're like, okay, well, you know, I got to infect it before they shut down all cruise travel, like ship travel and air travel. The hardest place.

[Colin]

Can't get in there. Right, Right.

[Karen]

Man.

[Colin]

If you live in an area that experiences snowy winters and also has porcupines, you might be at risk of porcupines eating your car tires. Why is that?

[Karen]

What?

[Colin]

Why is that? Not while you're driving, of course, but.

[Chris]

Snowy and has porcupines?

[Colin]

Yes. You, you are at increased risk of porcupines eating your car tires. Why might that be?

[Chris]

This sounds like a lateral thinking question rather than.

[Colin]

Hold on, hold on, some of you. I hope, listeners, this has not happened to you, but if it has, write in and let us know if you know, you know.

[Chris]

I have no idea.

[Colin]

All right, winters. What could be different about living in a place that has wintry snowy winters? All right, answers up.

[Karen]

Oh, I don't know now.

[Colin]

Oh, okay. I like. That's wrong.

[Karen]

That's your reaction?

[Colin]

Yeah, that's, that's true. That is correct.

[Chris]

I have absolutely no idea what this could possibly be.

[Colin]

Chris has written the snowy tire looks like a Ring Ding, which is true. It does, yeah. Karen has written ant eggs. I like both of these lines of thinking. No, the answer is road salt on tires. Because I don't know if you knew this. Porcupines extremely attracted to salt. Anything salty. They, they seek it out and they will not chew it, even digest it sometimes. And so they tell people that if you live, if you live in a part of the country, I found some, found some articles and resources from Maine, for example, where you have salted roads in the winter sometimes and porcupines present. They tell you, like, come home, you hose your car off if it's exposed because they will, they will smell the road salt and come chew your tires or any exposed hose, any part of your car that they can gnaw on. Porcupines like salt so much that, you know, in parks or places where people might park and leave their car window open, porcupines have been known to get into the car and chew off the steering wheel. Oh, just at the salt from the sweat. That's right. On the gross leather steering wheel. Yeah. It's not a typical pest that you might think of, but they can, they can find a way to make themselves a nuisance.

[Chris]

Outrageous.

[Karen]

Oh, my Gosh, they like, they like their food seasoned.

[Colin]

They look, they know what they like and we're giving it to them. I mean, I should say, you know, like maybe at the start of this quiz, I should have said that some of these animals might consider us the past just to be fair.

[Chris]

Right.

[Colin]

If your garden is being raided by slugs, maybe they're eating your precious tomatoes. Someone might recommend you leave out a dish of what common liquid overnight in your yard.

[Chris]

Whoa.

[Karen]

It's disgusting.

[Chris]

If what? Say this again.

[Colin]

If you are dealing with slugs in your garden, someone might recommend you leave out a dish of what common liquid overnight and come back in the morning. And.

[Karen]

And it's like intestines. It just looks like intestines.

[Chris]

Well, I'm trying to think of. Okay. I'm trying to think of what that could be, but okay.

[Colin]

Okay, answers up. All right. Chris has vinegar. Great guess. I love the way you're thinking. Karen has the correct answer, which is good old fashioned beer. Yeah, this is a, this is a pretty commonly prescribed slug, slug remedy in your garden, right. You put out the beer, the slugs crawl into it, they're attracted by the beer. You come out in the morning and you've got a dish full of beer and dead slugs. So, all right, does it work? Yes. You will come out in the morning, very likely find dead slugs in your tray. So it did work to kill some slugs. They are attracted to this, to the smell of the beer. It brings them, it draws them in.

[Chris]

How? From how far away is it drawing them in? Is it drawing the slugs from your neighbor's yard too? And now you've got more slugs than you bargained for.

[Colin]

Yes, Chris, that's essentially sort of the, the unmasking of this. I don't want to call it a myth. And again, like it, people swear by this. People have done video experiments with this and what they find is that yes, it does draw slugs in, but you might be drawing more slugs than would otherwise wise be in the area. And on top of that, they find that many of the slugs kind of just do a little drive by or crawl by. Maybe they'll come, they'll drink some beer, hang out, and then they'll be on their merry way. They don't end up in the dish. Right. So what you are catching is, I don't know, maybe the dumbest or the slowest or the most easily inebriated slugs. You are catching slugs. But you might, might, you might be bringing more slugs to the area than you're catching and maybe making your problem worse. Speaking of garden destroyers, have either of you ever been unfortunate enough to run into a skunk or the business end of a skunk?

[Chris]

No.

[Karen]

I once found a skunk stuck in a trash can in San Francisco.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Karen]

Then I made him a little ramp so that it can.

[Colin]

Wow. So, right. Skunks, you know, they don't want to spray, but they will spray if they have to. A skunk. This is a multiple choice question. A, B or C, A skunk can reliably. Okay. With accuracy, Hit a target with their spray. From how far away? Is it a? Up to 10ft away. Is it B up to 15ft away. Is it C, up to 20ft away. Skunks have two glands, not one, two. There's one on each side of the anus there that generate the spray.

[Karen]

Emphasize.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

Okay.

[Colin]

All right, answers. Up 10ft. 15ft. 20ft. What's the safe zone if you're messing with a skunk? Karen says 20ft. Chris says 20ft. No, you guys are overestimating a little bit. It is, in fact, 10ft with precision. 10ft with precision.

[Chris]

Precision.

[Colin]

But they do caution all the skunk experts that, like, you're still in the splash zone. Up to around 15ft.

[Chris]

Exactly, exactly. It's like, come on now, you know, like, like, why. Why chance it? Why be. I'd be 15ft away and say, well, he's not going to. Precisely.

[Colin]

Yeah. Their last resort, like, they uses resources. And it's not. And it's not a small deal for them if you get a skunk mad enough or cor. Cornered enough or a predator riled up enough that they resort to actually spraying. They've got enough kind of, you know, in the chamber for five, six successive sprays. Yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

It's not just one.

[Colin]

It's not just one. They can hit you with the double. They can hit you with the triple if they need to. Yeah, right. That's her key. But if. If once. Once they run down the. What's in store, they can recharge up to 10 days. It can take. So it's. It's a big deal to use. To use the spray. Yeah. Did we know on the show, did we collectively know that skunk spray is flammable? It is.

[Karen]

No.

[Chris]

Oh, really?

[Colin]

Highly flammable? Apparently, yes.

[Karen]

Now, I don't know if this is true, but I know the home remedy is if you get sprayed, you take a tomato juice bath.

[Colin]

You know, I'm glad you brought that up. I. I did. In the Course of my research come across articles saying like, despite the fact that you may hear this as a folk remedy, that tomato juice, it is not true. You don't. Yeah, the peen or. Yeah, I don't have the right proportions here, but like hydrogen peroxide and baking soda are kind of your way to go. Yeah. Not, not, not tomato juice. Yep, yep.

[Chris]

Man.

[Karen]

Who came up with that rumor then?

[Chris]

I.

[Colin]

My dad told me that once as a kid. You know, skunks anywhere near where we lived at the time. You know, speaking of being out in nature hiking, one of the many potential pests to watch out for is ticks disease carriers. Unpleasant bloodsuckers. If you find yourself with a tick attached to your skin, another multiple choice. Which of these methods is the best recommended way to remove that tick? Is it A, do you cover it with petroleum jelly or baby oil so it can't breathe and will withdraw? That's A, B, do you hold the end of a burned out match or other hot item to its tail end causing it to withdraw? Or C, do you grab some tweezers and carefully pull it out? All of these you will find recommended. But one of them is like, why is.

[Karen]

Why is it the most or recommended or the most correct.

[Colin]

I, I have heard all of these from various sources and. Yep. All right, all right, answers up A, B or C. All right. Chris has a cut off the air. Karen has a cut off the air. That was what I always heard too, was like, yeah, cover them up, smother him. You don't want to do that. Because really, no, they can hold out a lot longer than you might think. And it can agitate them and make them actually dig in a little further. Yeah, and same, same with the burned out match or hot item to their butt. Like it can agitate them and actually exacerbate the situation. I mean, it would be. If you put a hot match to my butt, I'd be mad too.

[Chris]

Right, right, right.

[Colin]

No, you, if, if you have a tick, get the finest tweezers you can. Get as close to the skin as possible and just pull, you know, gently but firmly and just pull that sucker. Literally pull that sucker right out of your skin the best you can. And you know, try and get it in one piece. You know, the mouth, the mouth parts may stay in there. Do your best to get those out too. But you don't. Yeah, you, you want to just pull it out is really the best course of action. And then disinfectant and treat it and you know, consult your doctor if you have a Rash gives me the shivers. All right, we'll move to a much larger pest and nuisance animal. A recent study out of the University of Exeter in the UK suggests that doing what to seagulls makes them less likely to steal your food. If you have ever eaten at any kind of beachside restaurant, you have seen it. You've seen it. The seagulls, they're hanging out. They're just waiting to grab something.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Karen]

What are you doing?

[Chris]

What to them?

[Colin]

Doing what makes them less likely to steal your food.

[Chris]

Not multiple choices.

[Colin]

Yeah, fill in the blank. Got some scientific ev. This may be something that maybe you might do, but. But now we got some scientific evidence behind it.

[Chris]

Really?

[Colin]

Maybe. Maybe you would have never thought of this, but. But unlikely. All right, answers up. Karen says squawk back. Chris says yell at them. I'm gonna give the point to Chris here. Karen. Karen may be close, but Chris. You got it. Shout at them. Shouting at seagulls. Yeah, okay, you guys both get the point. He goes, it seems right. It feels right, but, you know, they studied it, bless their hearts. The scientists, the researchers from University of Exeter. They put a closed box of chips on the ground. I assume they mean what we call fries because it's from the BBC. They put a closed box of chips on the ground to attract the goals, and they played different recordings when the goals would get close. All right, so once a goal approached, they played either a recording of a male voice shouting the words, no, stay away. That's my food.

[Chris]

I don't know you.

[Colin]

I don't know you. That's my purse. Right. No, stay away. That's my food. Or they played the same voice just speaking those words, you know, in a college. No, stay away. That's my food. Or maybe as somewhat of a control, just the bird song of a robin. Okay, so, you know, another. Another bird, but not a doll, but not a human.

[Chris]

They tested, like, can it differentiate between.

[Colin]

Yeah, that's right.

[Chris]

Yeah. Okay.

[Colin]

Yeah. And can it tell if you're mad or not? Like, not just are you human? Not just are you this specific guy, but are you mad or not? Right. They tested 61 goals across nine towns. And, yeah, they found that the shouting voice may be no surprise, but you gotta study it. The shouting voice was most effective at keeping the goals from eating the chips. Slash, fries.

[Chris]

Let me tell you the story about the cheeseburger in the Japanese convenience store.

[Colin]

Please.

[Karen]

No.

[Chris]

First move to Japan, and I, like, had walked down to, like, the convenience store that was, you know, closest to the university that I was At. And I got a cheeseburger. And it's a Japanese convenience store, so it's actually really good food. Yeah, yeah. And they, you know, heated it up for me, and I took the cheeseburger and I'm holding it and I walked out of the convenience store and I walk about two steps away from the door when all of a sudden, I don't even know what's happening. But multiple things happen. I get slapped upside the back of the head really hard. My head goes down. And I say as I'm pulling my head back up, the cheeseburger is gone. And I am like, what? Like, all this happens in one second. I'm like, what just happened? And I see, like a hawk flying away from me with a cheeseburger in its tallow. I didn't get any of the cheeseburger. It had been circling the convenience store because it knows that people walk out of their food, comes down behind me, smacks me in the back of the head with its left wing as it goes over my right shoulder, dips down, clutches the cheeseburger in its mighty talons, and flies off all in one smooth motion. It's like, literally just like in the first second, I'm just like, bam, burger's gone. And I'm just like, I got mugged by a hawk. And they do say in. I do. See, sometimes people post signs in Japan that's like, no refunds if bird steals your food. Like, please, please, you know, hold on to your food. Be cautious. Yeah.

[Colin]

I was visiting somewhere in Japan that. And there were some monkeys there and they had a very similar sign of like, yeah, no, like, the monkeys will.

[Karen]

Take your phone now.

[Colin]

Yeah. Oh, I mean, they'll take more than your food. Right.

[Karen]

They steal your phone and then. And then they ask for food so that they'll give your phone back.

[Chris]

Well, that's just genius.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Colin]

Time's changing. All right, let's close it out. We were going to return to the garden for one more garden pest. You can tell that we deal with a lot of garden pests at our house. Aphids are a scourge to many a gardener. Tiny little jerks sucking SAP right out of the plants. They can very quickly overtake and kill them. If you are looking for a pesticide free way to control aphids in your yard. Yard. You might release dozens or even hundreds of what insect into your yard. All right, answers up. You have both written ladybugs. Indeed. The correct answer. Yes. Yes. Have you guys ever done this with the. The little carton of ladybugs in the yard. It's very satisfying.

[Chris]

I think we did. Yeah, we put. They took the carton of ladybugs, we let them go and they all flew away. And it was like, well, there goes 20 bucks Come, easy go.

[Colin]

Yeah, we've done it too. Right. You get the little. And for people who don't know, yes, ladybugs, they eat not just aphids, but a variety of other harmful to garden pests. And yeah, you can go to your local garden shop and buy a little container. The one that we bought looked kind of like an ice cream size container, like a pint of ice cream. And it had maybe, I want to say like 1200 ladybugs in there. And a common mistake, Chris, that a lot of people do is they. They go to the garden shop, they get the ladybugs, they come home, they pop it down, they open it up, maybe the kids are there, it's fun, and they all fly away.

[Chris]

What sounds right?

[Colin]

Yeah, what you're supposed to do is do it at night. That's exactly right. You do it at night. So they're sedate and chilling out, and then as their natural rhythm hits them, they, you know, sort of work their way into your yard. They don't just take off and bolt.

[Karen]

Do you want to hear a crazy fact about aphids?

[Colin]

Yes.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Karen]

When aphids give birth to more aphids, the aphids that they give birth to are already pregnant.

[Chris]

Babies having babies.

[Karen]

Aphids give birth to live young, not eggs.

[Colin]

Wow. I swear, they multiply so fast. Like you come out one day and then you come out the next day and then you just covered all of your leaves. Yeah.

[Karen]

How nuts is that?

[Colin]

Oh, last little tidbit here. I have to share. I found. I found a website that will sell you a crate of 72,000 ladybugs.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Colin]

For a mere 300American dollars, if you really need the big guns. Yeah.

[Chris]

If you guys want to split it three ways.

[Colin]

Okay. All right, I'll tell you what. I'll bring them by your place and scoop out, you know, roughly a third. I'm not going to count them down to the individual bugs. Yeah, yeah. You know, give or take.

[Chris]

And then.

[Colin]

Yeah, then I'll send it up your way, Karen.

[Chris]

Good.

[Colin]

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's just in today's economy, it only makes sense to go three way on your bulk.

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[Karen]

All right, I have our last segment slash quiz. And as a big setup, but that's just because there's a lot of interesting things that I want to share. I mean, we just hit our 300th episode. People often ask me like, oh, what my favorite episode of Good Job Brain is. And I always have episode 100 has a really special place in my heart. But one of the more recent episodes that to me is super memorable and one of my really top favorites is our episode about guides. Do you guys remember that as 284? Oh, yeah, your guide to guides. Chris, you had a quiz about maps that show up in famous books.

[Chris]

Okay. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

Colin, you talked about perhaps like the, the hardest test in the world, which is the grueling process of becoming a. A London cabbie.

[Colin]

Right?

[Karen]

And I had a segment that I think about almost every single day and it's the fascinating world of apples and designer apples. And I went from someone who really didn't care about apples because I thought they were like, pretty mid, you know, the Red Delicious is gross to now all I want are apples. I just want to try different apples. And that segment was heavily inspired by my friend and co worker who's obsessed with apples. And now I too am also obsessed with apples. So much so that we started an impromptu Apple club at work. Of course, you know, we just had our inaugural Apple Club meeting this past week, and I'm pleased to share that it was a big success. We had, we had apple flight. We tried the Kissabelle variety and the Lucy Glow variety. It's like the weird apples where you cut into it, it's pink inside. Ooh. And then we were talking about like, oh, what other weird fruits do we want to try? And I shared that one of the things that I really want to experience in my lifetime is the gross Michelle banana. I've mentioned this before. Gross. Michelle has come up on the show a couple times, I think all probably from me. Just to quickly recap, you know that artificial Laffy Taffy, right? Super yellow fake banana flavor. What we think is a fake banana flavor, but it's actually real. That flavor is indeed based on real banana, but just not the banana.

[Colin]

Right. I remember learning that from you.

[Karen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That particular banana just doesn't exist anymore or doesn't commercially exist anymore because it's called the Gross Michel or the. The Big Michael. And in the 1950s, a specific fungal disease wiped out the majority of the Gross Michel banana plantations, leaving us now with the bananas we have, which is the Cavendish variety. And they taste different. They taste totally different. So it's like, it's crazy that this banana existed before my lifetime.

[Colin]

Yeah, yeah. We have this remnant of it in, like you say, just is in our minds, fake banana flavor.

[Karen]

So got me thinking. What other blights or pests that majorly changed the course of history in a way with our food crops or plant crops? I know it's like, it's a little bit dramatic to. To describe it as the butterfly effect, but like, it's wild to think that things could have gone another way.

[Colin]

Right. Right.

[Karen]

This will be a write down quiz. Get your pens and paper ready. Before the 1950s, what country was the largest wine exporter in the world, accounting for nearly two thirds of the total international wine trade?

[Chris]

Hmm.

[Colin]

Once more.

[Karen]

Before the 1950s, what country was the largest wine exporter in the world, accounting for nearly two thirds of the total international wine trade? Hint. It is not the US and it's not France.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Karen]

It's not even in Europe.

[Chris]

Okay. Okay.

[Andre White]

Huh?

[Karen]

All right.

[Colin]

Okay. All right, all right. I'm just going with meta information. I don't know.

[Karen]

Okay, answers up. Chris has put Australia. Great guess. Colin has put Japan. The answer is very shocking. It is. Altogether, Algeria was the number one exporter and producer of wine for a long time. Why is that? Well, I'll tell you. Here's the problem. This is the. The pest problem. There was something called the great French wine blight. And it's not really limited to France. It's pretty much all of Europe. And it's caused by an aphid. Phylloxera aphid. In the late 1800s, this nearly destroyed all of the vineyards in Europe. Almost wiped out the entire European wine industry. People were freaking out. Algeria at the time was under French rule. And so the French ramped up all their wine production in Algeria to kind of fill that. That French void or that European void until the Algerian independence.

[Colin]

Okay, okay.

[Karen]

Algeria is a Islamic country. They didn't want to be become too dependent on alcohol sales.

[Colin]

Yeah, right.

[Karen]

And so they diversified their.

[Colin]

I didn't think about the colonial root.

[Karen]

Connection there again, the French and European wine industry almost completely collapsed. How did they stop Solve the problem of this aphid.

[Colin]

Yeah. What was. What was the comeback?

[Karen]

Farmers tried everything under the sun. I mean, they were. They were. They were pretty desperate. They released toads. There were reports that people were electrocuting the soil and plants. Homemade poisons and pesticides. None of it worked. And so what actually did help bring back the. The plants they grafted onto American vine roots. Turns out this aphid is from America. But American vines had the natural resistance. The French vines onto American vines that.

[Colin]

Had the natural resistance.

[Karen]

Most of what's currently grown in Europe has American roots. Like, literally American roots.

[Colin]

That is really interesting. That is. I love stuff like that. I really do. That's why we're friends.

[Karen]

I like how America introduced this aphid, but then was like, oh, oh, our bad.

[Colin]

We have just the thing for that, which is our vines.

[Karen]

We're on the west coast. This is before big western expansion. So there's no Napa. There's no California wine Valley. Most of the wine was grown in, guess what, Missouri and Texas. A lot of the grapes were grown there. And so that's where a lot of the vine roots that used were from. Missouri and Missouri pretty much saved the vineyard industry in Europe. Good job, Missouri. All right, next question. In the city of Enterprise, Alabama, you can find the world's first monument built to honor an agricultural pest. It's a very classy Greco Roman style statue of a woman, and her arms are up and she's holding up what insect?

[Colin]

I think I might know this.

[Karen]

The scale is not. The scale is not accurate.

[Chris]

Where is it?

[Karen]

Enterprise, Alabama.

[Chris]

Okay, okay.

[Colin]

All right.

[Chris]

I have nothing. Are you kidding me? Answers up, lady holding up an agricultural pest in Alabama.

[Karen]

All right, answer is up. Chris has written bowl weevil. Colin has written ball bowl weevil. Answer is the boll weevil.

[Colin]

Yes.

[Karen]

A cotton plant pest. There's a plaque and. Let me just read the plaque. It's very sweet in a way. Okay. The plaque says, in profound appreciation of the bull weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity. So in the 1900s, south was cotton country, right? But farmers in this area were just losing crops after crops to the boll weevil, which is a beetle that comes in and destroys all these cotton plants. So farmers were encouraged to switch to growing peanuts. And it was such a big success, and it helped diversify their crops, and that's what financially saved this area. And so it's so funny that the townspeople are like, we gotta thank the boll weevil. We have to honor it.

[Colin]

Thanking the haters.

[Karen]

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The sad thing is people keep vandalizing the statue. People keep stealing the boll weevil.

[Colin]

This is why we can't have nice boll weevils.

[Karen]

All right, next question. One of the most known tea varieties is the Ceylon tea. That hails from what country? One of the most known tea varieties is the Ceylon tea. C, E, Y, L, O, N, T. That hails from what country?

[Colin]

Not gonna overthink it.

[Chris]

Nope. Me either.

[Karen]

All right, answers up. Colin put Sri Lanka. Chris has put Sri Lanka. Correct. It is Sri Lanka. Ceylon is the old term for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka known for their tea production. But at some point in history, Sri Lanka was known for coffee, especially under the British rule. Turns out, great place to produce coffee. So under British rule, Sri Lanka was a big and successful coffee producer and was not really known for tea until the coffee rust illness destroyed the coffee plants in Asia and forced Sri Lanka to be like, gotta grow something else. And they grew tea. Not that they didn't grow tea before, but, like, almost went the other way. It's almost like a bizarro world. There is a famous dessert called Mont Blanc. Mont blanc, which means mountain white or white mountain, and is made out of what primary ingredient, Actually, very, very famous in Japan.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Karen]

Yeah. It's a very popular Japanese.

[Chris]

What is it?

[Karen]

Mont Blanc. So it's like a heap, like a mountain of something, and it has cream on it, so it looks like snow. So Mont Blanc, white mountain. What is this dessert?

[Colin]

I don't know. I'm just thinking of a white food. I'm just thinking of a white food. All right, all right.

[Karen]

Colin has put rice. Chris has put egg white. It is chestnuts. It's like a cake. And then there's chestnut puree that they just, like, squeeze. They almost look like noodles, but they just squeeze this whole heap of chestnut puree so it looks like a. Like a brown mountain. And with, like, little pretty good powdered sugar or cream.

[Colin]

I like all those things.

[Karen]

Delicious.

[Colin]

It's very nutty.

[Karen]

What does that do with pests? Well, and it's very, very similar to the gross. Michelle Banana. For a long time in America, we had what we call American chestnut tree. Grew along the Appalachian of very prolific Appalachian. Remember Appalachian?

[Colin]

We can't. We cannot get dinged on the. We cannot get dinged on this.

[Karen]

What did I say? Appalachian.

[Colin]

You said Appalachian. Yeah.

[Karen]

Apple. Yeah, yeah, that's right. We latch. Appalachian.

[Colin]

Appalachian.

[Karen]

The American chestnut was this tree. It not only produced chestnuts for people to eat. A great food source and especially popular during the winter time. Because it's like, where a lot of the calories are so popular among people and also woodland creatures, I guess. The American chestnut wood is legendary in woodworking. People use this to build furniture, to build houses. Let me tell you, the chestnut we have now is not the same tree, really not the same plant. The American chestnut was, was close not, it's extinct, but it was wiped out by the chestnut blight. And, and it doesn't really exist anymore. I think there's some in Maine.

[Colin]

So what do we have? Like, what are our, what are our common chestnuts coming from?

[Karen]

Asian chestnut, Asian chestnut trees that, that came to America and that's actually what introduced the chestnut blight. So those trees are resistant. But what they came with the blight destroyed the Native American chestnut tree. And the crazy thing is because this wood is so prized as such a good, like, woodworking wood, that once these trees are gone, they're like wood pirates. Like, people are trying to steal, are trying to mine, trying to save, trying to, like, pillage for whatever is left of American chestnut wood because it doesn't exist anymore.

[Colin]

Wow.

[Karen]

Yeah.

[Colin]

If you know, and if you know what you're looking for, you just spot it and you're like, oh, that's very valuable. Yeah. Wow.

[Karen]

Oh, now it's gone. Now it's just a. But a memory. But yeah, so that, those are some of the misses.

[Colin]

That is very interesting.

[Karen]

And to end the segment, I'm very happy to report I found a place that sells gross Michelle bananas.

[Colin]

Oh, okay. I, I, I want to try one of these.

[Karen]

Like, you can't buy it at the supermarket. They're not, they're not grown to scale. But, but yes, there are some places that are breeding and growing Gross Michelle.

[Colin]

Are they expensive?

[Karen]

Okay, one fruit is $17.

[Colin]

That's a lot for one banana. I am extremely curious, I have to say. I, I don't know if I'm $17.

[Karen]

Curious, but yeah, you wouldn't pay $17 to eat this long lost banana.

[Chris]

I would, I would.

[Colin]

I, I would. I would. Who am I kidding? Of course I would.

[Karen]

I will report back for our next. After our next Apple Club meeting, maybe I'll buy the roast Michelle banana and we'll eat it. And that's our show. Thank you all for joining me and thank you listeners for listening and hope you learned stuff today about bugs on film, about skunks, and about bananas. You can find us on all major podcast apps and on our website, goodjopbrain.com this podcast is part of Airwave Media podcast network. Visit airwavemedia.com to listen and subscribe to other shows like the Past and the Curious Rainbow, Puppy Science Lab and the Test Kitchen. And we'll see you next week. Bye.

[Andre White]

What's something you learned in history class that you feel like wasn't the whole truth? Better yet, what's something you didn't learn at all that was omitted completely? That's what I like to call redacted history. My name is Andre White, the host of the Redacted History Podcast. The place where history's forgotten events, heroes and villains get their story told one episode at a time. The Redacted History Podcast Real History Never Dies. Stream the Redacted History Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts.