#RTAnswers - #505 - The Dumbest Episode of the Podcast https://roosterteeth.com/episode/rooster-teeth-podcast-2018-rooster-teeth-podcast-505 ---------------------------- Is cabin pressurization a manual procedure on planes? Let me preface this by saying two things quickly. First, I have had zero flight training and, other then getting a tour of a 757's when I was nine, I have only seen the flight deck in passing, but... you know, I've played video games. Second, Google is a really fucking scary tool. Within a few minutes, I was able to not only find the plane model, type, and a large chunk of its service record, I was also able to find the entire schematic for the plane's air conditioning, circulation, and pressurization systems. The stolen plane in Saturday's incident was an Alaska Airlines owned Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop commercial airliner capable of carrying 76 passengers. It appears that the pressurization system for both the cabin AND the flight deck is dependent upon the air conditioning system being activated. There is an option for an auto-selection setting, seen in the image below, which will, at various stages of pre- and post-takeoff automatically control cabin and flight deck pressurization in order to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for the crew and passengers alike. However, it appears that without this toggle explicitly set to "AUTO", the only protection against un-pressurized flight is a warning light which appears after hitting a critical altitude. The schematic does not say what that altitude is however, given the typical pressurization altitude of 6,000 - 8,0000 feet, it is safe to assume that this is somewhere at, or just above, those altitude numbers. I think that it is also safe to assume that most pilots would use the AUTO setting if it is available and that it is unlikely the setting was NOT on AUTO. https://imgur.com/a/j328XXy However, as the black box has been recovered but the findings haven't been released, we do not know whether the controls were actually set to AUTO during the short flight. We do know that oxygen deprivation symptoms can occur at only 5,000 feet above sea level, however, for most it will begin to occur around 8,000 feet. We also know that his flight trajectory kept him below 5,000 feet for most of the flight. At those altitudes it is unlikely that his ability to fly the plan would have been impaired by any lack of oxygen. It is more likely that the adrenaline and shock of his own actions led to that shortness of breath, panic, and confusion. Lastly, in case we needed more proof of the power of information at all of our fingertips, here is a simulator video walking through the entire start up and flight procedure for the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 airliner. https://youtu.be/usKRZRPhjgU ---------------------------- Gilbert Gottfried Reads 50 Shades of Grey? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkLqAlIETkA ---------------------------- Did Gilbert Gottfried play Iago in all movies and the TV show? Gottfried did indeed play Iago in every Aladdin movie, multiple TV shows, commercials, video shorts, every Kingdom Hearts game, the smash hit early PC game, Disney's Math Quest, various toy audio playbacks, and the PhiharMagic ride at Disney World. In fact, as far as I could tell, no Disney approved use of Iago's likeness and voice has ever been voiced by any other voice actor. ---------------------------- Do all mammals go through menopause? No, in fact it is nearly the complete opposite. For more than fifty years the count of animals experiencing menopause was scant three, those being, killer whales, pilot whales, and us. However, coincidentally, on August 28th, a Scientific Reports article announced findings that beluga whales and narwhals are also on the short list for mammals whose ovaries shrivel up at a certain age. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this legitimately rare phenomenon is how little we know about why it only happens for these five species. The reason for confusion over the rarity of menopause in mammals is less about why other animals don't have to go through it and more about why we, and a select group of whales, do. The reason for this is because, while it may not always be the most popular opinion among some religious teachings, we, like every other creature on this planet have one sole purpose in life. The proliferation of our species and our genetic line. By essentially reaching a fertility roadblock by age 50, give or take a decade, we, as a species, are turning our backs on this basic tenement of all life on this planet. The question is why? The most prevailing theory, posed by researchers in the 1960s is known as the "grandmother hypothesis." In this theory, researchers proposed that older matriarchs of family units play a crucial role in the rearing, nurturing, protection, and teaching of their children and grandchildren. For example, numerous studies have shown that human females who live long after experiencing menopause have more grandchildren. While the connections to this fact and the theories around their grandmotherly influence and assistance contributing to these numbers are tenuous at best, they are definitely intriguing. This is doubly so when you introduce the relevant studies done with "grandma" killer whales. In 2012, researchers out of the University of Exeter concluded a four decade long census on multiple family units of Pacific Northwest orcas. Not only did it show that female orcas tend to live as part of the family unit for decades after experiencing menopause around the age of 35 but they also are shown to be the matriarchal heads of these units. Guiding their sons, and grandsons, to key locations for salmon and other prey. That said, matriarchal-led family units are not unusual in the animal kingdom. Elephants, for example, or well-known for their female led herds. The "grandmother hypothesis" addresses this by pointing out the likely evolution of the human social dynamic and family unit. Historically, it has typically been that the case that daughters would move away from their mothers to start families of their own while the sons would stay nearer their mothers. Initially this proximity was for protection, tutelage, and nurture before, in later years, the mother becomes a matriarchal lead over the incoming female from other family units. The grandmother then assists in raising the children of her children, with the looming reality that if she were to have more children they would be effectively fighting for survival against her grandchildren. Perhaps fittingly, elephant family units are lacking sons. The grandmothers are then surrounded by their daughters and daughter's daughters for the remainder of their life. In this instance, it is in the best interest of the species to continue to reproduce until death as the family unit does not regularly consist of direct genetic lines but rather inconsistent breaks and rejoins. In this case, the more offspring, the better for the species. Killer whales seem to ride the line a bit between the human familial structure of nurturing their sons and the elephant ways of keeping their daughters close. While it is not unusual for females orcas to spend time with other family pods, it is, in most cases, a temporary arrangement, and they will find their way back to their original family after giving birth to their next generations. This leads to massive killer whale family units, spanning multiple generations and multiple lineages. It is these massive family pods which have led researchers to assign the "grandmother hypothesis" to orcas as well. With all of the competition for resources and the likelihood of both calf and mother death in older killer whales, recorded to be nearly 2 times more likely, the cost of NOT evolving to experience menopause becomes pretty high. In the case of Belugas and Narwhals, the jury is still out as to why, or if, the grandmother hypothesis can't be bent to apply to them as well. This is largely due to the limited knowledge and limited active research done on their mating or survival habits. Until relatively recently, within the last twenty years, the ability to withstand the arctic temperatures for the prolonged study of either species has been difficult and dangerous. This is the reason it has taken so long to add the beluga and narwhal to the list of menopausal mammals to begin with. If nothing else, you now have the answer to what I'm sure would be a truly savage HQ question: What biological rarity do humans, orcas, beluga and pilot whales, and narwhals have in common? ---------------------------- Does having a child take years from your life? Pregnancy, childbirth, and the subsequent stress of actually raising a little person is, like any other type of physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing experience, a huge burden on the human body. A 2006 American Journal of Human Biology study found that over 116 years of Polish births, women lost 95 weeks of life for EACH child they carried. For those not bothering to do the math, that is nearly two years of life per kid... as if the nine months the little parasites were leeching on your innards wasn't enough. Among the related maladies brought on, or exacerbated by pregnancy and childbirth, were hypertension, diabetes, nutrient deficiencies, and severe depression. However, a study published a decade later by University of California San Diego found that women you had children in late life were more likely to live longer lives AND women who had 3+ kids were more likely to outlive those with one.... curiously, the last fact only proved true among the caucasian population. There are several other competing studies which point at increased oxytocin and dopamine levels associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing as either an effective fountain of youth or the exact opposite. Ultimately, it, like most debates involving the amount of "time taken off your life because of something else" are largely subjective and easily influenced by unknown variables. That said, from a pure scientific position, there is legitimate evidence to show that childbirth makes your actual cells older and more frail! Telomeres, a molecular cap to our chromosomes which helps protect cellular deterioration over time, are commonly used to determine a person's "cellular age." The length of these telomeres, or more precisely the lack of length, has been linked to cognitive issues, heart disease, and other ailments which become more common as we age. A three year study in the early 2000s also looked at telomere lengths in women who had gone through pregnancy and childbirth. The study shown that the women who had given birth had 4.2 percent shorter telomeres than those who had not. According to past research done on "cellular aging" this is calculated to be around 11 years of "lost" time. This is greater than the telomere effects from smoking and obesity! Further findings found that the more children a woman has contributed to consistently shorter telomeres and, by cellular aging standards, consistently shorter lives, though not at the same 11 year rate per child. What are the laws on indecent exposure/peeping toms when it comes to your house? Most of us, I believe, operate under some assumption of privacy within the walls of our own home. However, this can vary drastically according to state, and even local, legislation. In Louisiana for example, several people over the years have been arrested for illegally exposing their genitals in their own home as it is illegal to do so "in any public place or place open to the public view". Louisiana police and prosecutors weighing in on this have stated that all laws are meant to have a bit of "good judgment" attached to their enforcement. The universal understanding being that there is a big difference between absent-mindedly passing by a window in the buff and standing at full attention at your large front picture window so every little kid walking to school can catch a bit of emotional and mental scarring from your depravity. By contrast, other states and municipalities have been dealing with just that for years and have been unable to move forward with charges because the indecency laws in those areas DO require you to be outside of a personal residence. A 2009 case involving a nude man from Fairfax, VA sparked a lively debate about the double standards surrounding nudity in the home. A circuit court judge handed down a suspended sentence for indecent exposure a 29 year-old man claimed to have been seen by two women of loudly singing while nude in front of his large picture window, clearly visible from the street. The ACLU quickly weighed in to point out that the definition of "public and private space depends on the behavior that's taking place." In a later interview, the no longer naked man was quick to point out that had HE been looking in HER window, "...we'd be having a whole different conversation." Another case of some notoriety from 2015 concerned a middle-aged man in a North Carolina suburb who would frequently terrorize innocent passersby by letting it all hang out while waving at them from the "privacy" of his open front door. The reason for the issues with levying a charge is the word of law... one word in particular. The relevant piece of legislation reads, "...any person who shall willfully expose the private parts of his or her person in any public place and in the presence of any other person or persons..." The "one" word causing all of the issues is reportedly the pesky "and" in the middle of the sentence. Since the law clearly states that the alleged deviant must not only willfully exposing their naughty bits but also be in a public place AND in the presence of at least one other person. This means that, despite this specific North Carolinians fondness for semi-public nudity, there is nothing the authorities can do as long as he isn't FULLY-public. The general "good judgement" rules, regardless of where you live seem to be as long as you are naked inside your own home and making an effort to not be plainly visible to passersby AND those passersby are not making an extra effort to see what actually be visible, then you are all in the clear. ---------------------------- What is the Friday the 13th origin story? As discussed on the podcast, this is a tough one. The true source for the unlucky connection to this seemingly random day of the week has long since been lost to time. The most prevalent theories have various sources themselves. The Christian influence is tying the date to the darkest biblical events (Christ's crucifixion, the eating of the apple in the Garden Eden, the last supper, Noah's flood, the Tower of Babel, at least one of Egypt's plagues, etc.) What little evidence exist, actually points to the weekday and not the numbered day as the unlucky one. Chaucer's infamous tales point to Friday, as does a well-used poem in the 1600s. In the 1800s, much to the confusion of Garfield and 90s kids everywhere, we begin to a see a resurgence in the hate for Fridays. Perhaps with the continued growth of literacy in our new modern world, anecdotes about the woes suffered on Fridays were appearing everywhere. Stories like the below became a frequent sight in the self-help columns of the day. “I knew an old lady who, if she had nearly completed a piece of needlework on a Thursday, would put it aside unfinished, and set a few stitches in her next undertaking, that she might not be obliged either to begin the new task on Friday or to remain idle for a day.” “Fisherman would have great misgivings about laying the keel of a new boat on Friday, as well as launching one on that day.” "There are still a few respectable tradesmen and merchants who will not transact business, or be bled, or take physic, on a Friday, because it is an unlucky day.” “Sailors are many of them very superstitious…A voyage begun on a Friday is sure to be an unfortunate one.” “If you have been ill, don’t get up for the first time on Friday.” “If you hear anything new on a Friday, it gives you another wrinkle on your face, and adds a year to your age.” “As to Friday, a couple married on that day are doomed to a cat-and-dog life.” Regarding the suspicion around the Friday the 13th specifically, the connection to the demise of Jacques Demolay, and 100 other Templars, on a crisp October night at the direction of King Philip, as mentioned on the podcast, is a relatively modern connection which has very little verifiable supporting information regarding the specific day. In reality, it wasn't until the 20th century that we began to see a connection made between two historically unlucky, but until this time disparate, thoughts. One of the first such connections was a small blurb from the New York Times in 1908 regarding an Oklahoma senator who dared to tempt the double superstitions and friggatriskaidekaphobics everywhere by introducing thirteen bills on Friday the 13th. One things is certain, Friday the 13th, like most days, is no stranger to verifiable unfortunate or terrible things, including a the birth of the KKK's first Grand Wizard in 1821, 1970 cyclone which killed 300k people in Bangladesh, the crash of Uruguayan Flight 571 AND Aeroflot 217 happened on the same cursed Friday in 1972, the murder of Tupac in 1996, the crash of the Costa Concordia cruise ship in 2012. Additionally, a 2010 study estimated that as much as $800 million are lost every Friday the 13th due to the fears surrounding travel, shopping, or just not showing up for work. And, in case you now needed a reason to break out your friggatriskaidekaphobia stress ball, scientists predict that, on Friday, April 13th, 2029, a 300-meter asteroid will pass so close to us that our gravitational pull may be enough to cause dust and debris avalanches on the surface of the rock. Predicted to flyby at a mere 22,000 miles from us, the distance is only a tenth of the distance to the moon, less that the circumference of our planet, right in the middle of the distance range commonly referred to as "Medium Earth Orbit", with man-made satellites orbiting further away from us than it will be, and the closest an asteroid of that size has passed by us since we have bothered to start keeping track. Unlucky indeed...