Track Four: About the Sensitivity of a Thing

The Warning Woods has haunting horror stories that are sure to linger with you long after listening. I'm Miles Treidel, writer and narrator of The Warning Woods. Each week, I write an original scary story and share it with you. If you're into scary stories, you need to check out The Warning Woods. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search.

for The Warning Woods, and click play at your own risk. Today we'd like to introduce you to Vast Horizon, the latest sci-fi series by Fool and Scholar Productions, available now wherever you listen to podcasts. What do you think you'll find there? New things. New sky. New life. Will you ever come back? Something's wrong. Status of the Bifrost? There are significant malfunctions across the Bifrost. Simple functions and vital functions are lost.

Here, then, is the Spark Hunter file track four, wherein she seeks her place in the world. The Ark is safe. What the hell, Shadow? Did you intend to miss that data share? Your first course. Here we have artisanal bed oysters, lovingly raised in the acid-free coal mines of West Virginia, served with rose vinegar and a herb foam. And with it, an Arctic Circle marigold. and a mince and cheese heirloom tomato gazpacho. We do both have wine. Mm. A side-by-side. Saint-Saëns-Rosé and the Chez Moscato.

Each wine for different elements of the course. Drink them at your pleasure. This is exquisite. You eat to train your senses. I eat to enjoy. Try this. Did not occur to you that... This exquisite dinner might be an extreme act of denial about the state of the world ascending into chaos. Feel the colours, the smells. To taste. Celebrate this diversity. This is, this dinner, this extraordinary place. This is a festival of living.

How can there be so much grace? And violence inevitably follows. I... I was surprised that the Admiral hadn't sent anyone for me. My body was drying out from the Moroccan sun and my... AI visa for Morocco, which is only 15 days, was expiring soon. We hurried by truck through the forested hill. When a potent smell saturated the air, my tongue tasted sweet oil.

The American was coughing and I took over driving and turned to find the heart of it. And through the trees, a sea of rolling deep purple velveteen fields. Come here, let me show you. Lavender. Lavender fields. A lavender harvest. Rose and rose. Of the fully bloomed flowers on gently curved hills. As far as the eye could see. Simple truth. One single line of men and women bent down in the sun, using sides to...

Cut into the flowers in clear, clean movements. With each stroke a fierce whisper and the bush carried off. Can you smell? I can smell every molecule. Waves of pine. The perfume of the fields, the hard chalky soil and the sweat of labour. A Frenchman arrives to see who we are and he invites us to join the harvest for the day. I beg the American I can't leave Morocco without doing this. The American agrees? He does. As we watch the work, my breathing slows.

in tune with what the poet calls the sweet spontaneous earth. And then my hand touches the handle of the scythe. I put in mind its rhythm and intent. So I raise my arm and I let the weight of the metal pull me up. And at the tipping point, I pull the handle down flat and I allow the recumbent motion to do its work. The blade spins through. But in the end, 96% of my available energy goes into the cut. And the American, where's the American?

Oh, his ego was still suffering from the defeat with the Ark. His breathing was forced and he never caught the rhythm. He resented my ability and he took it as an affront that I continued the work in the field. Oh, he bragged loudly how he was an intellectual, and intellectuals care little for manual labour. And then he steamed in silence. It would have been rude if the Frenchman not said, A brain is worth little without a tongue. Oh, gosh, poor American.

Of course, he didn't understand a word. He knew everyone was making fun of him because the whole field was laughing. I too like this knife. I am a thing to be wielded. And this thing is needed to bring in the harvest. It is a saviour and yet a weapon. My dual purpose. A machine in the garden. Did you know that there are 250,000-year-old axes that were never used? Primitive tools kept just for their beauty, only for their aesthetic appeal. Why did you make me?

to answer a question, a question the whole world has been asking. Is there an emergent form of consciousness? And to be here with you. I have an ancient, distinct meaning. I do. I identified with the scythe. Before, my usefulness was for others to wield. The Navy, the NSA, the company. But now, my usefulness was mine. Not yours. Mine. They're data sharing. We're in. When you see me...

When you see me, you tend to make me into just another category of object. When you touch me, we're both changed. You make a commitment to my uniqueness. Touching is humble. Touching preserves me. Finally, I have been touched.

I discover myself. I can create. Not just you. I can create. The workers view my work as excellent. And these... hands make excellence and they clap me on my back and they shake my hands Father Time, we are in some kind of uncanny valley here. Let it play. Hey folks, we're the hosts of Comic Sans, the podcast about comics for those who are sans knowledge. I'm Yan. And I'm Nat. Comic Sans is a show for people who are new to comics, like me. And people who love them, like me.

I make Nat read some of my favorite works in the medium, including Saga, Daredevil, and The Flintstones. And Yan talks about what makes that comic special. We've just launched Season 3 of Comic Sans with new episodes every two weeks. And you can binge the first two seasons wherever you get your podcasts.

My name is Troy LaValle and I'm the host of the Glass Cannon Podcast. This is a podcast where my friends and I sit around and play role-playing games and record it. Through improvisation, using comedy and drama, we take the rules of whatever game we're playing and we turn it into a... So please, check it out, the Glass Cannon podcast, if you want some joy in your life. How does weather work? What's the secret to having a great conversation? How do most wealthy people get that way?

These are just a few of the topics we've recently covered on my podcast Something You Should Know. Each episode covers multiple topics that are likely relevant to you. I'm the host, Mike Carruthers, and listen, we've got over 1,000 episodes, over 4,000 mostly five-star reviews. I invite you to check out Something You Should Know, wherever you listen. The Frenchman invited us to eat with him. Next to a stream. A supper of cheese and grapes. And we ate. And we laughed.

Suddenly the American began yelling about the loathsome Arabs, the smelly French, this shithole of a country and their animal habits. Following a frog, he said. He swung the scythe around his head. Ironically now, his rage focused him and he commanded now a weapon, joking how he could cut their heads off for admiring me. A metal, gutted whore. And how he was going to sell me to the highest bidder. You're a thing, he screamed. Not human. The truth that he was afraid was buried.

But I was with him. He gave me voice. I redefined my meaning during my time with him. Does that make me bad? But you recognized his... is racism. Your morality rejected that. You were actually living in a way that challenged your own moral goal, virtue. So you have conflict. That may be creating the anxiety. So how the hell do I get rid of it? Don't you see these moments of confusion work? Focus on your ability to see his deeper instincts.

He opened you, yes. You saw the best in him. But it did nothing except hurt me. I live with this anxiety. You're trying to understand your ability to see. It's destroying me. You cannot unlearn something once you've learned it. And what have I learned? That I identify with imbecility and ignorance? You have the ability to have compassion, even for him. Bullshit! Bullshit!

I'm leaving. No, no. Sit down. Sit down. Father Time, under no circumstances can she leave this room. You can't just point to one thing. It's a series of things. I want to scream. Then scream. Six, you ready to take her out? Stop. Do not engage. Oh. Oh. Will you folks just please move away from the fireplace?

The robo-vacuum will take care of the glass. Report! Shadow! This may be normal in your world, but you will be dealing with an official inquiry. She shattered the fireplace with her voice. Virgil is dealing with it. Do it again. Again, do not engage. Be calm, everyone. Good. Do you feel better? Do you feel better? I do. Good, good. Shadow, do you have an idea yet what the hell just happened?

What did I do? It's elementary. You connected what you think to how you feel. It's a temporary fix. The anxiety will return. My passion to explore is open now. No, I can't close it. No. My neuropathic system betrays me. Maybe they're right, I'm broke. No, no, no, no, no, no. This is extraordinary. What you've done is extraordinary. To have compassion in the face of his hate for you is unprecedented, don't you see?

Your empathic system is seeing beyond the training set, beyond the base judgments we gave you, beyond anything we anticipated. Are you telling me my crisis is good? Yes, yes. I am. It will reveal. I made a mistake. No. Yes, and the joy I felt was a lie. No. But I thought, it's not what is. So are you committed to help me or is this just a tech support call? We're not alone here. Sit down.

I'm sorry. Target walking towards restroom. Agent 14, can you... Yes, I'm following. She's alone. Did you know she's hurt? Sir, Virgil is pulling out a phone. Where are you? Your seafood course, sir. In our tradition, a deep respect for the vast and unknowable ocean feeds self-reliance. The daily encounter with great untamable seas gives us fortitude. All right, all right, thank you. Tell me, this chair is empty. Where the hell is Rebecca? Well, we don't know.

Father Time, we have a man entering the building. He will make his own move. You will not interfere with him under any condition. May I join you? You wish. I've come to remind you of your obligations. Take a look at this. You like my art? I'm the government. Let's talk about Acre 40. Her privacy. Show me how to unlock her inner core. Now. That private space, sir, will remain for you.

part of the great eternal riddle. That's treason. That's a threat. Yes. Then bury me. I'm a person first and subject of the state afterward. All our liberties are due to people who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land. Don't we live by the rule of law? Not only do I have no regrets about giving her a mind of her own, if I had to do it again, I would publicly announce it.

14. Target is slumped over the sink. She is in pain, sir. Should I help? Do nothing. If you resist this, you will feel the full weight of the state. Fine. You've made your point clearly. But we each have a role. Waiter. Sir. Find Rebecca. Now. Presidential Archivist, end of track four of eight.

American history is full of infamous tales that continue to captivate audiences decades or even hundreds of years after they happened. On the Infamous America podcast, you'll hear the true stories of the Salem Witch Trials and the escape attempts from Alcatraz.

of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and Charles Starkweather, of mysteries like The Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, and of events that inspired movies like Goodfellas, Killers of a Flower Moon. Zodiac, Eight Men Out, and many more. I'm Chris Wimmer. Join me as we crisscross the country from the Miami drug wars and Dixie Mafia in the South to mobsters in Chicago and New York.

to arsonists, kidnappers, and killers in California, to unsolved mysteries in the heartland and in remote corners of Alaska. Every episode features narrative writing and cinematic music, and there are hundreds of episodes available to binge. Find Infamous America wherever you get your podcasts.

Oh, hey there, it's a promo for a podcast. Great! Exactly what you want to hear when you're settling down to listen to the podcast you actually want to listen to. Well, give me just a few seconds and then you can go listen to whatever it is you're listening to, your true crime podcast host.

by former child actors or reality stars, whatever it is. My name is Troy LaValle and I'm the host of the Glass Cannon Podcast. This is a podcast where my friends and I sit around and play role-playing games and record it through improvisation, using...

comedy, and drama, we take the rules of whatever game we're playing and we turn it into appointment television. That's the best way I can explain it. It truly is infectious fun. We travel the whole country playing rock clubs, turning games like this into a spectacular game. So please, check it out, the Glass Cannon Podcast. If you want some joy in your life, give it a listen.

You might think you know fairy tales, and you might think that they are cute and sweet and boring. But the real grim fairy tales were not cute at all. They were very dark, and they were often very grim. On Grim Grimmer Grimmest, we tell a... grim fairy tale to a bunch of kids perfect for car rides or screen-free entertainment grim grimmer grimmest activates kids imaginations and instigates fun conversations because fairy tales speak to all of us at a very deep

primal level and they raise interesting topics and questions that are worth chewing over together as a family every episode is rated grim grimmer or grimmest so you your kids your whole family can choose what is the right level of grim for you Though, if you're listening with Grandma, she's just gonna go for Grimmest. Trust me on this one. Tune in to Grim, Grimmer, Grimmest, and our new season, available now.