Listener Mail: The West Lake Landfill, Cloning, and Supplements - podcast episode cover

Listener Mail: The West Lake Landfill, Cloning, and Supplements

Apr 11, 202457 min
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Episode description

B7 hips the gang to the West Lake Landfilll. Rev Devl prompts a strange exploration of the future of AI. Byron asks about cloning (and flame retardants). Agent Atari and Chef Ben have some hot takes on supplements. All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2

Hello, welcome back to the show. My parents named me Matt.

Speaker 3

My name is Nola.

Speaker 4

They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our superducer Alexis code name Doc Holliday Jackson. Most importantly, you are here. That makes this the stuff they don't want you to know. It's a pretty great week for us, folks. We are we're coming in from some time on the road. Three fourth of us are back in our metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia, and we are celebrating with some messages from you. We're going to learn a little bit more about the anti

Christ and artificial intelligence. We're going to dive into some stuff in advance of our supplement episode. Oh boy, that's gonna be that's gonna be one, and we're gonna learn about landfills. And before we do any of that, we get a lot of correspondence about cloning and some responses to our earlier thing about making sure we all have fire extinguishers.

Speaker 5

Yeah, in a roundabout way, You're absolutely right, Ben, And this one could take a second, so I'm just gonna jump right into it with the message from Byron.

Speaker 3

I'm going to kind of take it.

Speaker 5

Out of order because the first thing is a little bit more of a thought experiment. The second thing is addressing a current news story. Hi, guys, I just finished listening to your episode on human cloning. Have you read Never Let Me Go by the Nobel Prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro.

Speaker 3

I have not have, either of you, fellows.

Speaker 4

Yeah, it's pretty great.

Speaker 3

Cool, Okay, Matt, you I don't know that is well. I don't think this is going to be spoilery.

Speaker 5

This is going to be more of like a big picture, you know what the sort of framework of the world that's being represented in this sort of dystopian sci fi future is.

Speaker 3

And here it is.

Speaker 5

This novel is about exactly that topic, cloning people for their organs. A very well written novel which follows the lives of the clones from childhood up through young adulthood. Eventually they receive the letter from the British government that

they need to report and begin donations. And when you are finished with donations, you have completed the novel is written in such a way that you feel attached to the protagonists, almost like you know them and can relate to them, rooting for them as you follow their lives, very distressing the way they go away one by one until the last one the story is told from her viewpoint, receives that letter.

Speaker 3

So, yeah, I don't know this novel.

Speaker 5

Maybe Ben can add a little bit more context, but

it sure sounds like what we know. Sci fi often is great at doing, which is positing future scenarios that maybe at the time of publication aren't necessarily on the table, but because of the forward thinking and kind of prescients of great sci fi writers often do tend to come around to resemble reality a lot more than they resemble some sort of you know, pie in the sky future and the idea we talked about this the ethics of cloning people for their organs, how that would require a

structure of law that others those individuals in such a way as to have them not exist under the rights that others are able to exist under and be protected by. And it sounds like this is that scenario exactly right. And of course one thing that great fiction can do as well is put you in the shoes of some one that's going through a very specific experience and something that maybe we could never really fully understand through our experiences, but by you know, reading and kind of seeing things

vicariously through them, we really can. And that's what great writing does. It allows you to kind of see other sides. So this it's again, having not read the novel, it sure sounds to me like these individuals are bred with this exact purpose, and once they're done with their once they've been raised to a certain point where their organs are viable, it sounds to me like they're donating all of the key ones and then they are no longer a viable human anymore, which means they weren't ever really

looked at like that from the start. So I don't know, guys, maybe a little conversation quickly about the ethics of cloning and how this hits you as maybe being something that isn't too too far off from what society like this might resemble.

Speaker 2

There was a documentary on Netflix pretty recently, I think the end of last year, called The King of Clones, which highlighted some of this in the state of human cloning and the debate about human cloning, and also a person that appears to at least claimed to have cloned human beings for real. I don't know. It always feels like we're closer than maybe we actually are to getting to that point where we where human beings can get cloned.

But of course there's so many rumors out there that there are secret projects right somewhere in a black budget where humans are cloned for various reasons. It is weird that didn't we recently human beings recently cloned a monkey, right which a Reesei's monkey that shares a lot of the DNA that humans have. So I mean, maybe we are right on the cusp.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I don't know, Ben any thoughts about suppressed technology or you know, maybe if this stuff is further along than we might think.

Speaker 4

It is absolutely feasible to not only clone human beings, but to clone them such that they could reproduce. However, it should be noted that there are hard legal limits on the ethics of human experimentation. Cloning a human being past, you know, like cloning them in the sci fi way, is automatically going to trip some hard lines ethically As a result, what's really holding us back from being in a Clone Wars Star Wars situation is entirely the same

kind of thing that's holding back militarization of space. It's the agreement, the handshake paperwork of current human civilization. It's not the technology, not really, We just as a civilization reached this agreement where we said thou shalt not and we'll see how long that holds.

Speaker 5

So you think that agreement is what's maybe put the brakes on what can be developed in absolutely? Absolutely, but is it ironclad? Is their wiggle room as we progress, you know, and perhaps progress into a society that doesn't value those kinds of ethics as much, whether that be through leadership changes or you know, changes in social mores and.

Speaker 3

All of that kind of thing.

Speaker 5

Could you see a future that resembles something like this? And even if you can't, does this seem like the kind of scenario that it would? It would lead to where people who are clones are literally cloned in order to have their organs harvested, and therefore, because they were not quote unquote born, they therefore are not considered human and fall under some other distinction that allows them to be treated in a way that's different from quote unquote humans and of those protections.

Speaker 3

That we enjoy.

Speaker 4

Quite possibly, it's an excellent question, you know, Byron. Maybe the way to put it is this, if you have the ability to recreate a city versus recreating a crosswalk, which is more a crosswalk in that city, which is more difficult. Is it more difficult to create a working kidney than it is to just recreate the system in

which that kidney exists. Given that the concept of economy is the dominant religion or ideology of this age, the price factor will ultimately be the most important variable here ethics, society.

Speaker 3

I can see too, how you know, we do know.

Speaker 5

I think we talked about this, and when this discussion came up recently, actually they probably triggered this email. You know, they have been able to grow say a human ear on the back of a lab many years ago mass right, So you got to wonder, is there a lab scenario where they could grow just a kidney, like you said, Ben, or just a heart, Or is the most effective way to.

Speaker 3

Do it to grow the whole human and then.

Speaker 5

Harvest all the or is that just the path of least resistance because we know how to do that, and therefore we need to do some ethical maneuvering to make that okay real quick.

Speaker 4

I would also argue here, and I love that you're bringing this up, Nol and Byron and Matt, you get a weigh on this in on this too, and Doc please your thoughts as well, everybody listening. Does the economy of scale apply to ethics? Is there an ethical economy of scale? Is there? You know? Like, is there a gosh? This is like an argument of greater good? You know what I mean. It's something our pal Dan wrestled with recently on Rick and Morty, which again his science fiction

and satire. For now, I pausit to you. There is a world in which it is possible to create, to create organs, to create components for a human body that will not suffer from organ rejection, that will not suffer from the tremendously fraud ethical problems of the current red market or organ trade. However, that is not the time in which civilization exists. At the present moment.

Speaker 2

Well, there's intensive research going into this, and I guys, for a life of me, I can't remember the name of the documentary I was watching, but it showed research that's being done to try and build. I don't know what you would call this, Like almost an endoskeleton would be the way, right, what do you say, not exo So it's not on the outside, it's like an interior skeleton structure that is not made of human biological.

Speaker 3

Material like the terminator type situation.

Speaker 2

Like imagine a human.

Speaker 4

Heart like a terrarium for the organ.

Speaker 3

Oh, I see, I see, I got you.

Speaker 2

Well kind of, but it's it's the internal structure of a human heart, and then human tissue is basically built up around it.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and the structure falls away and you've got effectively a functional human heart rather than like a porcine heart or a cow heart or something like that.

Speaker 4

Forsai means pig, everybody.

Speaker 5

Yes, so it's a mechanical organic combo hybrid kind of implants.

Speaker 2

Right, Yes, but it's not it's not cloning somebody's material to create it yet, right, but.

Speaker 4

Growing the cells around the It's like the humans build the frame of the house and then grow the thing around it, and the frame dissolves or is removed such that at the end you have a heart.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 5

That sounds good, good, but potentially really costly perhaps, I mean, I guess that's what we're talking about here.

Speaker 4

The economy is made up. It's an ideology.

Speaker 2

Well yes, but that so I guess one of the things we've got that right, that's one of the pieces of science that you would need to build cloned materials, right or organ specifically. Then you've got human cloning embryos, which is a thing again, Ben, as you stated, we've had for a while. According to that documentary The King, The King of Clones, that is a viable technology that's been around for at least a decade. Sorry, no, I'm just I'm just laughing.

Speaker 3

Given it.

Speaker 4

I'm just laughing because I thought you were about to say, according to the documentary The King and.

Speaker 3

I Oh God, totally great documentary.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, I don't know how.

Speaker 3

They break music.

Speaker 4

It's a musical with Yule Brenner and Mellow Face.

Speaker 3

I like to think of it as a documentary.

Speaker 4

It is.

Speaker 3

How God, it's so unusual how they break into song.

Speaker 2

But I guess what I'm saying is, you've got the pieces of the tri force here. Nobody's put it together yet. Be in right again, I'm just going to the documentary more times read up on it rolling in Rolling Stone, and they're saying that the only reason human cloning isn't happening right now is because nobody has taken that step because of what you have to deal with ethically. As we were saying before, well, allegedly no one's taking that step.

Speaker 4

Allegedly. There are a couple your question, Byron, There are a couple of There are a couple of instances we like that are probably off the grid, like Gray Area experiments, you know, shadows of seven thirty one, shadows of World War two and post World War two kind of things. We know that there have been documented cases of of what clearly could have been human cloning. We also, to your point, Matt, we know that there are again hard agreed upon strictures against going too far with this sort

of stuff. But how long will that be the case? That's the question. You know. The technology. I love the triforce comparison there, Nol. That's triforce comparison is quite astute because it's simply a matter of assembling the puzzle pieces which already exist.

Speaker 5

No, it's true, and I think this is a great place to jump to. Another point that was raised by this email from Byron, asking us if we are familiar with well, actually acknowledging that we probably are familiar with the flame retardant chemicals that exist in our environments and then passed on to our bodies, but then hipped us to a study specifically referring to I believe, Matt, you

brought this up recently polybrominated dive phenal ethers. Maybe not, but you definitely brought up something that was brominated, because I remember discussing the etymology of that. I think it might have had cide, no science, it had cyanide and brominated in it. And I can't remember the exact topic,

but in any case, this material is bad news. These and all kinds of household goods as a flame retard and everything from sofa covers to yoga mats to baby cribs, you know, all kinds of things that you know, a car upholstery, for example, car seats, toys, even carpet padding, love seats, et cetera, recliners, you know, desk chairs and office furniture.

Speaker 3

And it's abbreviated as P. B.

Speaker 4

D e's.

Speaker 5

And we've known about this stuff and the way that it likes to linger in the environment for quite a long time now. Decades even and and you know this stuff has been large largely phased out, it's my understanding. But a new study that was just released has shown how this stuff, how much of this stuff actually does linger in our systems, and how it contributes to an increased risk of dying from cancer compared with people with much,

much lower levels of this stuff. That number in the study was three hundred percent increased risk of dying from cancer for folks with high levels of polybrominated diphenial ethers.

Speaker 3

In their blood.

Speaker 5

And according to the authors of this study, Bay and Lee, Hans Juchim, Lemmler, and ziy Ya, to our knowledge, they say, this is the first study examining the association of PbD E exposure with risk of cause specific mortality in the general adult population from the US, and their methodology was to examine the blood of eleven hundred people between the years two thousand and three and two thousand and four who participated in a National Health and Nutrition Examination survey,

and this was a longitudinal federal study on the health of US citizens.

Speaker 3

The researchers then compared.

Speaker 5

The PBDE levels with death certificates between fifteen and seventeen years later, the study was published in the JAMMA Network Open. The study found significant association between PBDEs and deaths from all cancers, though researchers could not determine the specific types of cancers that they may have contributed to from the data that was available. A lot of this comes from a great article in CNN Health. Flame retardants found in thousands of consumer products linked to cancer in people for

first time. So we've known about this stuff, we've known about the potential dangers, but now we know that it actually does increase people's risks. It says here to that point that exposure to these materials is nothing new. Tests have found the most people people in the United States have these what are known as indocrine disruptors in their blooded levels that are about three to ten times greater than those found in other countries and people citizens of

other countries European nations, for example. And that's according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Something interesting about the way people can be exposed to this that I was not aware of is through fatty deposits in food, like, for example, in fish. A lot of the stuff you know, goes into the environments into the ecosystems of these animals, and then fatty tissues tend to absorb this stuff very efficiently and actually.

Speaker 3

Store the chemicals, so to quote with the article here.

Speaker 5

While PBDE levels and fish dropped by seventy five percent over the past twenty years, that decline has slowed and research are still found the chemicals in ninety three percent of all fish sampled, with some sites showing an increase.

While exposure can come from from contaminated dust and some of those consumer products that we mentioned, the residues in food, especially those with high fat content like fatty fish, are another big problem, and that is because the materials accumulate in the fat of these animals, and as we know, like with things like mercury, is one animal eats another, the chemicals increase in concentration because there's more and more that's being you know, consumed, and it's and by the

time it gets to you, it's been absorbed into the food chain at higher levels of concentration. So humans, being at the top of the food chain, end up with the line's share of this lease contamination levels of pbds.

Speaker 2

And according to CNN Health supporting this does cross the barrier when a mother has a baby in the womb or is feeding that baby with breast milk.

Speaker 5

Well, and interestingly enough, apparently some of these materials are still used in padded items such as nursing pillows, crib mattresses, exercise mats, and changing table pads, which seems like the kind of stuff you would have eliminated first, especially considering the way this stuff is transmitted and how vulnerable and with considerably lowered.

Speaker 3

Immune systems you know, infants would have.

Speaker 5

But apparently this is these these types of products still pretty commonly used, these sorts of flame retardant chemicals.

Speaker 2

One last thing I wanted to add here, Noel, the thing we have to keep in mind there are organizations such as the American Chemistry Council and the North American

Flame Retardant Alliance. These are organizations that represent and have alliances euh with companies that manufacture these chemicals and use them in end user products like you're talking about, and they're you know, of course they have statements to say, hey, we haven't had a chance to look through the report, but you know, we consistently advocate for the use of sound scientific research and data. Okay, they still have a deep pocketed connection to these chemicals.

Speaker 5

So lots to discuss here, lots to keep an eye on. The ways to keep your family safe would be to make sure these types of products are always in case, whether it be a mattress cover or what have you, and not to have any kind of rips taking place, because that is actually what releases the material when the foam from these types of mattress paths, for example, car seats for example, are exposed. So me visually, y'all, and thank you Byron. We take a break back with another piece of listener.

Speaker 2

Now, hey, we've returned. We're going to jump to the phone lines and here are a couple of messages from people who have personal experience in the supplement game, and hopefully this is gonna help us inform our episode that's coming out shortly on supplements in general.

Speaker 4

Oh man, it's a supplement episode. I'm excited about this one, that.

Speaker 2

This episode is supplementary, dear Watson. Okay, here we go. We're jumping to a message from Agent Atari.

Speaker 6

Gentlemen, I was just listening to your Listener mail episode and you were talking about supplements, and I have an idea of thoughts. However, you want to put it if you are going to do a show on it. Something to look into is not only file supplements affect people and what they're taking and why they take them, but how that has changed in the last few decades. My grandparents owned and ran a health food store for almost forty years. They spent their entire lives in the industry.

They knew their stuff in and out there, employees knew their stuff in and out there. Employees were educated. They spent an extensive amount of time speaking with their customers about what they were looking for and what they needed and what supplements and minerals would assist in that. They were never pushing things just for the sake of sales. It was a genuine small business experience trying to help people.

That began to change extensively in the late nineties and early two thousands and eventually ended up putting them out of business because people could buy their supplements at the grocery store, where you're just reading labels, if you even are reading the labels, but point being, you don't have someone there to help you who knows what they're talking about.

So just the thought things have changed a lot. My grandparents ended up going out of business, but it was at the time that they were ready to retire anyways, so it wasn't a huge issue for them. But I do think it may be a huge issue in how people take their supplements. So maybe look into that, do what you think, what your thoughts are on the process. Feel free to use my message. You can call me Asian Atari. Then thanks, keep up the good work.

Speaker 4

Thank you Atari.

Speaker 2

Oh yes another eight sorry, yes, another agent that are missed midst. I think this is a great point, a really really good point. When we go to pick up medicine, let's say a Western medicine that we would get from a pharmacist, perhaps we always have that opportunity, at least you should have this opportunity to have a discussion with that pharmacist.

Speaker 4

You certainly have to sign off and say that you did not have that conversation. If you did not, you have to wave your right.

Speaker 2

Isn't that interesting? But generally and theoretically, there is someone, a doctor or someone you know, highly qualified enough to speak with you about a medicine's effects on your body, what it's treating, how you should take it, all of that stuff. But when you go in to a store, let's say any grocery store to buy food that has nutrients and vitamins theoretically that go into your body, there's nobody to consult with to be like, how are these pop tarts going to affect my whatever level?

Speaker 4

Excuse me, mister Frederick, are you aware that two scoops might be too many raisins in your cereal?

Speaker 2

I need at least three.

Speaker 4

I'm bringing it back.

Speaker 6

Thank you.

Speaker 4

I respect you, but I respect you.

Speaker 2

So But that that whole concept, I think maybe just maybe it's super high level. But food as medicine, which is a I think it's becoming a more popular way to think about food, and it has been for quite a while. I think there's something to it. I just know that it's looked at very skeptically by many people, and especially in some of those more ivory ish towers right where the science lives, just about how much food

actually affects our daily lives. But then you've got incredibly strong, it feels like, to me, at least in my opinion, science behind nutritional stuff like your everyday intake and how much that affects you. I'm just I don't know where that line is because I've kind of grown up with opinions about health food stuff that I feel like it pushes me in the direction of the health food people. And let me just tell you why. There's a place in Brookhaven, Georgia, and I know this is I'm sorry,

this is my experience, this is in my world. Is where I lived for a long time. Sure a place in Brookhaven, Georgia called Nuts n the letter n Berries And this is the first place that I went to back in the early two thousands. That was a health food store. That's the way it describes itself. You walk in there and it's the same thing that Atari's family did for like forty years. I walked into the store.

They immediately engaged with me, the employees of this store, and they talked to me about, well, what are you feeling right now? You? How's your back? How's this? How's that? And then they recommended stuff for me to eat, and I was like, what really like medicine? And I had no idea what they were talking about.

Speaker 5

Are these people licensed nutritionists perhaps or as that part of your point.

Speaker 2

This is part of my point. I don't know if there're a licensed nutritionists. I don't even really understand, like what the science is behind a licensed nutritionist because I don't understand the science versus the I don't know belief right in some of this stuff because there are levels of certain vitamins and minerals to get into your body, but the science for me personally is still out on how those things synthesize on you know, whether or not you need oils to break those things down or you

need specific other things in dis Yeah. Yeah, I maybe I'm just ignorant completely of it. But that's why I'm excited about this episode we're diving in because I think we can get to the bottom of that stuff that there were, at least in my opinion, there were more of those things going on maybe twenty years ago.

Speaker 5

We've talked a bit about Munjaro and those weight loss or those drugs that are used off label. I guess so they're meant to be diabetes treatments, and they've been used off label to treat weight gain or to have, you know, to encourage weight laws. And we're now seeing tons of lawsuits coming through about how these things have had unintended side effects. So I don't know, man, I'm not here to say, like all Western medicine is bunk

or anything. But I do have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to how quickly some of these things are pushed through for use to make some of these pharmaceutical companies a whole heap of money, only to find later whoop. See we missed this because we actually didn't look at it on a long enough timeline.

Speaker 3

So, you know, while I could see.

Speaker 5

The argument that some of the nutritionist stuff could be quackery, I think it's a lot more innocuous than what happens with the big pharma and doctors prescribing some of these things before they truly know what they do.

Speaker 2

Well, hey, I'm there with you. Let's jump one more quick thing that we got from Chef Ben in Chicago. It's important that you put that in there.

Speaker 7

Here we go, fellas Chef Ben in Chicago. As always, feel free to use this on the show. Just listen to your little episode about supplements, which I totally agree is a racket. So it turns out I've reached an age where I should probably be on a fiber supplement. Fine, I've made my peace with that part, but they're expensive and it bothered me. Turns out not only can you make your own pills. There's like a whole contraction for it. You can buy the capsules, they're separate. You can put

whatever you want in there. You can put whatever you want in there, and there's no regulation about it as long as you're not selling it. So here's what I do for myself, because I'm also an avid, avid fan of the five hour energy energy Shot kind of the supplement, which if you guys come for those, you're gonna lose a listener because I love those things. That's the only way I get through my deck.

Speaker 3

This is fiber pill.

Speaker 7

I start with that noepellina stuff, which is a powder form of a dietary fiber derived from cactus. I also put chia seed in there, which I grind up really finally, because chia seed is a binder. It's the culinary binder. It turns out if you save your coffee grounds and put them into a dehydrator like I have at my house and grind those up really finely too, that acts as dietary fiber and can contain up to forty percent of the original caffeine still, which I can attest to.

And then I also add black pepper and turmeric to the mix for these fiber pills. Black pepper and turmeric have been known to work in conjunction to bring your blood pressure down. That's been known pretty much forever. Look at any curry that's out there. There's a good, solid medical reason why that's part of that recipe. So again the takeaways here you can make your own pills and ain nobody can tell you what to put in them as long as you're not selling them. Also, coffee grounds

still contain the original caffeine. Keep a real fellows.

Speaker 5

Oh snap, Oh, I didn't think about that, man. That's some good intel right there. I really like black pepper and turmeric like juice kind of juices you can get that to the point here are very expensive, uh and probably smart thing to make yourself, because you can be a whole giant heap of turmeric at the another local spot, the uh the cab farmers market, where you can just get like pubs of the stuff for like pennies on

the dollar. Sou and I have felt this cost an illness coming and done some turmeric and black pepper shots with a little ginger and stuff, and I really do truly whether it's psychosomatic or not feel like it knocked it out.

Speaker 2

Oh, we loves us. Some Chef Ben here, guys and some black pepper and turmeric.

Speaker 4

Shut out Chef Ben. Also Ben, I know you get, I should say, Chef, I know you can't see us because this is an audio format, but I hope you know. And Doca, I hope you keep it in where I said this is the way when you recommended a certain observation there, and you're absolutely right in terms of the retention of caffeine in coffee grounds. I like to think it makes some of my plants a bit more spirited. Actually, when I put the coffee grounds into the soil, Doc

and I share a similar green thumb. So shout out.

Speaker 5

Chef oh Man, I didn't know you had such agreed. I need to talk to you more. I have a bit of a brown thumb doing my best. But so you're saying that you could take those coffee left over coffee grounds, and I get the plant thing, But what if you wanted to use those to add some caffeine to make your own five hour energy.

Speaker 3

This is viable.

Speaker 5

You could like add that to supplements and capsules and give a little zip to your to your sup I.

Speaker 2

Think that's I think that's what Chef Ben is saying. But Chef Ben is more talking about brewing your coffee, getting that initial caffeine hit than using those grounds putting it into let's say, a capsule, vegetable based capsule, or one of these other you know, they still many different kinds. I had no idea.

Speaker 3

Guys.

Speaker 2

Amazon has pill capsules for days, all kinds of different sizes and shapes. Craziness.

Speaker 4

We have to help Jeff get to the moon, so true.

Speaker 2

But in this case, it's helping us maybe get a little more caffeine in our system. And or fiber and or you know, chia seed and black ever and turmeric and all kinds of good stuff and nopalina. I've never heard of that. I'm gonna look that up after.

Speaker 4

This, and Chef's correspondence starts with the importance of fiber.

Speaker 2

Right, Oh yeah, I gotta have that fiber. It's for your poops, everybody, for your poops, for your poops. Check it out. No, the hell goes for your health.

Speaker 4

I like your version, Matt.

Speaker 2

What was that guy's name, Doctor Steve Brule, That's who that is.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 4

Also check out don't be dumb by Josh Clark.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, a little bit of an influence there. Oh this is That's the thing I didn't even mention in the last During Agent Atari's message there, one of the first things Chef Ben says is supplements are a racket. And I know why he feels that way, because going back to that nuts and berry store that I love that we're not sponsored by. You walk in there, you feel like you're being helped, you feel like it is

for your health. And then you look at that bill and you go, oh, I didn't think a couple of pills and some you know, no sugar added cranberry juice would put me back one hundred and twenty bucks.

Speaker 4

What are they bacon ingratuity?

Speaker 2

No, it's just these are a lot of them in that case. At least we're like locally sourced supplements from local farms and all this other stuff, and it just, you know, it's those little things that push the price point up a little bit further, a little bit further, and then you realize, oh, wow, I can't afford to take vitamins.

Speaker 4

Oh geez. It is It is often said that it may be more expensive in terms of finance or in terms of time to live a healthy life. That's not necessarily true, but we do know that food deserts exist. We do know that people labor under situations in environments where they do not have access to basic needs vitamins, minerals and indeed supplements that you do need, especially in

your formative years. So I guess what I really appreciate about this is that we've had so much response to the idea of supplements because everybody knows there is a grift of foot However, we also at the same time have to acknowledge that there is real efficacy here. Like it does matter, it can help you. If you are vegan, you have to find a way to get vitamin B twelve in your diet for example.

Speaker 5

Oh yeah, it's something that people struggle with who have that lifestyle, and they really do have to be thoughtful about it. Also protein. But if you guys ever heard of a chain of grocery stores called Arawon.

Speaker 2

Sounds familiar, but I don't know.

Speaker 5

It's considered widely to be the most expensive grocery store chain in the country, if not the world, and it's sort of like a celeb spot, you know, hot spot, and in the US right, yeah, us exactly, yes, And you know, they pride themselves on having the best organic produce and all that stuff, and then to the point where it's worth, you know, one thousand dollars for a cart of groceries, and it has become a.

Speaker 3

Bit of a status symbol.

Speaker 5

And I think a lot of this stuff can be considered a bit of a status symbol in terms of, you know, how much money you're spending on this stuff. But I really like, I really like Chef Ben's point about being able to make a lot of this stuff yourself. I like the idea of having your own juicer and not having to depend on these pre packaged juices that you don't necessarily.

Speaker 3

Even know what goes into it. I don't know.

Speaker 5

I'm on the fence about some of the supplement stuff for sure, but I do think there's something to be said about things like turmeric and just you know, getting your vitamins from like good fruits and vegetables.

Speaker 4

Let your food be your medicine, no etc. Hey There you go, healthy depress.

Speaker 2

There you go. Okay, that's all we needed to say. There is more to say, though, and we're gonna say it in our Supplements episode. So look for that soon. For now, we're gonna take a break. Here a word from our sponsors. There is a Nopolina bag at Walmart's two pounds. It's twenty seven bucks. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it's at Walmart, so you can get it, all right, We'll be right back with more messages from you.

Speaker 4

You can get it. Also, code named Doc chimes in to say loves Aero one, loves Loves loves Aero one. We're going to let's see, we're gonna have to keep this brief, so we're going to set up a future episode, and then we're gonna have a letter from home our Our first piece of correspondence in this part comes from B seven, not a vitamin, actual person, human person. As far as I could tell, B seven says the following, Hey, fellow eight brained meat sacks. First Off, love the show. Secondly,

this is dark and not often discussed. I live in the area and did not hear about the landfill until I started looking at houses after college. With that, let's dive in. The West Lake Landfill, located in Bridgton, Missouri or Missouri if you wish, is a complex site with a history of environmental concerns. The landfill originally opened in the nineteen fifties and accepted various types of waste, including municipal, industrial,

and radioactive materials. However, it became notorious for its association with illegally dumped nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project in the nineteen seventies. Let's pause there, because I, I don't know, you know, none of us have been to bridget in Missouri, and we don't usually associate that with the Manhattan Project, right, Nah, that's so much. No, it's it's like not on the brochure.

Speaker 2

No, it seems like the perfect place to dump all your waste though that is radioactive.

Speaker 4

Great, Okay, we'll have a new p sure with Matt's Matt's tagline, the perfect place to dump your waist.

Speaker 2

He said, sarcastically, and just.

Speaker 4

He said, fannastic. That last part is in italics. Okay, okay, so beace having continues. One of the primary concerns associated with the Westlake Landfill is the presence of radioactive materials, particularly thorium two thirty and radium two twenty six, which are byproducts of uradium decay. As all our fillow conspiracy realist note. These materials can emit alpha particles, which are highly ionizing and compose a health risk if inhaled or ingested.

Exposure to these radioactive materials has been linked to an increased risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer. The landfill B seven continues has also been plagued by issues such as underground smoldering, which has led to concerns about potential subsurface fires reaching the radioactive waste and releasing contaminants into the air. This smoldering has been a persistent problem since at least twenty ten, leading to fears of a potential catastrophic event

if fire were to reach the radioactive waste. This is already dangerous stuff. They don't want you to know.

Speaker 2

I'm way over here in Georgia and I'm terrified of that.

Speaker 4

Awful What direction is the wind blowing? You know, fire goes up, fire makes friends, the fire rises, yeah. B seven continues. In addition to the radioactive materials, the landfill also contains other hazardous substances such as heavy metals not the cool ones but yeah, perfect right, not as cool, not as cool as that, and volatile organic compounds, which can pose risk to human health. And to the environment.

These substances can leach into groundwater or be released into the air, leading to potential contamination of drinking water sources and air quality concerns. The effects of the West Lake landfill are far reaching, impacting not only the immediate area, but also raising broader questions about waste management practices, environmental justice, and regulatory oversight. Does this remind you, guys a little bit of our previous episode on the worst industrial disaster in human history?

Speaker 2

Yeah?

Speaker 3

Big time?

Speaker 5

Yes, again, I was super not familiar with and that one continues to haunt me.

Speaker 2

The only thing that makes me feel a little better about this situation is that there aren't three story you know, containers of like concentrated poison in this situation. But what's maybe even scarier though, is that it's spread out over such a large area and you have nobody, nobody has any idea where the stuff is within the mass of just junk that is again on fire inside and underneath.

Speaker 4

Yeah, where in the world is carmen carcinogen at this point?

Speaker 3

Right?

Speaker 4

So to show what B seven is saying here, the lendfill has been the subject of ongoing remediation efforts. Nice and legal battles whoo highlighting the challenges associated with managing legacy waste sites and protecting public health and the environment. Also take a look at Coldwater Creek in conjunction with the landfill with love b seven. Hey, bro, love right

back at you, man. This is the stuff we want to know because this is the stuff that a lot of powerful people don't want locals to know about or to talk about, you know what I mean. Like, it's all well and good to evaluate, you know, your favorite cryptid or whatever, But what about the real monsters who are getting away with all kinds of shenanigans here? I don't know. I like, I had never heard of the

Westlake landfill. I've been to Missouri maybe twice. The idea here is something disturbing because it's unfortunately common, right, the idea of landfills and the accountability on the behalf of municipal governments. I'm thinking, you guys, that we're going to have more people writing in with stories from their neck of the global woods, you know what I mean, Like their landfills in Georgia, I'm sure, especially Savannah. Right, for those of us listening outside of the United States, there's

a missing nuclear weapon off the coast of Georgia. Remember that one.

Speaker 2

Yeah, that's insane.

Speaker 4

It's just there. No one knows, no one knows where it is. That's just our mulligan I looked into this. One cool thing is that, unlike the incident in India, the US does have the EPA Superfund program. So Westlake Landfill is a super fun site. And Matt, I believe you mentioned the super fun program in our episode on the disaster there in India. Could you talk a little bit about super fund and why it's important.

Speaker 2

Sure, super fun is the kind of thing that you don't want to ever mess with. You don't want to live on it, you don't want to build houses on it. And yet that's the kind of thing that we humans decide to do because land, you know, we apparently don't

have enough land in important places near water sources. So when let's say a bunch of dumping occurs of terrible chemicals or nuclear waste, or let's say there's a catastrophe at a factory and then they tear the factory down, but all the stuff that's underneath the factory sticks around in the soil, you call it a super fun site because it's going to take a ridiculous amount of resources to clean that stuff up. It's also going to take

a lot of time. And often at times, when let's say it's seventy percent complete or something, the cleanup's almost done, there will be permits to build on that land or something like that. And we've seen so many instances of that over the years on this show, where you know, people write to us and say, there's some weird stuff going on in my neck of the woods. A lot of people are cancers in the school that they built over this superfund site.

Speaker 4

It's it's awful, yeah, And also it's a very American and misleading name, isn't it. Superfund sounds like, you know, a coalition of comic book heroes with all sorts of extraordinary powers. Oh sure, yeah, but it's not the adventures.

Speaker 2

We're talking about these sites, right, Like that sounds like a horrible thing. Maybe there's a couple of those, right, No, there's over thirteen hundred superfund sites that are listed in the quote National Priorities List, and that's from August twenty twenty two.

Speaker 4

Right, that's a relatively relatively up to date list. There are also many more sites that are pardon the crafts term here, that are auditioning to be superfund sites. And that thing about dangerous materials leaching into groundwater into the poodable water supply, that's exactly what we're talking about in those studies in India regarding Paul right. This danger is intergenerational, and it's easy for politicians to ignore this stuff, politicians

of any ideological stripe. We know that the superfund law is overall, it is a good thing. It is important. Stuff like this needs to exist in industrialized countries. But also super fun doesn't have it doesn't have the bite it should. You know.

Speaker 5

It's also a really innocuous sounding name for something that's like a massive, massive problem that is, of course, you know, the fault of the government in many instances. I remember, back when I worked at public radio, we had some super fun sites in and around you know where I was based in Augusta, And for the longest time, when I heard people in the news call talking about superfund sites, I thought it was like, what are there, slide or

something like super fun it's a super fun site. I just feel the name is like one of those things, like you said, Ben, if it's the more innocuous sounding. It is probably the more sinister it is. It's just an interesting kind of rebranding, and it doesn't immediately make you understand what you're talking about.

Speaker 3

What you're hearing about.

Speaker 2

Guys, it looks like the closest one to us is in a place called Cedar Town that I've never been to in Georgia, and it has a score according to toxicsites dot us of thirty six out of one hundred. And you only need a score of twenty eight point five or higher to qualify on that super fun national priority list.

Speaker 4

Dang it. You know I love qualifications. You know. I like my little certificates. I like to give my little things and frame them. Yeah, so maybe I can give a super fun site you guys, kidding, kidding, EPA, don't write to us. Here's one thing that we're hoping to set up here. We are hoping to learn more about where nuclear waste is disposed, because that's stuff, just like putting a monster in the ground in a horror movie. That stuff does not rest, it does wake, it will move.

And I do believe, gentlemen, that we have we have a future episode about nuclear waste disposal. Do you guys think that's a good idea. Do you think it would be of interest or use?

Speaker 5

It would be to me for sure, and I think to a lot of folks out there who may be also more fully aware right off the bat about what super fun sites are and where they come from, and who's responsible and how much effort and resources it takes to get rid of them.

Speaker 3

If it's even.

Speaker 2

Possible, I think we should do I pause it a four hour episode where we just name every single super fun site where it is so that human beings can listen to it and go, oh crap, that is near me. Because I until we did that episode a long time ago, I think we were We knew what a super fun site was, we didn't know how many there are and some of the like real dangerous nature of them, you.

Speaker 4

Know, also with great affection. I think I have a good grasp on our abilities as a group. We need five hours for that. I don't think we do it fo.

Speaker 2

We need some energy for that five hours. What will we take? I don't know.

Speaker 4

I'm so glad you asked. If you are drinking coffee right now, do not throw away those used coffee grouts.

Speaker 2

That's right down joke them on down. We are not sponsored by five hour Energy chef Ben, but we do or I do love some five hour energy. I don't know about you, guys.

Speaker 4

You're on the five hour.

Speaker 2

I love the five hour.

Speaker 4

I love the five hour too. We're so rich in vitamin B. Scientologists look upon our niosin and despair. I don't know if we can get away with that one. Keep it in, but yes, please. The important part here is that we want to know about environmental contamination that you are seeing. What is the open secret in your neck of the global woods, Because as Bat said, the deeper we dig, the more we find, and I wish that was not true on as many levels as that is.

So let us know what you think. We'll tell you how to get in touch with us. At the end of the show, we do like to end on a little riff. We're calling letters from Home and guys, I thought we would all like this. Our friend Rebel Devil hit us up and said the following I'm just gonna read it. It's pretty quick, and then we get some organic reactions. Just listen to the history of the Antichrist episode and really enjoyed the angles. You guys, took to

analyze the concept of the Antichrist. I especially enjoyed the thought at the end about AI and the Antichrist. I had two thoughts to add to that concept. One, A anti Christ pronounced like ain't i Christ? Is both apt and slightly comedic. Albeit I keep thinking with a thick Southern accent, so maybe that's why it's funny, y'all.

Speaker 2

I made biscuits for the entire church this morning. Ain't a Christ?

Speaker 4

Ain't a crast? Right a rebel devil? Continues two. I know you all have to be careful throwing shade at brands on air, but how perfect would it be if Apple creates the Ai, that is, the Antichrist that undoes humanity, perfectly fulfilling the biblical narrative symmetry that an Apple undid humanity from start to finish.

Speaker 5

We did talk about potential AI Antichrist on the episode, right, Yes, that feels boy crost, and we all cry, no, no, it feels real, dude, that does. It does feel like that would be the most likely A likely candidate for.

Speaker 2

Sure, as certainly a I likely candidate.

Speaker 3

But Matthew, but I think you.

Speaker 7

Know what.

Speaker 4

Hashtag no pun left behind.

Speaker 2

But doesn't it feel like he's going to be in video right now? You guys saw their robots that they just fail.

Speaker 4

I mean, yeah, they're doing it. I guess I don't know.

Speaker 3

I don't know.

Speaker 4

I don't think they're that good for it. All right, Well we'll see, we'll see.

Speaker 7

Uh.

Speaker 4

First off, hashtag no pun left behind again?

Speaker 2

Uh?

Speaker 4

Ain't I Christ is pretty neat. I'm surprised the Illumination Global Unlimited didn't get to that one first, you know what I mean? But real respects real or for similitude, respects for similaritude.

Speaker 3

I guess your first one's a little bit here.

Speaker 4

Yeah, fewer syllables, right, you know, we don't want to be too cannabis about our bars there.

Speaker 2

For similitude, the appearance of being true or real. I didn't know what we're all.

Speaker 3

Learning along together, folks.

Speaker 4

Geez we are, and perhaps something is learning along with us. That's our letters from home, that's our listener mail. We can't wait to hear from you. Thank you very much to Chef Ben Agent, Atari, Byron Rebel Devil and B seven, and thanks to you in advance human or whatever intelligence you may find yourself as for joining the show in the future, help us out, tell us what's going on, give us new leads, give us your responses, and we try to be easy to find online.

Speaker 3

Boy, howdie do we ever?

Speaker 5

You can find it in the handle conspiracy stuff where we exist on Facebook, x FKA, Twitter and YouTube, on Instagram and TikTok.

Speaker 3

We are conspiracy stuff.

Speaker 2

Show. Hey, we have a phone number. You can call it, just like chef Ben and ajann Atari. It's one eight three three std WYTK. When you call in, give yourself a cool name just like they did, and leave a message just like they did. However long you want to make it, except you got three minutes. There is kind of a limit there. Do tell us if we can use your name and message on the air within that message, if you got more to say than can fit in that three minutes, why not instead shoot us and email.

Speaker 4

We are the folks who read every single email we get. Be well aware, fellow conspiracy realists. Sometimes the void writes back twenty four hours a night, seven nights a week.

Speaker 3

There we go.

Speaker 4

That was the one. Send us the link, send us the photos, write an essay, write a haiku, send us a limerick or a pun. We can't wait all you have to do is drop us line at the good old fashioned email address until the bags go on our heads. We are conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.

Speaker 2

Stuff they don't want you to know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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