The Blunt Letters Podcast

Lapis Lazuli and Black 4.0

In our latest episode (S4 Ep 14) The Deadly Rainbow we talk about the blackest black paint in the universe, how a new whiter-white could reduce global warming, and how paint pigments have been derived in history.

This surprising and sometimes gruesome episode was personal to us because Micaela owns not only Lapis Lazuli, the mineral source of the color ultramarine but also Culture Hustle’s “Black 4.0,” a paint so black it absorbs 99.95% of light! Check out the videos below to see for yourself.

In the video above, you can see the difference between regular acrylic black paint and the “blackest black.”

Don’t miss our episode all about the origin of the colors that paint our world!

Mysterious Golden Mix-ups

Each episode requires a certain amount of research and planning so that we can bring you the best science comedy podcast possible. Last episode, Micaela and Elle planned to talk about the Mysterious Golden Obrs found recently in the ocean. However, when the time came to record the episode, we discovered that there were actually two mysterious golden orbs recently found and we had each researched separate orbs. Of course, we had no choice but to talk about both!

These are the mysterious golden orbs that Micaela and Elle mistakenly thought the other was talking about. Both are golden, both were found in the sea, and both are mysterious, but that’s where the similarities end!

Here’s the Golden Orb made from organic materials. Is it an empty egg sac? Is it some kind of oceanic sea sponge? The orb seems to collapse when it’s out of the ocean, so take a look both under and over the sea.

Source: LiveScience.com

The other mysterious golden orb we discuss in our episode has also been called a Metallic Spherule. Here’s a photo of this much more structurally sound orb:

Source: Popular Mechanics

Although this golden orb may be an intergalactic orb from way out in space, the “tea” about it is much more terrestrial. Scientists have removed this artifact from Papua New Guinea where it was first found and moved it to another country to investigate it. The people of Papua New Guinea are unsurprisingly angry about this theft. Get the details in our episode!

What is Radiant Energy?

In our most recent episode Time Traveling Electricians: Tesla, The Lead Mask Mystery and “Madman” Mike Marcum we talked about the scientifically dense topic of Radiant Energy and electromagnetic waves. It was a mouthful and we did our best to explain how energy waves work, but we think it will help if you saw a visual example of their behavior.

In our discussion, Micaela talks about the properties of radiant energy waves, how they move through space, their frequency, and their wavelength. Radiowaves, for example, have wavelengths as big as buildings! But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, check out the chart below (from chem.libretexts.org) to see the relative size of the 7 different types of radiant energy waves.

675px-EM_Spectrum_Properties_edit.svg.png

Radiant energy is a type of energy from electromagnetic and gravitational radiation that is transmitted without the movement of mass. Sometimes radiant energy particles are referred to as photons (light particles), whether visible or invisible, they are measurable radiation particles. Think of plants that capture the radiant energy from the sun through massless photons to photosynthesize and sustain their life cycle.

Our greatest local source of radiant energy is the sun but it can come from other sources, too. Science luminary Nikola Tesla believed that radiant energy emanated from Earth and could be applied to the science of time travel. We get into the details of his perspective and the connection between radiant energy and the science of time travel on the podcast. Listen to the episode to get the details and let us know what you think!

Micaela Loves Animals

If you’ve been listening to The Blunt Letters Podcast then you already know that Micaela Superstar is a modern-day Snow White, beloved by woodland creatures all over.

Most days you can find Morocco, a local squirrel, on her patio. He stops by, looks in the window until he catches her attention, and then Micaela gifts him a peanut. Their friendship has been growing with every nut. Check out this video of Morocco taking a peanut right out of her hand!

@thebluntletters
My friend Morocco taking peanuts from my hand. 5 They just started trustng me the last 5-6 times they’ve come to the door. So cute. #wildanimals #squirrel #squirrelfriend #feedinganimals
♬ original sound – Micaela Dead Eyes

Morocco isn’t the only one who has benefitted from Micaela’s affinity for animals. This past Christmas Micaela bought a fancy pink velvet couch for Elle’s cat Chica.

Here she is lounging in style:

Of course, we can’t talk about Micaela’s relationship to animals without talking about crows. Every afternoon she visits them and leaves some peanuts and other treats. Although she spends a lot of time with them, they’re difficult to take photos of because they’re so quick. Luckily, you can hear her regular Crow Updates on The Blunt Letters Podcast.

Thanks to Our Guests!

Wow, another season in the books! Season 3 is already in the rearview mirror but we can’t move into the next year without taking a moment to thank all of the guests that have come on The Blunt Letters podcast. Big thanks to everyone who came to answer our science questions, discuss esoteric sci-fi, and most importantly, join in on the ecstatic mayhem/magic that powers our show.

We hope you’ll take a moment to get to know each of these amazing folks.

Isaac Weishaup

Isaac joined us for “S3 Ep 19: We Talk Twin Peaks and Conspiracy with Isaac Weishaupt” to talk to us about the current climate in the conspiracy community and his new series about Twin Peaks on his podcast Occult Symbolism and Popular Culture. He is an expert on all things esoteric and is just as obsessed with pop culture as we are. We’re not gonna lie, talking to our favorite conspiracy podcaster about our favorite TV show was a dream come true! Nerding out with Isaac on the occult symbolism and paranormal lore of Twin Peaks was so fun and made for great listening since this was our most popular episode of the year!

Sarah Bartell

Sarah is a multi-time winner of Naked and Afraid, she survived 40 days in the desserts of Africa with our Googler Jon, and is a certified badass! We asked them to come on to the show to talk to us about cryptids, taxidermy, homesteading in the American North West, and their time in Africa, and we were blown away by the stories! Sarah’s time on the show demanded two episodes so we could share every moment with you. Listen to Sarah talk about how they became a living urban legend as a werewolf and their encounter with an unseen creature that tried to get into their truck on a cold night. Thanks to Sarah for sending shivers up our spines while plastering smiles to our faces.

Skinner

As part of a cross-over episode with Bleed With Me (S3 Ep 15: The Art of Skinner, part 2), we welcomed acclaimed visual artist Skinner! We’ve been fans of his psychedelic nightmare for years and were thrilled for the opportunity to get to know the man behind the monsters. We got personal with him about mental health, love, art culture, and what it’s like to live in the Bay Area. We got deep with Skinner about his art and even got to hear about what may be on the horizon for him. We are still so grateful that he joined us and hope to have him back on the show soon.

Jon B

Our secret third host and Googler “Jerbil” turns back into Jon B every ten episodes to create another episode of The Poop Chronicles, our ongoing discussion about the thing everybody does: poops. This season Jon joined us for “S3 Ep 10: Jon B and the Bayou – an episode all about the secret world of swamps” and “S3 Ep 20: Poop Chronicles Returns with Jon B“. The concept of the Poop Chronicles began as Jon’s stories about pooping on Naked and Afraid but has grown into a wider discussion of sustainability, ecology, and of course, more poop. Jon has become an integral part of The Blunt Letters, we’ve become better with him, and can’t wait for the next season together!

Scientist Sarah

Sarah and Micaela have been best friends since elementary school, bound by fate and passion for science. Sarah is an immunologist who actively works to fight tumors. We’re grateful that she shares her valuable time with us to answer our science questions. This year she went on an adventure with us on the alimentary canal in our discussion about Mary Roach’s Gulp and gave us the hard science on the new “zombie drug” that was causing some horrific illnesses and gave us the deets on uterine fibroids, a condition that effects 70-80% of people with uteruses! Listen to S3 Ep 7: Talking about Bodies with Scientist Sarah and S3 Ep 24: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal with Scientist Sarah to hear all about it!

Dr. Lee

Dr. Lee is a geneticist, friend, and guest of The Blunt Letters. She has been here since the inception of The BL as a zine in the early 2010s and we are so thankful for her support! She joined us this season to talk about what makes a scientist and how genetic mutations have contributed to our modern life expectancies. Listen to our discussion in “What’s in your Genes? with Dr. Lee“.

Micaela and The Grand Canyon

As you may remember from our recent episode “The Mysteries of The Grand Canyon” Micaela has always felt a special draw to this natural wonder. She’s visited the canyon no less than 4 times! Here are some pics of her adventures.

This was Micaela’s second trip to the Grand Canyon (her first trip was as a kid with her parents but the photos have been lost). This second trip was a road trip with her friends from Connecticut to California, but they had to stop at the Grand Canyon along the way.

Micaela and her friends climbed all over the rocks because they look cool, only to find that there were posted warnings about scorpions that lurk in the crevices.

Here’s a photo of Scientist Sarah on her honeymoon at the Grand Canyon!

This is another trip where Micaela and Sarah met serendipitously at the General Store. They did NOT know that they would be there at the same time, let alone run into each other.

Scientist Sarah still looks exactly like this photo! … Except her hair is longer now.

The photos below are from the same trip in 1997. Micaela rode 100 miles from Flagstaff, AZ to the Grand Canyon. The trip took 3 days and was mostly from sunrise (picture below) to midday to avoid the highest heat. It was a June when the temperatures reached 110 degrees. The elevation was also increasing by hundreds or thousands of feet by the mile.

Notice Micaela’s super fit bod, lack of tattoos, and road warrior hairstyle.

Here’s a photo of Micaela leaving the Canyon, just minutes before she was hit by a tour bus. Thankfully, she was ok! Her bike, however, was completely crushed.

Micaela took another trip in the early two-thousands with her parents and her ex-husband. On that trip, she explored the south side of the Grand Canyon for the first time. She said, “it was more chill but not as dynamic but still as beautiful.”

For the love of gourds!

Here at The Blunt Letters, we love Halloween or Samhain! The witch’s new year brings us many holiday traditions, including carving Jack-o-lanterns.

As we discussed in our recent episode The Mysteries of the Grand Canyon, we don’t always carve pumpkins (or other vegetables) due to the waste that comes along with the process. But this year we scraped our pumpkins extra well, carving off the delicious pumpkin flesh so we could cook it down to make seasonal treats like pumpkin pie or bread. Maybe both? We scraped out several pounds of pumpkin which Micaela transformed into puree.

Not to mention, we also toasted the seeds that we pulled from the pumpkin guts in the oven. Micaela masterminded a few seasoning combinations, which I will try to convince her to share soon. Needless to say, they were all gone by the end of November 1st!

We hope you like our jack-o-lanterns!

New Podcast Alert! The BL Candy Cast

As a listener of both The Blunt Letters podcast and Bleed With Me horror podcast, you know that we are obsessed with candy! To give ourselves an outlet for this obsession, we’ve launched the new The Blunt Letters video pod: Cady Cast!

Watch as Micaela, Elle, and Jerbil try special edition Halloween candy: Puff’s Monster Marsh marshmallows, Reese’s Franken-Cups, Haribo’s Sour Bats, and KitKat’s Witches Brew!

New Animal Drop: The Antarctic strawberry feather star

In our latest Blunt Letters podcast episode, Micaela and Elle bring back the New Animal Drop segment to bring you news of the Antarctic strawberry feather star (SFS)!

Named for the strawberry-like “nub” on its body, the feather star is a type of Crinoid – a group of perfectly symmetrical creatures that includes sea lilies and sea feathers. SFS starts out with a stalk attached to the bottom of the seafloor but eventually, the critter detaches and floats through the water with rhythmic swishes of their many arms.

Nerida Wilson, an invertebrate marine biologist at the Western Australian Museum, and her colleagues reported the Antarctic strawberry feather star and three other new feather star species in a study published in July.

As we mentioned on the show, we thought the SFS looked like the thing from The Thing (1982), a movie where Antarctic research scientists run into a parasitic alien that eventually drives them all to madness, but actually, sea feathers have been around for a long time. These creatures ruled the oceans when the earth was just getting started, then were nearly wiped out about 251 million years ago during the Permian mass extinction, but managed to stick around. In fact, though they were originally thought to be all one species, recent research has revealed that there are actually 8 different species of these sea feathers!

The strawberry feather star may strike you as beautiful or creepy but we like it because it’s a bit of both.

Learn more in our recent episode:

Bleed With Me clashes over Candy Corn!

If you’ve been listening to Bleed With Me horror podcast you know that Micaela and Sean do not see eye-to-eye about candy corn. If you haven’t been listening, it’s time to start!

Check out these hosts as their battle over candy corn comes to a head in real time!