Lauren Sarasua is 90 feet below the surface. She’s been holding her breath for nearly two minutes and is struggling with a 100 plus pound fish. This is Spearfishing. We talk spearfishing basics, pretending to be a fish and the joy of eating what you catch. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Things You See in the Sky.
Lauren Sarasua: 01:11
Pointless: 29:04
Top 5: 53:19
Interview with Spearfisher Lauren Sarasua
Nick VinZant 0:12
Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode spearfishing, and in the sky,
Lauren Sarasua 0:21
I was completely enamored, I was like, what is that? Like, I didn't even know that it was possible, they can get down pretty quickly. And once you pass a certain depth, then you just you just sink. So you you can't fight a tuna. It. It's just it you'll drown.
Nick VinZant 0:41
I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it. It really helps us out. If you're a new listener. Welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest specializes in a unique and growing aspect of phishing. This is spear Fisher, Lauren Surah Surah. So what is spear phishing?
Lauren Sarasua 1:12
Pretty self explanatory except for the fact that a lot of people there are different types like you can spear off of a boat, but with the one that I do is freedive spearfishing where you hold your breath and dive underwater to hunt for fish, and seafood.
Nick VinZant 1:30
So how did you get into that? Right? Like that doesn't seem like the first avenue that people would do if they go into fishing. How did you get in? How did you get into it?
Lauren Sarasua 1:38
Yeah, so I took a scuba course. And then I saw a free diver during that scuba course. And I was completely enamored. I was like what is that? Like? I didn't even know that it was possible. So I started researching freediving and through that research I found spearfishing I was like this looks absolutely insane. I need to try it.
Nick VinZant 2:05
So what are you do it like right like if you're going down to go spearfishing, like what are you doing? How did walk me through this a little bit?
Lauren Sarasua 2:13
Basically, it depends on what kind of hunt you're doing. There's a couple of different varieties. One is called a sweater, which is you dive down and you just wait at the bottom and you try to get fish to come to you. And then there's another one, it's you basically like creeping over, they are reef, like you're actively moving looking for fish. It's really complicated. But to dumb it down, you just have to be in control of your body so that you've looked like you belong there. And you don't scare away
Nick VinZant 2:53
all the fish. You have to kind of look like a fish.
Lauren Sarasua 2:57
Yeah. 100%
Nick VinZant 2:59
How do you look like a fish? Right? Like I would, there are
Lauren Sarasua 3:02
behaviors that you can mimic that make fish comfortable around you even though you're much larger than them and, and they could perceive you as being a predator.
Nick VinZant 3:14
So like what behaviors would you mimic in that regard? I'm fascinated by this. Like I never thought of like trying to imitate a fish essentially.
Lauren Sarasua 3:23
So basically, what you have to do is just be super chill, like look like a little turtle groovin you know, if the weeds are swaying, you just sway with the fans and everything that's going on there. You know if there's any swell, so it's just looking at a calm fish or calm shark, anything that's calm and just mimic that. Like don't be kicking around. Don't No, no fast movements, everything very smooth, very chill.
Nick VinZant 4:00
You essentially have to blend in with the environment. 100% So is it fishing or is it hunting?
Lauren Sarasua 4:07
With hunting definitely hunting. There's different techniques to call fish to come closer to the attract fish. I mean, with different fish, you have to use different techniques. Some you have to hide behind a coral. Others you can just, you know dive bomb them. So it's really dependent on the fish behavior itself and the species as like what technique you're going to use
Nick VinZant 4:35
when you call a fish. Or you call a fish. Like I think of like turkey calls or duck calls. Right is how do you
Lauren Sarasua 4:43
Yeah, basically. But there's, there's one that they call it a super grant. They just like with your throat you just go like that. That also helps to deter sharp.
Nick VinZant 4:58
Yeah, it seems much much more active than I would think like traditional kind of fishing is?
Lauren Sarasua 5:03
Oh, 100%. Yeah, definitely. Much more active.
Nick VinZant 5:08
Now, for people who do it right, did they fish as well? Or it's like, no, no, no, I'm a spear Fisher and
Lauren Sarasua 5:14
surely some of the best spear fishermen are, are really great fishermen, because they, they understand fish they understand, you know, there's a lot of overlapping factors in that because they know where the fish are going to get to be, you know, they know how they behave, what their diet is, what their behaviors are. So it's, it's actually really helpful to be a good angler.
Nick VinZant 5:45
For you, what's kind of the main draw of it, what really hooked you on it?
Lauren Sarasua 5:50
The food? Definitely the food. I Love Lucy, and raw fish, and I just, you know, there's no better way to get it and getting it yourself the fresh if you know exactly where it's been not wrapped in plastic, and then you and you get that satisfaction of just hunting something yourself.
Nick VinZant 6:12
I wouldn't you know, that's not something that a lot of people really do.
Lauren Sarasua 6:16
Does it scary to be in war? Like? I think a lot of people? Well, first, a lot of people are like really disconnected from the food source. They don't want to see eyes and face on what they're eating. So I think that turns off a lot of people. And then I think, you know, the fact that you're putting yourself back into the food chain, you're the biggest creditor, there is also something that probably deters a lot of people because it's scary.
Nick VinZant 6:49
So when you go down there, like where are you generally doing this app?
Lauren Sarasua 6:53
Now, it depends what what you're going after, you know, you, you can hunt pelagics, which are the type of fish that they travel a lot. So you'll see the same fish here in Miami, in Ecuador, like they they really travel around, which is to note as well. But then there's those reef fish such as snappers, groupers that tend to stick around the same area. So really depends on what you're hunting pelagics or more blue water, where you're just basically waiting for something to come in. And reef hunting is more like you have to actively be looking in crevices and, you know, doing your
Nick VinZant 7:48
your different techniques is one considered to be kind of harder than the other.
Lauren Sarasua 7:53
I would say biologics spearfishing is probably a little bit harder, just because it's usually bigger fish. So you need, you know, you need more skill. And also with that, like with pelagics, you don't have any frame of reference of how far they are from you. Because there's, you know, there's nothing behind them. It's just blue waters with a blue wall. So it's hard to know how far they are. So a lot of people will shoot at them, but realize that they're actually too far. And their spear isn't even reaching it.
Nick VinZant 8:33
How far does it go? Like how far how close does the fish need to be to you?
Lauren Sarasua 8:38
It depends on the gun. And it depends on your personal strength. Like for me, I always use 214 millimeter bands on my gun. When most let's say men use typically 260 millimeter bands. So that's a thicker band. So the stretch causes it to be more powerful.
Nick VinZant 9:04
Yeah. can go farther. Yeah, yeah,
Lauren Sarasua 9:07
exactly. Like some of my friends load my gun, and they're like, What is they load it with one one swoop, two bands. And it's just, it depends on your strength. So my spear guns, my spear won't go as far as your typical beer gun that you'll get off the shelf, if I need to adjust it.
Nick VinZant 9:29
Even years though, like if you were to look like yours, the fish needs to be are we talking like two feet like 20 feet? Like how far away? Are they usually going to be?
Lauren Sarasua 9:39
I would say most of the fish. I'm trying to look around for pointer Robins. I'd say most of the fish that I shoot are around 10 feet away.
Nick VinZant 9:47
That seems fairly close, but it also probably seems fairly far away at the same time. Is that closer or farther away than somebody might initially think that it is once you get down there?
Lauren Sarasua 10:00
that's much closer.
Nick VinZant 10:02
It's pretty close. Yeah, that's
Lauren Sarasua 10:03
really close.
Nick VinZant 10:04
So then have you had some more dangerous encounters with some of the fish or other animals that are down there?
Lauren Sarasua 10:12
Not so much with fish. But well, you have to be careful when shooting like Bill fish, like Marlins, I shot went out in Ecuador, and they made it very, very apparent that I have to be super careful not to shoot it. If it's facing me. They could impel you.
Nick VinZant 10:32
Yeah, I can see that right. Yeah, I got it. Oh, well, it got you. And got you probably worse. So then you don't I would imagine, because if since if you're, you're essentially holding your breath like that, how long do you have to be down there holding your breath to do this?
Lauren Sarasua 10:49
You know, if I'm diving on a reef that's at 92 feet, then my breath work has to be longer than if I'm, you know, hunting with, say, for a wahoo, which is a pelagic. That it it tends to stay a little shallower.
Nick VinZant 11:06
On average, like how far down would you say you're usually hunting them?
Lauren Sarasua 11:11
I would say from 40 to 90 something feet.
Nick VinZant 11:18
I really thought you were gonna say like five to seven feet. I didn't realize you're that far down.
Lauren Sarasua 11:24
Yeah, no, we go deep.
Nick VinZant 11:27
Then how long does it did it take you to kind of build up to the level where you could really do it.
Lauren Sarasua 11:32
I was lucky and progress pretty quickly. But I think it took me about a year to dive 200 feet. And then to be comfortable there. Maybe took me a couple months after that.
Nick VinZant 11:48
So if you're diving down to like, let's say 60 feet, like you'll, how long will you be underwater for the whole thing by the time you swim down there? Wait, shoot, come back up all that stuff.
Lauren Sarasua 12:01
Let's say on a normal dive, where it's, you know, you're really pushing yourself. And you're just you just want an easy dive? Well, a minute 30. If you want to stay longer, like then the little over two minutes. But I tend to try to, you know, keep some room for error just in case anything happens. And I need I need some extra air to get out of a sketchy situation.
Nick VinZant 12:31
of let's say that. Okay, so let's say it's two minutes, right? Like how much of that is actually spent during the hunt. And how much of it is just like, all right down the simple process of getting down and getting up.
Lauren Sarasua 12:43
Getting down, they say, you usually move at about I think it was three feet per second. They can get down pretty quickly. And once you pass a certain depth, then you just you just sink, you don't even have to kick anymore. But you don't use that much energy because you just stay still and just keep thinking down further and further. But getting back up is a little harder. Yes, when you're fighting a fish,
Nick VinZant 13:11
you're talking about like fighting a fish. What is that? I get what that means, but also don't know what that means. So like, what is that? What is that? Exactly.
Lauren Sarasua 13:20
So when you shoot certain fish around structure, you, you don't want them to go inside. So let's say you're by a shipwreck or coral reef, and you shoot a fish, what you have to do immediately is grab your line and pull as hard as you can, going up to the surface so that you can try to prevent them from going into that structure and cutting your line or getting stuck. Anything like that.
Nick VinZant 13:50
Then how do you do that was like a big fish because I mean, like if I would think that a 50 pound fish is going to do whatever it wants with us in the water. Like if it decides it's going down. It's you're going with it.
Lauren Sarasua 14:02
Yeah. That's how you want to make sure that you get a good shot. But you know, if you don't, then you just have to deal with the consequences and it will take you a while to get them out of there. Especially if they're super deep.
Nick VinZant 14:17
So have you had some that will kind of like take you for a ride?
Lauren Sarasua 14:21
Yeah, definitely. And I've lost massive fish to the conocido eels that just grabbed the fish and pull it into a wreck and a tiny hole like like that. You're not You're not getting
Nick VinZant 14:39
you're not getting it. How popular is this?
Lauren Sarasua 14:44
Very popular, especially in like Hawaii and Bahamas. It's the only thing that's allowed that in something called a Hawaiian sling, which is basically the same concept just a little more primitive,
Nick VinZant 14:57
the even like compared to other forms of food Seeing?
Lauren Sarasua 15:01
Oh, no, I mean, rod and reel, I feel like is definitely the most popular.
Nick VinZant 15:07
Would you say is is it growing in terms of popularity? Or is it declining? Or is it about like, it's pretty much where it's always been
Lauren Sarasua 15:14
definitely gaining more popularity. There's a lot more people getting into it nowadays.
Nick VinZant 15:21
Why do you think that is?
Lauren Sarasua 15:23
I honestly, I don't know. But I think the pandemic had a lot to do with that. I think a lot of people kind of got freaked out that, you know, their food supply was out of their control. So I think a lot of people started hunting and spearfishing because of that, I knew a few people that started that way. Well, because of that reason.
Nick VinZant 15:48
Is it? I mean, it doesn't, it seems like a thing that you have to be in pretty decent shape to do, right like is it seems like a very physically demanding kind of thing.
Lauren Sarasua 15:59
I think if you're more like in the elite, beer fishing status, then yeah, but I feel like you can still get nice fish pretty shallow. And you know, you can get your, your like pan size numbers and make a delicious meal out of it. Even just diving 10 feet. So I don't think you really have to be that in shape to do it.
Nick VinZant 16:28
How long have you been doing it?
Lauren Sarasua 16:30
About five years now?
Nick VinZant 16:33
Is it something that people like? Or do they get hooked on it?
Lauren Sarasua 16:37
Yeah, definitely. No, I'm not gonna stop anytime soon. That's for sure.
Nick VinZant 16:43
Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Hardest fish to catch easiest fish fish to catch?
Lauren Sarasua 16:51
Easiest fish to catch. It's probably a red grouper. Which, it's really hard because they're so cute. And they just like, look at you all stupid, like, with their little fins like, what do you do? But that's probably the easiest one. And then the hardest fish to shoot. At least in Miami, probably best neighbor. They're they're pretty, like sketchy. Like they, they tend to let you get very close to them.
Nick VinZant 17:26
What What kind of makes a fish easy to catch versus hard to catch? Is it just the size, their intelligence, their habits, like what makes one harder than the other?
Lauren Sarasua 17:36
Definitely, they're just they're, I mean, just the way that they behave. If they if a fish sees you and and runs away, then swims away. Definitely not gonna, they're not going to make it easy for you. But if they see you and they come out, and they're just like checking you out, like what the like, what are you doing it that makes it real simple. That covariates are like that, like, a lot of times you won't even see them, even if they're there. Because they see you first and they're gone.
Nick VinZant 18:12
That kind of that kind of leads us into this question that somebody submitted, which is, do the fish have to be dumb for this to
Lauren Sarasua 18:19
work? Depends on your skill level.
Nick VinZant 18:22
But it helps if they're kind of a dumb fish like, oh, they just kind of go.
Lauren Sarasua 18:27
Yeah, but that's like, not really challenging. Sometimes when you you know when you when you get better at this. I'm telling you want to, you want to keep it exciting and kind of go for something that's a little harder.
Nick VinZant 18:45
I would just be thinking that right? Like by the time I hold my breath and get down there, like I don't really have a lot of choices like skipping the first thing that's there. I can go back up. I can't hold my breath down.
Lauren Sarasua 18:56
That's definitely a possibility. So you could definitely get stuck with a quick breath hold.
Nick VinZant 19:03
I didn't realize it was that far down. I really thought you were gonna say it's like 10 or 15 feet down that it's doing that.
Lauren Sarasua 19:09
It could be it just depends on on where you're going and what you're hunting.
Nick VinZant 19:14
What kind of fish is like the most common that people are generally hunting like Usually people are gonna get this one.
Lauren Sarasua 19:20
nappers definitely snappers, they're like, in abundance here. You'll find them over call like the coral reefs, you'll find them in shipwrecks. So yeah, we have a lot of those there. You'll find them by bridges. You know, any type of structure they like to hang out up.
Nick VinZant 19:41
Anything like that. What is the best tasting one?
Lauren Sarasua 19:44
I love Oahu was a pelagic fish that just has this incredibly white. Does perfect for sushi and sashimi type me. So good.
Nick VinZant 20:00
That's interesting that you kind of started out for the basically for the cooking part of it.
Lauren Sarasua 20:04
I mean, why don't you try fresh fish. And the thing is, you're controlling it right. So you can decide whether you want it super fresh, you want to eat it that day, or you can, you can dry aged, you can wet aged, there's so many different ways to eat it. Like there's this fish that we have here called African pompano. If you eat that fish fresh, me put it off, very tough. It's an a chewy, but if you lay it and age it in your refrigerator, after two or three days, it's so good. It completely changes the texture, the flavor, everything. So it's just, there's so many more options for you. You go to a grocery store, they have the same fish all the time. And you don't know how old it is
Nick VinZant 20:59
biggest fish you've ever caught?
Lauren Sarasua 21:03
biggest fish? Oh, there has to be my my bluefin tuna in Turkey. How big was it? It was huge. I don't know exactly how much it weighed, because my scale broke. And it wouldn't turn on. But the fish that I had caught the day before was like 162 pounds, something like that. And this one was significantly bigger. So it had to be over 200 For sure. Something like it was much bigger.
Nick VinZant 21:38
But you would have to get that essentially like you'd have to kill that immediately. Right? Like that's not lingering at all or anything like that.
Lauren Sarasua 21:48
Tuna is. So you, you can't find a tuna. It's, it's just it you will you'll drown. So what you do is you have to somewhere, either you let your gun go, and it's attached to a line that's attached to buoys on the surface. Or your shaft. It's kind of like what I explain it, it releases from your gun, you keep holding your gun and your actual shaft in the shooting unit. You're attached to that. That buoy on the surface.
Nick VinZant 22:28
Oh, okay. But then how will I mean, when you like, when you get one? Where are you generally aiming for on the fish?
Lauren Sarasua 22:37
With tuna, since they're constantly moving, you want to aim? More ahead of it? Because then it'll probably swim into it. But I mean, I thought mine I was just like, I don't know, I wasn't even thinking I just
Nick VinZant 22:56
get it, get it get out the rest later. Right, I could see Yeah, best place around the United States to do it. Best place in the world.
Lauren Sarasua 23:05
Again, it just depends what you're going after. Because there's so many different fish and different places are known for their species. And you know, like, if you want to, if you want to shoot a giant Kuvera you're probably not going to get that in Miami. But you will be able to get that like in Mexico. But if you aren't getting a monster Wahoo then you go to French Polynesia. If you aren't giant bluefin tuna, you go to Turkey. Like there's just different. It really depends.
Nick VinZant 23:45
Is that a secret? Right? Like do you find a really good spot that people try to keep it secret?
Lauren Sarasua 23:51
No, definitely. But you know, I kind of screwed myself because I have a YouTube channel and I share my experiences. So I recently went to Turkey last year and shot Bluefin and I think I kind of opened the floodgates a little bit because a lot of people are going to try
Nick VinZant 24:14
this one is just if somebody is starting out, what should I learn how to do first What should I get that kind of stuff.
Lauren Sarasua 24:20
Definitely take a free diver course. Number one because you learn all the safety learn what to do if your dive buddy experiences a blackout. You learned proper inhalation like how to take the best breath, like the biggest breath. You learn technique, it's just all these things that will help you to become more like those fish that you want to copy. And yeah freediver course on your percent, get on that and then buy a pole spear or Hawaiian sling, something that you're going to have to do really learn how to get close to fish when you're hunting because with a spear gun, you can shoot them from a distance with a pole spear. You gotta get real close to them.
Nick VinZant 25:11
You have to be right there, right?
Lauren Sarasua 25:13
Yeah, you gotta be within a few feet.
Nick VinZant 25:16
Do you ever pretend like do you ever practice pretending to be a fish on land? Not really not just walking around the apartment or the house. No trying to be a fish. No, that's not Oh, you know,
Lauren Sarasua 25:32
maybe if I'm on a bar and you know, someone who
Nick VinZant 25:37
is who is the Michael Jordan of spearfishing, like who's the best spear fishers are somebody that people would look at and be like, that's the best spear Fisher of all time.
Lauren Sarasua 25:45
They're, I mean, they're the pioneers that you know, everybody looks up to and that or, you know, like Jay rife, started rife spearfishing. I mean, those guys were bad. Like diving in California and like, hold me wet too. Crazy, but Dr. Tarr is a living legend. He's awesome. I mean, pretty much any Hawaiians I feel like are really good divers and really cool. Like, very, very effective to your fishermen.
Nick VinZant 26:29
Now, is it just fish or can you get other things like crabs, lobsters, etc?
Lauren Sarasua 26:34
Yeah, any seafood?
Nick VinZant 26:36
Is there a fish or anything like that? That's like, Oh, that's too big. You can't even mess with that. Like people aren't getting like sharks or anything like that. Are they?
Lauren Sarasua 26:45
Sure they have I've never seen it personally, but I was really scary. I wouldn't want to. I don't want to piss off more than I already do.
Nick VinZant 26:56
Now, but Well, I would think that some other the other fish ever swoop in and take them.
Lauren Sarasua 27:02
Oh, yeah. Definitely, like goliath groupers. We have these huge groupers here that get up to 500 plus pounds. They just look like they're huge. No calm and just swallow up your fish and try to take it back into the shipwreck. The little bastards. Also, eels, I've gotten into a lot of tug of wars with eels. Sharks, obviously, that's like the most obvious one.
Nick VinZant 27:35
Yeah, that's kind of like how does the tug of war go? You're just pulling on the gun slash spear and they're pulling their way and you gotta hope you win.
Lauren Sarasua 27:44
Yeah, you gotta hope it doesn't come out with the fish and try to attack you.
Nick VinZant 27:50
That would be a problem. Right? Like I got it. Well, now it's coming for you.
Lauren Sarasua 27:54
Yeah, exactly. And then we also have barracudas. So all of these fish want your fish. And you got to deal with them.
Nick VinZant 28:03
That's pretty much all the questions I have. Is there anything that you think that we missed? Or how can kind of people get a hold of you follow you that kind of stuff?
Lauren Sarasua 28:11
Well, if anyone wants to follow me, I'm on Instagram and YouTube. Just look up my name Lauren, Sarah Sua. And you'll find me.
Nick VinZant 28:20
I want to thank Lauren so much for joining us if you want to connect with her. We have a link to her on our social media accounts, where Profoundly Pointless on Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube and threads. And we've also included her information in the episode description. This is one of those episodes, where I think seeing the things that we've been talking about really helps really helped me understand why this is hunting, and not not really fishing. It's fascinating to watch how this happens. And the YouTube version of this episode will be live on Thursday, July 27, at 4:30pm Pacific. Okay, now let's bring in John show and get to the pointless part of the show. How far into a road trip Do you want to get before you stop?
John Shull 29:14
I mean, I only for gas, I would not want to stop. Let's just keep going all the way through. Let's just get to our destination.
Nick VinZant 29:20
That to me is the correct answer. I want to drive until I run out of gas. I don't like stop some people. My wife wants to stop like an hour or two hours in like no, I want to drive until we run out of gas. Then I want to get out of the car fill it up and drive again until we run out of gas.
John Shull 29:37
I will say though, on those few foot road trips I had that on. It seems like when I do pull over for gas and I'm getting back on the highway I've been pulled over three times by different entities in different states for different things.
Nick VinZant 29:54
Only after but this seems to happen right after you pull over to get gas. Yeah,
John Shull 29:59
I mean it Here's the other enough now that I think about, it's always been like either late night or early morning. And it's always a different excuse from the state police when I'm pulled over.
Nick VinZant 30:11
It's always a different excuse. It's not your fault. It's their fault. It's their fault that you broke the law.
John Shull 30:17
I didn't break any laws. I can tell you one time I got stopped in Tennessee because I said that I was driving a vehicle that looked like a homicide suspect vehicle. And I said, Well, did you run the plate? And he said it was dark out? I couldn't I couldn't catch up to you to run the plate even though, you know, that seemed weird. The other time that
Nick VinZant 30:36
seems like a perfectly reasonable explanation to be honest with you, right? Like I can tell what color and make a vehicle is much easier than I can see what the plate is, especially at night. Seems like a reasonable excuse
John Shull 30:47
me, I'm at a gas that pull up but at the pump behind me and be inconspicuous and run the plate. Why do you wait until I'm getting on the highway to pull me over?
Nick VinZant 30:57
Maybe he just realized it then. Right? I think that you're putting some blame where blame isn't really yeah, here we go. That's not my always, always everybody else's
John Shull 31:06
officer. Do we always okay, um, you know, it's not my fault.
Nick VinZant 31:10
Right. What about the other two instances? What were you doing? I
John Shull 31:12
think I think I talked about the one on the podcast before but we were in Georgia. And I was in a Chevy Spark. And I pulled all the gases with no headlights on and I got pulled over that I could see right. But as soon as he walked up, I actually was them. As soon as they walked up to the car and saw what was happening. They they immediately dismissed it and laughed. What was happening. What was I mean, you couldn't see in the car. I actually probably should have gotten a ticket because I couldn't see out the back window because of our luggage and stuff in the car. But
Nick VinZant 31:46
wait a minute, you didn't have lights on What time were you driving? Was it driving it? No. Yeah,
John Shull 31:52
this is probably I don't know two three M if I
Nick VinZant 31:56
recall correctly, and the lights in the car didn't work.
John Shull 32:00
I mean, we're talking a decade ago and a Chevy Spark it's not like I was driving a Tesla
Nick VinZant 32:06
that lights on the outside of the vehicle like other people couldn't see or they just the lights on inside the car couldn't Why
John Shull 32:12
are you baffled by this? It was the headlights you had to literally like pulling
Nick VinZant 32:17
you driving. That's why I'm baffled by it because you're driving at night without the headlights on because
John Shull 32:22
I must have turned them off to get gas. And I am I was so used to like we all are to turning the car on and the headlights just come on. Now this car didn't have automatic light control.
Nick VinZant 32:34
This is why this is why I'm upset because of the basic thing that you said and the basic philosophy that you have in life that it's everybody has also said true and you're driving. It's not driving the same car as a murder suspect. And then you're driving at night with your lights off and you're mad at the police. We're pulling you over.
John Shull 32:51
Okay, well, you're gonna love this one then. We were in what's your fault. We were in West Virginia. And I had just gotten on like, excuse my language, but a podunk town, like and I pull out I get gas. And I as soon as I get back in the car, I accidentally hit the gas just a little much and I squeal the tires a little bit on accident. Like I swear to God, I hit us an oil patch. I didn't even get it. I didn't even get to the exit of the gas station. And I mean, this cop had like, you could tell he had been he'd been waiting all day.
Nick VinZant 33:28
Yeah, dude, if you spill your tires in front of a conflict and pull you over, man, did you make eye contact with him too? Yeah, he gave me a ticket actually. Yeah, all of these seem like pretty legitimately your fault.
John Shull 33:39
Yeah. Well, I tell you what, West Virginia, you know, thank you very much, because I haven't tried fighting that ticket. And I still lost so
Nick VinZant 33:49
Yeah, dude, anytime I've gotten a ticket I've been like, Yeah, I mean, I didn't say this. Obviously I denied it and tried to play stupid but like I did, I did that. I got hot.
John Shull 34:01
I think and I think in West Virginia that that case, I messed up because I thought I was going to be smart. And pull the gas station camera video, surveillance video to show that I wasn't like being a menace. Like I just might have had an oil patch, which caused the tires to rotate quickly. Well, this gas station doesn't have cameras. So
Nick VinZant 34:21
yeah. Anyway, I just I just don't understand why you're baffled as to a police officer pulling you over for driving at night without light.
John Shull 34:29
Well, no, though, that I guess that was on me. But you know, you know, I don't know. It's obvious. Listen, and I say this kind of jokingly, like I I don't say this jokingly the stories were kind of jokes but like, I have all the love and respect for police officers. They have I mean, they deal with shit conditions. But you know, I felt they could have been a little nicer especially during that situation. But as soon as they looked at me and my my girlfriend at the time in the bathroom seat, they were like yeah, this guy's and drunk. He's not hot. If it's not a menace to society,
Nick VinZant 35:03
I actually have a very good friend of mine that once told a police officer who thought that he might have been drunk and pulled him over at a time when like, okay, there's probably some drunk people out there. He's like, Sir, have you been drinking? And he just said, No, I'm just stupid. And the guy's like, okay, and he wasn't drinking. He was really just being stupid. And the guy was like, No, I'm just stupid. And the conscious life is like, Get out of here. Me. Wow. Okay, like he pretty clearly wasn't doing the thing that they pulled him over for thinking he was doing like, he's just an idiot. Like, get out of here. Yeah, the only time I've ever been mad about getting pulled over is I think I got a ticket for like five overs I come that you're pushing it there. That's like, alright, because you can just accidentally momentarily kind of go five over 10 over your, you're pushing it a little bit. But if somebody if you're on a road trip and somebody wants to stop an hour in, like, are you going to complain?
John Shull 35:59
I mean, now say something, you can say something to young children, like I have to now but I can I can play now. But if I'm in a car with all the adults, and we're an hour in and someone has to, like, you know, no, like you can pee in a bucket or a Gatorade bottle.
Nick VinZant 36:15
I used to, there was a time in my life when I used to specifically buy power aids because they had a very large lip on them. It's very easy to kind of, you know, make adjustments so that you could do that safe. Ah, I'm, I don't want to stop before two and a half hours. I'm gonna I'm gonna be a little upset. If we're stopping for two and a half hours with adults.
John Shull 36:38
I will say that my my thought process on road trips has changed as I've gotten older. Like now if I'm on a road trip, even even if it's a day trip, like I'm just chillin. Like if the if you want to stop and go to a tourist town along the way, like let's do it, like, you know, but back when I was younger, it's it was going from point A to point B like, let's just get there.
Nick VinZant 37:00
Depends on me where you're doing. If you're driving straight interstate, I just want to be getting like let's just get there for doing the scenic route. And I'm okay with stopping but I'm not stopping at buches. Actually, I would stop at buches fantastic gas station. But I'm not stopping at the world's largest ball of twine or some crap like that off. I pick a number.
John Shull 37:20
I keep it moving. And I would actually want to see the largest ball of twine.
Nick VinZant 37:25
I've seen it. It's in Kansas, from Kansas. I know what it is. It's a big ball of twine. It's not that impressive. I've also seen the world's largest hand dug well, which is like Damn, that's pretty big. But I don't care. It's not
John Shull 37:39
as big as getting them laid any any quicker.
Nick VinZant 37:42
I'm pretty sure the people who are participated in the world's largest hand dug well. wish they would have been doing something else besides digging that well, because it's like 100 feet down. I mean, it's like it's really impressive. People dug that, but you shouldn't just not live there.
John Shull 37:57
It it is a little much though right now. Like when you think about how many world records there are and how stupid some of those are.
Nick VinZant 38:07
There's a world record for pretty much everything right? Like the good chance that you might have a world record or something.
John Shull 38:12
Oh, but you're drinking their Kool Aid.
Nick VinZant 38:16
No. Power a red power. Identify you hidden. It's not glass. It's fake glass. It's that plastic that looks like glass, but it's fancy. I like drinking out of a cup now. I go back and forth. Sometimes I'll go bottle sometimes I'm like drinking out of a cup.
John Shull 38:33
I yeah, I think I usually drink out of a glass cup. It's a lot more eco friendly.
Nick VinZant 38:41
Oh, I just go with for tastes like I feel a little bit more like I'll feel like I'll drink it a little bit more. Especially water. Unless you were talking about a bubbler. I love drinking out of a bubbler.
John Shull 38:51
I don't know what a bubbler is.
Nick VinZant 38:55
Waterfowl dude, what do you call
John Shull 38:57
a water fountain? Okay, I've never heard of it called a bubbler there Bluejeans
Nick VinZant 39:03
bubbler, go to the bubbler. Man Did you put your mouth all over it?
John Shull 39:07
Ah, no, I
Nick VinZant 39:08
don't think Yes or no Yes or No. Do you look like a guy who put his mouth on the water fountain?
John Shull 39:12
Do I look? Yes. Was I know? Was I know I know. I've never done that. Yeah, not that I can recall anyways. Though, that's such
Nick VinZant 39:27
a great descriptor though. He looks like a guy who puts his mouth all the way over the water fountain.
John Shull 39:32
There was a point in time to where I would argue that like a water fountain like long draw from a waterphone on cold water phone is one of the was one of the greatest things as a kid.
Nick VinZant 39:44
Very thirst quenching, very thirst quenching.
John Shull 39:48
But like I also feel like you had to go to the certain kind of school to appreciate it. You know what I mean? Like you had to go to the school that probably don't have air conditioning. And you're cramped into a little room with 40 other kids adds
Nick VinZant 40:01
to me it also had to be metal the metal plastic not that porcelain looking thing No No How do you don't like drinking out of a porcelain one that makes me feel a little bit more like
John Shull 40:14
the metal one had like those the weird grates in it that you always wondered like what they were for you never knew where the water went.
Nick VinZant 40:21
Spit I think if people hadn't spirit and you don't know what people are doing in a waterfowl
John Shull 40:26
MAN Yeah, it was there was the occasional booger. I remember I do remember that. Every now and again. Oh, I don't want I don't think about it. Okay, should we go from bugger water fountains, two shout outs. That seems like a good transition. Sure. All right. Let's see. We'll start off with Tullio Vargas. Aaron Rebbes
Nick VinZant 40:47
what Tullio
John Shull 40:49
Tullio and he spelled totul I O. Right to Leo okay to Leo to Leo. I apologize if we butchered your name to Leo or to Leo trip tomorrow homozygous
Nick VinZant 41:09
said their real name trip tomorrow
John Shull 41:12
mean it looks like an actual profile but I mean, who knows? trip tomorrow Joe's is a Feliciano don't and Peters. That's a good American name like a good to home school, you know? homebred Dalton Dalton is a good, good name.
Nick VinZant 41:32
You can only live in certain states with a name like dolt and true. Idaho can live in Idaho. Having your name be Dalton, Montana, Texas, Texas. Yeah, South Dakota, North Dakota, Vermont, maybe Nebraska. Vermont, I think of as generally being like a little bit more upscale.
John Shull 41:54
Yeah, I would agree. I was kind of just being foolish. Miles Dobell. Daniel do Mayor Steven Caputo. Mack Max Lucas. And Omar I UB
Nick VinZant 42:14
nice selection of all the names that you can't do. Like Pac
John Shull 42:18
Man, I last week was too easy. Alright, so I got a couple of bangers for you. Which one will you see first? The Barbie movie or Oppenheimer?
Nick VinZant 42:33
whichever one comes out on streaming first.
John Shull 42:37
It's funny you say that I saw something and I can't cite it. But I saw something that said that streaming. Last week officially surpassed cable in terms of more viewership and things. I don't know how they I can't
Nick VinZant 42:49
believe it hasn't already. I would have thought that happened two years ago. I wouldn't watch either of them. Actually. Now that I think about it. I will watch YouTube clips of Oppenheimer when that hits YouTube. But once a movie becomes part, once the movie hits like a certain cultural mass, I just won't watch it. Like, ah, I don't want to watch you because I don't want to be part of any discussions around the Barbie. I just want to be like, have you seen it? No. Don't have to be a part of this conversation with
John Shull 43:18
Barbie movies a lot I think to take in. And I think there's a lot of women girls, who you probably look at it like how men view like the Marvel movies and the DC movies. But I feel like the Barbie movie is going to live up to none of that.
Nick VinZant 43:34
I'm fast. I'm always fascinated just how we as a society, and people in general will make a big deal out of anything. Like we will make a big deal out of anything, if given the chance. Sure. I mean, if nothing else is going on. We're going to elevate like the lowest other thing, right? Like, what's the biggest thing happening? Well, Barbie movie, I guess. All right, make that a big deal.
John Shull 43:57
Well, I mean, I think it also helps who's in it? I mean, if it didn't, I
Nick VinZant 44:01
don't even know I will mark or couldn't even tell you anybody
John Shull 44:03
mean Margot Robbie and why is his name and Nicholas Guy Yeah, Nicholas godson, Ryan Gosling. Okay, I mean,
Nick VinZant 44:14
major case there. Yeah, I didn't case I didn't who and what's its whosits and whatsits?
John Shull 44:20
Well, rumor has it that Oppenheimer is going to sweep the Academy Awards next year, so we'll see what happens.
Nick VinZant 44:26
Okay, well, you are trusted correspondent on all things Academy Awards.
John Shull 44:30
I like to think I'm pretty row well versed and movie
Nick VinZant 44:34
you didn't even you call somebody Nicolas Gosling.
John Shull 44:38
Anyways, the second one I know
Nick VinZant 44:39
a lot about movies with that Tim Smith actor. Anyways, he slapped a guy at the last Oscars with Jim Smith.
John Shull 44:49
Would you prefer Do you prefer cold drinks or hot drinks?
Nick VinZant 44:54
Cold drinks. I can't think of any drink that I want hot. Hot chocolate is the only drink that I have. One hot I don't drink coffee though but other than that, the only drink that I want hot is coffee. Or I mean hot chocolate. I nothing else literally. Nothing else do I want a hot drink.
John Shull 45:09
So I mean I drink coffee but I only drink a cold but like there there is a spot for like a good like hot tea are hot Saki Saki is pretty good hot to see. Oh my god. No, what's get outta here. Get out of here. You're insane. I
Nick VinZant 45:31
need a tea. I need a nice hot tea to relax my nerves.
John Shull 45:35
I mean, that's not why I drink it out. I do like lavender tea. Okay, all right. I like lavender. And I like lavender candles.
Nick VinZant 45:42
I like I like how you go against my argument. And the first one you pick is not like chai tea, or herbal tea or black tea. But it's like lavender. Like you pick the worst example of mainly teas that you could get lavender.
John Shull 45:56
I mean, lavender is or that lavender is is amazing. And you should get on it.
Nick VinZant 46:04
No, I'm all right. I'm entering my power eight actually, I like to drink cheeps whatever it is. Anyway,
John Shull 46:10
so here are here are the you know, the the Profoundly Pointless of fact or fiction? You are six of eight, by the way.
Nick VinZant 46:19
Actually, we had a number of comments about one of your things with the wall fun. And pretty much everybody agreed with me that your question was a misleading question. And that that was ultimately just to dolphins and had nothing to do. So that should be bumped up.
John Shull 46:33
So you want to be six for seven then you want to be six for seven?
Nick VinZant 46:36
Yeah, better than six. Right? Okay, fine.
John Shull 46:39
Well, we'll make sure you know,
Nick VinZant 46:41
and I kind of think it's eight that should be six for six. Because one of those was pretty misleading. Like you're getting into leading questions kinds of stuff, right? Where there's trig answers. There needs to be either a straight yes or no, not. Well, kind of depends on this.
John Shull 46:56
Well, I'll tell you what, I think the four that I picked today or for this episode, are pretty, pretty black one. But you know what? People will still find a way to pretend that they have academia knowledge about something that they probably don't regardless. Fact or Fiction. You only have two body parts that never stopped growing.
Nick VinZant 47:20
I have no idea. I mean, my do I need to ask my wife if there's a third? two body parts that never stop growing? Well, probably your hair and your nails.
John Shull 47:34
You don't have to get the two body parts. True or False? I'm not going to ask you. True. You are correct. Human noses and ears. Never stopped growing. Every other part of your body does
Nick VinZant 47:51
your nose never set? Well. Then how slow does it grow that you never notice it
John Shull 47:56
that that? I don't know. But
Nick VinZant 47:59
but Yeah, yours never stopped growing? No. And
John Shull 48:02
I'm sure it's incrementally Right. Like,
Nick VinZant 48:05
do you think people would look weird or without noses or
John Shull 48:08
without ears? Noses for sure. Yeah,
Nick VinZant 48:11
I think so. I mean, you can really pretty easily envision people without a years
John Shull 48:15
because What's that movie? Harry Potter? I think we're well find. Finds plays. Oh, yeah. That's,
Nick VinZant 48:23
I thought you were our Oscar correspondent. Yeah, I just read Potter Lord vault just
John Shull 48:29
named the actor. You just name the character. You're welcome.
Nick VinZant 48:34
Okay, do you think okay, here's a question for you. Right. And this is a question that I have asked several people. And it's been a topic of debate. Do I have big years? There right there where you kind of yes, you kind of know. So little bit difficult to say it's like, oh, they Yeah, no, yeah. No. No, yeah. No.
John Shull 48:58
I guess I'd have to see. I guess I have to see you again. And really like, in real life. You'd have to see up close touch your ears. Maybe touch them a little bit. See if they're soft.
Nick VinZant 49:07
I'm very soft ears. But you can't tell right? Are they big? Are they not big? It's like yeah, no. No. Yeah. All right, I'm fascinated by
John Shull 49:22
second factor fiction for you factor fiction. Toads will give you awards if you touch them. That's not true. It is not true. No. They do carry HPV.
Nick VinZant 49:36
However, human papilloma virus, human papilloma virus that is true
John Shull 49:39
or HPV for all of us who are not educated. However, according to this doctor who I'm not going to try to pronounce their name. If you wanted to get a work from a toad, you would have to come in contact with at least 30 Different kinds of Toads to contract any kind of virus that would Don't leave anything on your skin. So, okay, cool. Fact or Fiction? Bees can fly higher than Mount Everest
Nick VinZant 50:16
I mean, no, it's too cold up there, right but they've gotten like spiders and there are some birds that can fly up there for some reason I looked that up the other day. So it was like no, I would say wrong. It's kind of one of those. Okay, yeah,
John Shull 50:31
come on. all you haters out there prove me wrong on this. According to National Geographic a bees can fly higher than 29,525 feet above sea level that is higher than Mount Everest. Here. Here's what we're learning with this factor fiction is that you do not like to be wrong and you will do everything to spin it. So you are right. Shaved hair grows back thicker. Oh, I don't think that's true. You are correct. According to the Mayo Clinic. The only thing that Shaving can do is give hair a blunt tip which will make it feel stubbly or more coarse, but it will not the hair itself will not grow back. thicker.
Nick VinZant 51:16
Yeah, it just feels different. Because it's new hair as opposed to longer hair that you used to have. Well,
John Shull 51:22
that's why I have no hair,
Nick VinZant 51:23
I guess is I think the basic thing with all facts and fiction is if it's common knowledge are something that you've heard, it's probably wrong. And if it's in regard to an animal doing something amazing, it's probably true.
John Shull 51:37
I mean, I just think it's hard to argue with facts and things that have been scientifically proven one way or the other.
Nick VinZant 51:45
But yet people do it all the time. Yeah, well,
John Shull 51:47
that's, you know, including us. We're I guess we're part of that. The problem or and
Nick VinZant 51:52
who? I don't understand that. I don't understand that comment. You don't like to be wrong. Does anyone like to be wrong? I mean, do you know people that are like, I fucking love being wrong? Well, I all I want to be is wrong.
John Shull 52:04
I think like being wrong, though, can also be turned into motivation can be turned into, you know, learning like, so. No, do I want to be wrong? Of course not. But can I be wrong? Of course.
Nick VinZant 52:18
Yeah, I mean, I'm wrong all the time. The last time I was wrong was the time I thought I was wrong. I mean, I love that joke. This is what I say to my family all the time. I've only been wrong once in my life. The time I thought I was wrong.
John Shull 52:33
I mean, we're both married, right? So turns out I was
Nick VinZant 52:37
right. Anyway, this look how good this drink look. Yeah, it does. Red is the best looking colored drink,
John Shull 52:46
though, right? Even like it looks not even close.
Nick VinZant 52:49
Okay, what are you going to say? green or blue? No, I would even argue better looking.
John Shull 52:56
I would even argue to say that something clear, like maybe even water. If you get it in the right class. It can look a male
Nick VinZant 53:03
it's gotta be it's got to be colored. It's got to be colored. I think that red looks like something that's good to drink needs to be a bright, strong color. That's
John Shull 53:12
also why you have Kool Aid stains around your lips right now. I love it. Love it. All right.
Nick VinZant 53:18
Are you ready for a top? Are you ready for a top, I've
John Shull 53:20
been waiting for 28 minutes for our top five.
Nick VinZant 53:23
So our top five is top five best things to see Wait, top five things to see in the air stuff where you look up and you're like, Oh, that's cool to see. What's your number five. There's a lot there's a lot
John Shull 53:38
of there's so many. Um, my number five is airplanes. And I can go even one one step further than say like, like a, like a military jet or something like that, like something fast and quick. Not necessarily a commercial jet. But really any airplanes are pretty awesome.
Nick VinZant 53:56
I think that airplanes I think are impossible. And Can Can you hear an airplane and not look for it? No. Have you ever heard an airplane and then just not even looked around in the sky to see where it might be?
John Shull 54:08
No, I definitely like a cat. And I always look around. And then I always wonder like, How can I not see it when it's a blue? Like when it's a blue Clear Sky Day?
Nick VinZant 54:18
You get a little annoyed with yourself if you can't find it within say like three or four seconds.
John Shull 54:23
I mean, I do wonder what's wrong with me sometimes. Yes.
Nick VinZant 54:28
I don't think that airplanes are impressive enough. It's not an impressive enough thing to see in this guy. I don't think that it belongs. Honestly, really in the top 10 When you look at all the other kinds of things, maybe a fighter jet. Yeah, he'd agree with you on a fighter jet. But airplanes in general is not impressive enough. Mind number five is a hot air balloon. Anytime you see a hot air balloon up in the sky, you're gonna be like, oh, a hot air balloon. Where's it going? Where did it come from? What are they looking at? What's going on? Always got questions when a hot air balloon is seen in the sky.
John Shull 54:58
See, I don't know I have them impressive at all, and I don't really wising them going by the sky. I mean, obviously, I'm going to go, oh, there's a hot air balloon. Watch out for those power lines. But
Nick VinZant 55:09
yeah, you always wonder about it like, oh, what's gonna happen? Right? Like, there's a lot of questions, a lot of thoughts go through your head, what's your number for them?
John Shull 55:17
So I know what you're gonna say here on this. And you're gonna say, This doesn't count, but it's in the sky, and it comes out of the sky. So I put raindrops like rain.
Nick VinZant 55:29
But you can't see the individual raindrops I don't think I just don't agree with Oh, but
John Shull 55:35
you can, but you can see it fall. And you know, it's I don't know, it's, once it becomes I guess it always is a solid. But whether or not you can see it coming from the sky, it comes from the sky and hits the earth, right, like
Nick VinZant 55:51
so. So it is light.
John Shull 55:53
Right? You and maybe one of us has the sun on our list.
Nick VinZant 55:57
I don't have the sun on my list. And the thing is, this is why I disagree with you, is because when you see the rain, you don't look up and see the rain. You see the rain like right as it's by the ground, so it's not really in the sky. It's kind of by the ground really like you don't really see the rain until it's at house level.
John Shull 56:15
I mean, that's not that's not wrong. I but I want to I'm keeping it.
Nick VinZant 56:21
Okay. My number three, four. No, wait. My number four is a storm. I love watching.
John Shull 56:29
Basically, what a storm. It's
Nick VinZant 56:31
not the same thing. I mean, there's rain, storm. clouds and lightning, like clouds spinning round that's up in the sky. Rain is on the ground. Okay. Okay, my number four is a storm.
John Shull 56:45
Okay, well, I think there's similar and I think you could, you know, say both are acceptable as being one but whatever storms rain storm is
Nick VinZant 56:57
the storm is very different than rain. Storm is like I'm talking about like the clouds. You get that dark look. They got lightning coming out a storm, not just rain. I live in Seattle, man. Don't talk to me about rain.
John Shull 57:10
It's rain. 22 or less. 41 days here. All right. Talk to me about rain young man. All right, my number three. I I felt like you have to put this one on there. So I don't want to put it at the back and I want to put at the front. But I put the moon.
Nick VinZant 57:26
That's my number three. Two is the moon. Yeah. The Moon is always interesting.
John Shull 57:31
Yeah, it's just I mean, I don't know about you. But when I look up at it, I always go how do we land there? And why does it look like a bruised apple?
Nick VinZant 57:40
I don't really have any other thoughts besides that to the moon when I look at the moon, but I do. The only time I'm ever confused is when it's out in the middle of the day. Like I'm always slightly lost about what's going on. Like, wait a minute, how's the moon out and it's not dark? I'm always slightly confused.
John Shull 57:57
I just I it's incredible. It's it goes along with another one on my list coming up which, which we'll get to I guess a couple times here. What is going on my dog up there? Good God. I don't know man has to man. He doesn't like you know, the distractions happen at the worst time. You know what I mean? Like, it sounds that's how life is made. So we're on my number two. So my number two and once again, I I feel like you have to put this on a top five things you look at in the sky list. But I'm not really proud of it. And that's just like that's like an animal like a bird. Like slay no any any flying object in animal I feel like has to be on there. You know? Whether it be a bird or a bee or something. You just you're always looking up at the sky and seeing animals and then you just stay fixated on them.
Nick VinZant 58:50
The only thing that I can put in that is like a butterfly, like all watch a butterfly flying around, but I don't really care about any of the birds. I don't really care about birds in general. Honestly, like I like them. Right? I understand the importance of birds, but I'm nevertheless like, ooh, bird.
John Shull 59:08
Oh, there's a Yeah, I don't know. It's just, you know, once again, it's like I just I was thinking about things and yeah, every time I see somebody just follow through the sky like a like especially ducks or like geese and things. Like if I see geese and like the Flying V. Heading south for the winter, I'm just staring up at the sky.
Nick VinZant 59:28
What is the plural of geese? Geese? Goose a goose goose is one geese is several
John Shull 59:35
Yeah, so that's why it's so when I say geese flying and ah
Nick VinZant 59:39
Hmm. I really want to change something out and put I don't really want this to be my number two, but I kind of jam myself up here so it's not really my number two I was gonna say it's my number two is a helicopter. I'm always impressed by a helicopter and I always wonder what's going on. helicopter flies over you because something is going on when a helicopter flies over you.
John Shull 1:00:06
Okay. I mean, yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. I mean, that happened just the other day. And I was like, Oh, what is that it was a medical helicopter. So you, you are right, you're right, right.
Nick VinZant 1:00:15
There's always something going on when the helicopter flies over you, what's your number one?
John Shull 1:00:20
So stars or planets, I guess you could say actually, extraterrestrial beings even. But man, I, back during the pandemic, I fell in love my wife and I would do, you know, date nights out in the backyard. And we would just look up at the sky. And, you know, we downloaded apps and we even bought a telescope, we would search out stars and planets and things.
Nick VinZant 1:00:46
What did you find was your favorite planet there? Johnny?
John Shull 1:00:49
Venus is quite bright as you can imagine. You know, Jupiter has
Nick VinZant 1:00:53
been on a telescope. Like how much of it? Did you spend? I just need to I need to frame I don't mean to interrupt you. I need a frame of reference. For like, if were you like seeing the rings of Saturn, or did you spend like 20 bucks on Amazon?
John Shull 1:01:05
No, I think it was I think it was about 100 bucks. I mean, it wasn't like, wasn't the lowest model but by no means was it like an expert model. I, I just wanted something to go like 64 times. So like I could maybe see close. But you know, they don't tell you that at night. It's dark. So unless you really zoom in on it, you're not gonna see anything other than a bright light. So
Nick VinZant 1:01:28
no one no one tells you that it was dark at night.
John Shull 1:01:33
I don't know what I was expecting. But I do remember looking I remember we got Mars into the viewfinder and I remember looking in like, Man, I'm gonna see like lava on the surface and heat resonating. And nothing. No, it was just a bright light.
Nick VinZant 1:01:47
Yeah, it just looks brighter. Like he's not like you can really see anything. It's just a closer up brighter thing. Like I could just be standing at the other end of the telescope with a flashlight and I'm looking at Jupiter.
John Shull 1:02:02
You would be that dick. But yes, you're absolutely
Nick VinZant 1:02:05
stupid. No one told me that it was going to be dark at night. But that is one of those things that like you forget the simplest thing like, oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, life is complicated. My number one. I can't believe I forgot about this one that we didn't put on there. But it was my number one is a shooting star. I think that's the coolest thing to see.
John Shull 1:02:27
So I'm glad you brought that up. Because like I would have put the Northern Lights on my list. However, Oh, yeah. However, not everyone gets it. Like it's not like you just look up into the sky and they're universal. Yeah, they're it's not like they're a regular occurrence like everything else is to a certain extent.
Nick VinZant 1:02:46
That's why I didn't put a clips on there. Otherwise, I would have put a clips
John Shull 1:02:51
just you want to talk about a sham every time there's a total eclipse people buy the glasses and like it's just ridiculous. I
Nick VinZant 1:03:00
mean, how is that a sham? You're not supposed to look at it or you go blind. It's just it's just another mark like they're making it it's not like they're making it up. Oh, but you can't stare at the sun. Right? I understand that you were baffled by the idea that it's dark concept that you can't stare at the sun is suddenly like what
John Shull 1:03:25
what's that out there?
Nick VinZant 1:03:27
Fuck is that not gonna listen to the government doctors telling me not to stare at the sky the sun?
John Shull 1:03:35
I tell you what that COVID I put the son there on purpose. Do you think
Nick VinZant 1:03:39
he's a really go blind? Like how long would it really take to go blind looking at this How long would you be willing to risk it? If somebody's like five seconds would you go would you go three?
John Shull 1:03:50
I go five seconds somebody turns to go but if somebody
Nick VinZant 1:03:53
said you go blind if you stare at it for five seconds straight? How long would you push it when you put it how much money am I getting? I'll give you a million dollars to go for 4.5 seconds would
John Shull 1:04:04
you be like dude I need like 100 million like I need to be set and then my family is family needs to be set because I'm going to be blind
Nick VinZant 1:04:11
yeah he'd really bright like how much would all right what what amount of money would you stare at the sun until you went blind for
John Shull 1:04:22
I mean 500 million pa that's
Nick VinZant 1:04:26
what I think it'd be too because I don't know if I can ever actually do it unless like pay me in a billion dollars but you guys stare at the Sunday go blind
John Shull 1:04:35
you know I not not to like point out any of the our communities you know, of disabilities here but I would not want to lose my sight like I would rather lose my hearing. My tail like my sight is the one thing I do not want to lose.
Nick VinZant 1:04:51
As a person who does not have one of their senses. I don't have a sense of smell. I don't know what I would like $1 amount that I would put on the was in a sense, but I mean, I probably would lose sense you smell first, right? Like they were handing out checks like a pyramid, right? Like a million for this 10 million for this 100 million for that a billion like, Oh, I'll take the million for smell. That's pretty Yeah.
John Shull 1:05:15
I mean, I would get 10 million for sure.
Nick VinZant 1:05:19
What's in your honorable mention of things to look at in the sky? Well, five things. Top five things to look at in the sky is what we should have.
John Shull 1:05:28
Yeah, well did call it, I think is what you call it. Um, I have the sun. I have the Northern Lights. I have lightning bugs.
Nick VinZant 1:05:37
Oh, lightning bugs are pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't put them in the top five. But I'm like, oh, lightning, now they're a matter
John Shull 1:05:42
of mentioned. And then I just have paper lanterns as well. Those are pretty cool. If you ever seen those, and never seen them until they run into a power line and catch on fire and then catch the farm on fire.
Nick VinZant 1:05:56
Um, I have, like I said, an eclipse. The sunset. Sunrise Sunset is clearly better than sunrise. I think I don't think there's any argument about that. Um, various types of clouds. I do enjoy seeing are you shaking your head at the sunset? Like it's not a great thing. My
John Shull 1:06:15
My only argument with that is is like once you've seen it like it's over. You know what I mean? It's like, okay, we're gonna stay up to watch the sunset. Like, No, you're not.
Nick VinZant 1:06:24
I'm not staying. Well. I mean, like, there's not really that late. Or I'm
John Shull 1:06:29
sorry, getting up early to watch the sunrise are like, like, it's like, no, like, once you've done it once. Okay, I've seen the sunrise. It's fine.
Nick VinZant 1:06:36
It's one of those things. It's really not. I mean, a good sense. That can be pretty impressive. But it just makes a good picture. I don't know if it makes for as good of like a actual experience. It's something that people save that they like to do, as opposed to like, hey, it's really not that big. I saw the sunset. Yeah, I see it every day. But you know what, though? You probably one that probably one that you kind
John Shull 1:07:00
of said it earlier about something like something that we take for granted. And if any of us were on our deathbed, we'd be like, Man, I really wish I could see the sunset. So maybe we should appreciate the sunset more.
Nick VinZant 1:07:11
I think we should appreciate pretty much everything a little bit. Right? Even the things that bother us, right? Life is all about the struggle. Um, I have a kite. I enjoy seeing a kite. I'm always slightly impressed by a kite. Also like to see us I live in a place where they have sea planes. Sea Plane is a totally different type of viewing experience than a plane or a helicopter. See plane like, Oh, it's a sea plane. But whatever. It's different. I'm just telling you it's a little bit more impressive. Right? If I'm going to talk about motorized vehicles that are in the sky, sea plane is probably my number one. Parachute somebody parachute and that's always cool to see.
John Shull 1:07:52
Man. I feel like people don't like that because they you know, we're all cynics at the end of the day. So they always hope for something bad, right. That's why people watch daredevils. I don't really want to see them succeed.
Nick VinZant 1:08:04
I don't really want to see anybody fall out of the sky. Kind of terrible person. Okay, that's gonna go ahead and do it for this episode of Profoundly Pointless. I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, leave us a rating or review doesn't have to be anything big. Just a couple of quick words really helps us out and let us know what you think are some of the coolest things to see in the sky? I could have really I mean, an Eclipse isn't it's incredible, right? Like it's a totally unique experience. But it just doesn't happen often enough to I think really be number one. I think it's shooting star. But I mean, if you put sunset in there, by I don't I don't agree with John. It's not just some everyday thing. Like it's still pretty impressive, but I think a lot of people would put sunset