Back in the old days, there were pretty slim pickings about what to do for a career. Basically, people just did what their father or mother did. Then, as education became more available to the masses, every parent’s dream was for their child to become a doctor, lawyer or accountant. Secure a respectable job and make the big bucks.
But what if you didn’t want to drag out your days in an ordinary job, working for the man in a major multinational corporation? What if you were more interested in say, mystical and astrological matters?
In 1996, when Rod was deciding his career fate, there was actually a one-year diploma in Astrology and Jungian psychology from The Urania Trust in London. He nearly signed up but chickened out and did the corporate grad entry thing instead. He loved it (NOT). Don’t make his mistake! Whatever you’re interested in, there’s a degree out there and some of them are pretty wild.
A personal favourite could be the Brewing and Distilling degree from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Their courses cover malting and mashing cereals to whiskey maturation. Imagine their research project at the end - everyone get pissed!
You’d also learn about filtration and packaging, which actually has a degree all on its own. Packaging Science. It’s very specific. Do they just send you to Amazon to pack stuff and look at boxes? On one hand, it does sound intensely boring, but on the other hand, unboxing is a total vibe on YouTube. Maybe there’s more to it than making a box out of cardboard and those packaging fillers that look like big rice bubbles (don’t eat them).
Birmingham City University offers a degree in Horology, the intricate study of clocks and watches. After completing your studies, if you don’t set yourself up in a nice career in the luxury watch industry, you could start a “time related business.” Hmmm. Sounds like a sinister post-graduate course where you learn how to control time. Amazing.
Speaking of sinister, there’s an entire degree in Puppet Arts offered at both the University of Connecticut and West Virginia University. Will reckons there’s nothing more depressing than puppets and while he might just be overthinking the whole ‘someone else is pulling the strings on my existence’ thing, puppetry does attract some pretty weird connotations. Considering that the greatest possible achievement in this degree would be potentially mounting a mobile puppet show for school children, maybe one of their prerequisites for entry should be a full criminal check.
While we’re on the topic of criminals, there’s a pretty wild course on offer at the University of Abertay in Dundee, Scotland that could go either way. Their degree in Ethical Hacking produces highly skilled professionals with a rigorous understanding of cybercrime and the technical skills needed to stop hackers. Or, it could just be teaching them how to be excellent criminals. Either way, it’s one of our favourites.
There’s also a Surf Science degree but it’s not quite how it sounds. First of all, it’s in England (are there even any waves there?) and second, they don’t actually teach you how to surf. Maybe it’s the kind of degree that engineers do on the side to keep up with the cool kids.
Speaking of engineers, you’d better hope that the most squared away people are signing up for the Theme Park Engineering course at California State University. They learn about electrical power, hydraulics and pneumatic control and all that - but one slight problem... The specialisation isn’t ABET accredited (ABET is an organisation for post-secondary programs in engineering, technology, computing, and applied and natural sciences.) So basically it means that graduates aren’t actually qualified engineers. You might want to rethink that next trip to Disney.
So there you have it. Plenty of opportunities to step outside the box and be competitive in today’s crowded knowledge economy. From Cannabis to Bagpipes studies, there’s a whacky degree out there for everyone.
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[00:00:00] Rod: So I finished my undergraduate journey with an honors degree in a couple of disciplines, as you're well aware.
[00:00:06] Will: I'm well aware.
[00:00:07] Rod: It's actually relevant here for once. So I could have sailed, I didn't, you know, psychology and anthropology. So I could have sailed straight into one of the mega corporations that does psychoanthropology.
[00:00:17] Will: Yeah. The mega corporations that do anthropology. No, there are there. There are
[00:00:21] Rod: in psychoanthropology. Yeah. They're looking for the hybrid. They're all over the place.
[00:00:25] Will: I feel like they're the hidden corporations that don't have names. They just sit behind things doing nefarious research on people.
[00:00:31] Rod: You're not supposed to know that.
[00:00:32] Will: Yeah, exactly.
[00:00:33] Rod: So I could have, but I thought, cause in the background, I had these fascinations like with matters, Marshall, mystical, astrological. I was very interested in all these things.
[00:00:42] Will: You what? Martial? Mystical? Is this like fighting druids? Do you mean martial, like, as in, like, martial arts and war? And mystical, like, like
[00:00:52] Rod: druids and shit. And astrological, as in science.
[00:00:56] Will: Obviously, you were thinking, I don't want the job in the megacorp. I want the job in the giant druid corp.
[00:01:01] Rod: Well, look it's entirely possible. There may have been a correlation between the fact that I really like that stuff and in the 90s, there were a lot of Modern age, hippie women who didn't mind a choof and a beer.
[00:01:13] Will: Oh, fair enough.
[00:01:14] Rod: And hang out with, you know, fascinating chaps like me.
[00:01:16] Will: Like you were doing it for the ladies.
[00:01:17] Rod: At my peak. I'm not saying I was, I'm saying there may have been a correlation. And look, I didn't want a standard career. I was like,
[00:01:23] Will: no, you wanted to be a druid. Podcasting druid.
[00:01:25] Rod: Astrological druid. So I went hunting. I thought, okay, I need more diverse and new education options. And I found a London based mob, an institution called the Urania Trust.
[00:01:34] Will: What are Urania Trust?
[00:01:35] Rod: An educational charity that furthers the advancement of education regarding the relationship between man's knowledge and beliefs about the heavens and every aspect of art, science, philosophy, and religion.
[00:01:45] Will: Every aspect.
[00:01:47] Rod: And I thought, this sounds good.
[00:01:48] Will: They do it all. There's the everything place. Weird that there's such an everything place and it's not famous. Well, this is the 90s, you know. Yeah, okay. You would have thought that an institution that covered all of knowledge would be like Harvard Plus.
[00:02:00] Rod: No, but you have to seek to find it. And I sought and I found it. And they offered many things. But the one that caught me eye was a one year diploma in astrology and Jungian psychology. And I thought, fuck yeah. So I sent off for the papers and I had a little look through it and I'm like, I got a little manual, you know, they're annual almanac. I had to send off something physical. I got physical back.
[00:02:19] Will: That's before you've even applied. It's like, please send me.
[00:02:21] Rod: They knew. They knew. Yeah. Yeah. They sent it to me and I went, how did you know, man? I was gonna think about that tomorrow. And then it arrived yesterday. And I still have the little booklet. I should have brought it in, but I didn't cause I'm not a good guy. Yeah, so it was an unusual degree and I looked at it and I thought, I'm going to do it. This is great. I had these really romantic visions. I'd moved to London. I'd do this stuff and I'd become completely
[00:02:41] Will: at one with the cosmos.
[00:02:42] Rod: Irresistible professionally.
[00:02:45] Will: I know that the ladies of the nineties were looking for certain sorts of things, but I just like,
[00:02:51] Rod: now it's ladies in their nineties, which is a really bad idea
[00:02:53] Will: that they're like, you know what I need? I need some mouthy guy who will read my palm over and over.
[00:02:59] Rod: Yep. I'd do that as well.
[00:03:00] Will: You would be out of control.
[00:03:02] Rod: I would have been delightful. So I got all this stuff. I'm like, Oh, I think I'm going to do this. Then I chickened out and instead I joined a corporate great entry program for a major multinational as you do and it was fucked. It was just not my path at all. It was a terrible call.
[00:03:18] Will: Sliding doors moment.
[00:03:18] Rod: It really was. I was Gwyneth Paltrow in duplicate. So I always wondered what it would have been like if I'd gone down his career path. But I'll never know. I don't want others to make the same mistake though. Cause I feel bad for what happened to me and I'd feel worse if our dear listeners went down there. So in this episode, we're going to help you, listener, definitively answer the question, which change of career is the magical one for me? So after that backdrop, the bottom line is today, we're going to talk about let's call them bizarre, slightly unusual, and also extremely functional, in some cases, degrees that you could take up. Strap yourselves in.
[00:04:08] Will: Welcome to the Wholesome Show
[00:04:10] Rod: the podcast in which two academics knock off work early, grab some beers, dive down the rabbit hole, whether it's a good idea or not.
[00:04:18] Will: It is sometimes a good idea and sometimes not. I'm Will Grant.
[00:04:22] Rod: I'm Rod Lambertson. Man, my head is spinning now. That's the most exercise I've done since I was 12.
[00:04:26] Will: You shouldn't dance to this kind of thing.
[00:04:28] Rod: I love it though.
[00:04:28] Will: Today we are fueled by brew dogs. Practice what you preach. La Trappist. It's a hybrid. It's a quadruple with Scottish heather honey. This is the most ridiculous beer in quite some time.
[00:04:42] Rod: Ridiculous in a good way because it's dialicious and we've nearly finished the bottle and we've hardly started.
[00:04:48] Will: All right. Give me a degree.
[00:04:49] Rod: Well, you've got a little grab bag there, right? So we're going to go with grab bags, because I went deep, I meticulously and for months researched all these outstanding and actual university level degrees.
[00:04:59] And after all this research, all this time that I did for free, let's be clear, for free, I came up with four neat categories. Creative and unexpected. Unusual slash performance related. Rather unusual performance related, no slash. Intriguingly specific and the fourth category, possibly my favorite lifestyle enhancing and likely huge career change possibilities.
[00:05:24] Will: Sweet. All right.
[00:05:26] Rod: And before we dive in, don't forget if you've got any ideas or if you've done a, an excellent degree that could help everyone else out, let us know. Hit us up. cheers@wholesomeshow.com
[00:05:35] Will: or in the comments or if you are going to go and do one of these degrees, or if you've already got one, please tell us your experience. So you want me to grab one of these?
[00:05:42] Rod: Grab one. Tell me what category you got.
[00:05:44] Will: Lifestyle enhancing and huge career change possible. So this is the crossover.
[00:05:49] Rod: This is the crossover. Our first entry brewing and distilling. The masters of science.
[00:05:55] Will: That's awesome. Where do you do it?
[00:05:57] Rod: Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh. And apparently it's super popular and really competitive to get into. And there's high employment coming out because people in the beverage industry are like, we need fuckers who've actually got some experience and actual training. So they've got really high employment rates for graduates.
[00:06:14] Will: Oh, what are the highlights of the program?
[00:06:16] Rod: Okay. So we've got semester one core courses. You do Cereals malting and mashing. But I come pre qualified, I mean I've done a lot of that myself. Wort boiling and fermentation. That's wort with an O, not an A. For you amateurs out there, the wort is the stinky garbage that eventually turns into your beer.
[00:06:32] Will: Yeah, I don't know if they need to know that.
[00:06:33] Rod: Yes they do. They come here for the facts. Particularly when I'm doing it. Optional courses, foundations of energy, renewable energy technologies, beverage microbiology and biochemistry though. I think that's kind of cool. Yeah. Cause God knows what you could do. Semester two distilling and whiskey maturation.
[00:06:49] Will: Okay. So, so this isn't just beer. This is the wide range of
[00:06:52] Rod: brewing and distilling. It's got both drinks, beer and spirits. I mean, whiskey. In fact you can do filtration and packaging, which is an interesting combo, like filter it, then put it in a bottle.
[00:07:02] Will: This is more like the packaging as in literally putting it in the packaging not the outside, how you entice people
[00:07:07] Rod: I don't know, it might be a bit of marketing.
[00:07:09] Will: I wouldn't put that in my filtration course. I would put that in a different cause all of its own.
[00:07:14] Rod: I think like Dr. Filter and they said, can you run a whole semester course on filtration? And he said, yeah, but I can do marketing. There are optional courses, like, this is good, environmental impact assessment, chemistry of food, management in the food and beverage industry, yawn, but I mean, I suppose you've got to have it.
[00:07:28] So, yeah. It's actually a reasonable masters. Just pop over to Edinburgh, my people. Look at me. I'm obviously partially Scottish.
[00:07:37] Will: That sounds awesome. That sounds really cool. Is there a research project at the end?
[00:07:40] Rod: Let's get pissed.
[00:07:41] Will: I would like to go to Edinburgh and do that.
[00:07:43] Rod: That's cool. Yeah, I agree.
[00:07:44] Will: Okay. Give me creative and unexpected.
[00:07:46] Rod: Oh, I'll give you, I'll give you. First up manga studies at Kyoto Seika University.
[00:07:51] Will: Making or reading?
[00:07:53] Rod: It seems to be a lot of making, but there's also doctoral programs where you really dig into it. So it started, they've got a they're the first ever faculty to teach manga. They say in Japan, but I assume that means anywhere. 2006.
[00:08:05] Will: I think they had to get like, maybe I'll bet there was someone else coming in another country. And Japan was like no, calm down. No. We're not having some university of California or something.
[00:08:14] Rod: Okay, they can probably accept Hawaii. They could do it in Honolulu, because you know, it's like Pacific American Japanese. Beautifully melanged.
[00:08:20] Will: Okay. So what do you do?
[00:08:21] Rod: So the departments are cartoon art, comic art, and you can do a course in each of these. New generation manga course. And my favorite, and this is the one for the pervs, character design course. We're going to sit here and design our own characters.
[00:08:38] Will: It doesn't have to be for the pervs.
[00:08:41] Rod: It can't all be tits. You've got to do more than just tits. This character has nine tits and two eyes. It's not good enough.
[00:08:47] Will: Ah or, you know, like the what's the name? I know in, in hentai there is the giant long dick, like the tenta tentacle porn. Was it Oritsukadoji, where there was the, there was the blob monster that had giant dicks that were going from one city to another
[00:09:01] Rod: the dicks or the whole monster?
[00:09:02] Will: No the dicks, the tentacle dicks were doing that. Like there was a big genre. You didn't read into the tentacle porn genre? Okay. Well, anyway, I don't want to be your expert about the tentacle porn.
[00:09:10] Rod: I want you to be. It's about time. It's about time you disgusted me for a change.
[00:09:14] Will: Again, it doesn't have to be all that. You can do other things as well. You could journey into
[00:09:20] Rod: not just dicks or tits. You could perhaps hybridize.
[00:09:24] Will: But this is being very offensive. There is a lot of awesome manga.
[00:09:27] Rod: There is a lot of awesome manga. It's not offensive. This is a sub genre. Nothing but boobs. You pick one and I'll give you one.
[00:09:34] Will: Creative and unexpected. I already had that.
[00:09:36] Rod: That's alright. Hand embroidery. not embroidering hand. It's run out of the Royal School of Needlework.
[00:09:43] Will: Well, of course it is. It does sound like that's the thing that they do.
[00:09:46] Rod: In Dubai.
[00:09:47] Will: In Dubai?
[00:09:47] Rod: No, England. Founded 150 years ago. So the Royal School of Needlework and 150 years ago, the monarch was King Runcible.
[00:09:55] Will: No.
[00:09:56] Rod: You should know, come on, you know, England.
[00:09:57] Will: 150 years ago, it was Queen Victoria. That was pretty easy to work that one.
[00:10:00] Rod: Someone quick, we'll pause the recording until someone calls .
[00:10:02] Will: 1874. It had been Queen Victoria since about 1850 to 1910? 1906? Something like that. It's been in Victoria for a long time, and so it's pretty easy to guess around that period.
[00:10:14] Rod: Did I not say we'd be bringing our expertise to this episode? Did I not?
[00:10:17] Will: There you go, finally, finally. And she had a big desire for needlework and embroidery.
[00:10:22] Rod: That was probably why she started a Royal School of Needlework, which to this very day exists. You can do a BA Honours in Hand Embroidery, a whole degree in it, so three years, full time. It's world renowned, it would be, because it's It may be the only one. I know there are a lot of art schools that do textiles and things but this is specifically hand embrembroidery
[00:10:43] Will: well, I was listening to a podcast the other day about the luxury goods market.
[00:10:46] Rod: You're cheating on us?
[00:10:47] Will: Yeah. Yeah. Occasionally I listened to other things than us. In fact I, you know
[00:10:50] Rod: I feel dirty just hearing that
[00:10:51] Will: But the luxury goods makers and some that are the very top of the game. So like Hermes, And their bags, still very much at the top of the game. Yeah. Like the Birkin bag. But, you know, teams of needle workers and leather workers and embroidery people that are the very top. And they have a, an academy pushing the quality of people, quality of producers they need. And of course, you know, they make big money.
[00:11:13] Rod: These guys have worked with Burberry apparently. You study at Hampton Court Palace.
[00:11:16] Will: I think that's cool. Like what building are we in? We're in Palace today.
[00:11:19] Rod: Yeah. I'm at the Hampton Court campus.
[00:11:21] Will: There are some universities that have really disappointingly named campuses, you know, that we're in Z block and Q block and stuff like that for my Queensland listeners, you'll know, you know, it's a little bit.
[00:11:31] Rod: And at ANU we have the Julia Roberts building, which is great.
[00:11:33] Will: We do not have the Julia Roberts building, but I think there is, I thought names were better than the numbers. But I do think palace would be cool.
[00:11:42] Rod: Yeah. The palace campus. And they have like, they've got a lot of high profile collaborations with Haute couture people, et cetera. And most of them I looked at like, I haven't heard of any of you. So I'm reading down the list going, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
[00:11:54] Will: So, they're obviously high quality.
[00:11:55] Rod: Very high quality. I mean, that's way out of my thing. No, but then I hit two I recognize. One, which I didn't understand the PJ Harvey, I assume they embroidered her. Or maybe they embroidered one of her songs. You know how it is. And the other though, the one that really caught my eye, HBO slash Game of Thrones. So the delicious stuff in Game of Thrones may well have been done by the Royal School of Needlework.
[00:12:15] Will: Well, I think costume design in Game of Thrones got a lot of awards. All right. Give me an unusual performance related.
[00:12:20] Rod: I will. All right.
[00:12:21] Will: Unusual performance. I'm going to guess, is this how to be one of like the blue men?
[00:12:26] Rod: Look, it's not that far. I mean, they go from what I would consider to be more expected to less. So the most expected, circus and physical theater degree in that you study contemporary circus and physical theater at Bath spa university, which sounds fine. And I am I think 28 percent Bathian
[00:12:44] Will: it kind of ruins running away to join the circus. Like if you're like mother, I'm going to university to join the circus. It's cool. I get it. You know, learning the skills is good, but it's not quite running away
[00:12:55] Rod: and I like the most interesting thing for me about this is what you need to get in. So you've got to have a minimum bunch of grades, A levels, and other things that I don't understand in the UK. So you've got The book learnin Plus you also need to demonstrate, quote.
[00:13:09] Will: Juggling. Lions.
[00:13:10] Rod: Well, yeah, you've got to have a lion. Must have your own lion. You need to demonstrate a good level of fitness, and show a commitment to an understanding of theatre, circus, and performance. I don't know how you show the commitment. I see a manic glaze in your eye whenever they mention stuff like it.
[00:13:23] Will: Sometimes some dickheads come along that are like, I'll just do this, and it's like, but there's plenty of, there's plenty of circus circus schools or circus sort of, more as a sport that teenagers and whatever do.
[00:13:35] And I get, if someone has done none of this before and they go like, okay, I want to do circus, it's like, okay, have you done, ever done.
[00:13:40] Rod: Also, can you do one pushup? One. Like fitness apparently is really quite important. And from looking at the pictures on their website. It really would be. Circus doesn't include standing there with a top hat and whipping your thingamy. Not in this course. I don't think there's ringmaster specialisation. I may be wrong. I majored in mastering the ring.
[00:13:58] Will: Intriguingly specific.
[00:14:00] Rod: Ah, specific. Okay, number one. Horology at Birmingham City University, which is the study of whores.
[00:14:08] Will: No, it's not.
[00:14:10] Rod: Yeah, because there's no W. So it's a unique undergraduate horology course. It will enable you to study clocks and watches, both mechanical and electronic. I mean, I don't feel like, mechanical I get, they can get intricate and beautiful. But like, do you want to study electronic watches? Like, no. Here's a Casio from 1994.
[00:14:28] Will: People are making them. Someone's gonna know. Someone's gonna know. How do you know, set the menus and function?
[00:14:33] Rod: A degree?
[00:14:34] Will: I don't know. I don't know. Someone's got to make them.
[00:14:37] Rod: Back, forward.
[00:14:38] Will: Yeah. It does sound like once you, you choose the mechanical path or the digital path.
[00:14:43] Rod: I don't know if you have to choose, but like, okay, today we're going to do digital watches and you're like, I don't care. But now we're going to do classic time pieces held by, what is it? Thomas Hooke as he fought with Darwin or something. I mean, that's great. I don't know if it was Thomas Hooke.
[00:14:55] Will: I don't know. You're telling the story. No, that's totally cool. I can imagine like how intricate they can get could be really fascinating.
[00:15:03] Rod: It would be, and they'd be beautiful, but they also, you also explore the art and science of time measurement. Now that would get mind bending I reckon. Just the whole idea of time, how you measure it, et cetera. So they don't just dig into the artifacts but also
[00:15:16] Will: that's the secret course. Come behind the door and we'll show you. We are the masters of time.
[00:15:20] Rod: You know how people say in some degrees you see through space and time. We got half of that covered. And their website, the point of me to this degree said, Oh, look, you combine the art and science of time measurement, you could set yourself up in a nice career in the luxury watch industry. Like, yeah, or they say you could even nurture your inner entrepreneur and start your own time related business. Cool. What are you interested in? No, I'm thinking of a time related thing.
[00:15:47] Will: I love it though.
[00:15:49] Rod: Like, like name one or name one that isn't time related.
[00:15:54] Will: Okay. All right. No there's more specific light sport. Like your job is timing, timing the runners or the swimmers or the whatever. That's a time related business or, you know, you're timing things in a factory. You're going to tailorize stuff.
[00:16:07] Rod: Like we talked about an episode x
[00:16:08] Will: and you've got to move shit around the factory and we want to know if that takes 47. 1 seconds. And you know, time is a very important thing, time. Some people reckon time is the, and capturing time is the essence of modernity.
[00:16:23] Rod: Next.
[00:16:23] Will: Give me a lifestyle enhancing and huge career change possibilities.
[00:16:27] Rod: Cannabis biology and chemistry.
[00:16:29] Will: That probably has huge career change.
[00:16:31] Rod: Many implicate, and also lifestyle
[00:16:33] Will: Well not necessarily career change, but huge career possibilities. Depends what you're already doing
[00:16:36] Rod: but it would be a change for me. I don't consider Change for you, sure. My cannabis interest to be career. And by interest, I of course mean scholarly. Oh, it is career based. So you can do it at a bunch of universities in the U. S. I've heard of one of them, Colorado State University at Pueblo, Lake Superior University over there.
[00:16:53] Will: So what is this, it's biology and chemistry.
[00:16:55] Rod: Cannabis is biology and chemistry specifically. And they say the occupations you can move into are cannabis extraction manager, so dude who makes hash oil I assume. Agricultural and food scientist, cause you failed cannabis. I'm gonna go into making Twinkies.
[00:17:09] Will: No, they mean, no, edibles and you're growing it and turning it into edibles.
[00:17:14] Rod: Mull Twinkies. Okay. I'm okay with that. And you can be a biological technician. Sweet.
[00:17:19] Will: Yeah, look, all of them, all of them get more boring names. You know, this is the thing. You make something like this legal and it also means you also make it boring. Like everyone gets corporate job titles and boring can be good, but,
[00:17:31] Rod: that's the biggest failure of legalized pot. It's like, do you like pot anymore? No. So boring.
[00:17:35] Will: As if. I don't reckon anyone did it because it was illegal.
[00:17:39] Rod: Didn't they?
[00:17:39] Will: No, people, I don't think, there's a whole discourse about a bunch of things.
[00:17:43] Rod: Look at this rebellious street, I never knew existed.
[00:17:45] Will: No, teenagers do things because they're illegal. No, teenagers do things because they're fun and cool. it's not because it's illegal.
[00:17:55] Rod: So as a rule though, you get the degree as a Bachelor of Science, brackets, cannabis and stuff, because it's not legal everywhere yet.
[00:18:01] Will: Yeah. And there might be times when you want to just say, I got a Bachelor of Science, you know, you go across the border and I just say plant biology, you know, some plants.
[00:18:08] Rod: You might. That's true. No, plant biology and chemistry as well. But they also, you also get to learn about the business of cannabis from marketing and selling its products to complying with relevant laws, including taxation. That's what a stoner wants to know. So can you tell me about the tax implications.
[00:18:25] Will: There you go. Intriguingly specific.
[00:18:27] Rod: Intriguing is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Packaging science. Interest peaked.
[00:18:36] Will: You know, there is something really cool about it.
[00:18:40] Rod: Yeah. If it comes from Apple.
[00:18:42] Will: Well, a nice factory video on YouTube for like 20 minutes. You were like, damn, that's cool.
[00:18:48] Rod: 20 minutes.
[00:18:49] Will: Yeah, I'd take 20 minutes. You've come out of the cannabis degree and you watch 20 minutes of box factory and you'll be fine.
[00:18:54] Rod: Any comments? Not long enough.
[00:18:56] Will: But there is a bit where I'm going like three years into a degree. Whoa. Tell me what you get.
[00:19:01] Rod: Let me unpack it for you. Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Wisconsin stout. So it's for package developers and designers. I mean, that's seems pretty obvious to me, but that's, they have to tell you because the packaging industry is dynamic and lucrative where skilled professionals are welcome, perhaps because packaging science is still an unusual college major, AKA. We really want some people because no one fucking studies it.
[00:19:29] Will: No, totally. But, how much has packaging improved over the last 10 years?
[00:19:33] Rod: 9%.
[00:19:34] Will: No, way more. Way more than that.
[00:19:35] Rod: You'll learn that in Packaging 4.
[00:19:38] Will: Way more than that. Packaging's cool.
[00:19:39] Rod: Like what's improved, how are you measuring improve?
[00:19:41] Will: No. When you buy a new thing these days, like, like there's the little ceremony of unboxing and a billion videos on YouTube. But it's a moment of, you know, you take it out of the, like the the post office packaging. And then you get to the real packaging and you're like, and there's a little bit of going towards the holy of the holies. No, it's a nice moment. And whereas packaging I'm going to guess, say 15 years ago was very much more, it's a box to keep it safe from the the mail, like getting crushed in the mail. Now it's much more, it's the start of your experience. And I think that's, done some cool things.
[00:20:11] Rod: So your major can focus on not just packaging and labelling, But also on sustainability practices, which is good. And you know, your core courses include things like, you might want to get comfortable, packaging regulations, plastics, paper and glass packaging, and packaging supply chain. Students also engage in hands on learning experiences in laboratories, manufacturing facilities, and transportation companies.
[00:20:35] Will: They take them to the box factory.
[00:20:37] Rod: Do you want to be an intern? No.
[00:20:39] Will: You're being too mean here.
[00:20:40] Rod: You basically go to Amazon and you pack things and look at the boxing and go, right.
[00:20:44] Will: No. These are packaging designers. I'm going to go, I'm going to go. You're being mean. I reckon there's some cool things to do.
[00:20:49] Rod: This might be the first time I've ever been accused of being mean.
[00:20:51] Will: Oh my God. All right. Unusual performance related.
[00:20:56] Rod: I'm going to pour a beer before I tell you. All right. This one is of course a 16, which is a double red nitro Irish Ale. Okay. Yeah. Unusual performance related. Puppet arts.
[00:21:11] Will: Again, all of these, I'm imagining the sinister behind the door post grad program. Like, like, you know, the watchmakers, they get to destroy time after they get to post grad. The puppet masters. Finally,
[00:21:25] Rod: I really want to be good at puppet arts. And you're like, I feel like you have another hobby that's not quite socially acceptable for which puppets could be handy.
[00:21:32] Will: Yeah, sure. And look, yes, the traditional puppet arts is not the biggest of industries.
[00:21:38] Rod: It's going off.
[00:21:39] Will: I don't know if it is.
[00:21:40] Rod: I was at a puppet show yesterday
[00:21:41] Will: No, you weren't. Because you hate local amateur theatre.
[00:21:44] Rod: No, I hate it where the performers can see me.
[00:21:47] Will: Ah, puppets are safe though.
[00:21:48] Rod: Television, no, but the puppeteers can see me. Performers should not be able to see you. TV shouldn't watch me. Schools, University of Connecticut and West Virginia University, and it is for puppeteers and producers and directors of puppet shows.
[00:22:01] And I mean, I could have guessed that. Yeah, I could have guessed that. Puppet arts, is a quote, is among the unusual degrees in fine arts because not too many students are engaged in it.
[00:22:10] Will: I like that straight from the, straight from the start, they're saying, okay we admit not a huge industry, not a lot of you going to like it, but we know there are a couple of you special people out there.
[00:22:20] Rod: Here's a degree, weird, eh? It goes on. They're not engaged in it. But not for the reasons you might be thinking. These are their words, not mine. What reasons were you thinking?
[00:22:30] Will: Well, no, I actually wasn't going weird sexual.
[00:22:33] Rod: Neither was I, but it says a lot about what you mean.
[00:22:35] Will: It's just not super great. You know, when I think of puppets, I always think of weird Eastern European Cold War cartoons.
[00:22:42] Rod: Happy cold miner. Want to eat my cabbage? I don't care if it's soft, that makes it tasty.
[00:22:46] Will: I feel like that's the only genre of real puppetry, and it's not going to really happen anymore.
[00:22:51] Rod: so puppets make you sad.
[00:22:53] Will: Oh, puppets are inherently sad. Of course puppets are sad, because look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry to, like, Puppets show the strings of the universe, and how can they not make you sad?
[00:23:04] Rod: Puppets show the strings of the universe?
[00:23:05] Will: Doesn't it make you realize we are all tied to strings, and there are masters out there pulling the strings? You look at puppets, and it's like, ah, there's no freedom. So why would you look at that?
[00:23:15] Rod: I think you take puppets too seriously. You might need to do this course.
[00:23:18] Will: that's what puppets say inherently. That is why you do puppets for kids. It's look kids.
[00:23:22] Rod: You'll never be more than controlled. I don't, I'm going to have your children taken away from you. This is a problem.
[00:23:26] Will: No, I'm trying to cut the strings, man. Do they teach you that? Again, that's the that's post grad.
[00:23:33] Rod: I feel so sad. Poppet arts demand equal amounts of talent and technical skills creativity and imagination and out of the box thinking. Boom.
[00:23:41] Will: So exactly 20 percent of each
[00:23:43] Rod: students will be challenged to put the best foot forward at every step From conceptualizing shows to getting the desired result from an audience. Creepy.
[00:23:52] Everyone's crying. That's what I meant. Look at how I murdered this puppet. This beloved animal character. They learn the the fundamentals of puppetry. We would hope. Through classroom work, hands on experiences, and students at the end, they may mount an original complete puppetry show from start to finish. Perhaps even mounting it as a mobile show for school children.
[00:24:19] Will: Everyone has to have, of course, a working with vulnerable people check.
[00:24:22] Rod: They should have like about eight of them. Full criminal checks. How quickly can I get to the final project where I have a van where I entertain children at random?
[00:24:31] Will: Sorry, puppet people. It's obviously totally legit. This is just society saying there are rumours about you. I always remember it pops up in my mind, the beginning of Being John Malkovich, where to show how you know, not of a winner in society he is, he's out performing a puppet show on the street and it's kind of a trippy little scene, but he eventually gets and the puppets start frothing each other. That's what I think.
[00:24:54] Rod: So the people who created that show for him went to this school.
[00:24:57] Will: There you go. No, they didn't. We're not accusing anyone.
[00:25:00] Rod: Who's accusing? That was a big movie.
[00:25:01] Will: Give me another lifestyle enhancing. It's strange that puppetry didn't come up under the huge career change possibilities. Sorry. Sorry. Puppet people.
[00:25:10] Rod: Surf science. Okay. First up, guess which uni?
[00:25:14] Will: Sunshine Coast.
[00:25:15] Rod: Guess again.
[00:25:16] Will: They do have one though. Hawaii.
[00:25:18] Rod: Guess again.
[00:25:18] Will: I'm going to go Krakow.
[00:25:21] Rod: Cornwall. University of Plymouth.
[00:25:22] Will: Yeah. Okay.
[00:25:23] Rod: I'm thinking I want to learn surf science. I'm going to England.
[00:25:26] Will: Anywhere in England, that is the place to go.
[00:25:29] Rod: It's by the beach, they say. But it's an English beach. I'll leave it hanging.
[00:25:34] Will: So this is just Australians being completely racist against English beaches?
[00:25:38] Rod: Not only English beaches, pretty much most. Not all, but most.
[00:25:42] Will: There are nice beaches in Cornwall. Tell me what he learned.
[00:25:44] Rod: First year modules include Skills for scientific success, obviously. Surf training.
[00:25:52] Will: Oh, so you do, there is physical like.
[00:25:55] Rod: Nope. That's one thing that's missing is they do not teach you how to surf, but they have a module called surf training.
[00:26:00] Will: This is how to teach people how to surf.
[00:26:01] Rod: I don't know. Well, this is surf. That's a rip. I don't know, but you don't actually get taught how to surf, which makes sense because it's in Cornwall.
[00:26:13] Another module, the surfing environment. So look, the beach. Surfboard development design. I can get on board with that, surf media and application, surf culture. So getting stoned surfing. And a little bit of the rooting. Second year module. So you move on.
[00:26:29] Will: You're very stereotypical about, there are many people that surf
[00:26:33] Rod: without having intercourse.
[00:26:34] Will: No. I'm sure many of them do as well, and not at the same time. But I'm just saying that your stereotypical associations of the stoner surfer is not how the world works.
[00:26:42] Rod: People who stereotype have been proven to be more intelligent than people who don't. Performance psychology and coaching, the environment in surfing, surf industry in practice. This is a module, surf events and surfing in society. So totally worth it. You could learn a lot from this degree in Cornwall.
[00:27:00] Will: I think, you know, you said it's career enhancing.
[00:27:02] Rod: You could, unless you want to actually surf.
[00:27:05] Will: I think if you read the intro thing, they're probably saying you probably want to know how to surf already, but they're not testing your surf skills.
[00:27:11] Rod: It does not say that. It doesn't say you must be able to surf.
[00:27:13] Will: No, but you could be in the surf industry and not be a surfer.
[00:27:14] Rod: That's true. You could sell the shirts and stuff.
[00:27:16] Will: Creative and unexpected.
[00:27:17] Rod: Engineering. A BA in engineering. The option is, theme park engineering.
[00:27:22] Will: Oh yes.
[00:27:23] Rod: How fucking wild.
[00:27:24] Will: No, that is so good.
[00:27:27] Rod: So California state uni at long beach, it was launched in 99. So it prepares students to work as engineers in the theme parks or amusement facilities and the industries that support them. That's wild, isn't it? The only thing I'll say about this that raises my eyebrows a little bit.
[00:27:40] So you've got courses that are mostly electrical engineering. You get some civil and mechanical engineering stuff. You cover electrical power, electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic control. But what they point out very clearly is this option, this degree or this specialization is not ABET accredited.
[00:27:59] Will: What's aBET?
[00:28:00] Rod: So it's a, it's an accreditation, an accrediting organization for post secondary programs in engineering, technology, computing, and applied and natural sciences.
[00:28:10] Will: So you're not actually an engineer at the end of it.
[00:28:12] Rod: No, that's what it looks like. So they say students are encouraged to also obtain an ABET accredited second major in electrical engineering.
[00:28:20] When you do this engineering course, also do engineering. And look, not that theme parks have a bad rep for ever hurting people, but
[00:28:27] Will: But this is the thing. I mean, theme parks fun, but you need the most squared away engineers in this sense.
[00:28:32] Rod: I want a boring son of a bitch designing my ride.
[00:28:34] Will: You want someone who is squared away, who is checking the sums out the wazoo.
[00:28:39] Rod: You're like, I want you to be the most anal boring
[00:28:41] Will: but also the theme parks. And, you know, you know, a disaster in a theme park. It's horrible, but also that's the end of the theme park. So you need to make sure things work
[00:28:50] Rod: and the people that died
[00:28:52] Will: my hearts go out to them. It's implied, thoughts and prayers all the time. This podcast comes with implied thoughts and prayers.
[00:28:58] Rod: Sure. I'm thinking and praying every damn day.
[00:28:59] Will: For all of the victims always seriously.
[00:29:02] Rod: We are nothing. If not for the victim,
[00:29:04] Will: give me an unusual performance related one.
[00:29:06] Rod: I bloody well will. Bagpipe studies.
[00:29:10] Will: Korea.
[00:29:11] Rod: Carnegie Mellon University. So not in Edinburgh or anywhere in Scotland. It's part of a, or it's under the umbrella of a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music. So apparently Carnegie Mellon is tartan obsessed. Fucking nuts about tartan and Scottish stuff.
[00:29:24] Will: I was just talking to someone about Carnegie Mellon just the other day, and they have, I don't get this wrong, but it was like, they are world famous in computer science and performance.
[00:29:33] Rod: It's bagpipes. So they have a Tartan school newspaper, a Scottish terrorism mascot, Andrew Carnegie had his own personal piper. And he's the founder. Like the queen,
[00:29:41] Will: if you're an old school 19th century mega billionaire, then having your own Piper on demand, you wake up in the morning, you go, what don't I have? Bag Piper. But I imagine that Elon Musk as, as silly as he is, doesn't have his own Piper. I imagine he's like, I can solve that with Spotify for no money per month.
[00:30:00] Rod: As with all things elon, we have to append yet.
[00:30:04] Will: But he's not smart enough to get his own bagpiper. Imagine having your own bagpiper. And you could send the bagpiper out to your neighbours. That would be more fun. You'd be like, okay, bagpiper, go out and do the neighbours 5am in the morning.
[00:30:14] Rod: And wear your sneakers. You gotta wear your sneakers until you get there and then put on your little slipper things that they wear with their kilts.
[00:30:21] Will: You didn't look up what bagpipes are for?
[00:30:23] Rod: Students not only learn about the theories and history behind bagpipes, they get solid instruction on their performance, but admission is selective. So you have to already be able to bag a pipe before you try. You don't get there to learn from the beginning. So applicants must prepare audition materials that include a four part reel, a march, and the two that I think, I mean, you would guess this anyway, right? A strathspey, and of course a complete pure barachredd.
[00:30:50] So a strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4'4 time featuring dotted rhythms both long and short. Scotch snaps, as they're called. I know you knew that. Which in traditional playing are generally somewhat exaggerated rhythmically. Examples include You got none? Rage against the machines.
[00:31:07] Will: I don't know what's happening here.
[00:31:09] Rod: The examples of songs like Bonnie Banks, Oh, Loch Lomond, and of course, coming through the right, the Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond?
[00:31:16] Will: That's a very Scottish sounding song.
[00:31:18] Rod: Have you not listened to Kenneth McKellar? Most of his albums
[00:31:21] Will: the proclaimers did it as well.
[00:31:22] Rod: Do they?
[00:31:23] Will: The Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
[00:31:24] Rod: How can you tell with them? I saw them live and honestly, the house went mental. Seriously, the theater erupted.
[00:31:29] Will: Play the 500 mile song.
[00:31:31] Rod: No, there's the other one. I'm a twin, and so it is he. So the other one, the Pierre Berger means a pipe playing or pipe music, but it's now used to describe classical music of the great highland bagpipe. So you need to know how to do that. So you can't get in until you know them.
[00:31:49] Will: Do you have to listen to your friends play bagpipes
[00:31:51] Rod: your colleagues at least. can you imagine the practice? Okay. Pick up your pipes, play an a.
[00:31:58] Will: I feel like it's also one of those ones where the rest of the university is like, could you do yours a little bit further away?
[00:32:03] Rod: I want everyone in this degree murdered immediately. Yeah. It'd be horrifying.
[00:32:07] Will: Give me then you're intriguingly specific.
[00:32:09] Rod: Family enterprise management.
[00:32:12] Will: How to run the family business
[00:32:13] Rod: literally from Stetson University, it's a private uni in Florida. Yes Stetson as in the hat. He didn't found it, but he made so many contributions, they changed the name from one of the original founder, a couple of years in back in 1883, it started, but a couple of years in, they went, Oh, Stetson has been pretty generous. It's Stetson university, which is pretty good.
[00:32:35] Business admin and management. So as you'd expect MBAs and stuff, very popular majors, but family enterprise management is uncommon and not too many students have family businesses.
[00:32:45] Will: And it's got its own quirks.
[00:32:47] Rod: It does have its own quirks.
[00:32:48] Will: What are the additional bits you learn? I assume there's normal accounting, but is there?
[00:32:52] Rod: Oh, there's stuff. So if you're a family business owner or member of one, , you should consider doing this and you can pursue other careers with business degrees. You can be an online merchant and blah, blah, blah.
[00:33:05] Will: Can I pause for a second? Anytime anyone says other, like, it's like you can do this and you can also it's like meats plus other is like, yeah. You know, why did you focus on the meats? Like, like, I don't want to go a butcher and that they also do hat pins.
[00:33:17] Rod: Yeah or like, like you could do family enterprise, but really should become an accountant and step into this course occasion.
[00:33:22] Will: Gimme the one that you're focused on.
[00:33:24] Rod: So this is, it also says you may also use the bachelor's degree to your advantage in large family owned businesses like Walmart, White Castle, and Ford.
[00:33:33] Will: So sure. Yeah. Okay.
[00:33:35] Rod: Who now today calls Ford a family owned business?
[00:33:39] Will: The family are involved like Disney. Disney still have the family.
[00:33:43] Rod: Are there any Disney's?
[00:33:45] Will: I think so. I think there are still Disney's on the board.
[00:33:47] Rod: So totally none of them run it.
[00:33:49] Will: No, not the CEO. No, but they're on the board and they have a lot of stock. Does that mean Disney is a family business when it's, you know, whatever, a many billion dollar enterprise?
[00:33:58] Rod: It's a lot of heavy lifting that, that word.
[00:33:59] Will: It's not the same as like the family news agent downtown.
[00:34:02] Rod: No, exactly. The fish and chip shop. The family enterprise management degree program has been training students, and this is a quote, In the right and wrong ways of managing family businesses for nearly 20 years.
[00:34:13] Will: I'm so glad they train you on the wrong ways. Like I want to know.
[00:34:17] Rod: The last two years, absolute shit.
[00:34:19] Will: How to kick your brother out, how to do a family coup.
[00:34:22] Rod: Yeah. Yeah. Steal your mum's money.
[00:34:23] Will: Yeah. How to fully Lachlan Murdoch it or
[00:34:26] Rod: this is what I love that we're gonna train you in the wrong ways and students learn the Basic knowledge and skills in separating family affairs from business matters among other things.
[00:34:36] I got one final. I got one one that I think you know for me that the capstone
[00:34:41] Will: This is your favorite. This is the one. What is it?
[00:34:45] Rod: University of Adipate in Dundee, ethical hacking. And there are reasons for this. So if you study ethical hacking and you graduate, you become an accomplished in demand professional.
[00:34:56] You're at the forefront of cybersecurity teaching, and it produces highly skilled professionals. Sure. It says security is embedded in everything you'll do on this practical degree. Fine. The vocational degree gives you a rigorous understanding of cyber crime and the technical skills needed to stop hackers.
[00:35:13] Will: No, you need to know. This is white hat hacking. This is a highly skilled world.
[00:35:18] Rod: Yes, it is. You'll learn to protect data and information systems, combining computer networking with digital forensics and programming. You'll understand the processes behind hacking and cyber attacks.
[00:35:28] Oh, brackets work out how illegal hacks can be stopped. And on it goes. You get a strong hands on and technical education, great industry links and recruitment opportunities. Excellent starting salaries, internships, all kinds of internships and industry projects with other companies. All I'm hearing is hacker school. That's all I'm hearing.
[00:35:46] Will: Yeah, no, yeah. Yes. Yes, of course.
[00:35:49] Rod: I'm not saying they intend that.
[00:35:51] Will: Yeah maybe they have some really strong ethics in there, but no, I think absolutely awesome. But you know, the skills that you need to be a good hacker as well. And to, of course, a lot of businesses, a lot of companies organizations need to employ hackers to defend them, to understand how
[00:36:04] Rod: to anti hack.
[00:36:05] Will: No, well to maybe hack and show their vulnerabilities and all that kind of, it's the white hat hackers. But the thing that gets me is obviously modern hacking is in part a computer science thing, you know, knowing vulnerabilities in your software, but there are vast vulnerabilities in people's sociology and psychology and physical infrastructure.
[00:36:23] And so you need this really unique combination of thinking how people think, knowing how you can hack through. I think it's a cool degree.
[00:36:30] Rod: It's definitely a cool degree.
[00:36:31] Will: I remember watching this video about this guy and he had his backpack full of hacking stuff and started with a whole bunch of weird screwdrivers to open up the back of computers that you, so the ones that do different things. A lot of different sorts of pliers and different sorts of tools for getting into different parts of a building. I think there, there might've been something to get through, swipe access and stuff like that.
[00:36:52] But the bit that I love the most was once you're in you can leave like a an entry pathway via a USB thumb drive. And so you put this in the back of that computer, whatever the computer you want to have, and then it runs your software and hacks through, but you just put a little label that says, do not remove on it.
[00:37:08] And the normal people come here and they go, Oh, it says, do not remove. And it's like, Oh my God, we are so dumb. We are so dumb. We are fooled by a do not remove sign
[00:37:19] Rod: no, we're lovely. All I'm hearing is hacker school. I'm sorry. And it is hacker school. Yes. White hat hacking. But every time, as I was reading down, I'm like, Gold.
[00:37:28] Will: Which one's the the finally quit your job and go and do a hobby degree for you?
[00:37:33] Rod: Which one would you do? Mine's, I would incorporate my two passions.
[00:37:35] Will: This is the puppetry and beer school?
[00:37:37] Rod: No, packaging science and bagpipes. Like I read that and was like, this is obvious.
[00:37:42] Will: You know, you keep laughing at packaging science, but the more that I think about it, the more I think that's really cool. I think it'd absolutely be fascinating. And I think there would be, you know, there'll be awards out there, you know, for the best.
[00:37:54] Rod: Is one of them, the best box.
[00:37:57] Will: Anyway, I think there would be, there, there would be some cool packaging. And I didn't know I was that attracted to it, but I think the packaging, but of course it's the beer. What are you what is your actual choice of these?
[00:38:09] Rod: I think the hacking one would be really interesting. Like I'd be curious. I realized how little I know about computers and like, like a hundred computers. No. Computers helps too. I'm like, Oh, totally. All of it. Like I'm interested in all of it.
[00:38:18] Will: But you would actually be the bit where you go, Oh, this is actually about gaming someone's password out of them. And it's a combination of writing a dodgy email and finding it. I think it's beautiful. Like hats off to the whole bunch of people that are developing, you know, those the cyber attacks for full on spying.
[00:38:35] Rod: I agree. They need it. I just, as I was reading down, I'm like. Like you can say all the things you want. You can do all the ethical statements you want in the end, at least X percent of your people are going to be able to use their skills for special
[00:38:48] Will: like our friends in the time piece people that will destroy time. All right. What else have you been thinking about?
[00:38:56] Rod: Well, a few things. What in the actual fuck can't a tardigrade do?
[00:39:02] Will: I saw something recently that a tardigrade and human cells, like, boundaries much?
[00:39:06] Rod: And just after that, there was one that they were blasting it with weird kinds of gamma rays, like Hulk gamma rays. And not only are they impervious to it, it almost seems like the more they relax and don't give a shit, the better it gets and they've repaired DNA within 24 hours. And I'm like, there is nothing a tardigrade can't fucking do.
[00:39:23] Will: You know, it does really sound, I love tardigrade stories, because it does sound like someone will fuck up one day and make a tardigrade smart. And you'll just go, Oh, now we're done. Now we're done. Just for the record, listeners, tardigrades are microscopic little tiny fucking creatures, but you can send them to space and they ain't bothered. You can put them on the outside of the sun.
[00:39:42] Rod: Water pigs, water bears. They're very small. They are apparently the inspiration for one of the facets of the three body problem story that's come out on Netflix, but also great books.
[00:39:50] All I want to know is how many do I have to eat to become as super powered as they are?
[00:39:54] Will: Have you eaten any? We should eat some. Can we get some?
[00:39:57] Rod: Yes, you can order them in the mail.
[00:39:58] Will: I really don't want to eat some.
[00:40:00] Rod: I'll eat them. Monsters.
[00:40:01] Will: All right. I got a question for you for a topic. A little bit too much information, but I do need to know what what shape of underpants do you wear?
[00:40:09] Rod: Oh, I'm the long trunk athletic boxer type.
[00:40:12] Will: So you're the long trunk version. So, so they come down your leg a little bit.
[00:40:16] Rod: Yeah. Cause if you wear the small ones like you, I'm a massive thighed man and I don't need my thighs rubbing together when I'm wearing a mini or a kilt.
[00:40:22] Will: Look, I am still your old school, traditional, you know, I'm a jockstrap. So, and hear me, I'm like this is the original flavor of underpant.
[00:40:30] Rod: But you're such a young man.
[00:40:31] Will: And well, here's the thing. I like them.
[00:40:33] Rod: Can I clarify? Y fronts?? You have a little escape pouch for matters of toiletry?
[00:40:38] Will: Yeah, you do have to do some sort of adjustment. Not a full on Y front.
[00:40:41] Rod: You gotta stick your fingers through the front of the hole and pull the old champ out.
[00:40:44] Will: that seems a bit weird. But you're old school speedo shaped, you know, yeah, that, that sort of shape.
[00:40:49] Rod: but you're a huge thighed man. How does that work when you're wearing a, I dunno, a kimono, sarong.
[00:40:53] Will: I feel comfortable but here's the thing. Here's the thing. I go into an underpants shop these days, and I'm becoming an endangered species. I'm looking around and I'm like
[00:41:02] Rod: I feel marginalized.
[00:41:04] Will: And I'm like, what's going on? What is going on with men's underpants fashion? What we have? You all moved to these weird trunko jobies?
[00:41:11] Rod: The answer is yes.
[00:41:11] Will: Oh my god, you're all wrong.
[00:41:13] Rod: I would have thought you would have been like pretty much sci fi like underpants that would survive the end of the universe like you'd be
[00:41:19] Will: that's what I wear but they're in this shape
[00:41:21] Rod: No I all mine are for years. I'm like the online jockey sport, athletic.
[00:41:26] Will: But down the legs a bit. You're covering your upper thigh as well. I want my upper thigh exposed.
[00:41:29] Rod: No, I need mine covered because the ladies, they can't handle that.
[00:41:33] Will: I'm just really curious about what is going on with men's underpant fashion
[00:41:36] Rod: I'm glad you added fashion 'cause I would've had a, had to reframe what I thought. I'm just curious about men's undies.
[00:41:40] Will: What else are you thinking about?
[00:41:42] Rod: So I was reading a futurism article. Underwater flying objects, or what they're calling USOs, which I'd call underwater swimming objects, but they call them unidentified submerged objects.
[00:41:55] UAPs are unidentified aerial phenomena, but then there's unidentified.
[00:42:03] Will: Are these are the ones that are coming up from the middle of the planet?
[00:42:06] Rod: Yeah, it's like the abyss style or rather they kind of there was a video I think it came out in 2019 But it became more for some reason apparent again this thing hovering over the water and some military vessel Naval u. s. Vessel saw it and it suddenly goes And plummets into the water and does water things. Again Coincidentally, for some reason, very grainy black and white footage, even from the military in 2019.
[00:42:27] Will: Yeah. But you're photographing it from a while away. I mean, give them some fair,
[00:42:30] Rod: yeah, 19 kilometers. But it's just that now that, so there's an oceanographer and formal Navy rear admiral. So he was an author of a March white paper about USOs. So he was talking about it. He thinks it's scientifically valid to look at them and he reckons they're really critical of national security.
[00:42:47] The only problem I have with this is, at least in the article I read, this was a quote when he told Fox News . But other than that, uSOs.
[00:42:55] Will: All right. I'm interested. I'm interested. I was reading a little paper that, well, it was a really interesting paper the other day. Waldsterben. This is for your Germans, the forest death. This was the moment when in the 19th century, I think, or maybe 18th, but 18th, 19th century, something like this, when German forest, the scientists were like, Oh, we're getting good stuff out of the forests. So what we should do, well, basically we should homogenize them and put them all in rows so you can get the good stuff out faster.
[00:43:25] Rod: Cause that's what foresters are like,
[00:43:28] Will: and of course everyone uses this as an analogy for, you know, you know, that's not how the world works, but I do want to explore a little bit. How did they get to that point where you go, let's just homogenize it all. And let's make it all happen.
[00:43:40] Rod: Yeah, it's the classic sort of thing, like, Vitamin D is good for you, so you synthesize Vitamin D and everyone eats it, and you're like, Yeah, it seems to be better when it interacts with all the other things in which it naturally occurs. It's as if.
[00:43:52] Will: You got any answers?
[00:43:53] Rod: I've got heaps. Banned books and modern censorship, particularly in Australia. I'm kind of curious about what has been banned in this country at least. , what was unbanned and why they banned it? 'cause band books kind of intrigued me. The rationales, there's the one that, and responses.
[00:44:08] Will: The one on this that always makes me, it's not a book, but it was the episode of Pepper Pig that was banned in Australia
[00:44:14] Rod: because it dealt with Jewish matters?
[00:44:17] Will: no.
[00:44:18] Rod: A pig talking about Jewish matters could be problematic.
[00:44:21] Will: No, this one was I think Peppa Pig I haven't seen the episode because it's banned in Australia but she plays with a spider in a way that people in Australia should not play with spiders.
[00:44:29] Rod: Oh, so straight up safety.
[00:44:30] Will: It's straight up safety. I don't know if she puts it in her mouth and says, woo, I get a spider.
[00:44:34] Rod: What if I lick this funnell web?
[00:44:35] Will: But I do like the idea of kids shows being banned occasionally.
[00:44:39] Rod: Yeah, well, we can bang those together.
[00:44:40] Will: Oh, this one. Names of brothels around the world. Like, you know, we talked about this before.
[00:44:45] Rod: Are you sure you want to do it though?
[00:44:46] Will: I don't know. I want it to happen. No, these are not who should do this. These are concepts that can be done.
[00:44:51] Rod: I don't want you to tarnish your reputation.
[00:44:52] Will: I just, I'm just interested to know, you know, what gets the punters in the door?
[00:44:56] Rod: I have no argument. I mean, the best one I ever heard of was like, not because it's gross, but it's actually quite clever. There is a TV series called defiance sci fi series. I'm not that old, a few years old, but they had a brothels post apocalyptic, all that good stuff. And the brothel slash bar slash cafe would have was called need want. And I thought that's a fucking good name for a, an establishment.
[00:45:19] Will: Yeah, I get it. They go on, I need a beer. I want to, yeah.
[00:45:23] Rod: Yeah. Or whatever it might be. And I was like, that's pretty cool. It's not as fun as, you know, blowjob shop. I mean, that's funny.
[00:45:29] Will: Yeah, sure. You got any others?
[00:45:30] Rod: Supermax prisons. Well, I'm curious about what actually does it mean? And are they only America? And some of them at least a bit fun?
[00:45:40] Will: I'm guaranteed they're not just only America. I guarantee in in our friends in Russia have your old super max
[00:45:47] Rod: depending on what you look up, apparently we do too.
[00:45:49] Will: Yeah, we definitely do. It's just down the road.
[00:45:51] Rod: Yeah, it is. And like, what does that actually mean? I'm just, we hear about in popular culture, if you absorb American culture in particular, but like. What does it actually mean? It could be horrible, but I'm still curious.
[00:46:02] Will: I got one final one. I don't know. I don't know how much of a story this is. This is just a moment for those of you with Alphabetic names that come towards the end. No, it's just a nice little study that shows that students with names starting with a do much better than students starting with Z because the lecturers, and this is us when they're grading their assignments, they go, Oh yeah, sure. They're just starting from a because of their marking software, they start from a and they go, Oh yeah, this is good. This is a high distinction. And as they get that, you suffer badly for that. By the time you get to Zed
[00:46:37] Rod: not in my courses. I never mark up.
[00:46:39] Will: No, not in, not in your course.
[00:46:40] Rod: I mark according to attractiveness. I'm not an idiot.
[00:46:42] Will: Shouldn't say that out loud. I shouldn't say that out loud. Just as we go, thank you for Zoe Berendent, who wants to hear us doing whale songs.
[00:46:53] Eeeeeeeeeeee Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
[00:46:55] Rod: That was good.
[00:46:57] Will: I practised a lot.
[00:47:04] Rod: I was gonna say, I think you've done this before. I practised a lot.
[00:47:05] Will: I practised a lot.
[00:47:06] Rod: I was improvising. I don't even know what a whale scale is, I have to improvise.
[00:47:09] Will: 20 minutes of every lecture.
[00:47:42] Shavuot.
