Optimism, Pessimism, Realism, and Oddities

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Good evening and welcome to the Comforting Voice Podcast. I'm your host Shasta Ray, and I am joined in the studio tonight by Bug the Budgie. Actually, he is an exhibition English budgie. He looks like a big poof of feathers, and he's just the coolest little guy. He's one of my best buddies. So he came down here tonight. I had Emmy down here while I was doing some other stuff in the studio, and she's upstairs having a snack. And the cockatiels were were just busy getting into trouble, so I left them to their mayhem, and here we are. It's just us and Bug. And just a few minutes ago, the giant dog made a lot of noise, uh, settled down in the hallway, and so he's kind of here in spirit. So here we are. Oh my gosh. I hope you've been having a good start to your week. I hope you've been surviving the heat. Oh my gosh, it has been scorching out, and it's just seemed unusually hot, even though I've had summers that had the same temperatures uh miserably high, but for some reason this summer seems just weirdly hot. But what about you? Are you staying chill? Are you staying cooled off? Are you chilling right now? Alright, let's kick back, let's settle in, and let's just do a really quick stretch. Really engage those muscles, reach into your arms and legs, into your hands and feet, fingers and toes, and then wiggle your fingers and toes really good. Then let go of that stretch and enjoy the relaxation as it kicks in. You can do that more than once. Play around with it, see what works for you, find your own stretch style, then follow it up with a deep breath of air. You're gonna inhale to about the count of four, hold it to about the count of three, take another quick inhale to just top it off, hold it another count or two, and then exhale at least to the count of six, try for eight, find your groove with that, and then you can go back and forth with those once or twice. You can do two of one, two of the other, do what works for you. You're gonna find yourself relaxed, ready to go, and asleep. Before you know it, it'll be morning and you won't even know what the show is about. It's that effective. And then since Emmy the Mini Macaw is not here to endanger everything around me, I'm gonna reach right into the cigar box, completely uninhibited, and we're gonna get your tea tag and your fortune cookie slip. Alright. That was nice. Okay, your tea tag for the evening. Spread the light, be the lighthouse. I like that. And your fortune cookie slip. Very soon someone new coming into your life will become a very good friend. Oh, that's pleasant. Congratulations. And your lucky numbers off of the back of the fortune cookie slip twelve, fourteen, seventeen, twenty-one, thirty, and forty-seven. Good luck if you play number games. I hope you win big, or at least win your money back. Alright, we got that into the archive receptacle without any danger. And now we have arrived to the point in the podcast where we see what you've been up to. So we call this join the fun, and I pick three countries from our listener base every week, and we learn a little bit about each other that way from across the miles. So it's kind of a salute to all of you, one country at a time, or three countries at a time. So tonight we're gonna start off with Panama. Panama is the only place in the world where from one hill you can sometimes watch the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean and later set over the Atlantic Ocean because of the country's unique curve. Panama is home to the Panama Canal, where giant ships are actually lifted and lowered by enormous locks, which are basically giant elevators made out of water. Panama uses both the US dollar and its own currency called the Balboa. Panama's coins are the same size and value as United States coins. So if you're joining the fund from Panama, you represent connection, clever engineering, and the remarkable ability to bring distant worlds together. Next on our list is Israel. Israel has more museums per person than almost any other country, reflecting a deep commitment to preserving history, art, and discovery. Israel helped pioneer modern drip irrigation, a method of watering crops that conserves water while helping plants thrive in dry climates. Today it's used around the world. And Israel is one of the few countries that ended the 20th century with more trees than it started out with, thanks to large-scale restoration efforts. So if you're joining the fund from Israel, you represent innovation, stewardship, and the belief that even small ideas can make a lasting difference. And last for join the fund tonight is Taiwan. Taiwan is home to one of the world's largest collections of ancient Chinese art and artifacts carefully preserved for future generations. Taiwan has one of the world's highest mountain densities with well over 200 peaks taller than 10,000 feet. And Taiwan recycles so efficiently that garbage trucks play cheerful music to let residents know it's time to bring out the recycling and their trash. So if you are joining the fun from Taiwan, you represent preservation, resilience, and the idea that even everyday routines can be approached with creativity and care. Oh my gosh, I did not know that about the musical garbage trucks. That is so fun. Okay, now that we've set the pace for a little bit of good attitude and a little bit of discovery of others and all that good stuff that we have to be had here, let's see what Lon sent in for this week's Got A Minute.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Hey it's Lawn. Got a Minute. Welcome to the desert southwest here in the US. So you may hear birds, bees, flowers, trees. You may not hear the flowers and the trees, but they're here. Today I want to speak of optimism, pessimism, realism, the balancing act. Those are three distinct mindsets. While optimism focuses on positive outcomes, pessimism anticipates negative results. Realism evaluates those situations objectively without bias. Put another way, an optimist invented the acceleration pedal, a pessimist invented seatbelts, and a realist put them all into a multi-thousand-pound metal box on wheels. Optimism, it's a positive outlook on life where people expect favorable outcomes and view the daily challenges as temporary setbacks or even learning opportunities. Optimists maintain hope in difficult situations, believing that tomorrow will be a better day. They do show resilience and confidence in their abilities. However, excessive or so-called toxic optimism can lead to overlooking risks or signs of stress potentially leading to denial of harmful factors. Blind optimism. Pessimism is characterized by a negative outlook where people anticipate unfavorable outcomes and focus on potential problems. Pessimists may experience anxiety, depression, reduced motivation, and they often interpret negative events as internal, unchanging, while attributing positive events to external, temporary factors. So in moderation, pessimism can actually serve as a cautionary mechanism, helping individuals to avoid risks. Seat belts. Realism lies somewhere in between optimism and pessimism, emphasizing an objective assessment of situations. Realists recognize both thoughts and harvest the finest attributes each produce to get the best outcome. And so they thrive.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

As always, Lawn is just amazing. He has these wonderful concepts, he presents them well, and he puts a smile on your face. I don't know if I ever told you guys about how I met Lawn. I have known him for about 20 years now. I think it was around 2006, and I had just acquired a little rescue dog. It was kind of a medium-sized dog. Her name was Shelly, and I looked for a doggy daycare to put her in to get her, you know, playing with other dogs and socialized, and then also have something if I needed to take a trip. And I found this wonderful facility: doggy daycare, indoor-outdoor runs, all different kinds of play areas, and fully staffed where they watched the dogs and interacted with them, all sorts of stuff. And Lon was on that staff there. So he actually was one of her doggy daycare supervisor people. And it turned out he had a little personal business doing dog consultations, behavior. He would do some dog sitting, house sitting, that sort of thing. And we just became friends. He was just the best guy. And then as I got more dogs, I had a little Sharpe named Kevin. Kevin and Shelly were best friends. I later had a little chihuahua named Uno and Lon took care of all of them at one point in time or another. He even took care of the giant dog one weekend. And his dogs were friends with my dogs. It's been a really fun friendship. And early on, um, he always had these poetic thoughts, these really great perspectives. We had great conversations, and the friendship just stuck. We've been, you know, Facebook friends, we've interacted off and on over the years. Here again, he's done house sitting for me over the years until he moved way out of state, and then we just stayed in touch, and here we are today. And I said, you know, you're the perfect guy to be part of the collab effort on this podcast, and he is. Doesn't he just give you a big old smile and a new perspective? I loved the positivity part of that. And we're gonna talk about some really upbeat, positive stuff that you can just kick back and listen to. It'll end your day with a really great vibe, and you never know. You might learn something interesting along the way, or you might hear something that's just like, huh, I never knew that. So let's see what we got here. I came up with a whole bunch of just fun stuff to read to you, and they're comprised as short little positive lists of ideas and things. Let's start with 10 reasons that the world we live in is pretty amazing. Trees can talk to each other. Beneath a forest floor is a vast network of fungi that connects tree roots. Through this underground web, trees can share nutrients and even send chemical warning signals when insects are attacking nearby. Honey never goes bad. Archaeologists have discovered jars of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are thousands of years old and perfectly edible. It's one of the few natural foods with almost unlimited shelf life. Octopus have personalities. Some are bold and curious, others are shy and cautious. Researchers have even watched octopus play with floating objects because they seem to enjoy it. They can also solve puzzles and learn all sorts of stuff. Sea otters hold hands while they sleep, sometimes they wrap themselves in kelp, and sometimes they simply hold hands so they don't drift apart while they're floating on the ocean. Every snowflake begins with a tiny speck. A tiny microscopic grain of dust or pollen gives water vapor something to cling to, and slowly they grow into beautiful snowflakes that eventually fall from the sky. The human body quietly replaces billions of cells every day, without you noticing your body is constantly repairing, rebuilding, and maintaining itself. Crows remember human faces. If somebody is especially kind or especially rude, a crow will remember that person for years and even teach other crows to watch out for them. There are more stars than grains of sand. Scientists estimate there are more stars in the observable universe than all the grains of sand on every beach and desert on Earth combined. That's a lot of stars. Whales sometimes protect other animals. Humpback whales have been observed chasing away orcas that were attacking seals, sea lions, and even other whale species. Rain has its own scent. That fresh smell after a rainstorm has a name. It's created when rain releases fragrant oils from plants and soil into the air. Moving right along, I have a short list of small things scientists never expected to discover. Rats actually laugh when they're tickled. Their laughter is far too high-pitched for us to hear without special equipment. Bees can recognize human faces. Their tiny brains are surprisingly good at identifying patterns. Dolphins call each other by name. Each dolphin develops its own signature whistle, and their friends use those whistles to call for one another. Plants warn their neighbors about danger. When insects begin eating another plant, it can release chemicals into the air that encourage nearby plants to strengthen their defenses. And I'm gonna add to that fresh cut grass smell when you mow. That smell is actually each blade of grass sending out a warning signal that it's in distress, honestly. It's kind of morbid. Okay. Um moving right along. There are some spiders that keep tiny little frogs as roommates. The frogs eat ants that would otherwise attack the spider's eggs, and everybody benefits. Ravens plan ahead. They've hidden tools today that they'll need tomorrow, showing an impressive ability to think about the future. Some fish recognize themselves in a mirror. That's a surprising rare ability once thought unique to only a handful of animals. Pigeons also recognize themselves in a mirror. Oh, here's an interesting one. Parrots invent games. Yes, they do. Emmy does all the time. They sometimes create playful activities with objects just for entertainment and then teach games to other parrots. And yes, Murray and Baxter teach each other stuff too, and they get into all sorts of trouble. Penguins occasionally adopt abandoned chicks. Not every penguin does this, but researchers have observed it in several colonies. And even bacteria cooperate. Tiny microbes can communicate chemically, working together in ways that resemble miniature communities. And now some happy coincidences in nature. Young sunflowers follow the sun across the sky, and as they mature, they settle facing east, greeting each sunrise. Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive, but don't worry, you'd have to eat millions before it became a concern. Redwood trees wear natural fire protection. Their thick bark helps them survive fires that would otherwise destroy many other trees. Penguins, here we go with penguins again, rotate through the warmest spot. In large huddles, penguins slowly take turns standing on the chilly outside so that everyone eventually enjoys the warmer center. Woodpeckers have built-in shock absorbers. Their skulls and muscles are specifically designed to handle thousands of powerful pecks every day. Owls can rotate their head about 270 degrees. They don't spin all the way around, but they can look in nearly every direction without moving their bodies. Spider silk is astonishingly strong. Pound for pound, it's stronger than steel while remaining incredibly flexible. The moon is slowly drifting away from the earth. Every year it moves about an inch and a half further away, roughly the speed your fingernails grow. I guess we're gonna keep it around for quite a while before we have to worry about it going away. Bamboo can grow almost unbelievably fast. Some species have been measured growing more than three feet in a single day. Oh my gosh. Coral reefs are built by tiny animals. Vast underwater cities visible from space are created by millions of tiny coral polyps working together over hundreds of years. Wow. That's pretty cool. And here are some things that are much older than you would ever think. Sharks? They're older than trees. Sharks have been swimming in Earth's oceans for more than 400 million years. Jellyfish have existed for over 500 million years. They were already drifting through ancient seas long before dinosaurs appeared. The Sahara Desert wasn't always a desert. Thousands of years ago, much of it was covered with lakes, rivers, and grasslands. Horseshoe crabs are often called living fossils. They've changed very little over hundreds of millions of years. The Great Barrier Reef began forming long before human civilization. Part of its foundation date back to hundreds of thousands of years. The Appalachian Mountains were once as tall as today's Himalayas. Millions of years of erosion have slowly rounded them down to the gentle mountains we know today. Some bristle-coned pine trees were already ancient when the pyramids were being built. A few are nearly 5,000 years old. And I mentioned that in the episode about trees. The rings of Saturn may be surprisingly young. Many scientists think they were formed relatively recently in our solar system's history, but it doesn't say how recently. The Amazon River once flowed in the opposite direction. Geological changes gradually reversed its course millions of years ago. That's really fascinating. And the oldest living organism may be a giant underground fungus. One specimen in Oregon covers more than three square miles and is estimated to be thousands of years old. That is some really crazy facts for you tonight. But wait, there's more! I've got a bonus round with three delightfully weird world records. The fastest punch in nature belongs to the mantis shrimp. Its club-like punch accelerates faster than a bullet leaving a handgun and is so quick it briefly creates tiny bubbles that collapse with a flash of heat and light. The loudest animal on earth is the sperm whale. Its clicks can exceed 230 decibels underwater, making them among the most powerful sounds produced by any living creature. And the world record holder for cracking eggs on a person's head in one minute is the wonderfully named Ashrida Furman, who has held hundreds of unusual world records over the years. In one of his attempts, he cracked over 30 eggs on his own head in 60 seconds. And my question is, who decided this was a skill worth measuring? It's obviously somebody who had a really good stopwatch and a very strong commitment to weirdness. It's amazing. Amazing. 30 eggs cracked on your head in 60 seconds. That is some rapid-fire egg cracking. Oh dear. Is there a better one? Is there one that makes more s no, no, no. There's someone who's famous for breaking toilet seats over his head. 46 toilet seats in one minute. N what is wrong with why is it easier to do more toilet seats than eggs? I think we need to hang up the world's records. Okay. Um you know, I think I need to just step back from the world's records at this point in time. Um wow. Be careful out there, people. Do something a little easier than that. And um, don't waste that many eggs. Oh my goodness. Okay, so I think that's all I've got for you tonight. If you're still awake, it's been so much fun hanging out with you. And if you're not, well, I guess you don't know the difference. I will see you Friday night for vintage bedtime stories for everybody. And until then, sleep tight, good night, and bye bye.