Weirdly Human Podcast Weirdly Human Podcast

Hey Weirdos! We know we owe you a new episode this week, but . . . Happy New Year?! We're taking a few weeks to travel and spend time with our families. We'll be back soon with a whole bunch of new stuff, so hang in there. See you soon!

Traditions help us Weird Humans feel connected to our families, our communities and our culture. We have to thank Dan, one of our listeners, for the inspiration to create this episode. Well, really, who are we kidding? We recorded this one in December, so making an episode about different holiday traditions was super low-hanging fruit . . .
We started off talking about how important it is for us humans to form these traditions in order to feel connected to each other. Almost immediately, we started picking apart the traditions of other cultures and pointing out their flaws in reasoning . . . If you're listening to us from the Netherlands, we're having some issues with your Zwarte Piet. Never heard of Zwarte Piet? Check out the controversy (here).
Credit: https://germangirlinamerica.com/what-is-the-christkind/The Netherlands aren't the only country to have Weird Human holiday traditions. Elle is learning German, and had to bring in the German traditions of the Krampus  and the Christkind. Iceland has its own special holiday flavor with 13 Yule Lads. These Santa-Trolls each have unique personalities, and Icelanders put up with their shenanigans in exchange for daily gifts for Advent.  
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We would be completely remiss if we didn't mention some of the fun traditions enjoyed by our Jewish friends, and Candace tells us how she really feels about White Elephant gift exchanges . . .
Whatever your traditions Weirdos, we hope you have a Happy Holiday Season! We'll be back with more in the New Year . . .

This week's episode took us on a journey of self reflection . . . okay, who are we kidding? We're Weird Humans and naturally, we're just as concerned about our appearance and likelihood of age related memory decline as the rest of you. It's no big secret that our society is youth-obsessed, and we (especially as women) are inundated with messages that we had better be paying attention to our looks. And that we'd better be ready to drop some serious cash for lotions, potions, creams, Botox injections and eventually plastic surgery to keep up the ruse that we're going to be young forever.
Elle just celebrated a big birthday, and will be continuing the party for as long as she can get away with it. In her honor, we've decided to rename her birthday month "Elle-tember". Sure, we should have released this episode in that month. But, seriously, we're typically late to any party, so why should this one be any different? And she may or may not be wearing the same outfit . . .
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Leaf blowers are a perfect analogy for what's wrong with our society. They take a problem from over here, and just blow it over there. They don't really solve anything! The fact that we both own leaf blowers, just means we're part of the problem. We're also annoyed by the 24 hour news cycle, the NextDoor app, and digital calendars. Amy Poehler had it right in her book "Yes, Please!" The robots may eventually kill us, but until then they will just make us miss appointments.
In our research for this episode, Candace got some much desired Botox injections and binged some "Community".
Watch "Community" on NetflixThanks so much for listening, Weirdos. We'll be back in 2 weeks . . .

In this episode, we tackle the idea of women reinventing themselves, which of course is a Weirdly Human thing to do. At some point, it seems inevitable that we would ask ourselves, " Who am I now?" We can't resist sharing more of Caitlin Moran's wisdom from her latest book "More Than A Woman", and by binge watching some "Cougar Town" on Hulu, starring the fabulous Courtney Cox (find the show here) and the Netflix original series "Grace & Frankie" (find it here) starring the AMAZING Jane Fonda and Lilly Tomlin.
Humans are genetically similar to both chimpanzees and bonobo monkeys. It was interesting to research how differently these species have evolved socially. It's common knowledge that chimp society is patriarchal, often chaotic and violent. In contrast, bonobo society is matriarchal and diplomatic. Bonobo females will engage in sexual activity regardless of fertility, so it goes without saying that male bonobos are getting laid way more often. The females are in charge and the males are being taken care of. Certainly sounds like a win-win.
And even in an episode dedicated to discussing the Matriarchy and empowered older women, we unsurprisingly couldn't stay on topic. Did you know that humans are one of the few mammals that don't have a boner bone? Yeah, you read that right. As in an actual BONE inside the penis that provides support during sexual intercourse. During our research for this episode, we were stunned to discover that the walrus baculum (the scientific name for the boner bone) averages 3 meters in length. Given the length of the shaft of the walrus penis, it is a thing for male walruses to autofellate (Yup, brings new meaning to the term suck it). For your daily dose of laughter, you can watch it happen below:
If you have an idea for the show, let us know! Candace wants you to follow us on Twitter @WeirdlyHumanPod, or @CandaceJax or @Elle_ipsis. Is this getting too weird?
Or you could just email us Info@WeirdlyHumanPodcast.com
Love 'ya Weirdos! Next episode in 2 weeks . . .

In this episode, we jump right into the concept of the contagion heuristic. That's scientist speak for the idea that most of us believe, at least on some level of consciousness, that good and evil are physically contagious traits. It's a form of magical thinking that buys into the idea that a person's essence is transferrable to others through contact with inanimate objects, like clothing, created artwork, writings, locks of hair (or nail trimmings - GROSS!!!!!)
Now, along this line of thinking, most of us would think of any number of different forms of memorabilia from an autographed jersey from a popular athlete, or even a treasured family heirloom can give us positive feelings of connection with the person who used to own or wear that item. A cute film from 2002, "Like Mike" starring Lil' Bow Wow, is a great example of what we're talking about. You can check it out here.
But what about the darker side of the equation? Did you know that there are several websites where you can purchase MURDERABILIA? This is a term first coined by Andy Kahan, director of the Huston PD Crime Victims Office to identify collectible artifacts related to murders, homicides or the perpetrators of violent crimes. Who are these collectors, and why do they want any of this stuff?? It's hard to say, but there are several different working theories (see here) trying to explain the reasoning. Slate Magazine published an excellent article in 2011, you can read it here.
It was also very interesting to us that one of the biggest purveyors of Murderabilia collectibles was located in our very own city of Jacksonville, FL. If we were any sort of journalists, we should have contacted this dude and interviewed him for the show, but that just seemed like too much work. Besides, he's been interviewed by our local news teams on more than one occasion. If you're curious, take a peek here.
To prevent this episode from being a complete and total bummer, we wanted to give you a chance to take the Disgust-Sensitivity Test for yourself. You can find it here. Discovering what disgusts you, certainly is a Weirdly Human thing to do.
Stay tuned Weirdos! We'll be back with another episode soon.

Welcome back Weirdos! Like we said on the episode today, it's been a minute. We learned a ton from recording and publishing Season 1, and we've got much more frivolity in the works going into Season 2. We decided to launch this season with an episode exploring the Weirdly Human concept of HUMOR.   What sort of jokes do you find funny? Do you laugh often enough (hint: The answer is most likely NO) And most importantly, why do we have this behavior in the first place?
We have to give a big THANK YOU and shout-out to an episode of one of our absolute favorite podcasts, Hidden Brain. The episode "Humor Us" was a huge inspiration to us in creating this one. If you want to know how podcasting should actually be done, then take a listen here.
Our featured funny neuroscientist Sophie Scott will have you ROFL, and you'll be learning in the process. Watch her here.
Looking for an entertaining read? You can't go wrong with any of Caitlin Moran's books. But here is her latest:
Order here from Harper CollinsEver the tenacious, sharp and witty diplomat, Madeline Albright showed us again that women can be SMART and FUNNY.
Laughter does so much for all of us Weird Humans. It eases our stress levels, helps us to bond with each other and it improves the aging process. In case you've made it all the way down here, and you still need a laugh, then here is proof that cats really are the "hold my beer" guys of the animal kingdom: