It’s a new show they made using the vehicle of their podcast.
You can listen to the first (and so far only) episode here:
I thought it could be fun to discuss the episodes here, it seems like a SDMB kind of thing. (I’m not sure if it should go here or in CS though.)
Here are the facts of the four contestants (the full explanations were longer):
- “Did you know that pinball machines were illegal in New York City for more than three decades, during which time the city engaged in a series of prohibition-style sweeps through the city, including with a dedicated NYPD pinball squad, over which course they would confiscate and smash with sledge hammers thousands upon thousands of pinball machines?”
Judges votes: 8, 9, 9.
My vote: 8.
2. “Well everybody knows that museums have billions of dollars of art hanging on their walls. But did you know that the security at many museums is so lax that burglars can incredibly easily steal these masterpieces. In fact, in the most recent spectacular museum break-ins, the tools used have been as simple as a pair of pliers to jimmy open the back door of Rotterdam’s Kunsthal Museum, or a ladder to climb up and break the unreinforced window glass next to Munch’s “The Scream,” or even nothing at all as was the case when one night in 2007 when a group of drunken revelers broke into Paris’s Orsay museum and punched a hole through a Monet.”
Judges votes: 8, 8, 9
My vote: 9.
3. “It’s a mystery and I like to think things through. I think a lot of people when they think about losing weight, when you Google that phrase where does the weight actually go, what you’ll find is a lot of pages of articles saying that weight becomes energy. Well did you know that when you lose weight you actually lose it through your nose?”
Judges votes: 9, 6, 7
My vote: 5
With a science background, it’s rather obvious to me that the opposite of photosynthesis is respiration. I’m somewhat surprised that neither the judges nor the fact checker knew this, and also that they didn’t rate it higher not knowing it.
4. “Okay, so if you’re single, or dating, or married, you might find this interesting. I’ve got one person. So people always want to know what should I be looking for in an early dating relationships, what predicts that it’s going to be successful or breakup? There’s great research done in 2010, looked at 37,000 dating couples in different countries, and they looked at 30 factors that had been studied at least four times to figure out like what actually matters? What makes a difference in who stays together and who breaks up. And the number one factor was a big surprise to everyone conducting the study. It wasn’t commitment, or love, or trust, or the things that you’d expect. It was something called the “awesomeness factor.” That’s what I call it. It was actually called “positive illusions,” Jody.”
Judges: 7, 9, 9
My vote: 4
I didn’t really understand what she was saying. I think it was that the question of whether you find your partner to be “awesome” is essential in how successful the relationship is, and that seems really obvious.