Colin

You're listening to an Airwave media podcast.

Karen

Hello, grenadiers grazing on Grenadine, Grenada in Granada. Welcome to Good Job Brain, your weekly quiz show and offbeat trivia podcast. This is episode three. 311. 311. Like the band. And of course, I am your humble host, Karen. And we are your verdant verters voraciously vacuuming viridescent verdellos while verifying verdicts about Verdi.

Colin

I am Colin.

Chris

And I'm Chris.

Karen

Let's jump into our first general trivia segment. Pop quiz. Hot shot. Oh, two cards here. Two random Trivial Pursuit cards. You guys have your barnyard buzzers. Let's answer some questions. I have. Ding, ding, ding. Trivial Pursuit music singles, an all music card, and Everybody's favorite, Totally 80s. So in our wheelhouse, let's do. Let's do Totally 80s first. Here we go. Buzzers at the ready. Blue edge for tv. Which former Beatle was the original narrator on Thomas the Tank Engine? Oh, Colin.

Colin

Is that Ringo Starr?

Karen

Yes. Ringo Starr.

Colin

Yeah.

Karen

Does everybody know this? Is this common knowledge? What a versatile guy.

Colin

Yeah. Man of many talents.

Karen

All right, pink wedge. What cartoon character, when finally introduced to China in the 80s, was known as Me Laoshu or Rice Rat? Okay, Chris, go ahead. I have a little. I have a little addendum.

Chris

Okay, okay, okay. Mickey Mouse.

Karen

Mickey Mouse, yes. When you translate it literally, me is rice. But. But it's just phonetic name, like Mickey Mouse.

Chris

Right, right, right.

Karen

You know what I mean? And they're not.

Chris

Nobody would infer meaning out of it. Chinese doesn't have characters that. That don't have some kind of meaning.

Karen

Yeah, everything has a meaning. Yellow edge. What unwavering world leader was dubbed the Great Chi Elephant and Attila the Hen?

Chris

Wow.

Colin

Kind of mean, unwavering.

Karen

Oh, I see. Okay. What unwavering world leader was dubbed the great she Elephant?

Chris

Oh, oh, oh, okay.

Karen

Attila the Hen.

Chris

I see.

Colin

Okay. They're both.

Chris

They're both gendered terms.

Colin

Yes. Right, Chris?

Chris

Margaret Thatcher.

Karen

Margaret Thatcher.

Colin

Yeah. Yeah.

Karen

Iron Lady. Iron lady sounds a lot better than these two names.

Chris

Yeah.

Karen

Purple wedge for music. What Twisted Sister anthem sneers. You're so condescending. Your gall is never ending. I can only name one twisted sister.

Colin

Sister.

Chris

Right.

Colin

Yeah.

Karen

And it's that we're not gonna.

Chris

Oh, really? Okay. Should have just said that. Never leave a blank, I guess.

Colin

Yeah.

Karen

Lime green wedge for movies. What father and son actors played Carl Fox and his son Bud in Wall Street? Ooh. Oh, Colin.

Colin

That was Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen.

Karen

Yes, correct. For Some reason I was thinking Kirk Douglas.

Colin

Oh, and Michael.

Chris

I could.

Colin

Yeah, Another. Another father. Son there.

Chris

Right.

Karen

All right. Orange wedge. Sports and Leisure. How many scoreless innings did fans endure before Tim Rains finally drove the first. First run of the 1987 All Star Game?

Chris

Oh, man.

Karen

Deep cut.

Colin

Is it. Give us. Give us the lifeline. Is it less than. Is it nine or less? Karen. Or is it more than nine?

Karen

More than nine.

Colin

Okay.

Chris

All right.

Karen

Colin.

Colin

12.

Karen

Oh, it's 12.

Colin

Yeah. But I did need the hint. I just, you know. Yeah. Thank you.

Karen

Ballpark. All right, moving along. Music. Singles. Here we go. Next card, Blue edge for bands. What? 2000 alternative rock band includes Gwyneth Paltrow's husband as frontman. O was an outdated card.

Colin

Oh, right.

Karen

Colin.

Colin

She. She was married to. Oh, man. What's his. Chris. Chris something. The guy from Coldplay. Right.

Karen

I just need the band.

Colin

Okay. Coldplay.

Karen

Call Coldplay. Chris Martin.

Colin

Chris Martin.

Chris

Thank you.

Colin

Yes.

Karen

Pink wedge. What? Two Bon Jovi songs played acoustically on the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards inspired the popular MTV Unplugged series.

Chris

We have two songs.

Karen

Colin.

Colin

It was one of them. The. The Dead or Alive. Wanted. Dead or Alive. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I could see. I could see them just belting out the acoustic version of that and, like,

Karen

just the biggest Bon Jovi so song.

Colin

Oh. Living on a prayer.

Karen

Living on a prayer. Living on prayer and Want to dinner Alive.

Colin

Nice.

Karen

Yes. I did not know that.

Colin

Yeah, I. Wow. That. That is a good bit of trivia.

Karen

Unplugged series. All right. Yellow wedge. What? Ex American Idol and his band won favorite rock song for home. That's the title. Home. 2008 People's Choice Awards. Chris, I believe this is on your beat.

Chris

Okay. Yeah.

Karen

Let me read again.

Chris

What former American Idol.

Karen

Ex American Idol and his band. And his band won favorite rock song for home at the 2008's People's Choice Awards.

Chris

Okay, but I mean, it's. It's the name of the person.

Karen

It's the name of the band.

Chris

Oh, it's the name of the band.

Karen

Yes.

Chris

But it says what person in his band. And then the answer is the name

Karen

of a band because the band's name is his name.

Chris

It's the name of a person.

Karen

It's not his full name.

Chris

Okay. Oh, it's Daughtry. Yes. Okay.

Karen

Okay.

Colin

Nice.

Chris

I'm just trying to think. You're just like. Well, all those. All those hints. All those hints.

Colin

That's a performer. I haven't thought about him in a while.

Chris

Sorry. The.

Colin

The band.

Chris

The Band.

Karen

So hold on. When I first read this question, I was like, I thought Philip Phillips sang the song Home. Okay, so I'm verifying now. Wow. They both have songs called.

Chris

Oh, they're different ones.

Karen

Purple Wedge. What subgenre of electronic dance music originated from Detroit? Michig in the late 1980s?

Colin

Colin, are they looking for house?

Karen

They're looking for techno.

Colin

Oh, okay.

Chris

Oh, okay.

Colin

All right.

Karen

Greenwich. What instrument does Sting play?

Colin

Colin, does he play the bass? He plays the bass, yeah.

Karen

All right, last question on this music singles card. What Jane's Addiction song tells the story of a pride prostitute dreaming of a better life?

Colin

Oh, man. Colin, I. I think they're looking for Jane says correct. It's a, you know, really reductive view of that song, but yes.

Chris

All right.

Karen

Good job, Brains. Well, I kind of gave it away a little bit in my alliterations this week. In my intro, I had verdant. I had gr. Gr. Gr. So this week's topic is green. Green things, green words, whatever that comes to mind. So this week, we're giving you the green light. All right, I'm gonna start us off. This is not an actual green segment, but it's, like, kind of related to green.

Chris

Green.

Karen

But it is something that I feel like I left on a cliffhanger last season.

Chris

Okay.

Karen

And I want to give everybody an update because I'm sure you guys are all very curious. So last season, I got my hands on a grow. Michelle Banana.

Colin

Yes. Oh, yes. The. The original quote banana flavor.

Karen

Very quick recap. The fake banana flavor that we think is fake for. From, like, Laffy Taffies and stuff. It's actually based on a real banana that just doesn't really exist anymore. You can't buy it in supermarkets. I got my hands on it, Michelle. Big Mike. And it was still green when I showed it to you guys, because I had to. I had to wait for it to write.

Colin

Yeah. So it ties into the theme.

Karen

So going from green to yellow. So I'm happy to report that it did eventually ripe. I brought it to work to a apple club. I've mentioned before, we have an apple club at work where we taste different apples and other fruits. And we had a taste test, and you can kind of taste the fake banana flavor.

Colin

Okay.

Karen

I'll tell you what. You know, bananas taste more like dessert than they do fruit, But I would say the grove. Michelle Banana tastes more like a fruit. I don't know if that makes sense.

Chris

Okay. All right.

Karen

Like a tropical.

Colin

Interesting. Okay.

Karen

Has. It's tangy as more of an acidic fruit.

Colin

So you definitely, though, notice the difference. Like, if someone handed this to you, you would be like, oh, what is this? This is not y. Okay.

Karen

It looks like a banana. You eat it and, like, the texture seems less fluffy. Like a normal banana just feels more like, oh, this is from a tree and Right. Tropical.

Colin

Maybe closer to the original banana.

Karen

The fake banana flavor is a combination of not just eating the banana, but I think the scent of the banana peel. Sure. You know how.

Colin

Sure, sure.

Karen

Fruits have that.

Chris

Oh, yeah.

Colin

Funk almost. Yeah, yeah.

Karen

The peel has that, but also smells sweet like bubble gum.

Chris

But yeah, if you're cutting it up and eating a slice of it, it's gonna be different than, like, if you're holding the banana with the peel still on it. Inhaling the peel. Yeah, yeah, Right under your nose. It's gonna hit you.

Karen

At Apple Club. We also discovered. Decided to go off a tangent. We got really nerdy about this. For some reason. We discovered that if you aerate bananas, they taste sweeter.

Colin

Okay, what do you know?

Chris

What do you. What do you mean by.

Colin

Yeah, elaborate.

Karen

Okay, so if you cut bananas into slices and you just put it on a plate.

Colin

Okay.

Karen

And you come back maybe 10 minutes later, that banana will taste sweeter.

Colin

So something about the exposure to the oxygen. Right. Or it's. It's something.

Karen

So that is my update. All right, well, on with the show. Colin, what green segment do you have for us today?

Colin

All right, I'll get us into the show proper, properly green here with a quiz I have put together for you guys called it is easy being green. And this will be a grab bag quiz. I think you did know it, Chris. Yeah, someone had to. Someone had to. Might as well be me. Story of my life. Might as well be me. This will be a buzzing quiz once you get your buzzers ready. All right, every question in this quiz will be about something that is either literally green, thematically green, metaphorically green has the word green in the name somehow, all revolving around green or green things. Okay. In March of this year, the Swarovski Crystal Company caught the Internet's attention when it released a $755 inch tall crystal figurine of what beloved green character Karen

Karen

has to be Kermit the Frog.

Colin

It is not Kermit the Frog. It is not. Chris. Chris, what do you got?

Chris

You were tricking her. But I saw this. It was Shrek.

Colin

It is. No. Yes, Shrek.

Chris

Favorite Pixar character.

Colin

The world's favorite. You're just trying to make people mad now, Chris. The world's favorite green movie Ogre. Yes. The. The not just Shrek, but the Shrek series of figurines. He is green. Green crystal. It is multicolored crystal. He has 551 facets. I am reading here from official Swarovski copy, by the way. Embark on a whimsical journey to the kingdom of Far Far Away, et cetera, et cetera. Karen, you can. You can walk into a Swarovski store, plunk down your $750, and if they're still in stock, you can walk out with a Shrek Swarovski crystal figurine to put on your shelf behind you. Like while you're having zoom calls, you know, or whatever, you know, just bring it to work. Just drop it on your desk. Just don't say anything.

Karen

Oh, my gosh.

Colin

Where they're almost daring you to buy it, Right? It's like, oh, so you ironically love Shrek, huh? How much do you ironically love Shrek? This fan favorite TV show that aired from 1981 to 1990 was the first Nickelodeon show to feature slime. The first. Chris.

Chris

You can't do that on television.

Colin

Correct. That is, you can't do that on television. The. The. The originator of the. To become not double dare, which may. Yeah.

Chris

Or like a milk like substance. But no. Yeah, you can't do that in television. Was getting slimed.

Colin

That's right.

Chris

Slime falling from the ceiling. When you said, I don't know.

Colin

That's right. When you had the catchphrase or not catchphrase, but the key phrase of I don't know, you were setting yourself up to catch a face full of slime. That's right. The trigger words. That's right. The slime sort of came out of necessity. Apparently the producer and showrunner was tired of kids saying I don't know, you know, in response to sort of the semi improvisational nature of some of the bits. And came up with sort of the rule like, all right, next person to say, I don't know is going to get slime. Not that they. Yeah, I mean, they knew it was coming. They knew it was coming and it did. And it evolved from there into the eventually iconic bright green slime. Yeah.

Chris

Yeah.

Colin

Prior to a popularity boom that gained strength in the early to mid 2000s, this green vegetable was mostly used in the US for decoration. Karen. On it.

Karen

Listeners might remember my segment on kale.

Colin

Yeah, Kale.

Chris

A lovely garnish. A lovely garnish.

Colin

Lovely garnish.

Chris

Holds up. Got always got a great color to It, It's a nice dark green. It's. It keeps its shape. You put it on the side of the plate and then you never eat it. One brave person one day decided to eat the kale.

Colin

One of the many varieties of kale, I learned is called, in fact, ornamental kale. Ornamental kale. You got your bumpy leaf, you got your sparkly leaf, you got your curly leaf, and then there's ornamental grade kale, right? Which is known for having the tough leaves. It is known to be. Right. Not quite as palatable. I learned, you guys, that as late as 2012, the largest purchaser of kale in the United States. What is it? Do you know what a Karen Pizza Hut. It was Pizza Hut salad bar. Yes, it was. They would buy. They were buying, Chris, approximately 14,000 pounds of kale that year alone. Nothing to do with making pizza or food. It was decorating the salad bar and hiding the ice. They would cover the ice with it and it would just to keep things cool. It was just decoration. And then, then of course, you know, just four years later, by 2016, you could get a kale salad at McDonald's. It had. It had a real. Yes, you could. Yes, it had a real glow up there. I read that it had more calories than. Than a Big Mac right out of

Chris

the Pizza Hut dumpster to your McDonald's side dish.

Colin

True or false?

Karen

Oh, no.

Colin

True or false. A shamrock and a four leaf clover are the same thing. Which is it, true or false? You could even both take a bite at this one, Chris.

Chris

No, I think, I think it's. I think it's false. It's like the shamrock is the. The icon versus the, the actual, the plant. I think shamrock is like Gaelic for just clover.

Colin

Chris. Chris is. Chris is more or less nailing it here. Yeah, you got it, Chris.

Chris

Yeah.

Colin

The answer to the question is F. A shamrock and a four leaf clover are not in fact the same thing. But yeah, in its most, most simple definition, a shamrock is a regular three leaf clover. And it is, of course, widely recognized as a symbol of Ireland and Irish culture. Yeah. It does derive from the Irish word shamrock, which translates to young clover.

Karen

Ah.

Colin

And then a four leaf clover, of course, as it says on the tin, is a clover that has four leaves, not a shamrock. The Green Giant mascot, not. Not his first name. Check on. Good job, brain. Over the years, the Green Giant mascot, who was introduced in 1928, was introduced specifically to sell what vegetable?

Chris

Oh, geez.

Colin

Now this. If you want a hint, I'll give it to you, but you know, I don't know. Well, I'll tell you, it's not, it's not that much of it. I'll tell you that. This vegetable was giant, you know, compared to the traditional varieties on the market at the time. So it was Green Giant, this type of vegetable. Sure. What if that. Just in case that changes your answer.

Chris

Karen, I thought it was peas.

Colin

You got it. Chris knows his. Chris knows his veggies. It was, it was for giant peas. That's right. He came out of the marketing campaign for a new type of P, which was the Prince of Wales P. Grace. Great name, great branding, the Prince of Wales pea. And you know, first of all, they were giant. They were huge compared to regular table peas at the time. And they weren't just big.

Chris

You're going like, you're making like, like a seven pound bowling ball with your hand. I did.

Colin

I was holding up like the size of like a burrito. No, I don't, I shouldn't mislead you guys. They were big and they were also oblong a little bit. So they weren't, you know, sort of your traditional E, more or less spherical P. Yeah, they were big, big, big. And so they decided we're going to lean into it. Right. And they came up with the Green Giant. These were Green Giant peas. And here is our mascot, the Green Giant again. Speaking of glow ups, he had a little bit of a glow up over the years. Yeah, he started off, he was very brutish and kind of, you know, gruff at first, like a caveman. And they, they prettied him up over the years. Yeah, he's much more charming.

Karen

He's a good looking man.

Colin

Yeah, yeah. You know, that's not going to lie. Is there a Mrs. Green Giant? Last true or false on the quiz. I don't want to have too many of these. True or false. The term ectoplasm was coined for the movie Ghostbusters.

Karen

So did it exist before the movie?

Chris

That's the idea.

Colin

That's the question.

Chris

Maybe. I don't know. It's. It's a good question, but I feel

Colin

like it may have been classic.

Karen

It's a very like, simple kind of translation. Right. Like, yes, I'm gonna say it predates Ghostbusters, the movie.

Chris

Right.

Colin

Karen is correct. Yes. The answer to the question, therefore is false. Yes. The term ectoplasm dates to 1894.

Karen

I was gonna say it's like a weird Victorian thing.

Colin

Yeah, yeah.

Karen

I mean, describing like what we think is slime or like sticky stuff.

Chris

Yeah.

Karen

Like footprints or Dust or.

Colin

Oh, so it's. It's funny that you say that. Car.

Karen

Yeah.

Colin

Yeah. So, I mean, yeah. Almost 100 years before. Before the classic movie, of course. And it was joined by a man named Charles Richet. And although he was a physiologist by practice and training, he was also very interested in the paranormal. And so the. The word that he came up with, ectoplasm, it comes from Greek, so he took the root for ectos outside and plasma, meaning something formed. And the idea was this is something that an apparition might manifest into our physical world. And unlike the movie Ghostbusters, where someone gets slimed and they're coated with this bright green goo, the idea of what ectoplasm was then was very different. It was described as almost like a. Like a fabric. It was like this, like, light, kind of gossamery, gauzy fabric material. And I think you can tell a lot about what people thought it might be by the type of hoaxes that people were doing at the time. And all of the hoaxes that I read described involving ectoplasm, it ended up being just somebody stuffed some gauze in their mouth and just, you know, produced it as an opportune time or, you know, flash forward almost 100 years. And, yeah, they lifted the term, you know, for the movie. Certainly safe to say, no doubt whatsoever that that movie did more for the term ectoplasm than Charles Ruscha did.

Chris

Really put it on the map, no

Colin

question, all the way to ecto cooler. Yeah, I mean. Yes, exactly. We just recently passed Earth Day 2026, guys. It was on April 22 this year, as it. As it always is. Earth Day, of course, a day of action and focus on environmental protection and green ways of living. What year closest to the mark. What year was the first Earth Day observed?

Karen

Ooh. Like, is.

Colin

Although it did have some sort of international origins in. In the idea. Earth Day as we know it was. It was a. An American sort of Carter administration. Yeah. When was it closest to the mark? I'll take two guesses here.

Chris

Okay. All right.

Karen

I. I think it's older than what we think.

Colin

Okay, okay, okay.

Chris

I'll say. I'll say that the 60s. Like. Or maybe. Maybe 1970. I'll say 1970.

Karen

That's what I'm saying.

Chris

I'll say 1969.

Colin

I'm gonna give you guys both the point. I'm gonna give you guys both the point. It was 1970. You guys got it. Yeah. I'm gonna. I'm gonna credit you because you Were willing to move off your spot, Chris,

Chris

because I was thinking like, okay, Summer of Love 69, Woodstock, like, yeah, out of that. Everybody's back home. They're out of the mud. Maybe they want to keep going with the good vibes, but they don't necessarily want to go back to Woodstocks. Maybe they just have a holiday and like, plant a tree. That's kind of where I was at.

Colin

Okay.

Chris

Okay.

Colin

You certainly zeroed right in on the era. Yes. Yeah. Nixon was president. For the. For the record there, Karen. Yes. Yes. He planted a tree, in fact.

Karen

Yeah.

Colin

April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day. What is the primary source of income for monks of the Carthusian order?

Karen

Oh, Karen, Is it. They make a certain type of liqueur, maybe? Is that liqueur Chartreuse?

Colin

Yes.

Chris

Nice.

Colin

That is correct. You got it. You know your liqueur is character.

Chris

I was going to say.

Karen

I know my colors.

Colin

They grew pot.

Karen

Right.

Colin

Hey, you know, you do what you need to keep the monastery running. Right, Right. Karen, in fact, is more correct by being correct. Yes. The monks. The monks of the Carthusian order have for many, many, many generations been the only ones who know the full secret recipe to the liqueur known as chartreuse. And the color chartreuse, a yellowish green, greenish yellow, takes its name from the liqueur Chartreuse, not the other way around. That's right. Much like the early Coca Cola days, there are only, they say, two monks at any one time who actually know the complete, complete, full recipe of. They say, what is it? 130.

Karen

Yeah, I was just gonna say ingredients, herbs, all.

Colin

All that they. All that the. The monks will cop to is that it's. Yeah, 130. And they make quite a bit of money from it. They made more than $30 million just as recently as a few years ago. It is. It is virtually the sole source of income for. For the order. They've resisted urges to make more. Even there was a shortage, I guess, a few years ago, you know, cocktail culture and, you know, a lot of things really. It was very in demand. And they went to the monks and they're like, you know, you could make more and we could make more money. And the monks like, no, we're good. We're gonna keep making the same amount.

Karen

It's fine.

Colin

Yeah, we're good. All right, last question. I couldn't do a green related quiz without a Greenland related question. We were just talking about it on a recent show too. Karen, you. A segment about country flags. Yes. And autonomous region Flags, if you will. I have a very simple question for you. Does not involve the flag. Doesn't even really involve the color green. I just need you to tell me what is the name of Greenland's capital? What is the capital of Greenland?

Karen

Does it start with a U?

Colin

I'll give you a hint. It has two consecutive U's in it. Oh, that's what your brain went to.

Karen

U went to use

Colin

Chris.

Chris

Vacuum.

Colin

I love the way you're thinking.

Karen

It's like I'm thinking of Nauru.

Colin

Oh, you're. You're so close, Karen.

Karen

Nuke.

Colin

It is Nuke. You pulled it out. You pulled it out, Karen. Well done. Closer to Nook. It sounds like from the pronunciation guides that I found. Yeah. So Nook, Greenland. Population just over 20,000 people, which sounds very small. And it is for a capital city, but that is more than a third of the entire populace of Greenland lives in Nook. Nook is also the Greenlandic word for cape. Like, you know, like the geographic feature, like Cape of Good Horn or whatever. Cape Town. Right. Exactly. Cape Hatteras. Right? It is. So you see it a lot, I guess, in Greenlandic place names, but that's just. Just by itself for. For the capital city, Nook. Well done. Pulled it out, Karen. Good job.

Karen

Wow.

Colin

You're no greenhorn to trivia, Karen.

Karen

All right, I have our next green guest here. Very short segment, but something that I came across and I want to share with you. It is the world's most painful plant.

Colin

Oh, okay.

Karen

Yes. It earned the. The name of the most painful plant. This plant is called the Gympie. Gympie plant. No, it sounds so silly.

Colin

And so Dr. Seuss.

Karen

Yeah, yeah. G Y M P I E. G Y M P, I E. Guess. Guess. Just take a wild guess. Where, what country or continent is this

Colin

plant has to be? It has to be. I feel it in my bones. It's Australia.

Karen

It is Australia.

Colin

Australia never lets you down.

Karen

The leaves look normal to the naked eye, but the leaves are covered with tiny, tiny, tiny micro hairs. It's kind of similar to what we call stinging nettles. You know, they have these plants with, like, really fine fur. They sting you. That pain experts have described it as even just brushing against the leaf for the plant, just mildly touching it.

Chris

It's not eating it.

Karen

It's not like rubbing it in your face, just even touching it. Quote, like being burned by hot acid and electrocuted at the same. That's what botanists are saying.

Chris

Nice.

Karen

And it sheds in the summertime. It's like, I got to grow a new coat sheds all these, so you don't even have to touch the plant if you're close to it. And some of the needles end up near your skin, on your skin.

Chris

Needle dust into the air.

Karen

Oh my God. Imagine if you breathed it in. It's so unbearably painful. And part of the danger of the plant is that the pain doesn't go away. You know, you get like, stung by a bee and you're like, ouch. And then you're like, you're done for a couple hours. Maybe you have an allergic reaction. Okay. But because the needles are so fine, they can burrow and get stuck in your skin. And it's, it's so fine you can't tweeze them out.

Colin

So what do you do?

Karen

You just live with the pain.

Colin

Oh my God. Oh man.

Karen

You either live with the pain or what they, they say is the proper way to get the needles out is you, you give your, you wax. Oh, you take hot wax, right? Like a Brazilian.

Chris

Okay.

Colin

Strip off the layer on top.

Karen

Strip off. Can't do it individually because it's like the tweezers are just not going to be.

Chris

Oh my gosh.

Karen

There's been just so many Australian tales. There was a guy who had to poop in the woods and wiped his butt with a leash. And there was a botanist, his name is Ernie Ryder. And he got accidentally whacked in the face on his chest. And it took two years to be finally free of that pain.

Colin

Oh my God, two years. Like when you were saying like, okay, you just live with the pain, I was thinking like, all right, like a week. No, that's mind boggling that, that the plant would even need to have that level of, you know, defense.

Karen

Well, funny you should say that because though most things do feel pain from the gimpy. Gimpy.

Colin

Uhhuh.

Karen

There are a couple animals native, local to, to Australia where it doesn't even affect them.

Colin

Right? Of course.

Karen

One of these animals is called a patty melon.

Colin

Okay.

Karen

It's a cute name for a cute animal. P, A D E melon. M E, L, O, N. It's not a melon. It is like a miniature little kangaroo and it eats the gympie gimpy plant. Not only does it touch it, it eats it and it's totally fine.

Colin

And then it helps it grow, right, by pooping out the seeds or something. Right.

Karen

So be warned, if you're in the rainforests of eastern Australia, okay. Don't wipe your butt with any leaves you find.

Colin

Noted.

Karen

Don't you know what?

Colin

Just maybe I'm not gonna wipe my butt with any leaves at all.

Chris

Rainforest Eastern Australia Just don't poop at all. It's just not even worth the risk.

Karen

Yes, again, like being burned by hot acid and electrocuted at the same time. That's the world's most painful plant. Ma', am, we'll take a quick break and we'll be right back. Say bon appetit to our sponsor. Factor Grown Up. My mom would tell me and my sister that the absolute worst part of her day was when she had to decide what everyone was gonna eat and then had to make it. My mom worked like 12 hour days running her business while raising two kids and as a kid I just didn't get it. I was like, oh, deciding what to eat should be fun. Until it happened to me. Yes, I grew up and sometimes we just don't have the mental capacity to prep, cook and then clean up afterwards. On days like this, it's handy to have some Factor meals waiting in the fridge. Fresh, Never frozen. Over 100 rotating weekly meals so there's always something new to look forward to. And I love their miso edamame salad with the crunchy rice. Delivers straight to your door so you have more time for everything you want to do. Head to FactorMeals.com GoodJob50OFF and use the code GoodJob50OFF to get 50% off and free daily greens per box with new subscription only while supplies last until September 27, 2026. See website for more details.

Chris

Hey.

Karen

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Chris

You're listening to Good Job, Brain. Smooth puzzles, smart trivia. Good job, Brain.

Karen

Hey, we're back. This week we're talking about green stuff. So, Chris, what's green?

Chris

I've got a green themed music quiz for everybody. The theme is green. What does that mean? We're gonna find out. I'm gonna play some songs for you. Your job is to identify the singer. These songs go all the way back to 1970, the year of the first Earth day, and all the way up to 2024. As a solving hint, we're gonna do these in chronological order and I'll provide you with the year of the performance. So grab those barnyard buzzers, get ready for a round of music. So we got Karen actually on the soundboard. Maestro, please. Song number one. Name the human being singing this song.

Colin

It's not that easy being green Having to spend each day the color of the leaves. When I think it could be nicer being red or yellow or gold or

Chris

something much more colorful like this. That Colin, I think, was faster on the draw there.

Colin

That is Jim Henson in. In the. In the character of Kermit the Frog.

Karen

Oh, that's my guess.

Chris

Jim Henson. Yes. Who provided the voice for Kermit the Frog singing the song is called Being Green. Actually, is the title not it's not easy or it's not that easy being Green? No, the title of the song is Being Green.

Colin

Be in green.

Chris

But we just wanted to the performer. And there you go. All right, we're gonna blast off to 1973 now with song number two.

Karen

I see. I see.

Chris

Colin.

Colin

Is that. Is that Mr. Van Morrison?

Chris

That is Mr. Van Morrison himself. Yep, yep, yep.

Karen

Sounds like him.

Colin

Yeah, yeah.

Chris

Not Brown Eyed Girl. No, that's Van Morrison singing a song titled Being Green.

Karen

Are all these songs being green?

Chris

So song number three also is from 1973. Name the singer.

Colin

But green is the color of spring.

Karen

And green can be cool and friendly. And green can be big like an ocean or important like a mountain or tall.

Colin

Oh, man, it's really familiar.

Chris

Karen.

Karen

Julie Andrews.

Chris

That is Julie Andrews.

Colin

Yes. No wonder. So familiar.

Chris

Julie Andrews singing a song titled Be in green.

Colin

Such a, such a Chris. Such a Chris.

Chris

Let's go to a. To a live performance from a 1974 song.

Karen

Having to spend each day the color of the leaves. When I think, I think it will be nicer Being red or yellow or gold.

Colin

Oh, man.

Karen

What year? 70.

Colin

74. Said it didn't sound like.

Chris

Didn't.

Colin

My first. My first instinct was like, Diana Ross.

Karen

You know what I thought of the. The stop in the name. It sounds like.

Chris

Is that.

Karen

Is that diet is the Supremes.

Chris

I should say as a hint, it is Diana Ross.

Colin

Oh, all right, I'm gonna stop you right there. Okay.

Chris

In the name of love we're getting.

Colin

Getting credit for where our first dance,

Chris

we saw Diana Ross.

Colin

Okay.

Chris

Singing Being Green.

Colin

Gotta be confident.

Chris

Yes, it was Diana. Russ. Yeah. Very good. Well, well spotted. Well spotted. Let's go to 1975. 1975. With another. Another singer. Name the singer song. An extraordinary. Bravo.

Colin

Amazing.

Karen

That's so good, Karen. Ray Charles.

Chris

Ray Charles, Yes. He just knows a good song when he hears it. That song was. Sorry, before you. That song was titled Be in Green. Go on.

Karen

Who wrote. Did Jim Henson write the song? He.

Chris

He did. What song? Which one? The first one or the Ray Charles one he wrote? So the song being greet. No, it was not. It was not written by Jim Henson. Okay. I believe it was written for Kermit the Frog.

Karen

Oh, yeah, yeah, I see.

Colin

I see.

Chris

Right, right.

Karen

That makes sense.

Chris

Anyway, okay, moving on. Song number six from 1990.

Karen

Okay.

Colin

I am green and it'll do fine. Cause it's beautiful and I think it's what I really want to be. Colin, is that Tony Bennett?

Chris

That is not Tony Bennett. That is not Tony Bennett.

Karen

I don't know.

Chris

This is an. Sure, you've seen the memes. He had diabetes.

Colin

What is he doing singing this song?

Chris

Chris, you know what? Apparently he is just a tremendous singer. Also, if you listen to it, it's. It's quite good. It's quite good. And in 1990, he put out his. His. His album titled I'm Old Fashioned, which. Which he's like fly fishing on the COVID you know, or, wow. Whittling something or another. And actually, at that. At that point, he was 37 years old. I mean, famously, he was only 49 years old in the movie Cocoon, Right. Playing a. Of dying. Right, right. So I'm approaching the brimley line fast.

Colin

Wow.

Chris

But no, that was a song. That was. Being Green was the title of the song. So title or song number seven, also from a 1990 solo album, name the. Again, this person better known. I'll ask you to name the singer better known as an actor. Slash, I think even Broadway performer. Okay.

Colin

When green is all there is to

Chris

be

Colin

it can make you wonder why.

Chris

But why wonder why wonder I am

Karen

green and it'll define.

Colin

It's beautiful.

Chris

Karen.

Colin

Karen. Not even waiting.

Chris

I think she has it.

Karen

I know he. I know. He did a cover of. Of the Kermit song.

Chris

Huh? Huh?

Karen

Is this Inigo Montoya?

Chris

This is Inigo Montoya.

Karen

Mandy Patinkin.

Colin

Mandy Patinkin.

Karen

Oh, my God.

Chris

I mean, he often high pitched.

Karen

Part of the original production of Evita.

Chris

He certainly was no slouch.

Colin

Yeah.

Chris

Being green. Yeah. That's the title of the song. Let's jump ahead to 1998. Song number eight.

Colin

Something much more colorful than that. It's not easy being green. It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.

Chris

Who's gonna buzz in on it, though?

Karen

Colin, Please, please, please.

Colin

Is that Mr. Tony Bennett? Is that finally, finally, Mr. Tony Bennett.

Chris

Fake Tony Bennett. Yeah. Wilford Brimley was Tony Bennett.

Colin

Phony Bennett. Yeah.

Chris

This is the real Tony Bennett singing Be in song number. Song number nine. This one comes from the year 2012. Seems to blend in with so many other ordinary things.

Colin

And people tend to pass you over

Chris

because you're not standing out like flashy

Colin

sparkles on the water or stars in the sky. Karen. Anything.

Chris

This performer was singing this song for perhaps a reason. Maybe there was an ironic reason that he was singing this one.

Karen

Because he's not green.

Chris

He's not colored.

Colin

Green is his name. Green is it? Was it. Was it Colin? Was it. Was it CeeLo Green?

Chris

It was CeeLo Green. I feel unmistakable voice of CeeLo Green.

Colin

Yes.

Chris

But I guess he is very.

Colin

He is. Well, I didn't. I didn't mistake it.

Chris

No, not at all. Not at all. That was CeeLo Green. Wow. Singing about being CeeLo Green next to Kermit, who is regular green. Touching duet on the show, the voice of the song. Oh, Ian Green.

Karen

Judge. Okay.

Chris

Yes, indeed, indeed. We finally come to song number 10. This is a performance from the year 2024. Let's have a listen to the final number.

Colin

Cause green is the color of slime. And green can be gross and moldy, like, that's true. And green can be smelly like a stinkweed or angry like an alligator or sow like a pickle.

Chris

Karen, first note, you really, really.

Karen

Oh, yeah. You hear?

Chris

Her face is like. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.

Karen

I don't know who the other person is, though.

Chris

Well, the other person is Oscar, the girl.

Colin

It sounded like Oscar. Yeah, yeah. Also green.

Chris

Also green, of course.

Colin

Yeah.

Karen

Cynthia Arivo.

Chris

It was indeed the transcendent Cynthia.

Karen

And how she's green.

Chris

For most, that was going to be the hint that she ironically was also seeing this song for a reason, because she too was green. In the film Wicked Colon, a tale of a green lady who found that it was not easy being green. Well, good job, everybody. Good job.

Colin

That was great. That great, great job compiling and researching that one too. Like, that was great.

Chris

Chris Quizz Once I, I think I started there and realized that there were so many covers from so many recognizable. I didn't even do Frank Sinatra.

Colin

I knew there was a snot. I was, I was bracing myself because I thought that you might put the

Chris

song and I didn't even do it. And I'm like, gosh, I've. I've got so much. I don't need it, you old green eyes.

Colin

Wow.

Chris

I just, I just went ahead and everybody else.

Karen

Broadway knowledge is the gift that keeps on giving it.

Chris

I think it truly is. Yes.

Colin

If you don't have a Broadway person on your pub quiz team. Yeah. You are leaving points on the table.

Chris

You need a Broadway person. That's true.

Karen

Yep, yep, yep.

Colin

Yay.

Karen

That was fun. This episode is brought to you by ixl, an award winning online learning platform that fits seamlessly into the homeschool curriculum. It offers interactive practice across math, language arts, science and social studies from Pre K through 12th grade. Web based quizzes, activities, videos, educational games, study guides, all to help make learning more meaningful and effective. It's summer and lots of kids have summer reading challenges going on. And in my family, we like to switch things up. So in addition to reading books, we read karaoke lyrics, we read baking instructions, and we do reading games and activities on ixl. We can access IXL from the computer, from the tablet, or even from my phone. So make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and good job. Brain listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at iexcel.com GoodJobBrain Visit iexcel.com GoodJobbrain to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. All right, I have our last segment about being green, maybe turning green. So I've been recovering from being sick for, for a week now and I haven't gone into the office because I had strep throat and that's very, very contagious. But yesterday I finally went into the office and around like 2:00pm, I was like, you know, I'm in the mood for bubble tea, something cold, something refreshing, give me some energy, would liven me up So I walked across the street. I swear this is related to our topic. So I walked across the street. This is my order. Fresh grapefruit honey tea with coconut jelly, some ice, 30% sweet. Then it was time to leave the office, and I hopped on the bus. I take the bus. My total bus ride is about, like, 40 to 50 minutes. In the bus, I'm settled in. I got a seat. I pull out my phone, and I got back reading this heated rivalry fanfic where Shane Hollander starts a hockey podcast after his retirement. Anyways, maybe within five minutes, I was like, oh, no. I already was getting motion sickness. I was already feeling carsick. On the bus, you do stop and go. It's rush hour. I'm, like, hunched over, reading little text.

Colin

Yeah, the reading is a trigger for a lot of people.

Karen

I'm old enough now to know that, like, once you get that initial carc nausea, you can't get rid of it until you get off the bus or, you know, get out of the car and you're standing on the ground. All you're trying to do is not make it worse. Put my phone down. Like, I can't read this fanfic anymore. I'm just fighting for my life, trying to get it together. Nausea is setting in. Every time my heart beats, I feel it in my skull. My mouth is salivating.

Colin

Oh, that's that for me. That's the red line. Like, when I feel that, Like, I. Like, that's like, yeah, the red lights are going off. Oh, no. Oh, man.

Karen

And all I want to do is throw up, but I can't because I'm on the bus. Oh, man. Finally, I get home, rush to the bathroom, and I proceeded to barf up that entire grapefruit tea.

Chris

Oh, wow.

Karen

And all its glory. And you know what? Grapefruit tastes the same coming out as

Colin

it did bi directional.

Chris

Was it good? I. I was sick with something, like, two days ago, and I was like, oh, I'm gonna throw up. I'm gonna throw up. But I did. I hadn't eaten dinner because I wasn't feeling well, but I had had some, like, leftover orange chicken for lunch. This was hours later. You know what I mean? But I threw up. And I was like, huh, it doesn't actually taste that bad. Coming up. That was, like, refreshing citrus. Like, that wasn't, like, you know, harsh or acidic or anything like that.

Colin

Put that on the bottle.

Chris

They should. It's like, yeah, tastes good. Coming up. As it does going down.

Karen

I'm tasting it twice.

Colin

Yeah.

Karen

Bang. For my Buck. Yeah, obviously this was a very harrowing adventure. Except this happens to me almost on a daily basis because I have to commute.

Chris

Oh, my God. Yeah. Okay.

Karen

I get car sick so easily. Not even just the bus. In the passenger seat of a car on a boat. I've accepted that this is my fate and this is my life. No matter what kind of moving vehicle, roller coaster, whatever. I tend to get green around the gill, green about the gills. Green around the gills, turning green. There's that one emoji that's like a face.

Colin

Yeah.

Karen

There's a barf emoji, but there's. Yes.

Chris

And there's holding it in.

Colin

It's the free.

Karen

The pre.

Colin

Barf emoji.

Chris

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Karen

And the whole face is green. So that's. That's what I'm thinking of. So in the spirit of turning green this episode, let's dive in and talk about what causes motion sickness. What's happening? What's happening to your body? It has been documented throughout the entire human history, through many civilizations. Whenever people invented and used a moving thing to travel, right? Carts, carriages, rafts, boats. There was motion sickness, there was. There's motion sickness and nausea, in fact. Nausea. Care to guess the root of the word nautical? Yes. Nas, not nautical. Ship. Ship is in the name.

Colin

I never, ever, ever put that together

Karen

until you nautical argonauts, you know, Navy navigation Nautilus. Yes. So the na. Is J. Is. Is sickness. So ship sickness. Let me ask you guys this. What. What's your understanding of why we get motion sickness, car sickness?

Colin

I mean, I think I either thought or was told or both that, you know, it was related to like the inner ear. Your balance gets off and it's. Your visual input is not matching what your body is telling you. And.

Karen

Well, so scientists are still not 100% sure, but we have some solid theories. Remember back in the episode 306 about rocks, I had a question about oticonia, which is the tiny, tiny crystals.

Colin

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Karen

Inner ear detects motion, tells you. Tells your brain which way is up. Your inner ear senses balance and motion. What you're describing, Colin, is the widely accepted theory, it's called sensory conflict theory, is that you're presented with two different states or perception of motion. Your vision is one thing and your inner ear is one thing, and they're disagreeing on what is happening. When you're in a car, your vision senses that you're. You're still in an enclosed space. But then your body senses I'm moving 60 miles per hour. On a. On a bumpy terrain. And so those two things don't match up, causing the car sickness. And the opposite is true too. So say, like in VR, your vision is sensing a lot of motion and movement, but your inner ear knows that you're not really moving. And so when the mismatch happens, that's the sensory conflict. And so this is why people tell you to look at the horizon when you're, when you're in a car, so that your vision and your inner ear can reach some sort of closer agreement in what the motion actually is. That's probably. That's the reason why the driver of a car doesn't get carsick, because they're looking out on the road, and so what they're seeing is more accurate and in tune with the actual motion that they're feeling in their inner ear.

Colin

Yeah, yeah. My, my wife, who gets. Who gets car sick in particular and motion sick more broadly.

Chris

Yeah.

Colin

Like whenever we would be on a little twisty road or something, she's like, I have to drive. It's, it's the only way to. To mitigate the, the car sickness. Yeah. To be in the control. It'd be so much worse if she was in the passenger seat, but if she was driving, she could, she could, you know, keep it together. Yeah.

Karen

Yep. So the Artemis 2 mission happened earlier in April. And imagine what they have to deal with because there's the absence of gravity.

Colin

Oh, geez. Yeah.

Karen

They call it space sickness. Astronauts indeed get space sickness. And NASA has very strict and comprehensive prepared protocol on what happens if you puke in space. Once they're in zero G, their sense of motion is. Is so out of whack that they can even hallucinate motion. Like they can feel like they're spinning when they're not even moving. They can feel like their bodies are turning or turned around, but nothing's happening. So their bodies are like, hallucinating. And it makes sense because their oticonia, their ear crystals, can't settle. Like in space. They're floating too. Eventually, with more time in that environment, astronauts, their brains starts to downplay the inner ear signals and relies more on vision cues for orientation.

Colin

Okay. Because it can trust it more.

Karen

But still, it's not a fun, fun time. Okay, so we kind of have an idea of what causes motion sickness. Right. Motion sickness happens when our vision and inner ear senses are in conflict with each other. But why is the effect nausea?

Colin

Yeah. Yeah. Why is the solution. Let me get rid of all the food in here? Yeah.

Karen

Why is our body's natural response puking. So we're not. Again, we're not 100% dead on, sure. But this is the best theory we got. Your brain thinks you're being poisoned.

Chris

Poison? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Karen

Oh, there's neurotoxins in your body because your senses are all messed up. It's like as if you ate like a poisonous mushroom. The brain comes to the conclusion that you're hallucinating.

Colin

You got a foreign substance that's. That's doing damage. You got to get it out.

Karen

Yes. And the fastest way.

Colin

Wow.

Karen

The most effective way to eject and get that poison out is puking. You know, like pooping still takes days.

Chris

Yeah, right, right, right.

Colin

Yeah, yeah. We need a right now solution body. Yeah. What do we got? It's the only sort of short term, immediate, you know, anti poison action your body could take.

Karen

And I'll tell you, after you puke, you do feel better.

Colin

You do.

Karen

Chris, on a very early episode of Good Job, Brain, you talked about scopolamine, medical patches that, you know, you put on your body and it releases scopolamine and it helps you with nausea. There's Dramamine. It started out as a potential treatment for hay fever and for allergy and for hives. Similar to the Viagra story, where it was a medication that was intended for one thing.

Colin

Yeah.

Karen

Found out it was really good at this other thing. So. Yeah, supposedly for hay fever. But then they realized the people who were getting the drug, including like a pregnant woman who had motion sickness and really bad morning sickness, said that, wow, this drug made me sick anymore.

Colin

I was wondering.

Chris

Yeah.

Colin

What's the step? Who's the first person? Okay. Right, yeah.

Karen

They're like, oh, that's interesting. And they did more tests. They did tests on soldiers being shipped at sea. No. Some people had a placebo. Some people took Dramamine before the voyage. Some people took it only when they felt symptoms. And it was very clear that this drug helped with nausea. And I don't know if you guys seen it in social media. This is a big TikTok craze where people wear these crazy, wacky looking glasses. And the glasses are two perfect circles around your eyes. And in the circle in the frame of the glasses, they build in a fluid colored fluid at the half line point.

Colin

Okay.

Karen

And so as you move your head, the fluid.

Chris

Oh, it keeps it level.

Karen

Yes. It's basically creating a fake horizon.

Chris

Yeah, right, yeah, sure.

Karen

That is in your peripheral vision. So it gives you a sense of where the horizon, where the motion actually is.

Colin

Huh.

Karen

Some people swear by them. Some people are like, it doesn't work for me. So if you're like me who suffer from motion sickness very easily, there's no hope.

Colin

There's just degrees of bad.

Karen

There's just knowing that your brain thinks you're being poisoned. And that's our show. Thank you all for joining me and thank you listeners for listening in. Hope you learned stuff today about car sickness, about being green, about the Swarovski Shrek.

Colin

Yes. Get yours now. Get yours now.

Karen

You can find us on all major podcast apps and on our website, goodjotbrain.com this podcast is part of Airwave Media podcast network. Visit airwavemedia.com to listen and subscribe to other shows like in the Test Kitchen, the Past and the Curious and Rainbow Puppy Science Lab. And we'll see you next week.

Colin

Bye Bye.

Karen

Hello, I'm Debra Goldstein, host of the game show the Big Fib. And with me is our sound effects robot, Lisa, whose name stands for live in Studio Audience.

Chris

And every week we bring on two grown ups. One is an expert and the other is a liar. And it's the job of a human child to help us figure out who is who, because no one could spot a liar better than a kid.

Karen

We've had past experts share fascinating facts about volcanoes, sharks, pizza and more.

Chris

And we've had some no good liars try and trick us with lies about YouTube, Roblox, and even underwear. Lying about underwear.

Karen

Listen to the Big Fib on Apple podcasts or on gzmshows.com and see if you can figure out who's telling the truth and who's telling big fibs.

Chris

I mean, who lies about underwear?