Episode 23 - The Church of Music

Jeff and Darron explore Jeff’s long-simmering idea to create a secular church around the performance of music. Jeff talks about the original inspiration for his idea, they discuss the origins of music and its role in human culture, their own histories with music, why music specifically might work as a centering activity, the modern commodification of music and separation into performers and consumers, what a church of music might look like and how it might function, the potential benefits of creating a purposeful community around creation, and they even sing a little bit.

Notes:

• 2:07 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 22 - What is Life? from March 2022 (but recorded in January 2022)

• 3:09 - See the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting Wikipedia entry

• 3:48 - Listen to Luciano Pavarotti sing Ave Maria (YouTube)

• 7:04 - See the History of Music Wikipedia entry and “The origins of music: Evidence, theory, and prospects” (Music & Science, 2018)

• 7:39 - The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

• 7:54 - The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Heinrich

• 8:03 - This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin

• 12:15 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 21 - The Myth of the Desert Island Self from January 2022

• 12:30 - Collective effervescence is a sociological concept coined by Émile Durkheim, read the Wikipedia entry and see “There’s a Specific Kind of Joy We’ve Been Missing” (New York Times, 2021)

• 16:51 - See “About Three-in-Ten U.S. Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated” (Pew Research Center, 2021) and “U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious” (Pew Research Center, 2015)

• 17:55 - Lorna Marshall was an anthropologist who in the 1950s, 60s and 70s lived among and wrote about the previously unstudied !Kung people of the Kalahari Desert (Wikipedia)

• 18:25 - Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam

• 18:35 - Listen to Sean Carroll’s Mindscape Episode 186 - Sherry Turkle on How Technology Affects Our Humanity from February 2022

• 19:44 - Tony Hsieh was an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, who among other things, in 1999 helped launch and was eventually CEO of Zappos, the pioneering online shoe retailer which was purchased by Amazon in 2009 for $1.2 billion. According to multiple sources Hsieh was known for taking extreme challenges regarding his body, and spoke often about partying as a central feature of his work and life. Hsieh died under somewhat mysterious circumstances in November 2020 in a house fire, and although the medical examiner determined that Hsieh died from smoke inhalation, and ruled his death was an accident, sources have suggested that drug use and nitrous oxide use may have played a role in the incident. For more on Tony Hsieh’s interesting life and tragic death see the Tony Hsieh Wikipedia entry and “The Death of Zappos’s Tony Hsieh: A Spiral of Alcohol, Drugs and Extreme Behavior” (Wall Street Journal, 2020)

• 20:52 - Mirror neurons (Wikipedia)

• 25:42 - For more on gene-culture coevolution see “Gene-culture coevolution in the age of genomics” (Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences, 2010), “Gene–culture coevolution and the nature of human sociality” (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2011), and the “Dual inheritance theory” Wikipedia entry

• 26:21 - Phish

• 34:01 - Listen to Bobby Darin sing “Beyond the Sea” (YouTube)

• 36:22 - Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden, Connecticut

• 37:12 - Listen to John Prine and Iris DeMent perform Prine’s tune “In Spite of Ourselves” (YouTube)

• 37:20 - Listen to “Something” by The Beatles and “The Man In Me” by Bob Dylan (YouTube)

• 41:58 - Listen to “The Weight” by The Band

• 47:18 - Didgeridoo

• 47:40 - Church of Music (San Diego)

• 56:20 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 6 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics from November 2020, Episode 13 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics Part 2: Just the Facts from April 2021, and Episode 16 - Partisan Pizza from July 2021

Episode 16 - Partisan Pizza

Jeff and Darron explore the nature of conservatism and progressivism by looking at pizza and other food preferences. They talk about the nature of category designations, what it means to call something by a specific name, and why this can sometimes feel so important to us. They look at their own preferences and inclinations towards conservative or progressive thinking, examine where they might come from, and how they are often dependent on context. They touch on the benefits of honing an existing process versus trying new techniques and methods, the importance and drawbacks of categories and categorization, and finally how we might use an examination of our personal preferences about food to better understand the larger sociopolitical and cultural context in which we find ourselves.

Notes:

• 2:12 - The “Big Mac” pizza is one of of many “Gourmet Pizzas” served at Illiano’s Pizza & Italian Cuisine in Middletown, CT

• 3:45 - See “The Definitive Guide to New Haven Pizza”, the “New Haven-style pizza” Wikipedia entry, and the website for Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana

• 4:05 - I’m currently using Andrew Janigan’s updated version for NYC Thin-Crust Pizza Dough, which is terrific, and for more detail about the process check out his three part series on dough and baking pizzas

• 5:21 - See “The History of Pizza” (CNN Travel, 2021)

• 5:29 - - According to the 2021 CNN Travel article “How Italians Made Tomatoes Their Essential Ingredient”, tomatoes were first “Brought to Europe by the Spanish when they colonized the Americas -- it's an Aztec plant, as we can tell by its original name, "tomatl" -- by the mid-1500s, it had made its way to Italy. Nobody quite knows how -- some think the Sephardic Jews, expelled from Spain in 1492, could have brought it with them. Or maybe it made its way over with Eleanor of Toledo, who came to Florence when she married the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici, in 1539. Either way, by 1548, the tomato was to be found in Cosimo's botanical gardens in Pisa. But it wasn't yet on tables...The earliest recipe for tomato sauce was published in 1694, by Neapolitan chef Antonio Latini in his book "Lo Scalco alla Moderna" -- "The Modern Steward." "It mentions that if you mix onions, tomatoes and some herbs you get a very interesting sauce that can be used in all sorts of things on meat, especially boiled meat -- and things that aren't so tasty become more interesting with the acidity of the tomato," See “How Italians Made Tomatoes Their Essential Ingredient” (CNN Travel, 2021) 

• 6:48 - See the “Neopolitan pizza” Wikipedia entry and the website of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, an association set up in 1984 to preserve the Neapolitan pizza tradition

• 8:04 - Plato’s Theory of Forms (Wikipedia) - “...the physical world is not as real or true as timeless, absolute, unchangeable ideas. According to this theory, ideas in this sense, often capitalized and translated as "Ideas" or "Forms", are the non-physical essences of all things, of which objects and matter in the physical world are merely imitations.”

• 8:15 - For more on pizza styles see “Do You Know These Regional Pizza Styles?” (Serious Eats, 2018)

• 8:40 - See Adam Kuban’s current site, Famous Original Slice, and this profile from Serious Eats where he mentions, among other things, his pizza cognition theory

• 9:20 - Sergio’s Pizza and Restaurant in Hamden, CT

• 10:00 - See “Chefs Weigh In: Is Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Really Pizza?” (Eater, 2014), “Why Deep Dish Can't Be Considered Pizza in a Court of Law” (Thrillist, 2016), and the Wikipedia entry on Chicago-Style Pizza

• 11:50 - I now bake pizza on a baking steel that sits on top of a fibrament baking stone - the stone absorbs and retains a ton of heat and the steel is highly conductive so it transfers that heat into the bottom of the crust very efficiently making for a nicely crisp and browned bottom crust

• 12:10 - See “What Is a Controlled Experiment?” (ThoughtCo, 2019)

• 17:19 - Released in 1998, the dramatic war film The Thin Red Line is an adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War

• 17:53 - The Yale repertory Theatre

• 18:10 - Guinness Beer

• 18:50 - Daniel Kahneman

• 18:54 - See “How the Difference Between Your Experiencing Self and Your Remembering Self Shapes Your Happiness” (Brainpickings, 2011) and watch “Daniel Kahneman: The Riddle of Experience Vs. Memory” (TED, 2010)

• 19:02 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 14 - Talkin' Baseball Stories & Beautiful Illusions from May 2021

• 23:22 - See “Why do fatty foods taste so good?” (EarthSky, 2017) and “Human Perceptions and Preferences for Fat-Rich Foods” (Chapter 11 of Fat Detection, Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2010)

• 23:54 - See the Jimi Hendrix Wikipedia entry, bio from JimiHendrix.com, “Jimi Hendrix’ use of distortion to extend the performance vocabulary of the electric guitar” (Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1998), “100 Greatest Guitarist lists” from Rolling Stone (Hendrix comes in at #1) and Guitar World (Hendrix comes in at #2), and watch his legendary Woodstock performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” (YouTube)

• 25:21 - Watch Jimi Hendrix play acoustically and listen to an acoustic jam session from 1968

• 25:42 - See “Why You Shouldn't Use Effects When You Practice” (Guitar World, 2018)

• 25:53 - See the “Learning curve” Wikipedia entry

• 26:33 - Jimi Hendrix spent a number of years honing his skills as a professional musician backing up a number of US acts on the Chitlin Circuit during the early 60’s, but he eventually chafed at having to play the same sets every night and the many other musical restrictions associated with being a sideman. By 1966 he had moved into New York’s vibrant Greenwich Village music scene, however he did not have much initial success attempting to go his own way, and did not see any real recognition until arriving in London in the back half of 1966. Notably it was another guitarist, Keith Richards, who saw his early brilliance and eventually connected him with the London scene. Once there it was notables such as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Pete Townshend, many of whom were guitar masters themselves, that were among the first to truly recognize the nature of Hendrix’s innovations on the guitar, how he blended virtuosic playing with diverse styles and experimental tones, and they almost immediately recognized the impact it would have on themselves and the burgeoning rock scene of the mid to late sixties.

• 28:42 - Molecular gastronomy

• 28:53 - See “French Cooking: How and Why French Cooking Came to Rule the World” (Escoffier, 2021) and the “French Cuisine” Wikipedia entry

• 29:05 - See “Modern Art: History and Concepts” (The Art Story) and the “Modern Art” Wikipedia entry

• 29:40 - See “Pumpkin Spice Is Overrated and We Need to Talk About It” (Eating Well, 2019) and the “Pumpkin Pie Spice” Wikipedia entry

• 29:58 - See “Why do so many people find pineapple on pizza offensive?” (GoodFood, 2019) and the “Hawaiian Pizza” Wikipedia entry

• 32:29 - J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (official site) and bio from Serious Eats

• 33:06 - See “Hydration” (CraftyBaking) and “Pizza Dough Hydration Explained” (NA-Pizza)

• 36:50 - See “The Happiness Benefits of Trying New Things” (The Atlantic, 2021)

• 36:58 - See “Neophilia vs Neophobia - What's the difference?” (WikiDiff)

• 37:43 - See “Emotion Theory and Research: Highlights, Unanswered Questions, and Emerging Issues” (Annual Review of Psychology, 2009) by Caroll Izzard 

• 38:40 - The Big Five Personality Traits

• 40:37 - The Epic of Gilgamesh

• 40:48 - For more on the long history of bread see “14,000-Year-Old Piece Of Bread Rewrites The History Of Baking And Farming” (NPR, 2018), “Who Invented Bread?” (LiveScience, 2018), the “History of Bread” Wikipedia entry, “Why San Francisco does sourdough best” (BBC Travel, 2020), and “What Makes San Francisco Sourdough Unique?” (KQED, 2017)

• 42:50 - See “What is Challah?” (My Jewish Learning) and the “Rye Bread” Wikipedia entry

• 43:00 - Mastery Learning

• 43:09 - Zen

• 43:16 - Watch Mihaly Csikszentmihaly’s TED Talk “Flow, The Secret To Happiness”

• 46:18 - See “Stream Jimmy Montague’s horn-fueled, ’70s-inspired new album ‘Casual Use’” (Brooklyn Vegan, 2021) and visit the album’s Bandcamp page

• 47:50 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 02 - Our Back Pages from September 2020 where Jeff and Darron discuss their long-standing obsession with Bob Dylan

• 48:10 - See the “Electric Dylan Controversy” Wikipedia entry, “The Night Bob Dylan Went Electric” (History), “Dylan goes electric at The Newport Folk Festival” (History), “July 25, 1965: Dylan Goes Electric at The Newport Folk Festival” (Smithsonian), and “Revisit Bob Dylan’s electric performance at Newport Folk Festival 50 years later” (Consequence of Sound)

• 51:50 - See “Category Learning in the Brain” (Annual Review of Neuroscience, 2010) and “How the brain forms categories” (ScienceDaily, 2012)

• 52:35 - Postmodernism

• 54:25 - See the “Food and Drink Prohibitions” Wikipedia entry

• 54:35 - The new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009 and “our version” of Yankee Stadium was actually the renovated version of the original stadium built in 1923

• 55:09 - There are a few different designations for Italian food products, but the most stringent is the Denominazinone d’Origine Protetta, translated to Protected Designation of Origin, and abbreviated DOP. According to the Eataly website, “this designation guarantees that your favorite cheese, prosciutto, olive oil, etc., is produced, processed, and packaged in a specific geographical zone and according to tradition. Each step, from production to packaging, is regulated”, and this matters simply because “beyond saving ancient traditions, the product actually tastes better. It's true. There is a reason why Prosciutto Toscano DOP is made with pigs raised in the hills of a set zone and grazed on local grasses, then cured at precise temperatures with a secret recipe of local herbs: the prosciutto tastes delicious. It tasted delicious centuries ago, when the methods were defined and perfected, it tastes delicious today, and it is guaranteed to taste delicious in centuries to come.” And furthermore that “The need for guaranteed authentic products began in the mid-1900s, when Italy's food and wine producers found themselves in trouble. As "Italian cuisine" gained popularity in the U.S. and abroad, the market was flooded with low-quality, knock-off olive oil, cheese, prosciutto, and wine, all sold under the guise of the high-quality products they mimicked. To protect its culinary reputation, Italy worked with the European Union to create legal certifications that encourage food and wine producers to focus on quality, tradition, and reliability. To earn the labels, producers must adhere to a strict set of guidelines, overseen by the government.” For more see “A Guide to Italian Certifications” (Eataly) and “DOP Foods of Italy: What They Are, and How to Find Them” (Walks of Italy)

• 56:55 - See the “Neopolitan pizza” Wikipedia entry and the website of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, an association set up in 1984 to preserve the Neapolitan pizza tradition and their 14-page document outlining the requirements for certification

• 59:38 - See the “Carbonara” Wikipedia entry, “Watch Michelin-Starred Chefs Cook Carbonara” (Fine Dining Lovers, 2017), “Smoky Tomato Carbonara” (New York Times, 2021), “'Stop this madness': NYT angers Italians with 'smoky tomato carbonara' recipe” (The Guardian, 2021), “New York Times’ Tomato Carbonara Recipe (Rightly) Causes International Incident” (The Daily Beast, 2021), and predating the more recent controversy “Italian Icons: Carbonara, a Squabble Recipe” (Find Dining Lovers, 2015) and “Carbonara Purists Can’t Stop the Pasta Revolution” (The New Yorker, 2016)

• 1:01:09 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 06 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics from November 2020 and Beautiful Illusions Episode 13 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics Part 2: Just the Facts from April 2021

• 1:01:15 - James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketcham

• 1:01:48 - See the “David Hume” Wikipedia entry and “Hume and Madison on Faction” (The William and Mary Quarterly, 2002)

• 1:02:10 - Madison lays out his views on a large diverse republic in Federalist No. 10, see the Wikipedia entry as well 

• 1:03:00 - See “Aristotle’s Ethics: The Doctrine of the Mean” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

• 1:05:15 - Loss aversion

• 1:07:45 - See “The Jefferson Dinner” (JeffersonDinner.org)

• 1:07:50 - Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain byLisa Feldman Barrett

Episode 14 - Talkin' Baseball Stories & Beautiful Illusions

Jeff and Darron have a casual conversation about the beautiful illusion of baseball. They talk about their own experiences centered around the narrative of baseball as something passed from father to son, delve a bit into the myth and magic on offer through baseball history, discuss the dissonance they both experience at times being Yankee fans, and tell a lot of personal stories about going to games. Jeff describes how his engagement with the narrative of baseball has changed over time, and Darron talks about how through the years he somehow still manages to buy into the naive magical view of the National Pastime. It’s a relatively loose, fun conversation that leaves a lot on the table for future exploration.

Notes:

• 2:19 - The Yankees beat the Indians 1-0 in Game 3 of the 2017 American League Division Series, see “2017 American League Division Series (ALDS) Game 3, Indians at Yankees” (Baseball Reference) and 2017 ALDS Game 3 Highlights

• 2:38 - Gleyber Torres 

• 2:56 - StubHub

• 3:25 - Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees Box Score, August 2, 2019

• 3:34 - Yankee Stadium

• 3:36 - We always park at the Harlem River North Lot, exit 6 off of I-87S (The Major Deegan Expressway)

• 3:55 - It was Adam Ottavino 

• 4:18 - James Paxton

• 4:52 - Watch Gleyber Torres' Grand Slam vs Red Sox | August 2, 2019

• 5:28 - Torres' grand slam leads Yankees to a 4-2 win | Red Sox-Yankees Game Highlights 8/2/19 (YouTube)

• 8:50 - Written in 1908, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is the baseball anthem traditionally sung during the 7th inning stretch -  listen to a 1908 recording and watch legendary Cubs announcer Harry Caray famously lead the singing at Wrigley Field

• 9:18 - See “New York Yankees Team History & Encyclopedia” from Baseball Reference, the “History of the New York Yankees” Wikipedia entry, or the “New York Yankees” entry from Baseball Almanac

• 9:26 - See “Yankees in the ‘70s” from baseball writer and historian Marty Appel

• 9:33 - Mickey Rivers, Graig Nettles, Ron Guidry, and Thurman Munson

• 9:45 - Thurman Munson, an avid amateur pilot, died on August 2, 1979 attempting to land his personal plane and crashing short of the runway - see “8/02/1979 - Thurman Munson dies in crash” (SBNation, 2010), “40 years on, Thurman Munson's death remains one of sports' most stunning moments” (Yahoo! Sports, 2019), and “Remembering the Great Thurman Munson 40 Years After His Tragic Death” (How They Play, 2020)

• 9:48 - Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson

• 10:05 - Watch Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson almost come to blows in the dugout at Fenway Park after Martin pulled Jackson from the game, which the Red Sox won 10-4, see “June 18, 1977: When Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin clashed at Fenway” (Sporting News, 2019) and “New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox Box Score, June 18, 1977” (Baseball Reference)

• 10:52 - Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford, CT, home of the Yard Goats

• 11:11 - See “Three Movements in New Retro Ballpark Construction” (Ballpark Ratings)

• 11:22 - Thimble Island Brewing Company

• 14:44 - The Red Sox beat the Yankees 11-0 on Saturday September 6, 2003 at Yankee Stadium, see “Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees Box Score, September 6, 2003” (Baseball Reference)

• 16:05 - The Yankees didn’t trade for Jason Giambi, they signed him to a seven-year, $120 million dollar free agent contract in December of 2001, see “Giambi tops Yankees' arsenal of new additions” (ESPN, 2001)

• 16:18 - The Yankees traded Alfonso Soriano for Alex Rodriguez in February of 2004, see “Trades Of The Decade: A-Rod For Soriano” (MLB Trade Rumors, 2009) and “The great A-Rod trade robbery” (Bronx Pinstripes, 2020)

• 16:34 - Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992 and was innovative and influential for being the first of the “retro” style ballparks that , see “Three Movements in New Retro Ballpark Construction” (Ballpark Ratings)

• 16:40 - Eutaw Street

• 16:50 - Watch Ken Griffey Jr. hit the B&O Warehouse in the 1993 MLB All-Star Homerun Derby and see “Home Run Derby hero Ken Griffey Jr. is still the only player to ever homer off the Camden Yards warehouse” (as of 2018, at according to MLB.com)

• 16:59 - Legendary Oriole first basemen Boog Powell’s Boog’s BBQ has been an iconic food venue at Camden Yards since it opened in 1992, see “Boog’s BBQ: 25 Years and Still Cookin’ - The beloved first baseman’s BBQ stand has been a hit since the first Opening Day at Camden Yards in 1992.” (Baltimore Magazine, 2017)

• 18:05 - See the “Bleacher Creatures” Wikipedia entry

• 20:06 - Of the 30 Major League ballparks in use today, Boston’s Fenway Park is the oldest. It opened the same week the Titanic sunk in 1912, and Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, opened two years later in 1914. For reference, the next oldest currently operating park is Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962, and 25 of the 30 current MLB parks have been built since 1989. For more info see Wikipedia’s list of current Major League Baseball stadiums and the slightly out of date article “MLB Ballparks, From Oldest to Newest” (Ballpark Digest, 2017)

• 20:46 - See “The Steroids Era” (ESPN, 2012) and the Wikipedia entry on “doping in baseball”, also check out what is shaping up to be an excellent podcast summation of the era, Crushed from Religion of Sports

• 20:47 - Mark McGwire

• 20:53 - Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961 breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 60 set in 1927, watch the 61st homer with call by the former Yankee shortstop and legendary broadcaster Phil Rizzuto , and see “Roger Maris Breaks the Home Run Record” (History) or “61 Home Runs by Roger Maris” (Baseball Almanac)

• 21:07 - See the “1998 Major League Baseball home run record chase” Wikipedia entry and “The McGwire-Sosa home run chase helped make 1998 one of MLB's wildest seasons ever” (ESPN, 2020)

• 21:10 - The Yankees beat the Red Sox 3-2 at Fenway Park on September 8, 1998, see “New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox Box Score, September 8, 1998” (Baseball Reference)

• 21:44 - Watch Mark McGwire’s 62nd homer of 1998

• 22:53 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 09 - Lying About Santa: Naughty or Nice? from December 2020

• 23:32 - The funny thing about this story is that despite Jeff remembering it this way and actually having the story triggered in his memory by my previous story, I was not in fact with Sal at this game, nor was Sal there at all with anyone. I was with my dad, one of my brothers, and a different friend, and Sal was watching at home. I actually spent a bunch of time texting various people one morning to confirm this was indeed the case and didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole when we were recording this live, but when I did eventually tell Jeff a few days later, even though he didn’t doubt it he had a hard time incorporating the new information into his version of events, which is in and of itself an interesting example of how memory is a construction and not a snapshot, and is highly susceptible to unconscious alteration as we remember things again and again over the years. We have no real way to identify when our brain has done this, and we often feel the memories we have are completely accurate. 

• 24:35 - Derek Jeter

• 24:38 - The Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-4 in 13 innings at Yankee Stadium on Thursday July 1, 2004, this game is notable for being the famous “Jeter In The Stands” game, and is undoubtedly one of the best Yankees vs Red Sox regular season games of all time, see “July 1, 2004: Best regular season win” (Bronx Pinstripes), “Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees Box Score, July 1, 2004” (Baseball Reference), and watch the Yankees rally and win in the bottom of the 13th

• 28:02 - Hideki Matsui

• 28:08 - The 2003 Yankees home opener vs the Minnesota Twins scheduled to be played on Monday April 7, was postponed due to snow and played on Tuesday April 8, the temperature was a balmy 35° at first pitch, the Yankees won 7-3, and Hideki Matsui hit a memorable grand slam in his first game at Yankee Stadium, see “Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees Box Score, April 8, 2003” (Baseball Reference)

• 28:30 - Watch the Yankees rally and win in the bottom of the 13th vs the Red Sox on July 1, 2004

• 28:38 - Manny Ramirez

• 28:45 - Ruben Sierra

• 28:50 - John Flaherty

• 29:17 - See image at bottom of post which was indeed created using Microsoft Paint

• 29:37 - Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks

• 31:27 - The Diamondbacks came back in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Yankees 3-2 in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, see the winning hit by Luis Gonzalez off of future Hall of Famer, greatest closer of all time, and absolute Yankee legend Mariano Rivera

• 31:57 -Watch “...the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat…”

• 32:08 - See “Baseball History, American History and You” (National Baseball Hall of Fame) and “The National Pastime” (Our Game MLB Blog)

• 32:20 - Field of Dreams (1989)

• 33:05 - Watch James Earl Jones in his role as Terence Mann reciting one of the most famous monologues in movie history from 1989’s Field of Dreams, and while you’re at it watch Ray have a catch with his dad, just because...

• 33:22 - Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams

• 33:28 - Shoeless Joe Jackson and the “Black Sox” Scandal

• 33:31 - Jackie Robinson and the breaking of the color barrier (History)

• 33:35 - See “Baseball in World War II” (Baseball in Wartime)

• 34:06 - See “Why are Sportswriters Whitewashing Baseball’s Dark Secrets?” (The Daily Beast, 2018)

• 34:16 - Mickey Mantle

• 34:33 - See “The Legend of Mickey Mantle” (American Heritage, 2019), and with an extreme grain of salt see “Mickey Mantle’s 10 Longest Home Runs” (TheMick.com)

• 34:40 - See “Time in a Bottle” by Mickey Mantle recounting his struggles with alcoholism from the April 1994 issue of Sports Illustrated

• 36:39 - It’s no accident that today we view Ruth and the early legends of baseball as more gods than men. Aside from being far removed in time, the role of sports journalism and the relationship of sportswriters to players has evolved over time as well. In the first half of the 20th century writers often traveled with the team and ran in the same social circles, in an era before television and easy access to sports through mass media, these men were incentivized to create a mythical greatness around the sport and its heroes, and that’s exactly what they did. In a 2010 article in Sports Illustrated adapted from her Mickey Mantle biography The Last Boy, baseball writer and journalist Jane Leavy writes “The sportswriters’ unstated code of honor was to look the other way. The writers traveled, ate and drank with the team. Their tab was often paid by the team. “You couldn’t write one word of it, the debauchery,” said Jack Lang, the longtime executive secretary of the Baseball Writers Association of America. “It wasn’t just liquor. It was the women.” She goes on to recount a tale from writer John Drebinger, who wrote the lead story for the New York Times for every World Series game from 1929 to 1963, as told to legendary boxing writer Bert Sugar - “Drebby, as his colleagues called him, regaled Sugar with a tale from an overnight train trip with Babe Ruth’s Yankees. “The writers had their own car, and dinner had been served,” Sugar recounted. “They’d cleared the tables, and they’d just dealt out a hand of bridge when the door to the back of the car flew open, and Babe Ruth ran down the aisle naked. And about 10 feet behind him a woman, equally naked, with a knife in her hand, comes running out! And Drebby says one of the guys looks up from the table and says, ‘Well, that’s another story we won’t cover!'”” This began to change throughout the 50’s and by the 70’s reporting on sports and it’s biggest stars, warts and all, by a slowly diversifying set of voices was becoming the norm that continues through today. Long gone are the days of writers and players enjoying easy access to one another’s personal lives, similar incentives, and mutual reasons to construct myths at the expense of hard truths, and the evolution of mass media and communication technology has made this type of construction a near impossibility regardless. For today’s superstar athletes, the fall is merely one Tweet away, and everyone is always watching. Writing about Mantle in the 50’s Leavy says he was “the Last Boy in the last decade ruled by boys, when it was O.K. to laugh at them for being themselves, and O.K. not to know and O.K. to forgive what you did know.” Although Ruth and Mantle had similar skeletons in their closet, Ruth was long gone by the time this change took hold, allowing him to escape relatively unscathed, but Mantle played the end of his career and lived his entire life after in a very different media world. 

• 41:52 - Bob Gibson

• 42:14 - After the 1968 season, which is now referred to as the “Year of the Pitcher,” baseball lowered the pitcher’s mound from a maximum of 15 inches to 10 inches, decreased the size of the strike zone, and became more vigilant about pitcher’s doctoring balls. Gibson gets a lot of the press here, and deservedly so, for his amazing 1.12 ERA over 34 starts, still the lowest in modern baseball history, he was actually one of 7 starters with a sub 2 ERA that season, the majors set a record for lowest league batting average (.237) and on-base percentage (.299), and entire teams struggled to hit and score runs. The changes were largely seen as correction to an imbalance that was causing offenses to sputter and exasperating fans and were largely effective, as the average runs scored per game increased from 6.84 in ‘68 to 8.14 in ‘69, so while it may be a myth that the mound was lowered because of Bob Gibson alone, he certainly played an outsized role in a unique baseball year. See “After 1968’s ‘Year of the Pitcher,’ MLB lowered the mound. Now, the league could do it again.” (Washington Post, 2019) and “Four stats that showed why baseball had to lower the mound after 1968” (Cut4, MLB.com)

• 43:27 - The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Henrich

• 43:32 - Listen to Mindscape Episode 128 - Joe Henrich on the Weirdness of the West from January 2021

• 44:05 - See “The cultural niche: Why social learning is essential for human adaptation” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012), “A cultural species: How culture drove human evolution” (American Psychological Association, 2011), and “How Culture Drove Human Evolution” (Edge, 2012)

• 44:08 - See “One Thing Humans Are Better Than Other Species At: Throwing” (Smithsonian Magazine, 2014)

• 44:42 - Watch “Why chimps don’t play baseball” (Nature YouTube Channel)

• 48:00 - The New York Giants

• 48:11 - UConn basketball

• 48:49 - Baseball Reference

• 49:00 - Tony Gwynn

• 50:09 - See “Stats to Avoid: Batting Average” (FanGraphs) and “Stat to the Future: Why it's time to stop relying on batting average” (Sporting News)

• 50:16 - See “State of Analytics: How the Movement Has Forever Changed Baseball – For Better or Worse” (Stats Perform) and “Statistics ruined baseball by perfecting it” (The Conversation, 2019)

• 54:02 - The new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009

• 55:40 - “My version” of Yankee Stadium was actually the renovated version of the original stadium built in 1923

• 56:53 - Lou Gherig

• 59:43 - Hamilton (the movie version)

• 1:00 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 06 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics from November 2020 and Episode 13 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics Part 2: Just the Facts from April 2020

• 1:00:30 - Little League Baseball

• 1:00:45 - The Little League World Series

• 1:01:05 - Watch Trumbull, CT win the 1989 Little League World Series by beating Taiwan, 5-2

• 1:03:58 - Gary Sanchez

Made with love using Windows Paint…

Episode 09 - Lying About Santa: Naughty or Nice?

Darron and Jeff talk about the somewhat contentious issue of lying to kids about Santa Claus - why do we do it and what are some possible impacts that encouraging belief in fiction as fact might have on both individuals and the larger culture? They discuss ways adults view the world and relate to kids, the changing nature of cultural traditions, and how we might handle the Santa story in a different way. Stick around after the main show for a special interview with BI's first ever guest, Darron's daughter Lia, who shares some of her thoughts about Santa Claus.

*A note about the audio in this episode - due to COVID this conversation was recorded in a large garage on a brisk 40 degree November Sunday, so there’s a bit of natural reverb, along with the buzz of propane heaters and leaf blowers audible in the background. Like so many things over the past 9 months, it’s not optimal, but we make the best of a challenging situation, and the cleaned up audio is certainly listenable, if not quite up to BI's usual standards.*

Notes:

• 2:09 - The Elf on the Shelf

• 2:24 - Listen to “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” as performed by Bing Crosby (YouTube video) and read about the history of the song and the lyrics

• 3:28 - See “Let’s Bench the Elf on the Shelf” (Psychology Today, 2012) or “You’re a Creepy One, Elf on the Shelf” (The Atlantic, 2012)

• 4:45 - Magical realism

• 10:20 - Hanukkah

• 11:07 - The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

• 13:17 - Menorah

• 13:58 - See the Magical thinking Wikipedia entry and “Why Everyone Believes in Magic (Even You)” (Live Science, 2012) and “Do You Believe in Magic?” (New York Times, 2007) and “All Paths Lead to Magical Thinking” (Psychology Today, 2013)

• 16:02 - See “Cognitive and Social Skills to Expect From 6 to 10 Years” (American Psychological Association) 

• 16:08 - See “Should parents lie to kids about Santa Claus? We asked the experts.” (Popular Science, 2019) which draws on the opinions of philosophy professor David Kyle Johnson and psychology professor Cyndy Scheibe

• 16:32 - Jean Piaget 

• 16:48 - According to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, “The concrete operational stage is the third stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This stage, which follows the preoperational stage, occurs between the ages of 7 and 11 (middle childhood and preadolescence) years, and is characterized by the appropriate use of logic. During this stage, a child's thought processes become more mature and "adult like". They start solving problems in a more logical fashion.”

• 18:15 - See “What should I tell my kids about Santa?” (BBC, 2018) or “What psychologists really think about you lying to your kids about Santa” (Washington Post, 2016) or “Should parents lie to children about Santa?” (EurekAlert, 2016)

• 21:04 - See “Against the Santa Lie” which is a blog post by David Kyle Johnson that contains the hate mail he received based on his Op-Ed piece “SORRY, VIRGINIA…” (Baltimore Sun, 2009)

• 22:46 - See “How the Bagel Became the Most Famous Jewish Food” and “What Is Lox?” (My Jewish Learning) 

• 31:51 - See “Santa Claus: Real Origins & Legend” (History.com) and “From St. Nicholas to Santa Claus: the surprising origins of Kris Kringle” (National Geographic)

• 32:07 - See the Saint Nicholas and Sinterklaas Wikipedia entries - Santa Claus evolved from Dutch traditions regarding Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas, a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, and patron saint of children). When the Dutch established the colony of New Amsterdam, they brought the legend and traditions of Sinterklaas with them.

• 3:47 - The Protestant Reformation

• 3:12 - Krampus

• 33:33 - Originally published anonymously on December 23, 1823, the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore, changed Santa from a figure who was, until that time, traditionally depicted as a thinner, less jolly, horse-riding disciplinarian, a combination of mythologies about the British Father Christmas, the Dutch Sinterklaas, and the fourth-century bishop Saint Nicholas, into the cheerfully chubby, magical, gift-giver, complete with his eight reindeer, with whom we are now well acquainted. Moore claimed authorship of the poem, which is popularly known today as “Twas the night before Christmas” in 1836, but this claim is now in question and many believe the author was actually the writer Henry Livingston. 

• 33:38 - Using imagery from the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” the famous political cartoonist Thomas Nast is credited with creating the first illustrations of Santa as we know him today. In total, 33 of Nast’s Santa drawings were published in Harper’s Weekly from 1863  to 1886. In addition to his Santa contributions, Nast’s drawings of Uncle Sam, the Republican Party elephant, and the Democratic Party donkey, among others, are widely credited as forming the basis of popular depictions used today. For more see “A Civil War Cartoonist Created the Modern Image of Santa Claus as Union Propaganda” (Smithsonian Magazine, 2018) and “The Man, the Myth, the Legend: Thomas Nast’s Santa Claus” (Daily Art Magazine, 2019)

• 36:10 - Trivial Pursuit

• 36:44 - For the complete history of Rudolph see “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (History.com)

• 36:54 - The “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” TV special was created by Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment and released in 1964, and although it is at this point undoubtedly considered a Christmas classic, it is not universally beloved as some of its plot points and themes are questionable by today’s social standards. For more on this perspective see “Don’t Subject Your Kids to Rudolph” (The Atlantic, 2020). To hear the noise his nose makes, check out this video. 

• 37:11 - Listen to “Run, Rudolph, Run” by Chuck Berry (YouTube video)

• 38:35 - The Christmas window, a special window display designed for the Christmas shopping season, is a tradition established by Macy’s who debuted an animated shop window in 1883 - For more info and pictures see “Holiday Windows - The Wonders of Christmas Holiday Windows” (Victoriana Magazine)

• 40:52 - Capitalism, consumerism, and consumer capitalism

• 41:25 - See “Gift exchange” (Britannica) - “Gift exchange may be distinguished from other types of exchange in several respects: the first offering is made in a generous manner and there is no haggling between donor and recipient; the exchange is an expression of an existing social relationship or of the establishment of a new one that differs from impersonal market relationships; and the profit in gift exchange may be in the sphere of social relationships and prestige rather than in material advantage” - and “The History and Complexities of Gift Giving” (Reporter Magazine from the Rochester Institute of Technology) 

• 45:06 - See the Feast of the Seven Fishes Wikipedia entry or “An Eye-Opening Look at the Feast of the Seven Fishes” (Saveur Magazine, 2018) or “The Origin of the Feast of the Seven Fishes” (Eataly)

• 45:56 - Listen to “The Two Cultures” episode of the the Context podcast from November 2018

• 46:08 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 04 “Too Cultured”

• 48:30 - See “Is It OK To Lie About Santa And The Tooth Fairy?” (NPR, 2019)

• 52:50 - Google Santa Tracker

Darron and Jeff talk about the somewhat contentious issue of lying to kids about Santa Claus - why do we do it and what are some possible impacts that encouraging belief in fiction as fact might have on both individuals and the larger culture?