Hello there, fine folks of the SYSK nation. I hope everyone had a stellar week – I know Dr. Clark and I have. Let’s carry that into the weekend, shall we?

This week on our little podcast, we covered a couple of topics that couldn’t be more different — Agent Orange and competitive eating contests.

Agent Orange on Tuesday was a good one – we actually recorded it a long time ago, but it got lost in the shuffle somehow. We were psyched to cover it because it afforded us the opportunity to talk about The Vietnam War, a topic we both find fascinating. The U.S. dumped a bunch of Agent Orange in the jungles of Vietnam and the price was high — the civilians of Vietnam and the American soldiers who dumped it suffered some pretty nasty health complications. Candace and Jane of Stuff You Missed in History Class also podcasted on this back in February, and I’d encourage you all to check that one out as well for another angle on the matter — it’s a good one.

Yesterday we were able to get through a show on competitive eating without throwing up. These contests are pretty nasty and it inspired Josh to tell a gross story of his own from his college days. I just want to go ahead and apologize for that right now. We also delved into the dark side of competitive eating — encouraging gluttony and bulimia. Harmless fun or the wrong message? You decide.

Thanks to Dr. Kodachrome for his contribution this week – no tie to the show, but who can resist us as part of a band of rifle-toting nuns?

Have a great weekend, people. Chime in about the show if you feel inspired, and as always, thanks for listening.

Read read, good for your heart:
How Agent Orange Worked
How Competitive Eating Works
Is the brain hardwired for religion?