Moon Rocks Taste Better When Sunny Runs The Board

We jump from a NASA Artemis moon-launch update to Friday the 13th history, then flip the superstition into a reminder to be grateful you made it through. Along the way we share weather snapshots, storm and war concerns we’re praying over, a childlike joy story, why smell matters for health, and the weird emotional crash that can follow a big creative win. 
• catching up from our Southern Illinois studio and talking shop on projects going sideways 
• rebuilding the garage ham radio setup and dealing with computer memory issues 
• reacting to NASA Artemis launch timing and the reality of delays 
• tracing Friday the 13th superstition through Christian history, Norse myth, and the Knights Templar 
• reframing “bad luck” as survival and perspective 
• running quick Weather Channel check-ins across Illinois, Spokane, Australia, and Phoenix 
• asking listeners to reach out through the website, email, or the podcast player text link 
• sharing tornado aftermath updates and urging awareness and prayer 
• reflecting on Iran strikes and keeping a bigger spiritual view of life 
• reading a story about an imaginary snowball fight and choosing joy on purpose 
• discussing loss of smell as a health signal and a quality-of-life issue after COVID 
• unpacking “creative hangover” and the post-project emotional drop 
• closing with earthquakes, sunspots, solar wind, and aurora watch notes 

Transcript

Welcome And Local Life Updates

Capella 0:00

The launch is on. Welcome to the ugly quacking duck. We like to joke that we're the worst podcast in the unknown universe, but we're pretty sure that's just our charm. We're here to offer a different perspective on the things you see every day, moving away from the usual noise to bring a little more light, perspective, and an uplifting spirit into your routine. Life is plenty heavy as it is, so we're just here to help you find a reason to smile. Thanks for stopping by.

Bruce 0:27

Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the Ugly Quacking Duck Podcast. We're glad to have you aboard. I am Bruce.

Sunny 0:36

And I am Sunny. Welcome everybody. If you're from Southern Illinois, welcome neighbor.

Bruce 0:46

And as far as that goes, if you're from anywhere in the United States, anywhere in the world, anywhere in the known universe, welcome, neighbor. We're glad to have you.

Sunny 0:59

Ooh, I like the way you said that. I bet you won't be able to remember it for the next episode.

Bruce 1:05

Well, you're probably right, Sunny, but you know how that is. How you been doing?

Sunny 1:11

I've been doing pretty good. Uh it's kind of been cool but warm, but very wet.

Bruce 1:20

Oh yeah, very wet. It's been something else. Uh we had uh rain, heavy rain, uh for quite a while uh last week and this week, and it's supposed to you ready for it? Supposed to snow, they're saying uh Monday, m maybe Monday afternoon, I'm not really sure, but I know it's supposed to get cold. And by the way, we are recording this episode. This is episode 140.

Sunny 1:52

You did say episode 140?

Bruce 1:56

I did. I did say that, and we are there.

Sunny 2:00

Oh boy, you can't even count.

Bruce 2:04

Hey, watch it, turkey.

Sunny 2:07

I am not a turkey. You don't even know what I really am, do ya?

Bruce 2:13

Well, nope, I probably don't, so there you go. Uh I'm hitting pretty hard, so if it's a little bit too loud, folks, let me turn it down just a hair. Hey, there we go. That's that's better. It's not killing your ears now, hopefully. But we are on episode 140, and we welcome everybody. We are recording in our southern Illinois studio. Yep, the hidden studio in our location. Not too hidden.

Sunny 2:50

Well I'd say not, but uh yeah, it is in southern Illinois. You got that part right.

Bruce 2:57

Well, thank you. I'm glad I got something right.

Sunny 3:00

Well you oughta be. How you been doing this week?

Bruce 3:04

Well, not too bad. I've actually been off a little bit more than normal this week, so I got a lot of projecting done and a lot of problems occurred. I fixed one thing and something else broke, I tell you, it was one of those weeks.

Sunny 3:24

Oh, that's everybody's life, Bruce. Don't worry, everybody knows what you're talking about.

Reclaiming Old Radio Studio

Bruce 3:32

Well, thank you, Sunny, once again. But yeah, I had uh several days off in the middle of the week. This is the last one, you know, and I got to go in for the weekends. It seems like I I'm their weekend guy. Uh anyway, uh yeah, we um spent a lot of time doing some stuff, and we actually got to work on our radio equipment. We um tried to reclaim our garage studio where we used to do our podcasting recording, and I had a ham station out there. So we tried to set the uh old Yay Zoo FT950 up out there. Uh my computer's down, so I can't put the SDR on it. Um so I'm gonna have to get that worked on. I got some kind of memory problem. It's glitching out after it starts. It fires up like it's gonna run, and then it goes, nope, there's a memory issue, so I'm gonna have to take it apart, try to get it going again, and uh that way I can hook my SDR back up to that old 950. But anyway, I got that done so I can actually radio FT8 into um the computer in here in the studio, and then if I want to do some DX, I got the amp out there and my tuner out there so the the real serious DXing can happen out there.

Sunny 5:10

That sounds complicated, Bruce. I'm glad you went on that rant because I had time to think about how silly you are.

Bruce 5:20

Hey, what's that mean? What do you mean silly?

Sunny 5:24

I mean silly, but hey, I like it, and that's all that counts, right?

Bruce 5:31

Uh I guess. I'm not even sure how to take that. Uh what do you got going on this week? Why are you being this way?

Sunny 5:41

Because it's fun and I can and besides that, I'm trying to put together a new personality that everybody can look at and go woo woo.

Bruce 5:57

Uh, that sounds more like a train. I don't think people are gonna like that personality, but who am I to stand in your way? Make a fool of yourself.

Sunny 6:06

Hey. Okay, let's go on with the podcast episode.

Bruce 6:14

I thought we were going on.

Sunny 6:18

Oh my gosh, we've reversed rows.

Bruce 6:22

Yeah, we have. Uh totally reversal. Anyway, one more time. This is Bruce. Welcome to the episode 140.

Sunny 6:36

And I am Sunny. Welcome to the Ugly Quacking Duck Podcast. Thanks for showing up. Thanks for sticking with us. We're glad to have you here.

Bruce 6:49

Okay. Yes, we are very glad. Thank you very much for being here today. And Sunny, you snuck in there and done the um the initial statement. That's what we're gonna call that. Initial statement. What do you mean lunch is on? Lunch ain't on. It's not lunchtime.

Sunny 7:11

No, I did not say lunch is on. I said launch. L A U N C H. Launch is on.

Bruce 7:25

Oh, okay. Well, what launch are you talking about?

Artemis Moon Rocket And Delays

Sunny 7:34

Well, I'll tell you, Bruce, I'm talking about the Artemis. They're talking about launching it. You wanna hear it? I got the probe recorded and it's from NASA. AP has it.

Bruce 7:52

Alright, you caught by using your probe the AP News and it has NASA on it. Is that what you're saying?

Sunny 8:01

Yes, sir. That's it. Let's play it.

Bruce 8:05

I knew I was gonna be in trouble when I let you have the controls. All right, we're gonna play it. Folks, this is the AP News um video, and it's talking about NASA's Artemis.

Speaker 8:19

At the conclusion of the FRR, all the teams pulled Go to launch and fly Artemis II around the moon, pending completion of some of the work before we roll out to the launch pad. It's a test flight, and it is not without risk, but our team and our hardware are ready. We are planning to roll out to the pad, back out to the pad, uh targeting next week. Uh, and then once we get back out to the pad, we'll configure for launch. Pending completion of the work in the VAB and at the pad, uh we are on track for a launch as early as April 1st. Just keep in mind we still have work to go. There are still things that need to be done within the VAB and out at the pad. And as always, we'll always be guided by what the hardware is telling us, and we will launch when we're ready.

Bruce 9:16

Well, well, well, there you go. We have it straight from the horse's mouth. And they are gonna go to the moon, or at least around the moon. And the le the launch, good grief got tongue-tied, is supposed to take place around April the first. Uh the article I had pulled up actually said Thursday, which is uh April the second. So uh they didn't want to do it on April the Fool's Day, I guess. Uh or was they planning on doing it, and then all of a sudden they have problems again. I don't know. I'm starting to not trust this agency. What do you think about that, Sunny?

Sunny 10:06

I think you called it the last time, and we'll wait and see. So they said around April the first. So that that's April Fool's Day. You may have it again.

Bruce 10:23

Yep, but if they do get it launched, that thing is a three hundred and twenty two foot rocket. That's a big mama. And they're gonna jump it with some four astronauts, I believe that's what's the count, and they're gonna fly it around the moon and back. We'll see what happens after that or if it gets to happen. However, there was some technological problems they had to deal with, some repairs, so they think they got that fixed. And if it works, they'll be able to launch. But if it doesn't, they'll have to stand down until the end of April or early May. So that's what they was talking about the last time I mentioned the holdout that they was talking about in May. So we'll see what happens. Yay.

Sunny 11:25

So Bruce, what is this day that everybody thinks is very unlucky? Uh you've been talking about it and laughing, and I'm just wondering exactly what is it?

Bruce 11:42

Well, Sunny, um it's uh Friday the thirteenth, and that happens to be the day that we are recording. Uh we're recording from the studio, um, sometimes broadcasting at the same time, but right now we're just recording on Friday the thirteenth, which is uh today. Yep. And it's turned into afternoon, and um it is a very unlucky day if you talk to many people. A lot of people believe that um bad luck just happens to attack you on that day.

Sunny 12:26

Bad luck, you say, Bruce. Bad luck attacks. Is that what you said?

Bruce 12:34

That is what I said. Yep, Friday 13th, a lot of people don't want to go out of the house on that day, and they really don't want to do they do certain things, some rituals to kind of offset the bad luck.

Sunny 12:53

Really? Alright, where does that stem from?

Bruce 12:58

Well, to be honest, that comes from a lot of things that's happened in the past, and um let's go over that.

Sunny 13:07

Alright, let's do it.

Bruce 13:10

Okay. So Friday 13th has been a date for a long time that's been regarded as a symbol of bad luck and superstition. And nobody knows exactly where that's come from. Um historians have traced the belief to Christian and Norse traditions, linking it to uh Judas, Isacart or Isachariat, however you say that. Uh the th that was the um the Last Supper, and that was Judas was the one that betrayed Jesus. Now Jesus invited twelve disciples and Judas, uh, which was a disciple. So let's tune in to thestatesman.com, which has a little article on it, and they have went and looked it up on history.com and it says thirteen guests attended the Last Supper, where Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles dined the day before his crucifixion on Good Friday. The thirteenth guest, Judas, betrayed Jesus. That's one of the things they believe that sparked a superstition and the bad luck to dine with thirteen people at the table. So that's another, you know, superstition. Also, uh there's a combined belief that Jesus died on a Friday, the date that took on an ominous meaning in Christian history.

Sunny 14:52

All right, so we have a little bit of true history backing up the superstition.

Bruce 15:00

Pretty much, yeah. That's usually what happens. You have something truthful that happens and it creates a fear or a um superstition that goes right along with it. Good example. You guys watched Captain Marvel and um the Marvel movies and stuff, right? Well, you remember Loki in the movies? This is not about him. This is about Loki in the Norse tradition in North Norse mythology, um Loki is said to have arrived as a thirteenth guest at a feast in Valhalla bringing chaos and death. So they say that meanwhile twelve twelve is often seen as a number of completeness completeness. I need to talk properly.

unknown 16:02

I can't talk. I can't talk.

Bruce 16:05

Twelve months in a year, twelve zodiac signs, thirteen day or no, wait a minute, twelve days of Christmas, making thirteen feel like an unsettling disruption.

Sunny 16:18

Wait a minute, Bruce. I got something to say about that twelve and especially the twelve months in a year.

Bruce 16:26

Oh really? Well, share your thoughts.

Sunny 16:30

All right, I will. Um there's twelve months in a year according to our year, but that's because we've adopted that other calendar. Wasn't there thirteen months in a year on some of the other calendars?

Bruce 16:51

I do believe you're right. Maybe that's why they changed it because everybody was being superstitious. Or maybe there's something too thirteen and they've tried to make us believe in our minds that it's bad, so we won't realize thirteen is actually important. Um thirteen months in a year. I think somebody may actually said there's thirteen zodiac signs instead of twelve.

Sunny 17:22

There you go. See, they're lying to you guys. Think about it.

Bruce 17:29

Well, that's not proof they're lying, but that is proof that there may be something more to the story than what we are being told. Anyhow, that's uh a lot of the superstition, and then there's another part which over time uh particularly uh let's see, the Knights of the Templar on Friday, October the thirteenth, thirteen oh seven, which some historians say further semen of the days of unlucky reputation, that's when they mass arrested the knights and killed many more. Yeah. Guys remember that story? The Knights Templar was betrayed by the king and destroyed. They had to run and hide. Yeah, that was uh on thirteen too.

Sunny 18:27

There you go. Another thirteen, and it didn't turn out very good for the guys that got caught. However, there was very many of them and their wealth that survived.

Bruce 18:43

Very, very true. They did, they survived. And that's the key thing to this little history lesson that we're learning. Um somebody had to have survived to tell the story. And usually history's been told or written, they say, by the survivors. The one that won the battle tells the story because he can put his twist on it. So we're recording on Friday the thirteenth, but this recording will not be heard till later. That'll be up to you. I usually try to get it out the next day. So it'll be up to you when you hear it. But if you've had bad trouble on the thirteenth and you're thinking, Oh my gosh, there is something to this unlucky number, especially on an unlucky Friday, think again because if you are there and you survived it and you're able to think that a few days afterwards or a week, or whenever you hear this episode, that tells me that it may have been a very lucky day for you because you survived and you're alive to share that problem that you had. There you go. So what do you think about that, Sunny?

Sunny 20:13

I think that's a pretty good spin on the story. So let's leave it at that and let's do great things.

Bruce 20:24

There you go. Friday the thirteenth is good for us. It may not be always good, but that's the way life is.

Sunny 20:58

Oh, that's too much pressure on my old body.

Bruce 21:02

You're not old.

Sunny 21:03

I'm a lot older than you, buddy.

Bruce 21:06

Okay, well maybe you are. But yeah, that's the reason I named you Sunny, because y I wanted you to be bright like the sunshine.

Sunny 21:15

And plus you couldn't pronounce my real name.

Weather Roundup Across Four Regions

Bruce 21:19

There's that. But let's do talk about the weather. And right now, according to my thermometer, it's 62 degrees here at the uh outside of my studio. And according to the weather map, it's 63 right now. And for you all that's around here in southern Illinois, uh, we do have partly cloudy skies, very sunny most of the time, low 36 degrees tonight. Winds right now are light and variable, humidity is at 54 percent. Moon rises at four twelve AM Zero index of UV or UV index is zero and the moonset will be at one hundred twenty four PM All right, Sunny, you do the next one.

Sunny 22:20

All right, let's do Spokane Washington, shall we? It is really cool up there. Thirty-six degrees, cloudy with rain and snow, south southwest m wind at five miles an hour, and their humidity is ninety three percent. Take her away, Bruce.

Bruce 22:47

Well, all right, I will. We're gonna swing all the way around to the bottom edge of the world. Australia, the Australia Plains, and uh it is right now in Australia eighty two degrees, and plenty of sunshine. The wind is two uh east at twelve miles an hour, and they have humidity of forty three percent. And I hope you guys like this comparison that we're doing some cities here in the United States and then in Australia, and if you want to hear any other cities or countries, or you know, a specific city in a country, mail us, email us, text us, and we will get them on next time around. We kind of like doing that, just kind of a comparison. And the last but not least, we're gonna pick on Phoenix, Arizona. We like uh spending a little bit of time there. I can't talk. Phoenix, Arizona is at 93 degrees also with plenty of sunshine. We are getting these weather reports off of the Weather Channel's website. We want to thank them for letting us do this. They are at 93 degrees, plenty of sunshine, and the wind is westerly at six miles an hour. Westwardly. Again, I can't talk. And the humidity there is 19%, and we hope they have a beautiful day. And that is all our weather reports for the day. And I did note on the website they have Phoenix, Arizona as an extreme heat watch today from 11 a.m. to eight p.m. It's already started that in that area. It won't be long till Illinois has that same issue. Uh the bad, bad sun. Yeah. Actually that's not the problem. It's just hot.

Sunny 25:10

You know, the last few episodes we didn't have a joke. So being that I am who I am, I want to tell a joke.

Bruce 25:21

All right, Sunny, that sounds good. Tell me a joke. Make me laugh.

Sunny 25:26

Why does moon rock taste better than an earth rock?

Bruce 25:34

Uh I give. Why does moon rock taste better than an earth rock?

Sunny 25:41

Well, because it's a little meatier, of course.

Bruce 25:52

I can still tell you're in control of that board.

Sunny 25:55

Yep, and I'm enjoying it. Now, Bruce, you got to admit that life's a lot simpler when I'm controlling all the buttons on the mixer and making everything happen. You gotta admit it.

Bruce 26:16

Well, first of all, you've been around me long enough to know I don't have to admit nothing. Um, but sometimes, yeah, it might be a little bit s more simple to uh let you hit the buttons, but it also is more stressful because I'm waiting to see if you hit the wrong button.

Sunny 26:35

Well, you know, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna hit everything perfect, cause I'm perfect.

Bruce 26:44

Okay, there we go. Down that road again. Uh no, not no no, not at all.

Sunny 26:58

Now you should know better than believing everything I say. Just enjoy it.

Bruce 27:06

All right. I'll see what I can do. Well, let's take a moment to uh again thank everybody for showing up and being with us for these uh last 30 minutes or so. However, I haven't mentioned again if you're a newcomer and you're not new or you are new to podcasting and you're not sure how it works and where you should be listening to us. Maybe you just found us or somebody told you about us, whatever the circumstances. If you go back and re read, hello, listen to episode 138. We kind of talk about where to go to catch our podcast and what to do and how to support us, how to contact us. So go back, do that again. Uh we don't want to keep repeating that. We may do it again later on, but episode 138 kind of take you through that, give you one of our other episodes to listen to.

Sunny 28:14

Yeah, listen to it. Go listen.

Bruce 28:19

Yes, that's for sure. And if you want to contact us, you can do it on our webpage, the uglyquacking duck.com through email. We are at the uglyquacking duck at gmail.com. Or you can go on a player and look up the description of our podcast, and in the details it says text us, click there, send us a text. And any of those we can uh play it back on our next episode.

Sunny 28:55

And above all things, get back with us. We want to hear from you. We want to know you're out there.

Bruce 29:04

Yep, we want to know. All right, thank you. Sunny, I hope everybody's not getting tired of you throwing that uh in-between spacer in there, that noisemaker, the whoosh is what I call it on the board.

Sunny 29:24

Uh I hope they ain't either, because it kind of gives us a chance to pause and go to another thought.

Bruce 29:33

Yep. Well, that's why I did that originally, but you did it almost every thought.

Sunny 29:38

Well, that's all right too.

Bruce 29:40

All right. We'll we'll work with you. Uh we'll try it out. So there's no complaints, we'll just keep going. How's that?

Sunny 29:47

That sounds like a winner to me.

Bruce 29:50

Well, let's uh shift gears and talk a little bit about some storms that's come through last week and this week. Um kind of sad, but we want to talk about it and bring up everybody's awareness, and we need to be praying. There's been quite a few bad storms, people hurt, and there was uh four people killed and twelve others wounded uh during a storm in Michigan Friday last week. Uh that would have been what March the sixth, and it was probably the deadliest storms in since 1980. And then there was two others killed in Oklahoma as severe weather swept across the plains and the Midwest. And I've got a picture I'm gonna put on our chapter markers, and if you got a podcast 2.0 player, you should be able to see the the chapter marker as the episode plays. But the picture is uh aftermath of the tornado of the outskirts of Prairie Rose Lane and Union City, Michigan. And it looks pretty rough. Again, these are people that need to be prayed for. Not just these people that I'm bringing out, but there this has happened all over the world country and maybe uh many times here lately with uh floods and snowstorms and bad tornadoes, and this is just the beginning of the season. So bring up your awareness and bring it to the Father and pray for people, okay? And then this week, uh as of yesterday, there was two people killed with several others wounded, as severe weather spanning Texas to Michigan once again. More than 18 million people were under a tornado watch as of this writing, and this was in 1440, uh the publication 1440, and that was as of yesterday. So that's a lot. Uh we watched Ryan Hall, y'all, on YouTube. Surely you know about who that is. If you don't, go check him out. Uh he's got a pretty good little system he uses, and we enjoy watching, if you can enjoy something like that, but and he's got a neat computer that a robot computer or whatever you want to call it, an AI that he's designed and he uses for the show.

Sunny 32:52

I just had to, Bruce.

Bruce 32:55

Well, I see that you had to. Uh okay. I'm not gonna say anything. We'll just leave it alone.

Sunny 33:03

Well, I tell you what, you're being awful easy on me.

Bruce 33:06

Well, uh, it's hard to be uh mean when you're not doing anything but trying to enhance the show. I mean, if you're expecting me to take everything serious, that's not what we want to do on this episode and this show. Uh so the podcast stands to rule, not me.

Sunny 33:36

Okay. Boy.

Bruce 33:39

All right, make fun of me. Go ahead. I'll uh just keep going. And I can reach over there and push a button. See that?

Sunny 33:52

Yes, I did. Our listeners need to know he can reach over and push a button.

Time Again To Prayer

Bruce 33:59

And while we're on uh subjects that need to be prayed for and people uh as of February the twenty-eighth is when it started, so tomorrow will be two weeks. So uh March the fourteenth is gonna be two weeks from when the bombing of Iran started. So we're at basically quote quote at war with Iran uh Israel and the United States co-holted co hosted the bombing of Iran. And uh uh don't know where it's gonna end and how bad it's gonna be. This could be the starting point of a major major war in the world. We don't know. Or it could fizzle out and something else start the major war. But all I know is we need to be praying. God's will will be done. Uh we can either be part of it or we can be against it, but it will be done, so prepare yourself. That's all I gotta say. Be two weeks tomorrow. You better push the button, Sunny.

Sunny 35:35

Oh, okay. Sorry about that, Bruce. I was just contemplating the words you were saying and thinking yeah, I may be watching another historic moment.

Childlike Joy, Smell

Bruce 35:54

Well, you know, in this world and this life, this portion of this life, I mean, once this physical ceases to exist and we go into the next stage, these few years, you know, whether we're here one minute or a hundred years or more, or in between, these um few years makes up what we're gonna end up doing and being in the next portion of our lives. Think about that, folks. I want you to really think about we get uptight often about simple things in this world, and we lose sight of the fact that we're preparing in this life for what's coming in the future. And I'm not talking about what's coming in our historial future, where we're gonna look back and go, oh, I'm 90 years old or I'm 120, and I wish I'd done this and wish I'd done that. No, I'm talking about once the physical is shaken off, and this energy, this life that we are giving, been given, once it actually is brought out of the shell and starts to exist, we're gonna see what we have become, and it's gonna be based on what we did in this life. It's gonna be based totally on what we did in this life. I want you to think about that because we're thinking about some praying for people, and you know, you need to be honest about all that. But yeah, it's uh it's a short time, and we leave this body and we go into the next existence. So prepare yourself. And in that thought process, I got an article that I read on 1440. That's that publication I get. If you don't know what I'm familiar with, look it up at 1440.com and subscribe to their email because it's got a lot of neat articles, and I use quite a few of them on the podcast. But this one's uh they do this humanity type uh letters, episodes, or uh articles or inner stories. It's just kind of all that rolled up into it. But this one's particularly caught my ear or eye. I should say eye because I was reading, but let me read it to you. And he goes on, or the writer does, says, Today we're sharing a story from reader Claire G. In Browder, Balder, Colorado. And this is what he writes, or they write. Yesterday my friends and I had an imaginary snowball fight. One of my friends grabbed my arm and pulled me into the middle of our small turf field. She said, We're having an imaginary snowball fight. And into it we launched. I had not laughed so hard in weeks having clumps of imaginary snow with imagined accuracy. I it ended with all twenty of us collapsing onto the ground, soaked in imaginary snow and surrounded by very real, joyful laughs. I had not felt like a child in so long, and it really did need that reminder of childhood's joys. Everyone should try being a child again, even if only for a few minutes. Yes, I agree. We should all try to be a child like the Bible said we need to be childlike, or we won't enter into heaven. So think about that, guys.

Sunny 40:25

Greater words were never spoken, or at least not by e birds.

Bruce 40:31

Oh, let me say that again. Oh wow. I think the laughter covered me up, but man, that was uh woo.

Sunny 40:44

I know, I shouldn't have done that, but it was great, wasn't it?

Bruce 40:49

Yeah, I guess so. It was good. But that article was too. Uh it was a short but sweet, and they have pretty good ones in there, but I don't want to read all of them. But this one kind of caught me as fun because you know I started reading it and then I realized there was 20 of them that had been playing this and running around acting like silly people. Out in the middle of um a sunny day, I take it. There wasn't no snow around, but they enjoyed themselves and they laughed again. Probably hadn't laughed for quite a while. It's a good story, guys. What's that smell?

Sunny 41:35

What smell? I don't smell anything.

Bruce 41:38

Are you sure?

Sunny 41:43

Uh no, and what was that?

Smeller

Bruce 41:46

Oh, that was just my little toy. But if you can't smell, maybe you need to go get your smeller sensing nose senses tested.

Sunny 41:59

Oh, I see what you're doing. You uh uh slipped the next article in, didn't you?

Bruce 42:07

I did, yeah. I was stumbled up uh on a medical article and it's talking about how that uh during a typical annual physical they do a lot of checks and look for deviations and that might affect your senses and they list them. However, hardly ever does a doctor want to test your senses and see what's going on with your sense of smell. And according to this article, smell isn't incidental, it's just under depreciate uh yeah, underappreciated by the general public and under studied by most modern researchers. So over the last few decades, the handful of researchers and clinicals or clinications who actually grapple with this sense and what happens when it malfunctions shows have shown that it plays a major role in our ability to detect environmental hazards and enjoy the good things in life, like the aroma of garlic, saltane, and olive oil olive oil, or the unique perfume that seems to emanate from the head of a healthy baby. They've also found strong association between a loss of smell and a laundry list of health conditions, including major neodegenerative disorders. So many of these experts believe smell is so important and potentially indicate in. indicative of health problems that we should test it as often as we do sight or vision. Yeah, and it it does really mess you up. I'm telling you, a lot of people lost their sense of smell or I call it the tone of smell because things changed during COVID. If you got COVID, a lot of people lost their sense of smell or it changed so much it affected how they ate, what they liked or didn't like anymore. And it it really wreaked a lot of havoc on people. I think it was certain vitamins that they got it built back up. But there's that. It's important to us smell is very important just like eyesight and touch.

Sunny 44:50

Yeah. It's hard to get by if you don't have all your senses. Take Bruce for instance he can't hardly get by because he had no sense. None.

Bruce 45:03

You couldn't wait throw that in could you?

Sunny 45:05

Perfect opportunity. I couldn't let that go to waste.

Bruce 45:09

All right I'll let you go. I think you got me good on that one so I'll leave it alone.

Sunny 45:16

No you won't. You'll be waiting to get me back. Wait and see.

Creative Hangover

Bruce 45:21

That's probably true. I'll probably be trying to get you back on some way or another but anyway thanks for that I hope the listeners appreciate it. Are you suffering from creative hangover?

Sunny 45:39

Wait, wait.

Bruce 45:40

And we have the story for you.

Sunny 45:42

You're not talking about yourself are you creative? You're not creative.

Bruce 45:48

Now I should have known I should have known that you was going to jump at that yeah I kind of do that. I'm not really creative no this is article that I'm talking about are you suffering from creative hangover? You're not alone a new study finds that artists experience negative emotions the morning after their most productive days and the article goes on and talks about that kind of thing this the picture says just finished a painting and then every artist knows a feeling of emptiness that follows the completion of a project, especially a big one. You feel deflated, exhausted you can't imagine doing it again but you always can't imagine leaving art behind a newly published study in the Journal of Positive Psychology now has a name for this sort of artistic whiplash creative hangover. Researchers tracked three hundred and fifty five adults over thirteen days using daily diary surveys and found that professional artists tend to be tend to experience negative emotions the morning after their most creative days. Even though creativity while in the process of making art reliably improved their moment to moment filling states the study was led by researchers Kaylee Smith and Jennifer Drake from the Department of Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York split participants into two groups 202 creative practitioners, people who earn income from creative work, formerly studied formally study a creative discipline and or devote over twenty weekly hours to serious creative hobbies and fifty three comparison participants individuals who engage in creative activities at more typical levels though all people have the capacity to be creative, the fact remains that some do so in a professional context and others on a more need to want to basis. Since they are creating for fun rather than for livelihood, the comparison group experiences lower intensity and less frequently sustain creative demands wrote Smith and Drake Both participating groups reported feeling comprehensively better on days when they engaged in creative activities, citing positive emotions, a strong sense of meaning, feelings of accomplishment and improved social connection The next morning however, brought divergencies while casual creators tend to carry the good feelings forward waking up with improved moods and relationship creative practitioners fell into melancholy and there's a lot more to the article if you'd like to read it go to hyperallergicallergic dot com and look up Suffering for creative hangover or you might be able to just type it in to a Google search and bring it up but it's a pretty interesting article and I have experienced something like that after I got a big project done that I'd been excited about. Not nothing I didn't want to do but something that I was kind of excited about got it done and then there was kind of a depression that followed afterwards and I never did really think about it. I just went there's another project done and it just affects you. And I know a lot of my podcast episodes if I put a lot of effort into it and I'm excited about it I get it done get it uploaded and then there's just kind of a downer afterwards you kind of want to do another one but you don't really want to because it it was a lot of work but I do it for fun so I can talk myself back into it pretty easy. But if I was doing it for money I don't think it would be much fun. It just uh the pre depression would be too big. But anyway I will have that uh and I'll have the picture of it um on my chapter markers if you guys want to check it out well Bruce so you're trying to tell us all that you're a creative person right no uh what are you trying to tell us? I'm not trying to tell you anything I'm just saying what the article says Alright I thought you were trying to be creative no I um not really got a creative bone in my body I've always wanted to sing can't uh I wanted to do artistic work can't I tried to pick up some musical instruments can't so um I do a little bit of writing not good at it and I like producing this podcast not good at that but I enjoy it and I know there's people out there that enjoy it right along with me I've not got a big following but I've got what the father gave me so that's important all right I will stand and say you're great and I enjoy working with you well thank you I enjoy working with you we're kind of hung together well that's true we are just there two peas in a pod.

Capella 52:09

Yeah we are that's for sure um what do you say we uh tidy this thing up and give it something else to go to and don't forget if you're suffering from creative hangover you're not alone you just read that article title again I know I did well let's go ahead and turn it over to Capella to talk about value for value there are many ways you can show your support for the Ugly Quacking Duck podcast first simply keep us in your thoughts and prayers and maybe send good vibes too second spread the word tell your friends about us even the ones with questionable taste in podcasts third share your talents if you have skills in technology art or anything else that could help us we'd love to hear from you. And finally consider supporting us financially equipment hosting and website costs add up and any contribution is greatly appreciated.

Bruce 53:17

We promise not to spend it all on rubber duckies unless you want us to thank you for your support and I bet you thought we was gonna stop the episode right there but no there's one thing you have forgotten that we didn't and that's right Sunny it's the earthquake report the seven day report Yeah let's do it all right we are gonna do it all right as of 313 2026 we go back seven days that's the seven day report and as of this report right now there's two thousand one hundred and fifty nine total magnitude earthquakes which gives us twenty one point five nine percent there was three hundred and seventy eight two point five and over earthquakes which gives us seventeen point five one percent and then there was a hundred and ten four point five and over earthquakes which gave us a total of five point zero nine percent and of those hundred and ten there was two six point oh and over that's the ones I like to report on because that's the most dangerous ones there was a six point three today in Chile and then there was a six point oh in Italy later on or in the past of this week in the last few days so that gave us a total a total of two which gave gives us a 1.82% and if we'll turn to the sun the solar sunspot number has increased to 116 the KP index is at two right now the solar wind is at seven hundred four point eight kilometers per second there was a C9 solar flare today and we are hit having or going to have a G one class geometric storm as of the thirteenth which means this weekend there'll probably be more northern lights the Aurora Borealis should be a little bit more active on the northern tier of the US states.

Sunny 55:57

So there you go that's the solar information for today it doesn't seem like the earthquakes has been as tragic here lately.

Closing Thanks And Final Blessing

Thanks

Bruce 56:11

They're still happening there's still quite a few and the solar sunspots has not been as active it doesn't seem like so what's going on Bruce I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to say to be honest anything I would say would be a guess but yeah it does seem like it's a little bit less which we need to enjoy it while we can yep there you go so that means now we can say goodbye. Yep that's exactly what that means we've already heard from Capella and we can say good afternoon. Thanks for being with us folks you've come to the end of the episode we hope you've enjoyed it yeah it's been fun I enjoyed giving you a hard time Bruce well thank you I've almost enjoyed you giving me a hard time as much as you have ha ha maybe yeah maybe but it's been great guys thanks for being part of the episode thanks for being part of the ugly quacking dick duck podcast Bruce you're rubbing off on me. Oh isn't that a shame everyone thank you very much for being part of the show being part of this episode and uh we hope you come back we hope you share the podcast with other people and you let us know you're out there so this is Bruce this is sunny and we want to say see you later until next time may the father's love be with you and seventy three