Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: comedian, writer, and host of "Factually!", Adam Conover!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.
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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
Hello, puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler podcast the Agave Syrup in your Puzzle Mocacino. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs, and I'm here with today's guest, the awesome Adam Conover, host of The Factually Podcast, host of the Netflix series The g Word. Welcome, Adam.
Hey, thank you so much for having me. Aj. It's a thrill to be here and to do some puzzles with you.
Excellent. Are you a puzzle fan? Are you a longtime puzzler.
I'm a big puzzle person. Yeah.
I do a lot of puzzles. I play a lot of video games. My favorite genre of video game is puzzle games. I play all types of puzzle games, missed type games, let's see, et cetera, et cetera. I've done crossrod puzzles for many years. I've been known to do a variety cryptic.
Again, you're not messing around, okay.
I mean those are really hard.
That's like, I'm not a real I'm not a I cannot do every cryptic I've I encounter, but I can do them every once in a while.
Well, Adam, I first became a fan of yours when you hosted the wonderful TV series, Adam Ruins Everything.
Thanks you so much.
It was great and I still watch it. You take you would take something in culture, restaurants, weddings, whatever, research the heck out of it, and then give us viewers the sometimes uncomfortable truth about it. What were some of your favorite ruinings?
Oh my god, I mean, well, one that sow was on my mind is the Olympics, because the Olympics just ended. We did this, of course a couple of years ago. Now I love the Olympics, but you know, it was, uh, there's an awful dark side to it. That's you know, a lot of fun to learn about and a little bit depressing.
You know.
You know that we talked to an American medallist who is living out of his car the same year that he had won a medal because he had because the athletes are not paid and unless they're a very big time or not able to get those big endorsements, and.
He was a polls alter or something. I forget what was.
I believe he was a shot putter.
It was a couple of years ago, but I believe he was a shot putter and had gotten at least a bronze medal for the US and was then involved in an effort to like unionize Olympic athletes with great advanced if it could be done. And one of the other ones I'm really proud of is that we did a piece on redlining and housing discrimination. And we did it, honestly, a year or two before it really entered that idea entered the mainstream. Scholars had been talking about it for years. It was something that people involved in that kind of work really knew about. But you know, it felt like we were one of the first shows to sort of take that idea to you know, mainstream television, and then it sort of spread in the year's sense. I'm not giving myself too much credit, but i am. I'm also very proud because teachers used that segment in their classes to explain the concept of how housing discrimination fifty years ago the results in disparate outcomes for people of different races today. Right that you know, even if you have race blind housing today, which we still do not, but even if you did have it, there would still be discrimination baked in because of the decisions made a couple of generations back. And so that's just one of the ones that we did that lasted the longest that I'm really proud of.
Well that, I mean, it makes sense teachers use it because it presents important information in a very entertaining way. So inspired by Adam Ruins Everything and also your podcast. Actually, we have a puzzle today called Adam Ruins Aphorisms, And this is a puzzle where we took some common aphorisms maxim sayings, and we fact checked them and found them mostly to be a bunch of hogwash or balder dash clap trap. So, for instance, you know the saying it's a dog eat dog world, Yeah, well it turns out it's not really. There is very little cannibalism among canines, so it is an inaccurate saying.
Not Actually, we don't actually live in a doggy dog work. We don't not each other in our world.
And it's yeah, it's unnecessarily negative spin on the world. So this, since this is a puzzle, we're gonna switch it up. So I'm actually gonna give you the fact check and then you have to guess which aphorism I was.
Great.
So if I had said it's a cannibalism is rare among canines, you would have said it's a doggy dog warm.
So are you.
Ready for your first fact checked aphorism.
I'm incredibly ready.
I love that as incredible.
Ready, Okay, here it is.
Factually, studies show that when you're away from your romantic partner, love generally gets less intense. When you're away from your romantic partner, love gets less intense.
So you're saying that absence does not make the heart grow fonder.
It does not. It really does not. It just makes you forget. It's the love you one love, the one you're with. You just forget about the other person in general. Of course, there are exceptions, all right, here's your next one. Factually, blue mold, gray mold, and bitter rot all spread easily from one piece of fruit to another when that fruit is stored in the same container. So different types of mold spread from one fruit to another when they are stored together.
Uh, I think this would be well, I'm confused because I think this one would be like one bad apple spoils the barrel or spoils the bunch, or whatever you would say. But you're saying the saying should not be true, and that is a saying that matches what you said.
Well, I had always heard the saying as oh, Greg, it's gonna google. Help us out, Greg, because I had always heard the saying as the opposite, one bad apple doesn't spoil the bushel. That was what I always thought that it was a positive saying. Am I wrong?
I always thought it was that a bad apple does spoil the bushel. And by the way I said Barrel, I said, bunch, it's bushel.
Saying one bad apple spoils the bunch happens to be a song by the Osmonds. But that's not what we're looking for.
Wow, Okay, that is weird.
I know the.
Osmas called it that. It's pretty clear that that's the same.
Also, what I learned in uh I think, like high school biology class or something, is that there's some sort of uh ooh, what is an enzyme or something secreted by apples that if you keep them together they actually do like ripen faster or rot faster. I can't remember what this is. There's something like that about fruit, about fruit storage. And as a result, I've never kept apples in a closed bag together because of this thing that I learned in high school, Because like they cause each other to, you know, to rot more quickly or something, but don't quote me on that. That's literally me remembering something from eleventh grade over twenty years ago.
Well, what about this, I mean, there are several apple related aphorisms. One that I thought was interesting is an apple a day keeps the doctor away. And when I was gonna use that one and I researched it, there was actually a Jamma article about the weather eating an apple makes you less likely to go to the doctor, and apparently there is a correlation, but no causation proved, Like it could just be that apple eating people don't like doctors.
So we in fact did cover that phrase on Adam Ruins Everything. And the origin of that phrase is that apples were originally used Their main use was to make cider, and they were considered to be, you know, somewhat of a sinful fruit for that reason. You know, like apples, apples are extremely various. Plant an apple seed, you sort of get almost a random fruit, like they don't breed true, right, and so for that reason, and most apples are not good to eat, like most randomly bred apples are very very sour, and you know, like a wild apple, if you go to a place where there's wild apples, you know, you pick them off the tree, they're probably not nice to eat, right, That's why they were mostly planted for cider. And Johnny appleseed when he was planting planting apple trees, which he actually did, he was a real guy who actually planted apples. He was he would go ahead of settlers and new plant trees, and those trees were used to make cider, alcoholicsider hardsider rather than eating. So around the time of I believe the temperance movement, you know, cider became you know, it was sinful to have alcohol and so and also now the timeline I don't remember at the top of my head, but they also started to to graft apples so they could find one variety that was good for eating and then clone it a lot, right, And so they engaged in the apple industry engaged in a marketing campaign to change the public perception of apples from being sinful and alcoholic to being something that was good for you. And an apple a day keeps the doctor away was in fact a marketing slogan by the apple industry.
Wow big Apple, Yeah, of course.
Big big Apple. In fact, yeah, that was the imported in New York. But yes, it was Big Apple. Who did it?
I love that. Look at this, you are living up to Adam. I mean you are. This is amazing. You are correcting and elucidating on all of our clues. I will say that, Uh yeah, I remember researching because I did a book recently on the Founding Fathers and they loved their booze and they loved their hardsider John Adams for breakfast. That was his breakfast beverage. It was not orange juice. It was hard cider.
Well, if you think about the fact that it was hard to get clean water in some places, you know, alcohol was a was a safer drink, and so so it was you know, even more commonly drank as.
A just you know, way to way to get your your fluids.
Exactly, your small beer. They called it of light beer. All right, you're ready for another. We'll see if you fact check this one. I'm interested. Actually, factually, it's halfway between sunrise and sunset. It's halfway between sunrise and sunset.
Oh, it's the phrases. It's never darkest before the dawn. It's never you know, never darker before the dawn.
It's always darkest before the dawn.
It's always darkest before the dawn.
Yes, there it is.
That's why it's never darker. It's like that would mean it's darkest, it's darkest before the dawn.
It's darkest before the dawn. Exactly, you got it right, all right? A couple more wait.
Just to be clear. AJ, So what you're saying is it's not not Actually the point of greatest darkness is halfway between sunrise and sunset, so it's not right before the dawn. It's way or earlier than that.
It's much earlier, yes, and which makes sense. I mean, why would it before the dawn. It's a weird saying. All right, what about this? Factually, a person's body heat will slightly raise the water temperature. If the water's on the stove, for instance, it's going to reach two hundred and twelve degrees faster if someone is looking at it.
Oh, I watched pot never boils.
Exactly. I watched pot does boil, and it boils a little faster than if you would walked away. And by the way, a very strange aphorism as well. It's like basically saying, you know, be negligent, don't don't follow up on your projects. Just put the pot on.
And let very strange, very strange, all right.
Couple more Yes, factually many laws in Italy's capital city apply differently to resident and visitors.
When in Rome do as the Romans do.
Exactly, which is another interesting I know that you like philosophy. I think this is an interesting philosophical aphorism because on the one hand, I'm a fan of participant observation, like, you know, go in there and like act like you are one of the locals. But on the other hand, you might get pushed back like are you culturally appropriate? So what do you think should we act as the Romans do when we are in Rome or what are the.
Well, it's simple politeness to follow local customs, you know.
Yeah, but what about the people who psych say that if you wear the local clothing as an outsider that is offensive.
I mean, I think that sort of complaint is mostly to do with, you know, people dressing up as other races for Halloween. That's sort of where that originates. For I think, like being somewhere and wearing you know, buying something to gift shop and putting it on, you know, as long as it's being done respectfully is fine.
I would also say that these things, these things spin off of just being respectful of the culture in which you're in. So if being respectful means not appropriating something, then that's what you do. But if you're in a Buddhist temple, it is considered respectful to not wear short pants, for example. That's just the local custom, and we would be it would be unlikely. I think that any of the three of us would go wander into Buddhist temple in shorts once we knew that we'd be respectful to the local culture.
There you go. Last one is factually the Geneva conventions and anti stalking laws show that some things are not justified.
All's fair in love and war.
Exactly, which is another insane aphorism. Nice basically don't have any ethics in two of the most important parts of life.
Insane insane?
Uh, well, excellent job. Did you so you had mentioned you would you had already worked on the the apple a day aphorism. Any other aphorisms come to mind? That that you you or that you reject wholeheartedly?
Uh? That I live buyer, that I reject.
I always think that opposites attract is a weird one because I think you know, factually that is incorrect.
Yeah, I would agree, but except in magnetism.
That's right in the literal sense of the word. Yes, in some.
Very which is where that comes from. Right, that's right, fact about magnetism that is then used to apply to human behavior.
Yeah, all right, Well, before we wrap up, I have an extra credit for the puzzlers at home, which is factually, weeping releases hormones that can relieve stress after a mishap. Factually, weeping can release hormones that relieve stress after a mishap.
I figured it out, but I'm not going to say it's for the listeners at home to figure out out.
Thank you, yes, thank you for observing the local customs here at the bus and folks, you can come back and hear the answer. And in the meantime, check out our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, where we post new puzzles, original puzzles, and other fun stuff. And we will meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.