Podbit · Smosh Reads Reddit Stories
Before the soft voice and the happy little trees, Bob Ross spent 20 years as a drill sergeant in the US Air Force. He vowed never to yell at anyone again after leaving — which explains everything.
Where this was said
At 9:58 · chapter starts 2:17
Shayne reads a 2020 Reddit TIFU post about a mother who discovered ASMR through Bob Ross's 'The Joy of Painting' and built a nightly bedtime ritual around his 403 episodes for her two daughters [1] — Shayne Topp "A 4-year-old who had watched Bob Ross every night since before she was born was told he died. She sobbed for 20 minutes, punching herself i…" 06:25 . When her 4-year-old says she'd love to visit Bob Ross one day, the mother decides to be honest: Bob Ross died a long time ago. The child sobs for 20 minutes, punching herself in the chest in raw grief [1] — Shayne Topp "A 4-year-old who had watched Bob Ross every night since before she was born was told he died. She sobbed for 20 minutes, punching herself i…" 06:25 . Amanda gets visibly emotional during the reading, surprising even herself. The post is warm and well-written, and the update reveals the daughter's verdict on her dad questioning the decision: 'You shouldn't lie to children.' The hosts dig into why honesty — even painful honesty about death — builds more trust with children than protection does, and why the husband's shouted criticism from downstairs makes him the real villain of the story.
A 4-year-old who had watched Bob Ross every night since before she was born was told he died. She sobbed for 20 minutes, punching herself in the chest. The hosts agree: telling kids hard truths builds trust, not trauma.
After being told Bob Ross had died, the 4-year-old daughter cried for a solid 20 minutes, punching herself in the chest and thighs.
The Joy of Painting has 403 total episodes, all of which the Reddit OP's family had watched multiple times as a nightly bedtime ritual.
When you tell a child a hard truth, you're not just being honest — you're signalling that you respect them enough to handle reality. Amanda argues this is the foundation of real parent-child trust.
Bob Ross served 20 years as a drill sergeant in the US Air Force before becoming a painter, a fact that surprised the hosts.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
When the scandal broke, Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall conducted what became known as a 'shredding party,' destroying a day's worth of documents. The full truth of Iran-Contra may never be known because of what was fed through that shredder.
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