Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast

Snapshot · Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast

Ep 621 - Landlubbers

Explore episode Jun 26, 2026
Science
Contagious yawning unexplained

Ep 621 - Landlubbers · Jun 26, 2026

Shane and Matt discussed that scientists still don't fully understand why yawning is contagious, with mirror neurons being the leading but unconfirmed theory.

Where this was said

Backyard Snake, Garden Snakes, and Dostoevsky's Devils

At 21:41 · chapter starts 21:30

Shane found a snake in his backyard — probably a garter or ribbon snake — and was initially terrified before becoming excited about the potential pest-control benefits. Lemaire Lee steps in with the classic mnemonic: red touches yellow, kills a fellow; red touches black, friend of Jack — though he also notes the simpler visual rule is horizontal banding (dangerous) versus a long stripe down the back (safe). The crew agrees they'd stay away from all of them regardless. Matt then pivots to his reading of Dostoevsky's Devils, which he's been loving. He describes it as written in the voice of a gossipy neighbor narrating the absurdities of 19th-century Russian progressive intellectuals — wealthy idealists who claimed to love the peasants while having zero actual connection to them. He draws an obvious parallel to contemporary political LARPing, and Shane confirms it was always thus: when Marx and Engels tried to talk to actual factory workers, the workers told them to get lost.

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