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Antidote 1: I remember being about 11 or 12 when I realized that chow mein (chinese pronounciation) was actually the same thing as chow mein (american pronounciation.) The "Chow" part is relatively unaltered, but here in the U.S. we say "mein" like the state "Maine" rather than something closer to MEE-en, which would be the chinese pronounciation. Honestly I kind of love that there is an American pronounciation and pretty much exclusively use it when trying to communicate in english. People know what i'm talking about for one, but it also almost seems uppity to insert a random chinese word into an otherwise english conversation with someone who doesn't speak any chinese. Antidote 2: I also liked the stuff about driving. As a completely car obsessed nut since well before i could talk, i frequently think about some of the topics mentioned. The podcast launched me into another bout of deep self reflection as to why the automobile is interesting. I decided it was in part because cars are, on their deepest level sort of the ultimate tool. They are a piece of equipment that must be expertly guided by experienced hands whose only purpose is to essentially enhance our physical abilities, in particular our physical ability to move from place to place. As human beings we get these awesome brains and...lets face it...the shittiest, weakest, slowest bodies in pretty much the entire animal kingdom. Not only does the car address this, but it addresses it in the form of a tool. As a subspecies of monkey that has conquered the world through a better and more efficient understanding of tools than any other subspecies of monkey, i find the automobile profoundly compelling. It doesn't just give me results (allowing me to move about the world much faster) it gives me results through my own skillful tool usage. Antidote 3: I'm so glad i found this podcast. A month or two ago my good friend suggested idle thumbs after i'd completed the excellent "history of rome podcast" and was looking for something else to pass the time. At first i thought i'd go from the beginning, so i downloaded the first 10 or so episodes. At some point, i was listening to you guys talk about Far Cry 2 for probably the 3rd or 4th time in as many episodes and decided that i was sick of hearing about games that came out four years ago. So I downloaded the latest epesode and put it on. I swear within the first 15 minutes you guys started talking about Far Cry 2 again. I literally had to go back and check the date on the episode i had just downloaded. I couldn't believe my ears and immediately envisioned a world where you guys had been caught in a sort of farcry 2 conversation quagmire for like 50 episodes. Suddenly it dawned on me, "Is this their Vietnam war?" Had you tried unsuccessfuly to extricate yourself from far cry 2 conversation for years to no avail? Is episode 42 simply you guys saying "Far cry 2" over and over again to eachother for an hour and a half like that one scene in "Being John Malkovich?" ( ) I found this thought hilarious and decided to continue listening to your podcast.