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Designing Women S3 E15 - The Women Who Mooned Atlanta
Updated: Jun 1
What happens when you take a frog-gigging flashlight, an assault rifle, a full moon, and mix ‘em with our Designing Women? Well, you gotta end up at the jail to find out. This week, we’ve got a full Saturday night of madcap mayhem with the ladies.
Salina takes us on one of her sidebars: this time about car dates. Oh, and in Nikki’s, “Lunar Lunacy: The Myths, The Truths, and What To Do About It” “Extra Sugar”, she’s gonna tell us everything we need to know behind this myth (or is it a myth…???)
Here are a few of the resources she referenced during the segment:
Washington Post debunks (or do they?) the theory that full moons affect human behavior
When all else fails, ask the Farmer’s Almanac. (Spoiler alert: They say it’s not true, either…)
Harness the benefits of the full moon (and the other phases of the moon!) with this guide from today.com. (And get a little more insight on moon mapping and the significance of various phases of the moon, which vary by culture, from VeryWell.)
And, as promised, “car date” ideas and more:
8 Actually Fun Date Ideas You Can Do Exclusively in Your Car
After 50 years, Hyatt Regency Atlanta is still a downtown icon
Come on, let’s get into it!
Or listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts.
Transcript
Salina: Hey, Nikki.
Nikki: Hey, Salina.
Salina: And hello everyone and welcome to Sweet Tea and TV.
Nikki: Hey, guys.
Nikki: Welcome.
Salina: Twist it up.
Nikki: Tried.
Salina: Dare to be different.
Nikki: I like to keep you on your toes, Salina and everyone else.
Salina: Yeah, keep us all on our toes.
Salina: Okay, so we're going to get into this episode here briefly in which Julia Moons 1200 people, including the mayor, accidentally.
Salina: Accidentally.
Salina: Not on purpose.
Salina: It's Julia.
Nikki: That's terrible.
Salina: Well, it got me thinking about most embarrassing moments and I thought maybe we could chat quickly about that.
Nikki: Oh boy, would I love to relive one of those.
Salina: And I want to ask what your most embarrassing moments are.
Salina: All your moments.
Nikki: All your moments you're not getting all of them.
Salina: I want your most embarrassing one that comes to mind and bonus points for unintentional nudity.
Nikki: I don't have that.
Salina: You've never been embarrassed?
Nikki: Tangential unintentional.
Nikki: Oh my God, I do have a nudity.
Nikki: I do have one nudity.
Salina: Oh good.
Salina: Perfect.
Nikki: Oh boy.
Salina: Then you get bonus points.
Nikki: Okay, so then can I tell too?
Nikki: Because the first one that came to mind job interview after college at a job I didn't really want do you know the story I'm going to tell?
Nikki: I do a job I didn't really want.
Salina: Y'all, this is so good.
Nikki: Well, now, I hope it's the one that I'm telling now because maybe I have more than it.
Nikki: I have so many embarrassing moments.
Nikki: This one was pretty bad.
Nikki: I don't remember the question he asked me, but my answer was because I really want a chance to spread my legs.
Salina: And what I meant this one was.
Nikki: To spread my wings or stretch my legs, flex some kind of new muscle or whatever.
Salina: Well, hold on, hold on, because I think we all need to know with that offer, did you get the job?
Nikki: I don't even know.
Nikki: I was so horrified by the whole thing.
Nikki: I don't think I did.
Nikki: And now that I'm thinking about I don't even know that I heard back from them.
Nikki: I was also that job, you were a lawsuit.
Nikki: It happened 50 kinds of awful.
Nikki: Like the job was horrible.
Nikki: I didn't realize till I got there, like, how awful it was going to be.
Nikki: And he's describing it to me and I was like, this sounds terrible.
Nikki: I also was one of the worst sunburns of my life in a business suit.
Nikki: And it was so scratching me the whole time.
Nikki: Spread my legs.
Nikki: It was awful.
Nikki: That was all around terrible.
Nikki: The second one was I was at Whitewater and I was standing under a waterfall and it pulled my top down.
Nikki: Whitewater is a water park here in Atlanta and I just was like standing under the waterfall and I just pulled it down.
Nikki: And what's worse is my stepdad's friend saw it.
Nikki: The whole thing.
Nikki: No, and I was like 13.
Salina: You know, at an age where you really come into your own and you're just really comfortable with your body, for sure.
Nikki: And I was just like, everyone.
Nikki: You're welcome.
Nikki: Oh, my God.
Nikki: I was mortified.
Nikki: I had forgotten about that one until just now.
Nikki: Oh, perfect.
Nikki: So perfect.
Nikki: I'm glad we've had this conversation today.
Nikki: I've spread my legs and flashed whitewater.
Salina: Well, let's see if I can make you feel better.
Nikki: Please do.
Nikki: Is your story worse than that?
Salina: Well, you were there, so I will say it was challenging for me in trying to figure out what story to tell.
Salina: And it's not because I have even one stitch of grace, but rather because there's just such a plethora.
Nikki: They become almost like a natural two things.
Nikki: They become a natural part of your life, if you're like.
Nikki: Yeah, I'm not the most go through life smoothly person, so I have lots of them.
Nikki: And then also, I compartmentalize.
Nikki: You got to give it the next day until you say nudity and embarrassing.
Nikki: Does that memory resurface for me?
Salina: I'm so glad I could trigger for you.
Salina: I feel like it's fading with age, so as things are sagging and everything's falling apart, also I'm caring less.
Salina: So that's an upshot.
Nikki: That's the most important part.
Nikki: You just care less.
Salina: Yeah, but most of my life, I feel like I've been, like, an easily embarrassed person.
Nikki: Yeah, me too.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I think that's the other thing that makes my the bar might be low, but the list is long.
Nikki: Right?
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Yeah, but yeah, you were there.
Salina: And before I even say it, do you know what I might be talking about?
Nikki: I don't know what you're talking about.
Salina: Okay, so we were on a work trip in DC.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: All right.
Salina: We'll get there.
Salina: It was the final day of the work trip, and so we were carrying all of our luggage to a final meeting because we had to leave from there to go straight to the airport.
Salina: You don't know.
Nikki: Still I still don't remember this.
Salina: Okay, it's going to make me laugh.
Salina: I had a book bag on and a rolly bag and my purse, and somehow my skirt got tucked into my tight.
Nikki: I do remember.
Salina: And I was walking down the street with my entire a** hanging out for about a mile.
Salina: And it wasn't you.
Salina: No, because you were beside me.
Salina: So how would you know?
Salina: It was a stranger walking behind me who pointed it out.
Salina: Nay shouted it at me several times, very loud for you.
Salina: What a day to be alive.
Nikki: Oh, no, I've totally forgotten about that.
Nikki: I don't remember the person yelling, but see, I've forgotten the people of DC.
Salina: But you remember forgotten.
Salina: I remember.
Nikki: I do.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: But you know what I think is helpful about this?
Salina: If you don't know me, I think this is a wonderful introduction to explain to you what it feels like to be me.
Nikki: So going down the freeway of life with your tucks into your pantyhose yeah.
Salina: It's like I am that person.
Salina: Just in case you ever wanted to dare to walk a mile in these shoes, baby, you better be prepared to do it with your b*** hanging out.
Nikki: But you are in good company.
Nikki: You're in good company because I have the awkwardness of telling a man I just met and am trying to get to hire me for a non sexual job that I want to spread my legs and flashing all of whitewater, and I flashed all of whitewater at 13 years old.
Salina: So here, everyone.
Salina: I hope you feel like you're in good hands today as we go on this journey together.
Salina: And if you think too, reach out and let us know about your most amazing moment.
Nikki: Please make me feel better.
Salina: We will not be sharing pictures of our most embarrassing moments.
Nikki: Oh, my God.
Nikki: Could you imagine if there were pictures?
Nikki: Maybe there are pictures of you.
Salina: It was a long stretch of highway.
Salina: There I was on see, my top.
Nikki: Falling down was way before we had, like, cell phones, and I noticed it immediately, the spreading my legs thing.
Nikki: You're just, like, in a meeting.
Nikki: Yours could be on social media somewhere, because it was not that long ago.
Salina: It was a long it was a long walk.
Salina: A walk of shame.
Salina: I didn't know I was in shame.
Nikki: You were so proud of that outfit.
Salina: Walk.
Nikki: Feeling good about yourself.
Salina: I don't know that I feel breezy light.
Nikki: Wait.
Nikki: No, I know why.
Salina: And on that note, is that a good segue into the name of the episode?
Nikki: Yours is a perfect segue into the name of the episode, which is full Moon.
Nikki: A full Moon over Atlanta finds the sugar baker ladies worried about sex, violence, and crime, not necessarily in that order.
Nikki: Air date March 13, 1989 we're calling this one the women who mooned Atlanta.
Nikki: How did you feel about that Hulu episode description?
Nikki: Is it okay pass muster for you?
Salina: I think it's fine, because it's, like, a pretty complicated it's a pretty complicated one to get down into a description.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: So this one was written by LBT and directed by David Trainer.
Nikki: So first up, general reactions.
Salina: I really went around the bend on this one.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Because on the one hand, on the first watch, I remember really liking it a lot, like, as a regular viewer, you know, you folks who watch a show one time, maybe you watch it again, but, like, in a reasonable time frame, like, a year later or something.
Nikki: I did.
Salina: I enjoyed it.
Salina: I liked that everyone felt substantially involved in the plot or the multiple plots and that their individual stories came together through a series of shenanigans.
Salina: I love a shenanigan.
Nikki: I mean, I love Shenanigans.
Salina: Sitcoms are about shenanigans.
Salina: I mostly liked that there was a lot to do and going on, and it was pretty chaotic, which paired really nicely with the full moon backdrop.
Salina: So I thought that made sense.
Salina: And it was, like, kind of smart in a subtle way.
Salina: It kept things moving, and the writing was nice and crisp in the middle, where sometimes episodes SAG not just for Designing Women, but really a lot of shows will SAG sometimes in the middle.
Salina: So that's all good.
Salina: But then on a closer review and watching again, some threads really started to unravel for me.
Salina: The first one is I think that you could say this was a Mary Joe episode, and yet I think it shortchanged her.
Salina: She gets to open and close it, but the bulk of the laugh lines go to Suzanne and then the big speech to Julia.
Salina: On that note, Julia's gun speech, while well intentioned for me, felt pretty tacked on.
Salina: I know it was supposedly what brought Julia back from her catatonic embarrassment, but I just didn't feel like it was earned.
Salina: So that's my first general reaction.
Nikki: There's a lot to unpack there.
Salina: My bad.
Nikki: Sorry.
Nikki: Let me think.
Nikki: So the gun speech, one of my general reactions, I do not want to get into a gun rights discussion.
Nikki: One, because I think you and I see similarly on this issue, so it wouldn't be a particularly interesting discussion.
Nikki: Two, I'm not just not prepared for that.
Nikki: I don't have my facts in front of me.
Nikki: I'm not ready for that.
Salina: Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'll be doing a Salina cyber.
Nikki: Excellent.
Nikki: But one of my general reactions was the fact that Suzanne suzanne walked into a store and bought an assault rifle is distressing.
Nikki: The fact that it probably could still happen in a lot of ways today is even more distressing.
Nikki: But I had totally forgotten Julia had that speech from our first watch.
Nikki: Even from the second watch, I had totally tacked on because it was tacked on.
Nikki: But such a surprise to me because I thought, wow, this seems like a nice topic to be able to have LBT's perspective on the fact that Suzanne had an assault rifle in her home, all because she was getting some dirty calls.
Nikki: So I felt like, man, there's really something missing here.
Nikki: And I had just totally forgotten that there was that speech.
Nikki: So I was glad LBT.
Nikki: Took the moment to have that speech right there at the end.
Salina: If I had to take a guess, I don't know what's in LBT's head, obviously.
Salina: I bet you she's pretty passionate about the issue, and I think she introduced it in an episode of Chaos to try and layer some things together.
Salina: So it wasn't too heavy.
Salina: Yeah, I liked it, and I think she layered on a lot of different things in order to fit that in there, but, like, in a way that is more palatable to a wider group of people.
Nikki: Smart.
Nikki: If that was her strategy, that's smart.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: If it wasn't her strategy, you're smart.
Salina: Well, I'm like well, there's a lot to unpack there, but, yeah, I think if that's what she was after, then I do agree that it was a good way to go about it if you're trying to share an opinion in a way where you're not alienating half of the audience.
Salina: On the other hand, if you don't remember that it took place, something got lost in translation, right?
Nikki: Could have been that I fell asleep watching it the first time.
Nikki: The other thing I wanted to unpack from what you said was short changing Mary Joe.
Nikki: My first general reaction to this episode was the entire episode, my heart ached for Mary Joe.
Nikki: And this may be a parent perspective.
Nikki: I appreciated that she felt like she had had all the right conversations with her child.
Nikki: She felt like she was sending her child out into the world, prepared for this big thing.
Nikki: It's a big development.
Nikki: Dating, love, sex, all those things.
Nikki: I appreciated that she felt like she had her kid prepared, but also wasn't ready for it and trusted her daughter, but also didn't trust her daughter.
Nikki: And so I felt like that was kind of a I appreciated that thread throughout the episode because the whole episode, my mind is thinking about Mary Joe and thinking about all these things she's going through while all these other things are going on around her.
Nikki: So that was my first general reaction.
Salina: Yeah, I think all that felt very realistic.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: And I think it felt very progressive, actually, because I think she tried to be really forthright.
Salina: But I think at the end of the day, more so than getting into any kind of religious aspects or anything like that.
Salina: Take that all off the table.
Salina: I think sex is complicated and it's messy, and I'm going to put on my imagination cap, and I imagine, as a parent, the last thing you ever want for your kid to go through is messiness, complication or the hurt that is sometimes on the other end of sex.
Salina: And so for those reasons, I think it's perfectly reasonable that her emotions are both mixed and a little all over the place.
Salina: And to also say that I don't think LBT.
Salina: Has children.
Salina: So being able to put on that parent imagination cap and being able to write through this episode, good for her.
Nikki: The other thing you talked about was chaos.
Nikki: Love that you use that word, because I think maybe it feeds into another one of my general reactions, which is this idea of the surreal plotline sometimes.
Nikki: And I go all over the place on this.
Nikki: Some episodes I'm like, that was so crazy.
Nikki: How are we supposed to fall?
Nikki: I think we just talked about some of this in Odell.
Nikki: How are we supposed to follow that?
Nikki: And then in other episodes, like Mr.
Nikki: The Mr.
Nikki: Bailey episode.
Nikki: I'm like.
Nikki: I love it.
Nikki: I absolutely love how ridiculous this episode was.
Nikki: I love the shenanigans.
Nikki: I love the mad cap stuff.
Nikki: This one almost pushed me too far when they dealt with the police officer.
Nikki: Oh, my gosh.
Nikki: That one almost pushed me over the edge.
Nikki: When he's going to take them to jail and then agrees to bypass jail so that they can just give him bail money, but then he agrees to even just like take them somewhere to get the bail money.
Nikki: He's just going to stop there in.
Salina: The middle of the night because they had extenuating circumstances.
Salina: Because police officers really care.
Nikki: They really, really care about that stuff.
Salina: Yeah, it's in my dislikes.
Salina: Okay, so now we can check that off of the list.
Salina: You know what?
Salina: I like it.
Nikki: That really just irked me.
Nikki: And then the last thing I wanted to mention, this may be more astray, but are we just never going to circle around who is making those dirty calls to Suzanne?
Nikki: I think it's consula, but I don't think we ever even why go after the pig?
Nikki: Yeah, I don't know.
Salina: That's weird.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: Maybe it's not consuela because she's the one that gave her the pig.
Salina: Maybe it's Helen Van Patterson.
Nikki: Yeah, maybe.
Salina: Who knows?
Salina: My other general reaction was really like based on Mary Joe grappling with the possibility that Claudia might have sex for the first time, which we've already talked about.
Salina: And I was just wondering, is it time to talk about the talk?
Salina: Did you get the talk?
Salina: Am I bringing up a whole thing?
Nikki: No.
Nikki: I don't remember having the talk with my mom, and I hope my mom, if she listens and wants to correct me, that's fine.
Nikki: My impression of the talk with my parents was my mom was the first person to sign the sex ed form saying that you could go have take part in that part of the health class.
Nikki: My mom like, that form would come home and I have thought about that real clear recollection of my mom being like, heck, yeah, go enjoy.
Nikki: Go forth and prosper.
Nikki: She had no problem with me learning about it.
Nikki: I do not think my mom had a particular interest in talking with me in the delivery.
Nikki: So I never got that stack of books that you always see in the TV shows.
Nikki: The parent sort of slides it across the table and is like, just read these.
Nikki: I never got that.
Salina: Also, who's going to read that?
Nikki: I probably would have.
Nikki: Truly probably would have.
Nikki: Just static.
Salina: You would have loved a pamphlet.
Nikki: I probably would have.
Nikki: It would have made me deeply uncomfortable because I am a super modest person and that stuff just but yeah, no, my mom never talked to me about that.
Nikki: I'm going to guess you had one, though.
Nikki: I feel like that's up Sabrina's alley.
Salina: I think my mom basically started giving me the talk before I'd switched from bottles to sippy gum.
Salina: I could have like by the time I hadn't even had sex yet, my friends had and I think I could have taught him a class.
Salina: I'm like, all right, well, see, the thing is, I've got, like, my posters out, a nice PowerPoint presentation.
Salina: I'm just kidding, guys.
Salina: I'm way older than a PowerPoint presentation, but my mom's just always been super open like that.
Salina: But I think actually the reason Mary Joe's reaction resonates with me is because the second my mom ever thought that my life was headed in that direction when I was still in high school, by the way, it was not.
Salina: She flipped out a little bit.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: I remember my mom taking me to the Gynecologist's office specifically to get birth control before I went to college.
Nikki: I think that was probably the closest to a sex talk my mom and I ever had.
Nikki: She said, we're going to get this done because you need to have access to this when you get to college.
Nikki: I want to make sure that if you ever decide, whatever, that you have this, that's probably the closest we ever get, and that's pretty much the extent of the conversation.
Nikki: But here's this thing, and I want you to have it.
Nikki: I think it's interesting, and I wonder if maybe you feel this way.
Nikki: My mom was similar in we didn't have an in depth conversation about it, but, like, the idea of me getting pregnant as a teenager or a young 20 something before I finished college and moved on, that was probably the worst thing my mom could imagine.
Nikki: And my mom was a really young mom, and intentionally a young mom.
Nikki: She was a married woman who wanted kids and wanted them young.
Nikki: But I always got the a sense that my mom was like, you need to be established, and you need to not that she would have done things differently, but I wonder if that played into it a little bit, was like, make sure you've got the life you want before you go down that path.
Nikki: And I just think that's interesting.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: Here's your birth control.
Salina: Use it.
Nikki: Please, God, finish college.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I think parents likely want whatever they feel in their head and their heart is the best for their kid in a given situation and maybe to live a little bit of a different life than they've lived, even if they sought that life out in the first place.
Nikki: Right.
Nikki: Because they have the benefit of experience.
Salina: Absolutely.
Nikki: They've lived through it.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: We probably listen to them sometimes.
Salina: I try.
Nikki: I saw this thing, and I might have mentioned to you this to you off Mike.
Nikki: I can't remember, but I saw this meme that was like, don't forget your parents are going through life the first time, too.
Nikki: Blew my mind blew my mind wide open that you sort of assume that your parents have it all figured out.
Nikki: They've got a little bit of a head start on you, but they're still experiencing some of these things for the first time, too.
Nikki: They're just human.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: They're not all knowing.
Salina: That's a very good point.
Salina: Well, I think we could almost lob this under strays.
Salina: What strays do you have?
Nikki: I think I have three, maybe four.
Nikki: Patrick Day played the character of Ben, Claudia's boyfriend.
Salina: Yes.
Nikki: I wanted to mention he was born in St.
Nikki: Louis, Missouri.
Nikki: So he's a Missouri boy.
Nikki: LBT's home cousin.
Nikki: I didn't say cousin.
Nikki: Homeless.
Salina: Could be.
Salina: She had family on the show before.
Nikki: Yeah, I don't know.
Nikki: His Wikipedia article did not say that he was her cousin or not.
Nikki: I just thought it was interesting.
Nikki: He's from Missouri.
Nikki: I had three things strike me throughout this episode other than that thing about the weirdness of the plotline toward the end I wanted to share.
Nikki: They're not necessarily just topics of discussion, just things that occurred to me as I was watching it again.
Nikki: The reason I'm tired, because my brain works overtime thinking about random things that don't matter.
Nikki: Okay, one, what happens for rich people when their maids go on vacation?
Nikki: Do they have someone come in and act as their maid?
Nikki: Like, does the maid name a replacement while they're gone?
Nikki: Or do they just go without a maid?
Nikki: Or do their maids not take vacation?
Salina: Well, I think it was oh, wait, hold on.
Salina: You're not looking for answers if you have them?
Salina: Oh, let me check my answer book.
Nikki: Well, rich person, what do you think?
Salina: So I clean my own toilets.
Salina: So if you have a service, then they just send in someone else?
Salina: Yeah, so I think there's that.
Salina: The other thing is I like that in your world, all of the people who are maids definitely go on vacation, right?
Nikki: That's why I say, do they even go on vacation?
Nikki: I don't know.
Salina: Yeah, I think it just sort of depends on how well they're paid.
Salina: Your maids should be going on vacation.
Salina: We probably don't call them maids anymore either.
Salina: But housekeeper, I don't sounds right.
Nikki: I think it depends.
Nikki: The people who are not sending them on vacation probably call them maids.
Nikki: The people who send them on vacation maybe call them housekeepers.
Nikki: Yeah, I don't know.
Nikki: It's complex.
Nikki: It occurred to me thing too.
Nikki: Julia hates the word moon, but she doesn't hate the word panty line.
Nikki: You know, I hate that word, Suzanne, but then she says panty line doesn't bother her.
Nikki: Panty.
Salina: That word bothers the h*** out of me.
Nikki: This is why I'm bringing it up.
Nikki: Thing three, to Kill a Mockingbird as the movie you watch on girls night.
Salina: That doesn't resonate with you.
Nikki: Can you imagine?
Salina: No.
Nikki: What a weird choice.
Nikki: Charlene's, favorite movie?
Nikki: Yeah, I have a lot of favorite movies.
Nikki: I don't know that I would recommend them all for movie night with the girls.
Salina: Yeah, that's a good point.
Salina: Especially one like that.
Salina: You have to focus on the Kill.
Nikki: A Mockingbird, and it was probably like a really old black and white version, too.
Nikki: And for some reason I feel like black and white takes a lot more focus.
Nikki: Yeah, I don't know.
Nikki: It was just a weird choice.
Nikki: It's called strays.
Salina: No, you're good.
Salina: I'm trying to keep myself from going down three more paths.
Nikki: I know.
Salina: Go ahead then.
Nikki: The last thing I wanted to mention in my strays was Julia said something before the fashion show about how she and Suzanne were going to talk about Noel later.
Nikki: She said it's run its course.
Nikki: Then the police officer said something about awaiting a custody decision on Noel.
Nikki: Then designingwomenonline.com said this is the last time Noel will appear.
Nikki: So if it's true, LBT.
Nikki: Really doubled down on coming up with reasons for her to disappear and hoped people would remember that.
Salina: Well, Noel comes up for me later on, I think when we were talking about who wins and loses the episode.
Salina: So I don't know if this will.
Nikki: Well, don't go falling in love with her.
Salina: Don't go break in my heart.
Nikki: I just broke your heart.
Salina: I think so.
Salina: I only have one stray and that was that.
Salina: We get a monet Mitchin and that's a nice little callback to season one.
Nikki: I love the callbacks.
Salina: Charle.
Salina: This is Charlene's high school friend who became a Madden.
Salina: It's also some foreshadowing for a future episode.
Nikki: Way to spoil a surprise.
Salina: I know I like to spoil a surprise.
Salina: And on that note, should we Salina's sidebar.
Nikki: Oh, yeah.
Nikki: I was not ready for this.
Nikki: I'm taking you there.
Salina: Do it.
Nikki: It's a sidebar.
Nikki: Salina sidebar.
Nikki: She's got a keyboard.
Nikki: Looking for a reward by digging deep in the obscure.
Nikki: Taking us on a detour.
Nikki: What you got Salina in Salina sidebar.
Salina: So I thought that today we would do a little quick sidebar about car dates.
Salina: In the episode, Mary Joe says of Claudia, I told her when she was 16 she could car date and everything.
Salina: So now she has this real cute boyfriend and yada, yada, yada.
Salina: Basically it just means going on a date without leaving your car or at least without going too far from it.
Salina: I'm a level with you.
Salina: The whole reason this sidebar exists is because when I heard that I was like what in the world is a car date?
Salina: And when I googled it, it seemed that everyone knew but me.
Salina: Did this mean anything to you?
Salina: A car date?
Nikki: Not really.
Nikki: So I want to hear what you have to say because I feel like if you are someone who's worried about your kid having sex, a car date is a really bad idea.
Salina: So it turns out that just so you know, guys, we all know that everybody can have sex in the car.
Salina: Mine is a little bit more g than that.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: It feels like a motel on wheels.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: Go anywhere.
Salina: Mine is much more Disney version than that.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: So what kind of stories did you.
Nikki: Think I was going to share?
Nikki: I didn't know where you were going with this one.
Salina: Well, that's true.
Salina: We were just given the sex talk, so who knows?
Salina: So I'll share a couple of memories, and then if you have anything that comes up for you as I give you some ideas of mine.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: So that you think we're going into nine and a half weeks or something.
Salina: So both of mine are with Casey, and I've actually had a lot of car dates because once I open up and kind of share some of the categories with you, I think that it will become a little clear.
Salina: Okay, so both of these car dates with Casey were to watch some kind of cosmic situation.
Salina: He's very into, like, star gazing kind of stuff.
Salina: So in our early dating days, this is, like one of my favorite memories for the two of us is we drove in the middle of the night to see some kind of meteor shower back in 2007.
Salina: I actually looked it up.
Salina: It was in December, and I guess there was just like a really the most vivid one of the year was on that night in December or something.
Salina: But what I remember the most is it was just, like, super spontaneous.
Salina: And he calls me and he's like, hey, there's this meteor shower.
Salina: And we just decided to go drive in the middle of the night.
Salina: And we got, like, hot cocos on the way.
Salina: I told you, it's super g.
Salina: We got hot cocos on the way.
Salina: And then treats, because I always have to have treats.
Salina: Road, food, just anytime I'm going anywhere and really have to get away from the light pollution.
Nikki: Right?
Salina: So that's why we were driving a really long way away.
Salina: And then we just threw a blanket out by the car and we laid there and watched the meteor shower.
Salina: I will tell you truthfully that I barely remember anything except for the fact that I knew I was, like, falling in love with this person.
Nikki: That's what I knew.
Nikki: Nice.
Salina: That, for me, is like a story that just really is like a standout.
Salina: So as soon as I read what a car date was, I was like, oh, okay, a car date.
Salina: The second one was just a few years ago.
Salina: We actually drove up to Brasstown Bald to watch the comet.
Salina: Neo wise, this was like, the most bright comet that had come around in 70,000 years or something.
Salina: I don't know.
Salina: But it was really much of the same, except it was summer, so it was really hot and miserable.
Salina: But we drove up trying to avoid that light pollution again.
Salina: And that I actually remember because it's two years ago.
Salina: And so I think that's the only time I've ever really seen, like, a comet in the sky that was really cool.
Salina: So those are my examples.
Nikki: I have nothing to contribute to this conversation.
Nikki: That's super romantic.
Salina: Okay, so I think you will once you hear the examples that I stumbled upon.
Salina: Okay, but you.
Salina: Don't have to share anything, but I think it gets much more run in the mill.
Salina: Oh, nikki's are tawdry.
Salina: They're not g.
Nikki: Sorry, Kyle.
Salina: So I stumbled on a couple of articles and they gave some that I thought I would share in case anybody wants to take part in any of these.
Salina: One is a drive in movie, pretty standard stuff.
Salina: And this is just fun.
Salina: It's a unique experience.
Salina: You get the big screen, you get movie snacks sometimes.
Salina: We've actually just taken dinner with us.
Salina: But the other thing I actually do like about these, I can ask full volumed questions.
Nikki: Who is that?
Salina: That's right.
Nikki: What are they doing?
Salina: No one's going to yell at me.
Salina: I can look at my phone with abandons.
Salina: It's nice.
Salina: If you're in Atlanta area, then I'd recommend the Starlight Drive in theater, which is not only a drive in theater, it's also the one drive in theater.
Salina: Just really narrows down those options, you know what I'm saying?
Salina: Holiday lights is another example.
Salina: This can be official or unofficial.
Salina: This last year we actually made our new holiday tradition getting hot cocoas.
Salina: Everything always ends with cocoa.
Nikki: With me it does.
Nikki: What is that about?
Salina: I don't know.
Salina: I guess I'm Sheldon from Big Bang Theory or something.
Salina: But that's only going to make sense to you if you watch the show.
Salina: But anyways, so we drove around together and just looked at lights in different neighborhoods, including Nikki's neighborhood, because it's really nice and there's really nice lights.
Nikki: We take Christmas very seriously.
Salina: But if you're in the Atlanta area or really anywhere, there's always all of these official light shows.
Salina: But what we'll do is we'll link to if you are in the Atlanta area.
Salina: That is several official holiday light options.
Salina: So if you're here or you're visiting, you can swing through it'll.
Salina: Be here in a few months.
Salina: The next one is scenic road trips.
Salina: This one is a little tough for me because I get a little antsy in the car.
Salina: I'm not great at sitting still, but if you give me something nice to look at, it's a little better for us here in the metro Atlanta area, we are near the mountains.
Salina: No matter where you live, you might be getting different cool backdrops and you can just this might be a little difficult right now, why the gas prices are so high.
Salina: But anyways, I just don't really and.
Nikki: This is why I'm having so much trouble, because when I was a teenager, I mean, I didn't go on dates all the time, but I went on a few dates and the idea was like, whoever could drive would drive you to the place you were going.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: Then there was a time when gas was really expensive, which probably would have been when Kyle and I were in our dating and we lived in two separate cities.
Nikki: So again, the car was just a mechanism to get us somewhere sure, but I have done these things just not as like a date necessarily.
Nikki: It was just a thing we do together.
Salina: Sure it is.
Salina: I don't think I ever walk and I'm like, we're going to go on a date tonight.
Nikki: Right?
Salina: I think that's again, what makes the terminology confusing in the first place.
Salina: Okay, I got one more example, and that's a and we can do this today.
Salina: It don't have to be a date.
Salina: It's a dashboard buffet, y'all.
Salina: So you just pick up all you just pick up all your favorite fast foods and you throw all that crap out across the dashboard and eat it.
Nikki: You know what, you saying that.
Nikki: I'm glad you're giving these examples because actually, I have a really wholesome, very romantic car date that Kyle and I did during the pandemic.
Salina: Okay?
Nikki: We picked up food from a Mexican restaurant near us and went and sat in our car at a park and had dinner together.
Salina: I love it.
Nikki: Reminding me.
Nikki: Dashboard picnic.
Salina: So those two articles, I feel like I picked the best things from those articles, but for those of you who want to and this was in the article, act like you're celebrities and ride around in a car acting like you're a celebrity.
Salina: Those and other options are available for you in these articles and you're welcome to try them out.
Salina: If you really enjoy these car dates, please share them.
Salina: If your car date is sexual, please, we hope you enjoy it.
Salina: Yes.
Salina: But you don't necessarily need to give.
Nikki: Us you're welcome to keep up to yourself.
Nikki: But again, unless it's juicy, happy hunting.
Salina: All right, how about what we liked now that we'll step out of Salina sidebar?
Nikki: Salina salacious sidebar.
Nikki: I liked how Suzanne at first tried not to tell the story from the fashion show.
Nikki: But then when Julia was like, it's okay, she was like perf.
Nikki: Here are all the details.
Nikki: Here's everything embarrassing.
Nikki: And then when she says, but what I don't understand is why were you not wearing underwear?
Nikki: And Julia answers her response.
Nikki: The way she delivered it was sofa.
Nikki: Suzanne, I told you they asked me to only wear hose because the dress was silken.
Nikki: Otherwise you can see a penny line.
Nikki: The way she delivered that was just perfect.
Nikki: I loved it.
Salina: I'm glad you said that because I think this whole scene is pitch perfect for me.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: So not only Suzanne's recounting of the fashion show, but the build of it was so nice.
Salina: They didn't tell us.
Salina: We knew she had accidentally shown the back of her b***.
Salina: What?
Salina: We didn't know that she wasn't wearing any underwear.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: And so the build to that and then the reveal of that was like, it was so good.
Nikki: That's a great point because you're listening and you're like, oh, yeah, that is really embarrassing.
Nikki: And then she says that and you're like, oh, no, that's horrifying.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: And it was like this is like, one of those situations, too.
Salina: Sometimes I'm like, I really wish we could have seen this.
Salina: No, in this case, I want it recounted.
Salina: Yeah, because the recount, like, you couldn't make that as sweet as hearing them tell it.
Nikki: Yeah, that was great.
Salina: In this case, it made a lot of sense.
Salina: I also liked in the same scene, everybody's trying to make Julia feel better by telling their most embarrassing moments.
Salina: And then Suzanne's most embarrassing moment is Julia winning 1200 people earlier that day on Brand.
Salina: It was so perfect.
Salina: And I think that's what I was saying, too.
Salina: Felt like it was short changing Mary Joe, it's like they got all these great lines.
Salina: It's her episode.
Salina: They're, like, giving her these emotional cues.
Salina: But I don't know, it didn't land that well with me.
Salina: What else did you like in the episode?
Nikki: We mentioned this at the top of the episode about your embarrassing moment.
Nikki: I liked the throwback to Charlene's quote from season one about going down the freeway of life with the back of her dress tucked into her pantyhose.
Salina: Oh, that's a callback.
Nikki: Yes, it was in season one.
Nikki: It was very early on.
Nikki: I probably could come up with the episode if I thought about it long enough.
Nikki: But, yes, she said it way early.
Nikki: And I just liked how it was a throwback.
Salina: Oh, good catch.
Nikki: And on that note, it's sort of like, in that vein of character development and I mentioned this earlier, I really liked character development as a way to make a political statement about gun control.
Nikki: That worked for me, even though, to your point, it was tacked on.
Nikki: And that didn't really occur to me as I was watching it.
Nikki: I liked being able to have Julia deliver a very concise soapbox message about gun control without making it this, like, whole focus of an episode.
Salina: Okay, well, on that note, while I don't support irresponsible gun ownership, suzanne's over the top femininity with the long pink dressing gown encased in fur and a face full of makeup while toting around a rifle with a pig in toe.
Nikki: It all felt very Southern to me.
Salina: I just don't think you can get any better than that.
Salina: It was pretty fantastic.
Salina: Yeah, I really like that.
Salina: I had one more thing, and this was the runner where Mary Joe, she's, like, desperately attempting to follow this weird advice that Charlene gives her about subliminal mind control.
Salina: So it's this idea that you just mutter something really low that you want someone to do over and over again, and then they'll do it.
Nikki: Well, it couldn't hurt, right?
Salina: Well, so that's why she keeps muttering to Claudia very low.
Nikki: Don't have sex.
Salina: Don't have sex.
Salina: Only outdone by Charlene and Mary Joe simultaneously muttering to Suzanne, don't buy a gun.
Salina: Which just proves probably how much she shouldn't have one.
Salina: And on that note, make me cookies.
Salina: Please leave us a rating and review.
Nikki: Take my Instagram poll.
Nikki: Take it.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: Salina's getting aggressive with our subliminal messaging.
Nikki: Now it becomes less subliminal and more abusive.
Salina: Just a full throated shout and almost like a threat.
Nikki: I don't have anything else I liked in the episode.
Nikki: I do have one thing I didn't like.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Really?
Nikki: Just one thing.
Nikki: It was that weirdness at the end with the police officer.
Nikki: It was just so strange.
Nikki: Like a real effort.
Salina: Same dislike.
Nikki: Well, there you go.
Salina: Well, let's rate this sucker, then.
Salina: Are you ready?
Nikki: I'm ready.
Salina: Well, I usually let you go first, so I'm going to let you go first again.
Salina: I'm so sorry.
Nikki: Hope polite.
Nikki: 4.75 out of five.
Nikki: Bad moons rising.
Nikki: Is that your same same thing?
Salina: Same thing.
Nikki: That's great.
Nikki: That's hilarious.
Nikki: What score did you give it?
Salina: Four out of five, man.
Salina: If I give it the same score.
Nikki: I think would have been weird.
Salina: We just have to end.
Nikki: We would be done and retire.
Salina: You can't beat this.
Nikki: I just didn't have that much to take away from it.
Nikki: If the only thing I didn't like was what I just said, then on the whole, it was an enjoyable episode.
Salina: It's just enjoyable.
Salina: I did struggle with some of it on rewatch, but ultimately, the quirks are enjoyable.
Salina: The dialogue is funny.
Salina: We're having lots of fun.
Salina: We've got these great sitcom situations.
Salina: I mean, what more do you want?
Salina: Who won the episode?
Salina: Who buttered our biscuits?
Nikki: I really want to give it to Charlene this episode.
Nikki: I think we've pretty well documented.
Nikki: She's, like, the most perfect, supportive friend.
Nikki: But this episode really solidified it first, she says she totally would have taken the walk down the runway for Julia if she could have.
Nikki: She used her daddy's prized frog gigging flashlight in the hunt for Claudia and then lost it, I guess, presumably at the police station.
Nikki: And then she called Claudia, our girl, when they were talking about checking in on her or whatever.
Nikki: It was all just really sweet and wholesome.
Nikki: So I guess what I'm saying is, get yourself a Charlene.
Salina: I think we all need a Charlene.
Salina: Suzanne won this episode for me.
Salina: She could teach a master class on burns.
Salina: And I just really liked how her quirkiness was on full display in this one.
Nikki: That's true.
Salina: Who lost the episode or who served us lumpy gravy?
Nikki: I feel like it's really the legal system.
Nikki: So you're telling me I'm supposed to believe it's illegal to be out of your house in your PJs hunting down teenagers?
Salina: I tried to look that up.
Salina: Well, not that.
Salina: Okay, well, that last part sounds bad.
Salina: You're telling me I can't go hunt people under the age of 18, and I just don't get it.
Nikki: I don't understand.
Salina: But the PJs.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I looked at the PJs just to see if there was some kind of codes on the book.
Salina: I gave up.
Salina: I'm sorry.
Salina: It wasn't an easy look up.
Salina: I'm sure there probably not pajamas specifically but I'm sure if you can't have a whale in your bathtub in New York City in the spring or whatever it is I'm sure there's some Pajama law somewhere.
Nikki: Truly, it's more gratifying for me not to know because I think you should be able to leave your house in your PJs if you want.
Salina: I think that 2022 proves that you can yeah, right.
Nikki: For sure.
Salina: We're not having I think this police officer was annoyed and tacked on an additional yes, I think violation which I'm just going to go out on a limb and assume happens occasionally.
Salina: I mentioned earlier that Noel comes up for me in this section.
Salina: She is the one who I feel like loses and that's because I'm sure they'll pretend this never happened.
Salina: But as of right now, the police officer insinuated that Suzanne may lose custody.
Salina: But this kind of harkens back to your story.
Salina: So we don't know what's going on.
Salina: But if you take that part out of it my thought process was if she loses custody then Noel goes from a pretty sweet situation to maybe a farm, maybe worse.
Nikki: Should I maybe then say that maybe again the legal system becomes the person who served a slumpy?
Nikki: Gravy?
Salina: Okay, all right.
Salina: That's a good, fair argument.
Salina: I'm just saying because it's not like Noel I just think she's losing.
Salina: She didn't lose me anything.
Salina: She won me everything.
Salina: Yeah, that's what you need to know.
Salina: Understand 80s things.
Nikki: I have three and I don't have anything substantial to say about any of them.
Salina: Perfect.
Nikki: Amtrak.
Nikki: And maybe just like the idea of taking your honeymoon on Amtrak which was Mary Joe's story.
Salina: Oh, right, the pressed up against the glass story.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: That's no good.
Nikki: Michael J.
Nikki: Fox, though, really.
Nikki: He's kind of timeless.
Nikki: There was a Michael J.
Nikki: Fox reference, I think when they were talking about Ben the boyfriend and then Woolworth, the department store.
Nikki: It's not really a thing we talk about anymore, hardly.
Salina: I don't think there was I don't know, was Woolworths even in the south?
Salina: I don't remember.
Salina: You got my 80s things taken care of so let's move on into Southern things.
Nikki: Frog gigging.
Nikki: So I looked this up because I was going to give like a brief description of it.
Nikki: It's pretty awful.
Salina: You've talked about it before.
Nikki: I have.
Nikki: It's pretty awful.
Nikki: You use that flashlight that Charlene had to temporarily blind the frog and then you stab them.
Salina: Okay, you're going to tell us again?
Nikki: Well, I ended up on a PETA website and it's like really aggressive.
Nikki: It's just something I don't think about very often.
Nikki: I'm not going to get up on a soapbox about it.
Salina: Frog gigging a lot because I don't how strange.
Nikki: Now, what I will tell you, though, is if I've talked about this before, forgive me, but my uncle used to do it and I stayed at his house one time and he had gone out the night before and done it.
Nikki: And when I woke up the next morning, I went to go get my cereal and there were frog legs hanging over a bowl because he had them like curing or whatever you do with frogs after you gig them.
Salina: Yes.
Salina: We have definitely had this conversation.
Salina: That story has stuck with me.
Salina: I think I had said something about eating frog legs, and this is the reason you couldn't do it.
Salina: You had to explain to me what gigging was.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Well, there you go.
Nikki: It sounds terrible.
Nikki: I just don't think about it that much.
Nikki: But PETA does.
Nikki: Bad moon rising being in the credits.
Nikki: That's the song they played in the credits.
Nikki: It's a fantastic song.
Nikki: It's sung by credence clearwater revival.
Nikki: And the reason I'm putting this in southern things is because I do feel like we owe it to people that the band was formed and based in california.
Nikki: They are not southern, even though they are oftentimes lumped in with southern because they talk about bayou's and backwaters and some such, they're not actually southern.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: And I feel like that's our responsibility as southerners.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: But I definitely think of it as, like, southern rock.
Nikki: They are classified in that category, and maybe I linked to an episode or, I mean, linked to an article, and if I didn't, I probably should.
Nikki: This is like a big debate in the rock and roll community about them being considered like southern rock, even though they're from california and that idea of where they glomming onto a culture that isn't theirs and all that sort of stuff.
Salina: Maybe they just wanted to hearken their soul called to this area, as it.
Nikki: Should, and their music is like I mean, we own it as southern.
Nikki: It's fantastic.
Nikki: But I just wanted to mention that.
Salina: Okay, so I did have in here to kill a mockingbird, because southern rider, southern location, all that charlene's motto that we've already talked about not going down the freeway of life with dress tucked in, that sounds pretty southern to me.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: And also, don't brag.
Salina: It's rude.
Salina: And then I had in here the hyatt regency can confirm this is a real hotel in downtown atlanta.
Salina: In fact, it turned 50 back in 2017.
Salina: And even if you don't know it by name, you are probably familiar with the polaris or the blue domed rotating restaurant on the roof.
Salina: I would consider it an Atlanta skyline landmark.
Salina: It shut down for a while, but as far as I know, I think it's back up and running.
Nikki: Is that different than the sun dial?
Salina: Yes.
Salina: Sundial is on top of the westin.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: The polaris room looks more like it kind of gives me these vibes of, like, a UFO almost.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: And I think that's the end of my southern references.
Salina: So what about other references that we should talk about?
Nikki: I don't have anything here.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: The only thing so I did look up Woolworths and I didn't realize a couple of things.
Salina: I think it's just one of those things I only know by name, but I knew literally nothing about it.
Salina: It's a retail company and predecessor of the five and dime store.
Salina: But really the thing that interested me the most is after it went out of business, it's like actually Foot Locker now, which kind of blew my mind, like through all of these different familiar things that they did, and then they were biggest into athletics, and then it just kind of formed over into Foot Locker or something.
Nikki: And that blew my mind.
Salina: It is, because how does that start?
Salina: And then go over here anyways?
Salina: It was a whole thing for me, but it doesn't have to be a whole thing for you all.
Salina: I know that we're not getting into the gun debate, but in terms of thinking, like, why at this time was LBT interested in making this impassioned speech from Julia wrapped in this episode that's got us doing all of these things?
Salina: And so I started looking into what was going on in 88 and 89, and was there any current events that may have inspired all of this to take place within the show?
Salina: And it looks like it was likely inspired by the Gun Control Act of 1986.
Salina: I found a Time article in the law mainly inactive protections for gun owners, prohibiting a national registry of dealer records, limiting ATF inspections to once a year softening what is defined as engaging in the business of selling firearms and allowing licensed dealers to sell firearms at gun shows in their state.
Salina: It loosened regulations on the sell and transfer of ammunition.
Salina: On the other end of that spectrum, the bill also codified some gun control measures expanding the Gun Control Act to prohibit civilian ownership or transfer of machine guns made after May 19, 1986.
Salina: And it also winds up redefining silencer to include parts intended to make silencers.
Salina: So what really kind of struck me here is this sounds like the act that probably opened up the loopholes that get mentioned just about every time this debate circulates back into the news cycle, which is interesting only from a 22.
Salina: Well, it's interesting for a lot of reasons, but for me, this thing that you hear about in 2022 and all these years is harkening back to this time period.
Salina: And I didn't realize that because I don't know the history of the laws.
Salina: Right.
Salina: I also wanted to say that there was a really tragic shooting that year, and I imagine this was all over the news at the time and very much on LBT's mind.
Salina: So I think those two things come together and make her write this episode.
Salina: So I'm not trying to take it down again.
Salina: I'm just trying to explore the world in 1989 that we're just not really that privy to anymore.
Salina: And it felt almost weird to not mention it once, I had looked it up in the worst transition today, cut Lines.
Nikki: Let's bring it back up because the one thing I wanted to mention in Cut Lines is when they were sitting around telling their embarrassing stories, there was one cut where Charlene told her embarrassing story before Mary Joe told hers.
Nikki: The long and the short of it is that Charlene went water skiing with a brother and some friends and lost her bikini top while she was cruising across the top of the water.
Nikki: So we missed that.
Salina: That's a loss.
Nikki: That is a loss.
Salina: Loss of a top for her, loss of a story for us.
Nikki: So next episode, episode 16 miss Meal Ticket.
Nikki: We'd love everyone to follow along with us and engage.
Nikki: We're on Instagram and Facebook at Sweetteantv.
Nikki: Email sweettvpod@gmail.com and our website is sweettv.com.
Nikki: As always, there are several ways to support the show.
Nikki: You can tell your friends and family about us.
Nikki: You can rate and review us wherever you listen.
Nikki: And then you can visit our website where we have a support us page.
Nikki: And hang tight.
Nikki: For Extra Sugar, we're going to talk about full moons.
Salina: Full moons.
Nikki: Full moons.
Salina: Well, you know what that means.
Nikki: What does it mean, Salina?
Salina: Means we'll see you around the bin.
Salina: By.
Nikki: Welcome to this week's edition of Extra Sugar.
Nikki: The wild and crazy night we just spent with the ladies under the light of a full moon inspired this week's segment, which we're calling Lunar Lunacy the Myths, the Truth, and what to Do About It.
Nikki: For this segment, we're going to cover the myth behind the full moon and touch on some tips for managing your life during the full moon so you don't wind up mooning a whole ballroom full of fashion showgoers.
Salina: That'll be handy.
Nikki: So I really doubt the concept of a full moon is totally foreign to people.
Nikki: I think most people have heard someone say, must be a full moon when something like annoying or crazy or weird happens.
Nikki: But it got me thinking, like, why?
Nikki: Where does that come from?
Nikki: As is our vibe around here at Sweet Tea and TV, I did a bit of a deep dive.
Nikki: I have some fun facts, fun it's all relative fun facts to share so as not to bury the lead.
Nikki: Of all the things I read, science does not seem to support the idea of a special mode of crazy being aligned with a full moon.
Nikki: Let's just get that out of the way.
Nikki: It's not supported by science, but I want to go over a couple of theories that have been posited and then debunked about a full moon's influence on human behavior.
Nikki: Okay, so the first one is, just as the moon affects the ocean's tides, so too does it affect human behavior.
Nikki: This was probably the most prominent theory in all of my research that like, well, of course the full moon is going to have something to do with behavior because it affects the ocean's tides that must have some influence on humans.
Salina: There is even body 70% water.
Nikki: There is even something about that is what I was just about to say.
Nikki: So if you're not sure how tides work, I'm going to give a real unscientific explanation.
Nikki: So imagine you're at the beach.
Nikki: Your side of the Earth is closest to the Moon, so you're on this side here's.
Nikki: The Moon, the Moon's gravitational pulls the water more toward the Moon than to the center of the Earth.
Nikki: That's called tidal force.
Nikki: Tidal, not title.
Nikki: It basically stretches the Earth, creating a high tide.
Nikki: What I didn't realize is that it's high tide on the other half of the Earth too, because the center of the Earth experiences a squeeze because of that, like force physics and whatnot the center of the Earth squeezes, causing the other side of the Earth to bulge as well.
Nikki: And a high tide happens there too.
Nikki: I'm sorry, I just used the word bulge.
Nikki: Interestingly.
Salina: I'm not.
Nikki: Interestingly.
Nikki: When the sun, the Moon and the Earth align, which is what happens during a full Moon, the effect of tides are at their greatest because both forces are now pulling on the Earth so much, so much science.
Nikki: So back to the question at hand does the Moon affect human behavior because it affects the tides?
Nikki: I found several sources, including the Washington Post, that cited a quote by late astronomer George Abel, who basically said no.
Nikki: He says a mosquito sitting on your arm exerts a more powerful gravitational pull on us than the Moon.
Nikki: He also noted that the gravitational effect of the Moon is as potent during the new Moon.
Nikki: That's when the Moon is invisible to us on Earth as it is during a full Moon.
Nikki: As far as I can tell, he didn't comment on that co effect we experience of the sun and the Moon during a full Moon.
Nikki: He just sort of said, no, just the Moon in general doesn't have that strong of a gravitational pull on you.
Salina: Well, you can't now.
Nikki: That's correct.
Nikki: So the general consensus remains that gravity is not the answer for the full Moon.
Nikki: Crazy.
Nikki: Another pressing argument is statistical there are a lot of cases being made that crime goes up during a full Moon.
Nikki: Emergency departments go up this emergency department visits, medical mishaps like surgical mistakes.
Nikki: According to the Washington Post and the Farmers Almanac, one off studies have successfully suggested a correlation, but there's never been an established repeated correlation in published science.
Nikki: The Washington Post article included reference to a metaanalysis from 1991 that reviewed hundreds of those sort of oneoff studies, and it found no significant relationship between the Moon and human behavior.
Nikki: And then furthermore, it found problems with some of the research itself.
Nikki: So, for example, one study found a correlation between the full Moon and car accidents, but it didn't take into account the mitigating factor that many of the full moons included in that time period of the study occurred on the weekend when many car accidents occur anyway, when more car accidents in fact occur.
Nikki: So there's sort of that like weird it's just not good science.
Salina: Right.
Nikki: It sounds that what's probably happening more often than not is either cognitive bias, so that is people might recall weird events happening on the full moon because it's a really noticeable or strange occurrence.
Nikki: It's like really bright at night.
Nikki: So you're going to kind of correlate that in your mind to something weird happening and so they might remember those weird events that happen on those weird nights much more than weird events that happen on regular moon nights.
Nikki: So the same thing could happen and maybe you just tend to remember it more if it happens on a full moon.
Nikki: Alternatively, it could be a matter of correlation, just not direct correlation.
Nikki: So for instance, Washington Post shared some research that visits to the veterinarian tend to increase after a full moon.
Nikki: In fact, they referred to this correlation as one of the more quote believable ones.
Nikki: But they made the point.
Nikki: Could it be possible that the full moon makes the night brighter, thus encouraging pet owners to take their pets out later, exposing them to risks they normally wouldn't be exposed to?
Nikki: So they use this really great drowning ice cream analogy.
Nikki: So does ice cream cause drowning?
Nikki: Ice cream eating goes up during the summer and drowning incidents go up during the summer.
Nikki: So they're related, right?
Nikki: Well, no, of course not.
Nikki: It's just that ice cream eating happens the most in the summer and drowning happens the most in the summer because you have the opportunity to do both of those things.
Nikki: So that could be what's happening as well.
Salina: Like the English pea thing and the pregnancy and English pee, like the consumption went up and pregnancy went up.
Salina: But it doesn't mean that English peas are causing pregnancy.
Nikki: Exactly.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: Exactly.
Nikki: Same concept.
Nikki: So the one possibility that could be kind of real is that the full moon did at one time in history contribute to a particular kind of craziness.
Nikki: So way back before modern lighting was invented, it's possible the full moon kept some people awake at night.
Nikki: If they didn't have access to window coverings or shelter, it would keep them awake.
Nikki: And this may have led to sleep deprivation making them do weird stuff or exacerbating existing mental health conditions.
Nikki: But with the advent of modern electricity and lighting, not to mention window covering, can't even see the moon, that's really irrelevant now.
Nikki: So that's why they haven't been able to replicate that finding.
Nikki: It's all science, but fear not, sweet teas, we're a wee bit woo woo here on the podcast.
Nikki: I would say, oh yeah, you more than me.
Nikki: But I think we both share a little bit of a woo woo.
Nikki: We hear the science, we believe the science.
Nikki: But there's got to be.
Nikki: Something to a myth like this, right?
Salina: There's still that magical element out there, guys, and you're not going to take it from me.
Nikki: There's something.
Nikki: There's got to be something, right?
Nikki: Like there's either a reason a myth like this has been able to endure so long.
Nikki: It also feels to me like nature has to have some sort of influence on us.
Salina: Also, I'm sorry, science.
Salina: Eggs are good, eggs are bad.
Salina: Eggs are good, eggs are bad.
Salina: I can't believe you.
Nikki: Go on.
Nikki: So with that in mind, I wanted to give people something to walk away from this segment with because I don't think I've just convinced people that full moons don't do something different.
Nikki: I think if you're inclined to think full moons do something, you're probably listening, like, yeah, sure, they do something weird.
Nikki: So I wanted to give people tips.
Nikki: So first you have to do a little homework, which is unfortunate.
Nikki: I've done some of it for you.
Nikki: You have to know when the full moon is.
Nikki: So if all has gone according to plan, our listeners should be hearing this segment around September 26, 2022.
Nikki: According to my crystal ball, aka the Farmers Almanac, that means we just passed a full moon around the 10th.
Nikki: Our next one's going to fall around October 9, so be on the lookout.
Nikki: October 9.
Nikki: So a few tips that you can prepare yourself for.
Nikki: One, be aware that I may have just subconsciously planted a self fulfilling prophecy in your mind so you could go through your day, October 9, thinking what a weird day it is, then go to get ready for bed that night and realize, oh my gosh, nikki said it's a full moon.
Nikki: So I planted that seed that it was going to be a weird day.
Nikki: You made it weird.
Nikki: That's on you, not me.
Nikki: But it is still possible the full moon could affect your sleep.
Nikki: We said it's probably not likely, but it's possible.
Nikki: So maybe take a little extra care of yourself around that time.
Nikki: Maybe experiment with a face mask, put up some light blocking curtains.
Nikki: Sleep deprivation really is bad, so there's a lot of science to back that up.
Nikki: So make sure you're sleeping really good around the full moon.
Nikki: Do whatever you need to do.
Nikki: And then also you could just not think of it as a bad thing.
Nikki: So I found a very well article that said, quote, mindfully syncing with the moon's phases can be a powerful spiritual and self care tool as well.
Nikki: Every 29.5 days, the moon completes a full cycle, and each phase of that cycle corresponds with particular actions that vary among cultures, according to a Today.com article that validated this.
Nikki: That practice is called moon mapping.
Nikki: For example, full moons are a time for self reflection.
Nikki: New moons are an opportunity to set intentions.
Nikki: So today's article even says, give yourself rest around the full moon.
Nikki: Be kind to yourself.
Nikki: So what better excuse for a bubbly bath and an early bedtime.
Salina: That is all nice.
Nikki: So take care of yourself in a couple of weeks, friends.
Nikki: Science says it ain't true that the moon encourages lunacy, a word which is derived from the Latin word for moon luna.
Nikki: But lots of folks would disagree, so maybe watch out for yourself.
Nikki: Anyway, this has been this week's extra sugar.