Survival: Cold Edition - Winter Theme

Sups 0:01

You can be louder than a snow mobile.

Andi 0:03

I think so. Okay. I can be pretty loud.

Tanner 0:05

He's just running around. causing avalanches. You're a menace.

Sups 0:08

minute.

Andi 0:10

Oh God. So you would just know you were dying and you can't do anything. You would just be frozen.

Tanner 0:14

Yeah.

Sups 0:15

It's like a

Andi 0:15

Oh,

Tanner 0:16

Yeah.

Andi 0:16

That's horrifying,

Tanner 0:19

Exactly. That's basically the facts. don't panic

Sups 0:23

I think all survival facts are, don't panic. yeah.

Andi 0:27

yeah. easier said than done. hello And welcome to this episode of the I Should Have Known podcast, the trivia podcast that can't be trusted. Each week, our Quizmaster presents you with four big facts on a topic, but one of those facts is a lie, and we are finishing off our winter theme with a very chilly episode. Our Quizmaster this week is Tanner.

Tanner 0:47

Hello.

Andi 0:47

And he's going to be presenting us with four facts on survival. Cold edit. But remember, one of his facts is lie and we'll get you killed. So join me, Andy, and our other host soups in figuring out which one it is.

Tanner 1:02

Let's start off with our low hanging fruit. Should you eat snow in order to rehydrate?

Andi 1:09

Okay. I'm pretty sure it's snow. Because yeah, it's water. It'll melts in your mouth, but it'll cool you so much that it'll mess you

Tanner 1:17

up. That's exactly right. the worry is you're dehydrated. Oh, what can I drink? I don't have any water. Well, I can eat snow in order to rehydrate. Actually, that's a bad idea. because it's frozen water. And in order to make usage of that water, you have to heat it up and melt it. Mm-hmm. and your body uses water to do that, so it actually makes you more

Andi 1:38

Oh my God. It's just like salt water. Where it's like, oh, it's water. It hydrates you, but then there's salt and you need water to get rid of the salt.

Tanner 1:45

Right?

Andi 1:46

Oh,

Tanner 1:46

Yeah. So that's a bad idea. know. Not even talking about what color the

Andi 1:51

is.

Sups 1:51

Yeah. Yeah.

Andi 1:52

Oh boy.

Sups 1:53

Okay. but also snow might contain like other chemicals and stuff,

Tanner 1:57

Absolutely. It's okay to eat snow sometimes. Don't eat the first snow of the season. Correct. Because it contains all the contaminants in the air.

Sups 2:04

Mm-hmm.

Andi 2:05

Mm-hmm.

Tanner 2:05

It's okay to eat snow after that. Okay. For fun,

Andi 2:08

lot of people sometimes think when you say like, you shouldn't drink this, you'll die eventually. It's like they think, oh, it's poison. Mm-hmm. well, technically anything's poison. Right. Paracelsus. Right. It's in

Tanner 2:17

the dose. Water can be.

Andi 2:18

be. Yeah. it won't kill you to eat snow, but it shouldn't be your sole source of

Tanner 2:23

Exactly. All right. So let's start with our first survival fact. Fact number one, if you're out in the cold, drinking coffee or alcohol will speed up your heat loss.

Andi 2:36

Oh. So like those commercials with the dog that has like the cognac

Tanner 2:40

with

Andi 2:40

something, little barrel in it. He a little barrel and he brings you a nip to warm you up. That's bad. Bad idea.

Tanner 2:46

Bad dog. Yeah. Yeah.

Andi 2:49

I know obviously alcohol dehydrates you. but the heat loss thing is kind of weird.

Tanner 2:53

So drinking caffeine can constrict your blood vessels so it prevents your hands and feet from getting as much warmth as they need. Alcohol can reduce your shivering, which you use to triple your heat production. And then if you drink hot beverages in the cold, nerves in your throat and on your tongue detect that you're hot and you start sweating and then you cool down even faster. So mold wine is terrible in order to warm you up

Andi 3:21

Yeah. But it, feels good in your hands,

Sups 3:24

Right? Also, it's really

Andi 3:26

it's

Tanner 3:26

yeah, and you can go inside afterwards.

Andi 3:28

yeah. Obviously but I, I have to say though, if I was gonna die, if I'm like out in the snow no chance of rescue and someone offered me a cup of Jags, you know, I'm drinking it. Like, come on man, I'm gonna go out. Yeah. With some mold wine in my belly.

Tanner 3:41

Yeah,

Andi 3:42

But Okay. I guess this makes sense. Yeah, just in general, drinking alcohol and coffee is not a super, super healthy thing to do, so it makes

Sups 3:52

sense Yeah. Unless, this is the twist, that this is the only time that you should be

Tanner 3:55

be

Sups 3:56

to survive.

Andi 3:58

I think that's wishful thinking.

Sups 4:00

Oh no.

Andi 4:01

Okay, fine. Yeah, right. Try right But yes. it sounds like wishful thinking to me. But I need to hear more.

Tanner 4:07

Okay. Fact number two, in the mountains, avoid using snowmobiles since their noise can cause avalanches.

Andi 4:15

Okay. Also, don't shout.

Tanner 4:17

Right. Stay quiet.

Andi 4:18

Okay. weird choice of snowmobiles. Yeah. Okay.

Sups 4:23

Sure, Yeah. But when would you use a snowmobile Like what's the right usage?

Tanner 4:28

Usually people use it on flatland, where there's not mountains, so we use it a lot in the Midwest. Yeah. No mountains for miles and miles. yeah. yeah.

Andi 4:36

yeah. No chance of it. It's very popular in Wisconsin.

Tanner 4:40

Mm-hmm. .You can even use them on frozen lakes if the ice is thick enough.

Sups 4:43

Ah,

Andi 4:44

I mean, you can also drive on a frozen lake, but yeah, you

Tanner 4:47

take a truck on a frozen lake, but

Sups 4:49

right. Okay. So it's only for flat surfaces

Tanner 4:52

yeah. I mean, you can take it in the mountains, but then you're at risk of causing avalanches. that's the problem.

Andi 4:56

Okay. Hmm. Yeah. Tell me about sound and

Tanner 5:00

avalanche. Yeah, avalanches. I don't have much experience with the avalanches because like we said, we're from Wisconsin, so we don't have these very But an avalanche is basically like a river of snow. like a landslide, it can travel up to 320 kilometers per hour, 200 miles an hour. And 90% of avalanche accidents are caused by the victims or someone in the victim's party. So there's like a hundred thousand of them just in the western US every year.

Andi 5:27

so it's a natural phenomenon. It happens naturally.

Tanner 5:29

one of the most dangerous natural phenomena Yeah.

Andi 5:31

Okay. But you're saying usually if, it affects people negatively, it's usually they're the cause of that. So how do people cause avalanches?

Tanner 5:42

for an avalanche, you need four things, A steep slope, a snow cover, a weak layer in that snow cover and a trigger. so sometimes this trigger is from someone walking on top. Sometimes it's from snow melting. Sometimes it's the noise from a snow. No.

Andi 6:00

Okay. so you can yell and cause the snow to fall down. Right.

Tanner 6:05

And so if you see an avalanche coming, you should get out of the way.

Sups 6:08

because you cannot outrun the avalanche.

Tanner 6:11

they say, actually you should swim. I heard of swim like you're in a river, cuz it is like a river. If you swim along the avalanche up, you'll end up at. Higher layer of the snow. Okay. And then they say to keep a hand in front of your mouth to make like a pocket of air, but if you're stuck in an avalanche and you get buried, you really can't do much. So just staying put is kind of all you can do. Yeah. You can try to punch up towards the top if you know which way that is, but really you have to wait to be dug out by your friends.

Andi 6:40

That's horrifying. I don't wanna think about that.

Tanner 6:41

Yeah.

Andi 6:42

It's weird. They brought snowmobiles. Like why are you singling out snowmobiles? What's the deal with this?

Tanner 6:47

basically the loudest thing that skiers and hikers

Andi 6:49

have Oh, I think I can be much louder than the

Sups 6:52

You can be louder than a snow mobile.

Andi 6:54

I think so. Okay. I can be pretty loud.

Tanner 6:57

He's just running around. causing avalanches. You're a menace.

Sups 6:59

minute. Okay. ,Okay. remind me not to go for skiing with you.

Andi 7:03

yeah, yeah. yeah. Okay.

Sups 7:05

All right. Cool.

Tanner 7:06

So fact number three. If you fall through the ice into cold water, you're more likely to die of drowning than hypothermia.

Andi 7:15

Real fun stuff here.

Tanner 7:16

Yeah. It's survival. So it's

Andi 7:18

okay. prevent right? Yeah. So you're saying that it's better to stay in the water and float than to try to get out and potentially drown yourself.

Tanner 7:27

Well, no. Most people panic when they hit the cold water because they think I'm gonna freeze to death in like five

Andi 7:34

I think people panic when they fall into cold water because it's horrifying.

Tanner 7:38

Yeah. Yeah. But It's not a total lost cause. when you hit the cold water, something weird happens. You gasp for air, which kind of sounds dumb if you're in water, right? But you're kind of taking your last breath. But this can cause a lot of people to start to hyperventilate, So, okay. If you fall into cold, Basically you should fight this reflex of gasping and just try to catch your breath. And then for about a minute you will hyperventilate. So spend this minute trying to breathe normally.

Andi 8:06

this is like a

Tanner 8:07

under control. Will response. Yes,

Sups 8:09

everyone's gonna

Andi 8:09

to do this.

Tanner 8:10

Yeah. And if you haven't blacked out, then you have about 10 minutes. To get out of the water onto the ice before your limbs are too cold to move. this is called cold incapacitation, so hypothermia takes around 30 to 60

Andi 8:27

minutes Oh God. So you would just know you were dying and you can't do anything. You would just be frozen.

Tanner 8:32

Yeah.

Sups 8:32

It's like a

Andi 8:33

Oh,

Tanner 8:34

Yeah.

Andi 8:34

That's horrifying, be with other

Tanner 8:37

Yes. That's the solution. Stay with others.

Sups 8:40

Yeah.

Tanner 8:41

a buddy

Andi 8:41

Yeah.

Sups 8:41

Okay. I can relate to this fact, and I think this is true because last winter my heating broke down and I didn't have hot water and I had to take a shower in it was cold water. And the moment I put cold water in my body and I was like, shivering. Yeah. But it took about like 20 seconds for my body to get adjusted and then I was like, oh, it's actually kind of refreshing So I'm guessing it's kind of similar concept in a different extreme.

Tanner 9:06

Yeah, Cause there's the initial shock

Andi 9:08

So I mean, growing up in. Rural Wisconsin, there are a lot of lakes and it's really common to go out on the ice. Yeah. And like we were definitely taught how to identify the kind of ice that you can walk on, the kind that you can't, but I don't remember being taught anything about like if you did fall through I remember being told not to swim, let yourself float back up because if you try to swim, you might end up under the ice and not able to find the hole where you fell in through. Right? Yeah. But I guess when I was a kid. We didn't really learn about this kind of thing because you wouldn't be out by yourself. I guess it doesn't really matter so much if you're not by yourself, cuz someone will come and grab

Tanner 9:43

you, right? if you fall in, don't panic. Try to blow out through your mouth so you don't hyperventilate and drown. Call for help. Float on your belly. and try to crawl back onto the ice while spreading out as much as possible.

Andi 9:57

Right. Cuz if it's thin enough for you to fall through, it's fall back

Tanner 10:00

in. Yeah. Yeah. weight out. Yeah. And then crawl or roll back to shore, yeah. yeah. yeah. But basically you're fighting drowning, not hypothermia.

Andi 10:09

Okay. Yeah. I don't remember anyone making that distinction. But again, personal experience is not a great metric. Have you ever been out on like a frozen lake or something?

Sups 10:18

Frozen lake? No. I have seen one, but I've never,

Andi 10:22

it's very

Tanner 10:23

common.

Sups 10:23

Yeah. But nowadays, I see that it's a thing, like people jump into

Andi 10:27

Oh yeah. People do that. Like, yeah. The polar bear plunge or what? It has different names. Yeah. And in Wisconsin, ice fishing is extremely popular. So we went ice fishing

Sups 10:36

Okay.

Tanner 10:36

up. Yeah. Or snowmobile. Or skating.

Sups 10:40

So I'm curious to try it once yeah.

Andi 10:43

falling through the ice. This was always a thing we had to worry about as a kids. drowning is a bigger thing than freezing. Yeah. I mean, I guess they're both major problems. Mm-hmm. but you'll drown faster than you'll freeze your death.

Sups 10:54

than you'll. Yeah,

Tanner 10:55

sure. Exactly. That's basically the facts. don't panic

Sups 10:59

I think all survival facts are, don't panic. yeah.

Andi 11:02

yeah. easier said than, done.

Tanner 11:05

Of course. Yeah.

Andi 11:06

Okay. I need to hear more facts.

Tanner 11:08

right. Fact number four. If your ship is sinking in the ocean

Andi 11:14

yes.

Tanner 11:14

and you missed the lifeboats, stay on board until it goes down.

Andi 11:19

Is this a Titanic

Sups 11:20

Rose. I know.

Tanner 11:21

Exactly. don't be like Jack.

Andi 11:24

about floating doors?

Tanner 11:25

Yes. Make room for others.

Sups 11:29

Did they discover the soft, the Titanic? yeah.

Tanner 11:32

a lot a lot of things came out of the Titanic. a lot of these facts, you know. fact number one, to survive a sinking ship like the Titanic be rich, So 97% of the women in first class survived the Titanic. Like Rose, yeah. Well, not even like rose. 97% just

Andi 11:52

got

Tanner 11:52

on

Sups 11:53

bulbs. Oh my God. That's such a classist and sexist fact. rose,

Andi 11:57

was one of those women though.

Sups 11:58

Yeah. If you are rich and you're female, you're gonna survive a sinking ship.

Andi 12:03

Oh, great. Okay. I need to work on the first one. I think second one's unlock. Got it. Okay. So you should stay on the ship. Yes. Basically don't get in the water until you must Exactly.

Tanner 12:16

When a ship is sinking, you have a couple options, right? Get on the lifeboat, jump in the water, or wait until it goes.

Andi 12:23

Yeah, basically it. But is this true for all sinking ships or only sinking ships in cold water?

Tanner 12:29

No, this is true for all sinking ships, Jumping into the water is always a bad idea because hitting the water is like jumping onto. So if you jump from six meters up 20 feet, you're going over 25 miles an hour when you hit the water. So like a yacht. You can have one that has a 20 foot deck above the water the Titanic was 17 and a half meters high. The deck above the water. So that's 58 feet. when you hit you're gonna break your bones, you're gonna compress your spine. Yeah.

Sups 12:58

Okay.

Andi 12:59

okay, so don't jump off a big old ship. Okay. but then what happens? is it the same as before? It's just like you got 10 minutes. Yes. the

Tanner 13:07

starts. The cutdown starts.

Andi 13:09

Woo.

Tanner 13:10

Yes, but if you're wearing a life jacket, then you can move your limbs a little bit more and get more heat going.

Andi 13:15

they're not in the water.

Tanner 13:17

can spend longer in the water if you have a life jacket on.

Andi 13:20

so Rose and Jack were on that door for longer than an hour. Yeah, I guess ,he didn't Spoiler alert. Wow. Okay. Good to know if I'm ever on the Titanic.

Sups 13:34

We're

Andi 13:34

gonna do better this time around guys. Okay.

Sups 13:37

Oh wow. Okay.

Andi 13:39

Oh wow. So those were some very useful facts except one of them is a lie. And I hope I can remember which one it is. So can you repeat the four of them and then we will guess which one we think will get us killed?

Tanner 13:51

Okay. fact number one, if you are out in the cold, drinking coffee or alcohol will speed up your heat? Fact number two, in the mountains, avoid using snowmobiles since their noise can cause avalanches. Fact number three, if you fall through the ice into cold water, you're more likely to die of drowning than hypothermia. In fact, number four, If your ship is sinking in the ocean and you missed the lifeboats, stay on board until it goes down. One of those might get you killed cuz

Andi 14:35

it's

Tanner 14:35

a lie.

Andi 14:36

I love that. The Titanic man of the cameo, Why? Why didn't they listen to the Ice Shin one podcast before the they boarded the ship. Come on.

Tanner 14:44

on.

Sups 14:45

What are you thinking?

Andi 14:46

I think number two is a lie. I think something about the snowmobiles and the whole sound thing. I don't know if that's like not real. you know, it's, it's a pop culturey thing but it's not actually real. That sound cause avalanches or like the sound as loud as an snowmobile or human voice or something. maybe the snowmobile thing is some other part about the snowmobile. Because he made a whole thing about hoods. The noise causes avalanches. Yeah. But I think maybe it's not the noise, it's something else. And also like the other ones are just I don't even know what the truth would be.

Sups 15:18

Yeah, no, I'm with you on this. A hundred percent. That's the only one that stood out to me. The fact is avalanches are like a natural phenomena. They've been happening ever since. People have been skiing before. Snowmobile Right. Was invented. Right. I understand the logic of the sound part, but. I don't think that's the real reason.

Andi 15:38

Yeah.

Sups 15:39

Yeah, number two.

Tanner 15:41

All right. Well, I would happily go in the mountains and on a snowmobile with you because number two is a lie. Yes, Gonna

Sups 15:48

Very

Andi 15:49

the snow

Tanner 15:50

you did not. So limited snowing.

Andi 15:53

Yeah. Yeah. I know, right? It's very funny. We have like an Indian on here talking about snow survival. Cold

Sups 15:58

Yeah.

Tanner 15:59

Yeah. Although it's in lots and lots of movies and TV and cartoons, noise cannot cause avalanches.

Andi 16:06

So the whole thing is

Tanner 16:07

yes, exactly. Yes. Most people who die in avalanches are snowmobilers, skiers or snowboarders. But this is because the combined weight of a rider and the snowmobile on this weak layer of snow, that's the trigger, not the noise. Noise cannot generate enough force. To trigger a slide, at least not from a snowmobile. An explosion could cause enough noise to cause an avalanche,

Andi 16:30

Yeah. Yeah. Some things are loud enough but not

Sups 16:34

Exactly.

Tanner 16:34

Or there's a hundred thousand avalanches in the Western US every year. If snowmobiles cause them, there would be millions, cuz

Sups 16:42

so many people use. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. I take my words back, Andy. If you can make more noise, Than a snowmobile. Happy to go skiing with you. Yeah. Okay. Shout as

Andi 16:51

as much as you want. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I probably, I'll scream all the, way down the slope. problem.

Sups 16:55

I downhill Not a problem the whole way. Now that we have confirmed that noise is not the problem. Yes.

Andi 17:02

yes. yes.

Sups 17:03

go for it.

Andi 17:04

our combined weight. Oh, no That might also be a problem.

Sups 17:07

Yeah. Oh, just don't ride

Andi 17:09

my back

Tanner 17:10

Okay. We'll be good. You should be safe. then. I think

Andi 17:12

less than a snowmobile .Yeah.

Tanner 17:14

Yeah. I'm pretty, that. I think so. Yeah.

Andi 17:16

That's right. All right. I do feel like as a Wisconsin night, You know, obviously mountains aren't my thing. Mm-hmm. but like cold weather. I'm very familiar with this, so I feel like I get to keep a little bit of my

Tanner 17:25

credit. Yeah. Your winter survival card, you get

Andi 17:27

get to, Yeah. yeah. Yeah. we didn't even talk about the time when a squirrel almost killed me

Sups 17:31

Oh wow.

Andi 17:32

In the, in the cold. That's some cold weather survival right there. Yeah. We

Tanner 17:37

we talk

Andi 17:38

driving on icy roads or anything. That's another cold weather survival

Tanner 17:41

thing. That's true. Yeah. Black ice and how to build a snow shelter. We we learned this in Boy Scouts.

Sups 17:47

yeah.

Andi 17:47

Do you have a badge for that?

Tanner 17:48

Yeah. Yeah. yeah. We had to build a pile of snow and then dig a Quincy inside It's actually very bad advice for surviving in the cold cuz it takes so much energy to do it.

Andi 17:59

Yeah, it's just more, for fun. for fun.

Tanner 18:02

Is Yeah, it's really fun. Yeah. It's like a, a fort

Andi 18:07

snow Okay. True, true snow forts. This is a thing your childhood missed out on soups. You never made snow forts, Yeah. Anyway. Well, I mean, interesting and important facts to know. and I should have known.

Sups 18:18

I should have

Tanner 18:18

known, well, I think I should have known you guys once again are survival experts.

Sups 18:22

Yes,

Andi 18:23

thanks for listening to this episode of the I Should Have Known podcast. This is the end of our winter theme. Hope you enjoyed it. this is the last episode of the year, so thank you guys so much for listening for the whole year, and we'll see you in the next one. And as always, Thanks.

Tanner 18:41

Rose,