Episode 53 - Blood

Norah joins Ben this week to talk about the bodily fluid responsible for oxygen transport to and from the heart.  They each have research to present on the components that make up blood, blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood types.  After those “lectures,” Ben talks about blood type bias in Japan and why blood types appear in old arcade game character bios.  He then moves on to describing the game Code Vein which turns in to a very bold statement about why Elden Ring should not win GOTY 2022.

00:00:53 - “Not much to do in Tucson…” and “blood, let’s get into it!”
00:03:00 - Some common phrases involving the word blood
00:04:01 - “Blood from a stone” vs. “Blood from a turnip”
00:05:40 - Ben’s tepid take on puns, and other “bad humor”
00:07:21 - Caviar, another pun, and Norah and Ben haven’t heard of “blood and thunder” 
00:09:49 - “Blood brother” rituals aren’t sanitary, and facts about fainting at the sight of blood
00:12:39 - Donating blood to the American Red Cross (listed as Vampires in Ben’s phone)
00:15:00 - Bone marrow; Norah explains blood pressure (measured in millimeters of mercury)
00:20:26 - Salt vs. sugar, and the components of blood 

00:21:31 - Plasma is a heterogeneous mixture; a colloid is a homogeneous noncrystalline substance consisting of large molecules of one substance dispersed through another.

00:23:20 - The negative logarithm of the molar concentration of Hydrogen ions in a solution
00:24:32 - Erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes… “oh my!”
00:27:29 - Norah announces her lipid panel, and then moves on to explaining blood sugar 
00:31:33 - An aside about frozen deserts 

00:34:15 - A simple sugar may be a mono- or disaccharide.  Monosaccharides are the simplest carbs; the body cannot break them down further.  Disaccharides consist of two sugar molecules (two monosaccharides) bonded together.  The body must break the bond apart (in to  two monosaccharides) before they can be absorbed.

00:42:32 - Ben explains the ABO and the Rh blood group systems
00:46:25 - Ben talks a little about Type O Negative and the origin of their band name
00:49:05 - Why is blood type included in the character bios of old arcade games?
00:52:58 - Using the website Tofugu for learning Japanese language and culture. 
00:55:49 - What are Norah and Ben’s personalities based solely on their blood type? 
00:59:07 - The blood type “descriptive words” are too vague for Two Vague
01:01:21 - Kitty White’s blood type, and Hello Kitty blood type identification straps
01:03:48 - Vampires, and Ben explains the story of the game Code Vein
01:07:30 - Ben tries to explain From Software’s “souls-like” games to Norah
01:10:54 - Code Vein has been described as “souls-like,” but Ben doesn’t find it too difficult
01:13:45 - Ben’s Elden Ring 2022 GOTY hot take
01:16:21 - Ben thinks Eric won’t sick him, and Norah thinks it was a “bloody good” show