Minisode: Some Small/Smol Announcements

This episode is about announcing new changes and exciting developments in the "Ologies" podcast, especially the launch of its child-friendly counterpart, Smologies.

1. Smologies is launched as a separate show to provide kid-safe and classroom-friendly podcast content.
2. The new show will feature shorter, G-rated versions of popular "Ologies" episodes.
3. Audience feedback and support through platforms like Patreon play a crucial role in the podcast's ongoing development.
4. Alie is passionate about making science accessible and exciting to all age groups, not just children.
5. The introduction of Smologies allows "Ologies" to maintain its authentic tone without compromising the content for adult listeners.

1: Introduction to Smologies

Alie Ward announces the launch of Smologies, emphasizing its family-friendly format. This new show aims to make science accessible and enjoyable for younger audiences. Alie Ward: "Smologies is its own show already, focusing on making science fun and safe for kids."

2: The Importance of Feedback

Alie thanks listeners for their support and feedback, which have been instrumental in shaping the podcast's direction. Alie Ward: "Thank you to everyone who's ever left reviews. I have honestly read them all."

3: Details on New Episodes

Discussion about the structure of Smologies episodes and how they will be integrated into the podcast lineup. Alie Ward: "Starting today, you can subscribe to this new show, Smologies."

1. Explore New Learning Formats: If you're a parent or educator, consider incorporating podcast episodes from Smologies into your teaching materials.
2. Engage with Content Creators: Leaving reviews and feedback can significantly influence the content and help tailor it to audience needs.
3. Support Creative Projects: Supporting projects through platforms like Patreon can ensure the sustainability of creative content.
4. Encourage Scientific Curiosity: Use accessible resources like Smologies to spark curiosity about science in children.
5. Embrace Digital Learning Tools: Incorporate podcasts and other digital media as learning tools in educational settings.

A short little episode to tell you about a change we're making to Ologies that I am genuinely very pumped about, as well as some weird secrets I did not intend to tell. But my point is that you can now have a kid-safe show and feed that is safe for kids and classrooms and a road trip with your shy parents.

People

Alie Ward

Companies

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Guest Name(s):

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Content Warnings:

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Alie Ward
I know I usually save my secrets for the end of the episode, but I'm gonna tell you my secret favorite candy. It's Reese's peanut butter cups. It's really Reese's. Anything but. Reese's peanut butter cups are the thing that I'm like, have I had a bad day?

I get these. Have I had a good day? I get these chocolate salty peanut butter. The textures. I love everything about them.

Also that there's two. So I'm like, oh, I get this one for later, which is 1 second later. Anyway, Reese's peanut butter cups. I love you. That's all.

If you're me, you can shop Reese's peanut butter cups now at a store near you. Found wherever candy is sold. And I am hey, fidelity, what's it cost to invest with the fidelity app? Start with as little as $1 with no account fees or trade commissions on us stocks and ETF's. Hmm, that's music to my ears.

I can only talk. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Zero account fees apply to retail brokerage accounts only. Zero dollar commission applies to online us equity trades and ETF's and retail fidelity accounts sell order assessment fee not included. Some account types and securities excluded.

Details of Fidelity.com commissions Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC member, NYSE SIPc. Oh, hey. It's an announcement episode. It's a mini sode. I hope you're as excited as I am.

Alie Ward
I'm actually genuinely excited. And I'm not excited the way people say I'm so excited when they're on, like a conference call where no one's excited. I'm actually excited. Okay, this is also just a general like, hey, what's up? And here's what's changing coming up soon.

Oh, I've been waiting for this day for at least a year. Maybe, like, maybe probably closer to two. Okay, first off, though, thank you to patrons@patreon.com ologies for supporting the show. And you send in the best questions. We hear them every episode.

Also, thank you to everyone wearing ologies merch from ologiesmerch.com dot. We have hats for your summer or winter needs. Totes. We even have swimsuits. You can wear our logo on your butt.

And ologiesmerch.com is linked in the show notes. Also, thank you to anyone who's ever left reviews. I have honestly read them all, and they are usually so sweet. Only occasionally it feels awkward. But thank you for the review.

This week I will read one as proof from ABCDef Smiley Face 123 who wrote so amazing? What? I can't imagine how this world would be without ally and her guests. Keep on sciencing. Thank you for that ABCdef smiley face.

One, two, three. And I know you can't imagine it without me or my guests, and I suppose it's timely that I happen to read this one on an episode without actual guests, but it's rare. And here we are. Also, thank you for the review. Campbellsoop, who wrote, I love knowing that you will read this.

Look at that. I did. Okay, we're gonna get into this minisode with some not life altering but exciting for me announcements about the future of the podcast ologies. What's it gonna be? Here we go.

Miniso Minisod, Minisod, Miniso Miniso.

Okay, first, I've been mentioning some may 16 news for a bit. I've been like, we've got some exciting stuff for you. And the news is that smologies is becoming its own show. It's its own show already. If you're listening to this, we just put it up.

It's fresh as hell, hot off the griddle. This is something that makes me so thrilled.

That's how thrilled I am. So I've been talking about this for like a month, and it's been a long time coming. And this means that forevermore, starting today, you can subscribe to this new show. It's called smologies. There are shorter, g rated and classroom safe cuts of these classic ologies episodes.

Maybe you're a parent who tries to find them in the feed going back three years, or maybe you're not interested in them and you've dodged them in our regular ologies feed for years. Or you tried to, yeah, find them by scrolling through our back catalog, but we're now releasing them in their own dedicated place. And you can click the show notes. It'll take you right there. You can subscribe right away, and then you'll just get them when we release them.

Once a week, we're alternating with some ones we've already put out, but it'll be populating that feed from now on. You can also, obviously just look for smologies wherever you find podcasts. It's just ologies with an SM at the front and you'll know you're at the right place because we have a new logo with new pictures for smologies that are all really colorful so you'll know you're there. Now, in a minute, I'm going to tell you the backstory of smologies and why I'm so excited about this. For real excited.

And why it's a weight off my soul. But here's a trailer that we put up as an episode zero on the new Smology show feed. And right after it, we're going to take a quick break for sponsors of the show who make it possible for us to donate to causes every week. And then right afterward, I'm going to be telling you some secrets, some that are juicy, some that are embarrassing, and also just some thoughts about authenticity and. Where I feel the show is going.

Okay, here's the trailer. Just a little taste. So this is a trailer that we put together. Boom. Smologies its own freaking show.

Look at you. You made it. Welcome to the podcast smologies. This is exciting. Do you love the podcast ologies?

But you could use less swearing out of my mouth so you can listen in the carpool line or around your school's vice principal. Well, we made this for you. Welcome to Smology's completely kid safe, classroom. Friendly, all ages and shorter versions of Ologies podcast classics. So, Ologies is an award winning science podcast that examines one ology per episode, from rocks to toads to personalities to clouds to bears.

And around here, we ask super smart people the questions that are on all of our minds, even if they're a little silly. The language is clean, but the topics are, well, science. The giant panda has poo that smells like tea. They're eating bamboo, and it literally smells like tea. Did you know you can eat bugs?

So I've had a lot of termites. So one, they're my favorite. Cause I've had them the freshest, straight from the mound, boiled for a minute, salted, consumed, and they tasted just like popcorn. And entophagic anthropologists say it's better for the planet than cheeseburgers. Speaking of planets and all things cosmological, there's water on the moon.

Water ice. Water ice on the moon. Yes, yes. We'll learn new things as we bust old myths and flim flam. A lot of people think that there aren't any fireflies in the western United States, and that's not true.

I'm so happy. A pumpkin, believe it or not, is a berry. Oh. What? Why?

Alie Ward
It's a berry? Because it said, I'm gonna be a berry. And it's very true. Some snakes today still have these little remnants of legs. They got nubbins.

They got nubbin legs? Yep. What? Mm hmm. A ho hum day gets exciting when ologists reveal the wonder of the things all around us.

And someone's like, tell me about trees. I'm just like, where to begin? Because life is electric. There we go. And they turn around and they get all the other electrons riled up.

Alie Ward
Let's go. And learning is like a secret code. Our bodies are so cool that they speak their own language, which is the genetic code. I'm sitting in this class like, oh, my gosh, none of my friends are in this class. They have to learn about this.

This is so cool. Through the eyes of ologies, things become wonder filled, fascinating and bigger. This is nature. This is evolution. This is just all.

This is our world we live. This is a planet we live on, which is kind of like. Just blows my mind. This is fishes. I think about fishes every day with that sort of tone.

This is on our planet with us. Are these creatures? We answer the gross questions. Can snakes fart? And the big ones, too.

Alie Ward
Where did we come from? Where are we going? How did life originate? We go back in time. Now imagine your rubbish heap.

Your dump was right outside in your backyard. Just imagine what people would find. But it really is exciting because what you're doing is you're recovering the remains of ancient cultures. That's what really archaeology is. And into the future, like the surprising merits of video games.

Excuse me, your brain gets better at looking at a difficult skill or task and saying, let me try it because I have a great and long history of getting better at things that I'm bad at. And that's what gaming does for most people. So join us as we take a trip through all the ologies of the world, studies you never knew existed, experts you've never heard, so casual science just somehow makes you laugh. So subscribe for smolojies, the smaller, shorter, and all ages versions of Ologies podcast episodes, and tell your friends you like it because they this audio reaches more ears through your word of mouth. Join us every week.

Alie Ward
We'll be here with some new friends who also happen to be ologists or toads. I love that you had a toad friend, like the toad was your friend. It kind of was my friend. Shorter, G rated episodes of ologies. Classroom safe, kid friendly.

Subscribe now and never miss an episode. Ologies, small trees, allergies, smologies, mulches, smologies. Stop. Isn't this a great story? This show is sponsored by better help.

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Start ritual or add essential for women 18 plus to your subscription today. That's ritual.com ologies for 25% off. Get that d okay, so that's up. You can get the link in the show notes or@alieward.com smologies. Please do pass it on to anyone who needs shorter versions of Olody's episodes or is about to embark on some road trips with kiddos this summer, or with people who would not like to hear a lot of swear words and talk about lizard dicks in full length episodes.

I'm going to tell you a story about that really quick. Okay, so this one time I was driving my parents down to LA. This has nothing to do with smologies. Well, tangentially. So this one time I was driving, oh, my God, I can't believe I was driving my parents down to LA.

My dad was getting cancer treatment down here, and my parents didn't make a lot of road trips, and I didn't make a lot of road trips with my parents, but it was a seven hour drive, and so I'm trying to keep them occupied. And obviously my dad's kind of sick. No one feels like just chit chatting the whole time. So I was like, let me put on a podcast. Do you guys know what podcasts are?

So I was like, how about this american life? I turn on this episode, and it's an episode about a guy generally just being like a real fuck boy. And language not family friendly at all. Content not family friendly. And so my parents are obviously like, we listen to probably like 15 minutes of it before I'm like, I'll just change.

I'm gonna change this. Here's what my parents didn't know. And my dad is now past, so he will never know. I had dated that guy.

I had dated that guy a few. Years prior, and I was like, oh, these stories hit a little different, but they never knew that. Anyway, so I just turned on a random podcast, and I was like, this is not something I want to listen to in the car with my parents. So smologies are good for things like that. For example.

Wish I would have known about them that time I drove with my parents on a road trip. And my parents, and I love them, but we don't have the kind of relationship where I'll be like, oh, my God, I fucked this guy. That's not the kind of relationship that I wouldn't even. The fact that my mom listens to ologies in general makes me say, oh, should I change who I am on this and that, mom, I love you, if you're listening. And I have to remind myself to try not to do that.

Anyway, that's another reason why I'm really happy that Smolaji's is in its own feed. Because just knowing that there are kids in the room, I feel like over the last couple years, I watch what I say a little bit more, which isn't fun for me. It's probably not something that you might notice, but I just. I hesitate a little bit more. And this show is much more fun when I can just be myself.

So that's why I'm excited that Smoloji's is getting its own feed. People can find it there. People can just binge listen. Parents aren't dodging stories or swear words or whatever they don't want to hear. It's just, boom, you can listen to them all at once.

And then I don't have to worry about, like, who's listening right now. Did someone accidentally autoplay on this episode? And I'm, like, ruining someone's childhood because now they have to have an uncomfortable conversation with their parents that their parents are not emotionally willing to go there with.

That's why I'm excited. Also, I started smologies three years ago because I would sometimes get angry emails from people who are like, this information should be accessible to children, and it's not. And I'm like, I love that you have kids. I personally don't thank you all for having kids because if you didn't have kids, I wouldn't have doctors when I'm old. But I personally, my body cannot make them, so I don't have them.

I have a dog. That's enough responsibility. That's all I can handle. So a lot of people were like, why aren't you making this for kids? And I was like, why can't I make it for adults who are still living and breathing on the planet?

A lot of people have sort of lost a connection with, like, wonder and what the world does. A lot of us are fed, like, what nail color is this celebrity wearing today? And there's a lot better content I think we could be talking about, which is why I made ologies and why I want to make it for adults. I also have worked in children's tv. I still do.

I'm still on Innovation Nation on CB's every Saturday morning. I've worked on Ada Twist as a science consultant on that. On Netflix. A lot of people are like, oh, my kid loves you. As the science friend on Brainchild on Netflix, I was like, I love doing all that.

But there's a lot of science content. For kids, which is great, but there's. Not a lot that's for adults. It's just, like, conversational and weird. So that's what I wanted to do.

I wanted to make stuff about bugs and stars and vampires and pigeons and even genocide, because I feel like learning about these things keeps us connected to each other and the world, and that's not always appropriate for kids. So I love that this show, ologies, has the authenticity, the swearing, the whatever content. An ant expert screaming fuck over and over again, talking about bullet ants. But also a lot of ologist stories. Start with, like, I saw this thing about rocks as a kid, and I became obsessed or, like, squid or whatever.

And so smologies, I also want to exist because maybe that could be a jumping off point for someone to be excited about something for their whole life. So the fact that it's like, we got this one, we got these episodes and these feeds, and those episodes and those feeds make me very happy. I've also been so stressed out because I feel like if people are new to ologies and they're like, what are these smologies? Once, oh, they're shorter, I'll just click on this one. And they may not be getting.

Getting the full in depth, maybe raunchy, more off the cuff stories that we like to offer our clients in full length episodes. So for years, I've been like, oh, man, I hope someone just be like, oh, it's okay. Asmology is okay, but doesn't know, like, what the tone of the show usually is. So I'm really happy that we've made this switch. And then in its place, I'm going to be doing one or two field trip episodes a month, so I can take you with me to some cool places.

And honestly, so that I could just get out of the house more, I just. I gotta get out of the house more. So tune in here for some field trips as well as our usual long form episodes of ologies. So smologies, they are kids safe, they're classroom happy, they're shorter, and they are their own show. So you can please look for that colorful new artwork by Bonnie Dutch, actually, who's a friend of the pod for a long time and who's a professional artist in Portland who honestly, hire her for your art needs because she's fast and she's very good.

And you can go to the link in the show notes. Just subscribe right away, look for that colorful logo. And this week we'll be dropping two episodes. We're putting out new ones. We're re releasing some that have already been on this feed, so we can just stack them up in there.

Also, let me know where you'd like me to go for some of the new field trip episodes, like museums or natural wonders. You got any roadside attractions I should see? Some weird conferences, a garlic festival, whatever. Because these field trips won't just be about my colonoscopies or surgeries. Those were just happenstance, and they got me out of the house, which is good.

So okay, happy smologies. Let's get on with business. New ologies out next week, and next week's ologies pertains to one of my favorite pets. Get ready. It's so good.

Also, just thanks for being here and thanks for being on the new smologies feed. Also, thank you to Noelle Dilworth, our scheduling producer, again, Bonnie Dutch, who made the new cover art design for smologies Erin Talbert, who admin zeologies podcast Facebook group Kelly R. Dwyer works at our websites Avaline Malick, who makes our professional transcripts assistant editor Jake Chafee, Jarrett Sleeper, and Zeke Rodriguez Thomas of Mindjam Media, who edited many of the first run smologies and of course, Mercedes Maitland of Maitland audio, who makes sure that these smologies are out the door and edits and produces them. If you listen to the end of each smologies episode, I don't tell a secret there, but I do give a piece of advice. And this week it's that if I'm stalling on a project or maybe displaying what my therapist might gently call avoidance behaviors, I literally have to say in my head that the actual worst it can be is not done or not started.

So instead of thinking of some magic perfect version that could exist in one universe, and in my head I have to achieve it. I think of anything that is existing or progressed as the best possible outcome. It's like the done is better than perfect thing, but for initiating tasks like starting it is the only way it can ever be good. So all you have to do is start it. Also, you can like set a timer to work on something.

Don't even do ten minutes, just do seven minutes. It's more than five. And do it for seven minutes. And if you go, yeah, okay, this isn't so bad. There you go.

And you've built some confidence. So just start the thing, make the thing, just jump in, do a thing, work on it. Don't worry about it being perfect. All right? You heard it here first, probably for the millionth time, okay?

So go subscribe to Smolaji's so that I know that this was a good idea to give it its own show. Also, tell your parent groups, your teachers, Facebook friends, what have you. Your kids are going to start loving dolphins and bugs and weird stuff and algae and sea urchins wearing hats and more. So you're welcome. And thank you for listening all these ears.

This is exciting to me. Okay, bye bye. Hackodermatology, hometozoology, litology, nanotechnology, meteorology, old factology, nephrology, serology.

It's showtime, baby.