Whenever someone asks "Are they that smart?" I remember the Octopus in a zoo who would sneak out of its tank at night, go into another tank, eat some fish, then sneak back into its own tank before morning.

Budgeh owner here. Cuttlefish bones are good for small birds as sources of calcium and for helping keep beaks trimmed :)

Simons turbulent romance with ChatGPT is one of my favorite parts of the whistlerverse

Simon bringing up Stranded Deep while Im playing it and listening to this podcast almost made me question reality.

As a former sailor I am LOVING these maritime Decoding the Unknown episodes. More please!

25:34 Deep Sea Gigantism is basically animals getting bigger because they need to conserve heat, also getting Bigger gives you the ability to travel more, and having more chances at getting food (food that is extremely hard to find on the deep ocean)

"The kraken awakes" Simon: "BRRRRPPP"

“Boats are big and not food” thank you Simon for that clarification

I appreciate that even though Simon doesn’t have comedic timing, his digestion system does. 🤣

i went into this thinking, "as long as you don't mistake the kraken with cthulhu again" and then, yeah, he did exactly that, again

I spent 2 weeks on a small 120 year old wooden sail boat. 15 of us in total sailed across the North Sea from Scotland to Denmark. The sea is not what you think, there is nothing quite like being in the middle of the ocean, seeing nothing but sea in every direction, hearing nothing but the sails flapping and the waves sloshing against the bow. Then at night, after the best sunsets I’ve ever seen, it’s nothing but darkness. The only clue your at sea is the boat rocking in the waves. You’d be surprised how breathtaking the view of nothing is. And I can attest to the earth not being flat. Not something I shouldn’t have to say it, but you can see the curve when you look across the smooth sea. Anyway, even the excitement of sailing through a storm is not what most would think. We were hit by a mini rogue wave from the stern, sending us flying down the crest of the wave. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever done. The sea is far from scary when you actually experience it, it’s the most calming environment you’ll ever be in.

I cant believe I got an Instacart ad right in the middle of your belch. It played as if that were its cue, & then I come back & you're still belching lol.

For thousands of years mankind has asked the question, "Whats Kraken?"

Cuttlefish bones can also be used for metal casting, as they're relatively soft, but heat resistant. You cut them in half, then carve your desired item into them, with a pour channel, and secure it closed again. Then melt your metal (silver, bronze, brass. copper, etc) and pour it inside. When it cools, you open the cuttlefish bone again, remove the casting, and polish, cut off the pour channel and smooth the location of the cut. That's a very simplified description of the technique, but it works. Source: I'm an amateur silversmith.

Simon trying to come up with H.P. Lovecraft and what he named his cat was hilarious. Probably a good thing he didn't ask chatGPT or this video would get banned.

"Boats are big and not food" Thank God Simon is here to remind us not to eat boats.

Hi Simon, experienced dive master here. Most of the best scuba (especially for new divers ) is in the fist 10-30 ft of water and is done in shallow reefs where you can easily see the bottom. These warmer top areas generally have the most bright and pretty stuff and small fish everywhere. I even have a photo of my dad doing a decompression stop at the end of a dive sitting at n the sea floor. So I highly suggest you give a dive experience a try one time! Also once you learn buoyancy control it’s the closest most of us will get to space

"Boats are big, and not food." whistle boy at his finest.

3:33 100% agree with you, Simon, about deep water! It's almost like vertigo!

A friend of mine is scared of flying for the same reason. He says...25,000 feet up in the air and nothing holding you up there. And that belch in the middle of the poem was gold 😂

"Because I'm not going to use Google like a peasant." The rare usage of common contraction and the clipped enunciation somehow makes his quips even better. Love these channels!

Colossal Squid, just my guess. Let's gooooo

Scylla and Charybdis is a well known literary reference. I remember it from 7th grade, when we read Homer.

The game your thinking of is stranded deep, it's one of my favorite survival games

About time Simon took a Kraken at this! 😂😂 Simon, haven't you heard the euphemism that your "dogs are barking" when your feet are sore?

As I said last time Simon mentioned his fear of deep water; The irrational fear of deep water is typically tied to a somewhat rational fear of large sea life.

It would be appreciated if editors could put up the name of the species and a picture of the fossil when Simon is butchering the name of it 😆

Rofl 😆 Kudos for leaving the burp in and not editing it out or redoing that part 👌 Also, very well articulated with the deep water feeling. I've felt that before but failed to sensibly quantify it. Thankyou Simon.

I love the episodes kate writes! You should get her to do lots more!!! My favorite kraken appearance was in a commercial for auto insurance. The kraken appears in the water trap at a golf course during a championship and the commintors whisper about. My favorite commercial of recent years. Also I met Dr. Abbot,before he passed away who was quoted briefly in this episode, and it made me think what a small world!

Clash of the Titans, the one by Ray Harryhausen. Is a retelling of the Perseus myths of Greek mythology.

If The Kraken is hiding the energetic white powder in its bottom does that mean it's krakens crack crack

I sort of want Simon to do a gaming channel now. I know he doesn't really play games but that's what would make it so great

Colossal Squid, just my guess. Let's gooooo!

Let's crack on!

That's EXACTLY how I feel about open water. Finally, someone that relates.

Krack on Squid Boy 🦑 (I'll show myself out)

“Cuttlefish are the least intimidating” Play Mass Effect Simon. Sure the Reapers aren’t actually cuttlefish but they’re a terrifying threat that looks like them.

"WOULD YOU LIKE A NICE CUTTLEFISH POLLY!! POLLY PARROT!! HELLO POLLY! Thonk, thonk, thonk." 😂 That's all I can think of when i hear someone say cuttlefish.😂 "Norwegian Blue, beautiful plumage." 😂

I love to play your videos for my dog. Your voice sooths her anxiety when I'm out of the room. I watch too, I'm just saying she really enjoys your videos. Nothing else seems to calm her! :)

Thank u Katie. And thank you factboi for your facts and blazement

This episode of Decoding is a little "blazey"😂...and I'm here for it

"I don't want to read/watch this because it's too much work" Simon is my spirit animal

...ironically watching this in my Seattle Kraken jersey. Appreciate the shout out lol

I’ve been waiting this one for a while just because it was painful to watch every time Simon confused the kraken of Norse mythology with Cthulhu from Lovecraft’s work

Colossal Squid + Whale Dongs + Pyrosomes + Whirlpools = Kraken. imo. 3:33 The ocean terrifies me. Snorkelling on an island off Bali when I was a kid, wasn't paying too much attention to where I was going watching a sailfish, and suddenly the water just became freezing, I looked down and I was on the edge of a sheer vertical drop into pitch black darkness with like bits of coral and other fish and creepy things along the edge of it. I turned, and swam fast as I could back to the shore and didn't go back in for the rest of the day and ever since then I have never gone beyond waist deep into the sea. Because that moment looking into the abyss terrified me. Never in my life have I ever been so scared. 4:33, try Subnautica, lovely nice little romp in a coral reef... until its not. Thalassophobia from a video game is a thing, apparently. 8:50 You're thinking of H.P. Lovecraft. He was indeed the r-word, guess what he named his black cat. Good horror writer though. He did write about the Kraken though, or at least one of the authors in the mythos did. But the legend predates him as you found out. 21:40 Simon getting upset at ChatGPT ghosting him is hilarious. (Truly a live example of people becoming too reliant on AI companions, lol.) 32:00 I love how the scientists are like "The Triassic Kraken is impossible!" while we barely know what is down in the deeps these days let alone in the ancient past, and only confirmed the existence of things like the colossal squid recently. While they may very well be right, it seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse to me lads.

“12 Danny DeVitos end to end.” Brought me so much joy.

Spoiler, it's me

Stranded Deep, awesome game.

Go, Seattle Kraken! Oh, wait, it's not about NHL hockey teams. Nuts.

"Boats are big.... and not food." - Learnin' stuff with fact boi

I really appreciated the mid video break as Simon just shops for Cuttlefish bones for that parakeet he surely has. 🤣

My four year old is obsessed with Krakens. This is crucial background info to provide him

Don't live near an ocean but I am near 2 lakes often referred to as inland seas (Michigan and Superior). I happen to love all water so none of this scares me, even when my kayak turned over in a large rogue wave on Superior (can't do Eskimo rolls so I had to do a partner rescue to get back in). The closest I have come to scuba diving was cage diving with great white sharks off the coast of South Africa. My head was 2 feet below the surface but it was my first time using a regulator. I loved it.

Ahh Simon, well written older stories are essentially poetry in their own way…. Count of Monte Cristo is a fantastic story!! It has a cadence, once you’ve unlocked the cadence you can fully appreciate it and will unlock so many other older tales. Poe was an absolute boss at understanding our internal need for cadence/predictability within the unpredictable and applied it to his tales. Think of it like a little drum beat on the story… so essentially a hidden little music soundtrack in the story. I’ll happily share what I’ve learned about this long lost skill, I’ve adapted it to many facets of my own life actually and it’s uncanny how well this ‘cadence’ of the past can even balance out day to day pace of life.

Stranded deep. Awesome game 😁🙏🏻

My guy Simon plays stranded deep?? Respect.

Its the Colossal Squid's even larger cousin, The Big Ass Squid!

Simon, I'm proud of you. More than a dozen times I've told you how easy it is to look up pronunciations. Well done.

Simon running out of patience with the ye old timey quotes is always hilarious

Crack in to a cracking kraken episode

Lovecraft did have a cat with an interesting name, but it's claimed his parents named it

3:40 - Chapter 1 - Let's get kraken 23:10 - Chapter 2 - Octopi wall street 29:15 - Chapter 3 - Release the triassic kraken 33:35 - Chapter 4 - Just squidding ; why this can't be real

Thank you Katie for the Danny Devito measurements. 😇 Also, this epsidode had me laughing so hard, between the burp, Simon struggling multiple times on words and names, and him getting mad at himself for mispronouncing Kraken... I was dying 😅

Talking about deep water. I sailed with a captain a few years ago and he made the comment that he had only ever been 7 miles from land. But sometimes that land was straight down

Omg that burp was AWESOME. Thank you Simon 😂

In these older English language writings, cuttlefish is often synonymous with squid. They are actually squids, were one of the most fished cephalopods (cuttlefish being both more likely found in shallow near shore water than squids, and especially prized for the large ink sacks of sepia - rather than black or bluish black - ink relative to body size, and the cuttlebone which is useful to craftsmen for small castings or as a burnishing tool for some specialized uses.) Squid is also a more recent word than cuttlefish.

Seen 100’s of hours of your content, this episode is top 10

Howdy from Temple, Texas, USA!

Omg the burp KILLED me Ded

Excellent episode, well done Katie - and Simon in great form! Hilarious

Also lmfao at Simon pronouncing Charybdis four different ways in a row 😭 love how Whistle Boy manages to bring extra dimensions of entertainment to a much-rehashed topic 😚👌

Krak on fact boy

Simon, 4:00 it sounds like you're describing Stranded Deep.

I think that, in some sense, hearing Simon talk makes me think faster. The amoun of words that we use in spanish and their lenght, and how much time they take to transmit something, its more than in english. And since Simon talks in english and REAALLY fast, I have not just to translate it in my mind (well, not actually, I can think in english too), but to think in a faster rythtm that I use to, in my daily life. Thanks you Simon! Who needs duolingo or that stuuff

Simon, the Count of Monte Cristo is in the public domain you could do an audiobook for a KZfaq channel in parts and then you'll be doing what you do anyway and reading classic literature at the same time!

Let’s Go!

Lovecraft created a lot of things but he didn't create the kraken. Also Lovecraft was extremely racist even by the standards of early 20th century North East US. Though i do like that you used Cthulhu artwork which Lovecraft did absolutely invent (technically not really since his whole shtick was basically impossible imagery that hurts to look at). Cuttlebones are a favored source of calcium for birds, snales, reptiles, and fish as they're porous enough to not damage the beaks or teeth of anything chewing on them and are apparently easy to source.

I understand Simon’s irrational fear of deep water. I have one of heights - I feel like a great invisible hand will grab me and throw me down, letting gravity have its way with my fragile little body.

Simon is a fan of the Stranded Deep videogame. A man of taste.

Funny looking racist? Are you talking about H.P. Lovecraft? If so, yes he was very racist. And he didn't write about the Kraken he wrote about Cthulhu.

If Danny and Sam try to escape the basement Simon yells " Release the Basement Kraken!"

Simon, I have two budgies and they get cuttlefish bones. If I've been correctly informed it has something to do with helping to keep their beaks trimmed and provides a good source of calcium for females of egg laying condition

Simon, the game you were talking about was it called Stranded Deep? If so, you should check out the game The Long Dark. You may enjoy that as well.

Excited for a Kraken good time!

Cuttlebones have numerous benefits for parakeets and other birds. Gnawing on them keeps their beaks sharp and gives them something to play with. They're also a great source of dietary calcium. I have to agree with Simon about writing in the 18th and 19th centuries. So wordy, for so little (yet dramatic) effect. I remember those Civil War letters from soldiers on the front, highlighted in Ken Burns' documentary series. The elucidations from common farm boys in 1863 put to shame anything I, a 20th century college graduate, could put together today. The 1981 "Clash of the Titans" was one of Ray Harryhausen's last films and it's brilliant. The 2010 remake? Not so much.

I loved this episode so much 😂 Seemed like Simon was just having a freaking day and possibly a progressive mental breakdown as it went on and I’m here for it. Also, Simon, feel like I should explain the parakeet thing for you… parakeets and other commonly domesticated parrot species are given cuttlebones in their cage as a source of calcium. They like biting the cuttlebones for some reason, and it’s basically concentrated calcium, which is important to maintain their bone health and prevent the females from “egg binding” where they basically die from the egg laying version of constipation because the shell doesn’t have enough calcium and is therefore too flimsy to actually be laid so it just gets stuck

Well done on the Kraken impression right there in the beginning

Simon, do ur kids a favor and introduce them to "The Count of Monte Cristo", " 20,000 Leagues under the Sea", "The Children of the New Forest" and all those other classics at a fairly young age. I read them all several times over, starting b4 I was even 10, and the oldfashioned language never fazed, it just felt natural for these old stories. Kids adapt so much easier than adults!

This paleontology talk is good food. Please keep it up! 🙏 (Not just because I enjoy it but to see Simon struggle 😂)

You want to know how my grandparents met? My grandmother's little brother embarrassed her in front of my grandfather. After my grandpa died, my grandma never dated or married again. My grandparents did not judge each other. Grandma lost a breast, and my grandpa lost his leg, but they still loved each other. Before my grandma died, she would see grandpa come into her room. Now that's true love.

Well, lyric from "Wrapped Around Your Finger" "You consider me a young apprentice Caught between the Scylla and Charybdis Hypnotized by you if I should linger Staring at the ring around your finger" So, there is that. :)

An ex girlfriend of mine, had the same phobia. She swam laps at the gym for exercise, but deep water made her mental. Despite her knowledge of this fear, she insisted we go snorkeling when we were in Bali (yes, I've been to Indonesia) She didn't last five minutes in the water. During which time she panicked, latching onto me and doing a good job of trying to drown our guide on the way back to the boat.

Listening to Simon ranting about flys, makes me think we need a series of videos where writers document all the things that are seemingly gross or horrific that animals do. A cold of that content, that’ll be fun 😁

Simon, you and I have the _exact_ same fear of deep water. Like, it legit freaks me out, and for the same reasons as you. The biggest irony is that I'm an excellent swimmer - used to be on the county team and everything 😂

I appreciate how often the writers use Danny DeVito as a unit of measure. 🤣

Being Danish I really appreciated that you put “Søtrolden (soe-trolden)” on the screen, cuz I hadn’t the slightest idea what you were saying, but seeing it spelled out I could easily read it (old norse is still relatively readable for us even today) - Conversely it frustrated me that you didn’t display any of the other Norse words you butchered on the screen as they were complete gibberish to my ears. I do believe I caught the syllable “hav” in one, and since that means “ocean” I’m going to assume I’m right about that. 😊 But otherwise, loved this tale! Love when factboy sheds his daily persona to become the alter ego: Lorelad!

"Rock and a hard place" is a reference to the pillars of Heracles, two stones believed to slam together as you attempted to pass you boat between them. Cilla and Caribdis, is "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea." You can tell a sailor from a land lover by if they confuse the two. The difference between giant squid and giant octopus is that giant squid hang in the water column while they hunt. Giant octopus would hunt from the bottom, or a protective container like a hole, or crevice where he would be nearly impossible to see as they are very good at camouflage. You'd just see two or more arms out of the blue as they pulled you in for a bite. They would then remove all the hard parts and eat the fleshy bits. He would then throw your hard parts out of his den because they are of no use to him. My father who is a marine biologist, says that if you encountered an octopus 400' across, he would probably look like a hill, or a reef, or rocky out cropping, and you'd come back and it would be gone, or it would just suddenly eat you. in the first case you don't report it because you really don't want to get laughed at. You turn in the report and let the cartographer deal with it. In the second case, at the end of shift, someone asks, "Has anyone seen John?"

The best places to scuba are places like the Caribbean, where from like 10-30m is the sweet spot for corals (that I've been to) and you can literally see the bottom from the boat unless you're wall diving. Granted most of the reefs I've been to were very underwhelming and / or died out completely since my dad dove on them in the 80s and 90s when he recorded the videos that made me want to become a diver. Climate change is a fucking real issue and corals peaked in like the 1940s.

Simon, you are such a SNOB!!! And, I LOVE IT!!! I love how you tear down these myths or unexplained creatures or items to basically say someone was high, or had a really wild imagination as the reason why they don't exist! Great minds.....

I got nervous has hell, being a Seattle Kraken fan. Glad that Simon decided to release the Kraken.