Architectural Ambition, Digital Errors, and Vatican Miracle Processes

Key Quotes

"Nearly a decade ago I had this thought that at the end of the year it would be nice to tell a few little stories we called them mini stories mini stories may be don't rise to the level of being a fully reported story and often there's something silly or interesting that was on the producer's mind maybe it's an outtake from a reported episode maybe it's something completely new mini stories were a way to have some fun at the end of the year and for the staff to take a proper vacation that was how it all started but over the years mini stories have become a monster everyone started preparing really heavily for them they started reporting them as full stories and suddenly mini stories were not so many."

Roman Mars explains that the "mini stories" segment, initially conceived as a lighthearted year-end feature for brief, interesting anecdotes, evolved unexpectedly. Producers began treating them as full-fledged reports, transforming them from "mini" to "monster" segments, indicating a significant shift in their scope and preparation.

"So the Vegas pyramid it has had one use the whole time it is uh home to the Luxor casino Oh that's right uh much like the Memphis pyramid it also has a hotel inside and it has lots of attractions for tourists there's uh this big room with lots of old Titanic stuff in it it's a really interesting building and actually it has one very unique pyramid feature that I'd like to draw your attention to there are no elevators inside we actually have inclinators that go up the side of the building at 39 degrees."

Chris Berube highlights the unique architectural feature of the Luxor Casino pyramid in Las Vegas, noting its primary function as a casino and hotel. He points out the absence of traditional elevators, replaced by inclinators that ascend the building's exterior at a steep angle, a distinctive design element.

"So at its peak according to Dr. Tyland there were about 45 million grasshoppers on the Vegas strip I can't even imagine that number it is a tremendous number it's more grasshoppers than that Las Vegas gets human visitors over the course of a year so Vegas was this magnet for grasshoppers and in all this news coverage there is footage of these grasshoppers swirling around in the sky beam and Billy says okay yes there were a ton of bugs there were so many bugs nobody could walk around without being swarmed by bugs but this was not specifically the beam's fault."

Chris Berube relays Dr. Elska Tyland's observation that an estimated 45 million grasshoppers swarmed the Las Vegas Strip during a specific period. He clarifies that while the sheer volume of insects was overwhelming, the Luxor's sky beam was not solely responsible, as other artificial lights in Las Vegas also contributed to attracting them.

"So according to Gail's fact page too uh her email provider rejects around 1 2 million misaddressed emails to gail.com a week whoa so that's a whole another level of server load in addition to the 6 million visits they get all this email that is not meant for them that is crazy I mean you would think that with all these accidental visits over a year to gail.com it would be kind of a valuable property like you could put up more than just a fact page you know like or even that Google itself would want to buy it just to avoid any of this confusion."

Vivian Lay discusses the significant traffic and email volume directed to gail.com, a website that receives millions of hits and a substantial number of misdirected emails weekly. She notes the surprising lack of monetization or expansion on the site, despite its high traffic, suggesting it could be a valuable digital property.

"So yeah i called up a priest to talk about this his name is Father Dorian Luellen he's a theologian at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and Father Dorian told me that in order to declare a miracle in the Catholic Church you have to go through a pretty elaborate process it's a bureaucratic necessarily bureaucratic process and and I have to tell you a little secret which is that Vatican bureaucracy is not the most efficient in the world."

Jason D'Leone introduces Father Dorian Luellen, a theologian, to explain the Catholic Church's process for declaring miracles. Father Dorian describes this process as elaborate and bureaucratic, humorously noting that Vatican bureaucracy is not known for its efficiency.

"So yeah in the case of the Rhode Island miracle the diocese of Providence they like they caught wind of this story and the first thing they do is they get a group of people together to investigate it you have to look at it almost like a government commission so you can have to meet with the people you have to take notes you have to take into account medical records it's forensic in that way you're trying to investigate it well what are the facts tell us the facts before we start interpreting them."

Jason D'Leone explains the initial investigative steps taken by the Diocese of Providence regarding the Rhode Island miracle. He likens the process to a government commission, emphasizing the need to gather firsthand accounts, take notes, and meticulously review medical records to establish the factual basis before interpretation.