On February 3, 2024, Kasie and Rex used the Groundhog Day excuse to talk about bizarre and arbitrary traditions then tacked a Grab Bag from the #writingcommunity on X to the end. Here are the show notes:

Theme for the day

Groundhog Shenanigans and Internet Grab Bag

Agenda

• Quick Catch Up
• Yesterday was Groundhog Day
• What does the internet want to know?

Listen to the podcast

Segment 1

Is there any more arbitrary experience than Groundhog Day? It’s a day when an entire town lets a rodent predict the future. Or the weather anyway. Several questions:

1. Is there any other profession besides weatherman insulted by the insinuation that an animal could do it as well or better than them?
2. Is there any other animal with psycho abilities equal to the groundhog (who, by the way, is wrong like 80% of the time)?
3. Is there any other tradition that is so meaningless and yet has persisted this long?

The answer to all of these questions is yes. Because humans are not always very smart.

Let’s start with animals who predict the future: before meteorologists we humans needed to know if it would rain and stuff and we relied on the animals’ superior senses (this link):

• Cows lie down and dogs eat grass before it rains
• Woolly bear caterpillars have less color before a cold spell
• Oak leaves reach a certain size (a squirrel’s ear) and that’s when it’s time to plant corn
• Migrant birds can hear the undetectable to humans infrasound that indicates a storm on the way
• Cows, sheep, and dogs have all been recorded as having hyperactivity before an earthquake.

But it’s not just the weather, animals have senses about other things, too:

• Oscar the nursing home cat predicts the imminent death of patients and he’s persistent – he’ll scratch at a door to be let in and stay with the ailing—dying—until they’re gone.
• Paul the octopus has predicted eight world cup champions from his aquarium in Germany (link) then he died
• Sonny Wool the sheep took up where he left off and predicted all of his home team’s matches in the 2011 Rugby World Cup
• Jim the dog, though, is even more impressive: identifying hickory trees, identifying cars by color and license plate, predict the sex of unborn children, and pick individuals from a crowd. The Missouri state legislature even tested Jim to prove his abilities and he passed. (link)
• Here’s an article of 20 other predictor animals (link)

Segment 2

So why do we need such predictions? And why do we think animals can make them?

There are thousands of books about pet psychics and some of them are full series with a single animal solving multiple problems through psychic abilities. But why?

I found this link on psychic distance and it gives on theory: animals are a proxy and we can imbue them with all the wonderful (or terrible) characteristics that humans couldn’t get away with.

Is there any other tradition that is so ridiculous as waiting for a groundhog to read the weather? 

Here’s a list of 20 weird and sometimes dirty traditions and this link has forty of them.

Segment 3/4

I didn’t think we’d get much mileage out of the Groundhog so I also prepared these internet Grab Bag questions to extend the episode. It’s been a while since we took to Twitter/X to learn what other writers are wondering about and struggling with. Here’s what we found:

• Diane Nichols @DNicholsAuthor asks: If you were to write your autobiography, what would the title be?
• Coola∞Sammy @NicolinaSamir asks: Does your story have a moral/message? Do they have to?
• Viviana Is Querying @vivianavasiu92 writes: I am finally ready to join the #amquerying trenches this weekend for the first time ever. Any recommendations for self care/celebrating for reaching this point?
• J.D.Gladden @Jd_gladd96 writes: What’s everyones thoughts on trigger warnings? I object to the idea that people should be sheltered from what they may or may not take offence to as it is a bad coping mechanism. Is it not a prime function of literature to provoke and challenge the reader?
• SAEED IBRAHIM @SAEEDIB59126157 asks: Are you an owl or a lark? As a writer, which is the most productive time of day for you?
• Lindie Heeralall @LindieHeeralall writes: I’m thinking about changing the structure of a novel with a central present day character and her four ancestors into separate short stories in one book. Q: Would you read a book of short stories like this?
• Lucas Edit @lucaseditKE As a writer and a reader, what is your opinion on audio books. I think they are for lazy people.
• Chris Morkides @CMorkides says: I love writing, but am not crazy about rewriting. I think it’s because I like making things up whole cloth and don’t like shaping that cloth later. Anyway, do any of you feel the same way and, if so, are there any tricks you use to help you like rewriting?
• Benjamin Heath @goatfishbooks writes: I know it’s popular, so I’ll ask here: Why should I appreciate first-person present tense in prose? What does it bring that isn’t easily expressed in past tense?