Yellowstone’s Geysers Are Full of More Than Hot Water

Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

In this episode of Simple Joe, I’m digging into one of the strangest stories I’ve seen in a while: the weird trash Yellowstone geologists retrieve from geysers, hot springs, and other hydrothermal areas. We’re talking about more than 20,000 pieces of trash this year, including hundreds of hats, AirPods, retainers, fake fingernails, toys, Pokémon cards, an Uno card, hotel key cards, and even a tiny copy of The Vampire Diaries. Some of it gets blown or dropped in accidentally, but coins, rocks, and other objects can actually interfere with these delicate thermal features, and Morning Glory Pool is a great example of how debris can change what happens below the surface.

The whole thing got me thinking about that awful feeling when you drop something somewhere you can see it but absolutely cannot reach it, including a friend who lost a phone from a roller coaster and a recent stop at a pier restaurant where the spaces between the boards are apparently just wide enough to swallow a credit card.

Along the way, I also talk about Paul Hogan, R. L. Stine, Sigourney Weaver, Matt Damon, Bruno Mars, the Great Chicago Fire, the first enclosed shopping mall, National Pierogi Day, World Octopus Day, and a pair of cowboy boots I’ve owned for about 35 years and even wore when I got married.

I also spend a little time on World Dyslexia Day and how sometimes simply understanding why something has always been difficult can give us a little peace and help us figure out how to work around it.

If you’ve ever dropped or lost something in a place where you knew it was gone for good, I’d love to hear the story.

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