Happy birthday to us.
That's right.
Who Smarted turned five years old this month.
How exciting.
That's not all.
Who Smarted also reached 25 million downloads.
And that's because of you, our Smarty Pants listeners.
And to celebrate, we want to give you a gift.
What is this gift, you're wondering?
I'm glad you asked.
If you love Who Smarted, I'm sure you've heard us mention our Who Smarted Plus subscription.
You know, the one that gives you a brand new bonus episode every week.
Plus, every episode of Who Smarted, trusty trivia, and smarty cues ad-free.
Not to mention subscribers, directly support Who Smarted so we can keep making the show for many more years to come.
And to show our appreciation to you, we're offering a 50% discount on our annual subscription.
We've never done this before.
Instead of 3999 for a full year of smarting, you can subscribe to Who Smarted Plus for just 1998, a year.
That's right.
Who Smarted Plus is half off?
Quick quiz, smarty pants.
Is $19.98 a year the same as A, $1.67 a month, B, $0.38 a week, or C, a nickel a day?
Did you say all of the above?
You're right.
Just think of all the time you'll save not listening to ads while enjoying subscriber-only special episodes.
That's got to be worth at least $0.05 a day, right?
Of course, an offer this good can't last forever.
So you must subscribe by November 15th to lock in your 50% off Who Smarted Plus subscription.
Again, that's 50 off our Who Smarted Plus subscription just 1998 for the entire year by November 15th.
To join the celebration, go to our website, whosmarted.com and click birthday subscribe.
This offer is only available directly through our website at whosmarted.com.
Don't worry, you can play your subscription on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcast platform.
But to get the special birthday price you have to go to whosmartedcom and click birthday subscribe in the top menu.
But remember, you only have until November 15th.
So sign up at whosmarted.com today.
Hey there, Smarty Pants.
Welcome to another jam-packed episode of Smarty Qs where I, the trusty narrator, answer questions from you, our brilliant Smarty Pants listeners.
Today, we've got an extra long episode with five amazing questions.
So buckle up and let's start smarting.
Our first question comes from Olivia, who asks, where do cats store the hair for hairballs?
Well, Olivia, as you might know, cats are excellent groomers.
They lick themselves with their special tongues that have tiny hook-like structures called papillae.
Those papillae are great for cleaning, but they also pick up loose fur.
When a cat swallows that fur, most of it passes right through their digestive system and comes out in the litter box.
But sometimes, the fur collects in the stomach instead of moving along.
Over time, it clumps together into what we call a hairball.
When the buildup gets uncomfortable, cats cough it up to clear their stomachs.
And then suddenly, you, the cat owner, is doing the cleaning up.
Okay, next question.
This one comes from Margaret and her dad who ask, how did the days of the week get their names?
Ooh, history time.
The seven-day week comes from ancient civilizations like the Babylonians, who tied it to the seven large visible objects they could see in the sky.
At the time, they thought they were all planets and they included the sun, the moon Mars Mercury Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.
The names we use today in English mostly come from a mix of Roman gods and later Norse mythology.
Sunday equals Sun's Day.
Monday equals Moon's Day.
Tuesday equals Tuesday.
Tuesday was the Norse god of war, like Mars.
Wednesday equals Woden's Day.
Odin linked to Mercury.
Thursday equals Thor's day, like Jupiter.
And Friday equals Frigg's day, she was a goddess, like Venus.
And finally, Saturday equals Saturn's day.
So when you say the days of the week, you're really naming them after planets and gods from thousands of years ago.
Next, Robin W. and kids AJ, Lydia, and Jasper want to know, what makes the sun rise?
Awesome question.
The truth is, the sun itself isn't moving up and down.
What makes the sun rise is actually Earth's rotation.
The Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours.
As it turns, the side facing the sun gets daylight, and the side facing away enjoys night.
To us, standing here on the ground, it looks like the sun is moving across the sky, rising in the east and setting in the west.
But really, it's Earth doing the moving.
Okay, smarty pants, we've got two more fantastic questions coming up, including one about a baseball superstar.
We'll get to those right after a quick break and a word from our sponsors.
This show is sponsored by Wayfair.
You know how the holidays kind of sneak up and suddenly your home needs to feel warmer and cozier and yeah, ready for guests.
That was me.
I realized our living room was looking a little tired.
So I jumped on Wayfair's Black Friday sale and I ended up with the perfect cozy upgrades.
I got a new rug that instantly pulled the whole room together.
I got some great couch covers that made everything look brand new and a pair of lamps that totally changed the mood of the space.
And everything came fast, like really fast.
And it all looked even better in person.
That is what I love about Wayfair.
The selection is huge and the prices right now are wild.
Up to 70% off everything from rugs to cookware to holiday decor.
So if you've been meaning to freshen up your space before the holidays, this is the moment.
Don't miss out on early Black Friday deals.
Head to Wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair's Black Friday deals for up to 70% off.
That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com.
Sale ends December 7th.
Who Smarted is brought to you by Squarespace.
Now, you know I'm good about creating new adventures and episodes of Who Smarted, but you don't know that I procrastinate on other stuff, like a website for one of our new projects.
Oops.
When the website builder Squarespace reached out about sponsoring Who Smarted, I decided to test it out.
And now I feel silly for putting off building that website.
Squarespace's Blueprint AI thing literally built me a custom website in minutes.
I just told it a few details about the project and boom, it generated everything.
And everything you need is right there.
I can schedule guest interviews, send email campaigns, even sell merch all from one dashboard.
And when you're ready to launch, you can use code SMARTED to save 10 on your first purchase of a website or domain.
That's squarespace.com slash SMARTED.
Code SMARTED.
And we're back with our next SmartyQ.
Abby and Olivia ask, when was dog or kitty kibble invented?
And what's in it?
Kibble, the dry crunchy pet food that you see today, was first made for dogs in 1860 by a man named James Spratt in England.
He noticed stray dogs eating leftover biscuits, so he invented the first commercial dog biscuit.
Cat kibble came later in the mid-20th century, when companies like Purina developed formulas just for cats.
So what's in kibble?
Usually it's a mix of meat or fish meal grains vegetables, vitamins and minerals, all cooked and pressed into bite-sized pieces.
The interesting shapes come from the extrusion process, where the pet food is forced through a die cutter in whatever size and shape the brand wants.
But the goal is to make it balanced, tasty, and easy to store.
And finally, my smarty friend Vulcan asks, what makes Shohei Otani such a good baseball player?
Shohei Otani is special because he's what's called a two-way player.
He's both a top-level player pitcher and a great hitter, something that's extremely rare in modern baseball.
As a pitcher, he throws a fastball over 100 miles per hour and mixes it with nasty sliders and splitters.
As a hitter, he crushes massive home runs while hitting for both power and average.
He's also incredibly disciplined, training hard and studying the game constantly.
But what makes Shohei Otani so good?
Talent, hard work and the ability to do what almost nobody else can, as both a pitcher and a slugger.
And there you have it.
Five fantastic questions answered.
If you have a question you'd like me to answer, just email me at whosmarted at whosmarted.com.
Until next time, keep on smarting, smarty pants.
