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No Such Thing As A Fish
No Such Thing As A Fish

Little Fish: It's Nice To Say Titicaca

May 31, 2026 • 31m

Summary

⏱️ 7 min read

Overview

A lively Monday bonus episode of No Such Thing As A Fish where the hosts review listener-submitted facts covering everything from tribal wig schools to radioactive hot springs, strategic dog-walking behavior, and Benjamin Franklin's almost-career as a swimming instructor.

Tribal Coming-of-Age Rituals and Wigs

The hosts explore fascinating initiation rituals from around the world, starting with the Huli people of Papua New Guinea where boys must attend wig school and create wigs to become men. This leads to discussions of other cultural rites of passage, including Peruvian traditions requiring young men to knit waterproof bobble hats. The conversation reveals how different cultures mark the transition to adulthood through distinctive crafts and skills.

  • Huli tribe boys in Papua New Guinea must attend wig school and make ceremonial or ordinary wigs to be considered real men
  • The wig school tradition involves learning how to grow hair in a wig-like manner, possibly through mental techniques according to Huli beliefs
  • In Peru near Lake Titicaca, men must knit a bobble hat solid enough to carry water as a rite of passage
" The young boys of the Huli tribe aren't considered real men until they've attended wig school and made either an ordinary or a ceremonial wig. "

The Philosophy of Random Numbers

A listener named John Cornell submits a philosophical fact about randomness that sparks debate among the hosts. The discussion centers on whether randomness is a property of numbers themselves or merely a characteristic of how numbers are generated. This leads to an exploration of the word 'random' itself and its surprising historical meanings.

  • There's no such thing as a random number generator because randomness isn't a property numbers can have - only the generation process can be random
  • When you roll a dice and get a four, the generation was random but the number four itself isn't random
  • In the 16th century, 'random' meant firing at exactly 45 degrees for maximum distance, not in any direction
" If it ever said fire in a random direction and you're on a 16th century vessel, you mustn't fire it in any direction. You must have fired at exactly 45 degrees. "

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