The small screen

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today: A well in Oklahoma is running out of oil ; The science of givers who keep on giving; You won’t believe what they just found beneath a high school in Rome; and Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain is heading back out on the road…📖

Let’s get into it!

Those who are givers often end up in a scenario where they’re expected to keep on giving, and curiously don’t expect to get anything in return.

Ironically, most social situations tend to yield expectations of the exact opposite. For example, if you get everyone on your team coffee for the day, it’s expected that someone else will pick up the tab next time.

What accounts for these differences in expectations? Scientists at MIT conducted several experiments to figure it out, and determined the expectations game is dependent on relative social status.

In equal-footed relationships, the give-and-get dynamic is the norm; you give one day, and your friend gives the next. However, when there’s a hierarchical or asymmetrical structure, the dynamic changes, with the initial giver always expected to give thereafter, and the getter always expected to keep getting.

The researchers found this to be true regardless of financial status, and also found the dynamic can be reset with one act that contradicts the set expectations in an asymmetrical structure; if the expected receiver decides to give even one time, it can create a dynamic of perceived equal footing, driving a new dynamic of give-and-receive.

For years at the Cavour Scientific High School in Rome, students passed along the tall tale of secret ruins lying beneath the school, having little but the words of those who came before them as evidence of their claims.

It’s typical school children behavior to pass along myths and legends of their surroundings, and therefore easy to dismiss the grandiosity of their claims, along with the claims themselves.

However, it’s just as typical for students to wander into restricted areas, adventurously daring to go where they know they’re not allowed to. In the case of Cavour students, they decided to enter a series of passageways and tunnels beneath the school’s gymnasium—a move that one would think would have come years ago, given the institution’s proximity to the Colosseum (less than 1,000 feet away).

After someone finally decided to pursue visual evidence of the central claim of their school’s longest running myth, the legend became real and fiction became fact: a nearly 2,000-year-old villa was discovered by the modern-day Goonies.

Their Latin teacher informed the Special Superintendency of Rome, which led to a months-long excavation, revealing an enormous villa-style domus—a large home typically owned by extremely wealthy Romans.

The stucco patterns on the ceilings, floral stucco frescos on the walls, and oddly-shaped tiles are all well-preserved evidence of the home’s wealthy owners, likely belonging to the little-known Umbrius family.

Never doubt the limits of what can be achieved by the curiosity of teenagers.

Nicko McBrain joined Iron Maiden in 1982, and was a beloved member of the band until he retired from touring in 2024.

Though he’s technical still in the band and is definitely still beloved, the stroke he suffered in January of 2023 left him unable to continue playing consistently.

He’s been off the road since Dec. 2024, but remains active in many ways, including becoming an author. His book, Hello Boys and Girls, comes out in November, and he’ll be heading back out on the road, though in a much different capacity.

His spoken word book tour so far only has dates across Europe, but very well could make its way across the pond early next year.

"It's been a real honor to write my very own autobiography and have the chance to walk down memory lane, revisiting all the experiences that have made me who I am and brought me to where I am today," McBrain said in a statement.

"And I'm thrilled and delighted to be taking those stories on the road and share them all with you. I feel truly blessed to be able to say Hello Boys and Girls to you all in person later this year. We're going to have a lot of fun together, so come and join me for a great night out. I've got a LOT of stories I want to tell you all!"

Feelin’ great in ‘88

From the top of the box office to the top of the charts, we’re throwing it back to all things that were going on this week in ‘88 with today’s trivia!