Boonta Vista - EPISODE 109: Sushizza

Episode Date: July 30, 2019

Andrew & Theo talk wage theft, shaving Bigfoot, millionaire solidarity, Dan Nainan's restaurant, terrible bosses, robot martial arts and more. *** Support our show and get exclusive bonus episodes by subscribing on Patreon: www.patreon.com/BoontaVista *** Merchandise available at: boontavista.com/merchandise *** Twitter: twitter.com/boontavista iTunes: tinyurl.com/y8d5aenm Spotify: spoti.fi/2DBCXGA Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/s?fid=144888&refid=stpr Pocket Casts: pca.st/SPZB RSS: tinyurl.com/kq84ddb

Welcome to Bluntavista episode 109. It's just me, Andrew and my dear friend Theo. How you doing Theo? Hey, I'm very well. I'm caught a little off guy because there's no rambling, um, little story at the beginning. One of that kind of genders have a point. Will it end up being funny?

Do we throw this off off immediately? But I assume you're leading into that kind of goes have a point will it end up being funny we throw this off immediately but I assume we're leading into that hey should we just delete the episode no no this is they want um first militude I think yeah well see I was going to actually introduce us first don't let me interrupt not not right at the very beginning anyway. I'll try and throw it at the end. Yeah, let's go to introduce you first and then explain that Lucy isn't with us because Lucy is in the middle of moving into her new apartment which doesn't have internet yet. She's carrying her new

husband across the threshold, comically bumping his head on the door frame on the way through. Now he's got a big lump that's come up, like in loony tunes. And she's putting that weird bag of ice that they used to have in cartoons on top of his head. She's pressing the lump down very hard, but another lump has appeared in a different spot on his head. And it's very unfortunate. Lumps be doing that that. Lump. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. th. thi. thi. th. thi's thi. thi. thi's thi's thi's thi's th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the th. the the the the the the the the the the thi's thi. thi. thi. thi. the. the. theeeeeeeeeeu. theu. theu. theu. theu. theu. theu. theu. thu. thu. thu. very unfortunate. Lumps be doing that though. Lumps do be doing that. I'm no doctor but I've seen a lump or two come and go from start off in one place and up another place altogether. Ben is also not here because he is on his road trip in the states still seeking to find and shave big foot. Don't know why he wants to shave him. Well I mean it's just sanitary isn't it? You just you just want to see what

he'd look like. You give him the like cat hair cut with like still his head's intact but from the neck down he's just pink and nude. Yeah you you shave you shave you shave Bigfoot and then he goes back home to like the cave to his Bigfoot kids and they start crying because they don't recognize him. Speaking of guys who were shaved all over, he heard any of the news about George Columbirus? Because I, while I was looking at pictures of George Columbirus in the news, I saw a photo of him when he was much, much younger, with a big full head of hair.

And it was very unnerving because I think he's been in the Australian public consciousness with a very shaved head for so long that it was weird. It was like, like seeing a very bald celebrity wearing a wig in a a movie where you go, hey that's not your natural state pal. Your natural state is stealing wages from people. That's your resting state is stealing wages from people because that's kind of the deal in the Australian restaurant and cafe and hospitality industry is, and this is probably something we've talked about here before, but it kind of the deal in the Australian restaurant and cafe and hospitality industry is, and this is probably something we've talked about here before, but it kind of seems like it's just a big, like the open secret of that whole part of Australian business is that

people just steal wages from their employees. Great big theft pyramid. I don't really know what the government gets out of it. They give people small business loans. People start businesses. They underpay their staff below minimum wage off the books and don't pay tax on any of it. And then we all profit somehow. But we're fostering entrepreneurs, Andrew.

Entrepreneurs such as Kyle and David. Dave Nelson and his co-CE, who is an ex-Vodca entrepreneur and his co-CEo crypto expert and former male model Kyle Staggle. Wasn't the kind of vodka that he was making like healthy vodka? I bet it was. Like had electrolytes or something? Very good. Very good. Now we'll come back, we'll come back to these young guns because I don't think we've

really talked about any of the George Columbara stuff so we'll have a quick recap of it. Don't let me steer off of course. Not too soon. Not too. Don't get me started on. Crypto. Not dead crypto. So George Columbirus, a big restaurant tour in Australia. It's been around for a long time, has been one of the faces of the Australian version of the TV show Master Chef,

because that's the only kind of TV show we have here is when you just take a TV show that the guy who made Survivor, Mark Burnett I want to say maybe, has made it for like the Danish TV market and then you put Australian in front of it and then you put it out in Australia. We should take, we should still the Dutch ones where everyone's nude. Nude Island. Remember naked news? No. You ever seen naked news? Maybe? It was on like Fox Tell on the comedy channel for some reason because breasts are funny I guess. Wow. That is true. But yeah, I remember getting a glance at that every now and then. When somebody had Fox towel. You're like, ooh, breasts.

Back before we all had high-speed internet, funneling porno straight into our eyes, 24 hours a day. So George Columbarous has restaurants. He's on Master Chef, all that kind of thing. Now he's been in some hot water over time for like serial underpayment of hundreds of employees. Let me just bring up the numbers here. So in 2017, his group of restaurants apologized to 162 employees for underpaying them and gave them back pay totaling $2.6 million. Well, well, is that?

Sounds like a lot of money. Except that, you know, so this is for staff that have been underpaid for work between 2011 and 2017. However, they kind of kept looking into this and staff kept coming forward and now they've finally caught up by, or apparently caught up for whatever they've been busted for, by repaying 7.8 million dollars in wages and superannuation after admitting to underpaying more than 500 current and former employees. Now I know what you're thinking when you steal a lot of money from people isn't that

some kind of theft. I mean usually you go to go to jail if you kind of stole from the till let's say as the as the old thing goes maybe some sort of community service or something commensurate you know look I don't think we should go to jail from stealing from the till but that's what we do and I assume that that's what's happened you know you just multiply that out, I think. So $100 into $7.8 is, it's got to be like 30 or 40 times bigger. So I assume, without seeing it, I haven't really read up on this or followed it, but that's what's happened. Yeah, almost. Instead, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, is $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $100, $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $, th.00, th.00, th.00, th.00, th.00, th.00, th.00, th.00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00,000,000, th.00, that's what's happened. Yeah almost, almost. Instead,

his hospitality group has been allowed to make a $200,000 contrition payment. We're sorry. We're so sorry. Make a $200,000 we're sorry payment. Now I did crunch the numbers on that Andrew as as you know I assume many people have and that is 2.5% of 7.8 million. For all the wages that he has stopped. For all of those wages over many years now I think our our lending rate is like around 3% in Australia, please, I'm no bank expert, don't yell at me. That seems to be less than the amount of interest that they would have made on that money by keeping it in their bank account and out of the employee's bank account.

So, aside from this not personally punishing George Colin Virus except for being a PR blunder, which we'll get to, it was actually a net positive using my great accounting brain and a four-cell spreadsheet that I just whipped up for them to steal the money from employees. It has worked out in the green for them. Or the black. I don't know what accountants use. If you know what color accountants like to use when things are good, right on in.

So back in black like the soul? It could be. Is that what that song's about? Yeah, it's about good accounting practices. Damn. That's what ACDCD the the the the the the the the the green the green th is th is th is th is th th th th th th th th th th th th th is th th is th th th is the the the the the the the the the the theck theck the the the the the the green the the the green the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. the th. the the the the the the the the the the the to work work work work toe toe toeeeeeeeeeeeeeeea toeeeeeea thea thea the the the the that what that song's about? Yeah, it's about good accounting practices. Damn. That's what ACDC were all about. Uh-huh. So, now you might be thinking to yourself, how did he manage to swing this?

And the answer is, through making an agreement with the Fair Work Ombudsman. Now, the Fair Work Ombudsman has been getting yelled at a bunch for things like this quite recently. I'm pretty sure and again please don't yell at me we don't do any research for this show so don't yell at me if and when I get this wrong. I'm pretty sure this is another one of these organizations that the Liberal Party has been stacking the appointments of for some time. Could be wrong. Could be wrong. But yeah, so basically they have all of this evidence of systemic long-term, very deliberate

wage theft. Despite the fact that every time people get caught for this and get caught doing it over and over again over the course of most of a decade. They always say, oh, I was shocked to learn that I was massively profiting from all the money I was stealing from all of my employees at all of my restaurants that I have a very active hand in. So the fair work ombudsman can say, we think that this person should be taken to court. We think that charges should be pressed, all that sort of thing. But instead, what they wind up doing is, is, is, is, is, is, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, their, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, their, like, like, their, like, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thetaken to court. We think that charges should be pressed, all that sort of thing. But instead, what they wind up doing is negotiating and agreeing to these enforceable undertakings.

And so that is just where, like they call it, it's court enforceable. But it's court enforceable in the sense that it is a contract that I've drawn up with this person who says, yes, I'll pay $200,000 and let me just see here, it's pay $200,000. And as part of the undertaking, the Master Chef Judge will have to, quote, complete speaking arrangements to educate the restaurant industry on the importance of workplace compliance. So he has to do some talks to say, hey, you don't want to be like me and be extremely rich and famous and continue to profit over the course of decades from long-term theft of wages, andthen, and then have to be mildly inconvenienced by it instead of going to jail. So they negotiate this agreement without ever having to set foot in a courtroom.

George Kalibara says, fuck yes, that's way better than going to jail or paying some kind of significant fine that is actually damaging to me or anything. And then they come out and say, we made a court-en-a-forceable-a-in-in-in-in-in-in-it-it-it-it-it-it-it-it-it-it-it-it-in-it-in-in-in-in, th-in, th-a-in, th-e-e-e-e, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th significant fine that is actually damaging to me or anything. And then they come out and say, we made a court enforceable undertaking. Which in this case, even the Liberal Party's attorney general is saying is too light. You know, he's saying that that should have been a more significant penalty. These guys hate pain workers. They fucking hate it. They f- They f-faiatt! They f- they tha' they to say to say to say they to say they to say they they to say to say they they they to say they to say they they to say to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to say to to say to to to to to to to to to to to to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to say to to to to to to to to to to to to to their their their their their their their the court their their their their their their their their their their their their their their to to their to to to saying that that should have been a more significant penalty. These guys hate pain workers. They fucking hate it. They hate paying workers, they hate unions.

So like you said, Theo, it kind of seems like the majority of the issue for George Kalambiris has been that it's just been bad PR for him. Which has led to, he has also just left MasterShift. But, so have all of the other hosts of Mastership. Yeah, all in one big bundle. I mean, you might be thinking to yourself, perhaps he has been sacked on account of clearly being a criminal. Which, you would think, you know, perhaps could have happened now.

It might have happened several years ago when it was clear that he didn't give a fuck about paying his workers. But instead, something... But then maybe they were just like, he's a really good representative of the restaurant industry. Who knows? Yeah, well, I mean, look, I don't know who's actually financially backing Master Chef. That's probably a pretty good reason to keep him around. But instead, what happened was, after, you know, getting embroiled in this wage theft debacle,

they've chosen now is theft debacle. They've chosen now is the time to come forward with their hand open and say, money please. Money, I need money for my I'm sorry payments. My I'm sorry payments, they're breaking the bank. And have asked for a 40% pay rise, year on year for the next season of Master Chef. And I understand that we may not fully understand the back and forth that has occurred between the three judges.

There's George, there's the guy who's the pile of scarves and the IT dude, the guy that looks like he's just on the way to install a router. But at the end of it, Channel 10 has finally said, no. Fuck off. Yeah, and I guess it's something to do with, uh, so. it, Channel 10 has finally said no. Fuck off. Yeah, and I guess it's something to do with saying we would like our pay increase by 40% when they were all already on salaries of more than a million dollars a year. So, um, so yeah, great solidarity from the boys there for all sticking together. A great, great workplace, pay dispute solidarity.

I don't know what he's going to do now other than continue to be rich and famous and own a big suite of restaurants. And we'll probably continue just underpaying wages for the next ten years. Have more material wealth than one person needs in their entire life. He could basically just, he could just leave and live the rest of his life in a house, making small, wicker eel traps. That's probably what he said. To throw into the charming stream that runs through his property. Now this has led to, this has led to throw into the charming stream that runs through his property.

Now this has led to this has led to a series of you might be shocked to hear this stupid articles. I know this has never happened before. We do have a burgeoning stupid articles industry and it's dumb articles economy. It's recession proof. Yeah. Now, so you'd think that the general takeaway from this should be, hey, maybe, you know, maybe when we're talking about the economy being bad and turning down and people having no disposable income to spend at any stores and therefore more and more stores going under and all that sort of thing. Instead of doing tax cuts and everything maybe we should actually be paying people a living wage, maybe we should be raising a new start, all that sort of thing. But instead we're getting articles that have headlines like should customers have to foot the bill in order to pay a living wage to staff?

And it's like all the sort of speculation of, oh, yes, what? Well, not even that part though. It's like, well, number one, I think the person who's supposed to foot the bill for paying the people who work there is the people who run the business. And then if you can't get enough customers or enough people through the door, or if you can't, like, like, like the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, all the the their the their their their their their their th, their the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort the sort their, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, their, their, their their their their their, their their their th, tho, thi tho, thooooo, thoooo, and thea, thooo, thea, their their their their their their the people who work there is the people who run the business and then if you can't get enough customers or enough people through the door or if you can't make enough money to pay a living wage to the people you have hired and made a commitment to then your business can close that's fine I don't really give a fuck about that. This idea I mean like I personally I've got so much fucking beef with this and I'm sure plenty of other people do because

I have no doubt that a lot of people out there in all kinds of industries have had Experiences working with people who have underpaid them or who have not paid their entitlements Who have not paid their superannuation? And you that sort of stuff and and the justification is always like, oh, well, you know, I have to do that in order to keep this place open and keep people in jobs and everything. It's like, well, like the sacrifice is supposed to always come from the people who are there being paid the least in the first place and also don't actually have investment in the place staying open beyond like having a place to go

and do shifts at the coffee shop or whatever? Yeah, absolutely. I realize that there are people who are working at places and being paid like minimum wage or less who need those jobs and need that money. And so that very manipulative stance that a lot of employers take, which is, oh, but if I was forced to pay everybody the same wage and pay all their entitlements, I wouldn't have enough to pay everybody, and I'd have to close down. And then no restaurants will cease to exist. Everybody will, the market will not adjust to produce a new solution.

And everybody will just sort of sit around at dinner time looking at each other, looking at the blank table in front of them, wondering, isn't there something we used to do? And some sort of distant future, 30 or 40 years from now, where everybody has forgotten about restaurants as some sort of collective amnesia. There used to be a thing we used to go out and do but it turns out that following the law was too difficult. Too hard. And now we don't have them anymore. So yeah I mean like I said it

it personally it really it really steams my yams, this whole thing. Because yeah, I've had my own interactions with this type of person. I've had my own interactions with people who weren't paying like my superannuation and were then telling me, oh, well, you know, a while ago we had a point where we were kind of struggling and we decided that we had a we had a point where we were kind of struggling and we decided that we just we wouldn't pay people super for a while and then we'd kind of catch it up and of course they just had never started

paying anybody super I think that always goes well I like I like him Fargo how Steve Peschemi's bad decisions don't catch up with him and he's able to quickly remedy the first mistake with the second more daring mistake. Yes, that's generally a snowballing compounding problem of not paying, not paying anybody wages, not having enough cash flow to cover today's superannuation, let alone yesterday's superannuation. And it all just becoming like a way bigger mess than it should have been because the people that started the whole process in the first place didn't have a good enough plan or

didn't have the the Nouse to carry it through you know I also think it's probably worthwhile pointing out that it is we do need to be sympathetic towards the people that are doing it right and I probably want to come back to this after we we cover the the the restaurant that I probably want to come back to this after we cover the restaurant that we're going to cover next, but there are people that they're doing it right where you know it is very difficult to run a small business where they are doing the right thing but that's not what we're talking about here. No. We're talking about people that are clearly taking from those that are

serving it to them that have the least to give so that they can continue running their absolutely melted idiotic dream of a restaurant that shouldn't exist in the first place. Well, also, like, yeah, a lot of the exposure to this type of stuff that I've had has been cafes and stuff as well. Like, my wife used to work in a lot of cafes. And it was always the same thing. It was like, you know, a place that was running well and getting along along well and some dickhead would come along and buy the business and say ah Here's a chance for me to just spin money out of nothing

I'm seeing all of these expenses in the expense column like wadges Well people people always do the same thing it seems which is to see a see a cafe that is operating well and has a bunch of clientele and they go. I'm going to buy. I'm? I'm the the the to to to to to to th to buy. I'm going to to buy. I'm to th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. I'm their. I'm their. I'm their. I'm their. I'm their. I'm their their their their their their their their their th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm thi. I'm try. I'm their try. I'm their their their their their their their their their their their thing it seems, which is to see a cafe that is operating well and has a bunch of clientele and they go, ah, I'm going to buy this business and then I can just kind of roll up every couple of days in my BMW 7 series and come in and act like a bit of a prat to everybody for 10 minutes and then leave and the business will just run itself and I will collect all this sweet, sweet money. And they look at the the old a a a a a the old a the old a the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. the thi. th. th. th. the the th. the the the th. the th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the the the th. the th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the the the the th. th. th. th. th. the. thea. thea. thea. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta.a. ta. tea. tea. te. te. te. th. their. then leave and the business will just run itself and I will collect all this sweet sweet money and they look at the old balance sheet and they say huh we're spending a lot of money on this goat's cheese that people are having on their on their toast what if we replace those with craft singles and and they just kind of go down the list and say what if we

didn't spend as much time making the food properly and we substituted all of these ingredients with cheap shitty stuff? And then people stop coming in and they go, oh no, my business. My cash flow. Yeah, people think that you can just cut all the corners everywhere. And of course, the person that they always want to take the hit on this thing, it's never themselves. And it's always the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people the people to take the hit on this thing, it's never themselves, and it's always the people who work for them.

And that's the most bewildering thing to me is when people act as though the people who come in there, the wage slaves who just need money from week to week, as though those people who come in there are meant to be making the same amount of sacrifice and have the same amount of like sacrifice and have the same amount of investment as somebody who like put a million dollars into the thing. It's like no no you're the one who put all of this stuff on there. And so yeah part of the reason like it's so fucking mad about people acting like oh well you know it's really hard to do all this stuff and and oh if I have to pay everybody properly then I'll have to hire like two less staff. It's like, well, maybe that's what you've got to fucking do then.

Because you're the one. Those people that you're not hiring can go and work somewhere else where they'll actually be paid a living wage. That's it, rather than... The concept that you can hire people and like, this sort of, we see this pop up as well with automation, with like process improvement where you kind of, there's this thing where we look down on service employees, right? And we think of them as unnecessary to say, well look, if we didn't pay you a living wage, sorry, if we pay you a living wage, well then, you know, the machines are coming, we'll just replace you with a kiosk or what and it's like, fuck you, that's going to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen the machines are coming, we'll just replace you with a kiosk or what have you. And it's like, fuck you. That's going to happen anyway. Right? Like, this threat

of hiring fewer people, if they think they can get away with one less person, they will do that anyway, regardless or not, if they're paying the remaining people, what they should be paid. Absolutely. It's always about making sure they that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that th that they can what they should be paid. Absolutely. It's always about making sure they can get away with giving as little of that money away as possible. And whether that's to, you know, where people are sourcing their food from or paying their staff properly. And as we kind of saw, if they can get away. Recently, you know, where we rolled back a bunch of our penalty rate rules, for service employees and a whole bunch of other sectors, we've been seeing reports out recently where surprise surprise, it hasn't actually led to an increase of hiring. They haven't, they haven't hired more people. They have just pocketed the difference,

right? Because we understand that given the decision between hiring somebody that they can do without and not, they will simply not hire them. It's absolutely ridiculous to pretend any differently. It's absolutely ridiculous to pretend any differently. So also, there is an entire other factor to this, which is, like you said, some people are doing it right. Some people are doing the right thing, some people are setting things up the way that they should, and things genuinely aren't working out for them. However, I've also lived in places where I've seen like the same kind of business come and go, opening up in the same shop front over and over again and failing within six months.

And it's like the same type of person keeps looking at it and going, I should open up a cafe there in that place where six other cafes have opened and closed in the last three th places places places places places places places places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places places places th places places places places th places places places th places places places places places places places th places places th places places th places th places. th places. Where th places. Where th places. Where thi places places thi places. Where thi places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places th places places th places places places places places places places places places th th places places places places th th th th. th same type of person keeps looking at it and going, I should open up a cafe there in that place where six other cafes have opened and closed in the last three years. Somewhere a day from now my boss is listening to this and nodding and smiling because we were having this discussion just recently about a hair salon that opened in our office building in the place where there was previously a hair salon. It is currently failing because it sucks.

Sorry to those guys. But not just that it sucks factor. It is genuinely the like the businesses where you can just kind of see like, look, you know we don't have to go in too hard on the people out there who are just dumb, because there's some of them, that's fine. We all know what it's like, to just have a big rotten melon fruit brain. But like, when you see those businesses where you're just like, how long did you spend thinking about this before you open this place up? Did give any consideration for, is there actually any form of demand

for this type of business in this area? Like, in a lot of cases, I've a lot of like restaurants and cafes and stuff that you go into where you're like, so what I can get on the menu right now for lunch is like, a Greek salad or a big Nutella stuffed lasagna, like just things where things where you just like, what the fuck is this range of things? It's just all this wildly different shit.

They've put no thought into anything. Or it's very obvious that they don't have anybody there who can make food, any of that sort of stuff. Just all those examples where somebody has gone, yeah I could do that. Just that that wonderful kind of I've got great ideas. What else do you need? I'm a great ideas guy and everyone tells me that I'm smart and good at business. So if I open a business it should be successful no matter where it is or what it's doing. I've read a lot of success memes.

And like, yeah, sometimes it's absolutely not going to work off the basis of that kind of stuff. And so we must turn to the aforementioned Kyle and Dave. Because in the midst of all of these dumb articles popping up, we have this piece in the Sydney Morning Herald with the headline, Kyle and Dave, thiiii, th. th. th. th up. We have this piece in the Sydney Morning Herald with the headline. Kyle and Dave paid award wages at their restaurant. They went bust in three months. Now I feel like there's some strong suggestion happening in that headline, Theo. Could you tell me what you think the article seems to be presupposing here? Well I mean I believe that you could you could just extrapolate from that headline that nobody else in

Australia pays award wages. These guys open they're doing fine. They're doing good. These guys open a restaurant where everything was fine except for the fact that they paid award wagers and it was purely for the fact that they paid award wages and it was purely by the force of them paying award wages that they folded. So and we probably should just point out for international lessons award wages describes for a particular class of employee under a particular circumstances what it is legal to pay them. It's like a specific minimum wage. So they've gone out of

business, I believe entirely because they were paying award wages. I won't spend too long dunking on these guys because everyone else in the world has already lined up to do so. So let's go a little further into detail here and see if it is in fact having to pay award wages that has sent these guys out of business. So reading from the article here, Surrey Hills sushi pizza restaurant, sash. What a sushi... What an opening sentence. My mother's Italian and my father is Japanese, which means I get my sushi pizza from Sarihil's Sushi Pizza restaurant, Sash. Uh, Surhill's sushi pizza restaurant, Sash has been placed in the liquidation with debts of $436,000, three months after opening.

Who? Jesus Christ. With the founders blaming high wages, high rents, a slowdown in consumer spending and Uber eats. So a lot of fingers pointing outwards at this stage. Co-owner and company director Kyle Stagol said he and his friend and business partner Dave Nelson had quote lost everything. He expected a recession and would not do anything in the Australian hospitality industry until after the economy recovered. So there was a picture of the two of them and they both look exactly like the Australian hospitality industry until after the economy recovered. So there is a picture of the two of them and they both look exactly like the kind of

guys that you would expect to be lent several million dollars by their rich Sydney Investment Bank of Fathers to open a dumb restaurant? To open a sushi pizza restaurant. I do not believe either of them to be Japanese or Italian. Most of our competitors who have been successful over the past few years have been paying staff under the award rate. It seems the only way venues can stay ahead. Does that mean hospice workers are drastically overpaid for the value they produce for a business? Oh boy. Probably.

So, okay, so there's a couple of reasons why you shouldn't feel sorry for these guys. I had to read this several times because he was like the only way places can stay open is by paying under the award rate. Does that mean the hospitality workers are drastically overpaid for the value they produce for a business? It seems like he meant to say underpaid? No no no what he is saying this is a very weird... Oh that he's saying the award wage is too high. Yes yeah yeah absolutely this is one of those you know guys who are like ascending to heaven on the on the wings ofthoughts. Right, so you're saying... You know, we put all the

numbers into a calculator and it turns out that your life is only worth $16 per hour. Yes, yes. This is like the, oh what's that fucking dip shit's name, Matt Walsh from the Daily Wire or whatever piece of the thi piece of shit, uh, conservative. Yes, yes, this is like the, oh what's that fucking dip shit's name, Matt Walsh? From the Daily Wire or whatever piece of shit, conservative publication he writes for, who was trying to make the argument recently that there should be no minimum wage because someone was rude to him at McDonald's or whatever. And so he was saying, if you're not doing any work at McDonald's, you should get $0 an hour.

Whereas he was saying, if somebody made it so that I had a really great experience at McDonald's, that person should be able to earn up to say $30 or $50 an hour. And I think we're famously good at quantifying this stuff and measuring it in this system. Definitely, and there certainly isn't an entire world of absolutely spiteful dipshits who love to withhold tips in an economy where people are precariously positioned to need those to supplement their extremely below the living wage wages. But, um, but yeah, again, in this case, you know, we're talking about it's not the... it's below the living wage wages. But yeah, again, in this case, we're talking about, it's not the fault of these people that they opened a fucking stupid restaurant and went massively into debt before they even did so.

It's the restaurant workers fault for needing enough money to live. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look if if they're entrepreneurs, if they're doing their value ad for society as entrepreneurs should, they should have already come to that conclusion. They say, well if they believe wages are too high, we've done the numbers before we've opened up this restaurant and hospitality is not viable. So we're going to move on to making apps for Jeffrey Epstein. So he says here, we always paid the award and above to all stuff. You simply cannot, otherwise the fines are massive.

If we weren't paying the award, we'd probably still be open, he says. So you can't otherwise the fines are massive, not, you simply can't because, um, um, um, that's, that's that........ that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps the apps the apps the apps the apps the apps the apps the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps. the apps their. their. their. their. their. their. that's that's that's that's that's that's their. that's their. their. that's their. that's they. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the. the. the. the. the. the. the award, we'd probably still be open, he says. So you can't otherwise the fines are massive, not, you simply can't because that's the only reasonable thing to do as a human, or, but no, it's the fines. It's the, because they don't want to get troped. Because they don't want to get, well it's not so much they want to get true, they didn't want to get in trop it. Because they don't want to get... Well, it's not so much they want to get in. They don't want to lose money because they like having money. They've got all this money and they like having it and what do they have to give it to the people the doing the work. They're doing the Hospitality Empire part owned by celebrity chef George Columbarus was fine, blah blah blah. The omitsman recently confirmed it was examining

alleged underpayment at upmarket restaurants owned by Neil Perry, Glamyme Bramiez, Tieg, Isard and Heston Blumenthal. No, not you, Heston. Get him. Get his house. Although he is right about putting Star and Eason Bolognaise by the way. Meanwhile, a number of beloved Sydney restaurants have closed or are closing because of economic headwinds and changing consumer behavior, including Acme restaurant, Oscillate wildly in Newtown, Bolly Bird, the Bridge Room, blah blah, blah, all these stupid places the fish shop. Now, nobody says anything about like maybe that there is never any form of economic stimulus besides like trickle-down tax-cut bullshit and as we know when the economy is in this type of very depressed state and you do things like

cut people's award, cut people's penalty rates, they have less disposable income so they don't spend any money. And when you do tax cuts in a depressed economy where everybody's in lots of debt, they take the difference that they got from their tax cuts and they just use it to pay down some of their debt. So it's probably not anything to do with that stuff. It's probably changing consumer behavior that is not influenced by anything outside of having to pay people wages. So let me just tell you the name here.

Hogan Sprouls is handling the liquidation of Shishitsa, Surrey Hills, which I believe to be a portmanteau of sashimi and pizza, and it's about as clumsy and bad as you could predict with any of that kind of thing. The creditors include the 52 employees who are owed an unknown amount in wages and superannuation. The biggest single creditor is hospitality equipment hire companies silver chef rentals which is owed $283,700. They're also large bills racked up for alcohol with creditors such as Asahi premium

beverages and Paramount Liquor owed thousands, people are at rent, people are at money for public relations, etc, etc. The original SAS restaurant in Melbourne is still in operation, but Mr. Stegall said a planned out that in Brisbane fell through because the franchisee could not obtain finance. He said the company had spent more than 900,000 dollars on the fit out of the Sydney restaurant. So he hoped the liquidators would find a buyer who would pay enough to cover the debt, but given the state of industry, this was uncertain. So you start off by paying about a million dollars to fit out your restaurant, and then you run up massive bills with all of your supplies and don't pay your rent.

And you also try and while this is, well you've got a negative cash flow situation, you also try and finance a new financially unviable restaurant in Brisbane? Mm-hmm. And then he also blames issues that the landlord had with the council, the election happening two weekends in a row, and then suddenly the weather was cold. And like most venues nearby, our revenue dropped by about 40% and a new business with loans can't survive, he says. So again, this idea that they have opened a business basically at the worst possible time in the calendar in Sydney Right when the election is happening when a series of long weekends happen and just before winter when everybody stops going out

But it's probably the wages. Also, it's Uber eats as fault The popularity of food delivery services such as Uber eats and deliverer also contributed to the restaurant's closure. He says. Um, it's the the idea. Um, it's the the restaurant. Um, it's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's the. It's the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the election. the election. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. It's. It's. It's the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thea. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the services such as Uber eats and Deliveroo also contributed to the restaurant's closure, he says. Now, I know what you're thinking, but this sounds like a genius idea. Pizza and sushi? Now, I have not read any of the menu from this restaurant yet. And I would like you to surprise me with a few selections theo so I may understand the genius of these young champions of industry. Andrew it would be my pleasure I'm reading from the sash does Sydney menu subtitled me so hungry me so hungry

oh oh sorry I think you might have sighed over the over that and might have missed it so sorry I'll repeat is subtotal me so hungry and that's spelled my so so pronounced the like me so to they so that's spelled my so too the so to the so to the so to me so. So can you just just give that one more time. Like, uh, me so hungry. Oh, fuck. Don't gong me. You asshole.

Oh boy. Sorry, and I've just noticed the footer. Is that a chopstick in your pocket? Are you just happy to sashimi? Fucking hell. With burning wit like that. Just grade school, like puns. But no. You can imagine these guys sitting around writing this up.

Oh my god, brother, that is so funny. It's so good. You're pretty much a genius. So for $26, you could be having Andrew for a limited time only. While this lasts. Which is probably not long. A blue cheese sashimi pizza. And this is with seared tuna, seared salmon, mozzarella, blue vein cheese, wasabi mayo, sriaracha, and cherry tomato.

If that is not the most dire sounding pizza in the history of the world, what else we got on here? We have, I think this is my personal favorite, the A-Hee tropical tuna pizza. Tropical tuna? Yep. Buckle up. Sesame crusted yellow-fin tuna tutaki. Mozzarella. No. Hang on. Hang on.

I'll get it, actually. Just take it like as soon as you say like, like, like, like, you're living in tuna or whatever. Mazzarella. Uh-huh. I'm going to swap the order around here to load the back of this. Pickled ginger, wasabi, mayo, and mango and strawberry salsa. No, come on, man. So maybe perhaps the, and sorry, I should say, if you actually, if you go online and look

at reviews for this place, there's a whole bunch of bimoning that the, also that the kitchen can't get orders out properly, there's stuff missing, there's all things going wrong. It's got like a, um, it's got like a, a, uh, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, tha, thi, thi, thi, thin, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th. th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin, thin, thin, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, properly. There's stuff missing, there's all things going wrong. It's got like a seven on Zamato or something like that, which is like a death sentence. Apologies I'm getting that wrong. But perhaps, maybe don't make the dining experience for, like, looking at a menu and trying to work out what what it is on the menu that you can actually humanly eat. I know this all

it's all the kind of thing we're... A fucking ordeal? Imagine if every pizza had like four ingredients that all violently clashed with each other. Wouldn't that be a treat? Wouldn't that be good and they? And they're all like this. You don't have to take my word for it. It's all just awful, awful stuff. But the problem is, right, with all of this, is that, unfortunately, like there's more than just a kernel of truth in this, right? Like restaurants are doing it tough,

restaurants are struggling with Uber eats. They're struggling with a lot of this stuff that they're going for, but that's not, nobody's finding the right answers for it in the press, right? And with these weirdo, you know, white saviors that they managed to dig up, instead of, you know, actually an analysis of a real restaurant that's not serving idiotic dog shit fusion from two cuisines that you don't understand either of. But instead, and I don't know whether this is the author's fault, and it feels like we're just singling out this article, but there are multiple other articles linked within

this same week, there's just been an inundation because, you know, Australians love this stuff, right? They love hearing that we're paying people, people too much, right, for the people that we would like to spit on, but we can't legally. But instead, either the writer or the, or the sub-editor has managed to just position the article to be the exact belief of the people that it's covering. Like the heading, they went bust in three months because they paid award wages is highly misleading as to what is actually occurring and with a complex issue like this. It's just boiled down to this for clicks, for you know to get to get traffic. Everything about this situation is is wrong. So it's hard to kind of dig out of it, right,

towards a cogent kind of answer for it when, when the discourse around it is so utterly confused. And you know, it certainly wouldn't hurt to maybe also try digging into which types of places are doing well, because I think in a lot of cases it's usually places that are serving stuff that is not wildly overpriced, meals that are not incredibly confusing like this one. And yeah, places that are just doing the fundamentals of running a restaurant or a cafe well a lot of the time.

Actually being a nice friendly local business. All that sort of wild shit. I can think of there was a great burger place in Brisbane, for example, called Char Boys. They bought a shipping container, which is like $20,000 worth of metal, something like that. They had a good recipe and they put a grill in the that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that's that's that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that sort that's, that's, that, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, that, that, that, that, that, that, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their their their their their their their that, that, that, that, that, thi, thi, thi, thii, thiii, thiii, thi, thi, thi, thii, something like that. They had a good recipe, and they put a grill in there. And every single day, they had like 20 or 30 people lining up for burgers. Right? It is, and they've recently shut that down because they're moving to an actual physical premises

in Belimber because they've done well, right? There is space to do, um, they're, um, they're, they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're to they're to to they're to to to they're to to to to they're to to to they're to to to to to they're to they're to to to to they're to to their to to their their to their their their their they they they they they they they they. and they. and they to they to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to they're they're they're they're to to to to to they.. they. their to their their their their to their th. th. thi. to thi. to thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their to to to to to th down because they're moving to an actual physical premises in Bollember because they've done well, right? There is space to do good things and well. Just because you've made money on Bitcoin doesn't mean you deserve to have a restaurant. Yeah, I think that is an aspect to it as well, which is that I think sometimes with with these sorts of things there's there's something to be said for like just just trying a smaller cafe or venture or whatever first as opposed to you know doing a million dollar fit out in an extremely high-end location and also trying a completely unproven type of cuisine or whatever, as opposed to saying like, let's do a pizza restaurant

and have a couple of fucking weird ones in there and see if people like it. And if that's the stuff that absolutely takes off, then you can kind of do that too. I was like, I think of that, I don't know if you've seen much of Chef's Table on Netflix. I haven't. Where they just look at lots of different people. And one was the lady who made like the cereal milk pie and that sort of stuff, you know?

And that thing was interesting, because that was just a thing that they made. I think it was like, I'm trying to remember if it was pie, she called like crack pie, because she just made it at home just experimenting and bought it into the kitchen. And everybody was like, holy shit we have to try selling this and that became their super hot-selling thing and like it just sort of went from there as opposed to going hey I'm gonna open an entire restaurant based off a couple of fucking weird things that I

made and then we'll find out if people like it in Surrey Hills one of the most expensive places in the universe for real estate. There go folks, pay your staff properly. Now I'm going to close us out with a quick reading here from the Wall Street Journal. Speaking of a place with a lot of money that also doesn't pay their staff properly. That's right, folks, we're talking about Saudi Arabia. So I read this piece and I went, oh? Sorry, I feel like that transition, that's going to be a slow burn for people, I think. I didn't catch me to begin with, and I, you kept all

going with the sentence, and I just found myself quietly nodding. Like, fuck. He is so right. They're the ultimate like, Sydney restauranters. Like, fuck. He is so right, though. They're the ultimate like Sydney restauranteurs, aren't they? So, I got this piece in the Wall Street Journal. And let me, please allow me to read to you from Ithi. A prince's $500 billion desert dream. Flying cars, robot dinosaurs, and a giant artificial moon. So this seaside corner of Northwest Saudi Arabia is so barren that the only abundant

resources a group of consultants could identify were sunlight and unlimited access to saltwater. Delicious salt water. One of our least favorite combinations. But Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman didn't see a wasteland when he landed in his helicopter here a few years ago. He saw the future and hatched a plan for a $500 billion city state to cover 10,000 square miles of rocky desert, an empty coastline to attract the quote, world's greatest minds and best talents to the world's best paying jobs in the world's most livable city.

The project is called Neom, a portmanteau of the Greek word for new and the Arabic word for future. Tasked by the Crown Prince known as MBS to help turn his imaginary city into a reality, consultants at Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and Co., and Oliver Wyman created an expensive mix of science fiction and corporate buzzwords interrupted by uncomfortable realities. Local tribes would be forcibly relocated. A court system developed by law firm Latham and Watkins and labeled Independent would have judges reporting directly to the king and operating under Sharia law.

Neum is the centerpiece of MBS's effort to transform an insular, oil-dependent kingdom into a country with an outward-looking diversified economy. Rather than relying on petroleum revenue to fund purchases from foreign countries, MBS has said he wants Saudi Arabia to produce goods and services that Saudis currently buy abroad. He has proposed NEOM as a Massachusetts-sized area. With auto factories, hospitals, tech companies, and resorts to keep Saudis spending domestically. Recently, the reliance on foreigners has been a sensitive topic for the Saudi government and its international partners, according to government officials. In 2017, the government detained Alexia's founder, a McKinsey partner, during a corruption crackdown.

He was locked up and beaten over the course of a year before being released without explanation. McKinsey and the Saudi government have yet to comment on the case. Government officials have questioned whether the kingdom pays Western consultants more than their worth. I don't know, Theo, have you ever heard anything about a consultant being paid more than their worth? Actually, it's funny because the language around that is almost exactly what the previous guys we were using to describe hospitality workers who have paid, you know, are they getting more than their worth? Hmm, whereas consultants get paid approximately $100,000 an hour I believe is the standard,

the standard rate to stand around with their hands on their hips and produce a PDF with typos all the way through it. Produce a 700 page PDF. Sent in the in the format of exclusively screenshots pasted into a DocX file and then and then attached to an email which is then attached to the email that it's sent to you. I think that's the standard MO for a consultant. It's the way it usually goes. So, Neom in a statement said that the consultants have not used this project as an opportunity to run up the bills from Saudi Arabia. Quote, the involvement of consultants has been productive and valuable, it said. So I figured we could take a look at some of the ideas laid out in 2,300 pages of confidential documents by the aforementioned consultants. Number one, flying taxis.

Scientists might take a flying taxi to work. Driving is just for fun, no longer for transportation, e.g. driving Ferrari next to the coast with a nice view, planning document said. Oh, no. I love thinking about how much these people got paid. Oh, God. Number two, cloud seeding. The desert won't always feel like the desert. Cloud seating could make it rain.

Three, robot maids. Don't worry about household chores. While scientists are at work, their homes would be cleaned by robot maids. Don't worry about household chores. While scientists are at work, their homes would be cleaned by robot maids. This is just the Jetsons. It is very much the Jetsons. And I love like, people are already trying to make robots that can do shit. And they're spending a lot of money to do it. And you can all see where they're at. It can do a back flip. You can hit it with a baseball band. And like Tesla has spent billions of dollars constructing AI that can perfectly and accurately run a small roadster into the side of a semi-trailer at 400 kilometers an hour. But now they're gonna fly. Well like when you think about how like, you know how Google has its like moonshot bullshit? Uh-huh? How like, like, they're like, they're like, they're like, they're like, they're like, they're like, they're like, they're like, they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they. they. they. thi. they. te. te. te. te. te. te. they. they. their they're they're they're they're they're gonna fly. Well like when you think about how like you know how Google has its like moonshot bullshit? Uh-huh. How like they were doing

self-driving cars for like a decade or whatever and then they just went you know what fucking forget it. They just folded up shop on that one. I I honestly, you know apart from thisthis being a gigantic project that is almost comparable to building the pyramids as far as its construction methods and suitability and practicality goes, and we'll keep going down the list I think. But I am enjoying the thought of like them constructing a gigantic glass, like Wonderland for a whole bunch of Silicon Valley dipshits that they fly over and pay them each a million dollars a year and they're all just in this huge glass cube in the desert with their roller skates

and their ponytails. They're like cross-breeding monkeys. Like just frantically scribbling on whiteboards that are like, you know, what if God was an app? Question mark? Yeah, all while they're all their robot made at home tries to clean the shower and electrocutes and burns the apartment complex down. Yep. So let me let me continue with these bright ideas. Number four, state of the art medical facilities. Scientists would work on a project to modify the human genome to make people stronger. They're just going to do superheroes? I think so.

Number five, world-class restaurants. There would be fine dining galore in a city with the highest rate of Michelin starred restaurants per inhabitant with a wonderful sushi pizza for everyone. Lovely. Number six. Dinosaur robots. Mm-hmm. Residents could visit a Jurassic Park-style island of robot reptiles.

Let me, I'm just going to scroll back up for a second to this quote from Neon. The involvement of consultants has been productive and valuable. They have not used this project as an opportunity to run up bills. Number seven, glow in the dark sand. The Crown Prince wants a beach that glows in the dark like the face of a watch. Number eight, alcohol. No, I can't be done. Alcohol is banned in the rest of Saudi Arabia, but it likely won't be here, say people familiar with the plant. Number nine, robot martial arts. Robots would do more than just clean your house. They also could spa head to head in a quote,

robo cage fight, one of many sports on offer. So we're also going to have, you know, basically gladiators, but also they are robots and also they are doing martial arts. It's always, do you remember the, do you remember the robot shows from like the late 90s? They came back? They came back? Yeah. But there was always the shittiest robots that won, like, there was always cool robots that would have like flame throwers and stuff. And then there'd be one that was just like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, they they the they they they they their their their their their their their, do their, do their, do their, do their, do their, do their, do their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their the would have like flame throws and stuff. And then there'd be one that was just a wedge. And it would just like run under the other robot and flip it uselessly on its back. Tip it over. It's just lying there like a tortoise.

Like, oh, the wedge one again. Oh, nature has never improved upon the wedge. The simple wedge. wheels. Simple wedge. Number 10, security. Cameras, drones, and facial recognition technology are planned to track everyone at all times. So what you want to do is you really want to tie your libertine kind of human playground describing wonders that you've never even thought to dream of let alone experience with an extremely regressive, hyper-aggressive security state to keep an eye on you and your movements, make sure that you're in

that you're following all of the very, very difficult and super regressive laws just in case you slip up and you need both of your arms cut off as punishment. But then you could get them replaced with robo arms. You could fight your neighbor with these roboar arms. You can get there with jet packs. They were also talking in the article in another spot about this part about how they were just like, oh yeah, we would just set it up so that like absolutely every square centimeter of the thing

thing was observable at all times. And if a crime a a a a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the of th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. I. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. thea. thea. thea. thea. the. theea. thea. thea. thea. the. thething was observable at all times. And if a crime were committed, we could just have, you know, armed drones right next to the person within seconds of it happening. Yeah, if you try and jack off in your house, your robot made will be over immediately to friction burn your dick off. Just pulverize it into a paste. And of course, number 11, moon. A giant artificial moon would light up each night. One proposal suggests that it could live stream images from outer space, acting as an iconic landmark. Geez, I wonder where... I'm trying to think, Andrew, and help me out if you can, but...

I'm thinking of a thing, so I'm outside at night, and I'm wanting a live stream or view, if you will, of the moon and stars. But I currently can't think of a way that we could do that now or for all of human history. Let me tell you how we could do it. Hit me with that. Well, let me see. So, MBS says that each night he would like a fleet of drones to create the illusion of a

rising moon, crescent, half and full. So to make that happen, okay, I know that you seem to have some ideas too, but make that happen. Yeah. Boston Consulting Group has suggested partnering with NASA to make the fake moon the biggest in the world, you know, to compete with all those other iconic fake moons that we all know about? Well, but this was what I was kind of going at. And I don't know, look I'm no consultant, I'm certainly not as highly paid as them. So the thing about the moon, though, is it's very large, but it's also a long way away. What we could do is make a smaller one, but much, much closer.

And I don't know if they, so they're talking about like the largest fake moons, but just keep bringing it closer and you can make it as small as you like. It costs nothing. Just a tiny moon. What gets me about all of this is that like this is all supposed to conjure like an extreme... just grab that tiny moon. This is all obviously supposed to conjure like an extremely um Jetsons-esque utopian future kind of vibe, right? But all I get from it is like, um, all I get from it is like, Las Vegas, look we have a little version of the Eiffel Tower,

like, um, hey, you're inside this casino, but there's a, there's a ceiling that's blue and it looks like there's stars on it. Like, we used to dream about this sort of stuff, but we're so much, you know, we're so much closer to that dream now, that we just like instinctively understand it as like this ononistic jerk off. Yeah. That is totally impractical and useless to the reality of our survival in this hellscape of a world that we live in. And also, it's only going to get hotter. I have to say, I mean, sorry if you're living over there. I am very sorry, but it is, I've got bad news about whether or not it's going to get hotter soon.

That's all right, they'll just do air conditioning out there. They'll build a big old dome over top. Just a big sealed dome. Huge, huge dry dome. I can live in comfort underneath with air conditioning like we have at the shops. So yeah, I mean, it also makes me think of like, um, do you see that quote recently from like, uh, Jeff Bezos that was him saying, I'm using my millions to get, my billions to get humanity into space because people have destroyed the world and like people like are interesting that it's your

billions but it's everyone that's destroying the earth yeah because you don't have a hand in that part no absolutely I can't think of anybody that would have less to contribute to that fate of the earth than Jeff Bezos. He's he's one of the good guys. So rather than you know making any making any form of effort to maybe give some of your largest accumulation of capital in the entire history of the human race over to maybe helping out a little bit with the planet as it is and the one that we're on, no, it's much better off to spend it on this kind of thing. Just spend it on this extremely clever stuff.

And you love to see it, folks. You simply love to see it. Now you do. That's probably about all the we've got our time for. Our time it's out. Can you hear an alarm clock ringing the distance? Can you hear the clock strike 12? The beeping of a Casio watch or... So much past my bedtime. You will never be seen at midnight. No. Yeah. So as always folks if you would like extra bonus episodes of the show every week, hell even if you just like to give us a bit a bit of the distance support. the you. the distance the distance the distance the distance the distance. Can the distance. Can the distance. Can th th th th. Can th. Can th. Can th. Can th. Can th. Can the distance. Can the distance. Can the distance. Can the distance. Can the distance. Can the distance. Can the distance. Can the distance. Can the distance the distance. Can the distance. Can, can the distance. Can, can the distance. Can, can the distance the distance the distance the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the distance. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the if you would like extra bonus episodes of the show every week, hell,

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