The Morning Stream - TMS 2227: Fartrepreneur

Episode Date: January 6, 2022

Once in a while you get a boob. Right Fisting Fozzy. Farting in Jars is Gross Profit. Non Fartable Tokens. Dab,dab,dab,dab,dab...boink! Who Reads 14 Year Old Copies Of Golf Digest? Who the hell is Kate Bush. Too Much Gold Highlighting. No Worries. It's Banned. They Died of Meatballs, Not COVID. That being said at the end of the day I'm doing a deep dive on the new normal. Perfect eye dots! Shouldn't it be Rod in Hand? What's Hot on the Shelf with Amy. Therapy Thursday and more on this episode of The Morning Stream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coming up on TMS. Once in a while, you get a boob. Right fisting fozzy. Farting in jars is gross profit. Non-fartable tokens. Dab, dab, dab, dab, dab, dab, boink. Who reads 14-year-old copies of Golf Digest? Who the hell is Kate Bush? So many questions, too much gold highlighting. No worries, it's banned. They died of meatballs, not COVID. That being said, at the end of the day, I'm doing a deep dive on the new normal.

Perfect eye dots. Shouldn't it be rod in hand? What's hot on the shelf with Amy? Therapy Thursday and more on this episode of The Morning Stream. Meet Maxine. She's wearing a human sweatshirt because it only makes sense that if humans can wear teddy bear sweatshirts, shouldn't a teddy bear be able to wear a human sweatshirt? I'm not getting a cell phone anytime soon.

The morning stream. They sleeps in the raw with their mom. And Paul. No, we don't. Hey, hello everybody. Welcome to TMS. It's the morning stream for Thursday, January 6th, 2022. Nothing unique about today's date.

Nothing at all. Nothing at all. It's not like anything freaking weird happening here. Keep moving. Keep moving on. Normal day. Regular old freaking Thursday. I'm Scott.

He's Brian. Hi, Brian. Hi, Scott. Hi. It's been a week, man. I've had, I don't know if I've gave myself just too much to do in the new year or what I did, but I think I'm having small regrets. Like, holy crap.

I need a day. I need a, not a day. I needed some time. Just like a few hours. Carve out a few hours. Yeah. Yeah, because I just haven't had any of that this week. And I don't like it.

No, sorry, I don't. I've been fairly lucky. I mean, there's been steady work coming in, and there's, projects that I'm doing for people, but I've had time to sit down and get back into painting. And it's, boy, the first thing that I needed to remind myself, absolute first thing was slow down. Yeah, right? Right.

Yeah. Because I'll get like, oh, here's a big white area or big gray area that I can paint on so-and-so. And I'll just go, beep, jeep, jeep, jeep, and then I'll get droplets in places where droplets don't need to be of gray. or I'll over brush and go into another area. And it's like, no, there's no reason to go fast. That said, over the painting break or painting hiatus from those little minis, I bought some new brushes, got a great deal on some brushes that somebody recommended in one of the channels, Discord channels I'm in.

And those have made a massive difference. It's like, oh, wow, okay, this is what, You know, a big, and I was thinking, well, doing a little tiny area, I need a little tiny brush. No, you just need, you can have a big fat brush that can hold some paint that has a little tiny tip. Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah. And that was, that made a big difference because I'd always reach for, like I'm doing eyes or something. I just make the eyes.

I'm doing eyes. And so I reach for this brush that I have that has little teeny tiny hairs on the end of it. cute um but those little teeny tiny hairs are all a little bit frayed apart at the end and so i'll paint this little tiny circle of an eye and it'll go right down the face and uh but then i got you know these new brushes and it's like it's the perfect like little brush shape with the the the just the pointed the end of it being just super fine pointed i'm trying not to give jamie too much but yeah uh and so i dab dab dab a little bit of paint in there and then go point and uh like the perfect little little i dot that's awesome is it a brand that we could recommend what what kind

of brushes are they oh probably i could probably go and find it you know i'll find it during a break or something okay yeah we'll see what you can find the chat room's asking it might be for those at home trying to do their painting maybe you'll you know i can do i can look in my amazon history and i'll just i'll just put a link the um so that's made a big difference and um but i'm still man, more than three-fourths of the way done with the Black Order. So you saw Ebony Ma, pretty much done. Proxima Midnight, I finished yesterday. I started, depending on where you look,

Cull Obsidian or Black Dwarf, he's been called both. Yeah. He's the big dude. It's trouble, everywhere he goes. Big trouble, that guy. Big trouble, that guy. And Meaden, by the way, M-E-E-D-N micro-detailed paint. brush set. I'm going to put a link

in the chat for folks. Meiden. M-E-E-E-D-E-N. It's a set for 20 bucks, like with 15 brushes in it. It's not bad. They're so good. Yeah, that's a good price. I was worried you're going to say, oh, here's a, you know, these are the prisma-colored pencils of the brush world. Oh, my God. Remember how expensive

they were so expensive. So stupidly expensive for colored pencils. And we had to have them. It was like the only thing you would trust. And yet they were charging like a buck fifty two bucks a pencil it was ridiculous especially when you're on a high school budget and you couldn't afford it and you were still like i'm getting that 75 set piece thing oh those were the days so i started corvis glave this morning corvis glave is probably to be the easiest one because uh so he's the skinny dude with the kind of pointy wizard hat looking head and pointy chin and oh yeah yeah uh he is uh he's all black pretty much

some gold highlights on his uniform but I'm not going with the with again for the black order I'm doing my own MCU style painting I'm not basing it on the box art sure sure I think the comics those vary too right they're different than

oh every time yeah every artist seems to draw like a different a different version of Corvus Glave although pretty much always all black And gold highlights, yeah, for some reason the box did like blue, blue, glowy kind of highlights on his, uh, uh, his costume and stuff. But, um, oh, interesting. Wait, is this the picture you took? Is this of your, of your painting? No, no, the one I just put in there, no. No, okay. No, he's, so far, mine just has his face and, um, and everything else painted black. I haven't done any of the gold highlights. For him, I'm just deciding to do. Um, he's so cool. he is cool yeah it's like a space reaper basically it's just badass i'm not going so far as to put this kind i'm going to put another image in the chat

room here but um this the second version here which is based on the marvel legends action figure that's a little too much gold highlighting for my taste thank you very much you will not find that much gold highlighting on uh on my version you're not going to you're not going to take that kind of intricate uh no no i'm not going to draw the frigin maze from highlights magazine on his on his costume thank you oh that's funny you bring that up i gotta go i have a doctor follow up today at two and i got a sitting in a waiting room and i wonder if there'll be any highlights magazines in there oh might be might be you might luck out with that yeah my doctor's weird this way though she doesn't have she doesn't have a lot of opulent office anything like it's

just really basic and so when you go in there i don't know if she just doesn't care about it like She's extremely efficient and really good at her job, but they just don't decorate much, and it's kind of just white walls. And I don't know, I feel like I'm going in there, and it's bad until I talked to her. And it's like, oh, and this is good. But, you know, there's no decor. I don't know if that's... No, that sucks.

I don't know what to say about that. I mean, I guess they figure everyone just brings their phone anyway, and they're not going to read a 14-year-old issue of golf digest, which is all they ever seem to have. No, that's true. I just feel so barren. I worry, you know, the people that work there, are they, I don't know, are they okay? It's like Joe and the versus the volcano-looking office. So it reminds me of.

I put one more image in the chat room. This is, so this is the actual mini that I have. This is a fully painted version. And you'll look at it and say, well, that's not really a fully painted version, Brian. That is a photoshopped image or a drawing or painting of that mini. No, this group, Big Child Creatives, paints minis, and they look like painting. It's the craziest thing. Oh, weird.

This is like people that do face makeup that look just like a painting. Yeah, right. That's crazy. Oh, look at that. Isn't that amazing? Yeah, you almost need video to convince me because my brain will not let that be a three-dimensional photo object. Right, no, it looks like a two-dimensional painting.

But, yeah, so if you look at Big Child Creatives on YouTube, you can watch Pedro Ramirez, I think, is his name, really incredibly talented dude. who paints, paints these, and he does yon-do, and you can see, like, how he does it. I've employed a couple of those techniques, which is basically saying, instead of the 3D object just being, you know, your basic, like an action figure, if his face is gray, you paint his whole head gray, right? Sure.

And if his costume's black, you paint his whole head black. Now I'm doing this technique where I create a solid, you know, a major color, and then I make a highlight and a shadow version. And based on the priming that I do, I do this thing called zenithal, zenithal priming, which is where you first prime the whole thing black, then the top gray, and then the very top white to show you what happens if light hits it. Oh, I see. Okay. Then I paint those highlights and shadows based on where,

the zenith painting the priming comes in and um that's cool it makes such a difference i did uh i'll actually post photos today on twitter but the um proxima midnight that i did used a lot of that and i think she came out really really good are you worried you're going to have like 10 20 of these and then find a better technique and then really improve on it and go oh crap i want to go redo those already have like the first five that came in the core box the iron man and black widow like black widow like Black Widow, I need to look back at because she was the first one of these that I painted. And it would be like, oh, wow, yeah, gotten so much better since then. But you know what?

I'm not so worried about, like, having this box where it's like, oh, well, here's some really kind of amateur-looking ones. And here's some better-looking ones. It's like, eh, you know, it's all, it shows a growth and, uh. Yeah, that's how you know. That's how you can say, oh, I'm getting better at this, yeah. That's right. And soon I'll do Ronin and I'll be in my blue period. That'll be, you know, it's like a painter's, you know, Picasso's growth.

This is my blue period. Yep. Eventually you cut your own ear off and eat it or whatever he did. I'll do corg, and then I'll be in my cubism, period. It'll be a beautiful time for all of us. Hey, I want to give a shout out to a listener. Sure. One of our listeners, Dennis Burkett, got in a car accident yesterday.

Oh, no. Yeah. Is you right? He's okay. Mild concussion, my understanding is. He's in good care. taking it easy and doing all right he he wrote me and just said hey i just wanted to thank you for the shows because they helped me through a pretty rough day and uh you know sort of just thanks and i just said

well i'm giving that guy a shout out who for freaking getting in a car accident and having all this happened to you that freaking sucks so that does suck so dennis if you're listening uh i hope it gets together quick and don't go to sleep or whatever the rule is isn't that the rule i think right away. I think once you're under a doctor's care, as long as they're monitoring in you and stuff, then yeah, you can go to sleep. But yeah, right away, don't, you know, right after concussion, don't go to sleep. So if you bang your head right then, and if you sleep then, that's trouble. But if you get to the doctor and he's like, all right, everything's okay. You know, don't worry then. Yep. Look at us with our professional medical advice that we've given. Yes, exactly. We are not doctors. Not a doctor. No, not a doctor. But anyway, we wish you the best and really sorry that happened. I didn't get details like, you know, was it a snow, thing or whatever. There are people who, even here where we get snow every year and we know what to do, they forget. They just straight up forget. And so when they get their first snowstorm or the sun starts sticking to the road, they just lose it. You're like, dude. And also we got a big influx of Californians this year because of the freaking housing market weirdness. Everyone

fleeing California. And I don't think any of them know what the hell they're doing. So I got a neighbor three doors down, the guy that paid like almost a million dollars for a house that was 350 on the people before it brought it. Jesus. Yeah, I know. It's ridiculous. But they they, they, uh, I've seen them very gingerly pull out of their driveways

and kind of just like, look like they don't quite know what to do with the snow. Good. Yeah. Caution over caution can sometimes be just as dangerous as daredevil driving. Mm-hmm. But, uh,

but at least if they're cautious they'll they'll slow people down but they won't like slam into somebody like cause a big accident yeah I'd much rather have them slow like get slow in traffic and have people be annoyed than the other way around forget it yeah it's all the local freaking idiots who know better who are like I'm driven through snow before and the next thing you know there's an eight car pile up on I-15 dumbasses yeah no people and during the pandemic when highways were clear and roads were clear people were staying home there were those select few who went out there and just relished in the in the joy of having all those open lanes and being able to drive pretty much as fast as they want however they wanted and those people are still out there driving as fast as they want and as as uh irresponsibly as they want you go from one place to another here in Denver that's more than 20 minutes apart and you are coming in contact with a dozen of these a holes that are uh yeah well the good news is is we got like a month and a half of this and then it warms up and you get spring and it's fine yeah right think that way everyone think of the future so so for you march is not the snowiest month like it is here in colorado no it's the worst is February for us um but march is often pretty snowy not the worst but it's snowy it's supposed to like when i was a kid you could fly kites in march it's different now something shifted i don't know what happened but when i was a kid march meant yeah we're outside riding bikes flying kites let's go fishing whatever now it's like no it's probably gonna rain and turn

to snow and there's a little bit of ice still and i wouldn't go to Vegas just yet because a huge snowstorm's going to hit cedar city on the way and you'll never get through there and yeah like i hate that about our springs now but um yeah bring on april's what i'm saying yeah april because you know what april means april means possible tMS uh Vegas yeah we want that we want that real bad uh with a super secret surprise wedding thing may be happening there possibly you know we got all these all of these have asterisk marks on them because we don't know but we're trying we're going to aim we're aiming you know who knows freaking we had the highest amount of utah cases yesterday in the history of covid so that's fun uh i think a lot of states are happening well the country's having that like

we've hit an all-time high of infections so uh good good job everyone good job we're doing great Well, you know, they're getting it all out of the way. Let's get all those infections out of the way. Push them through, get them out, move them on. There you have it. All right. Let's get to, oh, we got a segment to do. What are we even doing here?

Yeah. I'm trying to forget that this is before the break. Yeah, we... Before the news even. It was weird last time because Wendy wasn't here, but... Right, right. Not today. Let's see if I can get her in here.

All right. We're going to have a little... Well, we're going to focus. on reading, which maybe... Booky book time. Which is what I need. I just need some... I'm reading a book right now, but the only time I've had for it is late at night in bed, and sometimes it helps me sleep.

Other times it doesn't. I need some time where I can just go be kind of in a bubble and not be bugged by anyone and just read. That's what I want. Anyway, let's do this right here. Right. Where is it? Right here. That music can mean only one thing. It's time for Read This with Amy Robinson.

Hi, Amy. Hi. How are you? How's everybody doing today? Good. How are you? Yeah, how are you doing? I'm doing great.

I was completely asymptomatic the whole time. Oh, all right. So let me ask you about that. I've never actually talked to somebody who was asymptomatic during a COVID run. You only hear about the people that, you know, had a rough go of it or whatever. And my question is, do you feel like, did you have? have anything? When they say asymptomatic, do you literally mean I got nothing from this infection? Or was there a little something? Like a little headache or, you know? There had to be

something to make you go and get tested, right? Like something to make you think, oh, you know, maybe I've got something going on here. Well, okay, so that was a contact tracing thing because my son went to visit his cousins down in Florida and one of them tested positive. And so we just all four of us just piled in the car and oh right you weren't so it wasn't symptoms you were like i'm going in because we had contact with somebody who had okay right right yeah and as far as did i really have any symptoms so as per mentioned before you know i have narcolepsy so it's kind of hard for me to say because i was real tired there's some fatigue that you don't know right there's no there's no telling like that could have just been like a flare up of narcolepsy

it could have been the fact that COVID was in there fighting it out could have been my you know well this is my time of the month lady bits oh yeah the lady bit you know yeah I have acting up I don't know I have that I have that every month and I don't know what to call it when a man has it what do you call that when a dude goes through that I guess just The man-time. Man-strating. Man-strating. Okay, great. I'm spotting now, Brian. Anyway, hey, back to the point. Oh, I know what I was going to, so the reason I was asking you that is that it just seems so crazy that this thing that can be so detrimental to some isn't to others. And I always wonder, well, if the reaction to the shot, if that is a indicator of how you'll do with a breakthrough infection. And I had no reaction to any of the three, the booster or the first two, other than a little, I think I was a little tired, or that may even been psychosomatic. Who knows? Did you have reactions to the vaccines, like a little mini version of getting sick or any of that?

So the first vaccine, nothing. Didn't even, I had Pfizer, by the way, in case anybody's kind of keeping score there. I had no reaction whatsoever to the first shot. The second shot, it was kind of interesting. It was, you know, weeks later, I was still really tired, like, to the point where it was, it was 10 o'clock in the morning and I'm having trouble getting up out of bed, what's going on? And so I spoke to my neurologist about it and he said, part of narcolepsy is actually an immune response. And here we are tinkering with your immune system giving you a vaccine.

So, yeah, that's possible. So, you know, I did notice a little bit of fatigue there. And then when I got my booster kind of same thing, that was just a couple of days of, you know, fatigue. I have self-diagnosed and convinced myself that because I had little to no reaction, if I do get a breakthrough case, it will be asymptomatic. That's what I've convinced myself. Yeah. Yeah. Even though I have nothing to base that on, I have no science to base that on.

Sure. It's just a belief. Whatever you felt for the vaccine is what you're going to feel for the. Yeah, these people, you know, they end up with long COVID or horrible, whatever, whatever, that freaks me out just enough to make me make up this diagnosis for myself. So I'm feeling good in my little imaginary world. I imagine, just like most of the world, if you Google enough, if you search long and hard on the internet, you'll find proof. Oh, yeah. You might have to find some weird article from MedicineNow.org.com.net.

That's only that. Dot net. Oh, man, no one does dotnets anymore. Dot net. Oh, I don't trust a dot net. Anyway, hey, Amy, it's very nice to have you here. Of course, we're here talking about books and reading and stuff like that. What's hot on your shelf this week?

Oh, I like that. I'm going to use that again. What's hot on Amy's shelf? Hot on the shelf. Hot on the shelf. Hot on the shelf. It's not really friends. Funny you put it that way because this week's a stolen book.

Oh, no, not hot like that. I mean, like, a little tiny bit of spicy. Oh, I see. So just a little bit. It's mostly science fiction, though. So the book I want to nominate this week, or recommend rather this week, is the Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. If you are not familiar, Mary Robinette Kowal is actually, she's the president of the science fiction and fantasy writers of America, at least was from 2019. to 2021. I think maybe she's stepped down now. But anyway, she's excellent science fiction writer.

What's interesting about her is she actually started as a puppeteer. Oh, no way. Yeah, she's done, she was on, I don't know if anybody remembers that show Lazy Town. I do. Yeah, my kids loved that. I had that weird little girl and then everyone else is a Muppet except for the bad guy who had weird face stuff on him and he was like evil and had a long chin. I totally remember this. Yeah, it was a strange, strange little show. It was very much an acid trip of a show, but yeah, it was, so she was

on that show, she was one of the puppeteers on that show, and she's also done a bunch of work with Jim Hinson and whatnot. She still owns a puppet company called Other Hand Productions, and she does puppetaining workshops and stuff, where she buys lots of these for me

every year, right? Oh, cool. Yeah, so we actually, we had to put together an order for her of 150 individual peepers that all went to separate addresses. Oh, wow.

That was, that's a lot of peepers. Yeah, we ended up taking those to the post office because I was like, our mail carrier will not be happy with us.

Never forgive you. Individual, yeah. So anyway, so her puppeteering career kind of came to a screeching halt. She was in a stage production of Little Shop of Horrors,

and she was second-handing, Audrey, too, which, you know, that basically when you have those big puppets, you know, one person is operating the mouth and the other, the other puppeteers are behind there. Yeah, like, Bernie from Sesame Street is a good example of a puppet that, you know, you have to right-hand them because, you know, they have two hands, but the puppeteer also only has two hands. Somebody has to operate the head, right?

So, right. Anyway, so she was right-handing Audrey, too, and she, like, injured a tendon in her arm really, really, really severely. And during a, like, a live performance? During a live performance. And she, of course, like, all good performers, you know, she kept going, which probably even injured her arm even more. Oh, geez. And so. Is that what they call it?

I left-handed that? Like, if you're doing Fazi, oh, I'm right-hand. right-handing Fossey today. It sounds dirty, but it really does. Yep, that is exactly what it's called. Weird. Okay, that's cool. Because some of them have actual hands in there and gloved hand, you know,

gloved puppet hands, whereas other Muppets, certain Muppets are like Kermit, he's just got wires and stuff, but you still have to, someone has to still right hand that thing, right? Right. Not with Kermit. Kermit is what's called a hand and rod puppet. So, you know, if I could show you, hold on. I don't know if you could show,

your video's frozen I have video It's It's it is We're watching the Red Fraggle Slideshow Which is great Yeah

The image The image changes Every update every once in a while But we get some great expressions Every every minute and a half It's a different expression But other than that I'm sorry

I was like oh man I'll try my video today See if it'll work No It might be us Because we're on the Discord alpha But Aren't you having issues

Of your video before though You were having some Yeah like one time I You know it discord just completely kicked me off and I figured it was the bandwidth from trying to do video. Oh, it could be. So I don't know if you can see this little guy

in that... We will in a minute and a half. Yeah. Okay. There you go. So, yeah, he was called a hand in the rod puppet. So my right hand is up in his face. Yeah. And then my left hand is operating his arm rods. And

so, and that's what Kermit is. Okay. Is, you know, you've got you've got two arm rods and people have to really be dexterous with an I am not. I suck at this. Just full disclosure. You know, people have to really be dexterous with, if they want to do fancy stuff with, you know, both hands of a puppet or have them look like they're picking something up or whatever.

Ah, it's freaking hard. I had nothing but admiration for these people. I don't know how they do it. That guy, I like that dude, Carol Spinney guy that did Big Bird for so long and Oscar and a few others. I watched that documentary, loved every second of it. That guy's super interesting. they did not talk near enough about how that dude had his hand up here for like 38% of his entire life and not moving it. Oh, yeah.

And that is, by the way, seriously hard to do. He's had like people, he'd go to parties and stuff and, you know, these big, you know, alpha male kind of guys are like, oh, whatever, how hard can it be to be a puppeteer? And the dude is like, okay, I'll tell you what, just sit there for five minutes with your arm up here. Yeah, see how it goes. And I promise you, after five minutes, you're going to be in pain. Nope. And not everybody can be that weird Indian guru guy that's got his hand up permanently for 40 years.

You guys seen that guy? It's like a shriveled up turd. He's barely got an arm anymore. Oh, geez. Just from holding it up. Why is he doing that? Any reason? Yeah, some religious, like, never going to put it down.

Buddha will hate me if I do some sort of deal. I have to find the guy, but it's very weird. I think my, I think my video finally. caught up at TV Zagon. That is an excellent, you have an excellent eye. That is indeed one of Stacey Gordon's puppets. Oh, no way. TVZon. Yeah, so

Stacy, the puppet I have on in the shot there is built by a puppeteer and builder called Stacy Gordon. And she's actually one of the current puppeteers on Sesame Street. She does the Julia puppet. Oh, okay. The autistic

Muppet. Oh, yeah. I like that puppet. Yeah, she's wonderful. And, like, that's so I go a whole, whole other show talking about puppeteers that I know. But anyway, I also, by the way, really like the new little Asian puppet, the little Korean puppet. Can't remember her name. Adorable, though. It's great. I think Sesame Street's kind of doing some cool stuff right now.

Except they don't do near like when we were kids. Do you guys remember this? It was one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. It was like a million of those things. And the guy with the pies of ten chocolate cake. and he'd wipe out on this thing. Like a little pre-recorded, a little pre-recorded

segment is, yeah. They'd have this many of those? No, they barely do it. For most of, most recent Sesame Street stuff, it's just a lot of Elmo.

It's a ton of Elmo. So I have a gift for you, Scott. There is a TikTok account that does nothing but those old vintage Sesame Street animation. And it makes me so happy every time one of them comes up. It's like,

you know, and you mentioned the one where it was like, uh, a cart. of milk and a loaf of bread and stick a butter yeah and like and the kid just repeats it over and over again they have that one they have the pinball machine with the one two three four five seven eight nine eleven twelve just they have the little uh the typewriter guy oh the new to no no no that guy is the best all of them they're so good so yeah i will i i will look up

what that tick talk account is because it comes up for me all the time because i was like oh that's an immediate follow yeah yeah i would love to see it i want that in my my life. There's a, there's a bunch of channels that do Sesame Street stuff, but I don't know which one it is. So yeah, if you have it, please forward and I'll follow it in a heartbeat because I'd love, love that stuff. It's a huge part of my childhood. Great. Yeah. So, all right. So Mary Robinette Kowal, right-handed, uh, on Audrey 2 puppet, got a really severe tendon injury in, uh, in her right hand and, uh, was basically out of commission. And so did she just, hang out and watch Netflix and heal. No, she decided to write several science fiction novels

as you do. And you think, okay, well, you know, sure, you dabble or whatever. No, they're really, really good. Like, they've won Nebula Awards and Hugo Awards and, and, you know, all sorts of stuff. And so the one I'm specifically talking about today is called the Calculating Stars. And it's about, it sort of imagines what if a giant meteor hit the U.S. Right at the time that our space program was just starting. Oh, my lord. And so it was like all of a sudden, you know, instead of it just being, oh, we're in this pissing contest with the Russians to see who can get to space first, it was, oh, my God, we really have to get off this planet. Yeah.

You know, we're all going to die. um so and so everything was very accelerated um but it's also it's also kind of a historical fiction because it still recognizes all of the all the sexism all of the you know the it's you know 1950s and 60s politics sure uh going on all the racism it you know it deals with sort of that intersectionality and stuff and she deals with all of that really really well um it was it was really funny. I saw a panel with her once that she was talking about how when she was writing it, she had an entire

chapter devoted to explaining what the term computer meant in that context, right? Because a computer in that context is not a little box with keys. It's a person. A person who computes.

Right. Exactly. And it was actually like usually a room full of of women, a lot of times women of color, were doing this. And so she had an entire chapter devoted to explaining what a computer was. And then the movie Hidden Figures came out. And she was like, we, I can just jettison that whole chapter because I don't need it.

Because now everybody knows. You know, don't need to explain it. hilarious. Yeah. Right, right. That's fascinating. That sounds really interesting. No one ever, I mean, there's plenty of science fiction books written in the 50s, there's books written about that era, but this sounds like a pretty fresh take. I haven't heard of it before. What's the spicy bits? Tell me about that. What's going on there?

Oh, did we lose it? Uh-oh. I might have lost her because I see her. Her slideshow has ended. Oh, yeah, the slide show has ended. It's now just a red screen. Oh, yeah, we lost her. Oh, man, hold on.

Let's see if we can get her back. Don't know what happened there. Oh, there you are. Hello. You're back. Hi. I'm so sorry about that. I thought, I'm just, you know, my video is just hanging up and everything. So I'll just turn that off. And then as soon as I did, it decided to kept the audio too.

No worries. I thought I scared you off with my question about what, tell us about the spicy bits you're talking about. No, yeah. So, okay, yeah, the spicy bits, it really kind of, the book starts off a little. You're like, what am I reading? because it's told from the perspective of the main character is this woman named Alma York and she literally starts the first chapter

talking about her and her husband going off to this cabin to have sex. And a lot of the criticism, it cracks me up because I really, really enjoyed reading this entire book. And every time she talked about her husband, I was like, because he's like one of the best men you could possibly imagine. Like, he's super supportive of her, does everything for her is, like, is awesome.

And I'm sitting there reading it and going, oh, wow, like, did she model this after my husband? But apparently some of the criticism she has gotten is that she, that Nathaniel is not realistic because he's not a jerk. And it's like, I feel bad for all the women writing that as a review. And because the ironic thing is she did, in fact, actually model him after her own husband. Oh, wow. And so I was like, okay, ladies, if you don't identify with this guy, you might want to look at your marriage. Might be another problem to play. Yeah.

So I'm looking at the listing on Amazon, by the way. The book is available on the Kindle Unlimited thing. Their little $4.99 a month deal for free. That's just in there. Or, you know, just part of that subscription if you want it. but the audiobooks like 15 bucks paperback 12 like it's and it's reviewed really well people like this yeah and if you want to get just like a little small taste of what the the story's about without completely committing to reading an entire novel uh she does have a short story called the lady

astronaut of mars that is uh it's just available for free online um and i'll put it i'll put a link to that in the discord and everything as well. But yeah, so it's, it's just a short story. And it sort of gives you just like just a little taste of what that, what that world is. Oh, interesting. Yeah, she's got, uh, there's one here called the Relentless Moon, a Lady Astronaut novel, uh, the faded sky, a lady astronaut novel. I like how just, and there's three, three in the series. Yeah, so far there are three in the series. There's the calculating stars is the first one. And then the faded sky is the second one. The Relentless Moon actually follows a different character, but it's still a character that you're familiar with from the previous novels.

And then apparently she has a new one coming out this year called the Martian Contingency. So I'm excited for that because every time she comes out with a new book, I just get it right away. That's very cool. And she can do this now. If she's not puppeteering, she can be writing. So there you go. Right. Exactly. And she's very prolific.

Like she has a, and I'll save some of her other stuff. She doesn't only do science fiction. She does some fantasy things and like what she calls glamorous history. So, you know, kind of historical fiction stuff. I imagine those are a little bit spicy as well. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Just the first chapter.

When I say spicy, I mean, like, it's got like a teeny little bit. You know, like she mentions her and her husband having sex. It's not like. We're talking basic cable, not cinemax. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, I had no problem. giving this to my 15-year-old daughter to read.

And she actually, she loved it, you know. Sure. And that was the book that turned me into a woman. Well, it sounds interesting. I'm going to check this out. I really like the period peaceness of what you've described as well. I feel like I don't get enough of that. So very cool.

Alternate history type stuff, basically, is what that is. Yeah. That sort reminds me of is the Apple TV series. For all mankind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot like that. Yeah, very much so.

very much yeah uh well awesome this is a great recommendation uh write that down everybody again the author is mary robinette cowell c a w-a-l and the book is the calculating stars among her other works and there's also a really cool picture on her um her amazon basically channel they do this for authors on amazon and she's got this amazing picture of her working with a marionette puppet of some sort it's just cool cool it's nice to see uh that's awesome amy anything else you want to mention before before you go today? Any other? No, I'm going to actually start.

I did a couple of little strange puppet videos on my TikTok while I was in isolation. I saw those. I came up positive. The whole rest of my household was negative. So I was like, all right, I'm camping out in my office for five days. So I had nothing else to do, but make silly videos and some goofy art. Red Fraggle 3. on TikTok, right?

TikTok, yes. And I have changed my Twitter handle now. So it is also Red Fraggle 3. It's just the three is spelled out as a word. Oh, nice. Cool. That's a good way of a good way of compromising, right? Yeah.

The one you want was unavailable. Well done. Yeah, and screw that squatter for sitting on your name. Right. Bastard. All right. Well, that's awesome. Have a grand and wonderful week.

Hold on. I've got to change something because your video is still up. There we go. Okay. It's always good to talk to you, Amy. Have a great week, and we'll see you next time. All right. Bye now. Hi, Amy.

All right. That was fun. That was fun. Yeah, like, I'm a big science fiction guy. I'm going to read. I've written, that book is now on my list. I will get to that book at some point. I've got to finish this Stormlight archive thing from Brandon Sanderson first, and it's probably

going to take me months, but I know. I'm still at the same place I was last week with that Chuck Polonic book. I got to get back to it before I forget who all the characters are in this thing. Yeah, and Claire, I will, yeah, I'm getting it because it's smutty. That's why I'm doing it. Yeah.

It talks about coitus. Because there's no other places to get that sort of thing in this world. No, none. There's no readily available resource for erotica that I'm aware of. There's no massive computer network that contains endless amounts of content like that. Exactly. All right. We're going to do some news.

Check this out right here. I don't watch the news. Well, we do, and the news is brought to you by. Brought to you by patron WZKR. SPGT. Wickerspugget. Maybe Wicker Spigot. I don't know. I'm an independent publisher, 10 years with Pelicanesis, which you can find at Pelicanesis.com,

and one year with a new chapbook publishing company. I don't know if that just means English, like British lit or something like that. Bamboo Dart Press, which you can find at Bamboo Dart Press, which you can find at Bamboo darkpress.com. Nice. Thanks for that. Wickers spigot. Wicker spigot. Feels like I gotta be careful saying it for some reason.

Yeah, I know. I thought the same thing before I, like I have... Wickers. Set it in my head before I set it with my mouth. Yeah, you got to. All right. No worries. The phrase no worries. Which I use to death. I do too. I use it a lot.

I use it a lot. I think we're both. Well, a lot of people are. But this is making the annual list of phrases to banish. Yeah, it says who? I don't know. Who gets to say these things? Well, this is according to Lake Superior State University's banished words list. So if we have to...

Oh, well, if Lake Superior State University says it, you know, then I better follow it. Yeah, we better follow it. Here's some more. At the end of the day, they want that gone. I do that sometimes. You're on mute. I don't know if that is. Who says you're on mute?

Like, you know, I'm tired of listening to you're on mute. Oh, I've never said that, not even once. Yeah, none of us, neither of us ever say that. I feel like that. Put that on your list, fine, but I don't think you even saying. A little millennium thing there. Yeah, it must be. And the dreaded supply chain. These are the phrase, whatever, that's a weird one.

These are phrases thousands of English speakers have finally heard enough of, according to them. They and several others make up the Lake Superior State University's banished words list, an annual list amassed of submissions around the world, which highlights phrases or words that are becoming overused to the point of uselessness, they say. Though phrases related to COVID-19 dominated the previous year's list, the list lineup was more conversational. Potential side effect of the way Western society is adapted to the ongoing pandemic, says Peter Sismet-S-Merry?

Yeah, let's ban that name. Satsmarry. I think it might be Hungarian, Schott-M-M-R-H-Z-A-T-Mary. Shot-Mary. S-Z-A-T-Mary. Yeah, yeah, you do a, kind of do an S-H for an S-Z-S-S-E. He's the executive director of marketing and communications at LSU said that in a statement. The school has been releasing this list since 1976, so there's some history.

They get thousands of entries every year in the previous year. In the past year, people submitted more than 12,500, 1,250 words for consideration, with nominations coming from just within the U.S., not just the U.S., but from Norway, Belgium, England, Scotland, Australia, you. And... Kane da! There you go. I'm wondering by the pause, and I don't know why I didn't think of that. All right, well done.

Yeah, it's like, I got to find it, quick. Let's see. School announces the results for the yearly collection on the first day of the year, or last day of the year, rather. I'd like to see this full list. Is it on here? Hold on. Yeah, I say it's, I say BS is what I say to that.

Yeah, you say, and that phrase is on the next list. That's my word of the, yeah, exactly. That's my word of the year. BS. Oh, here's some others. That being said, people don't like that. What's the matter what, like, there's a specific case where you say, that being said, I do like putting stuff in my butt. There's a reason you use that phrase.

There is a time and place that that phrase. I'm trying to think of what case, though, or what else would you say? So if I'm using that case, let's say I'm like, it's snowing, it's snowed 40 feet today. Now, that being said, I still have to get up and go to work. All right, so let's say that's the phrase. Or I can't stand a wicker man. But that being said, I do like other Nicholas Cage movies. Okay, that's a good one.

So how else we say that? There's no other way to say it, is there? No. I like Nicola. You could say. Now what I've told you that, in response, I will tell you of the exception, which is that I like other Nicholas Cage movies. Yeah, there's the structure. Exactly.

You just did the skeletal structure of why that phrase works. You could say, I suppose, I like a lot of Nicholas Cage movies, despite, white wicker man existing. You could say it that way, but that is good. It's not as good. I will switch to saying Hakuna Matata instead of saying no worries. So when somebody says, oh, thank you for holding the door

for me. I'll say Hakuna Matata. Oh, I like it. I like it. Because it means no worries. It literally like right there in the song, it tells you it means no worries. It means no worries for the rest of your days. Except next year's list, if it caught on and became popular,

next year's list would have Akuna Matana on it. Because that's how this list works. Anyway, asking for a friend, I don't like that one either. I don't either, because it feels... It's just overused, and I'll put this right here or something like that. Is that on the list? It should be, but all of those... Let me leave this here or something like that.

I have a whole list of these social media phrases I would like to see banned. And I can't remember where I... Oh, I did that cartoon form is where I did it, but I don't know where it is. Anyway, the comic idea. It's the scientist guy with the chalkboard, right? Yeah, yes, exactly. I like to use him once in a while when I'm making a point. So it'll be like, I'll just leave this here.

Or like you said, or I'll say, or what's another one? Oh, let that sink in. Retweet if you agree. Like some of these like, freak. Yes, right. Oh, those are so horrible and overused. Oh, I don't know who needs to hear this as a good one, I core. And my least favorite is that, there, that's the tweet.

Or just that's the tweet. Yes, right. Like they somehow put a period on all life and just said, there it is. Look at the, behold, what I have done. Nobody needs to say anything about this ever again. I hate it. Circle back is one they don't like. Deep dive.

I'd do that sometimes with video game talk. Yeah. New normal. I don't like that one either. Supply chain. I think, you know, it's because we've had the, our new normal sucks. It's why we hate that phrase. Yeah.

And then, but also just this idea that there's a, just don't like it. It's just some, it's too, it's, it's, it's wraps things up too easily. It's like, oh, this is the new normal done. There it is. New normal. Right, right. Everybody better accept it because this is the new normal. And it's just lazy.

Sad news day or slow newsday is another good one. Captain Kippre, I don't like that one. Yeah. All right. You know, these lists are fun, but no one should take them too seriously. That's how I look at it. No. Final note here, final story.

A man blew up his Tesla rather than paying the $22,000 to repair it. That will teach him. Yeah, he was mad. The driver was mad enough to dynamite his own Tesla because the repair bill was $22,600 and he didn't want to pay it. It's all video form this story, so we're not going to watch that because I don't really show much. Is it all paid off? Like, is he now going to have to make payments on a car?

car that he doesn't own any like doesn't exist anymore? Let's hear a tiny bit of the video. Let's see what they say. Okay, all right. Here we go. Let's give this a shot. I don't know how the volume is on this. Hopefully it's okay. We're waiting. We're waiting. Okay.

Ever get so mad at repair bills that you wanted to blow up your car? Great, great. He was voice in a. Yeah. Sorry, I don't know who this person is. But this finish guy was beyond finished with his 2013 Tesla Model S after he says he got an estimate of over $22,000 to replace his battery. Tomas Katainen was asked, which would be better, a working Tesla or 66 pounds of dynamite exploding?

No, peri, it's a combagie. And then it's all him talking with subtitles. That's fine, except when she recorded that, was she in her kitchen or what was the deal there? She needs a better mic that doesn't make it sound like she's, lisping every S. Yeah, no kidding. That was terrible.

That was terrible. Anyway, he did that. Somebody actually knows Captain Kipper Jeannie Moose says she made a career out of doing that voice. Oh, really? Is that a thing? I don't know who that is. I don't watch National. I don't watch 24-hour news networks. I don't watch CNN.

Yeah, I don't. I just, I don't watch any 24-hour news. They're all full of shit. They're crap. Sorry, crap. And I can't get over it. Can we talk about your, I guess we have to get to a no you're fine go ahead what you want to do let's talk about your your avoidance of the word shit okay i have i have been trying to i'm not avoided i'm trying to be less have it be less of my automatic go-to when i see okay you know what i mean you're trying to take it from using it

50% of the time to maybe using it 10% of the time yeah just just making it more less of a crutch of a word for me and it's not purely just to make that one guy in his kid in his car happy that's not the whole goal. Jeff Sire, our friend, from Canada, points out. In the few weeks that you've been trying to rein in your highly damaging word, there have been discussions about severed penises, megatherapy, and other horrible stuff.

Like, maybe if you're letting your child listen to TMS, the worst thing they hear is not just going to be the word shit. Yeah, you're not wrong. like at the end of the day I almost said it I almost said it yeah I don't uh I don't know what the deal is I part of it is I have a I have a soft spot for kids who listen and I don't want them to feel bad I know you do

I don't want them to feel bad so I'd say uh feel bad because really parents listen we love you we love you parents out there you do we love you yeah of course uh maybe this show isn't the best thing to listen to as you take your child to date you It certainly isn't the worst. There are a lot worse things you could be listening to. Oh, sure. Don't put on Joe Rogan either.

No, no. We're squarely in your PG-13 zone, if that. Like, we're, you know, we're like 80s PG. We're once in a while you'd get a boob, you know? Right, exactly. So I would say, say what comes to mind. Use the words you want to use. And don't let the Lake Superior Community College tell you,

what words not to use now we're going to hear from those people let them bring it on lake superior community college that's amazing all right uh well there you go we're going to take a break when we come back my sister windy's back we haven't heard from her in a couple of weeks she's been gone or busy or holidays and all that so it's been a while but uh we're gonna we're gonna bring her on and talk to her in a second but before we do any of that we got to play a song so brian let's play it Yep, we're going to L.A. and listening to an 18-year-old named Kira Lyons, K-I-E-R-A-L-Y-O-N-S. She has got just an incredible voice, and she, I would say, you know, she puts that one of her influences is Stevie Nix. I can't see any other influences listed here.

But if the reason I can't scroll down, and if it does say Kate Bush under there, I would not be surprised. There's absolutely a Kate Bush kind of influence to this. um she's great she has a brand new album called lock the door and throw away the key this is the title track and scott i'm just going to kind of give you a heads up it ends extremely abruptly that makes it sound like like something broke at the end of the file but it uh it really does end that abruptly oh maybe we'll maybe we'll give it a fade or something like that give it a fade out because it it's strikingly uh abrupt she's probably listening saying no that's my creative vision you guys are tampering with. I'm 18. What are you doing? Well, that's right. And who the hell is Kate Bush?

But anyway, so here is Kira Lyons with her song, lock the door and throw away the key. Who the hell is K. Bush? All right. We'll be right back with my sister, Wendy, the professional therapist, right after this. I would never leave your side, never let you fall, but I can't get us out of here, it's out of my control. Every time you look at me, every time you call, every time you call, I feel it in my bones, you aren't real, there at all If something's off I'm not sure what I just can't seem to see

The person that I loved has gone Who are you supposed to be I don't want to hurt you But you've left me no choice I tried to reason with you but you chose not to use your voice I walked around for hours just trying to pick the pieces up

I handed you the fragments but I don't think that was enough lately I don't recognize the thing that you've become your eyes turned black, your teeth fall out I think it's time to run. Something's off, I'm not sure what I just can't seem

to see. The person that I loved has gone, who were you supposed to be? I'd let you in, but I don't know what do you want from me? I think it's time to lock the door and throw away the key I don't want to hurt you but you've left to me no choice

I tried to reason with you but you chose not to use your voice I walked around for hours just trying to pick the pieces of I handed you the fragments But I don't think that was enough Please don't make me kill you Please don't let it come to that

Let's go sit down inside And we can have the little chat Please don't bear your clothes Darling there's no need to shout No need to raise your hands You know that we can work this I'd let you in, but I don't know what do you want from me? I think it's time to lock the door and throw away the key.

I don't want to hurt you, but you've left to me no choice. I tried to reason with you, but he chose not to use your voice. your voice I walked around for hours Just trying to pick The pieces of I handed you The fragments

But I don't think That was in the flow I don't want to hurt you But you'll like to me No choice I tried to reason with you And you just not to use your voice It's made down in my palms

The answer dripping the vehicle red I'd ask if it are all right, my love But you are already dead It's made of our shit, you know? That's the base material that we use in our replicators. We deconstruct it to the atomic level And then reform the atoms. That's pretty good for shit.

Choose one large enough for Johnny to see from the back row. This is the morning stream asking, Do dogs have brains? Because I really want to know. All right, we're back. That song again. That is Kiera Lyons, K-I-E, that's right. K-I-E-R-A-L-Y-O-N-S.

and a brand new song, the title track from our album. Lock the door and throw away the key. Nice. That's what you want to do when there's something in there. You don't want to get out again. That is correct. Yes. Yeah, whatever that is.

So if you've got like a rabid dog, what else would you want to throw away the key? There you go. I don't want any more of these Girl Scout cookies. Put them in that room, lock the door, and throw away the key. There you go. See? At the end of the day, and then we'll break that supply chain. All right. Well, speaking of breaking supply chains, let's get windy in here.

It has been far too long, Wendy, since we've talked to you last. How are you? Oh, good. Yeah? Are you feeling good? It's a new year. You got, I don't know, what are you doing? You were stuck in the snow for a bit there last week or something. No, I wasn't stuck, just crappy internet. Oh, that's what it was. But also minus 14 degrees. So it was cold. You were snowed in, but you're in and it was snowed out. Yeah, we're snowed in, but you don't really get snowed in here because everyone's so prepared, but it was, I just would have to drive really far to find it, I don't know, we were in a cabin kind of in the middle, nowhere, it was fun.

Yeah. Good. Yeah. So what that was, but that you were still in the, in Minnesota at the time? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that was cold. I don't know how you guys do that. Like, we're cold, but we ain't that cold like this.

No, you're not ever cold. Are you kidding me? Tell me what it is today, 30. It's only, well, today it's 30, but we were as low as. 14, 10. Nine here right now. Oh, really? See, that's pretty cold.

That's pretty cold. Yeah. It depends on... I was like minus two yesterday. Oh, my gosh. My jar of farts is all frosted over. Oh, it's too bad. Brian, you're ever going to make your money back on that now?

How am I ever going to make my money? Yeah, there's a whole story that Wendy may not know about there. I don't. That would be a great story for the show. There's this. So, you know what? I'm going to share it with you because why not? We didn't get to do it in news.

Let's just do it now. Everyone's been saying you need to share the story. So we're just going to do it. There's this girl who's on TikTok. She's some kind of ex-reality star person. Yeah. Let's see. Here's the text of it.

Reality TV star who sells her farts in jars has started or decided to stop doing that despite making $1,000 per jar in about $125,000 a month in gross profit. That's insane to me. But fans of her work shouldn't worry too much. She's still going to sell her farts as non-fungible tokens. Anyway, forget about that. The point is, she was from that reality TV show 90-day finance or fiancé, finance. 90-day financier. You know why?

If you see 90 days, you just think of financing things. It's like, you've got a 90-day, no-interest-free loan or whatever. Sorry, fiancé. She had this big following on TikTok. Her whole thing was eating nothing but high-fiber foods, make her fart a ton, and she'd do it into these little jars, and then she would sell them. for a thousand bucks of pop and it was she made a ton of money doing this

she by the way stopped doing it because quote I thought I was having a stroke and I was in my final moment she says because of her unexpected trip to the hospital near her home in Connecticut I was overdoing it so now she referred

to herself as the fartrepreneur oh my gosh she's now doing an online thing but anyway the point is she was making like 50 grand a week doing this weird thing. Now, there's no market for that unless there are people who are super stoked

about that weird thing, right? Who, what, what? What happens to you in your life where you're like, you know what I could go for? A jar of somebody's sealed, bodily, freaking fart gas. Right. What is that?

Is that a thing you can explain in five seconds or less or no? It's probably a much deeper connection. Not at all, but let me say this. I, a friend of mine, Mine at my birthday asked me this question. She said, what would your eight-year-old self think of you now? Yeah.

And I'm just thinking about her eight-year-old self. Like, first of all, it would probably be high-fiving everyone. Right, because when you're eight, farts are great. I mean, wow. I just, I don't know, but that's alarming. Yeah. I mean, that's a lot of people per month buying a jar of farts. I agree.

I don't even work. I feel like it feels like nothing comes out. and you're like, oh, that was good. No, see, that's what I'm saying. That's, that's going to be my whole thing here. Like, I appreciate the fact that her hospital visit probably proved she was doing her best to provide the product. You know what I mean? But, like, you wouldn't have, I mean, it's not a very scientific method of capture.

And also, it's like these, there was this thing with this Twitch girl who was streaming, always streaming in a tub or something. And she started selling jars of the water. of her bathwater. Yeah, right, her bathwater. Yeah. Yeah, that was another weird one. And I'm just sitting here thinking, this is where I, this is where my brain says, I don't think I'm part of the same human structure because I go, at what point in my life would I ever, ever be interested? Now, if you said to me, hey, there's, here's a jar of water that was the actual water in the tank that was used for the drowning, for the part where they were all drowning in the abyss. So it's just, James Cameron went and captured some water from one of your favorite movies, The Abyss, and it's the water from that set. And you said, how about that, Scott? I'd say, oh, that's worth the 50 bucks or whatever is. I totally do that.

It's cool memorabilia from a movie. That I get, but saying, is that any, is it different that it's some lady in her bathwater? It's exactly the same. It's where your fandom goes. And some of it can be funny, right? Like, hey, I got you jar of farts for your birthdays from this famous person. And I have money to burn. It's like buying somebody a cameo.

Check it out. Here's Ernest Borg Nines Farts. Totally. I feel like that's, it's, it's fandom to a place that's like uniquely that thing. And so that's why you're willing to buy water

from a movie, which is probably not from the movie. Even if it is, like you're going to put a water jar in your desk and like, people are like, why do you have a jar of water? You're like, well, I'm sure. I'm sure a lot more

little packages of actual pieces of the Berlin Wall were sold than actual pieces of the Berlin Wall. Yeah. Oh, I guarantee it, right? There's no, how do you even verify it? It's a collective thing we do. Yeah, totally. Yeah, right.

And fame. So you combine a bunch of things. You invite fame. This actually leads well to our question. Your connection to glory, right? Like your, which is like a weird, tenuous part connection, but connection to fame or, you know, like whatever it might be, that's appealing. and then you add this the inside jokes of things.

I mean, this is this is business, right? Yeah. Capitalism at its best. It's a, we've never been better. Farts and jars. Well, speaking of today's letter, we did get an email. It's been a while. This is kind of a long one, but an interesting one. Even more, I don't know, it's a, today's a volatile day in a lot of people's heads.

And so I hope. Yeah. Can we all just take a moment that one year ago feels like four. 400 years ago? Yeah, it's weird. And last week at the same time. Yeah. There's something about it that's like extra.

Yeah. Feels unique in that way. I can't quite put my finger on it. But anyway, here's this email. This is from somebody we'll just call L. We won't use the real name. Hey, Scott, wanted to share with you a conundrum. I've come across while dealing with the COVID issues.

This is probably nicely time given this Omicron uptick and all that. So first I want you to know I am in no way of anti-vaccine or a non-believer. I'm fully vaccinated. and even have the booster. I still want a mask in public and I still require masks at my business, a private school for kids with the developmental disabilities. But I have to say the following has made me think. They say, talk to your doctor. Well, my doctor is not vaccinated and will not be vaccinated. While he doesn't believe COVID isn't a real issue, he does believe it's being overstated for profit and doesn't believe the vaccines are anywhere near as effective as the drug company state. it's hard to

it's hard not to listen when the information is coming from a doctor that he has been treating that has been treating your family for the past 20 years here are some of his points he says remember i'm not a doctor this is coming from him throughout his career in order to be counted statistically as having any disease a person has to meet two criteria they had to have a positive test and either one major symptom or two minor ones he says that he says this is because tests can often do false positives he points out that the CDC's own website states that many false positives

can be expected from the COVID test because they are so sensitive. I'm not sure how that works, but whatever. The tests, yeah, tests. Tests are sensitive? I don't know. Tests are sensitive, yeah. So they could be false positives.

The way they do it here, by the way, is they have like, at the university, you go in for a rapid test if it's negative, no way. Right. Yeah, no, that's the way they've done it here for us is that we do, they give us the double test. They do two swabs. If it comes back negative, nothing happening. If it comes back positive, they back it up then with a PCR test. They already have the swab. They do the PCR test and then we get a confirmation in a couple days. That's right. And then so it helps eliminate this false positive stuff is the idea. Anyway, he says, there we're going. But now with COVID, a positive test is all you need. to be counted as having COVID. People with no symptoms at all are being counted as having COVID

based solely on a positive test. When we just talked to Amy, she has, she had that very, that very test. People are being tested postmortem. And if positive, they died of COVID. This has never happened before. And in his opinion, these practices are highly inflating the numbers. He says he's not saying people aren't dying from it, just that the numbers are being exaggerated. When I asked why they would do that, money was his answer. These drug companies are making huge profits from this pandemic. You know who else is? Pizza joints. It's Papa John who's behind this whole thing. Also, doctors.

Yeah, doctors are making pretty good money, too. By the way, that argument drives me nuts, and we can talk about that in the second. Oh, we will. Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah. So it says, while he doesn't believe the vaccines are dangerous, he also doesn't believe they're anywhere nearly as effective as they claim. He keeps saying the mRNA vaccines are not new and have been researched for years and they are right. Yeah, that's true. They have been worked on for years and years and years.

We just finally kind of pulled the trigger faster. Anyway, and when you research, it shows, say this is the problem. When you read the research, I don't know where this research is coming from. And you do your own research. Yeah, I hate that phrase. Put that on your list, school in Grand Rapids or wherever the hell it was. Anyway. I would do my own research.

Yeah, let's do my own research. It shows that they don't work well at all and that they have been, then they, sorry, and that's why they have never been used until now. But this crisis has given drug companies a way to push them to the FDA process. I won't go into everything he said, it would be way too long of a letter, but I find that coming from someone that knows a lot more about what he's talking about than I do makes me stop and consider. And that's what we'll get to in a second. I even ask myself, how could the vast majority of doctors not agree with him?

Have you seen the Hulu show Dope Sick? That whole story is about how drug companies pushed its drug through the FDA process and manipulated doctors for its own financial benefit. Why is, say, Why is it we're ready to jump all over that, but can't imagine that this could be the same thing. Anyway, I'm not saying that he's right at all. I did get vaccinated after all. Just some food for thought. And I know how much you love food for thought, LOL. Have a great one.

Real quick. Real quick, real quick. Let's just make clear when drugs make money, that's because consumers and insurance companies and everyone is also paying for them. Vaccines have never been a moneymaker. Let's all just be really clear. So does Pfizer? If you want to make money, it's not with vaccines. Because guess what?

I've paid $1,000 for my kids to be vaccinated one time because I did add crappy insurance. Yeah. The next time, they were all free. How does that work? Well, how that works is that, you know, they're not going to give you insulin if you don't have money. Right. Right. There are certain drugs.

You just don't make money on vaccines. So we'll just start with the. I just have to say that. Yeah, I was going to say, there is this feeling like, oh, man, Pfizer and Moderna, boy, they sure are benefiting. and maybe they are in some macro way, but it's still not like, it's not like there's always been big business and vaccines. It's not like you always, oh, man, that diphtheria vaccine, we're going to make bank, even if the, yeah, that's polio vaccine.

Yeah, no one gets polio, but hey, we're going to keep pushing that because of all the money it makes. Like, it's easy to get cynical about this stuff. I understand that tendency. I get it. Yeah, but a narcotic that you're paying money and is sold on the street. I mean, there's ways to make money on drugs. There's absolutely true.

You can have the big sick be true. and also have vaccines not be a moneymaker. Like, it's possible. Right. Right, right, right. Okay. All right. Okay.

Can we? Yes. No, you're good. I want to hear your money, the money argument thing. Oh, well, it's not the money argument as much as it's the, well, those numbers are getting inflated because let's say you, you get hit by a car and you happen to have COVID. They're going to mark it as you had COVID as your reason of death. And that's going to inflate those numbers. And that people make.

money off of that. Like what? And people make money off of that. Okay. So maybe what of the 800,000 people we've lost? Maybe what? A hundred thousand of those were simultaneous causes? Yeah, maybe. Drives me. I hate that one too. That number's smaller. Also when they say that, I've never seen anyone actually prove to me that a guy who got in a car accident happened to have COVID that they listed the cause of death as COVID. They may list that, well, in his body, we found traces of this much alcohol. There's also a, prescription drug called blah, blah, blah. And it turns out the guy had COVID. I don't know that anyone's going, oh, COVID overseas all of it. I know his head was chopped off by the freaking accident, but we're going to go ahead and say it was COVID that got him. People like to say that. I've never seen that. Yeah. Yeah. No, Tina's dad, Tina's dad passing away right before Christmas, he had cancer, and, but he got COVID. That's what put him in the hospital. We thought, you know, they told us he had like six months. The COVID put him in the hospital. He died within a couple days.

That's getting listed as COVID. And it's rightly so getting listed as COVID. Even though he had cancer and he was terminal, that is a, that is a COVID death, COVID-related death. Yeah. Plus, by the way, if you really want to get philosophical about it, we're all going to die, right? It's all just a matter when and from what. So technically we're, this idea of assigning cause of death in a way that is arbitrary is so silly to me. It's like, well, no, he had COVID and cut his life short by six to eight months or something.

It absolutely played a role, not just a role, a huge role. A huge role. Yeah, I mean, it was the deciding factor. It wasn't, you know, his cancer didn't escalate. It was COVID that. Right. So it would be like somebody saying, oh, you get, that guy got COVID and, that guy got COVID and died. Well, he was probably going to die in another 50 years anyway.

You know what I mean? Like, I know that sounds silly, but that's kind of what people are saying. saying when they say that anyway so we're going to back all the way out of the story for a second let's do that and and i'm going to tell you a fascinating story about a hot tub in the middle of central minnesota hubba hubba last week so we rented this place we went with some friends and they have this daughter who is 10 times smarter than me like she's 11 years old and every time i talk to her i'm like are you 40 i can't tell she is brilliant and lovely and And she wants to be a reporter, which will probably change, I hope.

Because I feel like she can do more. Anyway, she's just not that that's not a good thing. Email, send your emails, reporters. Reporters are also geniuses. Okay, but anyway, she's amazing. And we are playing this game in the hot dog because it is minus 10. And we're in there way too long and her hair's all frozen. And I'm with all the kids.

And I just said, okay, guys, I have this really fun game. I had no idea. I just made it up. And it was called Fun Fact. TM. fun fact here we go uh say something pick a topic say it out loud and then everyone has to say a fun fact they know about that topic so the topic was potassium everyone share fun fact about potassium because this is a hot tub full of nerds by the way and then and then everyone shares a fact that

they have and if you have a unique fact do you get a point and if someone can refute one of your facts they get a point blah la anyway so we took turns and we're all playing fun fact and um you know She's like, fun fact, ostrich DNA. I'm like, oh, okay. Oh, wow. Jeez. Yeah. So she shared some.

How do you tap out of this game? Exactly. I was thinking it's going to be like matchbox cars and Kellogg cereal and stuff like that. You're like going right to. Eight, eight, nine, ten, thirteen, and eleven. And this were the topics. Climate change, ostrich DNA, something about water hydro systems. I don't know.

I didn't know half the words they were using. They're just bright children, right? So as we are playing this game, the tendency is, and this is what I'm getting at here, the tendency is to show you know something, right? This natural, I'm an expert, I, you know, there's value to that. Society likes that you know something. You feel good about it. There's dopamine.

You're like, I know something. No one knew, et cetera, right? So here's this girl who's smarter than me. As we're talking multiple times through the game, she'd say, I don't know where I don't have any ideas about that or oh I can't wait to learn that or and I thought oh my gosh that's refreshing no when the last time I talked to an adult ever let alone a kid who could just say I don't have answers and I'm excited to learn and I was like what are they teaching her that's like a mental that's like a mental hot tub right there like that's mental it was amazing that chills me out in many ways that chills me out because when I hear somebody say I actually really love that when I hear somebody say, actually, I'm not sure I'll have to check or I need to read more. I haven't really heard.

I really like that. Like what it tells me is like, oh, we're not playing the game. We're not doing the whole who knows more than the next guy game, even though somebody might not. We're going to measure anything here. We're just having a conversation. And all of us know or don't know something. And I think what happens is we've got this.

And this is sort of where this boils down a little bit is that everybody wants to be perceived a particular way. So I recently listened to an interview with David Sedaris and was talking about his experience with family and friends and, you know, COVID deniers and all the different aspects of things. And he's been traveling around with his last book tour and he's in lots of places that are very different from each other, right? So everyone's socially distanced and wearing a mask in Seattle.

But then he goes to Ann Arbor and everyone, I don't know. I'm picking some Midwest place, right? Where nobody's wearing a mask. So he's just had some experiences, right? And so he's just chatting about it. And he made this point about a family member because the interviewer said, hey, do you have any family members that are like gone off the rails or whatever? And he goes, I have a cousin or like a brother, somebody, not a brother, but somebody knows close.

And he said, you know, he never was ever picked as the smart kid. Like no one ever trusted him to spell a word right. Like he just didn't ever have anyone look to him. and think he was very bright. And that was hard for him because he came from a pretty bright family and he just was a little whatever. And what's happened is, and you can imagine, he has gone into real deep diving into Q and on

and has become a quote unquote expert online with all of these conspiracies and just getting tons of accolades and people want to know what he has to say and what he thinks. And he has become a resident expert in this place. And when the interviewer said, oh, wow, like, what do you do with that? David Siderra said, nothing. Nothing competes with that. A deep need he's had his whole life to be respected to have someone care about what he thinks.

And he's like, there's no coming back from that. And we're still connected and we still talk. And, you know, I'm still, you know, a person in his life. But there's no way I'm going to convince him of anything because it's so attached to his deep needs and his identity. And so that's, that's where I want to go with this email is not to say the doctor sucks or whatever. It's, or to say, oh, we're all suckers and this doctor's right. Like, you can take this from any angle. But it's about this deep need humans have to have what they say matter and to be respected. And so what happens is as somebody does their quote unquote own

research and they deep dive into an, you know, the internet to find out stuff that's going to fulfill what they already want to know or is going to teach them that they know something other people don't know they're going to do the opposite of the smart girl in the hot tub it's going to be I know everything and I've done this stuff and you're bad because you haven't and and then there we go right yeah that's the cycle so here's there's a second here's the other thing about the doctor dynamic that it is true the best way to convince a patient or a person to get vaccinated is to talk to their family doctor right so he this person knew that and that's their experience but this is a doctor they'd have for 20 years so this would be the

perfect you know poster child of that situation but you have a doctor with a different take on the whole thing and then you're you run into this conundrum right they of course have the doctor of course has thought through all of these things and is going to tell you what they think and that's what they think just like your doctor who wants you to get vaccinated also has done that same thing and you are suddenly in a position where this person you've trusted for 20 years is telling you something different than you might naturally believe or think and what do you do with that conundrum um and as i read that email my first thought was okay so on average doctors listen for 17 seconds yeah and anytime a doctor spends more time of doing anything than they become a pundit

i've had an eye doctor who talked for 45 minutes about politics while i'm sitting in the chair And I was like, you got to let me out of here. Exactly. Or like a dentist could totally get away with that, right? So if they are spending more than 17 seconds with you, they should spend five minutes with you. But there is a. Instead of A or B, like when they're showing you like, which is clear A or B? Did he go, all right, left or right?

Yeah, left or right. How far right do you want to go? How far right? Right. So there's some questions I have there with like propriety, right? Like, and some of that is due to, like, your politics show up where you go and that's become more and more known. Like, think about, did you ever know where your dentist stood in a political realm or, like, you can walk into a room and see people with masks when it was mandated and without, and you suddenly had new information about them you did not have before. Yeah.

So as a human species, we are suddenly integrating a lot of information that we're looking at through our own bias. Yeah. For example, that's a really good example. I've had to, I had a dental visit last week to fix a crown and I had a blood test earlier this week, or was it late yet last week, whatever it was, for just a blood test at my doctor's office. And when I go to my doctor's office, everybody's masked up, yourself included, the receptionist, everybody. It's just a standard thing that they are just wearing masks. Doctor, the whole time you talk to them, everyone's in a mask. And right now it's M95 masks in that place. Like everybody's being really cautious and careful. at this doctor's office. And the dental office, which won't surprise you, Wendy, was over the point of the mountain back in, you know, Utah County. Which again, now I'm stereotyping myself. But anyway, I get over there and nobody is, I'm the only one wearing a mask in that place, except for the doctor while he's working on me or the dentist. And that's what they always did, COVID or not. So that's just a normal thing.

And it was impossible for me not to, A, notice the difference. And then B, assign, I don't know if it's judgment or what it is, but for me to assign like, they don't care about this as much or they don't think it's that big a deal here at the dentist office, but over at my doctor's office, they see it as a big deal and at the very least or airing on the side of caution. It was impossible not to have those thoughts. Whereas in the past it might have been, oh, weird, this place does a lot of masks. These guys don't, and that have been the end of it.

I wouldn't have assigned anything to it. But now we have all these, we have the weight of the what it means now in today's society from all the different conflicting angles. And we have new people, we have new characters in our lives like people we call Cairns and people we call Chads and, you know, all this now informed what I saw. It was impossible to avoid it. I just couldn't. Yeah.

Yeah. I kind of hated. Yeah. And that's, that has put a strain on all of us psychologically in a way that is, I don't know if we account for or talk about in neutral tones, right? We just want everyone to put their mask on or take their mask off. Either way, you just want everyone to make you more comfortable as just a natural human, like, end this, right? Like, I don't, I don't want to know if I trust you or not. I didn't have to think about that before, but now you're serving me lunch and I have to

decide if I think you're a good person, right? So we've moved to this place that's dangerous, unfortunately and the reality is there's this really obvious sign on your face that we could all attribute that to i mean this is and of course in other places it's very different asia you've been wearing masks for a long long long time so you maybe you're going to have a very different experience there sweden no masks at all like that is not what they chose to do they have just and we're talking how far are we into this thing they are just now requiring masks on public transportation They also have the highest death rate in all of Europe, or Scandinavia at least.

Like, they've tried, but that, and that was their philosophy, and there's only 11 million of them. So they just kind of do with their toll. But how many of those deaths are from choking on meatballs that just get reported as COVID? All of them. All of them. But let's actually talk about the money thing for just a minute.

I mean, there is something that is tricky about this. And I get that everyone gets to have their own opinions, but we're always blind to our own stuff, right? Yeah. So a doctor who is going to make easily four times the median income is going to complain about other people getting rich is always a thing, right? Like, it's this sort of, we're okay with people from rags to riches. We can kind of be cool with that.

But anyone doing too well too fast or like it hits a nerve for everybody. And I think there's a bit of like, all right. I get. I get that. I get the impulse. I get that you don't think you're that rich. But there is a bit of this sort of wealth capture greed that is just sort of pervasive and frustrating, right? Because the truth is you're not going to make money on vaccines and you're not, you are going to make money when the drug rep comes to your office, brings you a pizza. We know, we know because of many studies, you will give that drug out because you've got a pizza. right and so we're all complicit in this same problem is our own hypocrisy our own inability to smell our own poop right um it's tricky i had this moment the other day this was this was uh i don't know what it was but even when i told people about it you could see them bristle but i just had this moment i was wash my hands probably walking around and i just had this thought like wow if i did not think COVID was real, like many people do, or if I thought it was all overblown, if I was like

this doctor who was just like this stupid and it's all about money. If I believed all those things and felt that way, wow, would I be annoyed with everyone? Yeah. It was like a moment where I would choose and I just thought, yeah, that is obnoxious, that someone is constantly wearing a mask while trying to talk to you and you can't really hear them when you don't think it's necessary. Like, I could have empathy for that position for a moment. And then I've just told a couple of people's like, yeah, that was really interesting. It's just like I didn't choose to do that. It just kind of happened. And they were just like, yeah, but, um, and I'm like, wait, hold on. Yeah. Nothing happened. I didn't go to the dark side. I just had a glimpse of like how frustrating

this might feel. If I've learned anything, it's, it's that man, that's dangerous stuff to say sometimes. Like I've said before online, like someone will say, oh, how do I put this? Like, I'm, I'm really torn on like the concept, we've talked about before, but the concept of cancel culture. In a lot of ways, I don't think it exists, but in some ways I understand why people think it does. And when I hear somebody on an extreme position on either side of a conversation around that kind of stuff, there are parts of what they're saying. I go, well, I could see why they feel that way, even though fundamentally, I disagree with them, but I see why they feel the way they do. And most of that is like, well, because they also feel this away about this other thing, or they've never experienced this. So, well, how else would

they feel? Of course you'd feel attacked or whatever. Boy, the minute I say that is the second you dogpile from the other side, the other side that might even be your side, might even be the place you hang out the most. And they're ready to kill you now for even suggesting. the idea that you could see how somebody might think a certain way or feel a certain way or say a certain thing. I hate that we have made it so that we can't say that stuff without immediate judgment from everybody all over the place. Like I like hypotheticals, but in today's world, me talking about hypotheticals are dangerous. People get mad at me just because I said, all right, imagine if you will, and that's enough for them to go, I can't believe you. And they lose their minds.

And here's the thing about that that is, I mean, this maybe is too simple of an explanation, but it's just free to do that. So I want to say it's still David Sedaris that I was listening to. It could have been somebody else who loves fan mail and that's all he'll read. And maybe I'm mixing up with somebody else. But just like, we'll not do internet interactions at all. It's only male. So, and the reason is because if you really have a complaint or you want to say something

crappy you got to get an envelope you got to pay right which gives you a lot of time to change your mind or calm down or think about like do I really want to crap on him right now and why or something right so that free costs nothing there's no ramificate like we're we are a behavior based species if we were punished every time we opened our mouth on Twitter we'd stop opening our mouth but we get all sorts of dopamine and feedback and and then fighting is delicious, isn't it? Like, it's part of our nature.

Let's get a brawl. And so you get all sorts of, your brain gets all sorts of food for doing this kind of behavior and you don't pay too much of a cost. So that's why it's just so easy. Whereas, you know, I think Scott, you've talked about this before and I think it's been helpful for me actually with a few clients who are very online and have been me-toed or they've been canceled in some form. You know, these are small fry I'm talking about.

But, you know, it feels like the end of the world. And it's because the world is so built on their online persona and platform when really their work is not even scratched because it's actually done outside of online. Whereas, I mean, your work is online to some extent. So maybe it's a little bit different. But this idea of inviting the troll to lunch, right? Like, come and talk to me. Let's create that human connection.

It's actually creating a cost. And that is the social, emotional cost of being, kind to someone's face as opposed to writing five words and getting a bunch of dopamine hits and, you know, et cetera, right? So that's a piece of this. But I want to draw it back to this doctor and patient relationship. So you've been with this doctor for 20 years. They're saying things that you're not quite sure of. You're left with a conundrum that everyone is facing to some extent in their lives, right? You're going to have, and this is why the bifurcating and solidifying into your camp seems to be happening, right?

So if my dentist doesn't wear a mask except for barely to protect himself in the end, right? Doesn't want your spittle in his mouth because your breast stinks. Sure. I have to then go, am I comfortable? Do I feel good to hear? Does this feel, you know, you're asking yourself that question when you would not have even thought about it before, right? So suddenly all of your different contacts and people you've known a long time and close friends and family members, you have this sort of this turmoil. And that's what this person is facing.

They're having a connection with their doctor. They can hear what the doctor's saying. They're being open enough to like, okay, well, maybe. I don't know. I mean, at this point, you're all boosted and shot up and probably not in a hospital dying. So you just got to go with whatever you've chosen. But now the doctor says, well, I think you need to do this.

And so you're maybe in a different position. Or maybe you just go, you know what, in this one area, that's going to be their thing. and, you know, he's taking the risk himself, but I'm not at risk, or I don't know. But I think this is, that's the most interesting thing about this email to me is not that a doctor doesn't agree with all other doctors because humans are humans all the time. It's more that this is very representative of, you know, so think about it. Have you guys fired anyone or stop seeing somebody or doing something different because that person now has become a pundit?

I'm using that word because what is a pundit? A pundit is someone who doesn't have anything else to be doing and is only going to get paid for being, for politicking when they're no longer elected or they don't actually have power to do. So they go on shows and they get paid to talk and usually to talk crap and make things stir it up and make it worse, right? Yeah. I think sometimes people will be doing that. My eye doctor is a pundit. Like no one's paying him to talk about presidential elections, but he's doing it. But there he is.

And he's risking. um people not going back to him right so it is actually a risk to his business so i'm just wondering do you guys have any well let me let me ask you this because to me i keep going back to the same one and i'm not going to use names or anything um but you'll know who i mean it can be like it's see to me this is like somebody who we see as in a position of authority that's where the problem is and for me it's a related to problem i'm related to somebody who i used to look up to as 10 years older than me, knows so much more about life, has great advice about this and that, some business acumen, like all these reasons to, you know, look up to this person and they've gone

complete wackadoo in the last five, six years. And now I can't even really talk to them because I feel like icky when I do. Again, I don't want to get into specifics, but Wendy, I think you know who I mean. It's really hard for me. And that's someone I'm related to. I imagine it's not that different because, again, it's somebody you're like, oh, he's my doctor. He should know if he says this. Well, what does that mean?

Like, it kind of shatters your image of, because now you don't know who to believe. And then you're like, well, maybe I only believe myself. So I'm going to go do my own research. And then you come to whatever conclusion you may have already been leaning into. but, you know, the one guy you thought would give it to you straight, the one that gets paid the, the big money to be your medical expert is telling you something different than the rest of the industry is saying to people generally. And it would just throw our listener. I get that. Like, I feel that people pleasing part, a lot of us have.

I'm going to tell this guy that I have worked with for years. I'm going to go against what you're telling me. Like, that's, that puts you in a really weird, interesting position. Yeah. And a family member, too, I mean, a family member, obviously there's special things there. So can we put a pin in that for a second and move back to professional relationships or, you know, where you put your money, right? Right. So like, I fired my hairdresser.

And there is a reason. I can't sit for an hour and have those conversations. I can't. A, because I am more. eloquent than she is and I will roast her and it's not fair I like it

I don't and I don't mean to be a jerk No I know what you mean though There's a difference between our backgrounds And it's not fair And I didn't realize that Until we got into our first one And I was like I can't

This isn't fair But I also don't want to pay To feel crappy while I'm here You know what I mean? Like I don't I'm not paying for an argument I'm not Monty Python I don't need to pay pay for an argument. And so I just wonder, is that, if you guys had this experience, or maybe

everyone's kind of neutralish and it's fine. Because I do think people make it a problem or they don't, or they can just, everyone's kind of quiet about it or whatever. So I just wondered if I was the only one ahead to fire. Well, Brian, I want to hear yours, but I do want to congratulate Wendy on the awesome call back to an amazing comedy sketch by Monty Python. That's an amazing, one of my favorite things in the history of comedy is that sketch. And I love it. Well, I'll be honest. I'm managing a troll in the chat room so oh fun i've been ignoring the chat room because that's what i do during wendy segment and you guys should and you should continue on and uh yeah i don't talk to i don't i don't look at the chat during wendy's segment anymore i learned my lesson months ago uh not to do that because

never with what i say oh there's always stuff it's not don't worry it's nothing with you specifically or anybody specifically just always happens and i don't i don't know what's happening in there right now but i'm ignoring it as a result yes um but like this Can we all just say how adorable it is that you guys protect me? That's really scary. Oh, well, you know, we do what we do. We'll always be your human shield. I may chase you down with a fake hot ironing thing.

Yeah, that's right. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, we're all in it together. But yeah, like, you know, this, this sense of, well, I thought you would be the one to know and now you're saying this, that's really disconcerting. It can throw everything. It's like your parents. It's like, I don't know. it doesn't everybody go through this this moment where when you're little your parents can do no wrong you worship them they care for you love you everything you think of is safe and you happy and I don't

you know I know obviously there's families but it's not the case I'm not trying to diminish that but but you can have that feeling and then as you get older you start to see their flaws and they are flawed they're people like you and the minute you hear your daddy your mom say something wrongheaded or antithetical to something you believe or or whatever you immediately are like Now, hold on a minute. The menagerie is falling around me. Like, this isn't, this isn't as real as I thought it was or whatever. And it takes some time to, you know, reconcile that.

We're just doing this on such a societal level now. So whether it's your doctor, a voice of authority, or a clergy person, a voice of authority in your life, or you're somebody you're related to who you saw as somebody is an authority in your life. And now suddenly you have to question that because they seem like they've lost it or, or the other way. You buy into whatever it is they're saying and now you've gone completely that down that hole and now everyone else is having this problem with you.

Like it's really complicated when it happens on a macro level or on a scale, you know, a scale we're not used to as people. Usually these things happen, you know, within our sphere, but now it happens on an internet global scale. And this is where,

this is such an important question, like going directly back to this doctor is okay you think COVID is real that's established you don't think the vaccines are effective you think it's overblown and the money is the motivation

you don't like how things are handled so what would you like me to do what are you doing is it just like you think it's the flu is that what you think and that we shouldn't get flu vaccines either or is that connected or like the answer

So I think we can get stuck in the fighting, right? Get stuck in my case or your case is what I think. And it's really tricky, especially if this isn't modeled at home. You're not doing this in, you know, practice where you are trying to meet in the middle or compromise or try to understand each other's points. Because this is couples counseling. It really is, right? Which is we both actually have the same goal. I want to feel safe.

I want to know what is true. I want to be okay. I want my family to thrive. Like everybody has the same, usually, desire, right? And then how we get there. So if I feel like everyone is out to get me because they're secretly keeping information and now the Internet has just exposed all the truth and everyone just wants to go along like nothing's happened and just do whatever the establishment tells me, that would make me

feel threatened. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And then vice versa. Someone comes along like, all of this is crap and the truth. is that there's kids with claws in a tunnel underneath Cincinnati. I just made up that last one.

And that makes them feel safe to think they have special knowledge. And I think, okay, the world isn't safe if you walk around cutting hair or whatever. You know, like you, whatever you might believe in, suddenly feels very, it feels very tenuous that we're all working together, which is my whole point that I want to get to is that what does this actually mean about what we think of each other? So what could this guy have do with his doctor that is appropriate, healthy within normal boundaries that that eases whatever tension? He's saying this is just for fun to throw this out for food for thought or because apparently he wants to make someone mad in the chat room. I don't know. And he knows what I would say or

something. But it also might just be like, how do you settle your feelings? in some of these dynamics. Can we still be kind, connected, open, and disagree? And can we do it in ways that maybe no one showed us? And that's what's so tricky is, like, look around. What is the general model for getting along in a country that's this old with this many problems? I don't know. Right?

Yeah. And we're different. We don't have baggage for sure, but we don't have some baggage. that other countries have struggled with. Everyone's obviously a little different because of cultural mixes or whatever, but like what is, what's the next step with this? And I mean, maybe I've overplayed this a million times, but it comes down to the individual and then down to that individual's relationships

and their place in the community. But how does that, you know, we can have everyone in therapy. I don't know if that's going to solve all the problems, but is it going to be, I don't know, some new model of how can we talk? how can we how can we think of the greater good because if everyone thinks the greater good would be served by believing being on my team well we know what that ends up like in history you know so it's tricky there's got to be some other way and of course we have these conversations and I never I never know how it actually works in the end right yeah so this is why I don't want to answer it when you send it to me I'm like no I know I know your first this is the funny thing is I could tell your initial and mine was too the initial reaction is we really want to go there but I'm glad you said and then yes, because it's, it's just something that's been on my mind lately, you know, you want to be, that's no different than like this, I don't know, they're, I'm sure there are people who, who hear, well, I know this is true because I get email sometimes saying, man,

you're so far right or you're so far left. I get both. And I don't know why, because they're hearing the same story. They're just signing their own whatever to it. And we don't do politics on the show, generally speaking, you know, there's mentions here and there, but we really, we downright avoid it. It's not part of what we do. But it is so seeped into everything these days that it's impossible to avoid it. And when you have somebody in your life, either personal or public or whatever, that you hold in some sort of esteem, and then they change that equation by saying something or doing something, whether it's something that's drastically weird or not, you You can't help but then go, well, now, wait a minute.

If they're like that, then who else is like? You know, you start to just chip away at all of your pretty pictures you have in your head. They're not also pretty anymore. And it's frustrating. And this is just like life. I mean, I get it. Little kids do the same thing like I mentioned before with their parents and people around them. And, you know, the institutions that you thought were unassailable turned out to be pretty saleable as time goes on.

And hopefully what you end up at the end of all of this is a healthier understanding of how diverse, everything is and how different we might think of each other and then think of ways to connect in common, you know, where we do have common ground and that sort of thing. But not everyone ends up there and the people who don't end up there end up really polarized and do things like Storm the Capitol or. Well, I think you also have a thing where we might be in the middle of something as opposed to the retrospective, right? Like we can all look at certain things in history and go, oh, well, I mean,

the Germans just sitting around letting this happen, you know, or whatever. We're in the middle of, so we don't know. But I think you're on to something really valuable, which is we all need, first of all, it's because we're not supposed to know more than 150 people. We are literally not capable of having more than 150 people in our lives where we manage it. This is the original tribal reasons. Our brains are developed the way they are. We have now expanded that to an endless number of people get to decide if you're worthy of love or not or death, right?

I think of the most common knee-jerk, disturbing reaction people have to someone they disagree with is a death threat. So that to me is the epitome of some very primal, deep, tribal response. you should die because you voted for a thing I didn't want you to or you should die because you said these words like that is crazy if you think about the level that that is but it just isn't it's an exact it's a and it's common sadly and it's because it doesn't you didn't buy a stamp to write it I swear to you if we had to buy stamps again

there's no cost but just that idea of like that shows you that feeling that anger that like what else is going on for that person And they think throwing out you should die is an appropriate response. Well, I don't know if they think it's an appropriate response. It's just how it feels. Yeah. And so in a tribe of 150 people, if you use those words, if you acted that way, there's a lot of things that would be in place already that would, you were not going to make it, right? Yeah.

And so we just, we're bigger. We're not meant to do some of this stuff. We have responses that are tricky. We're just not as evolved as we need to be for this society that. maybe we are now our eyes open to so our group of 150 the people closest to us you know we're suddenly realizing like because that that need for that person to be like you in the right ways that is a survival response i need you scott to be a pinko call me or i'm not going to like you yeah i need you to be far right i need you to be right in the middle i need you to say all the right

things that is to make me feel good because it does yeah i feel good yeah and then we feel we click this is how friendships are made right think of who you are friends with initially you hit it off right away yeah it is not someone you're fighting with no it's not someone you totally disagree with that is your brain saying this person's safe we're gonna make it let's create a safe life so that's that's what's tricky is our brains are on crack called so we're on crack all the time it's basically it and it's and it's hard and i don't i wish i knew how to collectively manage it i only can help people individually yeah well that's i think that's an important aspect to this. I'm glad you said it that way. You can only help people individually and it really is kind of a

one by one situation. There's no, there's no big blanket solution to some of these feelings. And even though we feel like, well, a guy said it on Twitter and now I'm mad and we're going to be able to make a difference there. We're freaking not. Like, not really. I mean, if I do it all, if I said something online that really helps somebody, it's because there was an individual connection there. It was never because some blanket statement changed everything. So, so yeah, it does come down to individuals. The way you just described is the pointlessness of me coming on your show and talking. I mean, kind of, but not really. Like, here's what I mean. You're not coming at any, the difference is you're not coming at us with some stick in the ground argument that you're

not willing to budge from. That's not the point of your segment. In fact, we'd never have a segment like that because it would be just really dumb and terrible with anybody. I don't who the person was that was coming on to do it. That's different than what you're doing. What you're doing is, hey, let's all think of this in a different way. Hopefully people do think about the way we're thinking about it. And if they do great, they may have their own take on it, whatever, everybody goes away, respecting everybody else, or at least that's the idea.

But if somebody just says something inflammatory online and then I come back with, how could you say that? And then they have their own little retort that's just the fight. like that's all that's for that's not this but that's but that but you still watch yeah yes exactly this is eating the popcorn yeah people eat the popcorn and if they've already you know aligned themselves one direction or the other they'll continue to do that there's nothing there that's going to change anybody so if I've learned anything over the last probably six years or so and and really focused in on it during the pandemic is that I can't do anything.

thing. I used to think, I used to have this high-minded idea that I could really be like, I don't know, influential in big ways. Like, I could really help people in big ways. And now I'm, I'm okay with the idea that maybe that's possible and maybe it happens anyway. But I can't measure it. I just have to just be who I am, be there for who is immediately around me. It's the, it's all I have. only impact I really have. If it extends beyond that, great. And if it's in a positive way, great. But I just, I can't think about it anymore. I can't worry about it anymore. Like, I'm really burned out on worrying about what people think. I can't do that for very much longer.

And I know part of that is like, well, the older you get, the less you care about what other people say. And I think there's something to that. But part of it isn't just age. Part of it is we've been doing this for so long. I don't mean TMS. I mean just living. We've lived so long that you've just done it for so long. You're like, I don't want to worry about what that guy thinks of me. Like, screw that. Which goes back to my original brain development in a tribe of 150 is it was crucial to care what other people thought of you. That was survival, right? So it's still in us. We just have to learn how to hack it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's hard. We just want it to be comfortable and fit in and be safe and alive and all the good things. And that's just not

possible outside of 150 people. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's a, it's a weird thing. It is. It is. In our chat room did want to, want to pass on a message to you, Wendy. So, you know, sorry. I got to interrupt to give you this message. Yeah. Burn and Nate says, tell Wendy, her segment has really helped me. Like when I was literally in a mental hospital with suicidal thoughts, I've come a long way. I take my meds and I'm even a father with a great job now. Oh, that's very nice. So in addition to protecting you, we'll always, you know, we'll pass on those messages.

Yeah, we'll just pass on the good stuff. Yeah, we'll sanitize the feed so that you're... That's very, very sweet. And I think, I mean, if we had to sum up today, the lesson is this, let's all just be the smart kid in the hot tub. Right. And we don't know. We don't know.

And let's sell some of that hot tub water as an NFT. Yeah, we'll do an NFT. Everyone will be rich and get your Ethereum out because we're ready to roll. All right. Well, I know one thing for sure. And that is it's great to have you back. We missed having you on. It's been like a month, I think.

I know. It's been forever. Yeah. I know. Stupid holidays. It's not your fault. All these Thursday holidays were really screwing with us. I know.

It was a lot this year. It was fun. More than most people thought it would be. but we're glad to have you back. We'll do it again next week. Anything you want to mention real steps stuff going on or anything? Yeah, Real Steps is coming. We're actually going to have a little party at the end of the month

that is just for anyone to check it out and see the kinds of stuff that we do. And so more information will be coming. But I will be talking about Real Steps quite a bit. We're doing a spring one, which will be like I think it's the last day of February is a Monday and it'll start then and it goes for six weeks. So it's coming up. So I don't drone on about that a little bit. Awesome.

Look for some droning, everybody. RealSteps.org for details. Wendy, have a grand old day. All right. And we'll see you next time. See you. All right. Removing her from the call.

That was good. That was good. Yeah, it was good. I first got that message. Sorry, I missed a little bit of it to do some management, some. I didn't even see. I saw none of that. So I don't know who it was.

Yeah, that's totally fine. I feel like as the Andy Richter of the show sometimes, it's my job to keep Max Weinberg in line if he gets out of control. It's a good idea. All right, well, there you have it. Did I just cross late night hosts? I think I might have a long way, Max Weinberg. Max Weinberg.

He was he wasn't Conan, was he? He was. No, he was Conan. Was he Conan? Was he Conan? Max Weinberg? And the Max Weinberg 7?

Yeah, that was Conan. So I were actually, okay, he did. Good. All right. Man, those Conan ears were good. It was great. As much as I loved Letterman, I swept right into the Conan ears. It was fine.

And I wish he would have, NBC wouldn't have screwed him on tonight show. I think he would have done great on there. That was just weird. How am I supposed to watch Jay Leno when you bring him back? Are you kidding? Goof balls. That was dumb. Yeah.

All right. The heck do you mean? No, wait. That's not him. It's more like, you see this? You see this? You see this? Oh, hey, you see this headline here? Yeah, look at this. I got all the cars in the world. I own them all. All right, check this out. Patreon folks at home, joining us every day because you like the show. It means a lot to us. I want to thank Alyssa. Alyssa. I'm not sure which. She is at the grade A plus level. Mark Jackson at the grade A level. And of course, Jason Miller at the grade A plus level. You three are awesome. And so are all the rest of you who support the show. If you haven't done so yet, go read all about the reasons why at patreon.com slash tm s all right we got to get out of here we'll have a p.m. tomorrow i think we're doing apps tomorrow so that'll be fun well and and despite your best efforts to uh to silence me scott and gray out me talking about coverville up in the oh i didn't

mean to do that sorry go ahead i didn't there will be a coverville this afternoon i know you didn't i know he was like oh we ain't got time for any of this stuff i just killed it sorry uh coverville today celebrating what would have been the 75th birthday of David Bowie, real name, David Jones, but changed it because of the monkeys, David Bowie would have been 75 and probably still would have been putting out amazing music and

we know it. It's a fact. It's just proven with science. So covers of all of your favorite David Bowie songs, including stuff by garbage and even one of the members of Abba. Today, 1 p.m. Mountain Time, Twitch.tv. Just one Abba is involved?

Just one of them. One Abba member. And I'll even hint that it's one of the A's in Abba. Ooh. I don't know which thing. She knows there's something going on. Oh, it's one of the ladies then. It's one of the ladies.

Well, the ladies were the A's. The guys were the B's. Oh, they were? I never knew that. I didn't know that. Anafrid, Lindstadt, and Agnitha. Agneta. What was her last name?

Bjornheimer. Yeah, those were their initials. A, B, B, A, B, A, were, you know. I had no idea. I didn't know that. Anafrid, Agneta. Benny and Bjorn. Oh, I just thought it was a fun word.

I had no idea. It was an acronym, basically. You know, I was like Swedish. It was like a bookcase or something. It really didn't know. You know, you keep your A's on the outside. You put your books in the middle for B. There you go.

Exactly, yes. Well, no, I was thinking of like an IKEA bookcase name. Oh, the Abba. That's the joke I was going for there. Three screws and a tiny little Alan wrench. That's right. That's right. That's right.

Thank you, Molly Fenton. Nice. They've always got our backs most of the time. That's it for today's show. Brian, now we should play a song. You got a song to play? I do. Ryan wrote in and said,

Can you play the Metro by System of a Down? This is a cover of a song by Berlin. I don't know anything about Berlin, but the song makes me happy. It's a capital of Germany. Thank you for being a constant and positive source of entertainment for so many years.

No, Berlin is, boy, if you don't know Berlin, You know more about Berlin than you think you know if you've seen the movie Top Gun and heard the song, Take My Breath Away. That is also Berlin. She also did a song where the guy is just a man and she's a goddess and a hooker and she's a librarian and she's a television repair man or something. Anyway, this is the song The Metro. This comes from the soundtrack to not another teen movie from way back in 2001. It's System of a Down and The Metro.

I'm going to be a bit of a bit of a bit. I'm alone sitting with my broken glass My four walls follow me through my past I was on a Paris train I emerged in London rain And you waiting there swimming through apologies I was hoping you might change your mind I remember four thoughts on that are next to me

riding on the metal Oh I'm smiling I'm smiling as you spoke in front of friends You were best a shallow one Isn't bastard still a heart You were bastard shallow What isn't bastard still a heart

I can see it now Smiling as I pulled away So great I remember the light I'll let go out of my hand I love you always filled my eyes I remember the lines I remember the lines we walked along the same

riding on the metro Oh. We remember the most delay coming on me Not so not, I'm not trying to walk away Fuck you for loving me Riding on the Metro Oh This show

This show is part of the Frog Pants Network at frogpants.com.