Tomorrow - 211: Ruthless

Episode Date: October 19, 2020

This week Josh is away at carpentry camp, so Ryan is joined by Evan Rodgers, the Guides Editor at Input. There's some talk of Hunter Biden, 3D printing, and the merits of the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Head to your bunkers, it's episode 211! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to tomorrow, I am not your host, Josh Wichipalski. This week we discuss 3D printers, tiny phones and sex toys. I don't want to waste one minute. Let's get right into it. Well, hello, we are back with another episode of Tomorrow, although I should warn you, Josh is a way at a woodworking retreat. If you are a loyal listener of the show, this is the culmination of what has been a season

long storyline where Josh has devolved into some kind of carpentry madness. I don't know if it's a Messiah Jesus thing. I really couldn't say if it's a Nick Offerman masculinity thing. In any event, Woody Woodpecker is out of the building and we have a replacement host, a pinch hitter, if you will. Look at me with my sports reference. In his stead, we have Evan Rogers.

Hello, Evan. Hello, Evan, you are the guides editor at Input, which I'm sure people know if they listen to the show, but that extends beyond just simple, simple guides. You are like gear utilitarian, like, okay, well, could you survive in the desert with this guy? Yes, yes, that is one of my favorite questions is, could I survive in the desert with this? And that's not even a joke. That's literally half of my section.

survive in the desert with this. And that's not even a joke. That's literally half of my section. I initially, we became friends because I was becoming a doomsday prepper. And we could spawn to a market. Of course, of course. I listed the bunker industry is like booming right now. And like imagine why?

I know. Imagine why. But like, man, it's just such a bummer because like if I was like, I feel like if I was like seven years older, I would have been whoever the hell it is that you go to and be like, I need a bunker. I feel like that person would be me. The bunker salesman?

Yes, absolutely. I'm like, listen, I have a bug. What do I have to do to get you into this bunker? Ha, ha, ha, ha. Listen, it's got, you know, it's got a drink colders, it's got full air conditioning power windows. How are they like, yeah, you know the like in the original Matrix movie where they like,

they spew porridge out of that like hose, that like, you got cobellhose, like I've like, listen, we got the, we got the porridge hose, we got every, we got all these monitors, these like four by three, 15 inch monitors with no plastic on them listen we got the we got the porridge hose we got every we got all these monitors these like four by three 15 inch monitors with no plastic on them. We got those I can understand the need for a bunker since if you look at the news things keep happening more Everything is horrible hunter Biden

Did or did not do something in consequential that nobody cares about. And, you know, it's good to know that America's like sharp and steady decline will be stopped by truly nothing. Well, speaking of all of this horrifying world ending cataclysmic election stuff, there's this New York post story that was sort of the talc of the week. The New York post published a story about Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden. And we really probably shouldn't go into the details. I mean, maybe we should discuss maybe the topic at hand as if we should go into the details. It's information that is extremely questionable sources. And the information

itself, the information itself is also pretty easy to disprove. And so there's this story that it, it, it, it, it, it probably doesn't reach the level where a journalist should have said publish. It's extremely politically motivated. It has got questionable sources and it's easy to disprove. So those are the facts of the story. The story itself, to me, I don't find particularly interesting. It has to do with like Hunter Biden introducing his dad to someone in the Ukraine in order to make money on a deal, which then you end up finding out that that didn't actually his dad had no say on whether this guy was going to get the results he wanted, so it doesn't really matter in the end.

And ultimately, none of this is shocking in a Trump presidency. Like, the idea that I'm supposed to think that, like, Hunter knowing somebody and wanting to introduce his dad to them is shocking in a world where, like, Ivanka has a private email server and is like wheeling and dealing with Russian oligarchs over building probably legally by Trump, you know, as a consultant and also that they're constantly staying at their own properties in order and inflated rates in order to build the federal government for as much as possible. Like all of that corruption, this story wouldn't have been interesting to me in 2016,

let alone now, but what they're trying to do is sort of this on-core performance of her emails, and there's a scandal over emails. And they're trying to find a late game scandal, and this is right within the conspiracy theory, like greatest hits of like, you know, the, do you remember the old conspiracy theory,

like Bill Clinton met with? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Do you remember the old conspiracy theory like Bill Clinton met with XYZ on the plane and like my dad loves that one He loves that one. He loves that track on that album Can't stop playing it because like you need this sort of like Information gap you need this sort of innuendo this is like read between the lines so that you can manufacture the sort of Because that it can be about anything. It can be about a deal if that's the thing you're willing to believe

It could be about high level corruption if that's the thing you're willing to believe. It could be about high level corruption if that's the thing you're willing to believe. It could be about pedophilia if that's the thing you're willing to believe. It can be lizard people. If that's so they can just, in that information gap, in that level of nuance. You can fill in whatever you want.

You can fill in whatever you want. So this story comes out, right? And it's, and it people are upset because it got published. People are upset because they believe it. People are like, hugd our body. And even though hugd though Hunter Biden will not be in the White House unlike Ivanka Trump.

And Hunter Biden will not have a job in the White House. So none of this matters. In any event, Twitter and Facebook then decide to limit the spread of the story because likes Trump's tweets and a couple other like COVID related things or election related things. They've decided this misinformation is so dangerous that they want to limit the spread of it. Some people celebrate this and they're like, this is them being responsible and deciding that they don't want to play party, they don't want to be a tool for some of the worst people in the world to try to destroy democracy.

That seems positive. But then there are people, even on the left, that are saying that Twitter and Facebook deciding what that leaked information can't be disseminated on their platforms is bad because what would have happened to Chelsea Manning or Edward Snowden or any of the Panama papers, these stories that were happy that they came out. To me, that's just a huge difference between the two cases. I think that's super nice to join you.

I think if it's a verifiable fast, even if it's leaked, if it's verifiably true, let it spread. If it is a lie and misinformation, and we can verify that it's most likely misinformation, or there is at least a very good chance that none of this is true, I think it's perfectly reasonable for Twitter and Facebook to say they don't want it on their platforms. Well, yes. And so, like, anyone who listen to this, that is not super familiar with the nuts and bolts of journalism.

The Panama Papers were provided to a journalist. That journalist made the correct assumption that this was too big to handle alone. And so they took that information because you need to verify it. That's part of the journalistic process. You know, it needs to be actually verified, which is very dubious whether or not

the earposts did that in sort of like good faith way. If they did it in a good faith way, they are incompetent and bad at journalism. And if they didn't, then they're politically motivated liars. Yes, yes. And so, yeah, in the Panama Papers, they worked with journalists from around the world to verify this, because that's what gives a story

strength, is like you look beneath the surface, and there is a supporting ligature of facts that holds up what actually happened. And that just, from what I could tell, either what's it done, like you said, or is just, you know, very political thing, but then in terms of, in terms of like Twitter or Facebook,

and how they've reacted, like, I mean, the thing that just feels bad about it is that they're just choosing. They are telling us they're like, we're just applying the rules in our terms of service and then It's all completely arbitrary and completely political in and of itself, do you know what I mean? Yeah, so to every you know Republican Out there screaming that you know these companies are biased and that it's all arbitrary. It's like, you know what?

Actually, they're not wrong. But well, these companies did also, they also suppressed blue leaks. Like they, they have done stuff on the other end of the spectrum. But I would say, I don't really care if they are politically motivated. I also kind of don't care because you've decided to make fascism and not see as a mainstream politics. And I would like people to make judgments based on that. I don't want them to pretend that all information is equal. Like, we are so past the point of being like, well, you know, we believe our tax policy is being tampered by the Facebook algorithm. This isn't about tax policy, even though I think that, you know, that is important. This is about like

spreading lies before an election that could have consequences that end democracy. Yeah, I mean, and the thing is that this is again, it seems like this has to be clarified at every juncture. It's like, this is not hyperbole. In Brazil, the Bolsonaro campaign, weaponized WhatsApp, just to spread just like propaganda lies. You know, they just, they just found, you know, they did the classic thing where you, you know, have a bunch of like weird content writers, just like making memes or whatever,

making fake stories and just disseminating them through websites that look like they could be legit. And, you know, that's, that's part of why Brazil is in the place, I mean, this happened here too. But like, this is a common play is my point. This is like, there's a common play and these companies should be wise to it right now. And it seems like they kind of are, but it is also a little bit like too little too late.

I'm glad that they're doing it, but it's like, it does feel a little bit symbolic. Yeah. All right, listen, I'll take it. It's not nothing. As I've said, multiple times on this show. We need YouTube. We also, we need YouTube to,

it's impossible to have this conversation about Twitter and Facebook doing this without also talking about YouTube. Like, I have heard nothing about this story, either going on on YouTube, which it definitely is, versus what YouTube is doing to disseminate. They're like, conspiracy disseminate their conspiracy theory,

because conspiracy theory podcasts that they have on YouTube. The Republicans, their ruthlessness and obsession with power is a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? Because it's like they think we are crazy for power despite any evidence to the contrary. Like they think that because the majority of people agree with progress and agree with human rights and agree with democracy, that that means we're ruthless,

that we're like so craving. But it's not that we're craving. It's just that those are apparently on their face good things. Like people being able to vote is a good thing. It's not like we're at any cost pushing through our agenda. It's the majority of people heard out the facts a long time ago and decided that they wanted to say in government. But because the Republicans see themselves as like this oppressed minority being attacked by this huge powerful organization, even when

they control the entire federal government, they decide that the only path forward for their righteous religious work for power is ruthlessness. That means Democrats are given the option of let them be ruthless and destroy everything or be ruthless back and prove them right and escalate this. And it's completely unwindable for us.

Well, it's definitely unwindable because that's the thing I was gonna hone in on. It's just like, it is difficult even to this day for me to understand what quote unquote they want. Do you know what I mean? And like, what is that? You know, I'm still trying to understand the difference in really concrete terms between a Republican and a conservative, right? And then I'm also trying to understand like,

when we think about who is making these decisions and why, you know, it's difficult to tease apart what it is that this cohort, like, you know, we know that there is a cohort of people that support Donald Trump. And I'm trying to understand what it is that they want as a giant group is really, you know, impossible because it's such a large group

if like 42% of active voters or whatever. But like, it becomes more and more clear to me that this is some kind of religious, you know, fundamentalist, like religious fundamentalist, grab for power because like all for power because all of these things that we're talking about in the context of the Supreme Court nomination are deeply unpopular, like unbelievably unpopular ideas.

And the only people that really want it, when you look at the polling on abortion, the feelings are very complicated. A lot of people have a lot of different feelings because it is such a complex issue that means different things to different people. But at the same time, what our government is reflecting is that we want to take the most blunt instrument humanly possible and just make it illegal for you to get this medical procedure. I think the majority of people would say there are circumstances in which it is unavoidable that you have to choose between the life of the child or the mother or the child will die at childbirth.

So let's not put the mother through this. Of course. I mean, there are good judges on Fox News just like serving it, you know, serving it right now, which is the craziest sentence I have thought I would ever say, but I mean, but also I think it's perfectly reasonable that most intelligent people who have religious, strong religious feelings about abortion would either fall into the camp of those are my strong religious convictions, but they might not be yours and I need to protect your religious convictions, less to mind be trampled on. Also, they might fall into the camp of like,

I am pro-life, but let's solve the problems that we can solve that don't require medical, like a medical degree to fully understand. Like let's solve the problems of like, let's get all the children in this country fed before we worry about whether or not we need to be And let's solve the problems of like, let's get all the children in this country fed before we worry about whether or not we need to be forcing more into the world. Let's worry about solving the COVID crisis before we worry about whether we should force

women to create a larger population. I think that there is a nuance that most people would fall into, even people that we would classify as conservative on like from our political standing. Well, yes, and I completely agree with that because so many, if it was just what I was saying earlier about like, you know, my parents have been like, I'm not a conservative, I'm a Republican,

or I'm a Republican, I don't know what they mean when they say that, do you know what I mean? And like, but they would, exactly to your point, Ryan, they would say like, yes, I do have complicated feelings. You know, my mom is nurse. Sometimes there are absolutely cut and dry scientific medical reasons why you might need a procedure like this. And that's just, that's just what it is.

And I think that she would agree with you, or with, yeah, agree with that. I wonder if it's like a lack of imagination because like when I talk to my parents about what the party is going after like now that they've confirmed to me that they're just gonna not vote I have Communicated them like like when we were talking about this I'd be like you know they're going after my rights as an LGBTQ person and they would be like No, they're not like this country's never gonna get rid of gay marriage like you're being ridiculous No doctors ever gonna turn you away because you're gay

Yeah, and now when I show them the evidence of that happening they say like well never gonna get rid of gay marriage. Like you're being ridiculous. No doctor is ever gonna turn you away because you're gay. Yeah. And now when I show them the evidence of that happening, they say like, well, I don't stand with that and I don't think it's gonna happen. And it's like, is this a lack of imagination? Because like, I need you to understand that it's extremely within a stone's throw of happening. And like, I think that people maybe don't imagine

what a world without like a woman, a woman's right to choose looks like. Because like when we lived in it We got the women's movement, right? Like when we lived in it it was so horrible that people Revolved and like started entire like there was entire organizations just to not even to pursue this right legally But to like deal with the horrible fallout of the problem of it being illegal.

And like the kind of, there were whole organizations that were trying to prevent, were deal with the consequences of back alley abortions because that's inevitably the consequence of having like literal no availability for something that's so necessary. It's sort of like when we had, you know, prohibition, people were drinking like turpentine because like, you can't tell people that they can't have this completely common thing that is really their choice. And so I think I wonder if it's like a lack of imagination or what it is, but I also think like,

I want to stop thinking about, like I want to stop having to diagnose the problem. Like, the majority of people agree with us, like I want to stop having to diagnose the problem. Like the majority of people agree with us, like that's really enough. But this group of people has just decided that they want to go about achieving their goals extra democratically, do you know what I mean? Like, but that's why it's, that's why we have to. But that's the self-fulfilling prophecy of worthlessness.

What we have, the reason why we have to, we can never go back to just not paying attention to politics. And listen, if you're out there and you're like a super young person and you're like politics still matter, I'm here for the gadgets. First of all, you're probably not here anymore. But this is the reason is, and this is why I also bring up the religious fundamentalism.

I grew up Christian, went to Catholic school for a very long time. And like those institutions are not evil, but there are people who believe, in the very core of their being, that they are not carrying out their faith unless they are policing other people outside of their faith. And that's and that combined with the sort of norm breakdown and the sort of

social collapse that allows for that to happen, that enables a permission structure for those people who believe that their faith can only be carried out by inflicting it on other people, the permission structure that they need to, you know, bend to every rule possible, voter suppression, whatever you, you know, whatever means to the end is possible. Like they will not be happy until they have, you know, sort of enforced their faith on other people. And, you know, when you sort of live inside that, you know, live inside that reality. Like we are right now. Like you're, this is like to your point about your parents or our parents not having the imagination. Like they are not putting the A to B to see of like

religious fundamentalism means that my life is, you know, not only are my rights impugned upon, you know, but it also, it just endangers me. And I've had this conversation with my parents as well, Ryan, and they're like, they're like, you're being, you know, you're being hyperbolic. And I'm like, hmm, doesn't feel like. Well, my parents feel hyperbolic to me. You know, I feel like a pretty impotent danger. They said to me, and like, I don't mean to just air

all of our shit in public, but like they said to me that, well, if someone came to me and said, your marriage to my mom isn't real, that would be ridiculous. I would know it's real. And it's like, well, if someone came to me and said, your marriage to my mom isn't real, that'd be ridiculous. I would know it's real. And it's like, okay, but you have never literally had to seriously think about what would happen if mom went to the hospital and you weren't allowed

to see her or if she died and you didn't get to inherit anything. Or like you didn't ever seriously think about the fact that like if you were decide to move to Canada and you weren't married to mom, she couldn't come with you or something like that. Like you've never had to seriously think about that. So you don't know why it would be so bad.

And like I'm telling you that it would. And as a rational person who loves you and you know to be well-intentioned, if I tell you that should kind of be enough. And I think at this point, it's like if the black community and women are telling us that this is bad and that they don't like these ideas, and that they're going to negatively impact them, like it should be enough.

But, you know, I think maybe this like enforcing your beliefs on other people's stuff is so foreign to me because like no Jews do this. They don't enforce it on other people outside of the faith. And like Catholics are the same way. Like the other side of my family, like a big portion of my family is very Catholic, but Catholics are like fucking crazy. That's true. But they're fucking not crazy. They're not recruiting. And they're not like making other people do their shit. They're like Jesus is asking me to do all this and I have to do whatever the Pope says and

give him money and all this crazy bullshit. But they're not like actively like Mormons and like Christian evangelicals and Scientologists and all these different groups. They're always, and you know, is a religion different than a cult, I would say yes, but there's also a line in America where we say cult starts and I think it starts a lot earlier than that line. But they're always actively recruiting or trying to force whole communities to follow

whatever rules they've decided on. And I think they think it's for like the good of everybody, but they haven't understood, because maybe because they haven't been like persecuted, they haven't understood the consequences of forcing your ideas and other people, because until you've been persecuted, you don't understand what it's like to be persecuted,

or like how you are doing the persecuting. And which brings me to, we've seen a lot of Amy Coney Barrier at this point. Obviously, we don't agree with her opinions, but what do you think of her? Like, what's your sense of hers a person? You know, I've only seen limited clips, you know, but I really have not been following the story too closely because it's very painful because I know that there's nothing that can be done and that basically it's 100% certain that she's going to be confirmed. So I've been deliberately avoiding it.

The only thing that I could possibly say is that this is a person who has moved through elite institutions, right? And clearly, you know, of the clips that I have seen, you know, this is the same thing, this is the same situation. As before, where the hearing is happening, it's all political theater, you know, Democrats try to get their talking points off. I mean, so the Republicans. And at the end of the day, we've got someone who, again, is so steeped in just a little, just elite institutions in general that, again,

we have just, you know, in our system, I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that it's still not representation, even in the highest level of the courts, like this is a person who's there for a political reason and not because they have anything special in terms of talent to provide to us. Oh yeah, this is a person who went through the programs,

the like correct brainwashing programs and the correct like, yeah, a accreditation that they feel comfortable that given the power they'll execute, she will execute their will. Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought against every, every, you know, the pressure was against her at every single point in her career,

whereas this, whereas Amy has only been propelled by, you know, conservative think tanks and organizations. But it isn't even conservative, right? Like let's draw a distinction. These are Republican because Antonin Scalia was a conservative and, you know, a Republican of his time. And I certainly don't like him or respect him, and I do not believe he is in his Catholic heaven, but I do believe, I believe, like if he's right about religion, he is in Catholic hell. I do believe he was a conservative, like she is so far to the right of him. She is so far in her philosophy of how to govern and like what the Constitution means, that he had to expressly said that the the textualist, originalist,

strict constructionist kind of constitutional interpretation was insanity. Like he said, that's insane. And even if even Antenna Scalia isn't going to agree with you, you've gone so far. Like, this is so inappropriate. And I don't even think Brett Kavanaugh is that hardcore Republican. Right, well, this is, so I think it's very predictable, this nomination, do you know what I mean?

The question that I have is, the ISE2 paths where Nancy Pelosi will either rise to meet this, and well, yes. And we will do court expansion. We're done calling it court packing. It's court expansion because it's perfectly fine and cool. But very legal and very legal. Lots of historical precedent. Or they, you know, shrink away from doing what they need to do and try to play by the traditional rules and lose. Do you know what I mean?

They start, they continue playing a game that the Republicans have already overturned the board and started stabbing people. It's already, the game that you were playing is over. They've decided that there are no rules. In order to play a game, both sides have to agree that there are rules. One side has decided that there are no rules in order to play a game both sides have to agree that there are rules one Side has decided that there are no rules and they're not playing the game So I don't know why you're still moving pawns around the board like you need to start stabbing back or running away Like I don't know what to tell you but you know, I mean, but what that means is that like there's either two things that can happen And both of them mean a lot of change you know for

For the courts. And it's either way, it doesn't seem like, I guess I have a little tiny, little tiny light in my heart that has hope that we can actually win, right? I, on Twitter in the last couple of days, there've been like, oh, polls show. But by way ahead, I'm like, I don't trust that.

It's for a millimeter. But I also think that like several hundred thousand people are dead. So, you know, I hope, I hope. They need to actually legislate. And like, you know, we talked about this just the other day, Ryan, but climate change is a pressing problem,

like breathing on the back of our necks. It's like alien and Sigourney Weaver. And the not only does Biden need to have the political will to do something about that. But we need to essentially like we, you know, that we drove the car off of the cliff, right? It's still on its four wheels, but we're like hitting trees all the way down. And somehow we need to get Joe in the driver's seat. And like, you know, not only just make it back to the road, but also like speed down the road, because we have like extreme problems

and like court expansion, it makes me very, it's just like, there's so much bullshit that we have to wade through just to get back to the point where we could even have a conversation about climate change in a real, a virtual way. It's so, well, that's what's so worrying to me, because it's like we don't have the time to go through a dark ages, like whatever societal cycle,

like let us to back to progress. We don't have the time to go through a Dark Ages, like whatever societal cycle, like let us to back to progress. We don't have the time for it. And so like, and we have the data and stuff. So like at this point, like I don't know what we're even talking about. And that's, I mean, I have to have hope, right? Like because that's why I'm still here. Like I have considered a million times,

I have come up with a million plans for leaving the US, leaving New York at least, but leaving the US all together, and just like getting on some other ship where I know I'll survive. Yeah. I would recommend. Actually, so I would recommend

to move to upstate New York for climate change reasons. Perhaps. As soon as I can get a house outside the city I'm going, but that's more for like that's more for like gadget and like tinker reasons than anything else, but yes. I will say speaking of the reason that I think all of this strikes me really hard, especially in why we talk about it, we like we have a tech website, right? And this is essentially supposed to be a podcast relating in some way to technology or culture. But like, I think the reason that it's so central right now is that like, technology and science and progress are all based on the idea that like,

that data is important, that science is important, that intellectuals have something additive, that it's exciting and to look forward to. The internet is the culmination of all of those things and technology and cell phones and streaming services. All this stuff that we're supposed to be talking about is the culmination of the idea that progress is worthwhile, that science and data have value. And to see the highest level of government turn its, like, knows away from that

and like use the fruits of these labors. Like, for example, Trump is using the, the quote unquote, therapeutics, the experimental treatment that he was using to fight COVID was based on scientific research. Oh, that only exists because of fetal tissue and experiments on it. Also, also the reason why politics and technology are inextricable it's because like some people have access to the technology they need like you know we're about to run this story about an air purifier. They're very expensive, you know, they're very expensive and people very much need them right now.

It's not just a nice to have to make your air smell a little bit better. Like there are people out there who literally need this technology and cannot access it because it's extremely expensive actually. Speaking of technology and new stuff, let's change the topic. Something more light. Apple introduced a bunch of new products this week. The HomePod, is it the HomePod Mini? Is that what they're calling it?

They're a little speaker? Let's start there. It looks like a Pokeball that has holes in it. Apparently it sounds great. That's what Apple is saying. Why worry? And my confusion is like, you'd be stuck with Siri. Who wants?

I mean, I guess it's more private. The Seafocus. But like, if you want to voice assistant at all, Siri's the worst one. Yeah, well, definitely. Although I would say that like, you know, it's similar to like we have a bunch of Google Homes in the house right now.

And like, you know, when I was working at Vice, like people were talking about, you know, back in 2015, people were like conversational revolution. We're gonna speak, we're gonna talk to all of our computers, it's gonna change everything. But in reality, we like ask Google Home to turn on the lights, turn on the air conditioner. We have like five things that we ask it for.

And so maybe Siri is fine for that. If you're not looking really looking for crazy answers to questions, you're just literally using as a voice switch, or like if this, then that sort of thing, then maybe that's fine. And, you know, I guess, I just like, I've had such a good experience with my Google Homes, with the little displays,

the little nest hub or whatever. I've had such a good experience with them, and they are able to answer basically any question that I've asked. Sometimes it misinterprets what I mean, but it does get me like unanswered that is at least ostensibly useful. And they're so cheap. Like you can usually get these things on sale. I mean, the nest, like the literally just the home speaker, the like little nest mini hub thing without the display, that thing is like being given away for free

by New York City. Like you can get those anywhere all the time. That thing is like being given away for free by New York City. Like you could get those anywhere all the time. Google gives them away whenever they're like, here, YouTube subscribers, Dave. Well, you know, and I just found out, I just found out that you can organize all of your Google homes into a speaker group and play audio all over your apartment slash house. Oh, that's such a nice. I just found that out and it's been great. So I recently got a 3D printer and one of the things that has been fantastic to just print out on demand are these little wall mounts for our Google Home minis. Oh, yeah. And now that they're all sort of like, I had a problem like it hears, they hear,

murt, just fine, but whatever it is about my voice, maybe it's like my little bit of a mumble or whatever. It has such a hard time hearing me. So raising them up off of surfaces where they're pointing up to like eye level, where they're pointing into the room has been such a huge like quality of life improvement. They can hear me now. And now that they're sort of like up at ear level, having them all playing podcasts or whatever is like game changing for our apartment, it's fantastic. Yeah, I have thought about like, you know, the minis are nice.

They're not like quite loud enough if you wanted to like really rock out. But so that's a good option to know about. Yeah, there's just so cheap. I got like two of these nest hubs that have the displays on them. I got both of them at best, but I'm less than a hundred bucks.

Like, but that's the thing that I sort of like, that's the thing that I didn't really like about the Apple, you know, the Apple, you know, they do these videos now because of COVID. And so like when they were doing, when they were running their like promotional, sort of like demo video of these new home pod minis, you know, they show this family in like a $750,000 house.

I mean, like, and they have multiple, You know, they show this family in like a $750,000 house. Do they know? Like, and they have multiple, they know, they have multiple of these expensive speakers. And it's like, guys, I don't, I just like. So out of touch, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it makes me feel uncomfortable. And like, you know, we make fine regular person money

at this company. And I'm looking at that. I'm like, that is, that's like, that's honestly, I'm being conservative. That, those are a million dollar California style houses. And a million dollar house is, in addition to, to the ability to have multiple kids and spread them out throughout the house,

so you would need some of these features. Yes. And the ability to purchase all these electronics. Really expensive. Affurniture. Like, you get to like CEO money real quick. Yeah, no doubt. They're like, well, like it's, you know,

they're like, this is what we imagine. You're like, okay, so you imagine like the top 1% is like enjoying your speaker. Like there's aspirational marketing and then there's like guys. I wonder when I see this stuff, or sometimes when I see like what Elon Musk announces as his cool Tesla announcement, I wonder, your products are being designed by people you're

paying and have seen amount of money. So your idea of what this product needs to be is so out of touch with reality. You can't focus group your way to understanding that like most people replace these things fairly often. And so like making them affordable is probably your best case scenario, like just because people pay a lot for a phone doesn't mean that they're willing to pay a lot for accessories or even their laptop. Like I look at the price of Apple computers and I'm like, I get that people have in recent

past been able to pony up to grand for a computer or put it on financing or something But the economic situation is such that like if I needed a new computer right now I'm not spending two thousand dollars on a computer like it's just not and I am a technologist Yes, it's not in the realm of realistic Especially if it's not like a gaming PC that's gonna last me five to ten years. This is exactly why like like a gaming PC that's gonna last me five to 10 years. This is exactly why, like this is such an interesting year because COVID really has changed

like I think our inter perception of what's valuable. And like before we could all like get on board with Apple's sort of like incremental march towards, you know, creating products for the one percent and like fuck everyone else. But now that we have COVID, it's like, you know, people are looking at like a new cell phone and they're like, uh, this so this is like five percent

better than my old cell phone. Mm, maybe, maybe I'll just, maybe I'll just, uh, hold it. So like, you know, there's a reason, I can't, I just saw the blows my mind about Apple, it's just like they looked at this, this, this, this market segment, right? They're like Bluetooth speakers are flying off the fucking shelves. We got to get in on that. And like, they're like, okay, let's look at the market. What do we got? Okay, everybody's buying some

really cheap, really shit JBL Bluetooth speakers. You know what I mean? The, the ones with all the lights, you know, just absolute bottom of the barrel. Cheap as humanly possible. And they're like, you know what we got to do? You know, people who are looking for, like a $40 Bluetooth speaker, what if we take this all the way to the top? We're going all the way to the top, baby. Hundreds of dollars. That's what people want. Well, it's their idea of like,

we'll make a better product and then like, we'll set whatever the fair market price is and people will pay for quality. And it's like, they will in certain circumstances, but we're not in those circumstances right now. So it just feels out of touch and it was a really bad way to set the tone for their later announcements of their iPhones.

So let's get into that. There are new iPhones. There's the iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Mini, the iPhone Pro, the 12 Pro Max. I think that's it, right? Like those are all the iPhones. Yes, 12 mini, 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, yes. Okay, that's wild for stuff.

There are so many iPhones. Like, truly, and I've been saying this for a long time, but between the watch and the iPad Pro and like the largest Pro iMac, we are now in a territory where you could draw any square from like your of like your arm width like your entire body length. You could draw any square and Apple will sell you a computer in that size They they introduced the iPhone 12 mini which is our co-worker Cheyenne's dream come true. It is a very tiny iPhone

It's not as small as they've done in the past like it's bigger than the five Our coworker Cheyenne's dream come true. It is a very tiny iPhone. It's not as small as they've done in the past. Like it's bigger than the five. Is it bigger than the five? So I measured it in. It is very slightly larger than the five. I measured it against using like one of those like comparison websites yesterday.

I just wanted to see if it was bigger or smaller than my partner is Pixel 4. And it is much smaller than the Pixel 4. So the Pixel 4 is like the smallest phone I commonly interact with. You know, Merz phone. I just, I pick it up sometimes and I'm like,

God, it's so small. Cause I have a OnePlus 8 Pro. And before that, I was using the Note 20 Ultra. And this Pixel 4, I'm like, damn, that is small. And the mini is even smaller. But I think you're right. It's the iPhone 5 Slouch SE was majorly small. It's hard to remember how tiny the original iPhone,

or like the iPhone 4 was. Like it's hard, I think, for people, because it has slowly gotten so large, that I think it's just hilarious to think about on the original iPhones. I remember thinking like, what a huge screen. I know, that was back when like the PSP screen were like, whoa, we could watch,

I could watch a cinematic movie on the screen. Yeah, I could watch Spider-Man on this. Yeah, so they introduced the many, they introduced the regular normal iPhone in a bunch of colors. That's all well and good. The main event I think for them and for us was the pro phones. Now, the pro phones have some insane camera features that,

were you excited about them? I felt like maybe you were Luke Worm and Slack, even though I've heard good things. I'm not a camera person, so it's hard for me to say. So here's what I would say about the cameras. First, there is an annoying difference between the pro and the pro max, which is number one annoying.

It's just I just don't like it because I don't really want, I don't really want the max. Like it's six, I can't remember what it is, but it's almost Galaxy Note sized, right? It's enormous. Yes. And so you get, so like, where do you even begin on this? So like iPhones for a while, and part of the, I've done a lot of reporting on camera on smartphone camera Sensors in particular and so the iPhone has had a one over 2.5 inch

Camera sensor for a very long time and by this point that's that's very very very very small the no-20 ultra Sensor if I remember correctly. I don't have my spreadsheet in front of me right this second, but I think it's like 380 times, or sorry, 380% larger than the iPhone. So we're talking like almost four times larger than the iPhone screen.

And so like, Apple's like big advancement for the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a camera sensor that's only 40% larger, right? So we're still talking about a sensor that is still considerably smaller than did just regular a sensor that they have on the Galaxy S20. You know, the Galaxy S20. Why is it that when I see camera comparisons,

I mean, the iPhone looks great. I usually put it out the way it looks. I'll tell you exactly why. I'll tell you exactly why. Because Apple actually engineers the lens. So like, every company has to balance their R&D between the sensor itself. The lens that actually goes in front of that sensor

and all of the electronics and code that go into turn it into an actual image. And so in my big piece about the Note 20 Ultra, like, yes, it has a gigantic sensor that is theoretically possible of really great things, but they put an absolutely terrible lens in front of it. And it just looks really bad. You know, I don't want to be too, you know, negative about it because there are some redeeming things about about Samsung's camera setup.

But like, they are whole- whole hogging it in the sensor department and not a lot else is going on, whereas Apple has kept the sensor size small, but their lenses are actually very sharp. And one of the things that's new is this new seven element lens. And more elements doesn't necessarily mean that the camera is better, but the reason why you add more elements is to control for distortion.

And so when you look at a picture from a Note 20 Ultra, and you're like, technically this looks good, there's a lot of bokeh, but for whatever reason, it just looks mushy and kind of just not good. It's because the lens is just not engineered very well. And so that's why I am actually very excited about the new iPhone 12 Pro Max. It's because yes, we do get a little bit of a sensor bump,

but that's not really the appeal. The appeal is a really great lens. Yeah, we hope, I mean, obviously we need to test it, but in theory, they already have a good lens. Let's assume it gets a little bit better. That'd be great. And then also to your to your other point, Ryan, like, I think Apple's color science is some of the best. They've had some, I mean, not it has not always been that way. Do you remember the second year that they came out with their smart HDR? Yeah. We're like, this kind of like looks insane. But they have gotten a lot better

over time. And that's why I think that like when you look at these pictures from the iPhone, you're like, these really look good, even though they're taken on a comparatively extremely small sensor. In the largest, the iPhone Pro, this name's the iPhone 12 Pro Max, that also is coming with the LiDAR sensor, which I think I kind of- I think it's the Pro's have a LiDAR sensor, which the kind of pros have a LiDAR sensor. I could be completely wrong about that, but I think both pros have it. Well in any event, it is a sensor that you're used to hearing about being on a self-driving

car, and it will give a reading of where things are in a room, and Apple saying it will make their focus faster and better, and it will improve AR stuff. But what's confusing and weird to me is that like it's very unappable to introduce a feature in either one or just like one part one tier of their phone. Yes. Because if it's not present in all of them, apps don't really get incentivized to build them into their like to build those features into their app or to do things that you will need those features, like, to accomplish. And so then it never really takes off. Then Apple decides

it's not a good feature and then they pull it from the product line, even though I think Lidar could turn into something kind of cool with AR. I mean, I need, I am also, that's part of the other reason that I'm thinking about getting, getting this iPhone actually, which is a huge, which by the way, for the listeners would be a huge step for me. I am a major Android apologist. And then just the person who has purchased multiple Sony phones, Sony Android phones. You have to be so into Android to purchase the Sony phone. Yes, yes, yes. But so like, as I said, I got this new 3D printer.

It's kind of changing the game for me, not gonna lie. I had one specific use that I needed it for and it turns out it's great for everything. And so like recently, I wanted to make a mount for the battery on my electric bike. I made my own electric bike and, but mountainous, like 10 pound battery has been the bait of my existence. And like if I had this iPhone with the light art detector, I couldn't really easily make a scan of the bike itself.

And just like slap together, you know, a 3D model for a mount. And like, I try to do this, I literally try to do this on my Android phone using just like, you know, they're like, use the camera and spin around it. It was absolute trash, complete waste of time. And I ended up just like engineering this bike mount anyway, but it would have been, it really would have cut down like hours of me, like tinkering in this design program if I had this light-art detector.

Yeah, I hope that Apple actually sticks it out with like new features like this because it is something obscure that people don't totally understand. But that has, opens up a whole bunch of possibilities for new and interesting use cases in the way that like the accelerometer did. But they're gonna need to roll it out to all the phones

for anyone to give a shit. So like, I don't know, I'll pick one up and like I'll play with the features, but I would like to see it make it outside of just like the top tier pro line of products. Well, I mean, maybe that makes sense, though, is because like having it in the pro line of products, like for the longest time, pro has meant nothing in Apple context, like you just needed a MacBook Pro

because it's the good one, you know? But like, if the phone, like that is a pro feature, like part of the reason why I like Android is because I need to do shit that you're not supposed to do. You know what I mean? I need to install emulators. If I wanna have a weird Wi-Fi, I don't know. If you want a bit torrent.

Yeah, if you want a bit torrent, if you wanna do, I need to read radio signal levels. DBI signal levels in my fucking app, see what I mean? I didn't like that, there should I need to do. But if Apple like lets me do that stuff, then that's great. I mean, I still think it's a cardinal sin

that you have to connect to there. Like from a sustainability point of view, like you cannot, if you unbox a new iPhone or a new iPad and you don't have access to the internet, you cannot use that hardware. And I think that that's from just a sustainability standpoint. You know, another thing that Apple, you know, and all of their conferences,

they tell us sustainability, but then like as soon as, you know, if there's ever a future where Apple's servers are not reachable, every unboxed iPad and a warehouse or something is completely useless. And that's my soapbox for today. Speaking of sustainability, they announced that they will not be including power bricks or earpods in the case with new iPhones, which they're saying is so good for the environment.

And it makes their shipping packages smaller. And but the alternative side of that is that lots of people don't have those things. And that means that it's an extra added cost for them or they're gonna open up their phone and realize they have no way of charging it. Yes, yes. So there's been a couple of like stories in this vein

that are sort of circulating right now. So like one of them is that like because these new iPhones support a very cool new form of MagSafe, people are recirculating that story about how wireless charging is really inefficient. And then, you know, there's this one about, there's this story that you mentioned about some not having adapters in the box. I'm trying to think of the other one that's circulating right now. Oh, yeah, that like the game streaming is also not like sustainable. And it's like, I understand the impulse, right?

But I also think that we need to be pretty chill about blaming the end user for, like, for example, in the game streaming one, like, game streaming is not gonna become an environmental risk, because, unless it becomes a popular thing, which is not yet. And then also, there's like lots of efficiencies to be gained by consolidating, like, you know, running a computer in a warehouse that's like perfectly managed for running

that computer is inevitably going to be more efficient than, you know, running it in your house, do you know what I mean? Yeah, I think what we're saying is like, I'm super, super, super environmentally focused. I am super concerned with climate change. I am super concerned with the planet. But I think if we're gonna start somewhere, it's probably from, for my bet, it's probably not with game streaming

or with the power brick that comes with your iPhone. I think it probably starts with Exxon. Like, let's, if we're going to take this effort, I mean, yes, every little bit helps. I totally agree. But I don't think, I think it's like rearranging lawn chairs on the Titanic right now, and it's very inconvenient for the end user. And I think like if we want to make meaningful difference with Apple's impact on the climate, we probably shouldn't be buying iPhones every year.

Yes. See, that is where it's really at. And I think that, you know, this is sort of a media criticism from me, you know, which is like, you know, I get it that you, that like Apple is hot that day and like, it would be good to write a sustainability story because we need to, I mean, with any new consumer product that goes out to millions of people, we do need to think about sustainability. But like, if you're dying to write a sustainability story, there are, you know, I could point you in a lot of directions, it would probably have a little bit more of an impact, do you know what I mean?

Like, there's so much, there is so much that's going on with like, you know, if you want to talk about the iPhone, let's talk about lithium ion, like cobalt mining, do you know what I mean? Like, if you want to put it into that, like, let's go a little higher on the food chain than people's like, whether or not you get a, you want to get a charger. Well, that's what makes it so hard to believe Apple when they're saying they're doing this for environmental reasons, right? Like they're saying, we don't put earpods in the packaging because you probably have one from an old iPhone and we want to protect the environment and we don't think it's a waste to keep giving these out. Yes. Which is fine. That's Yes. Which is fun.

Which is one thing to say, but also you should disclose that you're saving money, right? Like this is saving you money even though you're charging more for the phone. Right. And your AirPods are probably one of the worst consumer electronics you can purchase for the environment. They're thin, nominimly bad for the environment. Like the batteries, the ability to lose them, the fact that they're completely unrepairable, the fact that they're phenomenally bad for the environment. Like the batteries, the ability to lose them, the fact that they're completely unrepairable.

The fact that they're... That's the huge thing. That's the huge thing. Wireless charging, air pod cases are so inefficient. I mean, it's almost comical for a company that makes air pods to pull air pods, the ones that are environmentally friendly from the packaging of the iPhone

and say it's for the environment rather than for Apple's convenience. Like, I would rather Apple just be honest and be like, I mean, Nintendo at one point was selling the 3DS, the new 3DS without a charger, and they were like, you gotta buy another one. We don't wanna pay for it. And it's like, yeah, at least you're being honest.

Like, well, you have them, they're separate. You can buy one if you need it, but like lots of families have these, so they're like a fuck it. Well, you have them, they're separate, you can buy one if you need it, but like lots of families have these, so they're like a fuck it. Yeah, I remember. Well, the attitude is important. Like, Nintendo's, I remember this perfectly.

Like, Nintendo's attitude at the time was just like, yeah, that's not in there. Deal with it. You know what I mean? Like, it's not in there. There's no way. Oh, buy one, you probably might already have one, if not, you have to buy one, too bad. Yeah.

And that, to me, at least it was honest. This Apple performance is if they truly care about sustainability. I'm sure some people at their company do, but the actual entity that is the company, the corporeal human, as the Supreme Court has decided that it is, does not care about the environment. So at least be honest and be like,

you know, some people in the company were pushing this for sustainability It also saves us money and and in complete honesty will take $20 off the price of the phone or whatever And so if you want to buy when you can go buy one like well, and then also like There's there's and I know that Apple I'm actually I'm not sure of this 100% But I'm pretty sure that Apple does like donate to some you know Environment and I'm not sure of this 100%. But I'm pretty sure that Apple does donate to some environment and state-of-the-war causes. They've got to keep those taxes down.

Oh, yes, exactly. But, just the other day, I was watching the battery factory video and right on the heels of that, I think they're talking about extracting lithium from the desert. Elon made it sound trivial. He was like, we take some dirt out, we extract the lithium, we put it right back down. You know, that's Elon, right? Like two weeks later, I, you know, write up this little story about Patagonia's public trust documentary about some, you know, what happens when you open up, you know, federally owned and public lands to mining. And let me tell you something, you do not, you do not simply put the dirt back.

It is not the same afterwards. And so like, you know, like Apple, if you, you know, it's just hard for me to get behind you on this. You know what I mean? Like it's very good marketing, I'm sure, but like there is so much more that can be done from a supply chain standpoint for sustainability that I'm not hearing a shit about.

Listen Evan, if you end up buying an iPhone, I invite you to come back on this show and give us your like long-term viewpoint of the product and it's shortcoming. Thank you. I certainly can't wait to see what MagSafe cases you purchased to snap on the back of your life. Oh, certainly.

Well, I mean, actually, I mean, the MagSafe is a really cool feature, certainly. Well, I mean, like actually, I mean, the MagSafe is a really cool feature because I could see, you know, there's, you know, there's a possibility for really cool stuff. Like I could make a 3D printed case with that MagSafe feature that would be pretty frickin tight. But here's what I will say. I will not be, and you can, you know,

when that happens, Ryan, you invite me back. I will not be using iMessage, You know, even though it won't be. No, that's the biggest benefit of having an iFo. I refuse, I refuse, I refuse. All right, it's bullshit. Also, Apple needs to, I mean, Apple needs to like incorporate RCS. Where's, yeah, where's that reporting, guys?

You know, iPhone, iPhone blogs, where's the RCS? We're not talking about that. You know, Evan, I hate to tell you you're gonna have to write this piece before the show goes off. Damn it. All right, well, that's, I think, where we should leave it for the week. That's a lot of news, a lot of discussion. Let's move on to nice things.

Nice things. What are your nice things, Ryan? My nice thing this week is, and there was only the one, I really have enjoyed watching the haunting of Fly Manor. I can't say that it's good. Like I don't think it's like high art. Haunting of Hill House was the original season of the like haunting series on Netflix.

I think Hill House was a better show, but Fly Manor was a lot of fun, and I had a good time, and the end of it is like a Morty's Mind Blowers, where you're just like, oh my god, all the pieces of the puzzle box fit together. And I add a fun little escape, and it was a spooky Halloween time, and it was very stylish, and there's our very attractive people in it, and it makes American horror story look like amateur hour. So I would say check out the haunting of Blimeander. Don't expect it to be like a horror show.

It's not like a horror, it's not like blood and guts and jump scares. But it is definitely creepy and it will have you in suspense and watching and like running through the whole thing. And there is one character in it who I love so much. And if you watch the show, you will know who it is.

An adorable, wonderful person with a pure mind and spirit who has done dirty on that show, but who I stand forever. And you should definitely watch it and report back with your love for her. And otherwise, this week has not been very nice, at least from where I'm sitting, but please tell me what I could enjoy in the week to come. That would also be nice. Did you talk about the sex toy that you reviewed

between last podcast and this podcast? I did not talk about the sex toy that I heard that's because that's probably a nice thing. Okay, let me I'll jump into this. Yes, that is a nice thing. That was a couple weeks ago. I reviewed a sex toy that they sent me, which is called the arc wave Ion, which it is a like masturbator sleeve, but you don't manually jerk yourself off with it. It sits on your penis, and it uses air vibrations to stimulate the freinulum, which is this bundle of nerves on the underside of the tip of your penis. That is also present on the clitoris for people with vaginas. And so it says that it can simulate a female anatomy, biological orgasm in a like a signed male at birth

anatomy. And I gave it a spin and it was phenomenal. I don't know if this is actually what people with clits are feeling when they come, but I can say whatever it's doing, whatever it did to my deck is fantastic. So good. You don't like use it or move it. It just kind of sits there and does its thing while you like watch porn or whatever. But it's so good and it is such a gift. And if this is what the other side is having every day, like I don't understand how they get out of bed. I truly, if you have a client, I have no idea you're getting out of bed all day long. It's phenomenal and it's great and I it's also like $200.

So yeah, that's a that's a that's a that's a steep price for something that I can't even put into words what it feels like. But I will say it feels so good that you should definitely give it a go. Yeah. So you should definitely read the piece. Yeah. Read the piece. Get informed. Get informed. Read the review. You know, you need to know there's things you need to know before you go into a $200 sex toy purchase. But I will say I wouldn't I have purchased sex toys for like $50 and gotten a lot of use out of them and thought that's a lot of fucking money for like a dildo.

For sure, but this thing, I have never felt anything like this in my life and it kind of felt like I was purchasing a trip to a theme park, like I got to experience something that I would never have experienced. And to me, the price is pretty fair. Plus, we're like my partner also has a penis. So we get double the use out of it.

There you go, there you go. So my nice thing, the I listened to the show, I think it was last, the last show, but I started watching the boys because of you and Josh's glowing recommendation. Oh, yes. And that show is so just bananas. The first few episodes really kind of all over the place,

but it definitely evens out. And the acting is really bad, but then the way that I love. I love each and every character and their absolute inability to deliver. Oh, life. In the perfect possible way, I like that the main character Superman guy

is clearly the gayest man I've ever seen on TV. But he's theoretically straight, which really makes it more just what it is. You should watch it. Incredible. And then like, you know, I have been, you know, this 3D printer is a recent addition. I know I've mentioned it a couple times, but it's an Ender 3 Pro. You're printing it up a storm over there. I am. I am. It's an Ender 3 Pro. You're printing it up a storm over there. I am.

It's an Ender 3 Pro. It's actually got a pretty big build area. And so what I got it for is like I really want to be able to, you know, I did this big piece on the OnePlus 8 Pro and its camera, which is incredibly good. Totally took me by surprise. I, you know, OnePlus has been putting pretty mediocre camera, not terrible, but like pretty mediocre cameras in its phones

for a while. So I've, you know, was sort of going off of that existing knowledge, but they completely surprised me with the OnePlus 8 Pro. It's got a huge sensor and, you know, is it 48, yeah, it's 48 megapixel. Pixel count. And I really wanted to use a moment lens on it,

but there's no cases. So I was like, well, time to take things into my own hands here and see if I to use a moment lens on it, but there's no cases. So I was like, well, time to take things into my own hands here and see if I can print a moment lens compatible case. I have not succeeded, Ryan. It is way harder than I thought to do that. But in the meantime, all these little like what nots and knickknacks that you can print

are just game-changing. Like any sort of little situation you find yourself in, you can 3D print some kind of solution for. Like I need it hooks to hang my, like I have a bunch of like back-backing bags, those are all up on the wall now. All the Google Homes, like I'm saying, those are all up on the wall now.

We need to door-stop all the sudden, good. And the thing that I think is crazy about it, and that I really like, and I know this is part of the original sort of like, you remember, you know how VR, there was that moment where everyone's like, VR is the future. If a before that, 3D printing is the future. And we had our like, you know,

our Corey Docteros out here being like, a manufacturing revolution is about to happen. And obviously that hasn't happened, right? I would say that these predictions of these things being the future are correct, but they're gonna take a lot longer than just the iPhone. Exactly, and the reason I bring it up is because like, yes, you know, these things that pop out of the 3D printer, you know, they take a long time to print,

but the fact that, but it's also so convenient because like for me, think about this Ryan, I had, you know, I was putting up some shelves and I have this one wall that's like crazy all over the place wobbly, right? Or like, you know, the service is not straight and plumb. Right? So I needed shims. I didn't have any shims. And so I just went on my computer, got into TinkerCAD,

which is like a 3D program for like children, which is pretty much where I'm at. And I just made these shims. And I printed them out in like 30 minutes, popped them behind the shelves to equal out the waviness in the wall. It was good to go. I didn't have to go anywhere, I didn't have to do anything. I used the exact amount of plastic that I needed for that purpose. I didn't have to buy a 20 pack of shims on Amazon and have them physically shipped to my house in a truck. I just printed

that shit out in 30 minutes. It's phenomenal. It's phenomenal, you know, it's, it's extremely convenient. And also, you know, I think a lot of people listening to this probably also saw the like early 3D printing boom. And like, you know, people going, you know, over their 10 cups about 3D printing. But, you know, the software has gotten considerably better. And the actual filament itself, like, it used to be that you would print out these little, you know, these little nicknacks or whatever and they would look like absolute dog shit and the plastic would be terrible. But now that the printers have gotten better, the software have gotten better and the filament itself has gotten a

lot better, the, the stuff just like looks and feels like pretty good. It's good. Well, that's what I was going to ask. I remember playing with 3D printers back at like the in-gaget expo or something like five to 10 years ago. I mean, like this looks like dog shit. It's a fun idea, but I'm never purchasing one of these. And then now since then I've had stuff 3D printed and then mailed to me, like there are those services where you send in a design, they print it

and they mail you the finished product. Yes. And I've opted to get it done in either metal or extremely metal like substance. That, to me, feels phenomenal. I had an adapter printed for my analog Vega SG so that it would fit the 32X would fit on it and I could use the 32X with it, which is of course a problem only I have, so they don't actually physically make the adapters. I had to get a design and tweak it and then have it printed and chip.

I had it done in like this metal like fill in and I don't know if it technically was metal or if it's lead and I have lead poisoning, but it feels great and it's so smooth and it looks phenomenal. It looks really like a finished product. Obviously I don't think you can do that like level of quality with like a home 3D printer. I don't think you can do that level of quality with a home 3D printer. I don't think that's possible. But what is the options for you when you put the beads in or whatever?

Yeah, yeah. So there's two types of 3D printers that you can have at home. One of them is an additive printer. It's like FDM where you literally have a print head that goes back and forth and it deposits little pieces of plastic on a bed. And then there's also SLA printing

where a bed goes from up top down into a vat of resin goo and then a laser hardens it up from below, you know? So that's very cool. It's very Westworld, but the only downside is that the goo is very toxic. And so you need to use gloves and it releases toxic fumes. So this is really like a shed garage type printer. But if you, you know, for like minis or something, like you cannot beat, I'll say two things, like for the additive printer that I have, it was very cheap. It was 200 bucks. And the prints, great. The level of value you get from it is fantastic. Again, it's the ender,

it's the reality ender, three pro. No, they have not paid, but they're pretty much the limit. You can get it like a micro center, so that's what it is. But there's a lot of different filaments. So you can get PET PLA is really easy to print and you could just blast that out. It's very cheap. It just prints like a dream. But it's not very strong and it's not UV resistant, so that's that. You can get it. If it's not UV resistant, does that mean it degrades in the sun?

Yeah, like if you use it as like a car part, you would be sad. Okay. But you can use PET G, which is a food safe plastic. So that's what water bottles are made out of. That is a lot more durable, but it's more difficult to print. And then you also have the PLA infused filaments like carbon fiber and PLA and aluminum. Maybe that was and water. Or sorry, not water. Wood and PLA is thinking about how water soluble it is.

And yeah, with that, you can make a little something or other that you can sand and then you can stain it and it looks cool, right? That's so cool. Yes, so, you need to make a little like figurine or something. A wand? Yeah, a, exactly. Ryan a wand, exactly, exactly. exactly. Oh, Ryan a wand, exactly.

Exactly. You could make, you could literally, you know, steal the like wand model out of your favorite Harry Potter video game or something in print that shit, if you needed to. Trans rights. Yes, yes. But, you know, the SLA printers are so detailed that like, you know, I find, you know, my partner is a, it's a doctor and like, it's interesting that like, with the

technology you could get at home, like if he was like an orthodontist or something, like he could print out an extremely detailed, like model of someone's teeth. You know what I mean? Like, you're the ability to just like really bring something to the physical world, you know, is really cool. Oh my God, I'm going to print. I'm going to print one of those like, you know, people have those like body pillows that they lay with. They like take it on dates. I'm going to print an anime character and take it on a date.

I mean, you absolutely could. I mean, if you look, I mean, 3D printing YouTube is its own little hole. And like the number of like iron man helmets that have been printed on the big printer, you couldn't even imagine. The question is, is this like, what do you do with those? Do you wear it? I found a guy online who will make you literally the exact iron man entire suit

out of metal to your exact body specifications. It lights up, you can say words, and then the helmet will open. It is the full fucking suit. The thing costs like 7,000 dollars. Of course, absolutely. But I did for a moment think like, what if I saved up for like a couple of years

and just had an insane Halloween? I mean, that would be cool. The cool thing is though is that like the home manufacturing movements that I'm like hurtling towards is like, you can get a CNC machine so you can work on metal, you know what I mean? Like, you could make whatever that thing of a jig has at a metal, but you just need a little bit of a different setup.

And like, you know, they have plotters, like I'm also doing a lot more like sewing and like bag design lately, so like I'm thinking like, you know, if I had a house, then I could have like a 3D laser platter, and then I could just roll out a yard of fabric and just have it cut it perfectly. I'm like, man. So many different cool things. Catch Evan in town Pulski.

Yes, exactly. All right. Well, that I think is where we should leave it. Thank you for coming on and replacing our fearless leader. My pleasure, Ryan. Thank you for coming on and replacing our fearless leader. My pleasure, Ryan. Thank you. We will be back. Josh will be back.

Never fear. But thanks for hanging out with just us. And please vote. Please go register. Bye. Bye. your family Your family is, um, has been hanging out with Hunter Biden, and I'm not saying something happened, but the New York Post certainly thinks of. you