The "Daily" - DMZ DMV - March 31, 2016

in

Spinal Tap fee form jazz

F-15, 71st Fighter Squadron, in flight.JPG
By U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Samuel Rogers - [1], [2], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3068033

Russian Bear 'H' Aircraft MOD 45158140.jpg
By Photo: RAF/MOD, OGL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36739848

Counter rotating prop

Counter-rotating propellers.gif
By MichaelFrey - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41231401

Contra rotating prop

Contra-rotating propellers.gif
By MichaelFrey - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41231402

Aerial top/side view of gray B-52H flying over barren desert land.
By US Air Force http://www.af.mil/ - http://media.dma.mil/2003/Feb/10/2000030315/-1/-1/0/021105-O-9999G-011.JPG, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7670588

 

Johnny Carson I did not know that

 

 

 

Inverted

 

 

 

Cesna 162

Cessna 162 Skycatcher N5201K 1010.JPG
By Ahunt - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11932083

P-8A Poseidon VX-20 Squadron.jpg
By Greg L. Davis - Image and description page, High res version, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31787514

Rollie Fingers 01.26.2013.jpg
By Dlz28 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28642367

Lockheed P-38J Lightning - 1.jpg
By U.S. Air Force - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4012931

Bott4.jpg
By USAAF, photographed for a series of U.S. 8th Air Force publicity pictures for widespread distribution (photos were taken from B-17G bombers of the 91st Bomb Group) [1]. - http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/gallery.php?Group=361&Style=item&origStyle=table&Item=71, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3103734

Boeing 737 MAX (23514088802).jpg
By Aka The Beav from Seattle, Washington - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45522891

Korea DMZ.svg
By Rishabh Tatiraju - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21452471

 

DMV pics

UPDATE: James says this one is better! Thanks James

 

Matisyahu

Switchfoot

Dandy Warhols

21 Pilots

Vulfpeck

Transcript

…such as it is…

Welcome, Renaissance Man. Mike Nelson here. Hello, Mike. Dave. Wow. It's a new paradigm.
It's a shift of reboot and reboot boot. I think we are really rebooted once and we can't use terms like pull a podcast-hammy said that last time. Did we make reference to Spinal Tap free-form Jazz at the Air Force Base? I think we know it. So we can't reference that.
We're not really about to do a free form jazz exploration in front of the festival crowd.
You know, this is the new spinal tap mark to.
You actually know, although I think [00:01:00] that is a great scene, we might reference it. Anyway, let's. I'll tell you what is will take the reboot and we'll throw some clips in from the reboot, sort of mash it up.
So I got to say, I mean, not to toot our own horn or anything like that, but I. Since we knew it. Yes. Tricky to do since we knew that we were gonna do this when we put out actually put it on the schedule to do this.
We I went back and listened to at least some sections of some of the podcasts that we've done and were terrible. Terrible at what?
I'm kidding.
Terrible. Now it was. Oh, you said it.
I didn't hear it. That's just terrible. Is that what you were trying to do? Yes. Man, I've been thinking about that for a week.
Like, clearly, we're unscripted, clearly scripted this. I don't know. It's just a terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible. So every flood. It's kind of fun to go back through a list of some and think. I [00:02:00] didn't really like that. And we go back, listen, like, oh, there were some good fun times there. Yeah, we had a great time. I don't know if the listeners think they were good. I know that I had a good time doing it. So.
Yeah, and it's it's enough. It's enough hours that.
Not that I've produced a resumé recently, but it's enough hours that I would put production or a producer on my resume. So if anyone wants to start a podcast, you actually ironically hit us up.
Ironically, I've had to two specialized groups of people ask me if I could podcast with them. And I haven't been able to capitalize on it, mostly because it's a huge project. But to be a producer like that, it takes a lot of energy. One of what would be the ATV rider group? What the adventure writer group that I motorcycle's then actually.
Yeah. Okay. That one. And they're like when are we going to do it? And I'm like and the deal with being a producer is you really have to hold hands with people.
Yeah. My experiences are if if somebody is new to it, you have to be the energy behind [00:03:00] it. Right. And sort of like really kind of, hey, this is how it goes. And don't worry about this. Right. And Rick.
Just do it.
So the other one is I'm in the flying club. I've been in a flying club since 2009 when I got home from Afghanistan. And there's some dudes in there. Actually, there's there's women in there, too. Although I know they don't play as much as the guys do. And I'm not sure why that is. But anyway, they have some fantastic stories. And I was mentioning to my flight instructor, hey, you want a podcast? And he's like, you know. Be good. I think it would be good if you could just interview people after they take their exams so that we know it's gonna be on the next exam. And I'm like, do this a slam dunk. I can do that in a blink of an eye. Like when I'm talking about us, like generating real interest in flying in the Pacific Northwest, which is a unique animal. It's different than flying in the Midwest and stuff like that, because we get weather and we've got these we've got Mt. Rainier and you. Yeah, we've [00:04:00] got the Cascades and stuff to run into.
Yeah. They call it see fit can fold, can fold. Controlled flight into terrain. There's an acronym for everything. Is that a crash or. Yeah. Oh yes. So what does an uncontrolled flight into terrain. That's just called a crash. That's just straight. That's just a straight crash. So, yeah. And my my flight instructor has like maybe I'm I'm guessing here.
I know that there's more than more than one of these guys in the flying club. But my flight instructor has probably eight thousand hours of flying. And he's a he's a physician and he is meticulous, just like rigid means not rigid at all. But he's like, no, we don't do it that way. He's just like very by the book.
Well, at eight, eight thousand hours is like, get some experience. Yeah, for sure. Assuming.
But there's other guys in the club like this guy named Tom Curran and it's a small world [00:05:00] because I think I did a podcast.
Oh, I did do a podcast last year. Did we publish that one? I'm gonna have to go back and look and see if we published it. I think we did because it was the one that had the the guy who did it.
There's the one with the guy with. You're talking about the C17 doing the rapid descent.
Right. Was that the flying club that. No, that's that's Air Force. But there's this other podcasts that we did about the kid who kicked me in the balls. And yes, imagine a color you can't even imagine. Now, imagine that twenty five more times. That is how the mantis shrimp do. Right. That that that one. Well, I was in Las Vegas and I ran into a guy who used to fly big ones. And it turns out that this other guy in the flying club completely separate was his squadron commander. Oh, geez. And I was like, oh, really? And I got to know him. I mean, we know each other. You know, just by a quaint. And I run into him at the club a lot and he sent out this email while I [00:06:00] was in Korea, which we'll talk about in just a second, about when he was flying F 15s at a Japan. And I'm like, hold on a second. It's worth reading.
Was this the guy? Yes. OK. So I thought that. What story? Basically, the short version, F-15 pilot, one guy intercepts two Russian bombers back in the 80s.
Yeah. So he was in an exercise and they were gonna go shoot this tow drone. Yeah, right. It's not even a drone. It's just a towed target. A drone that was towed. Right. OK. And there was a flight of four, which is four F 15s, which I like. When I think about that, I cannot communicate the amount of firepower that is like like one F-15 is like a whole squadron of B-17s in World War Two. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty ridiculous. And these guys are consummate professional.
30 year old plane, too.
Yeah. And it's zero point. Yeah. It's you're talking so designed in the 50s. Produced in the 60s, [00:07:00] flown aggressively in the 70s in the pinnacle of the concept of operations of employment of that particular aircraft probably peaked in 1980.
And then you apply new technologies. So it kind of evolves over time. But it's unbeaten. Yeah, it's unbeaten. Never been beaten except by the F-22, but that's irrelevant. But anyway, so this guy's out and you don't I'm gonna do is I'm going to produce a podcast section for the flying club and I will get the snippet of him telling this story on the podcast of the awesome. And the cool part about it is, is all Air Force pilots. Doesn't matter who they are. There is an element to that story that they embellish and nobody will call them on it. And it does not frickin matter. But I tell the story.
So the story is, is this guy's at an exercise in there doing something and they've got specific like alert birds and guys who aren't alert birds and F16's in Japanese F fours and all this other crap.
Right. And he's just he's like 20 years old, right. He's [00:08:00] probably a little older. And I'm a 22 years old. He's just getting ready to go fly and shoot this drone because it's part of the exercise practice. I should not use the word drone. I'm not toeing the line. The tow target. Okay. Okay. Drones do not exist in the Air Force. I just got to be totally honest with you. They're called unmanned aerial vehicles or remotely piloted aircraft. OK. OK. And they are literally unmanned aerial vehicles. They don't they don't use that term anymore UAV, because it has the the gender specific pronoun of manned. Right. And there are female pilots that that fly these. This is how an unmanned. Yes. Yeah. Actually not to get off track, but the Air Force is considering trying to changing their term airmen to fly. I don't know. They can't say aviator. They're a person. Air person. Oh, OK. So anyway, this [00:09:00] guy's in this hour. He was like triple sidetrack. I know. So this guy's Thom current is in this exercise. Right.
And he takes off. And if you know anything about airplanes, you know that any old thing can make these things not work. Right. And if you're not in a combat situation, forget it. So three of the guys in the flight are like, I'm not going off. And they circle back around and they land because of some issue.
Right. Well, he's the only one. And he's like, well, I'm going to go out to the box. Got to clear the box, which is like this big geographical area. And you can't shoot a toad target and let it fall on the fishing vessel.
All right. That would be bad unless you are indeed pregnant. So he's out there clearing the box and then he's talking to the traffic controller that's helping him clear the box. And then all sudden he hears on what's called guard, which is a specific frequency all over the world that every aviator should be monitoring at some point in a flight called Guard.
And if it gets crappy, you get on guard and you're like, mayday, mayday, mayday on guard. [00:10:00] This is my position.
I'm going down guard as a channel. Yep. Yep. And then they have like the I'm getting sidetracked. But so he hears on guard the Japanese Defense Forces saying unknown writer, unknown writer, you know, what's your position and your intent, you know, and an unknown writer call apparently in the world of air defense is probably somebody who shouldn't be. We're not going I'm announced right up here.
It's pretty cool. I like the fact that they come up with that stuff. Unknown writer. You're like, heck, yeah. That's cool. Complete. So he I was talking to him about this particular thing yesterday because I was fine yesterday. And he's like he kind of broke the story down.
He said, you know, Russian bears, which are these huge they're like the Russian answer to B52, except they have props, but only do they have props. They have counter rotating parts, double prop propellers on.
Yeah. Yeah. [00:11:00] So and actually they're not called counter rotating props.
So that would be a prop that you have a prop on the right side and a prop on the left side and they turn into each other. Right. That would be character called Controvert Wroten problem around the same ChAFTA. Right. So stupid boy, Mel. I know, but I didn't know. Well, I got I got slammed for it when I did not know him very well. Yes. Yes. So anyway, he says that the Russian bears would fly out of Vladivostok and then they'd simulate an attack on Okinawa.
So they would like, you know, break up and they'd go around. You just look at a map, you figure it out. And then here's an unknown writer call. Well, they have alert birds and the alert birds are on the way, but he's already there. So he had like 20 rounds or 40 rounds in his 20 min.
Could you just go shoot the UN person aerial vehicle? That's the target. Right. We've [00:12:00] got a God. If if the United States military ever loses, it's because they can't get all the words out their mouth before something happens to remind me. Remind me like we should only cross our fingers so it dies of have writers. OK, so so the unknown writer shows up. He's already there. He's got he's got 20 bullets in his gun.
Right. And he's he's alone. Right. And he's like, I got this right. So he flies up and then he says they exchange the common courtesies, which is they flip each other off.
What are you doing that is communicating, giving up foreign relations? Was giving him the bird.
You know the finger. Yes, I know the finger is. I'm so. I hate it.
That's right. Well, then he puts a couple rounds to front up right in front of this airplane. And he's like that the the Russian bear is like, forget it, I'm out. Well, there's another one. But he ran out of ammo.
Right. So he apparently, like, does [00:13:00] the goose and maverick thing where he inverts over the top. I don't even know. And then like gets really close to him and like puts his wingtip on the guy's window and a great line.
And that's one of the great lines are like, well, how how would you communicate with him if you're above him?
Directly above him? We were inverted. Inverted because I was inverted.
Yeah. Yeah. That's so great. And so but I would like to get the snippet of this guy, not even a snippet.
I'd just like to hear some stories, because he's got 30 years worth of Air Force stories flying B-1 bombers and which are supersonic. They're basically F-15s on steroids, swinging supersonic nuclear capable aircraft, plus F 15s. And now he's at the flying club. Any flights is the smallest plane you can find. Dude, seriously, it's called a Cessna 162 sky catcher. And it's the updated modern example of a Cessna 150 or 152. And it's it's [00:14:00] called a light sport aircraft.
And he wrote an article, this guy Thom car and wrote an article because he was flying out at Shelton and somebody almost landed on top of him and he snapped, hold it. And it made it into this thing called Air Facts Journal, which is this magazine that's been in existence since nineteen hundred.
I was like, you snap rolled a Cessna sky catcher.
Yeah. And he's articulate. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there. So there you go. Yeah. So that's the thing that's the really cool part about it is. So I mean all the way back to our original point, which was what do we do with podcasting? There's a crap load of it. Back to the F15. OK. He did the F15, yes. So he a couple. Bear takes off. Yeah. And then he flies up next to the next guy and they exchanged pleasantries again. And then he just he just slowly, very slowly puts his wingtip on the window of the pilot's window of the f of the the bear, the Russian bear. And [00:15:00] then the guys like f this I'm out of here. Touches it, touches it for real, makes contact in the air. You know, the guy's got a bazillion hours in an F-15 and a bazillion hours and then one and I've got about a call. I'm not seeing it there. I'm just saying that's a bad is a major significant. It is an action. There's no way that aircraft that Mr Nelson is gonna go. Did you really touch it? Because you just don't ask. No, no, no, no, no. You just don't. So, yeah, it was fantastic.
It was a great story. Well, you think about touching aircraft. But was it China?
How many years ago was the the reconnaissance plane out of would be. Yeah. And that the Chinese fighter bumped it like they had emergency land this thing. Yeah. Didn't the fighter aircraft have to bail out or something?
Yeah, I think they had one fighter airplane crash and then these guys. So because they touched. Right. There is like a thing. It's like a P-3 Orion or something like that. Right. Which is a [00:16:00] low wing turbo prop.
It's got the same meaning the wings are on the bottom of the body of a.
Correct. Right. And it's got massive amounts of loiter capability. It can like stay on station for like ten hours before it has to go home and refueling.
But these planes aren't like push over planes. They're not like you could you can roll one of these things. But the new version of that is made out of 737, aren't they? Yeah, it's a P-9 Poseidon or P-8 Poseidon. P8 P-8 Poseidon a lot. There's a lot of peace there. He popper sorry p a site and why my safe word will be whisky.
Syariah What was that? Whiskey.
Why are you saying that? Whiskey. My safeword will be whiskey. Yeah. So the P-8 Poseidon, you're gonna have to talk to engineer Brian about that because he was telling me about the the duty cycle like [00:17:00] profile of a normal 737. And I've seen these things in person and they fly them like fighters. They like wing over all kinds of nice.
So. So podcasting. Yeah. So I'm gonna do a sub podcast section for your flying club. Yes. But they also I believe that there is a woman in the in the flying club that used to be a wasp. What. Women's air world war too. Yeah.
So a woman's air force service pilot. And if I recall V. Ferried the planes. Yes. That were built during the war. Yes. Eventually across the United States and then over to England. And I'm assuming some across the Pacific as well. I would imagine.
Oh, I'm sure. I don't know the story in there, but I'm gonna have to hunt her down because I suspect she's almost nine years old.
You do got to do it quick. So I'll see if I can get her. But I'm reading a book right now called Fighter Pilot by this guy named Robin Olds. [00:18:00] Wait, wait. Robin Olds. 3 He was an ace in World War 2. Yep, ace in Korea. And was he an ace in Vietnam? I don't know. I haven't got a clue. F4 Phantoms. He was the guy with the all the Raleigh Fingers mustache. It's an F-U mustache because those are not considered. Well, he was a colonel at that point.
Yeah, well, I mean, the book is pretty obvious that he started doing the line.
Have to read it because I read it. But I read a bunch of stuff about him when I was in school. I hear that, man.
Dude, this guy's a man. I just went through the section in the in the book where he got himself transferred from being a football coach at West Point to the new P-8s squadron at March Air Field down. And I'd been to March. I got great stories about March, March Airfield down California. And the guy was like, sit behind a desk. And the day he got there, he went down to the locker room, put on his flight suit, and he just walked up to this P.A. jet and there was a maintainer there. And he's like, Helmy start this [00:19:00] thing started and took it off like, dude, if somebody did that in today's Air Force, they would hang you.
Yeah.
Now, so the dealio is in Vietnam, the Air Force was getting their butts kicked or they were not doing well. Right. He showed up and said, these are we're gonna do these tactics. And so the ones that we're currently doing.
I've got somebody I'm only halfway through this book. All right. So let's. Poch. Yeah. Yeah. So that was about. But there's a section in there also where they switched from P-38, which are the twin engine fighter, the P3. It looks like if the Mustangs, two of them connected sort of. Yeah, actually I think the twin Mustang was after the P-38 lightning or so, but they switched from P-38 to P-51 Mustang A models and the description. I mean he he he takes two almost two or three pages to to describe in a literal sense describe how these mustangs bright and shiny, nice, clean, you know, great, [00:20:00] just perfect examples of this airplane. And they came in, you know, over this runway in England. And they the way they do it is they kind of they they still do this where they they they kind of do an echelon.
So they have a leader and then there'll be an airplane to the right and to the rear and then an airplane to the right to the rear of that one.
And they'll be like five or six of them. So they kind of fly in this sort of half delta. You know, I can't it's a it's a line segment that goes sideways. It's diagonal. Right. And they they snap off at specific intervals to create enough space to get into the pattern to land and. Oh, so they leave enough room right now. And he spent so much time describing this and how these airplanes were, you know, the turbos were all wound up. And you can hear him with the pig alisson engines, just like.
Precision snap off and they all landed, right, and they landed in a line and then they all turned at the same time and parked, it was all like, you know, Blue Angels or Thunderbirds [00:21:00] kind of stuff.
And then they slide the canopies back and then they pull their leather helmets off and then shake out their long hair because there was pilots in all of these P50 or P-38. Give you a badge? Yeah, I loved it. It was awesome. It like these combat hardened pilots are like those are but they're better than us. And they look fantastic. Right. The planes are nice, too. Yeah. So is a great. Is it. So you're saying Allison engines. Oh yeah. Sidetracked. Okay. I still have this. Right.
So that reminds me of the hydroplaned. Oh yeah. Like Washington. They used to run these Allison piston engines and we still hear it from the lake from our house here in Kirkland. This very house. Yes. You can hear them running. I want to say it's 10 miles away. Wow. Yeah, maybe 15. But you could hear him on the water, right?
Yeah. And now you can hear because there are all these these turbine [00:22:00] engines. Right. Which are cool in their own right. But the old so they would take these Alisson piston engines out of airplanes, put them on, hydroplaned to race them on the lake every summer.
I have never seen the piston driven ones actually. I don't think I've ever even been down to watch the the big ones. But last year, I went down to the unveiling of the 737 Max with engineer Bryant. And they have one of those things and it has fluid for the first time, like last week. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So is near. Brian has flying parts on two aircraft now. Nice. 747, 747, Dash 8. And that 737 max jet, which is cool. That's awesome. But they have had a couple of apparently Boeing sponsored hydroplaned and not knowing what I was talking about, I just took pictures of them because they have these huge jeans and I don't even know what they are off to go back and look at my pictures and see if I can pull one of them up. Ethical. So, OK, so hydroplaned.
You [00:23:00] still listened during the summer. That was like something that happened as a kid here in Seattle for seafair. That hydroplane races at the last weekend of seafair and we used to ride around our bikes and get plywood and cut them out in the shape of a hydroplane and tie them to the back of our bikes and drive around that ride around the neighborhood. Oh, and we put males through the plywood and put little wings on the back. Half the looked like them paint them up, but nails through the bottom of these things been bending backwards to the back of the boat so that they would spark and skip like they do out in the water and we go poking around the neighborhood.
You don't have any pictures of this to you now? I have vague memories. Pictures like back then, just like a roll of 24 exposures. You you'd make that last like a month or two. There's none of those. I got 700 photos from the whatever event like now. I have a vague memory I have that I would love to get photos of.
Yeah, [00:24:00] like, yeah, that would be awesome. But I have vague memories of this. I don't. I wonder if I ever did it. Huh?
That's pretty cool. So, yeah, the hydroplane is so I'm I'm off track, but oh, we're way off track. My fingers are crossed for something. Okay. I don't know what it was. So we were talking about military stuff, right? Well, I recently went to Korea. I flew from Seattle to Korea. And the reason my fingers are crossed was because you said that if they win, it's because we can't get all the words out. Right. Yeah. And I was sitting at my desk while I was doing this thing in Korea and I wrote an email. Right. For an AA are what? It's ironic. An after action report. Right. And that's the subject line of the email, B.A.R.T. No, [00:25:00] no. AA. Yeah. After action report. Email. Yes. Okay. Perfect.
The subjects they see the government in the military, they've gone beyond T.L. AIDS.
That's good, right? They have it. Yeah. You act. I mean, it's almost it's own language. Right.
I mean, I mean, they had they became just do three letter acronyms. Now they've got to have like seven letter accurate is sort of like some comedian pointed this out. Right. Where. Oh in your you are ls for your internet letters is W W W huh. Right. To say w w w is an acronym for what.
World Wide Web site. It actually has more syllables. So w w w. And it's a world wide Web. Oh, interesting. W w w w w doesn't Carella say W three?
I [00:26:00] know what he does, so. So the subject line for this email. Oh, your after action report. Yeah. A-are.
And seee. Neo. Shoot, what was it? They are and neo.
Right. So anybody who's sitting in my pod would know what this. Oh, yeah. It's from Nelson, a RNC neo ops. Right. And I realized that I wrote an entire sentence in every single word without a single word.
Eight hours after action report NIE NCEA is noncombatant evacuation. Neo is non-combat or non-combat in evacuation operations and ops is ops and it's like triple redundant.
You should add that to your wienis. What [00:27:00] was the Wienis Alene?
This was a channeler being his weekly some sort of weekly report called the Wienis.
Beard I did not watch that show.
Well, he would do it every week called the Wienis and then he had to do it at the end of the year for the annual report as well.
So really? Yeah. Do you do you know what the weaknesses have to look at? Due to a weakness is a device that allows women to pee while standing and not make a gigantic mess. Well, that's not what they were talking about on friends. So that's that's pretty funny. So now we're gonna have to post a picture of what a weakness is. Yeah. So on my way to North Korea, did. Were like so when it was Baggot, you went to North Korea, didn't you? Yes. Or South Korea. I went to South Korea. I went to Korea. I also went to North Korea for like eight minutes.
How far into.
North [00:28:00] Korea. Did you get. Oh.
Probably two or three hundred millimeters like a few inches literally stepped across the line. I did. All right. So tell me about that.
Yeah. So, you know, it's pretty interesting. We did this we did this tour in this place called the JSA, the joint security area, and we're all military. I think civilians can take the tour, too.
But this particular tour or it was all military, but they told us we needed to wear civilian clothes and in all of that.
And they make you sign this document that's like, hey, this is a war zone. You could get kidnapped. You could get shot. We can't protect you. You have to be OK with this. You know, that whole thing, it's really interesting and it kind of disconcerting. And you're like, oh, okay. And then they put you on a bus and then there's an army E2 or something like private or something like that.
Who's the tour [00:29:00] guide? But he's wearing body armor and he's got an M9 on and radio with an earpiece and sunglasses to make him look mean. And you go through that whole like tour where they're like, this is where the captain was chopped up by the AKs from the North Koreans. And you're like, what? And then this is where, you know, and then they take you to the area where they did all the the prisoner exchange negotiations and everything like that. And these three blue buildings. And then they had like these two external buildings that have this weird siding on him that make him look like like a New York City diner. And you're like, okay, so what's up with these? And they're like, that's called the gym. But really, the only thing that ever happens is there's they put a bunch of armed people in there and then the other places where the Polish guys used to hang out, but they don't anymore.
So nobody goes in there and, you know, like, let's get used to hang out. Hey, what are you doing the night after work? We go down to the hangout. We're just going to go to the JSA and hang out at the GSA. Liberty and the all. I'm down for being up for that. Well [00:30:00] done, sir, at the GSA and the DMV. So, yeah, well, you have.
Do they have a DMV at the DMV? Probably stand in line next number forty seven. Forty seven renewal.
I'm sorry sir. It's a renewal only like get to tell and get me started.
I got a DMV story about Phoenix anyway so we're stand in a line and the guy's like a DMV P.H. X or the B PDX. That's Portland, P.A. Texas. Phoenix zip PDX is you stand in line at the DMV, DMV, the demilitarised zone, which ironically is not demilitarise. It's actually the most militarized zone in the world.
Right. We should probably explain because I told a couple of people that you were over there and I said the DMZ.
And they're like, huh? So. So the short story is North Korea and South Korea were at war [00:31:00] in the 50s. Correct. They are still technically at war. I wouldn't call it a technicality. They're still.
Bashfully Atwar, they're actually at war. They're under agreements of the armistice, an armistice, which means we're not going to shoot each other.
But for now, in 2002, North Korea was like, hey, you know that armistice, if that. Yeah. And they started shooting fishing boats and naval vessels. They're crazy.
So they stood there. Still are actually at war. Indeed. They're just more or less not shooting at each other. Right. In a wholesale manner, indeed. And there's a there's a how wide is the DMZ?
It's like four miles wide. Four miles wide. That goes across the entire peninsula.
Yeah, it's like two hundred and fifty miles where nobody goes because that's the line where they've stopped moving back off or I wouldn't say nobody goes there because nobody nobody goes there without a lot of forethought.
Right. But they send the the the [00:32:00] U.N. and the joint security area and North Korea, they send patrols through the DMZ all the time.
Guys, guys get killed in there. They like get ambushed and stuff.
Like old school style, I heard like the north will like will they grab people, like, come across the border police? Match people?
Yeah. I mean, I was in that room where that happened and they've like situated it so that I don't think it would happen anymore.
But in that thing that I signed before I went in there, they're like, don't make eye contact with these guys. Don't flip them off. Don't say I love you. Don't do anything because it will create an international incident. They are unreasonable.
They are. They're not irrational, but they're totally unreasonable. So did they. Did you. Did they talk about the time where they weren't responding to the. Is it. Do you call it the west or the south or the allies or whatever? Well, we would call our side. We would call it [00:33:00] the coalition. The coalition. They would call it the crazy American angry.
Right. So. There was a there was a period of time or more than one period of time where they just weren't responding to any sort of communications. Right. As a minor, the story that I heard was that while there's the coalition us, we still want to communicate with them on occasion. And so since they weren't picking up the phone, there's an actual phone, I guess. I believe so, yes. And they were picking up the phone on the other end. Yeah. So there's still got to make an ID at the. So they get a bullhorn and some some sergeant or captain stand in the DMZ with a bullhorn and says.
This was a massive fraud from President Park, from president somebody, right. You're overdue on your pizza bill, like pay the Internet or return it off, please pay up or we'll come over and get it or something, right?
Yeah. And it's bullhorn, dude. OK, so listen very carefully to this segment [00:34:00] right here. I have audio recording of North Korea using their gigantic house sized speakers to send propaganda over the DMZ to people who might be listening.
We're getting more national attention on this.
Ok. So it's hard to hear, but I mean, could you hear it? So how does it in your mind?
Because you were also in Afghanistan. Yes. And there was prayers over the speakers. Yes. Does [00:35:00] it ring a bell or does it? Now it's totally different. OK. You can just tell that it's.
No. No. It's completely different because like the prayers in Afghanis, we would make fun of them, that we would be like, oh, yeah. It's every Friday. This is what I mean. Clay and Brad would say we'd be like a announcement's and that's for now. It's good.
Hey, did you hear it in the background doing their thing like that? Like chicken nuggets in the cafeteria. And it's completely Bridey, is Jack a sober term sober?
So instead of Honduras for six months, we're on him Honduran military base. So you got to respect the country you're in.
And so every day at 5:00 or whatever, where they would pull a flag down, they play the Honduran national anthem.
Right. Call the Looney Tunes.
And it was, I want to say, off to look it up. But I let's say I was like eight minutes long. It was for very long. It's like, [00:36:00] you know, like the United States anthem. It's like it's not a short time. Right. It's a long tune. Right. This would go on like maybe twice as long. And if you got caught outside, you had to stand at attention during the whole thing. And so everybody to 5:00. I got to get over there. Got to get caught up. Side running. Yeah. And people people like I'm only seven steps away in the run inside a building. So I don't have to stand at attention because everyone's at the windows of their huts.
Leigh SALES I guess I know you're what's not working, man.
It's been in the middle some dirt field. Yeah.
So, yeah, it was totally different because in Afghanistan, if it wasn't on sequence, it meant something and it would set in perk your antenna up and then invariably coming out at a certain time. Oh, yeah. Now I was out of whack a mole Thursday at 3:00. No, this is not [00:37:00] when we pray. Right. Then 20 minutes later, there'd be rockets or, you know, gunfire at the gate or something like that. Right. Is it was enough of a signal that even the people that aren't Muslim and don't speak the language of Taliban flashmob plague, Minova? No. Nobody knows each other. They all just show up and do the crazy thing. Can you imagine? Like put there's a park across that. Can you imagine? Put the speaker up on a on a park across the street. You know, in the greatest read, you know, whatever that movie is. The Russians invade. Always the Koreans. Red Dawn. Well, the first one with all Russians, like the new one is terrible. But anyway, in Seattle. Yeah. But can you imagine that? None of whom speak English. Right.
And we're like, describe your microphone. Okay, everybody, we're gonna set some car bombs on Thursday at 6 o'clock on the corner, one 30 second on 24th Avenue. [00:38:00] Everybody got that. Okay, good.
They're all like s says, weird. I don't know any of the words is like, was it like the groundhog where you go go down the highway out and Montaner out.
Out in the Midwest. Right. And they hear a car coming and they stop running across the street. Stand up and look at just the time for you to run them over like you're something weird. What is that? Yeah. So that's what it would be like. Although. Yeah. So.
So it meant something different. But as you as you can hear from the audio clip. I had to work really hard to get that because there's a lot of industrial noise and stuff like that. But I mean there was I was exposed to it I guess. I mean it doesn't make any difference to me because I don't speak Korean and I don't speak North Korean dialect either. So and apparently there is a true dialect that like if a North Korean came down to South Korea, people would know instability, you know, from Loran here.
Right.
Right. But I'm and I was trying to figure out what the culture was like. [00:39:00] If there was somebody who defected, is it an embracing culture or is it a, hey, you should not be here culture? And I kind of got the sense that it was sort of in the middle, like there are people that are like. Welcome home. You know what?
You showed us photos of all of the ribbons on the fence or whatever, right. And like a memorial of people who died and family who were still in the north. Right. So there's still family connections. Right. Talk to Wall in Berlin.
It's exactly like that. Actually, there's a picture and I can't even show it to you because the LAPD didn't take there's like a duty cycle. They blink a bazillion, you know, that whole thing. Right. There's a picture at this train station. And I don't know what it's called because it's in Korean, but it's like Pyong Kec or something like that. The train station is an actual train station and there's trains that move through there, but they only move from that point south. Right. But the rails go north [00:40:00] up into North Korea saying that they're all connected. Yeah, it's all connected in that train station is humongous. Right. It would be like it's not the size of Grand Central, but it's pretty darn big. And it's designed specifically to aid in reunification.
And apparently it's connected, the tracks are connected.
If they did the full bore on the train, they could make it all the way up through North Korea, you know, and there's a train sitting there and it says d.m.c train right on it and just waiting for the reunification to happen. Yes. I was like. And I asked the tour guide, I'm like, what's this for? And he's like, well, sometimes they use it to take people up to the case on industrial area.
But the whole train station is essentially built to aid and reunification. And I'm like.
Oh, so this is something that they're all waiting for you you're hoping for. Like they want to be reunified. Indeed. So. I guess you can't speak for all of Korea or North Korea. All right. [00:41:00] It seems like the South, they want to get back together with the north because all of their families are still connected.
They totally do. And they they lean into it. It's a it's hope. Yeah. It truly is hope. And you're like in the end, you know, the irony of it is that the south I mean, the north would like to get back together with the south, too, but in their own way. You know, it's sort of the toxic relationship. It's like it's it's crazy. It's totally cool.
And, you know, the the the weird thing about it is I approached this trip with a deployment mindset, which in some respects is the correct mindset because you have to be aware of what's going on. Yeah, but as far as being around it out and about in the south, the last time I went on a quote unquote deployment, if you went outside the gate without your armor on, you'd get stabbed right. Or shot if you didn't present an image that said that you were prepared to fight to the death. Somebody is going to hook you up.
Right. And [00:42:00] I. And it's hard to, like, mentally separate yourself from that mindset. It's extremely difficult. And I wasn't the only one. There was a hole. The units that I'm in in the military are called defenders. There's a whole slew of defenders there that were the same way. And it's like, oh, it's really difficult just to walk off the gate and not just be have your head on. You know, and I notice your own civilian clothes, too. Yeah. Yeah. It actually makes it easier in civilian clothes. Although I stand out like a sore thumb, I don't even try. There's no way you're nine feet tall. Right. And I've got the military haircut. I know how that goes. So you know that that whole thing so that that that thing right there was difficult. But I found that it's actually really, really safe to walk around there. It's one of the safer countries in the world. And I don't know if it's just because they're not internally focused on people committing crime locally, but they're really focused on not getting jacked up by the north. They are, as a country, culturally [00:43:00] focused on defending the south and reunifying with the north. It's really amazing.
Well, that's completely logical. Logical. I mean, that's where that's what they live in like. We're not worried about Canada. Right. So we don't think about stuff like that.
Yeah. There's no analogue that I can put to an American that would make them go, oh, I get it. Yeah, that's. I there's no way to maybe North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas. You guys still there? Quarterback of America, Mirko murka, Texas. No, wait, no, wait. Kobach's the Texas of Canada. That's what I was going to say. Is it, you know? Yeah. So. And then when I was there. That actually is kind of funny because it sort of relates to this is, you know, as soon as I told my family that I was gone and everybody's like, oh, man, Kim Jong un crazy.
And, you know, from the surface of it, it looks like it. But the [00:44:00] planning the planning for all of the military operations that happen there is that he's actually rational. He's rational, but he's completely unreasonable. There is a difference between being batshit crazy, right, and being rational, but unreasonable.
Yeah, I'm I'm not sure what my opinion of him is or if it even matters, but I think back to like Saddam Hussein, huh?
And also the keys to the city of Detroit. By the way, Saddam does. Yeah. Anyway. Or did did.
But, you know, it came out later on that he'd never had any of these weapons that he claimed that he had and was going to use or most of them didn't. Whatever. Some some some. Um. He just basically didn't have what he had. But he had to say this because he was worried about his neighbors. Right. Like he had ran like like all blustery, you [00:45:00] know, saber rattling like North Korea does all the time. So I keep thinking he can't possibly think that he is ever going to win a military exchange. Yeah. So that he he went to school in the United States. Right.
Actually, I think it was in Switzerland, but. OK. He speaks English. Yeah. But the point is, is that I think the key on rationality associated with Kim Jong un is, is that anybody who thinks that, frankly and this is not I'm try-, I actually work really hard the older I get. I work really hard not to adopt the murka line. Yeah. Right. Because.
But but if you look at it from a historical perspective, the reality of the situation of the American military, even at its lowest point since I mean, the Air Force in particular is at its lowest manning levels since the early 90s or the late 1940s. Right. Even at its lowest point, the United States military at this point that we're at in [00:46:00] a long time has the kinetic capability to destroy thoroughly, destroy any army in the world. And I'm talking Russia. I'm talking China. And I'm not saying that they wouldn't put up a fantastic fight and it might be a slog and we would end up instituting they would rather, yeah, we'd get a huge bloody nose and maybe even more. But the reality is, is that with a technological advantage that we have and the professional military that we have all volunteer and the fact that we've practiced over the last 20 years a lot in real situations and just the integration we can do that seems like my perception is.
It seems like we would win any conflict. Right.
It's what are you gonna do for the 10 years after that? So that's the point. That right there is the total point because a rational person would go.
I can't win a kinetic war with the combination of all of the allied countries and the U.N. and South Korea and especially the hardware and knowledge that United States has. I can't. And you know what? Kim [00:47:00] Jong un knows that. So he's completely shifted his battle planning from long range artillery to the greater Seoul metropolitan area to special operations forces and a 10 year long insurgency in the south. Just to slug it out for as long as boss and he has a fantastic example of the way that works over last 20 years. Where would that you know, and and in the operational planning on that. We're good at that. We're terrible at it compared to what our kinetic capability is. But we're we're good at prosecuting that war. But I really don't think that the United States has the taste for it anymore. The thing about it is, is that the United States continually shows a level of commitment that is unmatched. You know, he's been launching missiles and stuff like that over the last few weeks. And this is chicken or the egg. Is it because we're having these huge exercises there or is it because are we there to exercise because he's been launching missiles? It really is. Doesn't even matter.
But does does the kid, Glenn, in the neighborhood throw rocks at kids because they poke him with sticks [00:48:00] or do they? Pocan With sticks because he throws rocks. Yeah. Can't shut up.
So, yeah, it's it's kind of one of those things where you like. I don't know. And frankly, after 1953, does it even matter now? It doesn't even matter. That whole situation is.
It is crazy. It's crazy. So so anyway. There's a dude while I was there. They you know, so being the captain, they're like you. Yes. Yeah. They like. All right. Who are going to sign? Who's the most rational person around here that we can assign to be the captain's designated friend? You're a scientific captain. Yeah. So we were late. Right. And I got got there and I was like all jet lagged because the shitters in the airplane broke with their fall and bull crap right there. Which is a complete separate story in itself. But.
So they they assigned that match [00:49:00] disheartened to me, who actually turned out to be a really great guy. It's kind of hit or miss. And it's always great when you go to these environments where you're just deploying by yourself, where you can be like, that guy's got my back and I got that guy's back. And they basically said, hey, you guys are going to go down south, a dago. And they tossed his keys to the government, a government vehicle. And they're like, go over that building and catch your Korean driver's license. And I was like, huh?
Like studies that haven't backed around a corner forever.
But this is the worst I know, packing round a corner to have to stop. They left hand drive.
No, no, they're right. Everything's like the United States. They're everything left hand drive day drivers on the left side. The drivers on the list. Yeah. And it was an American car anyway. So. But they drive the same way, although they have, you know, like a light bias like on top of a police car. They just have them randomly dispersed on the freeway with them flashing and they're just like on a post like a..
Yeah. And you're like, I I don't know [00:50:00] what that's for. Like that post might pull me over.
Yeah. And one day I just continued past them at 80 miles an hour. But anyway, this guy's got a fantastic YouTube channel and I'm gonna post a link to it. You guys might know if you think back in your mind, there's this video of this guy who goes out on a lake and. Sees these two, dear. They're out on a lake that have been out there for a couple of days. It's frozen lake got stuck on the ice, on the ice. And he throws a rope around them and drags him back to the shore. That's the guy that was writing this.
So this is the guy. Yeah, it did this video. Yeah. I've seen one where a helicopter comes over and just uses the rotor wash and blows a deer off the side of the lake.
Yeah. Yeah. I wonder like the 20 seconds after that as the helicopter crash seems like every time I see some fantastic maneuver with a helicopter it's like, oh that guys. Oh never mind. There's [00:51:00] a video of a guy who's like, oh yeah, about a helicopter and he's not a helicopter pilot and he goes as tries to fly it and crisis. They're tough I guess. I I've never flown a helicopter, but I got to assume that, I mean, flying itself is not necessarily that easy. And there's a lot of it's like three dimensional. So it's different than, you know. So you've got a you've got to be like, OK. So you have enough money to go buy a helicopter or one.
Remember what we're talking about. I don't know how we can sell helicopters. North Korea. Sounds like fun. Like a hoot. North Korea. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So we never actually talked about that.
So I went into the room and then there's like a satellite on the table. And then I was able to go on the other side of the table. And then the tour guide was like, hey, all y'all that are over there are actually North Korea.
And I took my phone away and took a picture, which you can see on the website. And then I. You said that these. So don't do that.
Yeah. Stop taking pictures now. And [00:52:00] I was like, huh?
Click this thing. Click, click, click, click, click. Yeah.
And then actually on the way back, we were in the DMZ. We went on this other tour down to this place. We'll have to tell a story about the choppy, choppy thing, but that at a different time. But the guy's like no pictures. This is a no photo zone. And then somebody, some idiot in the bus didn't turn their sound down. And he you can hear it go click like they've manufactured, you know, pictures, sound. And he's like, bring it up here. And he made him believe it.
And I was like, I'm pretty sure that you can just be like, hey, bro, f off you. What are they going to do? Well, Arastoo, I'm sure. Yeah, I'm not sure. So anyway. Well, welcome home, Mike. It was good times. Happy times. Jetlag. Brutal socks. Yeah, brutal. How many days to get back on track?
A full seven days. False. It was easily a full seven days.
And it's just like, well, while you were gone, we went back to daylight savings time. Just missed me. [00:53:00]
Our guest really screwed me up. I hate it. I think it's the what are we going to get dealt with that it is stupid.
I don't know how Arizona did it. Arizona is like, hey, y'all can do that running and doing this. We're not doing it anymore, which I think is we side with Panama. All right. Okay. There you go. Sounds good. So what's new with you? Anything renaissance?
Yeah. Up again with the ice cubes.
I'm killing it. Artist crystal clear. I in fact, I want to figure out how, like diamond cutters measure clarity in a diamond. Oh, because I'm to the point now where I'm making these ice cubes where I can see like three gas bubbles in it. How do you do it?
I think we're talking about. You got to freeze it from the top down. The new the new term is now called directional freezing. I've seen this on the Internet now. But you freeze it from the top down so you insulate the [00:54:00] bottom and the sides. And so as it freezes from the top down, it pushes out all the gases down to the bottom. So then you had the bottom of the block has all this cloudy stuff at the top. So I've actually raised it up even higher into the water, made it deeper on the bottom and freeze it slow.
So I have a question for you. Not that everything revolves around this, but when I was in Afghanistan, we had this freezer in this office that was in this. In our marshalling yard of crap here was literally just a bunch of stuff in there and people would go back there to do smoke cigarettes and do each other in a crash. Right. I'm not even joking here. You know, you go back there and you like, I'll just come back, you know? Which is fine. Then eventually, at some point you're like, hey, guys. I mean, not guys in particular. People. People hate people. Can you just make just [00:55:00] search a coathanger on the door? Yeah, I mean, like. And then like all of the after product, just like. Can you just please. I make it just even the smallest effort to get rid of that, you know? And they're like, really? And I'm like, yo, Jo Ann B says, none of this. And I. I'm fine with that. But seriously, just, you know. And then after that, they're like, okay, maybe we'll just make a little bit of effort. You know what I'm saying? Yes, I do. That that whole process. Anyway, back to the click, man. I don't even I'm like old enough in my life where I don't even care anymore. Like, my son's going through a health class in fourth grade. We were in this house right now we're talking about all of that, all the business, all of it. And he's like and. Not to get off track again, but Holly and I have committed [00:56:00] every fiber in our being to being 100 percent open about that when there's questions and just being nonchalant and marro fact about it because there's no point in it. Yeah, and I'm like sittin making dinner and we're like, Oh yeah.
And then the seminal vesicles and the bass deferens and you know, and the and the ovaries and the uterus. And then when you're in utero, sometimes, you know, you've got gonads.
And then there's a point when it's either your ovaries or testicles and there and Ellis, it's like really? You're like, yeah, I mean it's in the DNA before that happens, whether you're gonna be a boy or a girl. But those have to be acted on by this substance called gonad a true open. And he's like, seriously? So you end up with a a manual or an automatic. There's gears in there. And sometimes you get the paddle shifters, right. Dude, I totally I don't even talking in code like I just did. I don't know at all. And and I'm like, if you want to know more about it, you need to [00:57:00] ask mom 'cause she knows like she knows that stuff, all the stuff, you know, a lot. I know it because I took anatomy and physiology in college. But in Hollywood, like, how do you remember that crap? And I'm like, wow, I don't know. I found it really interesting. I'm not even sure, you know. So but anyway, all of that. But okay. So back to the ice.
Do you think you're there for Mike? We have podcast in a long time and I miss it along here. The third cup of coffee, too. Right. Right. That's exactly right.
So so there is this freezer in that office back there. Yeah, that was like in a state of frickin status. That thing was like zero degrees, Kelvin. It's the KitchenAid freezer that's in the back of the Connick's box at the civil engineering. Bertalan, you get the Soviets plugging it back in 72. I'm not even kidding you. We would put we would put stuff in there. We put ice or [00:58:00] water in there and we'd stack it up. So it's completely full. And then we close it and leave until like Friday. And you'd pull those things out and it's filtered water. Right. And it would be liquid water until you tapped it and it would freeze it instantly. I have video. Yeah. Off to see if I can find the video of. It's probably on my old blog.
Yeah. You can do that in your own freezer too. So.
So how does that relate. Like have you use distilled water in the ice.
Yeah that helps a little bit. Not much around here I think because either it's using tap water. OK. But we have great water here. We do.
I can imagine in other parts of the country Flint, Flint somehow is going to happen. Right. Like you can't you can't freeze gasoline. I mean, just. Right.
Talk about bandwagon. There's some like counting down in California. That's like, hey, our water's bad, too.
Oh, they're with their natural gas leak for nine months. Like, how is that not an environmental emergency? Apparently, that's bigger deal than the. The New Horizons [00:59:00] oil spill.
Oh, really? Yeah, I know what you want to know why it's a bigger deal because you just can't spray something on it to make it go to the bottom of the ocean. Yeah. It's so.
Yes. So what are you asking? You make it freeze. We pull it out or what?
Well I just like now my my ice, my understanding we have a sort of rhythm and have pure water. Right. Yeah. Like just hydrogen and oxygen and pure water.
Yeah. It's very hard to freeze it. Okay. Cause you can get it below freezing temperature and it'll stay a liquid. And what it needs is there's a term I forgot it, but basically it needs an imperfection or an impurity introduced into it in the moment it has that then the then the crystallization is a chain reaction that it goes oh there's an impurity or an imperfection and it goes in.
You watch it happen. It is crazy. Yeah. So you can take like a corona, for instance, stick it in a freezer for [01:00:00] like, I don't know why you'd want to degrade Corona. It's to go in the freezer for like two, three hours.
Not, not for much longer. Hold on a second. Imagine yourself. On a beach, it's hot, really hot as hell. The current issue. OK, so you put it in the freezer like an hour, maybe two. There's videos on YouTube. Right. And then you you open the door slowly. You don't want to jiggle it and pull the bottle out in your pink on the countertop. And you watched the beer. It's supercooled.
And then the moment you do it, it finds the impurity or the imperfection in the fluid. And then it. Nick, nucleation. Nucleation that that's how rain. happens. Yes. Yes.
So if you get pure water, very clear, clean water doesn't have anything to nuclear it against Harlen or attached to. [01:01:00] And soon as you tap it, it finds some sort of thing. And it all starts a chain reaction. You watch it happen.
I'm surprised that because that process is so amazing. And sorry, pea popper. That process is so amazing. And I had never seen it until I went to Afghanistan, which is so totally crazy because I know where I went to find it.
You'd have to be lactamase fan, but like. Yeah. Now and back in some crazy hot in the. That's actually an intermodal shipping container that's turned into an office that not the crash. Mike learned about science. It is taught biology. Science. Mr. White Anderson. Whites. Right. And biology has science more or less as terrible.
But you know, the nuclear age. I forgot where I was going with that. But I'm surprised. Oh, this is what it was. I'm surprised that somewhere down in see my fingers across and I don't know why I get to write it down somewhere like in France, where they like doing like a 19 course [01:02:00] meal. And it's all these like pieces of meat that are silver dollar size with a little potato and they don't like pour this water in, like tap the glass and it turns to ice.
Yeah. For the show. Right. You're like, oh, that's amazing. That would be kind of cool, actually. It would be. I wonder if you could like pour it and then just have it like turn. That's called super cooling. OK. Could you give super clue. Cool. The liquid below freezing. It'll stay a liquid until got some sort of disruption happens. Got it.
And so apparently the science and the chemistry with freezing water is way complicated, way more than you would think. Really? And it's even apparently difficult to describe it scientifically. I don't know. I don't even know how to describe easy things scientifically, but a lot more complicated than you might think.
So.
So is it better to have some impure impurities in the water to create ice nucleation in your case, where you're trying to create clear ice? Or is it better to have it pure water?
Why? [01:03:00] I don't. It's pure the better. OK. Right. So you want to get as few inprivate few dirty things parts in there, so. Right.
So is is the water in the Pacific Northwest the fact that you can get it with three little micro bubbles in it? Is that a testament to the clarity and the purity of the water in the Pacific Northwest or Yarber?
Maybe because I think if for you we had bad tap water. Yeah. You'd want to go get distilled water. Interesting. But I've tried to with this a lot of it's marginally better. OK. A year ago in my process here I've refined my process too. Doesn't even matter. I just pour straight out of tap, put in a bucket. Two days later, I got these clear eyes.
But you don't let it distill. You don't let it go.
All the water all in there. And then you get on the Internet. Oh, you've got to boil it. Oh, you got a double boil. You've got a double boil. Distilled water is like dope doesn't help at all.
And from what I understand and maybe some chemists can dispute this, but when you boil it, you're getting all of the oxygen [01:04:00] out of it or all the gases. But apparently, all of these gases get absorbed into the water at room temperature anyways. So the moment cools down, it starts sucking up all the oxygen, backing to the water or whatever it is, you're getting rid of it.
I wonder what happened if you froze it in a nitrogen environment.
I'd be cool. Boiling kills, pathogens or bacteria? Bacteria. Yeah. Right. But like in Flint, you can boil the water. But that's not biological agents in there. The chemical agent, heavy metal, heavy metals. And they're just staying in there. So boiling it doesn't seem to do anything.
So, OK. So but there's a difference between boiling water to kill bacteria and boiling water to distill it. Right. So I wonder if in Flint, if you boiled it and put it in a still like Mayor Bill, that might help.
But I think the problem is it's just the energy involved in clearing the water is just mass it like it. It's cheaper and more efficient to just get [01:05:00] a bottle a day out of tune. Diesel trucks and ship it in. Right. It's still going to be cheaper to do that than actually distill enough water to.
That's interesting. On the United States Navy has has what they call desalination. Services on every one of their vessels, right, actually. Right. And whenever there's a big earthquake or something like that, they'll send a carrier task force and people get pissed off about it. Sorry, P. Popper, I gotta stop doing it. Are just gonna need you to get a thing. Anyway, people get ticked off about it because.
Oh, well, you had a you had an earthquake. And who do you send the Navy. Yeah, right. Because it's. Yeah. I have no problem. You think about it literally. Is there an organization on the planet that can drive a boat and just run an extension cord to an island that has been completely flattened? Right. And fired up. That's exactly my point. That's what they're doing.
I kind of feel like maybe they need to figure out how to sail one of the older aircraft carriers up into the Great Lakes [01:06:00] and just plug that sucker in and just net desalinate some water and put a big ol hose, paint, paint and floral colors and like make it a park, make it fun, you know. But but I think my point is, is that you said that the energy required to either boil it would be way too great in its more energy, probably more energy efficient to take the out-of-tune diesel truck and drive the water in. And the amount of energy that it takes to desalinate that water literally requires a nuclear power plant, which is on an aircraft.
And speaking of energy, like I am, I don't know, but I'm certain the amount of energy that I'm using to create these ice cubes, these ice cubes probably like valued at like $4 a piece really is given the amount of electricity I'm running to. And it's just heat, energy transfer. Remove the energy out of the water. Yeah. Takes like one back in our own Ready Days podcast where we're talking about you're running a freezer. How long does it take to get the freezer [01:07:00] back down? That cost electricity. Cost money. Yeah, I'm running. Sent into dollars into every one of these ice cubes.
Yeah, it's just fun. I kind of wonder if you could like create a local economy for that. How so? Well, I don't know. It seems like it's cool and you've got your process down to the point where people would be like that is remarkable. Be fun to like, oh, you're having a dinner party. Well, I'll make 50 keeps for you and it's gonna cost you two bucks. Cute, right? Yeah. So. Give me a couple hundred bucks. I'll have. This is not just a clunky sound, it's a novelty ice. That's I mean. Okay. So how big is the ice cube. You can make it as big as you want. Minor. About an inch. An inch cube. OK, maybe inch and a half. They use put one in there and say if somebody is drinking a bourbon or something like that, you know, hear top of that man. Can I have one?
Yeah. I'll bring some are like you put two in a tall glass import. Oh my. Next thing I'm going to do is I'm making my own seltzer water. So [01:08:00] you you've put these in a clear glass bottle of seltzer water in there and you don't know that they're in there.
The only reason you know that the ice cubes are in there is because the bubbles from the seltzer bubble up on the bottom. I would give you a silhouette. Interesting. That's cool. It's awesome. So the seltzer water, I just drink straight seltzer water. And I do that because if I didn't drink straight saltwater, I just drink straight beer all the time. And the seltzer water kind of I don't know why, but it sort of activates that sensation.
Yeah. Interesting. Complex interest on your tongue. Yeah. Yeah. I've tried to dial back to beer and the seltzer water helps. Yeah. It's not there. Like just water.
Like you're never gonna get me to admit that I'm dialing back. So in the military they do this thing every year or they call it a PHC, a something prevented a health assessment or something like that. And I remember when it's called. But anyway.
And they say, do you drink more than one beer a week? Yeah. Yeah. You have a problem. What?
Well, [01:09:00] then like you look at all the guys that I work with. Right. Guys all inclusive, non gender specific guys. And I and I look at him and I go, hey, are you guys doing your PSA? And they're like, Yeah, boss, what's up? I'm like, just remember the number one core value in the Air Force's integrity. You know, like how you talking about men like that section number four when it says how many drinks do you drink? That's not just like a continuous stream. That's like every time you got to open a bottle. That's not how many you'd like to do that. Some of those guys are like, I was twelve. Should I say twelve? I'm like, is that a day or a week? It's actually not even a full day. We're talking ratios or actual count. Right. That's the ratio to what it's that you said. No, there is not a single person except for the guys that don't that don't drink at all. That is honest [01:10:00] on that. Yeah. And you know, the military is an alcohol centric environment, so.
So but seltzer, I want to make some selter because in cost cutting, because the kids are eating like mad crazy foliage like, oh my God. Like, all right. We're don't be drinking pop. So, you know, because that costs money, it's just bad for you all.
Even the diet pops bad. Right. So I figure if we can get the Safeway brand selter, that's like 7 like 17 cents a can. All right. Crazy, cheap. Well, they got a hold of this stuff and they're blowing through a twelve pack a day. Yeah. I started drinking and the boys do that, too. It's just like it now. Even that's getting expensive. So but I figured out if you make if you brew your own, it gets down to like 4 cents a can. So are you talking like soda stream? Yes. Okay. So. Yeah. Yeah. I mean but you get rid of the you get rid of a soda stream thing, you go get the canister, the valve and you make your own water.
So okay. So this is interesting [01:11:00] because Holly and I have been drink. This is parallel. I have not communicated this to you know, we don't communicate actually in the previous three years before this. We've communicated more than I think we ever have in our lives. Right. Dude, you live. Yep. Okay. Rogers want to make sure. Yeah. But the interesting point about this is, is that this is a parallel stream that I'm exactly the same spot that you are in. And so while I was in Korea, you complete me now. You had me. Hello. Okay. Back on track while I was in Korea, I texted Holly on our WhatsApp thing, which is cool. We'll have to do a separate episode about that. And I said, I think we should get a soda stream. And I was looking. Now, did you send this to me? I was looking on Deadspin or Jalopnik or one of those other Gehrt Lifehacker Lifehacker. And he has this thing about how to get a big tank and see.
Oh, yeah, well, that's probably the same article I was looking at. So maybe [01:12:00] I did send it. I had super where I'm going to do it because I'll get my I'll get my water. My. Soda consumption down to like 3 cents a can.
Right. And then if you get a big like a 40 gallon bottle or the last like a year or two, right then. Yeah. So I'm all over it. Let's do it together. OK. OK.
I got the party list already. Do you expect out? We can do it for under a hundred bucks. Right. And then the kids can go crazy.
And, you know, at engineer Brian's house, I noticed that he had a soda stream on his counter. Yeah, we should add.
So you get out of a DRM version of the soda stream, the Zürich machines. Right. Because you can only use their own pods or their whatever.
Great stuff. But you're locked into their ecosystem and their money. So any of us will do that.
Yeah, but if you get the soda stream theme thing and then you use the valet valve, there's a like some sort of connector. Yeah. I'm not sure. I think you can hack the SodaStream. Yeah. That's what I was reading on that lifehacker. OK. Yeah, [01:13:00] it's pretty cool. But anyway, what else.
Dumpster diving. Tell me. Gone dumpster diving for. I'm doing as much as I can be cheap. Apparently you can tell.
There down on Highway 9. There's a a sauna shop.
Ok. Yeah. The. They make gazebos for Sann as an interior stuff. I do believe that listener and contributor Sara got her raw materials for her. Swedish. Swedish. Norwegian. Norwegian. Gave the Finnish guest this Finnish standard Finnish hot room.
What do you call him? sonna hotbox at a sauna.
Sauna? Yeah, he says sauna. Sauna. That's what I was going to call her and ask little Wisconsin in there from. Yes. From them.
From the. Oh, OK. So. Right. So they they run seeder through this place. It's like a little mill that they have here. And [01:14:00] they've got a dumpster on side of the freeway and they throw stuff in there all the time. And I have like a look at that. So I've been grabbing freshly cut cedar planks out of here for free. Wow. And make a frame.
So I'm all like psychos like McNiece rustic cedar frames when I come over here and you have this wheatly engineered wooden gate, it swings, it's all like reinforced. But I'm literally just cutting 45 degree angles and putting a dal on the side, gluing it.
So I got to be honest with you when I saw that. Well, first of all, darling is like advanced level framing. So framing to a one. Yeah. 4 for reals. That's not the easiest. Makes a difference. It makes it so hard. It's a days together. Right. So but I have to be honest with you, I saw the I saw the frame and I was pretty darn impressed with it. Thank you, Mike. And the photo that you pushed to put in, it was also impressive, which was taken by a listener, Karen McCarron. [01:15:00] Dr. Drew Pinsky is such a cult sister, Karen.
Hi, you guys. You wanted me on. I called.
I don't know what episode that was of those good would be.
The bee's knees. The birth of the bees. Yeah, I think it was so. But anyway. I think you should take a picture on it and put it on the podcast post, because I really feel like when I looked at that, I was like, that's totally meaning a market. It's a niche market. It's totally the Pinterest market, Pinterest rustic, kind of like the the wall made out of old pallet wood.
Yeah. Yeah. Which is which is a whole thing unto itself. I made a second frame yesterday and this time I made a beveled out the back end of the interior so I could put glass in it.
Yeah. Perfect is ran ranma it over to my table. Saw it like quarter inch and cut out a little bevell. Yeah. And included together to look [01:16:00] right. Yeah. Looks awesome. But I'm a little I'm literally five dollars and 18 cents into this. I like it because headed by wood glue and $4. But for real, if you took that thing down to Pier 1 and hung that thing on the wall it would be worth 200 bucks. Sweet for real. I may just have to do that. So I don't know. I don't know what the process is to mass produce it. Well, that's the thing is, the second one I made took me half the time.
It took me to make the first one and it's better. I am already kind of got it in my head like I am. Then my next step is and you just need to make ten.
Yeah. You need to make an economy retail. And the process is already. It's just so simple. Yeah. I'm just gonna cut a bunch of pieces for them all together and then just get some hooks and some wire. Set him out front me in the neighborhood. Grodd Sale in couple of weeks. Oh really? I think so. We'll see that. Huh. Well, I'll tell you, there's some sell like one. If somebody haggle me down to $4 or I'll be left in like nineteen of these things or [01:17:00] I'll get rid of all them. Who knows.
I like it. That's cool, huh? Brilliant. So your gate though is quite impressive. I like it. I appreciate that. I. So the reason for the gate is that I have Miss Audrey and a couple tumblrs so retarded.
So they it carige little Clint. He climbs everything. I saw him the other day climbing up on the outside of the trampoline. Yeah, like standing heels off the backside of the stage, doing the whole catching his balance thing. I'm like, he's like, he's fine. He climbs everything.
Yeah. Not a problem. Well, I watched him about a year ago and it was a problem because I at the time Audrie couldn't even move. She's still like a little slug. Yeah. And so you don't have to be as careful as you. That's right. You you'd have to be careful when they're little slugs, right? Hey, dude, idea. Put a mirror one of those frames. OK. [01:18:00] You don't have to be careful with the little slugs. And then Clinton was mobile and Karen told me, hey, I'm not trying to challenge your parenting or anything like that, but I know that it's been a while since you've had a little guy. And I'm not inexperienced. You know, I'm like, I got this. Get out of here. She's like, he's really fast. I'm like, okay. It was like eight seconds. She was gone for eight seconds. And that kid went down the stairs and I saw him and I ran and he was in the air. And I sacrificed my body for the good of the greater good of the brain function of this child. And I grabbed him in the air and it was like, no. And we both went down and I called her.
I'm like, yeah. So we'll see who we take. Those janitors. They will. Really? Yeah. So that kind of thing.
Well, then Marie was watching Audrey and Audrey [01:19:00] takes a tumble down the stairs and Marie's in tears and I'm like, nah, nah, we're good. Right. And then she's like, build a gate or I'm not coming back. So I built the gate and the gate, you know, it it's positively locked and closed.
It can't go beyond it swings shut. It's like a door. Yeah, right.
Yeah, it swings shut on its own. Well, about three weeks ago, I'm up here watching Bill Nye with the kids and they get mad because I make him watch that. But now, Bill.
Yeah. So I'm watching Bill Nye with the kids and then I. I don't remember what it did. I think I go to the bathroom. So I went downstairs and I forgot to lock the gate. And Audrey walks over to it, opens it and goes all the way down the stairs. So even with the auto closing gate, you have to be on top of your game.
So those stairs, though, they're brutal. Do you remember when you were a little kid being put in the suitcase in a hard shell suitcase, Samsonite?
Yeah. I would just launch you down the side of the stairway. [01:20:00] It would be ba ba ba boom, boom. Hit the bottom of the stairs. If you pop out, crawl back up guitar.
That's awesome. It was a good time. You've been listening to music lately?
Yes. Yes, I have. So I got hooked.
Back on to modest Yahoo! He's got two or three albums since his big win from South by Southwest. Okay, awesome. All right.
We'll throw some of that on the end to here. And then my favorite band lately. Much to the chagrin of some other people. Is Switchfoot. And then they have this. I ran into this song called Momento or something like that or something like that that I was listening to on the two hour bus ride from Ozone to Incheon Inn in South Korea. That I thought was great. A great song. Halling are going to the concert. The Switchfoot concert up in Bellingham. Nice.
At the end of Good. I liked their album back in ninety whatever. Eight or something.
Yeah, [01:21:00] beautiful. Let down I was get home. Yeah. They're so much better than that.
I listen to the Dandy Warhols de Andy Warhol. Yeah. That was a good album. This machine and then. Twenty one pilots. Twenty one pilots. All the kids. Listen to them. Actually some good stuff.
And I will say that people who will listen to the older podcasts that have the the funky version of that Volf Peck songs. We were just commenting that Wolfpack has given us permission to use their music and they are now popular, which is called him on the way up, man. We totally did.
I knew that before they were cool. I'm afraid that they're going to just completely revoke it. Why? Why did the hipster burn his mouth drinking coffee? Because he drank it before it was cool. That's awesome. I have to credit that Cortana told me that one. Cortana. Yeah. I'll see if I can get her to say it for me. Yeah. No. Amen. Well, hey, good to be back. [01:22:00] Yeah. Like once a year, whether we need it or not. That's right. All right. All right, doctor. Later by.
Sometimes you, God, bleed in the show. You can have some. It's like someone coming. The songs on the radio are OK. But my taste in music is your. And it takes a song to come around.
You [01:23:00] fell asleep in my car, I drove the whole time, but that's OK, I'll just avoid the hole. So you sleep fine. I'm driving here, I said, cursing my government for not using my taxes to fill holes with more cement.
You sleep in my car. I drove the whole time, but that's OK. I'll just stop by now. So you sleep fine? I'm driving. Cursing my God for not using my taxes was my.
Sometimes [01:24:00] you got to bleed. No. Oh. Oh, that sure you can have some, but it takes someone to call me. Is mom. She's the terror in my heart. She's a carver. She's a butcher [01:25:00] with a smile.