Man, are men getting old.
By Beverly Rezneck Public Domain, Link
Dave turned 50 - and doesn’t feel so bad
Dave got a hat
Ages between 32 and 85 were thought to be a wasteland … guess not
Mikes dog, and skateboard are gas powered with no brakes
He’ll recover. But it’ll take a while
Dave explains Nellipalooza and how internets work.
MySpace?
Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson
Facebook knows you. But you knew that.
Fish Tanks and plastic plants
ENJOY!
Birthday Bonsai!
Dave didn’t get beat up so many times that he didn’t make it to 50!
SWAG! It’s limited edition.
Music by the Roger Schrubber Orchestra
Outro: 150 Down Tempo
Transcription
… such as it is:
0:17
Hey, Mike Nelson here. Hey, Steve. How you doing, Mike? Hey, good, Dave. Yep. Red man. Red man. What? Two weeks in a row? I know, man. I mean, we are siesta for for a week. And then and then we got two weeks in a row. That was great.
0:35
Hey, hey, man, Happy birthday. Thank you, Naomi Palooza turns 50 years old. Oh, man, you laid it out there. I would have like, downplayed that hardcore.
0:45
Hey, I don't know, what am I gonna do? I can't make time go backwards. Now tell some of the other day I was like, I always like as grown up as a kid is like, Oh, I can't wait till I'm 10 That's double digits. And 13 is a team. And then 15 and a half, you get your permit. 16 he gets a license 1821. And then I thought like 32. And then from 32. In my mind, I went from 32 to 85.
1:09
Just as the wasteland in the middle like not knowing anything, you know, I can't imagine anything that would be going on. Yeah, 3032 happens, right? And then like somewhere around 32 and a half or 35 or something like that. You roll your ankle. It takes like, six weeks for it to go back to normal. And you're like, What is wrong with me back? Yeah. Yeah, I told that story of last podcast about about abandoning ship on the skateboard with the with the doll. Yeah, how you feel on Sony recovery mode. You know, I I've actually been out on the skateboard. And one of the dads in the neighborhood grabbed me just today and he's like, Hey, man, I saw you on that skateboard. You are hauling ass man. And I was like, yo,
1:58
it's not me. It's the dog. He's all gasp no brakes.
2:02
no brakes. It's right. And he was like, you're gonna kill yourself on that thing. And I was like, Yes, I am. So I think I'm gonna get a kick bike, which is an adult scooter with brakes on it. So I can kind of control this over calling an adult scooters. Uh, I mean, you got a better way to put it.
2:21
I mean, it's got like a 26 inch wheel on the front and disc brakes on it. So you're old enough now where you have adult things?
2:28
Well, I got
2:31
diapers.
2:35
You know, I don't I don't diapers don't sound terrible. No, it's not the worst idea.
2:42
Yeah, yeah, no. Yeah. So Happy Birthday man. I one thing I see you're wearing your swag. You got your swag there. Your your personally branded Millie Palooza hat trucker hat. So tell me tell me how you came up with Nelly Palooza? Ah, I was trying to get years ago I was trying to get my domain right. Dave Nelson calm. Yeah, taking some guy some photography, David Nelson Kahn, just all the permutations of Dave nelson.com. I didn't want to get like Dave Nelson porn or anything like that. Because it was also taken. Yes. So
3:20
I don't think it existed back then. But yes. When I was buying the domains, No, it didn't. They had they had expanded the top level domains shortly after that. So just like well, it's just too many Dave Nelson's and then at that point, I just heard about some concert down in Palm Springs. I don't think it was Lollapalooza or whatever. But I was like, I'll just make my own mailee Palooza and I checked it out. Nobody had it. So I got it.
3:47
Yes, I also got the Twitter account, the Instagram account the domain like it's crazy, like
3:54
all the stuff. So yeah, I think right around a similar time, I was looking for a blog spot. And we did this independently. There was like a period when we only talk like once a month or sometimes less than that.
4:09
When I was living other places and whatnot, but uh
4:14
i came up with Nellie Rama. Oh, yeah, I remember that independently. And I think it was on blogspot when it It can't be there anymore. I don't know where it. But I did a bunch of blogging on there.
4:30
Only had access to this global repository of information just yeah. And it's I ll IR ama. Oh, yeah. There you are. Really? No. Are you serious? Okay, I bet we could find something. Yeah, it's probably on like, what's that? archive.org Yeah. archive.org. Yeah.
4:53
But I was listening to you tell that story. And it kind of reminded me like, Oh, yeah, we both came up with Nellie.
4:59
And I've been
5:00
called Nellie a few times in like my previous careers before I earned my call signs, but hey, Nellie, you know, Nelson, you know that kind of thing.
5:09
But you've really stuck with Nellie Palooza and I. I can respect that for sure. Yeah, why not? Huh? Yeah, who knows? It'll be it'll be something weird. It'll mean something weird in like 45 years. But yeah, the point I'll be in my adult diapers and I won't care. So that's just right around the corner, man.
5:30
Do you have the MySpace for Nellie Palooza?
5:34
Yeah, did
5:36
I suppose in MySpace count somewhere?
5:39
Does it still exist? Does MySpace still exist? in some form? It does. They turned it into a music Discovery Service. And I don't know if it was mainly Palooza, but I had a I had a MySpace account. And it's I think it's still active somewhere. I gotta say this, like, whoever the MySpace guy was smartest, most like, altruistic business guy in the last 25 years, right? Yeah. Cuz he's like MySpace. Yeah, that's my deal, right? And he cashed in and made like, $20 billion dollars on it isn't like drop Mic drop and left the scene.
6:17
Right. And he's like, I don't know what my space is, man. But I'm hanging out in my pool in the hot tub. And I got Jeeves over here. Give me Give me some Ask Jeeves is like serving him stuff. Yeah. Yeah. The aol.com. And they are in the Yahoo support team. Yeah. And he's not like trying to change the world. Right. Yeah. Brand new. geo cities.
6:40
That's the way back playback.
6:43
Yeah, so and then you got guys like Mark Zuckerberg who are like
6:48
a robot. He's like a robot. So
6:53
I just read today that 46 states in the United States are suing Facebook. Uh huh. For antitrust. Good time. And somebody else in my family was like, Yeah, I trust what do you mean? I'm like, yeah, it's they own the entire space. So there's no competition. There. What about you? Yeah, yeah. Well, what about like, you know, Twitter? I'm like, Okay, well, Twitter is a separate entity. Well, what about Instagram? And I'm, like, owned by Facebook.
7:21
You know, one of my boots up? Yeah. No, what about what? Facebook?
7:27
Yeah, turtle moon. It'll be, it'll be pretty interesting to see how it goes down. If they break them up, because in our generation, we haven't had a mob L.
7:39
You know,
7:41
breakup, like that's how you get at&t in southern belle. And the closest thing was Microsoft antitrust with Microsoft. What did they do with that?
7:51
Well, they had a bunch of consent decrees and stuff like that, and forced Microsoft to
7:56
break up Internet Explorer off of windows and,
8:01
and the whole argument was now it's baked into Windows. And I forgot about that, which is kind of interesting, because they basically, Microsoft basically ran Netscape out of business.
8:13
And then you get like your iPhone, right? And just what, two months ago, they had some patch, where you can now select what browser on your iPhone you can use. It's like, wait a minute, didn't we go through a whole thing in the 90s? about that? Yeah, let's call up Thomas penfield. Jackson and see what the designer thinks about that. I don't know. Yeah, it's interesting. You say that? Because and,
8:35
you know, I'm never gonna apologize for digressing, because that is the entire point of what we do here. Is the digression. Yeah.
8:43
It's interesting. You say that, I actually do remember that now that you say it. But there's a couple points there. And one of the points is, is I remember so much I remember the judges name. Yeah, that's central Jackson. Yeah. That's pretty remarkable. Dave.
9:00
And he wasn't even a Supreme Court guy. So there you go. District.
9:05
Yeah, what I don't know what district he was in.
9:08
I think it's interesting, like the antitrust stuff. As far as Microsoft goes, and then you've got things like,
9:15
you know, the battery gate from Apple or they're, like, specifically degrading, you know, hurting your performance. Yeah. and stuff like that. And then, like the EU is very specific on on how you can utilize somebody's information, right. Yeah, there. they've they've started they've really started locking it down.
9:37
California, I think Washington is coming up some rules. There was some state that is having a they're getting the privacy laws kind of tightened up, which I I think they need to quite a bit, I think, Oh, yeah. Well, so to that end, right, way out of control. Yeah, I agreed. So to that end, there's two things there. One, I think that it's important.
10:00
That our court system is glacially slow as compared to the speed of technology. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we need we need. I don't think our senators and representatives can keep up like there are so few of these people who have any concept of what's going on. Was the Senator from Alaska famously, a few years ago said, it's, it's a series of two series of tubes. And you can't just back up a truck and dump a stuff. bunch of stuff on the tubes. It's like, yeah, that just points out. And then Ajit pi coming off the FCC, getting rid of a
10:38
new trial. It's crazy. You're gonna give me gone, right? Oh, I know. Yeah. That's sort of the point. Right.
10:43
But I guess so number one, technology moves faster than our legal system. So when when the when the court system handed down the fines and the break off of AI, Internet Explorer and whatnot. It was over. I mean, it was already over. It was over four years before they, you know, they're like, okay, fine, whatever. And they've already moved on, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah. By the time Yeah. It's like, okay, that's fine. We've already changed their, their, their business model. And, yeah, that's fine. It is, it moves so much faster than the lockin. adapt to it. I think. So I actually. So for Ellis's previous school, he went to this school called environmental environment, environmental and adventure school EA, S. And they, because of my previous career field, I worked in the periphery of the cyber kind of defense area, I was never a cyber guy. So let's not, let's not get too carried away here.
11:43
But I kind of worked in that periphery. So I have an understanding of how to, you know, protect yourself and stuff like that. And I used to teach a class there. You know, that was similar to like, hey, what does the internet want from you?
11:57
And it was during Health Week, right? So you know, when you're in middle school Health Week is like, Oh, yeah, armpit hair and
12:05
erections and periods and all kinds of crap. Right? And, and, and then there, there's me standing there, talking about, you know, your online life, if you will, which is a really terrible way to put it. But that's always how they branded me.
12:21
And
12:22
I would do this thing where it's like, Hey, you guys, there's a story. There's a fantastic story out there, where a dad was getting the mail one day, and, and he got, he got a notice in the mail that said, Hey, congratulations on your new baby. And he's like, and he was really offended, because he had a bunch of daughters in the house and stuff like that. So he called, I think it was target. That's, and I haven't, I haven't vetted this, but it makes sense. I've heard this, I believe, it's, there's something about it. That is true. Yes.
12:58
And then the guy at Target was like, excuse me, and he's like, Don't send this crap to my house, I got people that are very sensitive to this kind of thing. And blabbity blah, and you're stirring the pot and stuff like that. And the guy in the end of the phone was like,
13:12
sir, you should know that if we sent that to you. There's somebody in your house that's pregnant. Yeah, the robots sent it, the robot knows. Yeah. And, you know, telling this story to a bunch of middle schoolers, six, seventh and eighth graders, that are in the midst of like, you know, body changes and whatnot, and then have just sat through, like, very detailed, and very specific, you know, sex education classes and stuff like that. And I and I, and I teach this little course, you know, where I'm like, Hey, you need to protect yourself on the internet. And it's not about, you know, Susie Jones over there, just cyber bullying you or whatever that is, because you can just turn that off. It's about, hey, everything that you do gets recorded. And if you're not careful, and you're if you're flippant with your information, then these corporations and companies, ie, Facebook, Mr. Nelson, when a boy likes a girl, how does marketing work?
14:07
Yeah, dude, it was great. I would get all the teachers that would line up at the back of the class, right? And I would tell the story about about this, and the teachers were laughing, because they know, you know, they're laughing and all of the kids in the class are looking at me, like, you've got to be freaking kidding me. And there's always like one or two in the class. It's like, you know, a multimillionaire family. And, you know, she's got a guy that drives her to school in the Porsche and he just sits and waits. You know, there's always one or two there, you know, and I'm like, Hey, you know, Sarah Jones, do you have a credit card? Of course, I've got a credit card, right? And she pulls it out, and everybody's like, ooh, I got a credit card. I'm like, did you know that that credit card company knows more about you than you know about you?
14:56
And then I tell the story and everybody looks at her
15:00
And it's like, oh, crap. So yeah, that the end of the story. I don't think I finished it was, hey, or did I finish it? Hey, if the robot sent you the thing, then somebody in your house is pregnant. And then the dads like, nope, no way. No How and then a week later, one of the spring showers Hell yeah. Yeah. And it's like my triggers don't have Facebook accounts. Facebook knows exactly who they are.
15:24
Oh, dude, yes. Other people have shared things. And they just do all the math. Yeah, that's that's like, that's the crazy part. It's just that you can't even opt out of this stuff at this point. Yeah, I so I opted out of Facebook, right around 2011 timeframe.
15:42
And I like maybe three times I've gotten back on to get one specific piece of information. Like, I know that's on there. And I need that. And I got I don't have any other place to get it. And I'll ask Holly, hey, maybe, you know, and she's like, man, I can't find it. You Facebook's pretty dormant man. And I'm like darman. It shouldn't even be dharm. And it should just be done. You know, but like, I have tried, personally tried. Maybe 15 times just to blow it up. And not even have it there. And it's not possible. Yeah, it just keeps coming back. I deleted mine. I should be I should be hitting my 30 day mark at this point. 30 days? Yeah, supposedly, it's gone. Now. I don't know. They keep everything 30 days. That surprises me, man.
16:32
Like logged on, hardly ever, right? For I don't know, four or five years and. And then I finally just like, delete my account.
16:40
And they go, Okay, we'll delete it. It'll be gone in 30 days if you want to come back. So yeah, I actually can't even get on anymore because I don't know the password. And then like all the password recovery things is like, Yeah, no. Can't do it. So if you don't know the password, you can't delete it. But you can't access it. And they have it. Oh, they know. They know more about you. That's crazy. We sound like a couple of like paranoid old old dudes.
17:08
Yeah, well, well, I mean, the point is, is that Facebook's facing an antitrust lawsuit for 46 states in the union. Yeah. Yeah. There's some they're, you know, they're coming after him at this point. Well, and then and then, I mean, if we're, if we're, if we're being honest with each other, then we have to recognize that Facebook is the first echo chamber in our society. Hmm. And in and the machines sort of like Target. The machine will feed you what you want to hear.
17:37
Yeah, yeah. Like all the social platforms. What was that documentary that just came out on Netflix a little while ago? Or the little dilemma? Yeah, that's fantastic. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. I had somebody point out the social dilemma to me, specifically,
17:53
Andrews book. No, no, it wasn't, it was like, Hey, you should watch this. And I was like, Oh, yeah, I've actually seen it. That's great.
18:03
And we're sort of on opposite ends of the political spectrum. And it's ironic, because
18:10
I've experienced some change in my political spectrum in the last four and a half, five years.
18:15
Hmm. Which is, I think, I can't say that I would have ever guessed that. That kind of thing would happen.
18:28
But like, I'm not on a ton of social media, like I, I very specifically curate my Reddit account. So that I'm, I'm in Reddit, the subreddits and Reddit that are interesting to me, and not necessarily my news sources. Yeah. Yeah. So like, Oh, yeah, I like to build batteries. And I'm doing electronics and kind of functional, functional DIY craft stuff, right? Like, how do you do this? And how to what does this mean kind of thing? Right? And that's true, where it's true community, right? source of information and feedback and encouragement, stuff like that. Exactly. Instead of like, Okay, I need to hit the news, you know, and, and, and even if I do hit the news, like, it's very specific, like, oh, if it's, it's not in a, in a, in a set of sites, new sites that are like three or four news sites. I'm not even going to open it. I'm not going to read it. Yeah. And I very specifically choose those so that I, I try to avoid the echo chamber. And I've been doing that since 2011. ish. 2012.
19:31
Right. So
19:35
um,
19:37
I actually,
19:39
I think I've been on Reddit for a long time, man. Yes.
19:45
Yeah, for a long time. I was just thinking about like, how long and it may be right around there.
19:51
So yeah, I like intentionally curate that so that I don't put myself in an echo chamber. And occasionally I like fire off on somebody.
20:00
inflame somebody, that's one of my most favorite things to do is just like, burn the house down. Right? And, you know, it's, it's nearly impossible for you to keep those things from sort of like popping up and doing whatever, but just just the fact that you are you try to consciously remind yourself, oh, this stuff is coming at me. It's being pushed, you know? Yeah. Or what is being pushed and what isn't? And just being aware of that, I think is, at this point, the best you can do. Yeah. So, and I, and I'm like, I guess I'm highlighting that because I want it to be clear that I understand that. You know, when you introspect, sometimes we don't get the full story. When you think about yourself, sometimes the full story isn't there, right? And the person that said, Hey, you should watch the social dilemma, told me to watch it under the auspices that they thought that my thought processes were corrupted by the other side of the political spectrum.
20:59
I don't know, that's like a double reverse feedback cycle there. I don't it's, it's totally crazy to me, man. Because, like, the information that was delivered in that show, I believe, to be accurate. And I and it's challenging and have to be honest with you, there was some emotion associated with this, with this interaction that I had. And I was like, Oh, yeah, I've seen it. Right. And, and they're like, you really got to watch this. Because, you know, okay, so So, what you caught was, they wanted you to watch it, because they thought your beliefs were being manipulated by what social media you were involved in. Yeah. And the irony of it is, is that
21:40
I, and I, look, I'm not claiming to be perfect, but I do, I am very aware of social manipulation.
21:49
Considering my previous career field, right, and, and I like, I know that I, I, everybody experiences it to some degree, but I feel like when it comes to that kind of manipulation perspective, I am like, so hyper aware of it that I reject it like, earlier than most people, you know? Yeah, I feel like you got you got your radar on right. You're, you always call it your spidey senses. And, and yeah, and for the most part, are able to like, this doesn't this doesn't feel right. There's something, something off about it. Yeah. And sometimes, like I've been wrong many times, that's fine. I totally get that. So my perspective of myself, again, I'm looking at the mirror here. So everything's rosy when you look at yourself in the mirror, unless it's like seven o'clock in the morning, and you got a hangover, but
22:36
right, but everything's rosy when you look at yourself in the mirror and that introspective part. And then somebody delivers this balm to me that says, I believe that you've been manipulated, and you need to watch this show, so that you can clear the palette, and I literally am thinking you're out of your damn mind. Right?
22:53
We're, even if we're aware, we're probably still manipulated by it. Like I've created a machine that's just going to get inside no matter what. But right. Yeah, I just I just try not to be like, blindly towed around from one thing to the, to another kind of thing. So yeah, yeah. So to that end, I've been I've been reading 1984 again, Oh, my gosh, I gotta say you should read it. It's, it's, it's interesting.
23:24
I think I'll go dust that off. I think that is a that's probably probably very timely at this point. It is super timely. And you know, like, I put it on audio audiobook in the shower, or whatever, and I'm listening to it. And then sometimes I'll listen to it, I listen to it, because I don't have time to sit and read.
23:42
And, you know, the the idea is, hey, we've got big brother watching and like even the words in it in the vernacular. The thing that really struck me this morning when I was listening to it is the two minutes of hate. And there's like a segment in there called the two minutes of hate where like this a speaker comes out on the TV and it's just two minutes of just like hammering after the
24:08
after the the detractors of the the engineered society if you will, and it's so matches like the media blitz and the media two minute timeframe and how that cycle works. And you know, even when you watch football, you realize you don't realize that between every play there is one minute
24:32
of talking and you can literally go on the 32nd you know bounce forward go 3030 and then it's right when they they hike the ball that's how engineered like football is now That's so crazy to that it is a sport that has like dynamic time links on certain activities and yet they still get all the ads in and they still they still know when it's gonna happen. Yeah, so like what I was listening to this thing this morning him talking about, you know, Orwell talking about
25:00
about two minutes of hate.
25:02
It was like what? You know, because that's exactly the right amount of time. That's exactly the the amount of time that we have. We sit and listen to whatever we're gonna sit and listen to whether it's on YouTube or Facebook or whatever, it's it's two minutes. That's about my attention span. Yes. Like you get some video something you like you're interested in. It's like, oh my god. 11 minutes.
25:27
11 minutes get to the point, man. Like, like, seven five times the speed here. I I love recipes, and I watch a lot of cooking shows. And I do a lot of cooking. And I like to try new things and stuff like that. I just cannot stand it when they're talking about Grammy. Oh, gosh. And I've been trying to get into recipe, like do some cooking too. And I'm just like, Okay, how do you boil eggs? It's like, Well, do you want to have eggs like grandma used to make? Oh, yeah. First, you need to learn how to boil water. Get your keys and get in the car and like just literally
26:02
turn on the tap. Eat it.
26:06
Yeah, it's crazy, man. It's it's that two minute cycle. Yeah. So okay, we're gonna change topics here. I am looking at your birthday present in the in the background. Okay, right there. Yes. And I okay, so tell me what it is. Tell us what it is. I am the recipient for my 50th birthday. From the family got me a bonsai tree.
26:33
Apparently that's I say is bone Thai not bonsai.
26:37
Yes, it's in the back. Perhaps I shall post a photo on the blog post. This episode. Yeah, it's a 16 year old tree. It's been training for 12
26:50
weeks sort of blows my mind. Spin Jen. I can't even say the name of zelkova Schneider rot. Schneider. urania is what it is. Well, apparently is very hardy. You have to water every day too. So every day,
27:08
dude. Oh, it is absolutely gorgeous. Um, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how the family came up with that idea. But it's a fantastic idea. I've been about the last three four weeks been making terrariums and char ariens
27:23
which are fairly low maintenance. And
27:27
Is that why you texted me the other day and asked about the fish tank? Yeah. Yeah. Like hey, how did you grow this stuff in the live plants? Yeah, cuz I also have a beta fish that won't die.
27:41
I thought well, maybe I upgrade the upgrade the condo? I don't know. See what's going on and make some live plan to set a plastic lens and you're like, Yeah, you got to take care of that every day. Like I'm out. Plastic plant is all on Roger gets. Dude, seriously, you texted me? You're like, hey, how much work is this? And I'm like, it's literally like making bread every day. And I've had so I so I used to have three fish tanks in the house. And it all started with Ellis going to kindergarten
28:10
which blows my mind. He's in high school now. Going to kindergarten and going to the fair, which also blows my mind because this is pre COVID right?
28:21
and winning a goldfish No, it wasn't even a goldfish in winning a
28:29
Daniel which is the
28:32
you guys are gonna love this. Winning a pair of zebra danios which are like these two fish Daniels are like WWE all brakes no gas 24 hours a day, man. They're just no gas are all gas no brakes.
28:51
Well done. All gas no brakes that they are just the most aggressive little tiny one inch long fishes that you could fishes. Yeah, fishes
29:02
that you could get. And I was like, Oh, that's cool. And I don't want him to die. Right? He may have started with a goldfish. I don't remember but he named him Jesus and Daniel. Nice and wood biblical dig it? Yeah, I mean you know we we got a church. I mean, like I was like, What do you want to name him? He's like Jesus and Daniel. Did that dude.
29:23
It was pretty fun. Anyway suffer Bathsheba.
29:28
Ruth
29:31
Ruth.
29:32
So I bought this tank and it was like a half moon you know, maybe five gallon tank and it's like, you know, start tank one on one if you had a starter pack, it would be like fish that you got at the circus halfmoon tank you know with the with the just the basic filter on and then like fake plants in the bottom and some rocks and you just in a light. Right? But based on what my fish lives in, like I said he won't die. So yeah, and those freakin fish.
30:00
live for ever man for I mean, I'm talking like, I mean years, those fish live for years. And I, I was like, okay, so I sort of got into it. And then I realized, Oh, I got to help him clean it, he's never gonna clean it. So I started cleaning it. And I was like, I wonder if I can put a plan in there. So I got out of the fish store to buy my like, $2 thing of fish food. And the guy's like, well, you got like, I got a couple zebra Daniels. And he's like, Oh, yeah, those are like the, you know, the velociraptors of the fish world? And I'm like, Oh, yeah, yeah, they kind of chase each other around. It's like, maybe you should put this plan in here. And I was like, okay, whatever. So it gives me a plant in a bag. And I like, stick my hand in the thing, right? And then like, a year and a half later, I've got like, a 35 gallon fish tank, with like, all kinds of like community tank, and like dirt and checking the log age balance every four hours, and I bought I bought like this, this thing that you put in there? And it would
31:02
it hooked up to my Wi Fi, and it would tell me
31:05
at a moment's notice, like I just flipped my phone up. And then it would say, Oh, yeah, the lights this much. And the temperature is here. And like if the water level got down, it would send me alerts on my phone and like, oh, the nitrogen needs to go up. And the ammonia is too high. Yeah, I mean, it was crazy. And you have to do things like cycle the tank in, because you can't just put tap water in there. There's all kinds of like fluoride, and, you know, bleach stuff in there. So yeah, how many years? Did you do that for? You do that for a couple years? I probably six years. Yeah. So in the spirit of like, trying to learn cool stuff and how things work. Like sounds like you know, a lot about the lifecycle of environment like that. Yeah. Like, is it just too much to keep doing or? Yeah, man. I mean,
31:51
I was, I was in the military at the time. And I would go away for two, three weeks at a time, and I would come back and it would be like, you know, the swamp monster was gonna crawl out of there. Because it wasn't anybody else's project. They enjoyed it when I was on top of it. But when I wasn't on top of it, I mean, like, if you're not careful, you're talking like snail infant SES infestations, you know, algae everywhere. And with a community tank you got, I mean, you got to be careful, because if one fish becomes the pariah, if you will, I mean, those all the other official just like murder it. And I mean, it's crazy. It is like, what is the Parana becomes a pariah.
32:34
Yeah, Lister, Brian's brother used to have Puranas
32:38
I was what cool and like Earth gray, that would have been the coolest thing. Oh, dude, it's crazy. You, you would go to his house and and I only saw it like once or twice. I don't know if I was in fourth grade. It may have been when I was in high school. And he would feed that thing live mice. And he would, it's like terrible. He just takes some scissors and cut its legs off and drop it in the tank. And it was and it was dead and like
33:01
10 seconds.
33:04
Yeah, I mean, it's brutal, right? It's brutal. But the point is, is like those tanks. I mean, if it's, it's a it's a close system. Well, it's not really a closed system. The fish tank itself is closed, but you have to interact with that thing on a daily basis. And, you know, metals like you have to be the omnipotent overseer of the world. Yes, yeah, you totally do because it falls into disrepair in a hurry.
33:31
And I had like, I was crazy, man. I was probably 2500 bucks into it. And when I was done with it, I put it on Craigslist and I couldn't even sell it. People didn't care. Yeah, they were like, Yeah, whatever. And I just like I found some kid. I was like, and he was, you know, on Craigslist. Oh, I'm interested. I'm like, take it. Just take it off. Get it out of here.
33:52
Yeah, I mean, I'm talking like swimming pool level filtration. cool guy in the neighborhood. I just picked up this 20 $500 worth of fish tank stuff from this guy down the road. Yeah, I mean, lights like LED lights. Yeah. revolutionized the way that fish tanks work. I was I mean, I was okay at it. Like if you go down to like, Denny's pet world. Those those tapes that they have in there are beautiful. And
34:18
I mean, they've got staff obviously that that that curate those things. And but like the the idea that there's somebody there that can get those things dialed in so much. Yeah. That they don't, they never like fail or anything like it's like going to the doctor's office in the waiting room like these gorgeous fish tanks, just like someone's injured three times a week, like yeah, I understand. I will say this. Nine times out of 10. The fish tanks at the doctor's offices are what we would call a sterile tank. So it's just rocks on the bottom, and then the plants are fake. And then the fish just swim around in there. And they get fed like in the morning and night and they're very specific on how much they get fed.
35:00
And then somebody will come in on a Saturday morning and clean the tank every Saturday. So it's it's the
35:08
it's the fish equivalent of putting a human in a white room for the rest of their life. It's like Disneyland. Yeah. Looks looks old timey, but it's actually manufactured the whole the whole way. Yep, everything. There's there's most of the doctor's offices have. I mean, as an ex fish guy? You look at those tanks and you're like, there's nothing going on in there. Yeah, interesting. Yeah. So, yeah, my favorite thing to do was to get some tetras, which are these little tiny fish. And you just throw a bunch of them in there. And you don't know which ones are the males. And which ones are the females A lot of times, and then you'll see, you'll see them. And they'll have babies. Yeah, I did that with goldfish on accident a couple times.
35:54
I got like a, like a couple goldfish. And all sudden one day is like, maybe seven more in there. Yeah. And then the next day, there's two and yeah, you're like, goldfish nuggets
36:05
off so well, they get eaten. Yeah, that's the thing. So I would get some tetras or something like that. And I had some really cool like, you know, red fin sharks and stuff like that in there. And they would cruise around, do their thing. But I think my favorite thing was to curate the snail population. And the snail population in a fish tank is like the cleaning crew. And they would you, you know, you turn the lights out and they would just come out of the rocks and they would go up the glass and they would clean it and then you turn the lights on and they go blue. They go right back under that's they're done.
36:35
I mean, I wasn't very good at it. But I had a good time. I saw it a few times. I thought it was like super interesting. And I thought it was cool how one day I would come over and be all like, overgrown. And then the next day, it's like, it's like a perfectly curated. Again, go snorkeling if you could fit in there something. Yeah, it's like it takes like two hours to trim those plants down to man. And as a dad, you're like, that's just two hours is a lot of time. I need to get that somewhere else. Right. So yeah, to your bonsai tree.
37:07
Mom told you the story about how she got it. And she starts off with I got it from a guy named Rodrigo and Kent.
37:16
I think you're mixing your metaphors. I was like what?
37:22
You know, and I was apparently on mute on the zoom meeting for your birthday. But I threw it out there and Holly started laughing. I was like, What did you Why did you train him so boxy for it or why?
37:35
Nobody? would purchase? Yeah. And then apparently this guy and Ken has a bonsai tree hospital. Yeah, yeah, this is cool. This makes me feel a lot better. Okay, cuz she explain if the trees not doing well, he'll take it back and nursed back to health. Well,
37:56
what's the tipping point on this? I don't know. Because I've been I've literally had it for 20, like 26 hours. And what I've read is it might start dropping leaves because it's wintertime. And it might not because it's in a home.
38:14
Yeah, yeah. It's
38:16
like, Well, does it drop? Obviously I don't I just literally don't know what it is like, take your first baby home is like, Yeah, what do I do with it? Like? Yeah, that was That's awesome. You just put in the quarter and watch jeopardy. But on the coffee table, I don't know. Seems like a little disrespectful.
38:33
To get a whole lazy boy for this little thing. Like that's a little overkill. I don't know. Like, I don't know what to do with it. So it's sitting there looking cute and looking ancient and old.
38:45
Considering it's, it's been trained for 12 years, I don't want to mess it up. And considering some of these things are hundreds of years old. Yeah, Mom said that there. They had some there that were 500 years old. Ah.
38:59
Yeah, I think they I think there are some that are 500 I think. I think they have ones that are like 250 years old there. That's insane. Which I don't know. Like, the difference is 250 years between, like 250 years.
39:15
That's like, that's like then the country like pre revolution. Yeah.
39:21
I don't I don't know. So I'm kind of feeling super kind of cool. Like, Oh, wait, hold on to this historical thing. And then also black to really mess this up. So a 250 year old tree that has been curated by a human being.
39:37
No, yeah. That goes all the way back before the declaration of freaking independence. Yeah, I'd like I'd like to. I'd like to identify a couple ladies and start to get the backstory. I think it would be interesting even but even if it was 80 years old, it's like Good grief. Like
39:55
some apple tree down in Oregon. Like finally died. It was 100 and
40:00
20 years old or something, and it just finally just got old and died a few years ago, some somebody work for the national park or the National Forest Service without trying to get some tool that they dropped and ended up accidentally killing a
40:15
3000 year old tree. Yeah, actually, I believe that we've talked about that before. And it was the oldest living thing on the planet. Yes. And this guy, just like completely, innocently killed this thing and getting death threats. And he had to quit his job. And he did I know this story. I know the story. He had this thing where he was, it was a, like a long, sort of hollow drillbit, where they would take a core sample of it. Oh, yes, yes. And it got stuck in there. And he was like, Yeah, man, that thing's worth like 300 bucks. I want it back. So he cut the tree down to get his tool out. And then after he cut it down, he realized really quickly that he literally cut down like a 5000 year old tree. And is this the thing where the location of the tree was not publicly? Like, yet? Yes, I just like didn't leave the community didn't let it out to the public, like where it was at. And actually, I believe that he killed himself.
41:08
God,
41:10
which is like it's terrible. But yeah, that story. I think it's on radiolab you guys can look it up. Now. Now for your next two minutes of depressing news. Yeah. guy killed himself. But But really, I mean, the deal is, is like I'm having a hard time fat I so with this whole election cycle, like, what I when I get stressed politically, when I'm like unsure or uncertain, Fudd fear, uncertainty and doubt, right, when I and I have a tendency to dive into the history, right? And I feel like it's a good way to backstop it. That kind of stuff. Well, I listened to
41:46
john adams biography, I listened to Alexander Hamilton's biography. And I listened to George Washington's biography on audiobooks. And each one of those is at least 40 hours.
42:00
Some time, yeah. Yeah. And those guys, they rolled in the same circles right. Now. So my point is, is that we're talking about a time when there was no such thing as central heating. Right, and people were dying of, you know,
42:18
smallpox.
42:21
And they were vet, they would vaccinate people, they would inoculate people with a thread.
42:28
So what they would do with with with the smallpox is that they would find somebody that had small power. Yeah. And they'd run the thread under one of the lesions. And then they'd get everybody to line up and they would cut their skin and then run the thread in their skin. And they would get a very low level version of it, and it would inoculate. George Washington did this with the the Continental Army. Yeah, the john adams, his wife did that with her with their kids. They referenced that and Paul Giamatti was on that, on that series on HBO called Oh, yeah, yeah. And they made a reference to that. Yeah, it's crazy. But the point of that whole thing is, we're talking about a 250 your tree is not your tree is 16 years old. But you're talking about the potential to be able to purchase a 250 year old tree that existed in some state where somebody took care of it. Yeah. That long ago. That's crazy. To me. It's not like it just it's not like it just hung out and just waited. This thing had to be put in a pot and taken care of by somebody who knew what ostensibly knew what they were doing
43:38
and passed along and pass the law passed along. Is their tree heredity. Is there like
43:46
Like for instance, our dog our new dog? We got a new puppy Her name is Nova. Her name is actually Nova mazzy star Nelson but
43:57
on the A KC paperworks, which I actually don't care about. The the proper way to do it is to put the kennel name first. So her name is gardens Nova mazzy star Nelson
44:10
Wow. right because it's a cat Yeah, we we purchased her because it was a cheese breaded cow
44:18
does that tree have that?
44:21
I'm looking at the card here. No, it does not dogs although although the story I got last night was that there? Are there serial numbers for ID numbers for every one of them. So a guy who sold it knows every tree that he has sold, apparently. Wow. So
44:42
sounds like the guy was like open to having conversations and just chatting about it. So I am actually kind of interested to do so and find out what you know what the deal is how this works. And so I am super interested also in that and I actually am considering getting one
44:59
cool
45:00
can be so mine side buddies.
45:05
Oh, and get on the subreddit, on a bonsai subreddit? Yes. Yes. There probably is one. There is. There's a terrarium and a geranium and oh, bones I NSFW. I don't know. It's It's crazy. Not safe for work.
45:26
That's funny. So the good happy ranch baby.
45:30
Have you? Yeah, that's called Rule number two on Reddit, which is if there's a thing there will be porn of it. 34 Yeah. Oh, yeah. 34 I'm sorry.
45:40
Boy, that was slow pitch anyway.
45:43
So have you cut any of its lives? No. Included with the gift was a pair of iron, snipping shears. And I'm like, I don't. I don't think it's time to cut until I don't know when I got a book, bonsai basics, a step by step guide to growing training and general care. That's like 900 pages. Yeah.
46:05
I shall be going through this. There are some cool things in here. A couple things about bamboo. So I've been growing bamboo for a few years. And so I see if I can do a little grantley bamboo grows so easily. I can just go grab a bunch. And who cares if I mess it up? So you do something? bamboo bonsai. Yeah, I guess. So.
46:27
I guess the whole the whole idea is just sort of miniaturizing the whole
46:33
the whole setup. So some plants are super, like, adaptable, and you know, they they take to being manipulated and others just kind of keep them small. So just for fun. Interesting. All right, man. Any projects you got going? Yeah, that
46:52
learning the tree. Yeah. injure terrarium, we got an I got a new giant glass jar. We're going to go out and get new plants this weekend and have the kids do it.
47:01
So is it sealed? No, it has a lid. So with that, you hear all these ofc all most of them are just laid just have a lid. And you can open it up occasionally to do whatever kind of maintenance you need to do. Not it isn't so often that you have on that. It's like sealed up and you never open.
47:21
I think I've seen a story of some dude that like built one in 1976. And supposedly has not even opened it since then. And it's its own ecosystem. Yeah, what I've read is, those are the those are around but they're more rare, because usually they use something wrong. I don't know. Somehow you got to get it just right to make the ecosystem continue to feed itself. But there are ones where people are like, Oh my god, I got worms and Aaron's like, yeah, that's cool. So loving themselves out, right? If you get like fish tanks, yeah, they'll die off to a balance kind of thing. And they'll go through cycles or one thing dominates the other one.
48:02
I was like COVID projects, right? Like, yeah, montage should take a bonsai we could be in the house for the next 92 years. Yeah.
48:11
So in the fish tanks with the snails. If if you get a big snail bloom, you're like, Yeah, whatever. There's no fish that'll eat them. And then they have what they call assassin snails, which are really cool.
48:23
Anyway, the fish don't eat the snails, right? And you're and what happens is they will just bloom until there's not enough food to feed them and then they die.
48:34
And then there'll be like one or two laughs You can never really get rid of them all. But if you get too many and they keep cycling and you you know, it's like it's insane. You can buy these things called assassin snails for like a buck. Right? And you just drop them in the tank and it will literally methodically go around and kill every frickin snail in there and eat it.
48:55
Just clean house. Yeah, it's just like it just you can watch it it was like murmur and there's a snail like ah Get out of here and it just it just you know just like slimes up to it like a slow speed death Chase. It totally is man. It's insane. assassin sales are super cool. Interesting. But if you want snails like a cleaning crew, then you got it. You got to use the assassins tail and then get it out of there. Yeah, cuz it will kill them all. Just one you have to assassinate your assassin.
49:25
Dude, it's like a CIA subplot.
49:28
The job's done now everyone's after you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
49:34
You name your assassin snail. Jason Bourne.
49:37
I was trying to get out. You just pulled me back in. That's right. And I was just sitting in my cabin in the snowy, you know, woods cabin area. Now there's helicopters here.
49:49
Yeah. Jason Bourne series gets a ton of play on what TBS is a TBS like, you turn it on, like, third weekend. It's the whole series.
50:00
The only time I ever watch anything like that is it when I'm at my in laws?
50:05
No, I don't watch it just comes on and then it just keeps running all afternoon. Especially special, especially with no sports all summer. It's crazy. Oh, dude. Ellis told me the basketball starting in like two weeks.
50:16
Yeah, cuz they had a delay. They like past their season. Right? Yeah. And then they made the bubble, which seemed to work out pretty well. Yeah, they were like a terrarium. Yeah, like, oh, seal, man. We haven't taken the lid off this thing for like six weeks. I know, man. And you know, if I was making as much money those dudes I'd be like, whatever. Cool, man. Just let you want me to hang out the hotel in Orlando. No problem.
50:43
Gosh, that'd be pretty crazy. Oh, sorry. So you had a question for Did you hear about our alma mater high school? Oh my gosh, dude. We went to Juanita High School. Yep. And people know the one either rebels. Yeah, we're here. And what are they called? Now?
51:05
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I I'm sure this is stirring you up to
51:11
the one to ravens. Okay.
51:16
All right. So
51:19
let me
51:20
let me just point out a couple things. First of all, the whining rebels.
51:26
Okay, what? We live in Washington.
51:30
Right. Okay. No Good point. Okay. So I was wondering if you're gonna go like canceled culture and all this kind of stuff. But if you go back even that far, right. Yeah, but one eater? rebels in Washington State. Right. Yeah. So and I get it, I understand there was a lot of like, press push in the 17. Or in the night. It was founded in 1976. The school was, which was our Bicentennial, right? For as a country 1776 in 1976.
52:02
I get that everybody was like, whoo, we made it. 200 years. Yeah, the great experiment is working right. And then and then all of a sudden, some, you know, place in Washington, Juanita Washington in 1976. One either was like not even a speck on the map. Right? A, Washington decides to name their local high school after the losing army of the Civil War.
52:28
Which, like, blows my mind. I totally get it. I totally understand. And I'm not into kancil culture. Right. Like, I don't even get me started on that. I don't even know that they were named after the the Confederate rebels. I just think they were the mascot used to be the same rebel as the UN Lv rebel. And you look at that guy, and you can't tell me Yeah, with a hat and a mustache and everything. Yeah, you can't tell me and then they have a crest.
52:57
Come on now? No. 1990 they had the bars, the bars behind it. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess I guess I'm in agreement with the idea that even if it wasn't overtly, like, Oh, this is a confederate thing. Like, Oh, no, we're not contract. Like, even if it wasn't, you can't look at that and not make that connection. Right. Yeah, that's where you go to, and, and appear in the northwest or even like, that looks like a confederate something or other? Yeah. And you know, you I mean, there is a certain portion of the culture where you have to recognize Yeah, that the Confederacy was is part of our history. But nowhere else in the world do we celebrate the losing army? Right, there's nowhere else.
53:43
I, there is a process there that you kind of have to wrestle with. And I'm not denying that the Confederacy confederacy is part of who we are as a country. But I am saying that the history there is pretty ugly.
53:58
And it really doesn't have a place in high school where we serve all members of our community, regardless of race, regardless of creed, regardless of sex. I agree. Right?
54:10
And so initially, I was like, I don't know. And then I kind of thought through it. I was like, Yeah, no, I think it's ready for a change. And I thought this is a fantastic opportunity. What a fantastic opportunity. What a fantastic opportunity to come up with some idea that reflects the history, the rich, historical foundation that would celebrate you know, where we are today and where we've been, what a great idea. I guess, sheer hobby and just because the fact that I'm tired of just making things out of a box, you know, yeah. And some of the best stuff is the simplest stuff. And when you talk about making a fresh pasta, yep, give yourself a couple hours. It's fine, but you're literally talking about flour, and eggs. And then five ingredients for the sauce and salt
55:00
You know, I wasn't kidding. Worst cooks in America, we've watched like eight seasons of this now. And it's kind of funny because I get all these really bad people, but the number of things that they make from scratch on that show, it's like, oh, that's actually really easy. You don't have to go. Well, I wish we, I wish we could have whatever, they just go make it right there. And it usually isn't that hard. Yeah, you know, the funny thing is, is like, if you think about the foundation of what we eat, and the cooking, the complexity really arrived with technology, right. And the technology sort of drives this concept of, Oh, I have to be very good at this. But if you like, if you go back before that, even in like the early 60s, or even the late 60s, right, what you're talking about is there is nothing available as far as the internet goes. And you you use what you have, right, and the the easiest things to get at the time are flower, right? Because you can always buy that you've been able to buy flour for a couple 100 years. Right? And eggs, because everybody always had chickens, and then the root vegetables, which would survive the winter, which is your carrots and your onions. Right. And then if you were lucky, you could get like a fennel or a celery. And those are like the best the base of like, so many foods that you can make. Yeah. So like I said, a sofrito. Right. That's an Italian cooking term. Right? The same thing in France is called Amar PA. And you do it exactly the same way. Except instead of using olive oil, which is very abundant in Italy, you use butter.
56:33
Oh, I'm in France, you look down on everybody else while you do it. Yes, yeah, yes, you have to pull your glasses down like that. So like you're talking about two distinct cultures of food here, right? Like a French cook is not the same thing as an Italian cooking vice versa. But the the idea that they use exactly the same ingredients to make what they make. So I'm not talking about like adding terragon or adding or any of these crazy spices. You're talking about salt, pepper, three root vegetables, flour, eggs, and meet.
57:09
What's that?
57:10
What's that show? acid? Fat? He Yeah, yeah, on Netflix, Netflix. Yeah, that's a fantastic show, too. Yeah, too. He could really I could really dive into that. And actually, I think a few days ago, you you kind of reminded me of it.
57:29
Yeah, just really a fantastic show. My one of my most favorite cooking shows ever was Anthony Bourdain show. Yeah. And the cool part about it was that he was always able to break through
57:46
politics, and societal issues, using food as a medium
57:53
to get people to let their guard down. And it really is the thing that connects all people. Yeah, one of the things that we all do we all eat.
58:03
Yeah. And if you know, they're all and it's a form of sharing.
58:08
Yeah. And so it does give beyond politics at that point. Yeah, it's crazy, because I would watch his show, specifically, because there were things that he did were that were challenging to me, like, in my previous career field. It, it makes it so that I can't can't go to certain countries and I wouldn't go there anyway. Like, I've never gone to China, and I've never gone to Iran. Okay, though, I've never gone there. It's just not right.
58:36
But he, he has done both, actually, he spent a significant amount of time in China. And he would just eat street food, which I have been trained never to do, ever Don't ever do it right. But I don't know if he just had an iron gut or if he was, you know, whatever, or he would just suffer the consequences or something like that. But like watching him kind of move through that, like it wasn't even a thing. It breaks down my own barriers. And then having him sit like in Israel on one day and having a dinner with this nice Israeli family. And then literally 12 hours later being welcomed into a community in Palestine and gathering the opposite political spectrum on how things are going down and being able to serve it to you basically on a plate and say, Take what you want. This is the way that I see it. So good. I bet I'm gonna dig his show back up. I saw I saw the thumbnail on I'm probably Netflix or something like that. I think Yeah, through a bunch of that again. I'm pretty sure I have it on Plex, too. But uh, I just that guy is that he was lost when he died. He was lost. Yeah. And then like it kind of the fact that he is like a tried and true chef.
59:52
Like own restaurants and stuff like that makes it so that he knows he knows what people are doing and he can kind of contribute to the cooking process.
1:00:00
And then the other fact that he is just so open about his vices. He's just like, I yeah, I've been an alcoholic for the last 25 years. And also I used to take heroin and cocaine when I would cook because I couldn't make it through the day. And I you know, and and the way he talks about the dynamic of who we are as a human being, and then is able to translate that to, to get people to welcome him into their homes. And it may be all scripted. If it is all scripted. I don't even want to know, he seemed like a genuine guy. Yeah, yeah. Just like top notch for me, the top top notch. Job, I imagine there's not a producer scripting, right, like setting up environments. But he seemed like, what he was doing was authentic. Yeah, yep. Yeah. So yeah, I would just say, uh, you know, we'll probably do some cooking segments on this show. Yeah, on Redman. And I think my goal would be to communicate to anybody that's afraid of it. And, you know, I, I think that,
1:01:05
I guess, if I were to rewind to who I was 20 years ago, I've always been, I've always wanted to lean into it. But I've always been a little bit afraid of, like, Oh, I don't want to, I don't want to fail. The beauty of cooking is like, oh, that didn't work. Let's try something else. You know, that's because it doesn't matter. There's nothing, there's no investment there, other than your time. And then if it is your time, then you get to learn from it. Right? So I've done a million things. It's like, Oh, that was crap. But what I'm learning is like a lot of guys that have the long beards and what the bravado in the military, blah, blah, blah. They're all about the meat, the barbecue and stuff like that. But if you can turn yourself back into the kitchen, and go, Oh, I actually can make a pretty mean homemade, you know, spaghetti with a Ragu that will rival anything that you're going to get in a restaurant. And I can bang it out in 90 minutes. Yeah.
1:02:01
You know, 90 minutes is a long time, but but it's not as difficult and it's really fun. And you can get the kids into it, and you can engage with it. And you can tweak it and make it your own. You can engage other people with it, too. I like that idea. Yeah, and it's simple. It doesn't have to be complicated. Yeah. So Alright, man. Right on. Hey, I'm glad we got back online again today. Me too. Happy birthday. Thank you, sir. Like your hat now? Nearly.
1:02:29
70. All right. All right. Talk to you later. Bye bye.