665: A Little Too Raw

Summary

Clockwise Ep. 665: A Little Too Raw

Date: July 15, 2026
Hosts: Dan Moren and Mikah Sargent
Guests: Casey Liss and Aline Sims

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Episode Overview

This lively, rapid-fire episode of Clockwise brings together hosts Dan and Mikah with returning guests Casey Liss and Aline Sims for the signature four-topics-in-under-30-minutes discussion. Main themes include the allure and pitfalls of running operating system betas, reading habits and devices, the genuine (and sometimes untapped) potential of smart lighting, and preparing for disaster—both physical and digital. Expect the show's typical jovial, tech-savvy banter throughout, and a few memorable stories along the way.

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1. Apple’s Public Beta Updates: Adoption, Caution, & AI Intrigue

[01:33-07:15]

• Topic: With Apple releasing public betas for upcoming OS updates, participants discuss if they install these betas, how they use them, and thoughts on new features—especially around Siri and AI.
• Casey Liss:
  • Runs betas on Vision Pro and iPad, but avoids his phone—especially while traveling, a personal rule for stability.
  • Prefers waiting for public betas, noting "the developer ones, but they're a little too raw for me, generally speaking." [02:25]
  • Tempted by improved Siri/AI on iPad:

    "My limited taste has been very appetizing, if you will. It is very, very good." [02:59]

• Mikah Sargent:
  • Runs all the betas, experiencing only minor inconvenient bugs (Bluetooth dropout with AirPods).
  • Focused on “rekindling my relationship with Siri”:

    "There's been too many ruptures ... slowly being repaired as I continue to go, 'wow, normally I would do this thing. I'm going to see if Siri can do it instead.' And I've been pretty surprised in a positive way." [03:23]

• Aline Sims:
  • No longer on the beta hype train, after years of having to run betas for work.
  • Finds life "calmer for it" and notes her husband has just started using the iOS beta now that his job allows it.

    "Every once in a while I hear a noise from his corner and I'm like, what's going on? And he's just like, beta things. It's just a beta thing." [04:22]

• Dan Moren:
  • Runs betas everywhere (“my Mac, my iPad, my phone”).
  • Acknowledges up-and-down experience (e.g., cursor disappearing after installing a new beta on Mac).
  • Intrigued by the evolution and variability of AI features:

    "So much of it can be changed or altered or rebalanced after the fact that experiences change wildly..." [06:27]

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2. Reading for Pleasure: E-Readers, Audiobooks, and Paper vs. Pixels

[07:15-13:32]

• Topic: How do you read for pleasure? Format preferences (dead trees, electrons, vibrations?), and whether travel changes your habits.
• Micah Sargent:
  • An audiobook devotee, uses Audible and is in "the top 5% of all listeners":

    "Vibrations, vibrations, Vibrations is all good vibrations here, baby." [07:41]

  • Reads less when traveling, but always listens if driving solo.
• Aline Sims:
  • Fully optimized for reading: Kindles everywhere (bedroom, couch, office); hands-free setups for knitting + reading; mag-safe trick for Kindle in the car.

    "Hi, I read a lot." [10:10]

  • Switches between eyeball reading and audiobooks, depending on activity.
• Dan Moren:
  • Also has a stack of e-readers ("I think I have seven"), with a Kobo Libra 2 as his primary device.
  • Enjoys paper books but appreciates the convenience of e-readers when traveling or sharing a room.

    "I really do like paper books. ... But it is certainly I've come to appreciate so much of the convenience of having the ebooks..." [11:17]

  • Misses instant dictionary/look-up functionality when using paper.
  • Audiobooks don’t quite work for him unless they’re dramatized full-cast productions.
• Casey Liss:
  • Strong Kindle preference, mainly for adjustable backlighting and large text due to keratoconus (visual impairment).

    "You can make the text freaking huge ... the font size is about 11 billion points. But for me, everything about reading on a Kindle is just better." [12:22]

  • Spouse prefers paper, shifts to Kindle only when traveling.

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3. Multicolor Smart Lighting: Potential vs. Reality

[14:08-19:54]

• Topic: Do you use multicolor smart lighting (e.g., Hue)? And do you really use the color features, or just the whites?
• Aline Sims:
  • Significant investment in Hue over the years, but mostly just uses shades of white that shift from cool (day) to warm (night).
  • One fun use: TV strip turns purple if they're up past bedtime.

    "We mostly just use shades of white... the lights shift from cooler light during the day to warmer light at night. ... the only thing we do." [14:25]

• Dan Moren:
  • Keeps some smart bulbs, but has largely migrated to Lutron Caseta for reliability and wall-switch convenience.
  • Color used only for occasional effects (Halloween, red for fun), but mostly sticks to whites.

    "As cool as hue bulbs are, the caseta were just so much better suited for what doing as terms of the multicolor stuff. Not in a long time." [15:37]

  • Sometimes annoyed when Siri mishears and changes the color randomly.
• Casey Liss:
  • No smart bulbs, but creative notification setup:
    • Uses a HomeSeer switch with individually addressable LEDs as a home notification center (e.g., red LED for open garage, blue for mail, green for laundry).

    "Of the four humans that live in my house, how many of them know what any of those colors mean? And I think it's just me... But let me tell you, I freaking love this." [18:18]

• Mikah Sargent:
  • Multicolor bulbs in every room, practically never uses colors—but his partner loves doing custom color themes for TV watching:

    "It's one of those places where it's like, I'm supposed to be the more techy one in theory, but I hate fiddling around with this stuff. ... the desire to have a cool lighting thing sort of outweighs that." [18:52]

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4. Disaster Preparedness: Digital and Physical

[19:54-27:38]

• Topic: Inspired by moving to the Pacific Northwest and "the big one" (earthquake) anxiety, what do participants do to prepare their digital lives for disaster?
• Aline Sims:
  • Triggered by prepping at home, wonders about digital precautions.
• Dan Moren:
  • Multiple backup strategies: Synology + Backblaze, iCloud, local backups.
  • Set up trusted/legacy contacts for Apple account access, including for his parents.

    "Try to maintain a healthy backup regimen. ... I also try, to a certain extent, to be a little more ... blase about it, but also, like, man, you know, if ... TV shows on my synology die because something catastrophic has happened, it's probably not the biggest concern I have." [21:18]

• Casey Liss:
  • Both physical and digital preparation:
    • Keeps a rechargeable battery (Bluetti) on hand, can run a fridge for hours, great for tailgates and storms.
    • After near-disastrous data loss, now keeps family photos in seven locations.

      "I swore to myself that will never happen again." [23:04]

    • Utilizes 1Password’s printable emergency kit, stored offsite, so trusted contacts can access accounts.

    "I'd say backup, backup, backup more than anything else in terms of physical power backup or just electronic backup backup. All the things." [24:56]

• Mikah Sargent:
  • Same redundancy: local and offsite backups, 1Password access in trusted hands, legacy contacts set up.
  • Admits his household could be even more physically prepared, plans to follow up on Aline’s approach.
• Aline Sims (closing):
  • Uses rsync.net with Arc for remote backups after ongoing frustration with Backblaze.
  • Time Machine to Synology for local backups; all devices backed up via iCloud.
  • Makes sure loved ones know where emergency access info is stored.
  • Hopes future EV features will allow using car for home backup in dire scenarios.

    "You know, I think. I think unless you're going full on prepper, you're never going to be prepared enough for the big one." [25:52]

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5. Bonus Topic: Women’s World Cup Predictions

[27:38–29:32]

• Prompt: Gut pick for winner: Argentina, England, or Spain?
• Casey: Chooses England, referencing the "it's coming home" meme:

  "So let's go with England. I've had so many good experiences in England. I feel like they are, they are kin to most Americans." [27:59]

• Mikah: Spain.
• Aline: Argentina ("I didn't even know the World cup was still going").
• Dan: Backs England, jokes about a three-way tie and notes Messi's prowess.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Casey Liss, on public betas:

  "They're a little too raw for me, generally speaking." [02:25]

• Mikah Sargent, on rebuilding trust with Siri:

  "There’s been too many ruptures in my relationship with Siri, and that is slowly being repaired as I continue to go, 'wow, normally I would do this thing. I'm going to see if Siri can do it instead.'" [03:23]

• Aline Sims, on reading:

  "Hi, I read a lot." [10:10]

• Casey, on color LEDs for notifications:

  "Of the four humans that live in my house, how many of them know what any of those colors mean? And I think it's just me." [18:18]

• Dan, on backup priorities:

  "If ... TV shows on my synology die because something catastrophic has happened, it's probably not the biggest concern I have." [21:19]

• Aline, on preparedness:

  "Unless you're going full-on prepper, you're never going to be prepared enough for the big one." [25:52]

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Episode Flow & Atmosphere

• The tone is playful, energetic, and honestly self-deprecating about tech habits and nerdy setups.
• Each participant shares personal stories and practical advice, especially on backup and disaster planning.
• Trademark "clockwise" rapid movement keeps segments focused and entertaining.
• The group camaraderie is strong, with plenty of laughter (e.g., gentle mockery of color LEDs and beta adventures).
• The closing bonus topic keeps things light and inclusive—even for those not following soccer.

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Summary Timestamps

• 00:00 – Cold open, intros, and rundown of episode
• 01:33 – Topic 1: Apple public betas
• 07:15 – Topic 2: Reading habits/formats
• 13:32 – Halftime break & merch plug
• 14:08 – Topic 3: Multicolor smart lights
• 19:54 – Topic 4: Digital/physical disaster preparedness
• 27:38 – Bonus topic: Women’s World Cup picks
• 29:32 – Wrap-up, thanks, credits, and signature reminder: “Watch what you say, and keep watching the clock.”

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Whether you’re curious about Apple betas, want ideas for tech-enabled reading or prepping your digital life for emergencies, or just want a fun listen, this episode delivers Clockwise’s classic blend of insight and good humor.

Transcript

[A]

You. It's time for episode 665 of the Clockwise podcast from Relay, recorded Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Clockwise, four people, four tech topics, 30 minutes. Welcome back to Clockwise, the tech podcast that's ready in 30 minutes or it's cold. My name is Dan Moore and I'm joined, as always, across the Internet by my good friend, my pal, the one, the only, Micah Sargent. How are you doing today, Micah?

[B]

I'm doing well. I'm doing well. If Clockwise was a frozen dinner, I wonder what our dessert would be.

[A]

Oh, that's a good question.

[B]

30 second pudding.

[A]

I was going to say moose.

[C]

Would it be one of those. It would be one of those things where you put stuff in a mug and microwave.

[A]

Oh, yeah, it's mug, cake, mug, cake, mug, cake, mug, cake. That was the original name of this show. All right, we're here to talk about four tech topics with two fantastic guests, one of whom you've already heard from. To my left this week, it is generally a nice person, podcaster, developer Casey Liss.

[B]

Welcome back.

[D]

Hello.

[C]

Thank you for having me back.

[A]

Oh, we tried to not, but your blackmail is just too deep on us.

[B]

And to my left, podcaster, fiber artist and also generally nice person, it's Aline Sims. Hello, Aline.

[D]

Hello. I have my knitting and my caffeine. I'm ready.

[A]

Oh, that's all you need for Clockwise. That's right, four tech topics, which we'll start now. Apple has released the public betas for its upcoming operating system updates. If you haven't already installed betas, will this sway you? And what are you interested in, slash looking forward to? And if you're using it already enjoying from the public betas or developer betas Now, Kasey, let's start with you. I have a hint. I'm guessing maybe there's some betas.

[C]

There are some betas in my life, but my life is not exclusively betas, which perhaps makes me bad at my job, but that's neither here nor there. No, I put the beta on my Vision Pro. I put it on my iPad. I have not yet touched my phone. I had the excuse until last week that I was traveling. And so even though I was doing it domestically and I wasn't taking an airplane, my general rule of thumb is you don't mess with betas when you're traveling. That being said, all the committed travel is done for the summer. There's another trip we may try to try to slide in real quick, but so we'll see what happens. But for both ATP and for you know, my development work on Call Sheet, among other things. I think it's probably about time for me to jump on the beta train. And I typically try to wait for the public betas. Obviously I have access to the developer ones, but they're a little too raw for me, generally speaking. That said, I've heard they're very good this year. Maybe some of you can tell me so. That's many, many words to say. I think my phone is falling, and falling imminently because I have the taste of Siri AI on my iPad. And I gotta say, my limited taste has been very appetizing, if you will. It is very, very good.

[B]

I've been unable to reproduce this issue, but I am running all of the betas. Wait, that's not the issue. The issue that I've been able to unable to reproduce is that while I'm listening to something with. So far it only seems to be with AirPods, suddenly the Bluetooth will disconnect and it does this really cool thing where then you go into the Bluetooth settings in the app and there's nothing there. Oh, that's cool. And the only way to reconnect your AirPods is by completely restarting your phone so that I hate. But outside of that, beta has been good. What I am looking forward to is continuing to make my nervous system feel comfortable around Siri again. Because right now there's been too many ruptures in my relationship with Siri, and that is slowly being repaired as I continue to go, wow, normally I would do this thing. I'm going to see if Siri can do it instead. And I've been pretty surprised in a positive way. But there still have been some times where it does. It lets me down. And so I'm not quite in the space yet where I'm going. This is great, this is new. But again, we're all in beta, so we've got some time. So mostly what I have been enjoying is rekindling my relationship with Siri. Aline, what about you?

[D]

I had to run betas. I had to run betas for so many years for work. And then when I stopped having the tech jobs that required me to have work or to run the betas, I would get on the hype train and usually hop on the betas around, like the fourth public beta. But the last couple of years I've just been like, no, I don't want to do that. And so I don't do that anymore. Which is. Which is really nice. However, for the first time since 2018, I think my husband does not have a job that disallows him to run beta software on devices he uses for work. So he has just Yesterday downloaded the iOS beta on his phone. And so every once in a while I hear a noise from his corner and I'm like, what's going on? And he's just like, beta things. It's just a beta thing. So, yeah, I just don't. I'm not on that hype train anymore, and that's okay. My life is much calmer for it.

[A]

Thank you all for your thoughts on that. I have been running betas, at least on iOS, iPad and Mac, since the first developer beta, because I'm that person who just felt like I got to dive in, I got to live with it, got to start collecting data for my eventual review this fall. My experience have been up and down. I. I think my Mac installed the second. There was like a second beta 3, and I think my Mac installed it last night, and sometimes the cursor just disappears. Now that's fine. Everything's okay. I. I mean, I agree with Casey's idea that, like, you know, maybe hold off for travel. I did not install them while I was at wwdc, but I did once I got home because I was not planning on going anywhere for quite some time.

[C]

I.

[A]

You know what? I. I like Micah. I've been trying to throw a lot more stuff at Siri, and I've been really impressed with a lot of the things that it can do, and I'm kind of intrigued to see how that the trajectory of that goes over the course of the beta period. There's, you know, it is interesting watching them try to develop more and more of these AI related features, because I think one of the interesting parts of it is that so much of it can be changed or altered or rebalanced after the fact that experiences change wildly, which is not as much the case with your usual types of features that get rolled out in the beta period. You know, you might see some tweaks or bug fixes or things like that, but, you know, the functionality really can swing wildly with some of the Siri AI stuff. The public betas I used to think were a good. A good barometer, but, you know, at this point, I think I've just been unable to resist and I. I apparently don't value my life or time. So I will go ahead and install all the betas. But thank you again for your thoughts. Let's go to our second topic, which comes from Casey.

[C]

So hear me out here. Dan, I'm just easing my way into the question before you jump all over me. My question is, do you read for pleasure? Yeah, hold on. If so, how do you prefer to read a book? And that's what I'm really curious about. Is it dead trees, electrons, or perhaps vibrations? And does that change when you travel?

[B]

Well, Casey, I was just doing a show yesterday upon which we discussed the apps that we can use for reading. And my main app that I use for reading via Vibrations is the Audible app, and was going through it, kind of showing it on screen and then revealed to myself and to everyone else that I am somehow in the top 5% of all listeners in terms of books read. So vibrations, vibrations, Vibrations is all good vibrations here, baby. That's what I gotta say. And it does not change when I travel. In fact, I probably would say that I read less when I travel. But in the midst of travel, if it's, you know, a plane or something, there's, there's gonna be an. And if I'm driving by myself audiobook for sure. What about you, El?

[D]

Oh, friends, let me tell you how I have my life set up to be a reader. I've got a Kindle on a stand in my bedroom with a little hands free doodad so I can keep my hands nice and warm under the covers and still turn the pages. I have a Kindle by the couch that I can pick up whenever I want.

[B]

What Kindle?

[D]

My couch Kindle. I have a Kindle in my office so that when I'm in my office and I want to read on Kindle, I can, I am fortunate enough that I can knit and eyeball read at the same time. So I often use the Kindle app next to GoodNotes. So I use GoodNotes for knitting patterns in the Kindle app to read while I'm on the couch or in the car. I have. I, I am usually passenger Princess. I do not like driving. I especially do not like driving in Portland. So I have a little mag safe stand thingy under where the airbag comes. So, like, if the airbag is deployed, I won't get hit in the face by the device I have on the dash. But I've got a little, little mag safe set up there so I can put my iPad mini up there or my Kindle because I did put a mag safe ring on the back of my newest Kindle and I listen to audiobooks a lot while I'm doing stuff around the house. You know, washing dishes, doing laundry, putting clothes away. So yeah, if my husband is Driving, I'm usually eyeball reading. If I'm puttering around the house, I'm usually audiobook reading. And if I'm knitting, I am usually doing one of those two things. So hi, I read a lot.

[A]

I don't know if I can take quite as much reading time as a lean, but I do read pretty frequently for pleasure. I have a stack of E readers I was determining the other day and having a conversation where I think I have seven. I don't use all of them. I only use like 2 or 3, which is mainly my Kobo Libra 2, which is my prime reading device. And then I have a couple of those little XT ink ones, both an X3 and an X4. I've been using the X3 a lot because it's small enough to actually legit magnet to the back of my 17 Pro, which is pretty cool. And I really have enjoyed being able to have that with me. I was reading it on the subway while I was riding with my kid the other weekend and my kid just enjoys looking out the window because he just likes riding the subway. And I was reading a book and somebody like leaned over like, hey, is that just like a really small E reader? I was like, it is a really small E reader. I really do like paper books. I've been actually reading a paper book right now. But it is certainly I've come to appreciate so much of the convenience of having the ebooks, both in terms of portability but also in terms of functionality. So for example, like we were up at my in laws this past weekend and when I'm there, my wife and my son and I share a room and obviously when we go to bed, the kid is already asleep hopefully. And so I can't really read a paper book. And so I brought my E reader there with a different book on it just because I was like, well, this I can turn on the backlight and I can read in bed and not. And not wake him up. But I do like ebooks. I mean the other thing I miss is that like, you know, the ability to tap a word and look up a definition or a reference to something. I found that I was struggling when the in like the paper book I was reading had. It was kind of dense and I kept looking stuff up and I have to have like my phone out the same time. What is this?

[C]

What's this?

[A]

I've never really gotten into audiobooks. I used to listen more when I was a kid. I really love like dramatized versions of books, especially ones I've read before. I love hearing like a full cast production, but just audiobooks. I don't know. It doesn't really work for my brain for some reason. So, yeah, ebooks. Dead Tree Books, predominantly. Kasey, why don't you wrap us up?

[C]

Yeah. For me, I vastly prefer using a Kindle. I don't even know what version of Kindle I have. I think I have an ancient paperwhite or something like I have no specific allegiance to that platform. And I'm sure at some point you and Jason will get me on a Kobo. But I vastly prefer using some sort of E reader for a couple of reasons. Number one, it has a built in light and oftentimes my wife will go to sleep before I do and I'll stay up and read a little bit. But more importantly, particularly at nighttime, I have absolutely terrible vision. I have this weird eye disease called keratoconus, which means even with glasses, I can't see squat. I have to wear hard contact lenses, generally speaking. And let me tell you, I do not wear hard contact lenses at night right before bed. And so what's really great about a Kindle or any other E reader is that you can make the text freaking huge. And so that's what I do. If Aaron ever looks over at me while I have the text big, particularly if I'm still in nighttime mode, except it happens to be daytime, she just kind of laughs and shakes her head because the font size is about 11 billion points. But for me, everything about reading on a Kindle is just better. Now for her, she vastly prefers paper books and will only turn to the Kindle if like traveling or particularly via air or something like that. But for me, all Kindle all the time.

[A]

All right, that's two topics down, two topics left to go, which of course means it is halftime here at clockwise. And this week's episode is brought to you by us here at clockwise. Go to clockwise Social to pick up all of our great clockwise merchandise. We have hats, T shirts, mugs, tote bags, stickers, phone cases, the list, it goes on and on and on. And if you're not fully garbed in clockwise gear, well, now's the time to be because most importantly of all, it helps support the show. We really appreciate it. So go to clockwise social, Pick up some great clockwise merch for yourself or a loved one today. And with that, halftime is over. And I'm going to turn things over to Micah for his topic.

[B]

I was just curious if you have any sort of multicolor smart lighting, you know, Hue or one of the others in your home. And if you actually, like, make use of the multicolor part of it, or if you mostly use them as just standard lighting. Aline, we'll start with you.

[D]

I do not want to contemplate how much money we've spent on hue bulbs over the last decade. Plus, however, we mostly just use shades of white. We have it set up so that the lights shift from cooler light during the day to warmer light at night. Oh, we have a hue strip behind the TV that turns purple if we're up past our bedtime.

[C]

Oh, that's nice.

[B]

I like that.

[D]

But that's pretty much the only thing we do. I always tell myself that I'm gonna get my office set up and use lighting for like D and D scenes when we're playing total party Kill or something. And then I never do. And then I painted my office dark teal, so I don't know how well it'll work anyway once I start podcasting from down there. So, yeah, I wish. I wish we used the colorful lighting, but we just never do.

[A]

Yeah, for me, we. I started out buying hue bulbs when we lived in an apartment and our options were limited. And so when I came, when we moved into our house, I kept the ones I had and installed them in a few places that were really handy, like a floor lamp, I think in my office I've done another floor lamp and I installed all the overhead lights in my office are hue bulbs. And I control them mainly with like. I bought one of those great Lutron aura things that goes over a light switch and it works as like a dimmer control and works with hue bulbs, which is fantastic. And then I have one of the older hue sort of light remotes thing. I think we have some in our bedroom too, in our, like, table side lights. But when I moved into my own house, I ended up moving more and more towards the Lutron Caseta setup because the annoyance of not having to having to leave lights on at the light switch in the wall was such a pain that I just. As cool as hue bulbs are, the caseta were just so much better suited for what doing as terms of the multicolor stuff. Not in a long time. I used to play it. Like when I first got them, I would play around with it and I set up fun workflows where I could make them all turn red and flash and that. And one year I think we put a colored bulb in our front room during Halloween to turn it orange or make it flicker or stuff like that. But I Mainly don't. It's just, it's more than I need. I don't end up having a lot of, you know, desire or real purpose for changing the colors of the light. So it's become more of a occasional, actually honestly, occasional annoyance. Because I'll tell Siri will mishear something and all the lights in my office will go orange for no appreciable reason. So I think, I think color, like that's me, Dan.

[B]

I'm doing that. I'm pressing a button and it's Micah.

[A]

It's really.

[B]

I'm so sorry.

[A]

Anyways, I guess I'll. Time to get rid of those too. Casey.

[C]

The direct answer to Micah's question is no smart bulbs. We do have caseta stuff in several rooms in the house, but by no means have we gone full a lean on this or anything like that. In no small part because I can't speak for hue bulbs. So I can tell you the caseta switches, while bulletproof, are not cheap. But if you, if I can take the spirit of what Micah's asking. A few months ago, maybe a year ago now, I got a burr up my bottom to have some sort of like control center. Not even control center, but like a notification center somewhere in the house. And I've talked about this a lot on edqp. I have a blog post I've written about it which hopefully will remember to link in the show notes. But suffice it to say, there's a switch, I think it's a home seer switch that has seven LEDs on the left hand side of it. It looks like a regular, you know, paddle style decora switch generally. But it has these LEDs and with home assistant you can address each one of them individually and have them turn on or off or flash, whatever the case may be. And so this is in our kitchen, which is basically the center of the home. And I have, of the seven LEDs I'm using five of them. One of them will turn red if the garage door is open, one will turn magenta if the shed is open. One will turn white if my wife's Volvo plug in hybrid is charging. One will turn blue if the mail is currently waiting for us, and one will turn green if the laundry needs attention. Now you'll ask, of the four humans that live in my house, how many of them know what any of those colors mean? And I think it's just me.

[D]

I was gonna say one. One of you.

[C]

Yeah, just one. But let me tell you, I freaking love this. I refer to this Thing constantly. I adore it. This is incredibly nerdy. Way overkill. But it is exactly what I wanted, and I am genuinely so very happy with it.

[B]

Thank you all for your answers on that. I've got multicolor lighting in pretty much every room, and I rarely use anything other than the shades of white, like Aleene, but it's one of my favorite things. My partner, who's not really very into tech at all, absolutely loves doing the color stuff. And so pretty much every time we watch a show, before the show starts, we take a moment and he pulls open his phone and he sets a special little theme for the lighting while we're watching a show. And I just think it's fantastic because it's one of those places where it's like, I'm supposed to be the more techy one in theory, but I hate fiddling around with this stuff. And so to see someone who does and really like fiddling around with tech, the desire to have a cool lighting thing sort of outweighs that. It's just fascinating human behavior for me. So, yeah, we've got it. We've got them in every room, and I turn them on and off, and he changes the color. It's quite great. Thank you, everyone. And let us move to our next topic, which comes from Elaine.

[D]

So Justin and I bought a house in the Pacific Northwest this year. And when you buy a house in the Pacific Northwest, all you hear is about here is, like, the big one is coming. And, like, I've been hearing this my whole life because I grew up in the western US and it was like, well, soon we'll have, oh, oceanfront property because California, Washington and Oregon are falling into the sea. And anyway, we're working on our disaster recovery plan, so we're working on making sure we have emergency water, emergency food rations, you know, supplies for the cats and all of that in case something does happen. Setting up, making sure we have flashlights charged, you know, all of that kind of stuff. So as we're getting our literal house in order, I'm also thinking about having my digital stuff together and wondering if there's anything extra I need to do to make sure my digital life is prepared in case the big one happens or in case something happens to me. So I'm wondering what precautions you all take to make sure your digital life is kind of in order and that you'll be able to get on your feet relatively easy if the worst happens.

[A]

I mean, you're expressing a lot of faith lean that I don't think is necessarily My.

[D]

I believe in you.

[A]

Oh, place belief. I. I mean, look, I take the usual precautions. I have local backups. I have, you know, a synology that then backs up to backblaze. So most of my stuff would be pretty accessible. Obviously, I have, like, icloud backups on my phone and my iPad. So, you know, in those cases, that stuff is generally probably pretty easy to get back. I also try, to a certain extent, to be a little more. I don't want to say blase about it, but also, like, man, you know, if. If all those, like, TV shows on my synology die because something catastrophic has happened, it's probably not the biggest concern I have at the moment. I think the bigger question for some of these things is also the, like, what do you do with your accounts? I have set up, I think, both the legacy contact and, like, trusted contacts for my Apple account so that I can retrieve those in cases or somebody else can get access to them if they need them. I actually was just recently setting that up for my parents as well, because I realized I hadn't done that. And so, you know, I try to maintain a healthy backup regimen. We, fortunately, we are lucky enough to live in a place that is not generally, you know, at risk for huge catastrophic damages. But, you know, obviously you can never predict exactly what's going to happen. So, you know, I think it's one of those things that I think about but probably haven't spent quite as much time on as I should. Casey.

[C]

So here again, I'm gonna go with the spirit of the question, if that's all right, in terms of physical preparedness, which I know is not really what you're asking, but what I can recommend, we got for football tailgates, we got a battery. So think of, like, you know, if you were trying to run a TV in a parking lot, basically you would get a generator, right? Well, a year or two ago, we got a battery. This, the one we happen to have is. I call it a bluty, but I think it's actually Bluetti B L U E T t I e c 70, which is enough to run like, a refrigerator or, in our case, a television at the tailgable. But it could run a fridge for probably many hours. It could run a, you know, handful of lights or whatever the case may be in terms of physical preparedness. We occasionally will have hurricanes blow through Richmond, and they're not anything like, you know, Florida or anything like that, but it's a very intense storm, and when I know that big weather's coming I'll just charge this thing up and make sure it's ready to go. And that actually just being able to salvage the food in your fridge for several hours gives you incredible peace of mind. And I'm not saying this one specific battery thing is the bestest one on the market. You know, do your own research. But this one is on Amazon. As I sit here today for under 350 bucks, which I don't think is a terrible deal at all in terms of electronic preparedness, I will echo what Dan said. I had an occasion in early 2020 after Covid had really hit the US where one of the drives on my Synology died. And in the process of rebuilding the array, a second drive died. And so I thought I'd lost everything. And I swore to myself that will never happen again. It turns out it all came back to life, but I thought I'd lost everything. And so now in terms of like, family photos, specifically, I was trying to count. I'm pretty sure I have a full archive of all of our family photos that's no more than a month or two out of date in seven different locations. Because I'm that much of a Looney Tunes. And so for things that are super important, backup, backup, backup backup, you know, use the three, two, one rule in terms of preparedness. We are 1Password people. And 1Password has a really good. I forget what they call it, like emergency toolkit or something like that where you can physically print out, you know, here's how you access my 1Password account. Here's the master password, the 1Password. And I have that stored off site at a trusted location so that, you know, should something happen to all four of us concurrently, you know, someone I trust can get into our information via my 1Password and hopefully kind of clean things up. But yeah, I'd say backup, backup, backup more than anything else in terms of physical power backup or just electronic backup backup. All the things.

[B]

Yeah. I won't go into super detail because it's a lot of what others have said, but I do backups and off site backups. Also the one Password thing. My significant other and my mom both know the sort of physical locations they can go to to get access to those documents if they need to. And I've got all those legacy contacts and stuff turned on. But as far as physical preparedness, Elena, maybe reaching out to get some tips from you on what you both are doing, because we could be more prepared for the big one. And it is something that my SO regularly talks about. Are we prepared enough for the big one. So I'd like to be more prepared for the big one. Ali, why don't you run us out here?

[D]

You know, I think. I think unless you're going full on prepper, you're never going to be prepared enough for the big one.

[B]

Fair enough.

[D]

But yeah. So everything you all said the last time I was on clockwise, I was mad at Backblaze. People might remember, and I'm still mad at Backblaze. So we back up. I think this is the same solution Micah landed on, if I'm remembering correctly. But we both have two computers that we back up to an rsync.net server using arc. We also use time machine to back up to a synology locally. All of our iPads, iPhones, backups up using, you know, icloud. And that's kind of the extent we don't have. We're not like big external hard drive people or anything, so we don't have solutions for, you know, the synology that's always attached to the computer that, you know, we need for extra storage or whatever. Yeah. And making sure, you know, that loved ones know how to get in the house and where to find documents such as a master password or, you know, whatever you're doing for that kind of. Kind of thing. So. Yeah, And a battery backup is such a great idea. We have an electronic. We have an ev, and we're hoping that at some point we'll be able to use that to power the house if we want to. We are unclear. Rivian hasn't really announced, like, the details of what they're going to do with that. So we might not ever be able to do that. But maybe, maybe in the future they'll, they'll. They'll give us the capability to. To plug stuff into our car if we really need to.

[A]

So one can only hope. That'd be nice. All right, that is four topics down for one topic left to go because we got just enough time for a bonus topic. I want your total gut pick for who will be the World cup champion. If you need to know, your options are Argentina, England, and Spain at this point.

[B]

Casey, thank you.

[C]

I know almost nothing about soccer, but I believe the correct phrase is, it's coming home. Isn't that what you're supposed to say? I don't know if that's actually real or not, but I would say if I'm going to pick, let's go with England. I've had so many good experiences in England. I feel like they are, they are kin to most Americans. That's a compliment, not an insult, hopefully. So let's go with England.

[B]

My gut tells me Spain. I have no idea, though.

[A]

I mean, hey, there's three left. They made it this far right. Anything your gut tells you is all good.

[B]

You're all pretty.

[D]

Yeah, I. I was also like, I didn't even know the World cup was still going. So Argentina.

[A]

Oh, you're rounding it out. Okay. I get to be the tiebreaker. I think it'll be a three way tie because you can get that in soccer right now.

[D]

You can.

[A]

Those are all good choices. I'm Argentine, obviously. As Lionel Messi, who is probably the best player in. In soccer. I've watched a certain amount of this because my wife is really into it. And so it's been sort of fun to dip in and out. But I'm gonna go with Casey on this one. And even though I. Even though I was rooting for Norway against England, I guess I'll. I'll root for England because they haven't. Yes, the coming home thing. They haven't won since like the 60s, I think, so it's been a long time for them. Hey, if you'd like to get ad free episodes with an extra unwound episode every single week, you can become a member of clockwise. Just go to Relay FM clockwise and sign up for just $7 per month or $70 a year, and you will help support, support the show. And with that, we have reached the end of this week's episode and all that remains is for us to thank our fantastic guests. Casey, Liss, thank you so much for joining us.

[C]

The pleasure, as always, is all mine.

[B]

Andaleen Sims, thank you so much for being here.

[D]

I am always happy to talk with

[A]

you all and Micah. We'll be back next week with our most demonic of episodes. But until then, we remind everyone out there listening, watch what you say and

[B]

keep watching the clock. Bye.