SCRAMBLE: The 'Doomsday Clock' is now 85 seconds to midnight — the closest it's ever been

Summary

Garage Logic: Weekly Scramble — "Doomsday Clock Is Now 85 Seconds to Midnight"

Host: Chris Reivers (with Mike Fratelloni)
Date: January 28, 2026

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Overview

This episode of Garage Logic’s “Weekly Scramble” is a lively, heartfelt, and often comic exploration of youth sports culture in Minnesota, big winter shows in Minneapolis, the rise of automation, and the existential anxiety surrounding the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock, now set at a nail-biting 85 seconds to midnight. Chris and Mike bounce between nostalgic stories, local observations, cultural commentary, and tangents involving everything from Anthony Edwards sightings to the economics of sports tournaments, all delivered in the show’s signature blend of wit, camaraderie, and Midwestern common sense.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Youth Sports, Community, and Nostalgia

• The Value of Team Sports Beyond Winning

  • Chris and Mike reflect on what kids (and parents) really get out of youth athletics: it’s not about trophies, but camaraderie, memories, and shared experience.
  • [02:10] “You’re not going to remember the game you won and lost on a random Wednesday night... you’re gonna remember taking that long ass bus ride in the snow...” – Mike
  • They bemoan the grind of tournament weekends – long days, volunteer hours, and parents quietly hoping their teams lose to avoid late-night drives home ([05:25–05:58]).

• Tournament Economics

  • Chris breaks down the costs and profits of a major youth basketball tourney:
    • 144 teams x $515 each = ~$74k in entry fees
    • Free venues, concessions, likely profit margins of $100k+ ([06:00–09:00]).
  • Debate about spectator fees: Is it right to charge grandma $5 for fifth grade hoops? “Do you need to charge grandma five bucks to watch a fifth grader play basketball?” – Mike ([08:48])
  • Concession stands as a better bet than attendance upcharges: “You're probably more likely to make five bucks off them at the concession stand” – Chris ([09:53])

• Celebrity Encounter: Anthony Edwards

  • Chris recounts Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards dropping in at the Edina High basketball tourney, handling swarms of star-struck kids with genuine grace.
  • [13:34] “He couldn’t have been cooler... Gave knuckles to every kid... and snuck out the back exit.” – Chris

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2. Minneapolis Boat Show & Downtown Concerns

• The Boat Show and Urban Anxiety

  • Mike laments missing his annual tradition at the Minneapolis Boat Show, citing recent Minneapolis unrest and violence as a factor ([18:22–21:09]).
  • On the local tradition of looking at boats you’ll never buy, fantasizing about water even in subzero temps, and the “catch-22” of bad weather boosting sales but hurting attendance.

• Convention Center Lore

  • Shout-outs to the small but mighty Convention Center bar (“Jim the bartender does a great job, the pizza’s weirdly fantastic...an oasis” [15:37]).
  • Hilarious aside on overpriced acai bowls, $18 rainbow snow cones, and the special solace of a hidden gin and tonic ([21:44–22:18]).

• “Never Own, Always Borrow” Philosophy

  • The wisdom of enjoying friends’ boats rather than owning one.
  • Mike: “Find a really good friend that owns a boat.” ([23:13])
  • On resisting the siren song of boat ownership despite the allure and a couple of drinks:
    • “Do not let me buy a boat… And she didn’t slap me back. I almost suckered myself into putting $50,000 down...” – Mike ([24:54])

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3. Existential Jokes: The Doomsday Clock and Disruptive Technology

• Doomsday Clock Hits 85 Seconds

  • The hosts riff on the symbolic countdown of the Doomsday Clock and the growing anxieties it represents—nuclear war, climate change, disruptions from technology ([30:04–31:51]).
  • Mike outlines key historical moments:
    • 1953: 2 minutes after hydrogen bomb testing
    • 1991: 17 minutes post–Cold War
    • 2019–2026: steadily worsening, now just 85 seconds to midnight
  • “The risks we face from nuclear weapons, climate change and disruptive technologies are all growing. Every second counts...” – Quoting Alexandra Bell, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists ([31:36])

• What They’re Really Worried About: Automation & AI

  • Both hosts argue disruptive tech, not nukes, may doom us:
    • “I think it’s disruptive technologies… The whole world is going to change in the next couple of years when the grid goes down...” – Mike ([33:03])
    • On the not-so-remote future of household robots and the existential weirdness of replacement by automation.
  • Y2K reminiscence: Chris built generators in summer 1999 for the anticipated apocalypse (that never came) ([33:36–34:59]).
  • Meta-commentary (“Remember this in 8 months. And 18 months when you start having robots at your house that make your dinner…” [35:31])

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4. Local Viral Moments: Bananas and Rice Girl

• Sweet Minnesota Accents and Internet Culture
  • Mike and Chris discuss the viral video of a Somali American teen talking about her heritage, finding a shared humanity and charm in her awkwardness ([36:28–39:06]):
  • Mike: “She endeared herself to me… just a kid… if I turned to any of the kids at my daughter’s school…they’d do that exact same thing.”
  • Chris, ever the skeptic: “I'm so jaded. I just don't trust anything anymore.”
  • Notion of opening a restaurant called “Bananas and Rice” as a playful, unifying gesture.

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5. Signature Humor & Running Gags

• Dad Jokes Galore
  • The final section sees Mike breaking out a parade of groaners:
    • “My girlfriend attempted to cut off my ding-a-ling… She missed and hit me in the thigh. She’s being charged with a misde-wiener.” ([39:28])
    • “A man swallows several Scrabble tiles… doctors warn his next bathroom visit could spell disaster.” ([39:48])
  • Reivers: “Those are the best jokes I’ve ever had. And you are the best, Reivers.” ([40:03])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Nostalgia & Parenting:

  • "What if this is the best time? What if right now is the best time?" – Mike ([03:34])
  • “You’re probably more likely to make five bucks off of them at the concession stand.” – Chris ([09:53])

• On the Doomsday Clock:

  • “The risks we face from nuclear weapons, climate change and disruptive technologies are all growing. Every second counts and we are running out of time.” (Quoting Alexandra Bell at [31:36])

• Automation Anxiety:

  • “Remember this in 8 months. And in 18 months when you start having robots at your house that make your dinner… It’s gonna be game-changing in an atomic clock, doomsday, we’re done kind of way.” – Mike ([35:31])

• On Humanity’s Cultural Quirks:

  • “If I turned to any of the kids that go to my daughter’s school and said, tell me what it’s like to be an Irish American, they’d be like, Well, it’s not all tattoo, Guinness and Jameson.” – Mike ([38:06])

• Dad Joke Finale:

  • “Doctors warn his next bathroom visit could spell disaster.” – Mike ([39:48])

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Timeline / Timestamps for Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------| | 01:25–06:00 | Youth sports, memories, importance of camaraderie | | 06:00–09:53 | Tournament finances and parent perspectives | | 12:03–14:51 | Anthony Edwards sighting at local tourney | | 15:37–22:18 | Boat show traditions and Convention Center bar | | 23:13–24:59 | Escalating costs and madness of boat ownership | | 30:04–31:51 | Doomsday Clock context and scientific warnings | | 33:03–36:13 | Automation, robots, steel nerves, Y2K jobs | | 36:28–39:06 | Somali-American viral video, reflections on youth | | 39:17–40:03 | Dad jokes, closing banter, gratitude to listeners |

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Tone & Style

Garage Logic’s Weekly Scramble is defined by irreverent banter, community pride, and a self-aware blend of skepticism and sentimentality. The language is colloquial, conversational, frequently comedic, sometimes sharp. The hosts, both longtime Minnesota media personalities, play off each other’s quirks and local references, keeping the tone lively but never mean-spirited or crass.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This show is a great mix of nostalgia, local color, earnest musings about modern anxieties, and the eternal search for common sense amid goofy gags. Even the heaviest topics are handled with a light touch. If you want a sense of Midwestern life—and humor—in 2026, this is the spot.

“These are the good old days. Right. Or how do you know that these aren’t the good old days?”
— Garage Logic, [04:14]

Transcript

[Chris Reivers]

The 2026 Minnesota Golf show is swinging into the Minneapolis Convention Center February 13th 15th, and we want your business on the green. With thousands of passionate golfers roaming the floor, this is your chance to get your brand in front of this quality demographic with a vendor, booth or larger sponsorship. And this year's ambassador, NFL hall of Famer and Viking legend John Randle. So yeah, it's kind of a big deal. Want in? Don't wait for your invitation to land in the fairway. Call Bernie Lauer at 651-632-6646 or email blaurbi.com before the best spots are gone.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Join me, John Randall at the North American Banking Company Minnesota Golf Show February 13th through the 15th at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Test your skills in the long putt contest for a shot at a $100,000 prize package. Plus, try the latest gear from top manufacturers and get free lessons from local PGA pros. Don't miss it.

[Chris Reivers]

Tickets on sale [e-mail] Save $3 with advance purchase. Each ticket includes 14 free greens fee passes valued at $500. Learn more at mngolfshow.com. This is the Weekly Scramble, a place where we chat about life over a cold one or two. It's time to belly up to the pod with Mike Fratelloni and your host, Chris Reivers.

[Mike Fratelloni]

That's right, it's time for the Weekly Scramble podcast. My name is Chris Reivers with me as always. His name is Mike Fratelloni. Hello Michael, how you doing? How are you doing?

[Chris Reivers]

Reverse?

[Mike Fratelloni]

I'm okay. I'm doing good. I'm doing good. By the way, I gotta send a quick shout out to the frat pack. I had posted something at the end of last week about my son who's been battling some health issues. And I'm trying to get back to everybody that wrote in because it was just a very but everybody that reached out, honest to God, it reaffirms kind of your faith in humanity. So thank you to every single person that did reach out and he's doing well. In fact, he went back to school yesterday and so each day we just.

Said the worst joke I almost said was the transition surgery. That's total joke.

So the one kid that would laugh at that is my 11 year old. He would have laughed at that to Uncle Mike anyway. So thank you to everybody. I really do appreciate it. I'm trying to get back to each and every single one of you. I do appreciate it. But it's funny because it's one of those things Where I want to get into something really quick here about youth and sports and things like that. Because everyone thinks, you know, like me, I've got two boys that play sports year round and you've got girls that play sports. And so you kind of get lost in the shuffle with things like that. But you kind of like my younger boy and I were talking about just he doesn't even necessarily miss the playing, the practicing, he just misses being around his buddies, you know. And I've always said to both of them, I've said, you're not going to remember the game you won and lost on a random Wednesday night. You know, my oldest boy has a basketball game this afternoon or later today down in Jordan. You know what you're gonna remember when.

Tim Johnson lights his fart on fire?

Yes. And you're gonna remember taking that long ass bus ride in the snow from Nicollet, Minnesota to Jordan. And the joke that Graham told on the bus and the girl that got made fun of. That's the stuff you're gonna remember forever. That's the stuff I still remember. I don't remember where the hell we were coming from. I just remember my buddy Jake making.

Me laug something to my daughter the other day. And I said she was bitching about school or something, just a kid thing to do. And I said, honey, what if this is the best time? What if this right now is the best time? And she said, shut up, because it better not be. And I said, well, you know, later on in life you might see this as the best time. Sure, you have almost no must do's, right? You gotta go to school, you gotta be a good kid, but you don't have mortgages to pay, you don't have all this other stuff. And I don't know how to instill that into my children. That the present might be truly that it might be a present.

Is it the line from Andy from the office? I wish somebody would just tell me these are the good old days.

These are the good old days. Right. Or how do you know that these aren't the good old days? Right.

Exactly.

And I really want my kids to do that. And when you're talking about your kids in sports, you want to say to them, hey, this might be the best, you know, it doesn't mean you can't have better times. Don't get me wrong, but if you live the right kind of life, you look back and say, what great times those were.

Right. So you're a math guy, you love math. I do. Do you happen to Have a calculator on that computer or on your phone.

Yep.

I want you to do something for. Because my oldest boy was part of the annual Edina Basketball Cake Eater Classic.

Do they actually call it Cake Eater?

They absolutely call it and there's signs everywhere. So they have embraced. Is it slander?

Well, you know how like gay people didn't like the Q word?

Sure.

And now the it's there. They're like, I'm taking the word. Yeah, we know they're doing it.

Same thing. Same thing with Edina. So I can say that we were at the Cake Eater classic from about 10:05 in the morning Saturday and we got back in the car shortly before 10 o' clock Saturday night. We were there all day. We were there all day. And you know what? We didn't fare too well. In fact, most of us parents are rooting that we weren't going to win a game. So we're going to have to come back on Sunday because it was brutally cold.

Isn't that sad when you like, well.

Once you lose like the first game and then you're thinking, okay, if we can win the second one, maybe we can fight back. And then once you go 02, you're like, okay, let's just get this thing over.

Drive yourself to Nebraska and have a tournament where you keep winning and then you play later on Sunday. Later on Sunday. And you're like, I don't mind playing one game Sunday morning, then getting out of there. But if you keep winning, you keep playing. And all of a sudden 6:30 comes around on Sunday night, you're like, I gotta drive back to Minneapolis from Nebraska. The kids have school tomorrow. Happens all the time. And you wish your kids just lose.

So I want you to do some math here.

I'll try.

So in this particular tournament. And again, I want to preface this by saying I am not ripping Edina in any way. I just want to show you and others just how much goes into tournaments like this. So they had 144 teams that participated and it was a couple of different grade levels. I believe it was fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.

Okay, so they had gross of teams.

Yes. So they had 144 teams times.

Yep.

Each team paid $515 to participate in the tournament.

Okay, 515.

What do you got?

If I could do it. Hold on.

Standby.

Oh my God. 515. $74,160.

So that's what they cleared just upon entrance fees alone.

Okay. Yeah, but you got some expenses.

Well, but hold on. That's where I'm going.

All right, you got some.

So you've got just shy of 75 grand.

About 74.

Let's call it 74. And then they had concessions.

Okay.

And each, you know, each, you know, because every organization, I would guess, runs things the same way, where if you've got a child involved in the program, you are expected to have a certain amount of volunteer hours. If not, then you gotta cut a check or in some cases, free, sort of. Basically, the labor is free. And so, you know, you could get. You could get yourself a nice. What did I get? I got a Chick Fil A meal deal, which I love. Chick Fil A.

That's a good deal.

So I got an $8 chick fil a meal deal. You could get a. You could get a $7 jersey. Mike's meal deal.

Oh, okay.

You could get, you know, a soda, whatever. So I'm going to guess the concessions assumedly covered all of the. Because you got to pay for the referees. Right.

They're relatively expensive.

100 bucks. I'm going to guess around 100 bucks a game. They're about an hour. Hour or so long. And in fact, I ran into a couple of different referees that I know personally. And that's. I was told, yep, that's pretty much what we get. Because I was just curious, and I'm thinking these sons of guns probably cleared for their basketball organization about 100 grand.

What about T shirt sales? Did they have the classic.

Did they have merchandise? I believe, because there were QR codes everywhere. I believe that they did have merchandise available. I personally. Because we were at three sites. We were at the Edina High School, Edina Middle School, and the community center, which is kind of like how we have it in Jordan, where the middle school and community center are kind of combined into one. One structure. But we were only at the high school. We were not at the other sites.

So I don't know that the venue is free, right?

Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly.

No cost for the venue. You're bringing in 74 grand in just. And that's just teams. Did you have to pay to get in ticket sales?

No, that's the one nice thing.

What? Are you kidding me?

Well, because here's what happens when you get to, like, ninth. Tenth grade. Okay, I get it. If you start to charge people to come watch, you know, eighth grade and under to watch their kid play, teams won't show up. Like, they'll say, well, they. Because this is what happened at. I won't. I won't. Name the city. This is what happened at an area up. Up in the northern sub. Northern metro. And the word spread. And they got no teams to participate last year because it's like you're already charging the team 500 bucks still. But. But it's just kind of like a really. Do you need to charge grandma five bucks? Can watch a fifth grader play basketball?

144 teams times 10 kids, times two parents, plus 20 times 144 teams.

You know how we are. If they know you're going to charge five bucks, grandma ain't coming.

That's all right. More seats, but here. Okay, okay. 144 teams times 10 kids, right? Times two. So that's 2,880 kids times five bucks. That's another 14. Four they could have had.

But are they going to show up? And you know what? You're probably more likely to make five bucks off of them at the concession stand.

You'd still make that?

You think so?

I know so, because my kids play volleyball and volleyball some weekends. For the volleyball tournament that we go to would be how much? Reverse. $45 for the weekend to get one person in 45 bucks for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

What?

It was outrageously expensive to go watch your kid play volleyball. I mean, it was weirdly expensive. And they were making a fortune. A fortune. But they would have to set up in a, you know, the convention center. Those are big tournaments. But even little tournaments would be 12 bucks to get in to go watch your kid, you know, play. Sit on the bench.

All right.

My kids didn't sit on the bench.

So the other aspect of this that I wanted to bring up, and actually probably the main reason I wanted to bring this up, so my oldest boy, and I asked him because, you know, it was brutally cold all weekend. I said, okay, we had some time in between games. In fact, I actually came here because I had to record a spot. Linda Keller. Kellertaxservice.com she's back. In fact, I'm going to do her ad here shortly because I forgot to do it on Friday. So I came back here in between games, and I came back and I said, hey, do you want to go anywhere? He's like, no, I want to hang out with my buddies. I said, yep, you hang out with your buddies.

See you later.

I'll sit in the car.

Oh, really?

Well, because it just becomes too much stimulation. I just kind of need a break from bouncing basketballs and whistles and people.

Got to get those noise canceling headphones.

I had a Pair, actually, I had them when I worked here in my first year or so here, and somebody stole them.

But whatever, they're worth it, though, because it really lowers the. It does, you know, a lot of screaming, whistles blowing. Right.

So this is. So the first game was at. We played at 11, and then the next game was at three. Okay, no, sorry, four. Four o'. Clock. And so I go back, four o' clock game. I said, buddy, I go, will, you good? He's like, yep, yep, I'm good. We're just going to hang out. We're going to. And they not screw around in a bad way. We're just going to hang out. We're just going to be done, right?

Hang around.

Yeah, I want to hang out with my buddies. Okay. Okay, cool. And so my youngest son's team was participating in this tournament. He was not there.

Not feeling good.

He. He had. Yeah, he wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home. So I said, well, I'm going to go watch Leland's team play. So I went to go watch Leland's team play, and they ended up losing a close game. And all of a sudden I was standing with that group of parents and I'm going, wait a minute, was that Anthony Edwards that just walked by me?

What was he doing there?

And so Anthony Edwards had walked in with like two. I don't know if they were security or his buddies, but they were guys that looked like they were security. And so he walks by and I went, no, it couldn't have been. Couldn't have been. And all of a sudden I hear a stampede to go financial of people. And I went, oh, my God, it was Anthony Edwards.

It was a. Chicks like, drop it to the ground.

No, it was just kids. It was kids wanting to see him and wanting to get. Wanting to get a photo. Well, apparently, I don't know if it was a. If it was a nephew that was playing for one of the teams. If it was Minnetonka or Edinah, I don't remember, but it was. It was him. Oh, cool. It was him. So he's cool.

I like him.

I made it way worse. Oh, no. So there was a part of. So this was. Have you ever been to Udina High School before? No. So they have like, the older gym. So like a gym I would have played at right. When I was in high school. That's still there. It's still functioning. It's still nice. But it's an older gymnasium. And then they have the newer gymnasium. That's just beautiful. It's absolutely. It's great. So this game or the game that he went to go watch was at the older Edina High School gymnasium. And so there's three courts that are divided by the curtain and whatnot. And so I said, oh my God, for God, it really is him. I said, that's kind of cool. So I thought, I better go tell William. So I walked back to where he was hanging out with his buddies. It was him, three kids from his team, and they were kind of palling around with a couple other kids around their same age. I said, dude, come here. And he's like, what? And I said, ants here. He's like, oh, yeah, right, Dad. I go, no, dude. And so I said it even louder. I go, dude, Anthony Edwards is on court too, over here. And I'm not Mike. I. I'm lucky. I'm six three. I would have been run over by all these kids. And they all just took off. And I gotta, I gotta be. I gotta give him credit. He couldn't have been cooler, really. He gave knuckles to every kid. He wasn't signing anything because it would have just become mayhem. And one of the tournament directors was standing there and I ended up seeing him. And he stayed for most of that game. And then he kind of snuck out, not the emergency door, but like the back exit so he could just get out of there because everyone was waiting outside the gym to get him to sign something. And he just kind of waved like, hey, thanks, I gotta go. Which I can't imagine it's gotta be. But he couldn't have been nicer to the kids. And William's like, I'm never washing my hand again because Anthony ever gave me a fist bump.

You know what he might have found in Edina? You know what? Edina has a lot of good looking middle aged women. Ant might have found a new one. Like, which one of you ladies. Which one of you ladies here in a diner want to try out something new?

That. That may have been discussed amongst the Jordan family of fathers. Like, I wonder why he's here. I wonder why.

I wonder what he's. Which one of these gals he's gonna pick up?

I don't want to disparage young aunt because he couldn't have been nicer, but I thought that was pretty cool.

Disparage him. That would be the coolest damn thing in the world to be able to walk into some stupid tournament that kids are playing at and pick up any of the housewives of Edina there.

So shout out to Anthony Edwards. That was pretty cool. And all the kids got a kick out of that.

You know what I missed this weekend? You don't know this, but one of my favorite bars of all times is the Convention Center Bar, the Minneapolis Convention Center. There's a bar that's up a level and they make these pizza. There's a bartender named Jim there. He does a great job. The pizza's weirdly fantastic. When I say weirdly fantastic, I mean it is fantastic pizza. Jim's a great bartender. Everything about it is fantastic.

Nice.

The boat show was last weekend.

Can you hang on to that for a minute?

You talk about Teller Tax Services.

I do want to get into that because I had a thought that absolutely has you written all over it. But yes, we'd like to welcome back Linda Keller and kellertaxservice.com Ladies and gentlemen. You know what, if you want to go with the best. I can't recommend Linda Keller highly enough because she's been doing my taxes for years. And yes, that's right. I started out as a customer of Linda Keller and Keller Tax Service. And you know what? She. It doesn't matter if you're doing a single file, married business, whatever. She handles all types of returns for all types of people and also all types of businesses.

You've never even gone to jail for tax evasion.

No, not once.

Because she's doing it right.

In fact, I spent a considerable amount of time on the phone with Linda yesterday and I said to her at the end of it, I go, well, I hope you understand you're never getting rid of me ever. Period.

You know what? I know you have more to read.

Go ahead.

And you're doing a great job because you know how to do it. And she wrote this, but I just want to put this plug in for her. She's a very, very sweet person.

Oh, the best.

She is absolutely a g L er. She's a weekly scrambler. She's just like, this is one of those things, if you need a tax person, just try her. Well, and it's just try her.

It's trust, by the way, that's the biggest thing with Linda Keller. And you know what? Most of her business is based upon referrals. And we were talking about that very thing yesterday and that's been such a great relationship to have her here with the weekly Scramble and also on Garage Logic. And you know what, just find her online. Kellertaxservice.com when you go on that website, you can book your appointment, but you can also see up to Date, tax information. She does a really good job of updating that website, too. She's the absolute best. And I'm so glad that I found linda keller and kellertaxservice.com she is the best. That's Friday. I'm Revers. This is the weekly scramble podcast. And we. We'll be right back. I'm glad you mentioned the boat show.

Did you go? You couldn't.

I could, yeah. I was tied up with basketball. I love going to the boat.

I love. It's something I do every year. Okay. Every year.

And by the way, we get to be at the golf show here in a couple of weeks.

I can't wait.

Okay.

I'm doing Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th. We'll be at the Minneapolis Convention Center. It's the annual golf show. That's where I buy my golf shirts.

Yes.

Every single year.

Yeah.

I love it.

It's a great spot.

Okay, so I'm glad that you went to the boat show.

[Chris Reivers]

Wait, what?

[Mike Fratelloni]

So here's what happened is, I don't know if you've been watching the news at all, but there's been some tragedies in Minneapolis.

I haven't seen anything about it.

You haven't heard anything. I probably. You might not have broached the subject on the garagelogic podcast. So I kind of feel bad about this Reavers, because I was gonna go to the boat show on Friday night, and I said to my wife, I finally said, ah, it's getting late. Let's not do it. I said, let's do it Saturday. And then, of course, Minneapolis is metaphorically burning. And I know that where much of what was happening wasn't around the convention center. It was further down Nicollet Avenue. Right? And I just said, let's punt till Sunday.

Right?

Let's go on Sunday. And then I just never got around to it. And I actually feel quite badly for the organizers of the boat show. And I haven't talked to anybody about how many people went there, if people did show up or didn't show up. But could you imagine putting together a multi million dollar boat show? Right? Cause it's expensive. Some of the most beautiful boats that you could imagine being in the water in Minnesota are there, right? And I don't know, I bet you anything attendance, either it had to be down or people said, I'm going no matter what.

You know, it's funny you say that. So I have a really good friend. He and I went to high school together. And his family has owned Lacan's Marine down in Farewell, Minnesota for forever. My buddy Nick and I, we graduated high school together. And I remember going there a couple of times to do appearances or doing whatever, because they would used to buy time on the station. I'm not talking about the marina, but I'm just talking about the boat show, period. So we would hang out, and of course, I find the secret cooler, because, Nick, I know where your secret cooler is. And then we'd hang out, and I would always ask him. He said, well, the reason that it's always this time of the year is it's usually brutally cold. And what does everybody want to do? Be on the water, be in a beautiful boat, think about boating, think about that. And he said, for some reason, we, meaning just his marina, we do a ton of business. The colder it is outside, because that's what's on the top of everybody's mind. So I don't know if that correlates with actual attendance or not, because we mentioned the golf show, and I remember a couple of years. We've been doing the golf show for 15 years, however long it's been at the convention center. And I remember one weekend, it was brutal. So in addition to being cold, it was snowy and the traffic was a mess, and so attendance was down. But I remember thinking, well, I'm just going to sit here and putt, because I don't want to just sit on 94 right now and then not go anywhere. Right. So I remember having that kind of mindset where I'm, well, I'm already here. I might as well just walk around, see the different vendors and whatnot. So I bet It's a catch 22, I would guess.

I think if something slowed down the attendance of the boat show, I think it was demonstrations for sure. Right?

Yeah.

Or the fear of a guy coming from St. Paul. Like, ah, is there gonna be a bunch of traffic? Do I have to think about what car I'm driving? You know, it was weird. I'm gonna tell you, it was weird. And I feel bad, and I need to apologize to the people who had to get put together the boat show. So I didn't go. And I thought, man, I probably should have gone.

You know who's really sad?

Who's that?

The people that put it on going, oh, Fradalone didn't show up. Damn it.

And I don't even want to buy a boat. So it wouldn't have been good. But Jim the bartender up at that little bar in the middle of the convention, what's the name of the Bar, Nothing. It's a shitty convention center bar.

Okay?

Right. It's for people that your kids are at a tournament and you can't take.

It anymore, and you have to have.

Somewhere to go have a drink. And you go up there, and Jim cranks out a drink, and then they make pizzas in this little oven that take 90 seconds. That's how long they take. And they're strangely delicious. And my wife was like, oh, we're gonna miss Jim seeing this bartender there. Right. We shouldn't love it that much. Like, maybe we're a little too into it. I think it is kind of an oasis in. You know, when you go to these tournaments, they have acai bowls for 20 bucks. They have rainbow snow cones for $18. They don't have, you know, gin and tonics. Right? So this place at the convention center, they say, oh, by the way, over here, we have Tanqueray tonics.

See, you know why you start?

Why?

What's that you've got? This is Tomball.

Is that what Tomball is?

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

Hey, I want to go somewhere where I can watch some mediocre baseball and drink some drinks and have some busch lights for $2 and enjoy myself on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

That's why. Well, so again, I need to apologize. If you went to the boat show, shoot me a message on the frat pack, because I want to see what it felt like. Normally, it's well attended.

I remember it would have been because I took William had to come with me to work one day. So this was a couple of years ago, but. So we had to do the boat show. We had to do something out there. I can't remember. Maybe. It must have been Glad. And so William and I walked around to look at boats because he just wanted to climb in and out. And I remember because, again, I am not a boater. You know what the best thing is? Find a really good friend that owns a boat.

Exactly.

And so I've never owned a boat, but I do love being on the water. And I remember we walked up to one, like a beautiful pontoon with the beautiful canopy and the wonderful seating, three.

Engines dangling off the back.

Absolutely. And I remember looking at the price tag going, are you bleeping kidding me? This is more expensive than the first house I bought.

Some of them were $300,000. It's insane for a pontoon. Yeah, it's really, really cool. It's really cool. I do know last year when we went and I think I shared this on the air, I turned to my wife. And I said, no matter what, I don't even like boating. Just FYI, you don't know this. I feel when I'm boating, I feel like I'm driving a golf cart in a parking lot. I don't get it. I don't get it. And when you're always in charge of boating, all I think of is everyone else is attempting to kill themselves by leaning over the edge of the boat or not wearing. And I'm that the inmates aren't running the asylum right? So I'm always hyper focused that people aren't dying on the boat. So we go to this boat show and I turn to my wife and I said, hey, whatever you do, do not let me buy a boat. Do not let me go 50% in with my brother in law, my sister. Don't, don't let me do it. Don't do it right. And we start going and I start having some drinks. And I was like, ah, look at this one. And then a couple minutes later. So there was one for like a really expensive boat, like let's say 180,000 bucks. And it was gorgeous. And then we saw what looked to be the exact same boat for like $100,000. And then I did the math of half of $100,000. The deal is $50,000. And I thought, well, $50,000 for that boat. Thinking my brother in law was also. So I'm talking myself into it. And she didn't slap me. She didn't slap me back into it. She said, you are cut off. I said, oh my God. I almost suckered myself into putting $50,000 down on a boat to the very.

Thing that I didn't want to.

By the way, I don't even freaking like boating.

Right.

I just don't get it.

That does remind me of one of GL stories of all time. So years ago, we used to do the golf opener up at Craigen's.

Oh, I love it.

Dutch Cragan always had us come up and one of the most genuine human beings on the planet and was such a fun time. And I'm not the world's best golfer, but it was just fun. You know, we'd go up there, we'd do shows on Friday and they'd put us up for the whole weekend. And they said, hey, if you want to golf, let us know. And of course, Joe wanted to golf all the time, but nobody else really did.

So I didn't have anything to do with the Black Sox open.

No, this is completely different. Totally different. So we went up there, and I remember Friday afternoon, this is when we were still on the radio, and Royce had said, hey, we've got a bunch of prerecorded interviews, so if you want to take off, you don't have to stick around. He told that to me and Johnny because Johnny and I were still on Royce's show, and so. Oh, okay, cool. Well, all that day Rookie had, you know, because Rookie knows how to bait sushiri, okay? And so he just kept saying, you know, I sure wish we could get on the water and then we'd do something. He's. Man, I just wish. Look at how beautiful that lake is. I gull lake, sure. Oh, man. How great would it be to be on the water today? Because it was an absolutely gorgeous first weekend of May. A beautiful afternoon. And then finally, towards the end of gl, Joe goes, how about if I rent the pontoon? Rook's like, oh, what a great idea. And so, of course, what did we do? We all. Sounds great.

Yeah.

Joe rents the pond, too, and he pulls it up to the dock. We all piled in. We had the coolers and everything ready to go, and we just kind of putz around, right? We just do the cocktail cruise, right? And he's. Oh, so that house right there, that one belongs to. And we're like, yeah, okay. Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug. And so we did it all. We went all the way up to. Oh, shoot, I can't remember the restaurant off the top of my head. And we had dinner there. Putzed all the way back, and he said, all right, well, who wants to help me bring this back there? Oh, well, I gotta run to the. See you later. But it was such a fun. It was a fun afternoon.

Captaining the boat is not fun. That's not fun.

But that's the part. That's what Joe loves doing. So he was in charge. Oh, God, he loves every part of it. Now, see, what you gotta do is you gotta go starboard here, and then you gotta. Okay, Joe. Sounds good.

See, I'm with a bunch of just animals, and I'm thinking, oh, why are you leaning over? What? Oh, no, no. If you stand up. If you stand up on the front of the boat on the other side of the fence, and you fall off, and then I roll over you and you die, I'm gonna feel responsible somehow, but it's not my fault. So get your ass back in the boat.

It's not your fault. Let's talk about wearenuts and wearenutsmn.com they were nice enough to bring a couple. Are we calling the silos now?

Yeah, those are big ones.

That's what I'm gonna call them right now. So I brought home the silo of the cashews, the jumbo cashews, the silo of the wonderful trail mix, and then also the cherry mix.

Are you supposed to say that?

What?

Because you got those. And I said, are you gonna share those with everybody? And you're like, oh, hell no.

It gets better. So the two boys in my life.

Don't tell me they ate three.

Were addicted to the cinnamon toffee peanuts. Courtesy of Jim.

Yep.

Mr. Big Nuts.

Yes.

And so they loved that because he said, do you guys like Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Yeah, it's my favorite cereal. So of course he gave them a handful at the state fair, and now they're obsess with them. So I brought home the jumbo cashews, and I thought, I'll set these here and then I'll do whatever. So then I put them in the counter, and he saw that they were there. Well, I went to go have a handful before I headed into work today.

And I went, they're gone.

There's the silo already. And I said, well, where do they go? So then I went to the recycling bin, and there sat the empty silo of jumbo cashews. So now I have two boys that are now addicted to the jumbo cashews in addition to the cinnamon toffee peanuts.

Do you know that Jim Burt plays music, too?

No.

I think he should write a little song about nuts. Yeah, and then we could play it during his thing. Cause he posts a bunch of stuff online. I did not know of him playing music. Yeah, it's really cool.

That's very cool. But you're all gonna be entertaining for the big game coming up here in a couple of Sundays. And I gotta tell you, the snacks offered with We Are Nuts Are the absolute home run for everybody in your life. It doesn't matter. Like I said, the cinnamon toffee peanuts, the bourbon toffee almonds, the milk chocolate almonds. Oh, my God, those are so good. But see their entire [e-mail] you can see them at Fratelloni's Hardware and garden stores, Mac's Hardware, Colburn's, Cub Foods, Kowalski's Market, Lons and Barley's County Market. 700 Quick Trip locations carries. We are nuts right now. And so many more. But like I said, if you aren't able to make it to those locations. Just go online to wearenutsmn.com you can place your order there as well. And please do me a favor and mention that you heard about him here on the weekly scramble podcast. We will be right back. Are you prepared?

What do you got?

You know what's coming, don't you? Oh, no.

Please tell me it's not Kristi Noem telling everybody that.

Nope, I'm avoiding Ice talk. On today's episode, the Doomsday Clock.

Oh, you know, I heard a little bit about that. We're getting close to the end, aren't we?

Is now 85 seconds to midnight, the closest to it's ever been. What scientists say, Michael, this means for humanity and how the time is determined. You know, I fully believe that all this is going to happen, by the way.

Yes, you do.

Humanity is closer to. This is courtesy of Yahoo. News because when I want hard hitting news, I go to Yahoo. Humanity is closer to destroying itself according to atomic scientists who revealed today that the famous Doomsday Clock was set at 85 seconds to midnight. The closest it has been in nearly 80 year history of the clock. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a science oriented advocacy group made the announcement today metaphorically rating how close humankind is to annihilating itself with human made advancements. Midnight represents the point at which humans will have made Earth unlivable. It is the determination of the Bulletin Science and Security Board that humanity has not made sufficient progress on existential risks that endanger us all. We thus move the clock forward, said Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The risks we face from nuclear weapons, climate change and disruptive technologies are all growing. Every second counts and we are running out of time. It is a hard truth, but this is our reality.

I got some points of time for the doomsday clock. In 1953, the same bulletin, the same group of people said there's two minutes left in the Doomsday Clock because the US tests its first hydrogen bomb in November 1952. So they said, okay, that's not good. Hydrogen bomb. Not atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb. In 53, right? In 1991 they gave 17 minutes to the clock, right? They said, okay, wait, we're going backwards a little bit on the clock. Because the Cold war ended and US and Russia reduced nuclear arsenals. Excuse me. 2019, they moved it down to two minutes because the lack of progress on nuclear risk and dangers of climate change now came in. You'll notice something. 2020, they went to 100 seconds. 202390 seconds. Last year they said 89 seconds because nuclear danger, biological and climate disruptions and disruptive technologies. Right. And then here in 2026 now we're down to 85 seconds. So they lost four seconds from last year to this year. I think they're dramatically missing out one thing. I don't think it's nuclear war that we have to worry. I think it's disruptive technologies because the whole world is going to change in the next couple of years when.

When the grid goes down.

When the grid goes down and all our gynoids stop. You remember female robots when they stop making dinner for us and we don't no longer know how to make dinner because they won't have any energy when that happens. I think this clock could rapidly reduce in time. I'm really excited for the robots to come. I'm really excited. Can I ask you something totally tangential?

Are you moving off the robots? Because I just wanted to make do a robot.

But I'm done with the atomic clock story if you're done.

Probably not going to do a robot. But I wanted to make mention that you remember the craze of the Y2K phenomenon.

Oh yeah, yep.

So the summer of 1999, I was in college. I was going to Mankato State. Go Mavs. And I still call it Mankato State. Please don't email me. And I was coming home for the summer and I needed a summer job, right? And Faribault's got a lot of industry and a lot of blue collar opportunities for kids to work. Do you know what my job was the summer of 1999? I was working. I got a job, a decent job, paying good money, right? Full time. I think I was like 6am to 2pm or 6am to 3, whatever. I built generators for the entire summer of 1999 because.

Just grinding.

I believe the company was called K Bar, if I'm not mistaken. I have no idea if they still exist. Maybe they do, maybe they don't have no idea. My job that entire summer was being on the assembly line building generators. Just one after the next, one after another. In fact, I remember because there was a couple of my high school buddies that we all kind of worked there. And I remember at one point I tried to count the number of generators we pushed off the line in just one day. And it was just too much to keep up. But I thought, how insane is that? We were so petrified of what was coming at the end of 1999 that we had to push out a million generators that Many generators in the summer.

Yeah, that was a big time for them. They do have some great videos at the BMW automotive plant. They've had one Android. It's a male version of the robot working 10 hours a day, five days a week. And they just have a camera on him. And you can go watch him just working. And he's putting together BMWs and he's humanoid looking like he doesn't have an exoskeleton. Right. Or he doesn't have skin. I shouldn't say an exoskeleton. He doesn't have skin. He just looks like a robot. But he's just working. And then I thought, why is he only working five days a week, ten hours a day?

Yeah. What do you need a break for?

You're a robot. Just keep moving, keep grinding. But he just keeps going. And I find that. And they said we're just there. When you listen to Elon Musk talk about robots, and I know people are probably sick of this conversation, remember this in eight months. And remember this in 18 months when you start having robots at your house that make your dinner and put away your laundry. And you think, oh, I don't have to do any of this anymore. I could do something great, like searching Internet. Listen to the old episodes of the Weekly Scramble. Right? I mean, it's gonna be game changing in an atomic clock, doomsday, we're done kind of way. Right. Because they're really wondering what people are actually gonna do for existence when robots are just doing it.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah.

[Mike Fratelloni]

When the grid goes down. Yeah, Right.

For sure. Not even when the grid goes down. When just all of these. They think for every man, woman and child in like the next 10 years, not some 50 years from now, every man, woman and child will have an equivalent gynoid for them, right? So there's gonna be 8 billion of them.

So it'll be the end of the human race.

It'll be just. Well, we just won't have to do anything. I did see something that I wanted to talk to you about. And I don't know if you brought this up on gl, and I want to get your opinion. Have you seen the Somali girl explaining what it's like to be Somalian? And she says it's not all bananas and rice. Bananas and rice.

Yeah, we played the clip.

I found that. I'm gonna tell you, I found something so sweet about that, so normal about that.

So.

Oh, my God, this is another American girl. Like, she just reminded me of every. And, you know, maybe I think she's maybe 18 or something. She reminded me of every teenage kid in the world. Being a little goofy, not being on the same train of thought. Kind of sweet, not really knowing what to say. And it gave me such great feelings for her. Did you feel that way? What did you think when you saw it?

Well, when she had no explanation, when she repeated herself three or four times about the bananas and rice, I thought I actually felt bad for her.

I mean, and I'm not making fun of her.

No, I'm not either.

I'm saying she's in a very stressful position.

She was put up there as a tool for the movement, and I thought, why would you do that to her?

She was completely just like a sweet girl that they said, tell her what it's like to be Somalia.

I'm not saying she's not a sweet girl. I'm saying she was put up there to try to. In some way. And I just thought, you've put her in a position that the only thing that can happen is she can fail. And I felt so bad for her. I really did.

I wanted to hear what you thought about that. Because that girl endeared herself to me. Cause she just seemed like if I turned to any hundreds of the kids that go to my daughter's school and said, tell me what it's like to be an Irish American, they'd be like, well, it's not all tattoo, Guinness and Jamison. You know, I mean, I think they do that exact same thing. It makes me so much like her that I want to open or fund a restaurant called Bananas and Rice, because I think it would be really great, right? Maybe start a chain full of banana and rice places.

I'm trying to think of the concept, because I love bananas and I love rice.

A whole bunch of people do, right? And you could do. I don't know. I just really wanted to hear how you felt about that. Because I thought, oh, my God, she's just one of us. She's just a kid.

I'm probably the last person to ask about things like that. Because with everything that I have to read and everything that I see and everything we have to talk about on gl, I'm so jaded. I just don't trust anything anymore.

I know, but don't you just want to like, somebody? Like, that girl's just a. Like, she's just a likable kid.

Sure.

She's just a likable kid that doesn't really know what to say. She has a Sweet Valley girl. The last thing you'd think is that she'd have kind of a Valley girl accent with a cute little laugh. I thought it was really great. I do know a couple things. Reverse.

What's that, Mike?

My girlfriend asked me why I never buy her flowers, and I said, I don't even know you sold them. Okay, wait. I got another one. I got another one.

I didn't know I could drive a bus.

A woman, in fact, my girlfriend attempted to cut off my ding a ling the other day.

Oh, no. That's horrific.

Horrible. We got in a big fight. She attempted to cut off my ding a ling. She kind of missed and hit me in the thigh. She's being charged with a misdeouiner. Misde. Wiener. Okay, I got another one. I got another one.

Yeah. Okay.

A man swallows several Scrabble tiles. He's experiencing extreme vowel movements. But doctors warn his next bathroom visit could spell disaster.

Oh. Reverse.

Those are the best jokes I've ever had. And you are the best Reavers.

Thank you, Michael. Please do us a favor, Rate and review the show, Ms. D.A. weiner, wherever you happen to be listening to the weekly Scramble podcast. It helps others find the show. It helps us out as well. And we appreciate each and every single one of you. His name is Mike Fratelloni. My name is Chris Reivers. Thank you so very much for listening to the weekly Scramble podcast. We'll talk to you again next time. Until then, cheers.