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- [00:03]
A
Grumpy Old Geeks, a weekly talk show hosted by Brian Schulmeister and Jason DeFilippo discussing the finer points of what went wrong on the Internet and who's to blame. Welcome to Grumpy Old geeks. I'm Jason DiFilippo.
- [00:20]
B
And I'm Brian Schulmeister. And we're on video.
- [00:23]
A
Oh, I know. It's so pretty. Look at that. Look at that little LA hat you're wearing.
- [00:27]
B
Well, yes. Congratulations to the World Series champions. Back to back your Los Angeles Dodgers. I am only allowed to wear this hat in my house because I will probably get beat in Toronto. Walking around in Toronto, not only just in my house, in the room alone, because both my son and and wife were very disappointed that the Toronto Blue Jays lost. So this is it for the hat. In my room, by myself, under the.
- [00:53]
A
Covers, in darkness, on video to thousands of people.
- [00:57]
B
On video to thousands of people. Because go Dodgers. Yeah.
- [01:01]
A
But you know, if you did get beat by Blue Jays fans in the streets of Toronto, they would do it politely.
- [01:06]
B
They would. And they'd say sorry. And then I would get free health care.
- [01:09]
A
Yeah, there you go.
- [01:10]
B
So you know, it's a win.
- [01:13]
A
It's a win, win.
- [01:13]
B
It's a win. Win. So anyways, back onto the news. You know, we can't know how bad the economy is, Jason, if we can't get reports on it.
- [01:22]
A
That's part of the design, Brian. Part of the design.
- [01:25]
B
Except we kind of can. As we can tell, a lot of people can feel that the economy isn't doing so hot right now. But of course, due to the government shutdown, we don't have much in the way of official economic data to give statistical clarity to that feeling. Other than Trump saying everything's great and throwing a great Gatsby themed party at his stupid place in Florida. But more and more private firms are actually releasing economic analysis and much of the time it doesn't bode well for the American worker. New report shows that this October was a particularly brutal month for the US workforce and there's especially bad for the tech industry. This came from career transition services firm Challenger Gray and Christmas. It's going to be a challenging gray Christmas.
- [02:09]
A
Yeah, it's going to be a very challenging gray Christmas. Isn't the challenger the one that blew up, by the way? The space shuttle that blew up?
- [02:15]
B
Yes. I was in my seventh grade classroom watching it on tv. That didn't affect me at all.
- [02:20]
A
No, not at all.
- [02:23]
B
Well, it showed that the past month was the worst in decades. This report states that US employers announced some 153,000 job cuts in October, up 175% from those announced in October 2024. It's up 183% from the cuts announced just one month prior. Technology continues to lead in private sector job cuts as companies restructure amid AI integration, slower demand and efficiency pressures, and probably those tariffs. In October, the sector announced 33,000 job cuts, up sharply from 5,000 in September. For the year, technology firms have announced 141,000 job cuts. These are all being estimated up or down as needed, up 17% from the 120,000 announced through the same period in 2024, which is bad. It's not good at all, and there's no real way to spin it as good. This is the highest total for October and over 20 years and the highest total for a single month in the fourth quarter since 2008. Like in 2003, a disruptive technology is changing the landscape now. The exact reason for why tech companies are shedding jobs right now is still very much up in the air. One narrative attributes the layoffs to the rise of AI, but we've kind of debunked that multiple times on this show. Multiple commentators have noted that it could be much more mundane economic and business factors that are squeezing the industry, like lack of growth in non AI sectors and tariff policy eating away at profits while making it difficult to plan for the future. Personally, I just think it's greedy. Fucking billionaires.
- [03:52]
A
Yeah, that's kind of it. Yeah. I got laid off from two jobs, so. And it's, it's funny, I was like, okay, I've been making this, this Faustian bargain for the past couple weeks. I'm like, okay, what, what do I cut? What do I cut? What do I cut? And this the last time, it's usually car payment or health insurance. Car payment or health insurance. I'm like, well, I need the car if I'm ever going to get to a hospital so they can. So I should probably keep the car instead of the health insurance. But then I realized, oh, I've got a colonoscopy appointment coming up soon. And I'm like, so I just got a loan to pay for my health insurance so I can get my colonoscopy to find out if I have butt cancer to see if I can get through that process so I don't lose my insurance before I get my colonoscopy result. It's a great time to be in America, Brian, in the news. Well, do you remember Michael Burry?
- [04:47]
B
Yes.
- [04:47]
A
Yeah, he was the guy from the, the Big Short back in the day.
- [04:50]
B
If you've never watched the Big Short, by the way, watch it.
- [04:53]
A
Now's a good time to go see it.
- [04:55]
B
Hey, make your Christmas gray.
- [04:57]
A
Yep. Go, go fire up that streaming service that you're paying for too much right now and, and get on it. Yeah, he's, he's betting on the meltdown. That's right. This time it's not subprime mortgages, it's AI, like we've been saying. According to SEC filings, his scion Asset Management dropped over a billion dollars on put options against Nvidia and Palantir, effectively wagering that the AI gold rush is about to crash harder than a self driving Tesla.
- [05:26]
C
Wow.
- [05:27]
A
Nvidia just hit 5.5 trillion market cap. Palantir is trading at 200 times forward earnings and everyone's pretending that that shit just makes sense.
- [05:36]
B
I don't think anybody's pretending it makes sense. It's just people are riding it as long as they can.
- [05:41]
A
That's what we've been saying. And it just keeps, you know, to the moon, Brian, to the moon.
- [05:46]
B
It's the. I, you know, the crypto bro's got nothing on the real stock market.
- [05:50]
A
Yeah, yeah, those guys are just like piddly piss ads compared to the real guys. But they might be the only ones left with the money if you don't get out of the market soon. Because it's getting scared. It's getting scared. See, I look at the morning brew every day. The, the newsletter, the Morning brew, and there's a little block at the top. It's either, it's got like, you know, all the different indexes and all the different industrial averages and all that shit. And I weigh in bitcoin and one stock. So I wake up and I'm like, is it green or is it red? That's all they, that's all I care about. And when it's red, this is, this is the, the schadenfreude in me that I just get smiley. It makes me happy when I wake up and I see that it's red. When I wake up and it's green, I'm like, oh, the fuckers are still winning.
- [06:31]
B
Well, you know, I mean, for, for other people such as myself or in the stock market, the, the traditional wisdom has always just been if, if you can afford to wait, you hold, you hold, hold, hold. And I still agree with that for many, many stocks. But not, not these, not, not Tesla, not Nvidia, not Palantir. These things are riding the bubble and we all know it. So your Johnson and Johnson stock is going to be fine if you, if you hold onto that. But if you're, if you got Palantir, if you got Tesla, you're. I don't give financial advice on this show.
- [07:05]
A
No, we don't. You're just batshit crazy. How's that?
- [07:09]
B
Yeah. Well, in real world news, no shock here, the Republican led FCC has voted on and approved a proposal that will make it harder for consumers to receive itemized bills with accurate information from their ISPs. As originally spotted by CNET. If you recall, this was just recently passed. So we got the, the kind of bill of sales for ISPs or the food, the food label, nutrition lab kind of things.
- [07:31]
A
Yeah.
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B
Which was a good thing because yeah.
- [07:34]
A
We cheered for it when it came.
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B
It was, it was nice. It's good to know how they're screwing you.
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A
Yeah.
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B
That'S all we really wanted. But of course this, this government said, well, we can't have that.
- [07:48]
A
No.
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B
So, yes, the proposal revises previous unnecessary requirements on the grounds that a fact based list of charges may confuse customers. Yes, A list of charges clearly delineated is much more confusing than just a charge for which you don't know what anything is.
- [08:05]
A
Yeah, understood. Well, it's kind of the difference between getting raped with your eyes open and being raped with a blindfold. The Republicans just opt for the blindfold. You're still getting raped by these ISPs no matter what. So it's, you know, six or one half dozen to the other. Honestly.
- [08:22]
B
All Republican commission members voted to approve the change, while the lone Democrat dissented. Once past ISPs will no longer be required. Required to read these labels over the phone to customers, make them available in account portals or give a complete accounting of fees to customers. They can just charge you what they want. The FCC has stated that these transparency requirements are unduly burdensome and provide minimal benefit to consumers. Again, how is it burdensome? I would like to know what I'm paying a hundred dollars each month for. I would like to know if they are still charging me for a modem rental even though I own my own. Because that happens a lot.
- [08:56]
A
Yeah, that's probably half of their income.
- [08:58]
B
Yeah. So anyways, it's worth noting that these labels will technically still exist. They will just be harder to find and won't be all that useful. This is a process called the political two step. It's when basically you take something, you make it Less useful. And then you turn around a couple months later and say, oh, look, it's not that useful. We should just get rid of it. And that's pretty much what's going to happen.
- [09:19]
A
Have fun.
- [09:20]
B
But, you know, it's okay. It's okay. If you happen to be at SpaceX, you can afford to your Internet access because SpaceX will reportedly receive a $2 billion contract to develop satellites for the US government, according to the Wall Street Journal. Wall Street Journal's report detailed that SpaceX will be tasked with developing up to 600 satellites that can track missiles and aircraft and will be used for President Trump's proposed Golden Dome project. Now, if you happen to see that movie that's been very popular on Netflix, you'd know that there's a 50, 50 chance of that shit ever working anyways.
- [09:52]
A
And I honestly, I think of a golden dome. It's an umbrella when somebody's trying to give you a golden shower. And we know President Trump likes the golden shower.
- [09:59]
B
That's what he had in Russia on videotape, apparently.
- [10:01]
A
I know, I know.
- [10:04]
B
Yeah, yeah. So SpaceX is getting a nice big hand out there. Gee, I wonder how that happened. Oh, maybe Elon Musk.
- [10:11]
A
He's ingratiated himself back into the White House somehow.
- [10:15]
B
Somehow. Well, he's had a bit of a week and we're going to get into that, I guess, right. Now, let's start with classic misdirection. And everything's going wrong for you, Jason, and the publicity is all bad. What do you do? You get stoned and you go on Joe Rogan.
- [10:28]
A
Yeah, if we could all just do that, that'd be great.
- [10:32]
B
Yes. So Joe Rogan asked Musk about the long delayed second generation Tesla Roadster in a show when the Tesla CEO suddenly started talking about wanting the vehicle to fly. Yeah, yeah, your car's coming late and investors are not happy about that. But never mind that. Why don't we have flying cars? He was giving Rogan vague answers in the interview, but he eventually said, well, you know, my friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don't have flying cars.
- [11:01]
A
It is the year 2000, but where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars. I don't see any flying cars. Why? Why? Why?
- [11:11]
B
I mean, if Peter wants a flying car, we should be able to buy one. But we're working on some crazy, crazy technology and I'm not sure it's a car, but it looks like a car. He didn't answer when Rogan asked if it had retractable wings or mentioned if the vehicle would be a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. No details whatsoever. Just we're going to have flying cars now. You know what, Elon, we were also promised jet packs. Why don't you test one?
- [11:35]
A
We were promised self driving cars first.
- [11:37]
B
Oh, yeah, well, we have those, Jason. It's in the software name.
- [11:41]
A
Oh, it's in the name. It's in the name. What about the robot army?
- [11:43]
B
Isn't it self driving thriving?
- [11:45]
A
Yeah, yeah. Isn't the robot army supposed to be here by now? And the robo taxis, what happened to the robo taxis? And so I think, I think what it is, it's basically just a button on the dashboard that when you press it like goes into flying mode. It just doses everyone in the car with massive amounts of ketamine. So you just think you're flying. You don't have to go anywhere. You just sit in your garage and.
- [12:05]
B
Stare at your hands and it plays the Peter Pan. You can fly. You can fly.
- [12:09]
A
You can fly better than the R. Kelly. I believe I can.
- [12:13]
B
Peter Thiel pops out with a big hook for her hand.
- [12:16]
A
Oh, there you go. There you go.
- [12:18]
B
Anyways, although the company's sales in the US jumped last quarter, Tesla, many onlookers have attributed that bounce to the expiration of the US's EV tax credit. Consumers likely rushed to buy an EV while it made financial sense to do so, or so the thinking goes. That might explain why you keep seeing new Teslas and cybertrucks and everything. Yeah, people were getting in there while they still got the, you know, discount for it. But prior to that, Tesla's Q2 results showed a 13 collapse of sales in the US and some experts expect the company's decline to continue. All experts, perhaps. In Europe, for instance, things aren't looking great. Reuters have reported that in October, Tesla sales cratered by massive proportions from the preceding month. Car registrations, which it describes as a proxy for sale, dropped 89% in Sweden, 86% in Denmark, 31% in Spain and 50% in Norway. Overall EV sales for Europe actually saw a bounce of 119% during the same period. Just not Teslas.
- [13:16]
A
Just not Tesla.
- [13:17]
C
Yep.
- [13:17]
B
Yep. So Reuters credits Tesla's problems in Europe to the usual suspects, competition from Chinese EV makers who have introduced newer models and by all accounts, much better. And backlash against Elon Musk for his attempts to meddle in politics, both in the US and in Europe. So, yeah, yeah, I would sell that Tesla stock even before the rest of this news.
- [13:39]
A
Yeah, definitely. Because here's the kicker. Yeah. Just to round out the Tesla news, Elon has convinced Tesla shareholders to make him the world's first trillionaire in waiting. Over 75% of investors voted to approve his new $1 trillion pay package, which depends on him turning tesl into an $8.5 trillion company by 2035.
- [14:02]
B
Yeah. There are some specific markers, which is why I think this is such a bullshit story. And I hate the fact that it's like all over the headlines everywhere. Yeah. He's got to turn Tesla into an 8.5 trillion company. He has to sell 12 million cars a year and he has to build a million robo taxis and humanoid robots. None of which will ever happen because. Flying cars.
- [14:22]
A
Yeah, flying cars. There we go. See, if we had flying robo taxi driven robot, I don't know how you. You'd have to spin it all into an all in one thing and sell 12 million of them a year. No.
- [14:36]
B
Yeah, a flying robot that works as you can hop on its back as a taxi. There we go.
- [14:41]
A
There you go. Yeah. And so he's basically saying in 10 years, he can make his company $3.5 trillion worth. $3.5 trillion more than. Than the highest valued company in existence right now.
- [14:54]
B
Yes.
- [14:54]
A
Which, by the way, that company, that $5 trillion company, Nvidia, is about to be maybe a $2 trillion company once the adjustments come in for, you know.
- [15:04]
B
Outside of the fact that everybody's getting fired and nobody can afford to buy a Tesla or a humanoid robot or anything else, he'll be shilling. So how's that going to happen?
- [15:14]
A
Yeah, no, it's just. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.
- [15:19]
B
But you know what? Big star on for Elon. Big star for Elon. Tesla gave him a big star. Put that on your chest, buddy.
- [15:27]
A
Mommy said I'm going to be a trillionaire one day.
- [15:29]
C
Daddy.
- [15:30]
A
I still don't love you, son.
- [15:32]
B
I have a piece of paper.
- [15:34]
A
Yeah.
- [15:35]
B
I'm a trillionaire.
- [15:38]
A
God damn it. This episode is brought to you by Masterclass. You know what's worse than your existential dread? Cooking a sad meal you're ashamed to serve. Which is why Masterclass just saved your life. Which is why Masterclass just saved your bacon. One of my all time favorite classes is Roy Choi. Teaches intuitive cooking. He's a food truck legend. The flavor Whisperer. One of his standout lessons is making salsa verde. There are tons of amazing lessons in there, but his salsa verde is one I keep going back to again. And again because it's incredibly easy and the best salsa verde you'll ever have. Roy doesn't just hand you a recipe. He shows you how to feel your way through the ingredients, how to tweak acidity, adjust heat, transform something simple into something you brag about. That's the point of Masterclass. You're not just watching experts talk. You're not just watching experts talk. You're being taught by the masters, chefs, writers, thinkers, people who have used their craft to change. Change the you're being taught by chefs. You're being taught by the masters, chefs, writers, thinkers, people who have used their craft to change how we see the world. And then, and then they hand you the tools to do something meaningful. All in bite sized classes so you're not stuck watching 90 minutes of fluff with lessons you can use immediately. Want to cook better? Write better, lead better? There's a class for that. Plus you can download lessons to watch offline. Right now our listeners get an additional 15% off any annual membership@masterclass.com Grumpy Old Geeks that's 15% off@masterclass.com GrumpyOldGeeks masterclass.com Grumpy Old Geks because you're cooking and your brain deserve better. Well, we got some Roblox news. You, you're keeping your son away from Roblox, right?
- [17:49]
B
Absolutely. He will never be playing Roblox. You can play it when he's 18.
- [17:55]
A
Well, Texas is jumping in on that, too. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is coming after Roblox, claiming the company's kid friendly image hides something darker. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Paxton accuses Roblox of deceiving parents about safety and prioritizing, quote, pixel pedophiles over children. Pixel pedals. There's a T shirt. There we go. He says the platform is basically a digital playground for predators and vows to hit it with the full and unrelenting force of the law. I am the law. Oh God, this isn't Roblox Cop. Oh God, this isn't Roblox's first rodeo, though attorneys general in Louisiana and Kentucky have filed similar suits. And the platform's been under fire nationwide for not keeping up with grooming, explicit content and sketchy adult interactions.
- [18:45]
B
They're not keeping up with it. There's not enough grooming on this platform. You are not keeping up with.
- [18:49]
A
The other platforms like Meta regulators worldwide are tightening age verification rules. Think about the UK's Online Safety Act. In Mississippi's new age assurance law. Roblox says it's rolling out new safety features, selfie based age checks, AI tools to spot grooming, parental controls, and stricter control filters. And stricter content filters. Still, it's hard to Square that. With 151 million daily users and a never ending stream of headlines like this one. The company hasn't commented. Maybe it's still checking IDs.
- [19:19]
B
Yeah, Roblox is definitely out. Not going to happen.
- [19:23]
A
No. No, definitely not. Well, Mark Zuckerberg, I. We haven't talked about him that much lately as a person. We've made fun of Meta quite often, but. Yep. So Mark and his Palo Alto neighbors have been in a feud, Brian. You know why?
- [19:42]
B
No idea.
- [19:43]
A
This. This is. This is just. This is crossing the line into what the fuck is going on up there. So his Palo Alto neighbors are fed up with his ever expanding 11 property compound. Eight solid years of construction and a constant storm of security and staffers causing traffic. But the real tipping point, Brian, was, according to documents obtained by Wired, it was an unlicensed private school operating illegally on the residential land. And. And it was called Bickin Bend School, which was reportedly named after one of the family's pet chickens.
- [20:18]
B
That's okay.
- [20:20]
A
Yeah, which is funny because he's probably raising lemmings in those schools, not chickens. But, hey, what are you gonna do? Yeah. Neighbors had been complaining to the city for years about noise and code violations, accusing the planning department of dragging its feet and giving the billion preferential treatment.
- [20:36]
C
Duh.
- [20:37]
A
After years of pressure, and the neighbors essentially leading their own revolt, the city finally issued a shutdown order forcing Bick and Ben to move this past summer. Well, the Zucks rep says the school simply relocated to a permitted spot. But the whole saga proves that even when you're building a fortress of 11 properties, you still can't completely zone out neighborhood rules. So HOA 1, Zuck 0.
- [21:01]
B
I don't understand why these guys are wanting to do their own schools. It's crazy.
- [21:06]
A
Yeah.
- [21:07]
B
You know, one go with the great unwashed, I guess.
- [21:10]
A
Well, one reason I can think of is kidnapping. That's the one legitimate reason that I can see is safety and security. But a lot of people are rich and have kids and send them to private schools that have private security. You know, that's true. That's just the way that is. So you don't need to start your own, Mark.
- [21:30]
B
All right, well, let's go back to Meta. I particularly love this story. Meta forgot to keep its porn in a password and folder. Jason. And now its kink for data collection is the Subject of scrutiny.
- [21:40]
A
All right.
- [21:42]
B
The social media giant turned Metaverse company turned AI power is currently facing a lawsuit brought by adult film company Strike Three holdings and Counter Life Media, alleging that the big tech staple illegally torrented thousands of porn videos to be used for training AI models. Meta has denied the claim and recently filed a motion to dismiss the case because, in part, it's more likely the videos were downloaded for private, personal use. The companies claim that Meta used that material to train AI models and allege the company may be planning a currently unannounced adult version of its AI video generator MovieGen, and are suing for $359 million in damage. Now, for what it's worth, Strike Three has a somewhat of a reputation of being very aggressive copyright litigant. So much so that if you search the company, you're less likely to land on its homepage or find its porn than you are to find a litany of law firms that offer legal representation to people who have received a subpoena from the company for torrenting the material. Strike3 was able to show what appeared to be 47 IP addresses linked to Meta participating in torrenting of the company's material.
- [22:44]
A
That's not that many.
- [22:46]
B
No.
- [22:46]
A
Compared to how many. Yeah, yeah.
- [22:49]
B
And its motion to dismiss, the company called Strike3's torrent tracking guesswork and innuendo, and argued that, among other reasons, there simply isn't even enough data here to be worth using for AI model training. This is a small number of downloads, roughly 22 per year on an average, across dozens of meta IP addresses. It's plainly indicative of personal private use, not a concerted effort to collect the massive data sets that the plaintiffs allege are necessary for effective AI training. Unfortunately, they may have found out the victim, the dad of a Meta contractor who is apparently simultaneously being accused by Strike Three of being a conduit for copyright infringement and accused by Meta of being a degenerate. Strike three point to 97 additional downloads made using the home IP address of a Meta contractor's father. But please plead no facts plausibly tying Meta to those downloads, which are plainly indicative of personal consumption. Poor guy. Busted.
- [23:44]
A
Busted. Oh, man. That's the worst way for somebody to find your stash.
- [23:49]
B
Absolutely. Like, you know, when my dad passed, I did not look, I, I just wiped, I wiped things clean.
- [23:57]
A
Yep, just done. Oh, my God. No, see, that's why you have to. You know, I, I, I've mentioned this on the show before, but optimize for your demise. So, you know, if you just kicked off today. Leave everything in a state where, you know, if somebody just comes in, they can. They can do what they got to do without, you know, finding anything nefarious or untoward to sully your reputation in the afterlife.
- [24:25]
B
Keep that stuff hidden, keep it safe, keep it secret.
- [24:29]
A
Well, let's end on a little bit of good news, Brian.
- [24:32]
B
Is there any.
- [24:33]
A
Yeah, there is, kind of. In rural Michigan, scenic drives can double as logistical nightmares. So Munson Healthcare is testing drones to deliver lab samples instead of crawling along back and windy roads. With support from a $10 million state grant program and Michigan's new Advanced Aerial Mobility Initiative, the Traverse City based system has already tripled daily deliveries between its hospitals. Using drones from startup Blue Flight, the program proved drones can move samples faster and safer. No spoilage and no delays. Governor Whitmer's mobility task force sees this as part of a broader push to use drones across industries from agriculture to public safety. So. And next up are beyond line of sight flights, expanding routes, and maybe even prescription delivery. So, you know, I've never been to Michigan, but I hear it's beautiful. I wanted to move there recently because that way it's easier to sneak across the border to Canada if the time comes. But, yeah, this seems like a. Like a good thing for places that have, you know, tough to get to areas like.
- [25:33]
B
Yeah, it's. It's going to be awesome if anybody up there still actually has healthcare.
- [25:37]
A
That's true, that's true. Because we've seen this in Africa.
- [25:42]
B
I've seen the rains down in Africa.
- [25:43]
A
You've seen the rains down in Africa? That's right.
- [25:45]
B
You know who didn't? The fucking guys in the band. They've never fucking been to Africa. They just wrote the goddamn song.
- [25:52]
A
Toto's never toured in Africa.
- [25:55]
B
Well, I mean, I think they went there after the song came after the fact. If you watch like the behind the music on it, they just fucking made that shit up. They had never been.
- [26:03]
A
That's funny. That's funny. Media candy.
- [26:12]
B
I don't know if you finished the Diplomat yet. We are working our way slowly through it. Got to the episode with the triumphant return of a very aged Josh Lyman. Swimming in a pool.
- [26:22]
A
Okay, you're far behind then. I finished it last night. Yeah, I thought maybe you had finished it, so I stayed up a little later to knock it out last night.
- [26:31]
B
Oh, well, no, sorry. Did it end well? Am I putting a good use towards our quality time together with my wife?
- [26:39]
A
Oh, you definitely are, but Cliffhanger. So hopefully the Diplomat season four will Be coming. Good cliffhanger too. Really good one. So I am satisfied with the diplomat and hopefully in the next seven years before my healthcare runs out and I die of butt cancer, I'll be able to see season four.
- [26:58]
B
Yeah, I'm really enjoying the show so far. I think my favorite part in this, the episode that I just watched was I don't think I've ever seen in any televised entertainment before, the patented college move of going around and taking everybody's drinks when they left the room and mixing it into one big cocktail because you hate your life so much and just drinking it. I was like, power move by Josh Lyman.
- [27:22]
A
Or a standard party with me there was that.
- [27:26]
B
Moving on. What we have been watching as a family is an awful lot of baking shows. Tis the season, as it were. My son and wife love these and we watched them together as a family. We finished watching the Halloween Baking Championship, which was great. Although how, how far the mighty have fallen. Jim Henson hosting these things. It's a long way from his Talk Soup days, let me tell you.
- [27:47]
A
I did watch that one all the way through. It was because we've watched everything that there is to watch about savory food on the Food Network. So we have. We've had to dip into the baking shows. So I texted you this week. This is the first time in history that, that we have food shows that our interests align on completely.
- [28:04]
B
So, yeah, they're a lot of fun. Like, I really enjoy them. So they're great to have on in the backgr or, you know, watch with the kids. So it's, it's been a blast. Then we. The Holiday Baking Championship has now started. It kind of rolls right into that and they in the surprise move. I didn't think this would come back because I think it cost them quite a lot to put together. But Harry Potter Wizards of Baking has a season two which has just come out, so lots of baking. And I really love the Harry Potter one. They do a great job with the production and the stuff that they make is unbelievable.
- [28:36]
A
See, I live with a Muggle, so it doesn't really translate well. And also it seems to be more wood shop than it is cake. You know, that's why I like the, the, the Halloween and Holiday Baking championships in the Summer Baking Championships too.
- [28:49]
B
It's also why I don't like. They also do like the Halloween wars and Christmas wars because that's more like they're building stuff. It's not actually just baking. So the Harry Potter one does veer a little bit that direction but not enough for us not to enjoy it. Especially since my kid loves Harry Potter.
- [29:03]
A
Yeah. Yeah. You get the Harry Potter vibes out of it, so that's good. It's fun to watch. Baking show. I don't know why. They're just happy shows. That's the way we watch, like to clear out the crap that we've watched during the day that we watch those, like right before we go to bed. So you can end on happy dreams.
- [29:20]
B
Happy dreams. It's like my mood enema.
- [29:22]
A
Yeah, kind of. Kind of. So have you checked out Pluribus yet? It came out yesterday on Apple tv. Just Apple TV now, right?
- [29:31]
B
Apple tv. Yes, Apple tv with the new, like, sheeny.
- [29:34]
A
Depending on where you. Where you look if the plus is there or not. So, yeah, I. I watched the first episode with Rhea Seehorn last night and.
- [29:43]
B
I. I have not watched it. I plan to watch it tonight. But the reviews so far seem to be cautiously optimistic.
- [29:49]
A
So very cautiously optimistic. Good premise. You don't get it from the. The. The tr. The trailer just says what the. Is going on. And then at least you get.
- [29:59]
C
You.
- [29:59]
A
You get it explained to you first episode, what the premise is. So you have to. You have to watch it to get into it. But it looks. It looks interesting. It definitely looks interesting. So we'll catch up on it next week. We should have three episodes by next week.
- [30:13]
B
Okay. I got some homework.
- [30:16]
A
Yep. I have been watching Knife Edge chasing Michelin stars also on Apple tv since there. So I said we watch everything on the Food Network, so we had to jump networks. It's really cool. It's a. It's a well done. It's got Apple behind it, so it's got money. So it's really well shot about these restaurants that are chasing their Michelin stars and trying to get their first, second, or third. And by the time you're done watching this, you really get a sense of how much fucking work it takes to get a Michelin star. It's insane, the work that goes into it. So it was fun to see on that side of things. So I think they're five or six episodes in right now. They're rolling them out once a week. And we did run out of everything else to watch on television, so we went back and we watched Black Rabbit on Netflix with Jude Law and Jason Bateman. Yeah, I needed a lot of baking championships after this to clean that mental schmutz out of my brain. There was not one decent character that you really wanted to root for in this entire eight episode miniseries. Fortunately, no sequel, so don't have to worry about that. This is a one and done for sure.
- [31:22]
B
But horrible characters isn't necessarily bad. I mean, I'm thinking back to secession. Like, I hated everybody on that show, but it was awesome. Is this awesome?
- [31:32]
A
No, it's not. I. I gave it a single thumbs up because I didn't hate it. Hate it. We watched it all the way through. It was enough to get you hooked. But no, without doing a lot of spoilers and comparisons to Ozark, I can't really, really say too much about it because it seems like there's a lot of. Lot of. A lot of similarities. Jason Bateman didn't write this one, but he directed a couple of them and I'm sure he had some input behind the scenes. But if there's a. Yeah, there's a lot of stylistic and story arc types of crossover in that. I just didn't. When we were done watching it, we're like, ew, that's kind of. Kind of the. You know what?
- [32:10]
B
We both. It'll be a pass for me then.
- [32:12]
A
Yeah. Also a pass for me is Tron Ares. We talked about it on the show before. Like, why does it exist now? I know exactly why it tanked, because on IMDb I'm looking at the credits and it says it has Kara Swisher and Gary Vaynerchuk listed in the credits for trinary. I'm like, there you go. There's a match made in hell.
- [32:32]
B
Right. I mean, I'm going to watch it whenever it comes out on streaming just because I feel like I need to see it and understand why I hate it. But, you know, I'm pre hating it, so. Fair enough.
- [32:44]
A
Okay, well, you know, going into something with super low expectations could actually make it great. Like that new Batman movie that we're supposed to have a sequel about four years ago, which never showed up with the guy from Twilight in it. I actually thought that was a good movie because everybody said it was so terrible. I watched. I'm like, this is actually pretty good. What are you talking about? For yet another Batman remake.
- [33:06]
B
I know. What do we need more, a Batman remake or a Spider man remake?
- [33:10]
A
Probably Spider Man. It's been six months, so I think.
- [33:13]
B
We'Re getting one soon, so.
- [33:14]
A
Yeah, fair enough.
- [33:15]
B
Yeah. Something that I'm not sure that needed to exist. The Witcher season four is out. And as. As you know, Henry Cavill has exited the role.
- [33:26]
A
Yes.
- [33:27]
B
And Liam Hemsworth, the Lesser Hemsworth has stepped into the role.
- [33:32]
A
He's like. He's like the fourth Baldwin.
- [33:35]
B
Yeah. And I've been trying to watch it because I did really enjoy the first season and even I think the second and third seasons were pretty good. Henry Cavill was great in the role. The Liam's all right, but it's a massive downgrade and I can't imagine this is doing well. So it's just not the same show and he's not the same. And, and every time, every time they, they pan to him, I think, that's not Henry Cavill. That looks wrong. Am I drunk? Nope.
- [34:02]
A
I'm not drunk. With all this AI. They should have just deep faked Henry Cavill. He should have just signed the contract and said, use my face. I'm done.
- [34:09]
B
Yeah, yeah. Put in the mustache that you had to take out from Superman and let's. Let's go.
- [34:14]
A
Yeah.
- [34:14]
B
Yeah.
- [34:15]
A
Well, you're not the only one that's not a big fan. The critical drinker who does the greatest movie reviews of all time wrote he posted a new video called The Witcher season 4. A show so awful it broke me. So his reviews are always great. So I highly recommend checking that out.
- [34:29]
B
All right, I'm going to go ahead and finish off the season because I'm like four episodes in and it's only an eight episode season, so we'll see. But yeah, it's a definite downgrade. It's not as seamless as the Darren switch on Bewitched, let me tell you.
- [34:42]
A
Yeah.
- [34:44]
B
Man on the inside. Season two is coming. I found that show to be effervescently pleasant and I'm quite happy that there be a second season that drops on November 20th. So that's some good news for me. I guess Linda park from Star Trek Enterprise will have a big role in this season too, and I love seeing her in things. So excited about that. And finally there's news we all needed to hear. Jason. In this vast, shitty landscape of entertainment where we get 17 Batmans and 45 Spider Mans, something is finally coming back and I'm very pleased about it. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weiss are reuniting for a fourth installment in the Mummy.
- [35:22]
A
I can get behind that.
- [35:24]
B
Me too. I don't care that they're older. I am thrilled.
- [35:27]
A
I like those movies.
- [35:29]
B
They're fun, they're great. They're just rollicking good fun. That is what an action movie should be. Not this. It's all pre Marvel, pre Marvel action movie. Thank God. Bring it back.
- [35:42]
A
Well, let's see if the Marvel influence takes hold and they can keep that magic from the first ones, but I wonder if they're going to bring back Anaksunamun.
- [35:52]
B
I'll just watch that little bit on repeat forever. It's all good. Just her walking. Yes, thank you.
- [36:05]
A
Ups and doodads.
- [36:08]
B
Well, we've talked in the past about how GM is trying to ditch Apple CarPlay and how stupid that is, because Apple CarPlay is about possibly the best possible thing that you could ever have in your car ever. But it doesn't seem to be going that way. No matter what car you drive, the glory days of CarPlay may be numbered. It's an article over in the Atlantic that you can read in detail links in the show notes. But the argument here is there's just too much money to be made from creating their own version, so they don't want to. Most of the car manufacturers are going to try to get rid of it. And we should all get ready for a day when your car's technology expenses are another line item on your credit card statement right next to the Netflix subscription. And so you can pay to play your own fucking entertainment in your fucking car.
- [36:51]
A
That's such bullshit. Rivian would. We covered that like last week or two weeks ago. They're doing the same thing and it's like, no, we don't want that. I like my CarPlay.
- [37:00]
B
Yep. They're just trying to figure out any way that they can do a subscription on your car anyway. And this is the big one, so that's some good news. Jason, I know you're not a LEGO fan, but open hailing frequencies to your wallet because after a brief tease during Star Trek day, it's finally here. Lego's first ever official Star Trek set, celebrating one of the most beloved Starfleet flagships of all time. It is the Enterprise D with Captain Picard and the whole next generation cast.
- [37:31]
A
3,600 pieces.
- [37:32]
B
A faithful representation of the Galaxy class starship, including a detachable saucer section to recreate the ship's ability to separate into two craft. A tiny little opening shuttle bay on the rear of the saucer which houses two minuscule shuttle pods. You get Picard, Data, Jordi, Will, Diana, Beverly, Wolf, Wharf, Wolf, Wolf, and unfortunately Will Crusher. But he is wearing the jumper, so that's pretty good. And they all come with little accessories. And guess what? They gave Riker? They gave him the trombone.
- [38:02]
A
They did, yes.
- [38:06]
B
So Star Trek may live in a post scarcity economic utopia, but we don't. Which means you have to cough up 400 if you want this. And it comes out November 28th see, this is.
- [38:17]
A
I, I, I. People are going to be saying, why didn't they start with the original Enterprise? Well, here's why. People who were fans of the original Star Trek are too old to buy Legos and they won't care. The people who watch Next Generation are right in that sweet spot of the people who will pay $400 for a fucking Lego set. They nailed it with, they nailed it with the, the, the, the, you know, the, the serious laser focus on who to get on this. Like, nobody wants any of the other ships.
- [38:45]
B
Yeah. Especially coming off of just, you know, Picard just ended a little while ago. So we're all on the nostalgia bandwagon for the Enterprise for Next Generation. So you couldn't have timed this better. It's awesome.
- [38:56]
A
Nope. And you know what's going to be the next one? The Borg Cube. Oh, you know it, you know, that's coming.
- [39:06]
B
That would be pretty cool.
- [39:08]
A
I want my little Locutus figure.
- [39:12]
B
That would be awesome. Yep.
- [39:15]
A
In some actual app news here, Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com is threatening legal action against Automattic CSS. Now, Automattic, the company that owns WordPress, has two T's after Matt for Matt Mullenweg. Matty Matt little Matty Matt the billionaire. And Automatic CSS only has one T. So, yeah, things get a little dicey.
- [39:37]
B
There, especially since Automatic is just a fucking word.
- [39:41]
A
Exactly. Automattic's lawyer sent a letter demanding the smaller company rebrand, arguing the names are phonetically identical and likely to confuse customers. Automattic CSS founder Kevin Geary wasn't impressed. He posted the letter on X, where Automattic's CEO Matt Mullenweg chimed in with quote, we also own automatic with1t dot com. You had to know this was a fraught naming area, end quote. Geary shot back, congratulating Mullenweg for owning a generic domain and telling him to let him know, quote, when the fact becomes relevant, end quote. Boom. You.
- [40:17]
B
Oh, man.
- [40:18]
A
Yeah, this is just, this goes with Matt's, you know, overreach lately with the WP engine issue that he could have easily solved by shutting the up and not being a greedy. But, you know, that's how things go when you get, when you get all the monies.
- [40:32]
B
So, yes, I have to say the, the best part of being a semi retired at this point is I haven't had to deal with the WordPress site in so long.
- [40:41]
A
I know. It's so wonderful.
- [40:43]
B
I hate WordPress with a fucking passion.
- [40:47]
A
Yeah. I still have to use it for a couple jobs, but it's. It is definitely one of the worst parts of the day, which is why we. We went with POD pages for our podcast website. Because I'm. I'm never going to, you know, without.
- [40:59]
B
Having a dollar in his pocket.
- [41:01]
A
Oh. Just. I'm not. I'm not. I'm never going to voluntarily install WordPress on anything again, you know, unless a gun's pointed to my head or a paycheck's pointed at my head. So you put a paycheck in my head any day and I'll install it. But this is why. This is another reason I think Vibe coding is bullshit. Because if Vibe coding actually worked, we would have a competitor to WordPress.com by now. Period.
- [41:25]
B
Yes, absolutely.
- [41:26]
A
And there's nothing, Nothing out there that has come out of the woodwork. It just hasn't happened. So, you know, I still call bullshit on Vibe coding for that very reason alone, because so many people hate WordPress and so many people are into AI. There should have been a crossover inflection point where Somebody has rewritten WordPress to do the same shit, but not so shittily. So there it is. There's my argument on why Vibe coding is bullshit. And I've been running into this weird problem on macOS Tahoe this week. Brian, I don't know if you've upgraded yet or you run it on your machines.
- [41:58]
B
I am.
- [42:00]
A
Okay, here's the problem. And I've seen a couple people that had this, and there's a very. The way to fix it is really fucking annoying. So I'm hoping somebody who listens to this show might have a fix for me. So what happens now is on any application where I need to open or save a file, the open and save dialog box takes forever to open and it just hangs. And when you try to change directories, it hangs. It'll eventually go, but my CPU spikes through the roof and it just farts all over my day. So I've tried everything. I've hit the Apple boards to see if there's any fixes there. The interesting thing is, it is by account. So I go from. I switch from one user account to a new user account, the problem goes away. So it has to be some app that just destroyed it along the way. Can't figure out which one it is because I turned everything off. Now I've moved to a new user account and rebuilding everything piece by piece, credential by credential by credential, settings by settings, by settings. Everything's Working. So I'm trying to find that one culprit. But if anybody knows an easier fix for that problem, please hit me up on Discord or shoot me an email. I would love to know because it is so frustrating to have to rebuild such a perfect user experience again from scratch.
- [43:22]
B
Yeah, I do not have that issue, man.
- [43:25]
A
Yeah, I hope you don't. But the fix right now is if you do get it, create a new user account and start all over.
- [43:31]
B
There you go.
- [43:32]
A
The Dark side with Dave. Welcome to the Dark side with Dave. Podcast super host Dave Bittner decodes all things cyber on the cyber wire every day. Exposes deception with Joe Kerrigan on hacking humans. Dives deep into privacy with Ben Yellen on Caveat, breaks down industrial cybersecurity on Control lip and even brings the laughs with only malware in the building. Hi, Dave. Nice to see you.
- [43:57]
C
Wow. It's nice to be seen. Literally. I'm not sure what to make of this. You know, I'm not generally a video guy when it comes to. Well, none of my podcasts are video, but I have a face for radio, so.
- [44:12]
A
You have a beautiful video setup, though. You look better than all of us.
- [44:15]
C
Oh, well, thank you. Thank you. It's just, it just worked out that way. I think part of it is also that I can't, as an old, you know, TV cameraman, I'm kind of like, I can't let go of lighting.
- [44:27]
B
Yeah.
- [44:27]
C
You know, so, like, anyway, good to be back.
- [44:30]
B
Yeah. I'd just be in a dark room if I had a choice, so. But here we are with a light in my face. We just finished up with Halloween here and, well, at least here in Canada, we've slid directly into Christmas because we do our Thanksgiving pre Halloween. I know you guys have that pesky thing in the middle, but, you know, 1,275 pieces of candy gone in less than two and a half hours here.
- [44:53]
C
Wow.
- [44:53]
B
So it was, it was fun. Very busy. It's also my sister's birthday on Halloween, so I was texting with her after and she was, she's like, I need to see a time lapse video of this next year. So I was going to ask both of you guys, is there a cheap and cheerful way to do this? Not using my iPhone because I want to have my iPhone on me, not pointed at me from behind that somebody could then walk by and steal. Plus sometimes it's rainy or cold or whatever. And so I wanted a cheap and cheerful way to do it and wanted some suggestions.
- [45:25]
C
This is what I use old iPhones for.
- [45:28]
B
Right. I do not have an old iPhone.
- [45:32]
C
You don't have any iPhones sitting in a drawer anywhere?
- [45:35]
B
No, I returned them.
- [45:36]
C
I'm gonna mail you one.
- [45:37]
B
Get my 50 cents from Apple. Okay.
- [45:41]
C
I think I got a stack of them.
- [45:44]
B
Okay, well, maybe I will by next Halloween, so. And yeah, the other idea was to use an iPad. And I was like, I don't want my iPad out in the elements either, so I could buy a case for it. I'll figure it out. So, yeah, I guess an old iPhone will do it then.
- [45:57]
C
I think that's the easiest.
- [45:59]
A
Yeah, it's super easy. And even with the iPad, like, I put a link in for a waterproof case and I have an actual mount that I can put on a tripod for my iPad and then just hold it up and then just put that in out of your, you know, put it inside the house, even point it out the window or however you want to do it. There's easy ways to do it, but. Yeah, like getting an off the shelf, like, security camera or whatever that does time lapse is difficult. You have problems with that?
- [46:25]
C
Yeah, I imagine you could, because I'm trying. I've seen a couple pictures that you've shared of your house. Could you put the camera up on the little balcony that you have above.
- [46:33]
B
The front door where I was going to do it, and kind of angle it down so you get the bit of the street and just the people filing past as I throw candy at their faces.
- [46:41]
C
Yeah, yeah. I mean, a GoPro would work also, but whenever I'm called on to do time lapse, that's when I go digging in a drawer for an old iPhone. Because it's just super easy.
- [46:53]
A
Yeah, it's built in. So you just swipe to the. Swipe to the time lapse and press go, you know.
- [46:59]
B
And we have some more Muppet news. Dave, I know this pleases both you and I. Speaking on the latest episode of the Las Culturistas podcast, Jennifer Lawrence revealed that she has teamed up with Emma Stone to produce a movie starring the Muppets premier dramatic queen, Miss Piggy. We have no details. We have a. We have a writer, which is Cole Escala, who is working on the script. This is the last movie was 2014's the Muppets most Wanted. And since then we've had a couple TV and streaming stuff and one off specials. But it is the 70th anniversary coming up since their first appearance on Sam and Friends and Next year's the 50th anniversary of the Muppet show, so it seems like time and there's a lot going on. We know Seth Rogen is developing some limited revival. We're going to get a Miss Biggie movie, apparently. And of course, the overlay for the rock and roller coaster at the park will be happening. So lots of monsters.
- [47:49]
C
I wonder if Frank Oz will have any participation in this at all, even as a consultant or anything. I hope so, but I don't suspect he will.
- [47:59]
B
Yeah, I don't think so.
- [48:00]
C
It doesn't seem like. It doesn't seem like he's had much involvement. So, yeah, it's a shame because he's still around, obviously, and he is Miss Piggy.
- [48:11]
B
Yeah, we'll see.
- [48:12]
C
Here's a question for you. Do you think Is Miss Piggy a drag queen?
- [48:18]
B
Oh, absolutely.
- [48:22]
C
Okay.
- [48:23]
B
Yeah, no doubt about it.
- [48:24]
C
Because the female character performed by a man.
- [48:26]
B
Mm. Deep register when she gets angry.
- [48:30]
C
Yeah, I think Miss Piggy absolutely qualifies as a drag queen.
- [48:34]
B
Hot take.
- [48:36]
A
All right, you heard it here first, people.
- [48:38]
B
You heard it here first. And because Christmas is coming, Dave, I put this in the notes for you. Specifically, Retro Games and Play On Replay are releasing a limited edition redesign of the best selling computer called the C64 Black Addiction Edition. Not Addiction like its name suggests. That's a whole different thing. This console is a modernized version of the classic Commodore 64 in an all black shell. It's pretty cool looking and I know you're a big Commodore 64 fan, so is this going to make it on your Christmas list?
- [49:09]
C
No, because I am actually not a Commodore 64 fan.
- [49:12]
B
I thought you were. Sorry, Radio Shack. Silly me.
- [49:18]
A
Yes, yes, yes.
- [49:19]
C
I had a TRS 80 color computer, which was the other option or one of multiple options at the time that the Commodore 64 came out. Actually, the TRS 80 came out at the same time as the Vic 20. And so when I was deciding which computer to get, I had to choose between the Vic 20 and the TRS 80. I chose the TRS 80 and never looked back and never had any regret for that, but never really spent much time with Commodore 64s. I certainly. I knew plenty of people who had them. We all did.
- [49:52]
B
My friend down the street had one and I spent an awful lot of time playing those horrible games on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [49:58]
C
It was a solid machine for its time, but I never really had much actual keyboard time on one, so. But yeah, you're right, it does look cool.
- [50:10]
B
Very cool.
- [50:11]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [50:12]
A
I wish they would do the TRS 80 model. Three do that over with a modern take. But, you know, and I don't think they get enough credit because that was really like the first imac, you know, all in one keyboard, monitor, drives, everything, all in one one case. And then, you know, Steve Jobs comes along and said, look, I put it all in one box. I call it the imac. Give me all your monies. And, you know, he, he, he and Johnny Ives were, you know, hailed as creators of the. The most innovative thing ever seen. It's like, no, just go get an old trash 80, man. They got it. They had it going on back in the day.
- [50:43]
C
Yeah, that's true. I have seen someone who online who makes little 3D printed model 3S that has an actual LCD screen in it. So it'll boot. And it's really cute.
- [50:58]
A
Very cute.
- [50:59]
C
Every time I see him post the Model 3s, I send him a message. I'm like, please do a Coco. Please do a Coco. I will buy. If you do a color computer, I will buy it in a second. But so far, no luck.
- [51:09]
B
No luck.
- [51:10]
A
You know what's really cool, too, our friend Mike Vinicour, mxv, who's been on the show. He's got a Tron pinball machine. And inside the Tron pinball machine is a little, tiny Tron arcade game. It's got a. It's got a little tiny LCD screen, and you can actually see it playing the. The. The standby state for all the old games from the Tron, you know, arcade game, from the original Tron arcade game. So it's pretty cool. It's like, it's very meta, but it. You can do as you're playing the game, you look down and you see it and you see the screen, like playing the discs with. He's like, you know, or trying to shoot out the MCP and the tanks and everything. It is so cool. I just want that.
- [51:50]
C
Yeah, yeah. What that reminds me of is actually on our last Disney trip, my wife and I were in the Disney Star wars store down at Disney Springs, and they have. I'm pretty sure we've talked about this here. They have the little model of the Star Speeder 3000 from Star Tours.
- [52:07]
B
Yes.
- [52:08]
C
And that model has an LCD screen inside of it that plays the original version of Star Tours the entire video.
- [52:16]
A
Oh, cool.
- [52:17]
C
Yeah, very cool.
- [52:18]
B
I'm gonna have to pick one of those up one day.
- [52:20]
C
Yeah, yeah. And it has the lights and the sound. You know, it's the whole. It's one of those things where they sweated the details and it's not cheap, but pretty, pretty cool.
- [52:32]
B
And I put this story in the news because this is a. I always keep my eye out for stories that I consider the Dave law, the Dave Bittner law, which is no laws will be passed until something actually affects a senator in some way, shape or form. So Google has pulled the AI model Gemma from its studio platform after a Republican senator said it fabricated serious criminal allegations against her. This is Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee sent a letter to Sunday accusing the company of defamation after the model allegedly created a story about her committing sexual assault. The model was asked if Blackburn had ever been accused of rape and it reportedly answered in the affirmative, going so far as to provide a list of fake news articles to support the accusation. Chatbot said the senator was accused of having a sexual relationship with a state trooper during a campaign for state senate and the officer reportedly said she pressured him to obtain prescription drugs for her and that the relationship involved non consensual acts. None of this happened. Of course, this is completely made up by the chat bot. She's never been accused of anything like that. But once again, you know, it takes something happening to a senator. Now maybe there'll be some sort of law passed about this.
- [53:43]
C
Yeah, that's right.
- [53:44]
B
We'll see.
- [53:46]
C
Well, it reminds me, we had a story this week of some folks over in Europe who were using advertising location data to de anonymize some people and including politicians. So very much got the attention of some politicians. So we'll see if maybe that moves things along, if maybe they start in Europe and maybe it comes over here. But you're right, that's what I say. Until it happens to a senator, none of this privacy stuff is going to trickle down to us.
- [54:19]
A
Yeah, well, since everybody's losing their job like we covered at the beginning of the show and every news channel that you turn on, I've decided to try and become a little bit more self reliant. So I have moved into sprout farming, which I thought is a nice hobby for an old guy. That's not a big lift at all as far as it goes to. I'm not tilling the soil, I'm not fighting off the vermin and the varmints and things like that. Sprout farming requires a mason jar, a fancy lid and a little stand. So I put some pictures in so you guys can see it here. I have, I have moved into. Right now I'm, I'm doing radish sprout farming because they are incredibly delicious. Very good. For you, very spicy. And we used to buy them at the store all the time. If you go to Whole Foods, you'll get a little tub. And it's like $4 for a tub. So what you're looking here. And I'll post some pictures to Discord as well so everybody can see them. That is probably about 200 worth of whole Foods grade radish sprouts. Uncut street value right there.
- [55:24]
C
Imagine you walking around in a long trench coat, you know, standing on street corners off.
- [55:29]
B
Everybody wants sprouts.
- [55:30]
C
Yeah, exactly. These are, these are uncut fresh, right, Right from the. Right from the jar.
- [55:35]
A
Well, it's kind of funny. I did that exact same thing. Like our friend Brian Blondell lives up the street. I'm like, hey, buddy, you want some sprouts? And he came by, he's like, I'm walking the dog, I'll be there in 20. And he comes by and I like, come out, come out of the house with a big Ziploc baggie and hand him a big baggie of sprouts now.
- [55:50]
C
So, okay, so help me understand here. How long, how. What is the turnaround time for a harvest of jar sprouts?
- [55:59]
A
Seven days. Six to seven days. Okay, I let it go for seven. We've done it for six. And they were okay. But for an extra day you get a little more yield, you know. So the jar that you're seeing is a seven day sprout right on that. And you basically, you have to rinse them twice a day. You put the seeds in the jar, let them soak for 12 hours, drain it, dip it upside down, and then you rinse it twice a day. And then at the end of seven days, you rinse it one more time, pull them out to dry on a little, little sheet, and then stick them in the fridge. And they're good for seven days. Put them on air. I put that shit on everything.
- [56:33]
C
I was going to say, how does one consume these sprouts?
- [56:37]
A
Do you grab a handful?
- [56:39]
B
I hate sprouts. I pull them off sandwiches. They're horrible.
- [56:45]
A
See, I used to think that way. Like the first time I moved to California, I went to California Pizza Kitchen and I ordered the lasagna and there were sprouts on my lasagna. And I'm like, oh, is just unholy in every single way possible. And I figured it was just some hippie California crap. But recently I've come to enjoy the sprouts on my eggs. I like, especially on an egg sandwich. It's really good because I have one of those, like a couple times a week. Even just on scrambled eggs. It's good. Add them to a salad, really good. On a turkey with Swiss. Delicious. But these are like. These are like concentrated horseradish almost. They're very, very spicy, Extraordinarily spicy. So. Yeah, but you can get like a giant bag of the seeds was $12. So that's going to last. We're only doing three tablespoons at a time. That's going to last like a year and a half. So we're probably looking at about four grand worth of sprouts in that one little bag. If we go with the Whole Foods pricing method, the bottles cost 40 cents.
- [57:43]
B
The whole expanding, incredibly expensive food crisis that's going on, it's just all sprouts all the time.
- [57:49]
C
That's right. Brian, little side wager for you and me here, which is what's the over under on how far Jason gets through that bag before he's sick of sprouts.
- [57:58]
B
We got. We got about another month.
- [58:00]
A
This is the second batch. This is our second batch.
- [58:04]
B
By January.
- [58:05]
A
Yeah.
- [58:07]
B
We will have moved on.
- [58:09]
A
I got the four pack of jars so I can keep them rotating. And we're going to get different ones because my roommate is the. The real sprout fiend. So she's going to get all the different seeds that we can put in for the different varietals of sprouts.
- [58:23]
B
Let me know when you get a glow light and you've got it going off in the closet. And we're just back to college weed farming.
- [58:29]
A
Well, that's the nice thing about it. It actually has to stay in a cold, cool, dry, dark place. So no grow lights required. It's even easier than that.
- [58:40]
C
So two things about sprouts. First of all, I have a friend who says, I don't enjoy any of my meals with lawn clippings on it. So there's. But also, back in my video production days, one of my regular recurring clients was the Food and Drug Administration. Back when they were a real organization.
- [59:01]
A
Yeah, when they existed.
- [59:03]
B
Yeah.
- [59:04]
C
And I did this whole series on food safety and so talking about, like, salad bars and, you know, that sort of stuff. Exciting stuff. But I learned a lot along the way. And one thing that what expert after expert said was on a salad bar, never eat the sprouts.
- [59:23]
B
Really?
- [59:23]
A
Why?
- [59:24]
C
Yeah, sprouts are like the most common carrier for foodborne illness on a salad bar. They're the thing that I don't know. If they don't get rinsed enough, they.
- [59:34]
B
Probably don't get washed well enough.
- [59:36]
C
Yeah, yeah, but they said sprouts are the thing. When they do, they call them tracebacks, which is when they. A whole bunch of people get sick and they try to figure out what was the source of it. And they said time and time again, if it's a salad bar and it has sprouts, that's the first place they look, because sprouts are the care. Now, I don't suspect you'll have any issue like that on your homegrown sprouts, of course, but it's something to be mindful of.
- [60:00]
A
Are you saying. Yeah. Are you saying I'm not hygienic? Dave, come on.
- [60:03]
B
Dave is saying if you open up a salad.
- [60:05]
C
Saying you're not hygienic if you open.
- [60:07]
B
Up a salad bar in your house, Jason.
- [60:10]
C
That's right.
- [60:12]
B
Right.
- [60:12]
C
I'm saying there's a very good, you know, chance that the inside of that jar has been licked by a dog.
- [60:21]
B
That is true. Yeah.
- [60:25]
C
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
- [60:26]
A
No, the chances are greater than flavor. So. Yeah.
- [60:29]
C
Yeah, this is me every day. Yeah.
- [60:33]
A
Yeah. So that's just. That's my new low tech. My new low tech obsession is sprout farming.
- [60:39]
C
I might try this. It looks.
- [60:40]
B
Congratulations. I. I grow herbs, or herbs, as the British say, just because I got sick of like the, you know, the little tiny things of basil that cost like $5 and you use like three bits of it and the rest of it goes bad before you ever need it again. So I've. We, my wife and I, we grew basil, we grow rosemary, we grew thyme, we grew some other. A few other things out. Of course, you know, now it's starting to freeze here, so that's all over. But it was great for the summer. Like, we just picked our own fresh herbs for whatever we needed. And I wasn't wasting money and herbs buying them all the time.
- [61:15]
C
Yeah, my wife does the same thing. And we just brought all of the outdoor plants indoors and we just let ours die. Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, your winter's a little more harsh than ours, but also we would just bring them indoors and they'll spend their winter under a grow light. We'll see. I put. I saw earlier in the show notes that you guys talked about this new Star Trek Lego, the Enterprise D. Yeah, I'll be getting one of those.
- [61:44]
A
See? Told you. Told you, Brian.
- [61:46]
B
Yep, yep. We are at the Target demo for this.
- [61:50]
C
Yeah, I was talking with my colleague Maria Vermazes, who hosts our T minus Space Daily podcast. And she was saying that this LEGO set is literally a dream come true for her. Like she's been building Enterprise D LEGO sets on her own since she was a kid, so she's super excited about it. But I was thinking like, because I have the LEGO Millennium Falcon, the big one, which is scaled for minifigs, so it'll fit the minifigs in the cockpit of the Falcon. And I was thinking about what would happen if they tried to build an Enterprise D that was minifig scale. It would be rather large, the size of a gymnasium. Ye, yeah. But Maria pointed out, she says she hopes that they come out with a bridge set for all those minifigs to populate. Yeah, just. Yeah, wouldn't that be great? That seems like a no brainer.
- [62:47]
B
But I would buy the bridge set, not necessarily this current set because I don't know where I'd put it, but the little bridge set would be really cool.
- [62:55]
C
Yeah.
- [62:56]
A
I was telling Brian the next one should it better be the Borg Cube.
- [63:03]
B
Perfect.
- [63:04]
C
No.
- [63:04]
B
Amazing.
- [63:05]
C
Those are the worst.
- [63:06]
A
18,000 pieces, all the same color, all.
- [63:10]
B
Just tubes, all the black and gray tubes.
- [63:14]
C
No. I can tell you having built the Millennium Falcon, which is a bit of a death march. Yeah. I mean you get to things where it just. So many gray pieces, it just goes on and on and on. And I think I've shared this story before. You build a little piece of gear and it took you 20 minutes to build and then you get to the end of that little build and it says, okay, now do six more.
- [63:43]
A
It's like an andor on the production line when they're sitting there putting the pieces together for the Death Star.
- [63:48]
C
Right? Exactly, exactly. So I put a story in here. This is a really interesting investigation from the folks over at Reuters and they were looking into how Meta makes their money off of scams. And bottom line here is about 10% of Meta's revenue comes from online scams. And Meta is aware of this. They give lip service to doing something about it. But according to this report, Meta's internal documents said that, that they had to be careful that they didn't affect their revenue by more than 0.15% in any of the actions that they took to, to stop these scams. So do the math here. They're making about 10%, about $16 billion a year off of scams and banned goods and they, they don't want to cut down on it because obviously they make so much money. Money.
- [64:55]
A
I liked also that if they do detect that, it's a scam. Instead of getting rid of it, they will actually raise the ad rates on it.
- [65:02]
C
Right.
- [65:02]
A
Which is like, how is that ethical in any way, shape or form?
- [65:09]
C
Think about this. In any other regulated industry. Right. Imagine a bank saying, oh, we're not going to allow you to open account for money laundering unless you're willing to pay a little more for it.
- [65:19]
B
It. Yeah. Like if you want to transfer that money to the guy in Nigeria, it's going to cost you a slightly higher percentage than it would normally. But we're happy to do it. Yeah.
- [65:30]
A
Yeah, that tracks.
- [65:32]
C
Right, Right. So it's an interesting article. I. I recommend everybody.
- [65:38]
B
They're just a platform.
- [65:42]
C
Right, Right. They don't have anything to do with this. They're like the phone company. Company.
- [65:46]
A
Yeah, I concur. I read this article too. It's really good. It's really well worth the read.
- [65:50]
C
Yeah. Kind of just reinforcing what we all already knew. But this really puts the numbers to it and. Right. You know, hopefully this is the kind. In a. In a better world, this would be the kind of thing that maybe some legislators would notice and. And get. Grab their attention.
- [66:07]
B
But until a senator is rolled up in one of the scams. Yeah. Not going to happen.
- [66:11]
C
Yes, exactly. Exactly.
- [66:12]
B
Yeah. That's an astonishingly large amount of money. Astonishing.
- [66:16]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That they could, if they wanted to, they could tamp down on in a second.
- [66:23]
B
Yeah.
- [66:23]
C
But obviously it's against their best interest to do so. So the rest of us.
- [66:28]
B
Yay.
- [66:29]
C
Yay. All right, gents, that's what I've got this week. We'll see you back here next time.
- [66:35]
A
See you next time.
- [66:36]
B
Unless I'm building a Star Trek, Lego, I will see you here.
- [66:39]
A
I'll be making it out of sprouts. That's right.
- [66:41]
C
Oh, I like that.
- [66:43]
B
Yeah.
- [66:45]
A
Closing shout out. Over at patreon, we've got three count of three new patrons. James, Michael and David. 1, 2, 3. And we've also got the people who still continue to support us on Patreon, who we love. David, Keith, jj, Gabe, Paul, Justin, Pierre, Stefan, Thomas and Jason. Fish stuff. Thank you all so much.
- [67:09]
B
Thank you all so much. Over at PayPal, we've got Levy, Florian, Nicola, Thomas with a $25 donation, and Michelle with a $100 donation. Thank you so much.
- [67:18]
A
Way to bring the Benjies. Love you. Over at the Tip Jar, we've got Sarah, Matthew and Patrick. And just so everybody knows, to support the show, which we desperately need, you can go to patreon.com gog and for as little as $3 a month, you can sign up to get the show early ad free and in high definition. And by early, we mean a little bit early. It's not like, you know, days early. We record this thing in the morning and it comes out in the afternoon. So if it's done early, you get it before everybody else. No ads and in high definition. Or you can go to gog show donate. Now that that works thanks to our last episode where we figured that out. And sign up for the tip jar or PayPal if you are allergic to Patreon. But people keep asking us, does it matter where we give you money? No. The cut is exactly the same across all three different ways that people can subscribe to the show. But Patreon is the only one where we can give you bonuses. Bonuses, bonuses, bonuses.
- [68:13]
B
And we have two new reviews. JB says the title says it all. If you check out the show based on the title, you have probably found what you were looking for. I would love to say something clever here, but I leave that to the professionals. The grumpy old geeks. These guys have a solid dynamic and do the medium justice. The humor is honest and cuts when necessary. Production is great with a pleasant cadence to the conversation. I had to subscribe to their Patreon because I realized how much I would miss the show if it disappeared. Not to mention I don't want to be a cheap bastard. Check the show out and enjoy it. Shell out some dough. Hey, be like jb.
- [68:44]
A
Be like jb.
- [68:45]
C
Yeah.
- [68:46]
A
And Patrick in Oregon writes in finally donating. After years of subscribing and freeloading this show, I finally got around to a monthly five dollar donation. This show has gotten me through some rough times and I really enjoy every segment. But especially media candy and the Dark side with Dave inside. Yes, but also lively entertainment all on its own. Thank you for all the years of freeloading. I hope you guys are around forever, but we know forever is just an update away. Take care. Thank you, Patrick.
- [69:12]
B
And speaking of that, somebody got updated this week.
- [69:15]
A
Yes, Dick Cheney. RIP you fucking asshole.
- [69:20]
B
Sayonara.
- [69:21]
A
Will not miss you one bit. Don't let the door hit you in the asshole.
- [69:24]
B
It's the only guy in the world that's ever shot someone in the face and then made them apologize to him.
- [69:29]
A
Oh yeah, I wonder if they buried him in his man sized safe from his office.
- [69:33]
B
He will not be missed.
- [69:34]
A
No, he will not be missed. Until next time. I'm Jason DeFilippo.
- [69:37]
B
And I'm Brian Schulmeister. Thanks for listening to and maybe even watching Grumpy Old Geeks get all links and goodies from Today's episode of GOG Show 721 want to keep the grumpiness alive? Toss a few bucks our way at GOG Show. Donate Every penny helps keep the show on the air. Love the show. Share it. There's a Shame Share button in your podcast player. Use it to spread the grumpiness to friends, foes, and everyone in between. We'll love you for it. Swing by GOG show to join our discord and chat with us and other show fans. Got thoughts? Feedback? Cool links? Hit us up at GOG Show Contact and don't forget to leave a five star review at GOG Show Review and we'll read it on the show. And we've got merch. Snag your grumpy gear now at Shop GOG show and stay grumpy.