#4341 The Worm Has Turned

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL #4341 "The Worm Has Turned"

Release Date: November 20, 2024
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Introduction

In episode #4341, titled "The Worm Has Turned," hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh delve into a variety of entertaining and thought-provoking topics. From unexpected plumbing challenges to intriguing food industry phenomena and listener interactions, this episode offers a blend of humor, insights, and relatable conversations that showcase the duo's chemistry and wit.

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Plumbing Woes and Everyday Challenges

The episode kicks off with Andrew discussing his ongoing plumbing issues, specifically a recurring backflow problem in his basement bathtub. He shares his frustrations and the anxiety it brings, highlighting the complexities of home maintenance and the challenges of dealing with service professionals.

Notable Quote:
Andrew Walsh: "Nothing’s going right for me today, but I..." (04:35)

As the conversation progresses, both hosts humorously navigate the topic, blending personal anecdotes with light-hearted banter about lotions and household maintenance.

Notable Quote:
Luke Burbank: "Old man lotion strikes again." (04:40)

Eventually, Andrew reveals that he has scheduled a plumber visit, expressing cautious optimism about resolving the issue. This segment underscores the common experience of home repairs and the blend of frustration and hope they evoke.

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Top Story: The Keith Lee Sushi Incident

Shifting gears, Luke introduces the top story of the day: the enigmatic case of Keith Lee, a food influencer whose positive review inadvertently led to the closure of two restaurant locations. Keith's promotional efforts for FOB Sushi caused a surge in business, but an incident involving a suspected worm in a piece of hamachi sushi sparked controversy and concern.

Notable Quote:
Luke Burbank: "Keith Lee is this food influencer... he doesn't seem to be a person who has any particular background in food." (36:11)

The hosts analyze the situation, debating whether the worm incident was a genuine oversight or a misinterpretation of natural fish movements. They consider the restaurant's spotless health records and Keith's influence, pondering the impact of social media endorsements on small businesses.

Notable Quote:
Andrew Walsh: "This is like, you know, barium. This is like passing something through the system." (46:07)

The discussion reveals the precarious balance restaurants must maintain between gaining popularity and ensuring quality, especially under the scrutiny of influential figures.

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Second Food Story: Old Dry Keith's Viral Sandwiches in China

Expanding on the theme of unexpected food phenomena, the hosts recount the story of Keith Brown, affectionately known as "Old Dry Keith," whose mundane sandwich-making in China became an internet sensation. Despite the simplicity of his meals, his routine became a cultural touchstone, sparking trends and online movements.

Notable Quote:
Andrew Walsh: "The old man is to us and the dry lunch is our dry life." (54:47)

Luke and Andrew explore the reasons behind Keith Brown's unexpected fame, reflecting on cultural differences and the viral nature of content that may seem ordinary but resonates deeply with audiences.

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Content Production: The Recycling Dilemma

Transitioning to a broader discussion on media consumption, the hosts touch upon the challenges of content creation in the digital age. They reference insights from Chris Hayes on how social media platforms are increasingly relying on recycled content due to a shortage of new material, leading to a surge in rediscovered or repurposed media.

Notable Quote:
Luke Burbank: "We're not making enough new content, so we have to go back and start throwing stuff that's six months old or a year old." (56:32)

This segment highlights the tension between content demand and production capacity, questioning the sustainability and creativity of current media practices.

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Listener Interaction: Cattle Rancher's Perspective

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to a voicemail from a listener who owns a cattle ranch in Florida. Responding to an earlier discussion about public perceptions of the meat industry, the caller defends ethical farming practices, emphasizing regenerative grazing and animal welfare.

Notable Quote:
Caller: "We run like 100 head of cattle and we do look after them... it's all about keeping them healthy and happy." (59:59)

Luke and Andrew engage thoughtfully with the caller's insights, acknowledging the complexity of the meat industry and the importance of understanding different farming practices. This interaction underscores the podcast's commitment to giving voice to diverse perspectives.

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Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, Luke and Andrew reflect on the day's discussions with their characteristic humor and camaraderie. They express hope for resolving their plumbing issues and share light-hearted exchanges about everyday challenges. The hosts also take a moment to thank their donors, highlighting the community support that sustains the show.

Notable Quote:
Andrew Walsh: "Let's just hope that there's going to be some rotoing and some rooting but not tree rooting." (67:02)

With a blend of personal anecdotes, cultural commentary, and engaging listener interactions, episode #4341 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers listeners a rich tapestry of conversations that are both entertaining and insightful.

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Key Takeaways:

• Home Maintenance Realities: The episode transparently showcases the stress and humor involved in dealing with home repair issues.

• Influence of Social Media: Through the Keith Lee story, the podcast examines the powerful impact of influencers on small businesses.

• Cultural Phenomena: The Old Dry Keith narrative explores how ordinary actions can gain extraordinary attention in the digital age.

• Content Creation Challenges: The discussion on recycled media prompts listeners to think about the future of content in an oversaturated market.

• Diverse Perspectives: The listener voicemail adds depth to the conversation about the meat industry's ethical practices, fostering a more nuanced understanding.

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For more episodes and updates, visit JohnBtl.net.

Transcript

[Andrew Walsh]

I say, I say. What up, dog? Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a tuna, bro. This comes out to all the coffee lovers of the world.

[Andrew Walsh]

I just love hot cheetos.

[Luke Burbank]

That's my wife.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ooh la la.

[Luke Burbank]

Go round, jalapeno.

[Andrew Walsh]

Buddy. Uh, get off my recall.

[Luke Burbank]

Don't miss the sausage fest. Go Browns.

[Andrew Walsh]

Uh, uh, cbtl. If we wanted to, we could have our own business. No, I agree. If we really wanted to, we could. It's just that. Do we want to do that? Do we want to have a website and a blog and be like, this is what we did today. Now it's too much work. Yeah, and too expensive. Wow, you're really good at puzzles. I did them all the time as a kid. As my mom used to say, when you're doing a puzzle, it's like having a thousand friends.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, Johnny, I just don't know how you do it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do what?

[Luke Burbank]

A four hour show every morning just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Talking to the mic and your voice goes out through the wires. And once a week, whether you need it or not, somebody comes in here and gives you a check for $38. Have a good show, dummies. What you do is so important.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome everyone to a Wednesday edition of TBTL, the show that just might be two too beautiful to live. I have been pitying fools for 28 years, Bill, and it's never personal. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. Who the hell is that? Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where we are still assessing the situation after a big old storm moved through here. Oh, my God. A bomb cyclone. It was da bomb.com and messed up a lot of things in various parts of the Pacific Northwest. Crazy weather.

[Andrew Walsh]

It is always 67 degrees with a 40% chance of rain.

[Luke Burbank]

Always. The good news is we do have power here in the Madrona Hill studio. So we can bring you episode 4341 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. And along with the weather update, we've got food news. Welcome to Food News Today. Two different stories, interesting stories I'll say, that are food related, that involve different guys named Keith. One of them involving a restaurant review that went so awry, it was literally a major disaster that the restaurants have now closed down. And the crazy thing is the review was a positive one. We'll explain coming up and we'll talk to this guy. Longest running cobro of the show may be best known for his depictions of the tall ships he Was king of the Tuk Tuk Sound. He's Andrew Walsh, and he's joining me right now. A good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Boy, that cat could blow. I'm just thinking of the Tuck Tuck Sound, but I'm also thinking about Old Man Winter blowing through the trees and knocking down power stations last night as well.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you think of it as Old Man Winter or Old Man Fall? We never say Old Man Fall. Why don't we say that?

[Andrew Walsh]

Is it fall or. I guess it's technically fall right now.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't actually know. I'm bad at that kind of stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I'm bad at that kind of stuff, too. I just sort of chunk the calendar up in certain ways that appeases me. And I think it's basically your birthday.

[Luke Burbank]

And then 364 other meaningless days.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's how I look at it. I mean, the world is a celebration of me, so far as I can tell. But I just think, like, late November just feels like winter to me. It's late November. You know, if we can't call late November winter anymore, Luke, what are we even doing?

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, you can't say anything anymore about late November, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

And that's what I'm saying.

[Luke Burbank]

Honestly, that's why the Democrats lost.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't feel like I set us up for success with my intro today. Should I start by talking about something else? I was putting on lotion while we were talking. You want to talk about.

[Luke Burbank]

Actually, that's worse.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, okay. You know, I was.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's get back to Old Man Winter.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, you know what? Here, this will be interesting to you, baby. Maybe this will save the conversation a little bit. I had some lotion on my table here in my studio, as I often do, because I like to keep my hands moist. And I have a service worker coming over later to look at our plumbing. I guess you would call them a plumber.

[Luke Burbank]

I think you'd call them a plumber. I don't like the lotion and service.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I don't know why I said. I don't like any of these words being strong. Nothing's going right for me today, but I.

[Luke Burbank]

Old man lotion strikes again.

[Andrew Walsh]

Old man. Oh, there's your show title right there. But anyway, I actually. I was cleaning up a little bit. Not excessively, but just a little bit. Maybe putting some joints away and other things that might just like, yeah, you know, if a plumber's coming over, they don't have to see how you spent your evening. And I was kind of like, you know, What? Maybe take the lotion off your desk. Like that just seems like kind of a weird, like, I don't know, just like, just, hey, this is where I work and here's my big bottle of lotion next to me. But then as you were reading your intro, I was like, you know what? I really need that lotion. My hands are really dry. So I don't know if you noticed, I don't think you have the camera on me when you're doing your intro. But right during the sound montage today, I ran out of the room as fast as I possibly could. I grabbed the lotion, I put it back on my desk because, dammit, there's no shame in this game. I mean, listen, there's shame in every game I play.

[Luke Burbank]

There's a lot of shame.

[Andrew Walsh]

There's a lot of shame. But I'm glad I have it. And now my hands are moist and they smell wonderful.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you mind sharing what is going on with your plumbing? And is it related to the bomb cyclone?

[Andrew Walsh]

It is not related to the bomb cyclone. I don't mind talking about my plumbing. I hesitated there because I was trying to figure. I literally was like, I have three choices. I can answer the question directly. I can try to make a Nixon era joke, or I can make. Oh, the plumbers. Yeah, like the water. Like my gutty works plumbing. And then I'm like, well, I can do a Nixon thing here. This all happened in a split second. And I was like, I can do a Nixon thing here. And it turns out I couldn't. And so that was my hesitation. What's going on, really, with my actual plumbing here in my house is something that I have purposely not brought up on the show before because I figured it was a underlying. It was evidence of an underlying major issue that I didn't want all the listeners to get on my back about because I already had enough anxiety about it. But it might end up having a happy ending after all. You can make a lotion joke there if you'd like.

[Luke Burbank]

Old Man Lotion in his Happy Endings.

[Andrew Walsh]

That is not a show title. But we have had something going on in our house for a while now, but very, very sporadically since we've moved in here, this has maybe happened four times, maybe five times with the latest event. But every now and then in my basement bathtub, I would just come in, you know, at a random time, turn on the lights and see that there had been some sort of backflow up into my bathtub, which is obviously very gross and usually means there's A clog probably in a sewer line somewhere. And the first time I saw it, I was like, oh, no. Because I have these memories of a landlord dealing with something kind of similar to this. And the apartment I lived in and that ended up being a major construction project that probably cost him $10,000 or something. And I was like, oh, no, we have one of those. And I just kind of cleaned it all out. And I was like, let's just keep an eye on this. And I told Veeves about it.

[Luke Burbank]

Nobody go to the bathroom again.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nobody ever go to the bathroom again. And I ran some tests, like I flushed the toilets. Is that causing it? And nothing seemed to cause it. We couldn't trigger it again. And it went away for months, maybe even six months. Then it randomly happened again. And like I said, in the two and a half years we've been here, maybe this has happened a few times, like, every five or six months. And it's not major. It's not like the tub is filled up with grossness. It's like a little bit of. It's like a little bit of, you know, water up through the drain that looks kind of gross. You wash it down. Try not to think too much about it. And just think, like, when will we. I'm just. I just keep on picturing myself, one of these days, I'm not gonna be able to ignore this anymore. And a plumber's gonna come out here, or what did I call them before? A member of the service community. A lotion servicer of the service community.

[Luke Burbank]

A lotion technician is gonna come out.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here, and they're gonna say, oh, yeah, no, we gotta tear down your house. We have to build all new pipes. And then we're gonna build the house. Like, I'm just not ready for that.

[Luke Burbank]

We'll get to meet Marshawn Lynch.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that is true. God.

[Luke Burbank]

Because he does all of the actual work for Beacon Plumbing.

[Andrew Walsh]

I really. And by the way, I'm going. I'm going back to my old friends. The same company that serviced. That serviced my furnace last week. Yeah. Because I really had a great experience with them. So anyway, they do plumbing too, so. And I gotta say, they're amazing. I called them yesterday and I said, I got this. I got this issue. And they're like, oh, yeah, that's probably a sewer backup. I'm like, yeah, I kind of figured as much. And they're like, yeah, we can have somebody out there tomorrow. Which is amazing. I thought a pre. Thanks.

[Luke Burbank]

What do you know about the guy? What are his turn Nothing yet.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's the thing.

[Luke Burbank]

Lotion.

[Andrew Walsh]

I probably. They said that this person will get here. I said it has to be afternoon, but this morning, I got a text message that said it could be as early as 11. So there's a chance I will get an update from this person with their little baseball card telling me everything about them. Their likes, their dislikes, long walks on the beach, short walks on the beach, whatever they're into, the COVID band that they're in. That's right. But. But here's the. Here's the amazing thing. The woman on the phone who's booking the appointment was like, yeah, yeah, you know, this all sounds familiar. And I was giving the details. Oh, one more detail that I will give you that I gave her, which is. It's a little bit gag inducing, but it's not too bad. But I could not figure out a pattern with my bathtub when it was kind of backing up like this. Like I said, it didn't seem to be attached to, like, us running the washing machine and having that drain or the toilets flushing or what have you. But it just happened again two days ago, or maybe it was yesterday. And I came in the bathroom. I'm like, oh, that's gross. I really should look into this. And then I'm kind of cleaning out the water, and then I pull out. I have what they call a tub shroom, which is like this thing. It collects the hair. It's like a trap for your bathtub, only it's like one of those. I think it was maybe a shark tank thing. It kind of goes down into the. Into the drain.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm asking for $1 million for my.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tub shroom, and for that, I'm out.

[Luke Burbank]

For once in my life, I just want to be able to say sharks.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I know.

[Luke Burbank]

It does seem what I need is $3 million.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'd rather be a shark, actually. But anyway, this tub shroom thing kind of sticks down into the. Into the drain, and it collects hair, and you got to clean it out every few days or whatever. But I pulled this thing out, and the backwash that had come up through the drain had clearly taken tons of rice, white rice, that I'd put down the garbage disposal just earlier that day had just, like, power shot white rice up into the tub shroom to the point where I couldn't clean it out. And I was like, for a second, I didn't think it was rice. For a second, I thought it was larvae. And my stomach turned on me, and I was like, no, no, I so rarely use our garbage disposal in the kitchen for any kind of major. Any kind of major disposal. Because we have a compost bin, right? So almost everything big goes in there. But I was feeling lazy the other day after teriyaki lunch, and I was dumping a bunch of white rice down my sink and turning on the garbage disposal. And then later that day, saw that I had some, you know, backwash, or whatever you want to call it in my tub along with the rice.

[Luke Burbank]

This is like, you know, barium. This is like passing something through the system.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, right. That you can trace. And so suddenly I'm like, aha. I think we're starting to see. At least we finally saw some sort of causality here. And I'm like, I just got to call the damn plumber. And so again, I'm telling Veeves. I'm like, you know, let's free up some cash in the reserves here. Like, I don't know what this is going to be like. And I make the appointment, and the woman's like, yeah, this could cost like $199, but we'll see. It depends what the plumber has to do when he gets out there. And I was like, did you say $199? She's like, yeah. I'm like, oh. And I didn't want to say like, oh, you can.

[Luke Burbank]

Will you take 400?

[Andrew Walsh]

Will you take 3,000? Because that's what I budgeting for this. And then I realized I had a coupon here. I'm like, then I'm like, now I'm getting greedy. I'm like, I also have a coupon for 45 bucks off. Can I use that? She's like, yeah, I'll make a note. Like, I don't know what's going to happen when this plumber comes out here, but it would be amazing. It would also be probably a good life lesson for me, but also very amazing if the plumber comes out here and it's kind of like, yeah, we just had to, like, kind of, you know, snake it. Snake it in a way, you know, Like, I think they might have to roto rooter it or something.

[Luke Burbank]

Some rooter will be rotoed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's hope. So I got the lotion out, but anyway, I gotta. I gotta stop making that joke. But anyway, yeah, so I will let you know. I mean, the person may be coming even during this recording, but I am actually. Well, this is a dangerous game, but I'm feeling a little bit optimistic now, having talked to the actual company that's coming out here.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Hopefully they will be able to. My guess would be its root intrusion somewhere along the line just because of, you know, how things tend to work in Seattle. And I certainly had. I had a similar problem at my old place in Mount Baker, where there was, like, seepage coming in the basement shower drain. Like, it would come up into the basement shower, which we never even used. So, like, I didn't even realize it was happening. And then until one day I went down, there was like, why is there a dried paper in the bottom of the shower? And it's because it was toilet paper that had made its way up, and that was like, root intrusion. Unfortunately for us, the sewer line was really, really old.

[Andrew Walsh]

See, and so I'm afraid of. If it's root intrusion, this is not a $200 fix.

[Luke Burbank]

But they can sometimes, you know, cut that out, depending on, like, your, you know, the particular sewer line you have and stuff. So it might be. And also, I wonder if. Yeah, the rice coming up. I feel like that's somehow a positive sign, because it's like it's coming from inside the house is plumbing, as opposed to the. It's not going out to the street and coming back in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here's my understanding of it, which could be incredibly wrong. But that's why I sort of saw the. The rice as a gross but also potentially positive sign. I think if it's truly just a clog in the sewer line somewhere, they can just clear that out. And that would make sense. Like, usually it's fine. Little bits of water coming out or even. Maybe even a washing machine draining the water can get through there. But when it really had a big job to do, which was sort of digest this water and food combo that I was throwing down, garbage disposal, it couldn't handle it. Like, it just hit a clog somewhere, and the stuff that could not pass ended up coming back up the tub. And if it's just a clog that's causing that, I think that's where we're in the. You know, in the. In the affordable range, the 199 minus 45 minute. I have the coupon right here. But if it's kind of like this. What you just described is what I'm worried about. And what landlords I've dealt with have dealt with themselves, which is like, oh, yeah, you got a tree that's got a root that's busted the hell out of something. We got to go digging in your backyard, which I know you dealt with. And that. That's what set us back.

[Luke Burbank]

Here's my advice. If the plumber wants you to go outside and you see like an overflow in your yard, like a little cap that can be unscrewed that accesses the sewer line, go and hide. Because when I had the plumber do that at my old house, he just put his foot down on it. It was PVC and he just rotated it and it just, I swear a fountain of sewage like Old Faithful just went. And I was like. Did you have, what were you proving with that, sir?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Why did you make me witness that?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, it was an indelible image because.

[Luke Burbank]

You sure did it. You've been brought up on the show many times.

[Andrew Walsh]

You've poisoned my brain and probably many listeners brains with that as well. Not that I say poison, that's unfair. It's probably informative in some ways. But yeah, that's, that is the scenario I'm very worried about. So I will have an update for you.

[Luke Burbank]

The bigger like life lesson, which I feel like you were kind of sort of indicating or getting close to saying is there are these things that we, that cause us anxiety. Whether it's, you know, water coming up through the basement bathtub or whatever, a letter from, you know, the irs. There are these things that just cause stress and the temptation is to just ignore them because the whole topic is anxiety producing. And it's almost always better when you just frickin take it on. Even if it's going to be a bad outcome, even if it's going to be a bummer. It's like, well now we're just dealing with that and then it's fixed and then you can move on. But it's like this sort of, you know, I don't know, the anxiety around not dealing with something I feel like is almost worse than just dealing with it. And yet I have such a hard time sometimes tackling things head on when they, they cause me stress.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, and I think there's a, I think there are like kind of three categories you mentioned. Like even if it's something from the irs, it could be like a financial thing, some sort of like administrative or paperworky financial thing that you are scared to deal with. It could be something around your home that is sort of physical infrastructure. And I think the third thing is medical stuff. And that's something that like, you know, I've had so many things in my head where I'm just like, oh my God, I gotta get this thing checked out. I'm probably, I should probably just say goodbye to all my loved ones, let, you know, set up a Post.

[Luke Burbank]

Can you write out how to post the show before you do that? Right?

[Andrew Walsh]

And then it's like, I go to the doctor, I'm like, is it a. Is it a boil or a wart? And they're like, it's a gummy bear. Go on your merry way, Homer Simpson style. So, yeah, I've had that before too. It's like, just get it taken care of.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm really trying to get better at that, at the just kind of like tackling something head on and not letting it sort of fester because, you know, and I've been saying this a lot on the show and because of the, you know, the thing with politics right now and stuff, but it's like, if you are worrying about something that you can't control, you're suffering twice. So I'm trying to do less of that. The other thing that I heard the other day, this is not really related to sewers or politics per se, but I'm increasingly getting all of my useful advice in the world from Stephen Colbert. Like, he just seems like such a wise dude. And he said that they have a saying. I don't know if I said this to you on air or off air, but it's really been living in my head. This is more related to just like life stuff or creative stuff or work stuff. He said that they have a saying at their show which is, is this something we can control? And if the answer is no, then the. Then it's like, well, then I love it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Huh?

[Luke Burbank]

Like, how intense is that as a thought? Like, oh, can we, you know, the guest wants to tell this story about the. Whatever is, okay, is this something we can control? No. Then I love it. Like, what a freeing idea, right? Like, okay, I can't control it then. Then I love it. Like, what? How would that change our lives? And how would that change my life if that was my approach to things I couldn't control? I just went, okay, then I love it. Like, that is a real paradigm shift that I've been trying to implement a little bit. You know, again, it's been. Been really stress tested lately with everything going on in the world. And again, I don't even know if that's not really something about politics. That's probably more like a livewire thing for where it's like, you know, something creatively that I wish was different or a guest we can't get on, or, I don't know, just some sort of thing that I can't control. And instead of just obsessing over it and Worrying and being bummed. I can't control it. What if I just embraced it? I was all right. I love it.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I'm probably taking the wrong lesson from this as I tried to relate to that and sort of not hearing it in the context in which it was originally spoken. But for me, that exercise would also sort of underscore the things that you can control that you're mere merely worrying about. Like, I don't know, this guest insists upon telling the story, and I'm worried that it's gonna go blue or something like that. Bad example.

[Luke Burbank]

But my co host insists on talking about lotion and happy endings.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Can I control him? No, I love it.

[Andrew Walsh]

But the thing is, maybe what you realize is, oh, I can control this. I do have some options here. And then when you say, like, well, what are your options? Well, you could find a new guest, or in your case, you could find a new co host. And what are the repercussions of that? And I know, I know. I've seen the not, but you know what I mean? It might even say, well, can I control it? Then you think, well, okay, well, let's just. There are ways to control things. Maybe I don't like the repercussions of going down a certain path, but it sort of makes you. It forces you to think, like, is this controllable? And I'll tell you what, like, having the head of the. One of the founders of the wwe, you know, heading up the department of education is not exactly something I can control. So maybe I let that one go. But also maybe the next time I plug something into an electrical socket and it seems like it's getting a little bit hot, I should say, you know what? I'm going to call the. I'm going to call the electrician. Not the electrician, but the electrician. I like how you say electricity trying to get out.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think Genevieve is all over that now. I can't get away with it in this house, so I'm trying to change. It's something I like control.

[Luke Burbank]

I like where you're going with this. It's like, okay, it's, you know, to quote. Is it Kurt Wood Smith?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah. From Patriot. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's close the things that close.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

In other words, let's identify what we can control and what we can have an impact on. And let's do that and not, you know, sit around stressing about doing it. Let's just do it. Let's, you know, into the breach and Then let's also identify the things that we can't control, and let's just make peace with that as well, you know, and in both cases, your anxiety level should theoretically go down a little bit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. You know, exercise. Certainly. Certainly. Thank you for being a tam.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, let's thank some donors who are supporting TBTL financially, making this whole thing possible because of their, their generosity. They have, they've identified the fact that they have some control over if TBTL exists.

[Andrew Walsh]

Andrew. A lot of.

[Luke Burbank]

And they've, they've chosen to support the show with a donation and they are making TBTL possible. Folks like Amy Ruble of Tacoma, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you, Amy from. Beautiful.

[Luke Burbank]

Hope your hatches were battened, Amy, and everything is okay where you are. Dusty Snyder's in Campbellsville, Kentucky.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's a good place for Dusty to be. Thank you, Dusty.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. Don't. Doesn't like. You meet a person named Dusty and they tell you they live in Campbellsville, Kentucky, and you're like, that all checks out.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's good. And it's not new.

[Luke Burbank]

No. A Dusty Snyder. I don't think a Dusty Snyder thrives in Manhattan. I think a Dusty Snyder thrives in Campbellsville, Kentucky, just like Christopher Hamlin is thriving in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was bound to happen, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Beautiful. Just beautiful elocution there, Luke.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you. It's taken me many, many years of doing the show to learn how to properly say Worcester. Toby McPhail is in Denver, Colorado, home of Blucifer.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

And the ascendant, Bo Nicks. Oh, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

How's Bo doing now? Bo doing still pretty well.

[Luke Burbank]

Bo is well. They hammered Atlanta last week, and Bo had probably his best game as a pro, statistically, I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, really? Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. He seems like he's. He seems like he's. He's actually playing pretty well.

[Andrew Walsh]

And how do you feel about that now that he's in the pros? He played for your rival Ducks in college. I don't like last year. Right. So you don't, you don't like seeing Ducks succeed once they are into the big pond.

[Luke Burbank]

What I don't like is that I feel like Oregonians are too obsessed with the Oregon Ducks now. They're also the number one team in the country right now. So that's, you know, that's something to be proud of. Although it does feel to me like the bad guys are just winning on everything. I say this as a University of Washington graduate. There's only one school that I truly love. That's University of Oregon. It's also where my girlfriend and everyone in her family graduated from. It's a big deal there. But then you'll like reading the Oregonian and it'll be like, how these Ducks are doing in the pros. And there's like a whole article following these Oregon players now that they're in the pros. I'm like, they don't even play in Oregon anymore. Let it go. That's how I feel about that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought you were going to be like, once they're like, oh, yeah, once they're in the NFL, then we just, you know, we root for the young. The young stars.

[Luke Burbank]

I continue. I continue to dislike them actively.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love that. Again, not that politics or, like, kind of values have to seep into everything, but I love it, like, in the whole world of college football, like, it's not a huge SEC powerhouse in a part of the country that is, like, very, very MAGA or whatever. It's like, the only enemy I have are those awful people in Beaverton. No, I'm sorry. Eugene, right, In Eugene, Oregon, who, like. I mean, obviously, like you say you're. You're dating. You're dating a Duck. Like, these are people who are so similar to you in so many ways, but these are your enemies.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, it is. It's. It's a strange thing. And. And I don't really go in for that stuff typically, but from, you know, from a young age, I was. I somehow intuited that we actively dislike the University of Oregon. And yet I'm fully enmeshed in the. I've even been to the campus and I've seen. There's, like, Becca's. There's like, bricks that have her family's name in them and stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, wow.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, it runs deep.

[Andrew Walsh]

And you got. Didn't you even take advantage of maybe some family discounts at that. At that Nike. Nike store? Some point you heard you still saying Nike. You heard it. I don't know how I went. I was a kid and I said Nike. My whole, like, childhood, I learned at some age that it's Nike. I was fine with that for so long, I don't know what happened. But in my mid-40s, I started regressing back to Nike, and I don't know why.

[Luke Burbank]

I ran into a listener at the Nike store this weekend. Listener? Aaron Leninger.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it was.

[Andrew Walsh]

You were availing yourself then.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, so what happened was I bought, like, a few weeks ago, Becca, and I went there and I bought some running shoes, and for some bizarre reason, I just bought the wrong size. Like, I thought maybe I was a 10, but I'm actually a 10 and a half. And so I needed to take these shoes back and get the right size. So I was back there last weekend and ran into listener Aaron who said, hey, I'm. I'm a 10 and I'm obeying the rules that if I see you in the wild, I have to identify myself.

[Andrew Walsh]

So you slowly put down the bottle of hooch you were drinking that had the skull and cross.

[Luke Burbank]

That's where I go to do it. It had three X's on it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Three X's. That's what it had, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I was just in a random aisle of the Nike store drinking moonshine. But Aaron said something interesting because. Yeah, that place, that Nike store, that is like, you know, it's like half off, basically. And if you are somebody who works at Nike or. Or you did work at Nike, or you're somebody in the community, like, I believe Aaron is a principal, maybe. And so they reach out to, like, local educators and it's a super sweet deal. But Erin was saying to me that her husband, Chris, I believe, I think this is. Who said this to her, pointed out something important, which is, just because it's half off doesn't mean it's free. Because there is this weird psychology of being there. Because you're going to go up and you're going to have all of this expensive Nike stuff, and then it's going to be half of that cost. And there's. If your brain is wired the way mine is, it tricks your brain into thinking it's free. But if you were going to buy $1,000 worth of running gear, et cetera, and now it's $500, you still spent $500.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. I have a quick question that is a bit tedious, but I think maybe informative. So there are some people who get a 50% off, but not everybody, just by being in the store gets 50% off. So it's all labeled.

[Luke Burbank]

You get 40% off. The least savings will be 40% off, and the most savings would be 50% off.

[Andrew Walsh]

See, this is where it is a psychological thing they're doing there. Then don't put. How can I say this? Then just put the real price and then don't take it off at the register. You know what I mean?

[Luke Burbank]

It's like Tetris.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's what I mean. They're like, hey, look at all the number. Right, Exactly. Like you're in the aisle. But it's not like Oh, I have a coupon. Like, showing the full price does nobody any good because nobody walking in there is going to pay that price is just their way of reminding you.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of how much money you're saving. So you should buy more.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, and it works.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Because again, there is this psychology that it's like, okay, I bought $10,000 worth of Nike stuff and it was marked down to $5,000. It was like, free. No, you spent $5,000.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, right. On.

[Luke Burbank]

On running tights.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do they sell Nike stock there by any chance? Because I buy some of that for 50. Huh.

[Luke Burbank]

They. You know what? I bought this blanket there last time and they were like, limit one blanket for customers. Like, are these popular? That goes. Yeah, they really are.

[Andrew Walsh]

Huh. I wonder if. Do you think people are swooping in there before the games? Is it close enough, swooshing in there? Are they swooshing in there before games?

[Luke Burbank]

No, because it's in Beaverton. It's not near. It's not near a stadium or anything. And. But it's kind of interesting because it's a very cozy blanket, but it. And it's very designy, but it also is covered in swooshes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, it is. I was going to ask you. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So it's kind of strange and it wasn't cheap. It retails for $150, Andrew, marked down to just $75.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, you can't control that. You have to buy it.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. I love it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Can I control the cost of this blanket? No, I love it. I also love that Janice Langsdorf is supporting the show all the way from New York, New York. See, Janice sounds like a New York, New York person.

[Andrew Walsh]

Perfect. See, it all comes together. Thank you so much, Janice Bloom.

[Luke Burbank]

Where you're planted. That's what I always say to Janice. And then Melissa Schwartau is in Seattle, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

Beautiful, beautiful windy place.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Did you guys. You did not ever actually lose your power last night?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, last night was a pretty wacky night because we, we almost. We almost had the vibe of an evening where the power had gone out because we were waiting for it to go. We were. I was texting with probably, I don't know, 10 friends in various parts of the city.

[Luke Burbank]

Must be nice.

[Andrew Walsh]

I've just. I'm surrounded by friends and I'm going to say, like, eight of them were without power. Mostly up here in North Seattle, but some down in South Seattle, like, and our lights kept flickering and I went outside at one point to take out some garbage and I literally heard the explosion of like a transfer box or whatever you call those power boxes that sometimes explode in high winds when limbs hit them. And like, I saw, I heard one and then I saw our lights flash. And I was like, it's any minute now. So we had all of our little like battery powered lanterns out. A headlamp. We were like all prepared for it. And then we sat down and we played cards for a couple of hours and the power never went out. But we had a very nice evening of playing card.

[Luke Burbank]

I started to kind of freak out here in this wind tunnel that is my perch above the mighty Columbia because, like, my light started flickering and I realized, like, my cell phone is on like 10% power right now. My laptop is. Was not. I started running around, plugging everything in, trying to juice stuff up. And then also I have a couple little battery packs that I can use for my phone. And I like, plugged those in. I was trying to basically like, extract all the electricity from my house into storage units while I had electricity. And I like, I put the. I got my headlamp out and put it on the kitchen counter. I put the, the flashlight on the kitchen counter. I put batteries for the flashlight. Like, I was. It was like, if everything, if the lights just go out here, I need to know where everything is. And then. And it ended up. I didn't ever lose power, but I realized, like, I'm very reliant on it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did it sort of affect your mood in a way though? Because even though you never lost your power, I went through all the same preparations, made sure all of our cell phones and laptops were charged and everything really ready for the long haul. Because with this massive of a power outage, like, you know, happening all over the region, you don't know when they're gonna be able to get to your neighborhood to get power back up, especially where you. So it really puts you in that sort of bunker mentality. And like I said, we sort of had the weird coziness of a power outage night, except we were able to watch De La Soul videos on TV because the power never actually went out while we were playing cards.

[Luke Burbank]

I was thinking, well, I'll just start a fire if I have to. Then I realized it's an electric fire. I mean, it burns pellets, but it needs power to run. And then I was, yeah, I was like, I made a huge veggie lasagna. So. Because, yeah, my first plan was like, I'll get all cozy. It's going to be stormy out. The weather outside is frightful But I'm going to make a giant lasagna for one and watch television's Chris Hayes and just kind of get cozy and start a fire. And then I realized all of this is dependent on a power line somewhere up the hill. Not getting knocked over by tree limb, like. And if that happens, it goes. This goes from being a fun, cozy night to just being a major hassle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was looking at. We have those arbor vitae. And I know you're feeling an arbor vidae. Mine are not dissimilar from yours. Not my favorite type of shrubbery. But we have some really tall ones kind of behind our house, separating our yard from our neighbors. You see a lot of that around here. And they are very tall. And as they get tall, they become less and less, like, kind of structurally sustainable. That's not the right way to say that. But you just see them really swaying up there. There we have one that has a. Is it a bow or a bow? A bow. A bow. A bow.

[Luke Burbank]

Like a part of a tree.

[Andrew Walsh]

About a bough. Is that a bow? That's like, really kind of bent.

[Luke Burbank]

Rockaby baby on the treetop when the bough breaks the cradle will rock that sounds. The cradle will drop the crown. But they say bow, I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out if we have a cradle up there. Because if we do, we should probably.

[Luke Burbank]

You gotta take that down.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll ask the plumber to look into that when he's here.

[Luke Burbank]

He's putting a baby on the tree top.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I'm saying. It's so irresponsible, you know, but when.

[Luke Burbank]

We were kids, Andrew, we were on the treetops. Everybody was fine.

[Andrew Walsh]

Everybody.

[Luke Burbank]

No seat belts. We're on the treetops.

[Andrew Walsh]

That is true. Anyway, I was just gonna say I saw this one bough that already looks sort of like, compromised. Sort of. And it's really blowing in the wind. And I'm looking. I'm literally last night looking at it, sore. It's not right above the line that brings cable into my house, but I see the. You know, I have fiber Internet coming into my house, and I can see the line that is coming into my house. And I'm just like, if that thing falls and hits that line, that tiny. That tiny little wire, if that branch falls and hits that. I don't. We don't have a show today. You know, like, it's just like so much relies on that little wire.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I was thinking last night, I was like, okay, if I just have a cell Phone. Can I do the show somehow with Andrew? I mean, I guess I could because when I was in Leavenworth and I broke my road kit, I mean, I don't think that was ideal, but we were able to get through a couple of days of shows where I was talking to you on the phone but recording myself, like in person or some craziness.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but we still needed Internet to talk down the line and we don't have to get into the ins and outs of that now. But if you or I were without Internet today. Yeah. Maybe as long as one of us had it, we could have limped along. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Anyway, thankfully we have our full complement of electricity and Internet and we can bring the folks another amazing episode of tbtl. Hello and welcome to Top Story. I asked you yesterday if the words Keith Lee worm sushi meant anything to you and you said no.

[Andrew Walsh]

At the moment it meant nothing to me. But then I went to read the Seattle Times immediately after that at lunch. I like to eat. I like to eat soup and read the Seattle Times. And it had populated up as a main headline on the time Big Story. I'm read up on this. However, I'm. I still haven't seen the key part of the video.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, you have to watch.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. I need, I need the part where it was like they just linked to like the whole nine or ten minute video and I couldn't find the actual damning part. But I'm getting ahead of ourselves.

[Luke Burbank]

So Keith Lee is this food influencer. And I find the whole Keith Lee phenomenon to be very interesting because Keith Lee used to be an MMA fighter. I think he was like semi professional, lived in Las Vegas and was kind of interested in sort of becoming some kind of influencer, I guess. And I don't know how he ended up locking onto. Basically, I'm going to sit in my car and eat takeout food from a restaurant and tell you if I like it or not, because I don't want to gatekeep this. Like, you don't. I mean, I'm not saying you have to go to the Culinary Institute of America to review food, but he, he doesn't seem to be a person who has any particular background in food or, you know, he's actually sort of like me. Like, I don't have a language around, like why I'm tasting what I'm tasting. In fact, I have to eat a lot of stuff on TV and I always just go, mmm, that's good. That's my food review, by the way.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good.

[Luke Burbank]

That's that's really. Oh my God, that's really good.

[Andrew Walsh]

Food good. You should just say, just start saying that constantly. Just see what your producers do. Just take a bite of it and look seriously, like contemplate for a moment and say food good.

[Luke Burbank]

Somehow this thing of this guy Keith Lee sitting in his car eating, you know, you name it, a chicken sandwich, teriyaki, recently in Seattle, whatever had just has become a phenomenon. I'm guessing it has to do with he's relatable and he's certainly not, you know, he's not. You know, I think you feel like this is a person, I trust this person's opinion on if this food tastes good or not.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like he's relatable. Is that what you mean?

[Luke Burbank]

I think the word is relatable. I get the whole relatability thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I'm sorry, I wasn't joking. I didn't know you used the word.

[Luke Burbank]

Relatable like 14 seconds ago.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, did you? Sorry, you said he's not, and I wasn't sure what I thought you were going to say.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I said relatable. And then I decided to make it more complicated for reasons that even I don't understand at this point. The point is I don't really understand why it is that this guy got so popular, but he did. And so now this Keith Lee effect is this huge thing because what he tends to do is he'll find a restaurant that's usually a family owned and oftentimes is sort of struggling. People will reach out and say, like, you know, my mom and dad, you know, spent their life savings to have this, you know, wing stop or whatever. Not literally a wing stop because I believe that's a chain, but it. And. And then he'll go out and he'll try the food and he usually gives stuff a pretty good review. That's the other thing. He's. He doesn't go out to dunk on stuff. He just usually is like, I give this a 7 out of 10 or whatever. And then this thing called the Keith Lee effect happens where there's a line around the block and whatever the restaurant is that he goes to ends up just doing gangbusters business for some amount of time. And he went to Seattle recently and he went to this. He went to a bunch of places, but one of the places was somewhere called, called FOB Sushi fob. I don't know if that stands for something. I'd never heard of this place.

[Andrew Walsh]

Never heard of it. Never heard of it.

[Luke Burbank]

So they've got one in Seattle and one in Bellevue. And he was trying a salt and pepper hamachi. So that's a particularly like. I don't know if we need to explain this to people, but I guess hamachi is the one that's just kind of a cut of raw fish as opposed to a sushi roll where you've got the rice and the. Maybe the seaweed or whatever. And he was taking a bite of this hamachi, and he really enjoyed it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think he think hamachi is a type of fish. I think you're thinking of sashimi as being. The sashimi is just like the kind of, like, piece that's not a roll. I think hamachi is a kind of. I think it's a kind of yellowtail. Right. Anyway, I could be wrong type of.

[Luke Burbank]

Sushi made with yellowtail tuna.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly right. Cool.

[Luke Burbank]

So he takes a bite of this fish and he really enjoyed it. It and. And gave a good review. And this place, Fob Sushi, they told, like, King 5 or something that they literally doubled their business after Keith Lee gave them a really good review. And then the Internet started enhance. Enhance enhancing on this piece of hamachi that Keith Lee was eating. And they noticed that the bottom corner of the hamachi appeared to be kind of wriggling.

[Andrew Walsh]

I need to see this.

[Luke Burbank]

Or moving. Yeah, this is the critical. This is the critical piece of the whole thing. And the Internet started to freak out, saying that, like, this is likely a worm in the hamachi fob sushi. First said, it's. We have. By the way, they have excellent. Their rating from the, like, Seattle health department is excellent. Literally, it's excellent. They said we have very, very, very strict food practices. And what this is is just the way that the flesh of the fish is, when you grab it with a chopstick, it just kind of makes it move in a way. So that was their explanation. Then Keith Lee clapped back and said basically that he did not appreciate them blaming him and his chopstick technique, which I didn't really think was what they were saying. I don't think they were saying Keith Lee is eating this sushi wrong or this hamachi wrong. I think they were just saying sometimes when you pick something up with chopsticks, it puts some pressure on this kind of, you know, this chunk of fish flesh, and it might make it move in kind of an odd way. Well, anyway, the. The latest on the story is they've closed both locations indefinitely.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, they found something. They found something.

[Luke Burbank]

You think they found something? That's your theory?

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess so. I only read The Seattle Times article yesterday. And like I said, they didn't have the. They didn't isolate the part where the fish moves. I'm now watching that on repeat. Believe it or not, Luke, the first result when I typed this in was a video from a show that is apparently called Jake and Spike on our old. Had our old station Cairo. This is Jake, the former producer, has Jake Scoreheim. You know that he's hosting a show there now with somebody named Spike.

[Luke Burbank]

And they have Spike from like kisw. I don't know, man, from the Bob River Show. Jake and Spike.

[Andrew Walsh]

Spike looks like a guy who might be my age. He's got a beard that's graying a little bit.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's definitely older than me, maybe. Yeah, he. Spike was the kind of like the sidekick on the Bob river show for many, many years and then had his own show, which I think was recently. It was a morning show which I think might have been recently canceled because there is a casino commercial on TV that has Spike and I presume the other people from his morning show, okay, now in their bathrobes, just like in the middle of the day, like I think maybe throwing darts. Okay, so anyway, Andrew, think about it.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, I happen to now they on their show. I am on a video where they keep playing the little wiggly part over and over and over again. And okay, so I will confirm that is icky. And yes, that is not from by the way. And I did not watch the, let's say, clap back video that Steve Lee posted. I only read like the, the poll quote that the Seattle Times used. And it didn't seem to me as aggressive. It sort of seemed like him saying like, just like, hey, listen, I've picked up a lot of fish. I've picked up a lot of sushi with chopsticks before. And this is not how physics works, dudes. And I would, I would agree with that having seen this video. Would you agree with that? Would you say there's something up with this sushi? Are we on the same page there?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know really. Listen, I feel like the most to me, the sort of Occam's Razor, you know, of this whole thing is like, to me, the simplest explanation is it was just a little piece of fish that was hanging off and that was just kind of behaving oddly as opposed to they're rampant with worms at this sushi place and nobody noticed it until they gave it to possibly the biggest food influencer in America currently. Although I don't know if they knew they were serving up Keith Lee. That's the other whole part of this is that he now sends his family in or he doordashes a lot of food, like, because, you know, he's like the Ruth Reichel of the modern food movement in that if he, if they know it's Keith Lee, they'll freak out. So I don't think that they knew that this was who this was going to. I don't know. I just, I guess the idea of this place that by all accounts had a flawless food safety record, that they just, just have worms and that just happened to get a worm to like a guy who gets 10 million views on every food tick tock he does. I don't know. That just seems, it seems unlikely to me. But the problem is they can never, they'll never be able to prove this. It's like the, you know, is the dress gold or blue? It's like, you know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Whatever that was, he already ate it. I, I, you know, I've been, I don't know if you recall, but I've been wrong on the show at least once before. So, you know, I don't want to, I don't want to like, say anything that I feel is even close to definitive here. Like I say, I'm just watching this video for the first time now. The, you know, the part that actually has the movement in it, it seems to defy gravity to me. I will, I will get, I will say that I don't understand just watching what is going on in this clip that they are playing. I mean, it is going.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it's going up in a way.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's like a little. That is not, that is just being held between two chopsticks. They're not moving. He's not wiggling and he's not moving. He's just holding it up and then suddenly a little piece of it goes bloop and moves upwards.

[Luke Burbank]

Is, and it's just, Is it possible? Is it possible? And I don't know if this is better, but is it possible the fish was still alive? You know, which again is kind of upsetting in its own way that there's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Some sort of nerve that even if it's not alive, like a chicken with.

[Luke Burbank]

Its head cut off kind of thing, like, it's like so fresh that there's some sort of like, you know, involuntary movement going on with this piece of flesh, you know, which again, the funniest thing about this is we're acting like there's nothing gross about a raw piece of flesh. As long as it doesn't have a different kind of animal flesh associated with it that we weren't expecting.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, it's not like this is a. A blueberry muffin that had a worm in it. This is raw fish flesh.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. I mean, they still be alive. Yeah. I don't have the right words for it, but I was thinking, like, there. It's just like. And again, like, I like sushi. I need to stop watching this thing over and over again. I think it's distracting me a little bit, but. And I would not want to eat sushi that was moving. It would ick me out. It would probably turn me off of sushi for a long time. But your point is taken with me. Like, I feel like it is true that, like, if you were like, what are the expectations? I don't want to paint anything with a broad brush, but what. What are the expectations in other countries that serve food that I would find more exotic anyway? You know what I mean? The line between freshness and, you know.

[Luke Burbank]

There might be a place where they're freaked out that their worm got sushi in. In other Keith related food news, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Your worm is in my sushi. Your sushi is in my worm, sir.

[Luke Burbank]

What is this fly doing in my soup?

[Andrew Walsh]

It appears to be the backstroke. Classic borscht.

[Luke Burbank]

This is an old story, but I just thought it was kind of entertaining. And it does involve a guy named Keith and food day for it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I really need to ask you something on this topic. I'm really sorry, but I'm not just goofing around here. I'm really interested in your opinion on something regarding the first Keith story. The first Keith food story, which is you said, I majorly jumped to a conclusion and said, well, clearly they found something. That's why both of these restaurant branches are now closed. And you said, are you sure about that? You sure about that? What would be your explanation? Just like all of the bad publicity has caused them to not want to be in their shop because people are coming in and creating a stink. What would be the cause of shutting it down?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't have an answer for that. I think. I guess my theory was they were overwhelmed. They kind of didn't know what to do. I mean, it is a very weird thing to get. And this is now a huge national story. So it's like, it just. I mean, I'm on and on, on this show about the perhaps principle, right? Things that seem bad sometimes can be good, and things that seem good can sometimes be bad. And Keith Lee Shows up, he eats your food, he gives it a great review. You're selling more sushi than you ever have before, and then it just goes so sideways. I guess my thought was they were closing down to just kind of like, try to figure out their next move to give the appearance. Because here's the thing. They don't want to admit. And I haven't seen anywhere that they've admitted to any problems. So they. They're. I feel like they're. They're shutting down. So that. Not. Not because they're admitting that anything went wrong, but because it might at least give. Kind of give the impression that they were, like, double checking their systems and making sure that no one gets a worm going forward.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sure. Just double checking. Yep. That.

[Luke Burbank]

But without admitting that it was a worm. You know what I mean? Like, it's like something that gives the indication that they're taking it seriously, but also does not admit fault.

[Andrew Walsh]

And also, it might just be impossible. You're right. As this story is, is a national story now, it might just be impossible to do business. Like, maybe, you know, you have some regular customers who haven't heard this news or just casual customers who are coming in and just, you know, business as usual. But maybe it's just like nine out of 10 people are just coming in there to ask questions. Maybe they're reporters. Maybe they're just, you know, maybe it's just like impossible to do business under these circumstances and they just need a reset and they're gonna. They're gonna reopen in a few days. They're gonna call. Not. Definitely not. FOB Sushi bar.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. Know. I mean, I. I don't know why, but I just tend to think that this is not a worm. Again, I don't. I don't know what's going on with it, but, like, I do feel kind of bad for these folks because my guess is that these are probably pretty well run spots. And like I said, I keep going back to this, but they had literally an excellent rating from the food department, which is pretty hard to get because there's like a million ways that you can, like, screw that up, you know, it's like if you have the wrong kind of thing on a certain shelf that then if it leaked, would go on something below it. I mean, little things like that can, like, mess with your health score or whatever you call it. So they had an excellent one, which makes me think they were probably running a pretty good business. And like, all of a sudden, it's all kind of like, you know, Potentially going away for them, which is just like the vicissitudes of life. It's just crazy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I am def. I mean, I don't know that we'll ever get a good answer to what happened here. You know what I mean? The piece of fish is gone. It's been eaten. Unless the health department goes in and says, oh, my God, yeah, we missed this the first time, but this place is just riddled with worms. I don't know how we missed this, but this is basically more like a worm factory with some sushi business on the side. Like, unless that's the result, which it's not going to be, we're never going to have an answer for this.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. Andrew in Keith related food news, rest in peace to a guy named Keith Brown, who was known in China as Old Dry Keith, who achieved huge fame in China on China's version of, like, I guess, TikTok, which I thought was just TikTok, by the way, but I guess they've got something else that this guy, Keith Brown's wife, who I believe is Chinese, started videotaping him or filming him on her phone making his lunch every day, which was very British and very boring. Like, I actually have the tape. It's so boring. The tape is incredibly boring. Andrew, I'll play you a little bit of this. This became Old Dry Keith became a freaking sensation in Japan for how boring his lunch was. This is his wife talking to him.

[Andrew Walsh]

What do you make your lunch? I make my lunch.

[Luke Burbank]

Hammer and tomato. So he's just making a sandwich with like a piece of ham, like lunch meat and some cherry tomatoes. And for some reason, these kind of pretty boring sandwiches he was making were fascinating to Chinese folks. Like, they became obsessed with him. There were grocery stores that had entire sections called dry lunch areas where you could buy the same things that Old Dry Keith was putting in his sandwiches. This I'm reading from the Independent, doesn't say who wrote this. The seemingly mundane, classic British meals were met with horror and curiosity from the millions of viewers they attracted and even began an online movement which saw Chinese nationals trying their own, quote, dry lunch there. One commenter asked, is this real? After watching Keith smear some butter onto brown bread. However, following the initial wave of confusion, Keith became known as a paternal uncle figure among fans. This is, I think, the best part of this whole story, though. The Chinese folks appeared initially to be totally confused by this guy's boring ass lunches. And then they began to enjoy the dry. The Dry Keith lifestyle. This was an article written on a Social media platform. After watching a short video, viewers have changed from questioning the dry old man to understanding the dry old man to becoming a dry old man. The old man is to us and the dry lunch is our dry life.

[Andrew Walsh]

And the dry. I'm looking at the photos of like one of these. He's making like it looks like a, a lox sandwich with avocado on bread.

[Luke Burbank]

They seem pretty normal to me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And he's not even that boring. Like, he's boring, but not in the way that I expected him to be. I expected him be him to be like Deputy Dog or Droopy. I'm making my sandwich like bad droopy Dog, you know, kind of like comically boring or like low charisma. He just seems like a kind of normal British guy who happened to live in China and was making a sandwich and his wife started filming it. Like it's. I can't figure out why this happened, but this idea that the nation of China said we, we went from questioning the dry old man to understanding the dry old man to becoming the dry old man. And there's something, there's something in there, I think, for all of us to learn.

[Andrew Walsh]

I appreciate you explaining that story to me because in the show sheet today you had the Keith Lee worm story, which I was familiar with because I'd read it yesterday and then your second headline was just speaking of Keith's and I didn't have time to read it. So I did that thing that I think a lot of people do now.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is is APM still distributing?

[Andrew Walsh]

Speaking of Keith, Speaking of Keith's. Actually that might be the show title, but I'm doing that thing where I'm trying to determine. I did wherever I was when I saw this on my phone, I didn't have time to click on the link and actually read it. So I did that thing where I'm trying to figure out what the story is just based on the link, not the headline, but the link itself. And it's like, you know, HTTPs://blah independent.com blah. And then you get to the headline part old dry Keith Sandwiches China TikTok Died. And I was like, I don't have any idea where any of this is going.

[Luke Burbank]

Something else interesting that they said on the with POD this week, Chris Hayes's excellent show why is this Happening? Was he was talking to a, a journalist who now kind of focuses just on sort of media matters and, and, and how we get information and stuff. And one of the things they pointed out was, and this is because this Story is actually, like, almost two months old, I think, is that we news is not. The information that we get through social media is not chronological anymore. Like, there was a period of time where it was, like, up to the second news. That was the whole thing. You got to get the news right now. And now, if you're looking at TikTok, you might be seeing some stuff that just happened, but you might also be seeing stuff that happened a long time ago. And what they were speculating on Chris's show is it's because we're not. Not enough stuff is actually happening to feed the beast of. Of content consumption. So what happens? Well, literally, the earth is not creating enough new content fast enough for all the demand we have for new content. So what do they do? They're showing me a Brian bosworth sack from 1989. Like, you start to see old stuff. And in fact, they were. The guy who was the guest mentioned this is a problem for Hollywood is that Netflix and places like that have a bunch of Murder, She Wrote on there, and people watch that, and then they don't maybe even engage sometimes with the newer stuff because there's all this nostalgia out there. But, like, this idea that literally we can't create enough content, so we have to just go back and start throwing stuff that's six months old or a year old or 20 years old and passing it off as content because we're literally not making enough new content. That kind of blew my mind.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. But, yeah, like, the world is like, I'm not making enough content for you. Are you reading me? Have you seen what I've been doing for the past 15 years? Like, I'm out of breath over here, and you guys are going back and watching old Bosworth videos.

[Luke Burbank]

This is the word bomb cyclone mean anything to you?

[Andrew Walsh]

Here I go once again with the email. Every week, I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man. It's not from a female.

[Luke Burbank]

All right. Emails of emails.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I have a voicemail I like to play for you here. This person left a voicemail and sent in an email as well. I'm gonna play the voicemail. They had slightly different. Slightly different nuances, I would say. But this is in response to a conversation that I brought up, I think yesterday or the day before, about a commercial that sort of irked me when I was watching the football game the other day. And it was like this, you know, this beautiful shot commercial showing a cowboy who I think, like I said, his name was like, butch cowboy men or something like that on horseback. Talking about like his fields and how the soil is important. And it ended up being like for the Cattlemen's association here in Washington. And I felt like kind of duped about it. I was like, you know, I know that the hamburger meat I eat is out of factory farms and these are not the conditions that most, that most cows are raised in. And it just sort of felt like they were, as I believe I said on the show, peeing on my head and tell me, telling me that it was raining, making it seem like it's the ideal thing for a cow to grow up in this kind of atmosphere. So anyway, we got this note from somebody who sees it differently.

[C]

Hey guys, listen to the show. And I have a cattle ranch down in Florida. Love you guys. But when you get on the meat talk, you need to understand, especially like the Cattleman's commercial that you were explaining, we run like 100 head of cattle and we do look after them and like use regenerative grazing and take care of the soil. And that's very much part of it is like taking care of the earth and the animals. Yes, eventually they do get slaughtered and made into bees. But while they are under our care, like there's a lot of like stall put into keeping the animals healthy and happy. It's just like something that maybe needs to be thought about. Like a lot of these ranchers, like, I'm not saying every operation is like this, but 90% of the cattle operations are very conscious of how our animals are treated and do not do like undue harm to them. It's all about keeping them healthy and happy and also caring for the land in a way that most other industries do not. So just something to think about, fix.

[Andrew Walsh]

And the reason I mentioned that this person, they didn't leave their name here and I don't have their email in front of me. The reason I mentioned the email as well, I read it the other day and so I'm going to try to paraphrase and hopefully do it justice is this person also said like it's also sort of frustrating because like you talk about MAGA people or whatever. Well, my whole, you know, in my job I'm constantly talking to those folks and I'm a liberal minded person like you guys. And the reason I work with MAGA people all day is because you have all these like well meaning liberals who are always just demonizing the meat industry while eating meat. And I think that that is a, you know, specifically, you know, something that I certainly do. And so I'm a little Bit, I guess I'm a little bit chagrined, but what this makes me want to do is actually do will I? Probably not. But it actually makes me want to do more research because I got to say I've always just assumed and believed that the vast majority of beef that Americans like me eat, not the ones who are going to butcher shops and farmers markets, but are actually just like going to the giant food chain grocery stores that I go to or going to a McDonald's or even going to maybe even a slightly better restaurant and ordering a hamburger. I assume that the vast, vast, vast majority of that is coming from just agribusiness that is not anything like this. Callers, you know, hundred head of cattle, hundred head more boutique approach. If I'm wrong about that. If the vast majority of the beef that I eat, I mean, is actually coming from farmers like our listener here. I would, I would be so psyched to hear that.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I mean, I think, and I'm not, I don't feel like, I mean, I think you were the one that was in trouble with this voicemail more so than me.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I'm only supposed to play those, the ones that go after you.

[Luke Burbank]

But, but yeah, I mean, I think I even said in that initial conversation about there are these cows that live on this sort of island.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And how I love them so much. I. And also I wouldn't feel bad if they ended up on a dinner plate because I feel like they've had a really good life. So, yeah, I'm, I'm curious about that because the listener, you know, like, like he said, running 100 head of cattle, that sounds, sounds pretty boutique. And I could imagine those cows having a pretty good life. And I'm on the record as saying if an animal has a good life and it doesn't suffer unduly, it doesn't experience unnecessary pain or restriction and then its life is over. I don't have a problem with that morally. I just like you assume that in order for the average American to have meat with three meals a day that something, know, something not great for the animals has to happen for that to be scalable.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

I would be surprised to hear that like every quarter pounder at McDonald's started off as one cow in a hundred.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

In a, in a hundred head herd in Florida. Because it just doesn't seem like again, the caller knows a lot more about the industry than I do. But maybe could call us back and clarify. I'm really curious, is it the case that most of the meat that we're eating and buying in the store when it comes to cows are actually being raised in relatively humane circumstance with relatively small numbers, because that would totally blow my mind. I would love that to be the case.

[Andrew Walsh]

I would love that to be the case as well. I'm dubious right now, but I'm not trying. But I'm not saying that to dismiss this caller. There's a reason I played this voicemail, by the way, and it's not because I want to fight back on the air, because I think it's a good perspective to have and a reminder for me not to paint everything with a broad brush. And while I say that I'm still sort of. I would be very curious to see a. An honest, objective breakdown of where. Of what types of farms produce the vast majority of the type of beef that most Americans eat on a daily basis. I need to find that somewhere. The good news is I know I won't hear from any callers or listeners on the other side of this issue.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely not.

[Andrew Walsh]

So that's really good. So the inbox is open, but anyway, I need to.

[Luke Burbank]

JohnBtl.net that's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, well, thanks for the call. Absolutely. In all seriousness, remember we had that.

[Luke Burbank]

Call years ago from, like, a dairy farmer in Maryland?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I do. And we got him on the show, right? Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And it was so interesting. Like, I, we, you know, I think we used to have a segment, like, I forget, was it called literally what are you doing here?

[Andrew Walsh]

What are you doing here is what it was called.

[Luke Burbank]

It was just like, what do you do while you listen to the show? And I really love the idea of that listener being out on the rain listening to tbtl. That's, like, so cool. And I love that we have a variety, you know, of different kinds of jobs that people do. You know, that actually is very kind of encouraging to me, and it's nice to hear. So thanks for the call. Call us back.

[Andrew Walsh]

Absolutely. And I can also sort of just picture, you know, people. It's a trope of people, like, yelling back at their podcasts and like, that meme that was going around years and years ago. That said, the most I ever feel like a ghost is when I'm yelling at the people on the podcast I'm listening to. And so I can just imagine this is feeling like potentially like literally listening to us, his. His buds who, you know, he listens to to sort of be a little bit of maybe a relief from the heavier news of the day and just being, like, just totally slandered by me. And just be like what am I doing out here?

[Luke Burbank]

Totally misdescribing his livelihood.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. It is his life. So anyway, truly thank you for that voicemail.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Appreciate you. All right. All right. You've got an appointment with either a $150 event or a $150,000 event. I'm eagerly looking forward tomorrow to hearing how this all goes and I'm crossing my fingers.

[Andrew Walsh]

I will let you know. Let's just hope that there's going to be some rotoing and some rooting but not tree rooting. That's what we need to avoid.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what we're hoping for. All right, thanks for listening everybody. That is going to do it for today's show but we will be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for you. So please join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Wednesday. Take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall and good luck to all.

[Andrew Walsh]

Power out.