Episode 56 · Saturday, 8 November 2008

100 Billion Dollars!

A scripted transition begins in Washington as hyperinflation hits the trillion-dollar mark and the Federal Reserve fights to keep its trillion-dollar loan secrets private.

By The No Agenda Show | 1h 39m listen | 37 chapters
100 Billion Dollars! cover
The No Agenda Show · No. 56

About this episode

Barack Obama held his first press conference as President-elect this week, appearing at a podium labeled with the unofficial Office of the President-elect designation. The event, heavily managed by David Axelrod, saw the incoming administration bypass outlets like Fox News and the Washington Times in favor of a pre-selected list of reporters. While the media focuses on the future White House dog, the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff signals a return to established power structures involving Fannie Mae and the Israeli military.

Economic instability deepens as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issues a 100 billion dollar note, serving as a hyperinflationary warning to the West. In the United States, Bloomberg News filed a Freedom of Information Act request against the Federal Reserve to reveal details on $1.5 trillion in secret loans, but the request was denied on the grounds that the Fed is a private organization. Simultaneously, the credit card bond market collapsed on Friday, threatening consumer liquidity while retailers like Costco slash prices on Panasonic plasma televisions to move inventory in a cooling economy.

Technical oddities and social friction round out the week as the hosts debate the proper European versus American way to hold a fork. Personal frustrations boil over regarding teenage irresponsibility and the stress of commuting through London's Waterloo Station. Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak also examine the rise of the iPhone Ocarina app and the technical challenges of the first Google Android phone, the T-Mobile G1.


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CHAPTER 01 / 37 Discussion

Obama Presidential Transition and Election Trivia

Barack Obama held his first press conference as President-elect, which appeared highly scripted and controlled by campaign advisor David Axelrod. In local election news, a candidate named Bacon defeated a candidate named Fries in Denver's State Senate District 14. The transition process is underway with a focus on the highly managed public image of the new administration.

barack obama· david axelrod· state senate· denver· election results

00:01 Two times in one week, we can't go on meeting each other like this. Coming to you from the eastern side of the nation formerly known as Gitmo Nation, now Obama Nation, in the United Kingdom, I'm Adam Curry. And in Northern Silicon Valley, I'm John C. Dvorak. John, how you doing? Good. Two times in a week, man. This is amazing. Yeah, we could probably do a daily. You mentioned that before. I was just thinking about that before the show. I'm thinking if we just had a phone bridge set up or just something. I mean, the whole problem is just where we are at any given moment. But we should certainly be able to do something once a day. Yeah, we should. So it looks like the election sits State Senate. There's a fact, by the way, State Senate, District 14 out of Denver. Okay, I have not been following this election.

00:50 Yeah, the candidate Bacon beat Fries. Yes, I saw the picture. That was very funny. Bacon beats Fries. Oh man, doesn't get any nuttier than that. Actually, it does actually. I called you yesterday, man, and I said, did you, actually I called you while it was taking place. I wanted to watch it with you. The first press conference by our president-elect. Yeah, I got to see some excerpts from it. It's hard to believe it was a press conference. No, it wasn't. It was a scripted Hootenanny. And did you see Axelrod leaning against the wall the whole time? Axelrod being his campaign... I missed that part. Yeah. He's there... I'm sorry. Go ahead.

CHAPTER 02 / 37 Discussion

Media Access and Scripted Presidential Press Conferences

Barack Obama utilized detailed notes and a pre-selected list of reporters during his first post-election press conference, notably bypassing outlets like Fox News and the Washington Times. Critics argue the media is providing a "honeymoon" period by failing to challenge the scripted nature of the event. The session concluded with a lengthy discussion regarding the future White House dog, which some viewed as a trivialization of the office.

barack obama· white house press corps· fox news· washington times· media bias

01:35 He's there to, you know, he'll be the sergeant at arms and punish anyone who disobeys. Exactly! It was like Obama had, you know, the guy is so good at reading off of his notes. He just glances down and he's real, real comfortable with doing it and I've paid a lot of attention to it. And so he did the whole thing yesterday, I think pretty much just from his notes, no teleprompt, I didn't see anything. But even when it came to the questions, you know, he was kind of like, you know, like the presidents like to do, uh, yeah, go ahead, Helen. Uh, yeah, uh, Troy, you can say something now. But every single time, and I paid specific attention to it, he was looking down his paper, and at one point he even said, uh, let me see who's next here. Uh, yeah, Bill, you're next. And, you know, didn't call on any heavyweights like the Washington Times or, um, didn't call on Fox News. That was pointed out, uh, I saw earlier today.

02:24 It was like scripted questions, scripted answers, and from time to time he would actually look down at his notes. Yeah, it seemed like he was looking down a lot to answer the questions, which I thought was peculiar. Of course, the media didn't call him on this. Look, if you can get away with it... Let's say I'm Axelrod and I said, look, why don't we just script the whole thing? Just only call the people we want and see what happens. I mean, you can assume that if George Bush pulled a stunt like this, the media would be all over it. Oh, they're crazy. They'd be yelling. They'd be so angry. Yeah, but no, these guys are all in bed with him. What was pretty funny is that he spent the most time answering the question about the White House dog. Yeah, you might as well trivialize the whole thing.

CHAPTER 03 / 37 Discussion

Office of the President-Elect Branding and Imagery

Barack Obama introduced a podium sign labeled "Office of the President-elect," a designation that does not officially exist in the U.S. government structure. This move is characterized as a sophisticated branding exercise to project presidential authority before the inauguration. The imagery has appeared prominently on the front pages of international publications like the Financial Times.

barack obama· office of the president-elect· branding· presidential seal· financial times

03:11 So I'm listening to one of the right-wing talk shows and this guy Breitbart who was doing this show for somebody and who's got his website and he got he was proud of the fact that he and I just thought was hilarious he got the domain name I think it's Barack Obama and Barack Obama I like that. Because you know he's always going uh, you know he's saying uh all the time so it's now Obama. I do that a lot too. That's a funny guy name but you don't have the name uh Curry. Uh Adam Curry. Uh Adam Curry. From the, what I loved about, and I'm looking at the Financial Times Weekend Edition, I haven't read it yet but I'm just looking at the front page, the home page as we call it. Um there we go. Uh Barack Obama.

04:03 And there's a picture of Barack Obama at this press conference yesterday. And I love the sign, the office of the president-elect. That's just too funny. Yeah, I know. It's just wild. There's no real office, is there? No, of course not. Known as the office of the president-elect? That's humorous. A little presidential seal. Oh man. What a show. What an amazing show. And have you seen these people who are in this transition team? Did you see these people? Yeah, they're all a bunch of, you know, old style hard politicos. Hell yeah! I thought this was supposed to be some new change. And Rom, what's his name, Emanuel, this guy, this guy, he's... The guy looks mean. You know, he reminds me of Eyal, only evil. He does have an evil look. Yeah, he's a total evil look. And I believe that in

CHAPTER 04 / 37 Discussion

Rahm Emanuel Appointment and Treasury Secretary Speculation

Rahm Emanuel was selected as White House Chief of Staff, drawing attention to his past service in the Israeli forces and his board seat at Fannie Mae during previous financial scandals. Speculation regarding the Secretary of the Treasury focuses on established figures from the Federal Reserve and former CEOs of Goldman Sachs. These appointments suggest a continuation of existing political and financial power structures rather than radical change.

rahm emanuel· fannie mae· goldman sachs· federal reserve· treasury secretary

05:01 In an Israeli newspaper they were saying, oh this is great, you know, we got our guy in the White House. Because he's Orthodox, I believe. And he fought in the Israeli forces. Or I don't know if he fought, he served. He quit his job actually at one point. And he was also, interestingly enough, on the board of directors of, I'm going to say Fannie Mae in 2000 when there was three years of humongous scandal about losing trillions of dollars, losing track of trillions of dollars. This guy's been around for a while. This is no change. Yeah, it's a change back to back to good times. Yeah, this guy, they call him Rombo.

05:47 Yeah, and he's gonna run things. Oh yeah, because isn't it... Because this is very Nixonian, this group he's bringing in. It's almost like he might as well be a Republican and he might as well be Richard Nixon with these guys. And look at all the... because this is what we were talking about on Wednesday. Look at all the names that are popping up. Who's going to be Secretary of the Treasury? And they've got guys who have all been, you know, nothing new. It's all former Federal Reserve guys, Fed New York, former Treasury Secretary. They're even talking about the governor of New Jersey who worked as CEO at, guess what, Goldman Sachs. This is nuts. And this is, here's my

CHAPTER 05 / 37 Discussion

Change.gov Website and Political Amateurism

The Obama transition team launched Change.gov as a digital branding extension to solicit public feedback, though its effectiveness as a true transparency tool is questioned. Historical comparisons are drawn to the Carter and Clinton administrations, noting that bringing in political outsiders often leads to failure in Washington. The current strategy appears to favor experienced "hard politicos" to navigate the legislative landscape.

change.gov· jimmy carter· bill clinton· transparency· feedback mechanism

06:28 Here's my takeaway, this is the big cover-up moment. While everyone's living in euphoria and we're taking our eye off the ball temporarily, all this shit is taking place, all kinds of stuff happening right now. Well, now in Obama's defense, if you remember when Carter was elected, well, you probably don't because you were 10. But when Carter was elected, He probably did, and I think maybe Clinton when he first started, he did one of these, you know, let's bring in some outsiders and let's see what we can shake up Washington kind of thing. And they just failed miserably because they don't know the ropes. So at least Obama's not making the mistake of bringing in a bunch of amateurs that can be pushed around. Let's face it with this Rahm Emanuel, he's not going to get pushed around.

07:19 Except by the people who... The problem of course is that they just go off the deep end with intimidating people and pushing their way around. But you know, they may need that against Nancy Pelosi, so I don't know. Yeah, I'm just a little concerned about what I'm reading and what I'm hearing and what the ideas are. Yeah, well the ideas are probably not going to work out. So what? Thank you. I guess that's what I'm saying. Yeah, the ideas, they're not going to work out. Not going to be too good. But a lot of this crap like the office of the president-elect and all this other imagery is really getting on my nerves. I did appreciate the change.gov website. The idea, of course, is really, really good. It's a fantastic branding exercise. Extension of the brand beyond belief. Right. Really, really smart.

08:12 Yeah, as if anyone's going to pay any attention to the probably, you know, 100 million suggestions they're going to get from every dingbat in the country. Oh, it's going to be a very sorry excuse for a feedback mechanism, but, you know, in the guise of being transparent, it's a good move. I'm actually waiting for a hope.gov. When's that website coming online? I hope they read my message. When's that message coming online? That'd be a cool site. Hope.gov. So I'm watching Bill Maher, who has turned back into his, you know, his pre-911, you know, hateful self. It's amazing. He did the... I mean, like when he got fired from ABC for going on about calling the Americans cowards and the 9-11... Well, actually, he said something different at the time, which I thought it was so spot on. He said,

CHAPTER 06 / 37 Discussion

Bill Maher and Military Intervention in Afghanistan

Bill Maher's recent commentary sparked a debate regarding the ethics of U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan. Arguments surfaced concerning whether the Taliban's domestic human rights abuses, such as the destruction of Buddhist icons and the execution of women, justified pre-9/11 cruise missile strikes. Disagreement persists over whether the Taliban was truly complicit in Al-Qaeda's operations or if the U.S. should have remained isolationist.

bill maher· taliban· al-qaeda· afghanistan· cruise missiles

09:09 the terrorists were actually very, very brave to fly, you know, to believe so much. I know what he said. But I just want to tell people because it's good to remind them, John. Give me a second. Yeah, but it was at the moment. It wasn't a matter of what his wording was, it was his intent. Wow. I mean, because I saw him do it. I watched that show. I watched it too. I saw it too. He was extremely mean-spirited about the whole thing. He was angry. And he was angry at the United States for sending cruise missiles into Afghanistan or wherever. And he's right! I think that's what we should be doing. Wait a minute. You think we should be sending cruise missiles into Afghanistan? At the time, yeah, absolutely. Trying to blow up Bin Laden. You're kidding me!

10:00 No, I'm not kidding you. What do you think we're supposed to do, walk over there? Well, what are we doing over there? They haven't done anything over here. We've been through all their countries a million times. No wonder they're pissed off, if they actually did it. No, I don't think they did it, but the Taliban was the guys that were essentially keeping the Al-Qaeda folks in business. John, I just don't buy it. I don't buy it at all. I've read a lot about the Taliban. I don't buy what you're saying right now. They're keeping Al-Qaeda in business. I have no problem taking that side on this argument. We should have that argument. I remember when the Taliban, before 9-11, we had a story at ZDTV or TechTV or whatever it was at the time. Yeah, that's where I turn for all my worldly news is TechTV.

10:48 No, they were doing a story, because they did have a newscast, and they were talking about, this is just after the Taliban blew up all those Buddhist icons that were carved into the mountains. Oh, and you were so offended, it's like, let's go bomb those people because they blew up Buddhist icons? No, no, I wasn't offended. You wanted me to finish. So, and then they had banned, you know, meanwhile Omar had banned dancing, he had banned kite flying, they were executing women in the soccer stadium, and most of this stuff was pretty well documented. So this they were gonna run this story that was kind of complimentary Toward the Taliban and I talked what to the news director I says you can't do this and I read him to kind of you know There's this laundry list of shit that these guys were doing and you know, they can they I'm thinking nobody's paying any attention to this stuff These guys are a terrible People generally speaking and I had absolutely no I wasn't concerned at all when they when they threw a few cruise missiles at him pre 9-11

11:53 That was pre 9-11, yeah. When 9-11 came up, none of it surprised me. And, okay, well then you're just a nasty American bastard. Well, I... That's horrible. I totally disagree with it. What is it? It's not our business to be... Okay, so they're fucked up. That's their problem. Let them deal with it. They had bin Laden. We wanted him. We did not know about bin Laden pre 9-11. They did too. Oh, John, if they really did, then 9-11 wouldn't have taken place. Or the whole thing is bullshit, ergo your argument is bullshit about them having 9-11. Having Bin Laden. Yeah. I'm not buying your, you know, your kind of, as it skews off the road, you know, as you go into the ditch with your notion that there's some sort of deeper conspiracy. It doesn't go off the road at all. We're not talking about that. I'm saying

CHAPTER 07 / 37 Discussion

CIA Capabilities and the Afghan Poppy Trade

The failure to capture Osama bin Laden is attributed by some to the gutting of the CIA during the 1990s, while others suggest the war in Afghanistan was a ruse to secure the global heroin supply. Under the Taliban, poppy production had been significantly reduced, but it surged back to full capacity following the U.S. invasion. This theory posits that drug money is a critical, hidden component of the global financial economy and Wall Street.

cia· bin laden· poppy fields· heroin· drug trade

12:52 that... Do you think we should have done nothing in Afghanistan? If the Taliban is causing a problem in their own country, in their own region, what benefit does it give us to go over there and start to kick people around and set them straight? What benefit? So you think we should have gone into Afghanistan? No. To try to get Bin Laden and straighten those guys out. Trying to get Bin Laden is different than lobbing a few cruise missiles over, okay? That's different. If you want to go get Bin Laden, then you get your Delta forces or whatever and go find him. I mean, it's not impossible.

13:33 We have the largest military and secret military operation in the world and we can't find one guy? Come on! Didn't you read the Atlantic, the monthly material on the fact that the CIA and all that type of operation was gutted largely during the Clinton administration and Bush hasn't, you know, they were just, Bush couldn't reestablish that stuff because, you know, he just got there. I don't think the CIA or I don't think any of these people have the ability to do what you described at that point. Well, okay, then we don't do it. End of story. I'm sorry. Hey, you know, there's trade sanctions you can invoke. You can, uh, the president come out and can condemn you. So you're basically a justice not vengeance guy. No, no, no. What's the vengeance? If you say, first you say the Taliban was bad and I say, oh, what's we have to throw cruise missiles over? Well, they were hiding Bin Laden.

14:24 Same thing, we gotta throw cruise missiles over? Well, we didn't have a, the CIA had been gutted. So we gotta throw cruise missiles over? Bullshit. Well then what would you, what should we have done? Nothing. Nothing. Is what you're saying. No, nothing. I'd have done absolutely nothing. Yeah. There was a really interesting article written in the London Times by one of the professors, I think it's one of the... I'm sorry, if I was actually president, I would have had to do something because, hey, they were, of course, and this is why it actually took place, our drug supply is over there, which the government is importing into the United States and Western Europe. So, of course, that's why we threw in some cruise missiles to go kick their ass and say, hey, we're taking over the drug trade, we're the new big boss in town. At that point, when we went into Afghanistan in 2003 or 4, whatever it is,

15:10 Because the Taliban had actually reduced the poppy fields down to almost zero, now they're back up to full capacity plus. That's what that's for. Not to go find Bin Laden. So you think the whole thing was just a ruse to get our supply of heroin back up to snuff? And indirectly to maintain the support of our economy, yes, absolutely. The drug trade is... the drug money is a big part of our economy, which is Wall Street, which is where it all goes. Yes. So, what else is going on? I'm in a bad mood. You think? This is what pisses me off. So, Patricia's doing her show. She's doing a double shot. She did Friday night, last night, once again, number one in the time slot, even larger audience than last week. And to milk it,

CHAPTER 08 / 37 Discussion

Domestic Frustrations and Parenting Anecdotes

A personal anecdote describes the frustrations of a father dealing with an 18-year-old daughter who treats the home like a hotel. The narrative details a morning where the daughter prepared an elaborate breakfast for her boyfriend while neglecting basic household chores and leaving the kitchen in disarray. The tension highlights the common struggle of parents whose adult children remain at home without contributing to the household.

parenting· household chores· breakfast in bed· family dynamics· domestic life

16:09 to suck the teat and to bash the competition. They're now doing a second show on Saturday night, which puts her out for a couple days. So I'm home with a teenager, my 18-year-old daughter, who, let's face it, I'm on the road a lot, I don't see all the time. We had a nice meal the other night, we went out to dinner, but I don't mind her boyfriend staying over, which she didn't ask, they came in and he's staying over. But then in the morning, when she has to get up to go to work, And I've been working until 2am doing video shit, and she knows it. And her boyfriend has stayed over. And the smoke alarm goes off at 8 o'clock because she's cooking up a whole breakfast in bed for this guy. I like the guy, Dexter. She's cooking up a whole breakfast in bed, which she's never done for me once in 18 years. Never ever!

17:03 And then I go downstairs, the whole kitchen's a mess. She couldn't even have the courtesy to clean out the dishwasher and put the dirty shit she just created for her boyfriend back in. And I drank all the orange juice, which was a brand new bottle of orange juice. Didn't leave me one drop. I'm so sick and tired of it. So because of this, you're now on the side of the Taliban? I'm not... Would you wash your mouth out with soap, John C. Dvorak? Don't say those things. Of course I'm not on the side of the Taliban. I'm against all evil. Which includes throwing bombs at people. It's just dumb. Unless they throw a bomb at you first. And then we go kick their ass. That's different. So, what did you tell her?

17:53 Did you get mad or did you just sulk? I, no, I got mad and uh, and I actually my voice started to crack. That's how mad I was. Wow. Well because she gives me this attitude. I'll do it when I come home from work. I said you have time to sit on Facebook, bake your boyfriend breakfast in bed and you don't have time to do the dishwasher. Ah, she treats the place like a hotel. Now I know why Patricia's complaining all the time. So now I have to deal with it, that's the whole point. And I'm like running around, I'm like running a bed and breakfast. So Patricia's out of there, it's like, gotta go, boom, gotta go. Patricia, gotta go.

CHAPTER 09 / 37 Discussion

Teenage Irresponsibility and the Waterloo Station Commute

A stressful commute through London's Waterloo Station was exacerbated by a daughter locking herself out of the house and failing to perform simple tasks like feeding the family pets. Despite the father's efforts to rush home, the daughter remained preoccupied with social activities and costume party preparations. This segment explores the perceived lack of consideration and "muscle memory" for responsibility in the younger generation.

waterloo station· london· parenting· responsibility· household management

18:33 Oh man, it's like I'm running a fucking bed and breakfast here. And I'm cleaning up crap. No, actually, here's where it all started. I'm really mad. So, I'm working for like 14 hours in the city. It's almost a two-hour commute to come back these days. You know, taxi, train, taxi. You take a car, you take the tube. Doesn't matter, it's all the same. It's always two hours. So I'm in the cab at 6 o'clock and I'd asked her one thing, one thing, when you come home from school, please feed the animals, let them out. That's all, one thing. And she was home at 4. And she was going to go out to a party with her boyfriend at 8. So all this time. So she calls me and says, oh daddy I locked myself out because I was going to go get something at Dexter's and my keys are inside and how do I get in? I said, well how do you get in? You wait until I'm home. So I'm running. I'm running through Waterloo station. I'm out of breath to catch a train that goes 20 minutes earlier. I'm riding home. I'm texting her. I'll be there in 30 minutes. I'm at the station. I'm around the corner. And she's not texting me back.

19:32 You know, so I'm running and I come in, all her shit's on the floor, the minute I walk in the door I'm literally falling over it. She hasn't fed the dog, she was there for hours. Hadn't fed the dog, didn't let him out, I know the key was still out of the door. I mean, all of this, I'm just getting so angry. And then she doesn't... And I text her and she's not calling me back, she's not texting me back, because turns out she was busy doing her boyfriend's makeup for the costume party. Does any of this, you as a mature father with children of multiple, multiple whatever, you got like 29 kids from three wives, does this sound familiar to you? Sounds par for the course. What am I doing wrong? Nothing. No, no, no, that's not, not, hello, sorry, what am I doing, hello, is this on? I want to make sure you can hear me. So that's it, huh?

20:29 Yeah, then they move out and you know. Then you miss them and shit? Then they come in and after they move out they start visiting just to take stuff. What happened to the such and such? Oh yeah, he took it. That's already happening. She takes stuff and then she leaves it somewhere and forgets where she left it. No, they take stuff to their house. Oh, that's even worse. Well, the minute she has a house, I'm coming over there, I'm stomping chips into the... potato chips into the carpet, I'm leaving my shit around, I'm leaving doors open, lights on. The lights on the whole place is lit up like a Roman candle. You know what I'm saying? You know, does that sound familiar? Yes, because no kid thinks to turn the lights off. Taking showers? It's a muscle exercise, and they don't have it. It's not in their body. This is insanity. This has got to stop. I don't know how to do it. Oh, by the way, I got something here, John, you're going to be very jealous of.

CHAPTER 10 / 37 Discussion

Zimbabwe Hyperinflation and the 100 Billion Dollar Note

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued a 100 billion dollar note, a stark symbol of the country's extreme hyperinflation. The note, which features security watermarks and a December 31, 2008 expiration date, serves as a warning about the consequences of government-controlled printing presses. There is speculation that the U.S. dollar could eventually face similar devaluation issues.

zimbabwe· hyperinflation· reserve bank of zimbabwe· currency· 100 billion dollar note

21:31 In my hand, from my wonderful friend Paul Parkinson, he sent this to my house, it arrived today, and he sent a couple of books as well, which I really... that's like, what a gift of love to give someone books, because it says so much about what they think about you, as the recipient. I hold in my hand a 10 billion... no, I'm sorry, 100 billion dollar note from Zimbabwe. Oh! Because you only had a 10 billion, right? No, I only have a... What I have is a 10 million. I don't have a 10 billion. No, 100 billion dollars expires on December 31st, 2008.

22:13 Also, it's still good for it's still good. There's no good hundred billion dollars. Well. I'm gonna sit and it's a perfect note by the way It has not yet mine. It's perfect these things don't get worn out get make a scan of it and send it to me So I can't blog it yeah. Yeah, no it is beautiful. No no no no no I'm like you I'm gonna blog it and then you can put a link to me Hmm you crazy. I'm gonna get some link love and what's your serial number on that thing it the lower right hand corner should have some no yeah 02022900. Oh no, that's the one at the bottom underneath the bearer check. There should be a stamped black number over on the right down at the bottom. Oh, at the top. It's a... mmm... AA5827653? Yeah, DA something. I have AA.

23:03 So I have the rare AA series, John. Yeah, well of the hundred billion notes, yes. Does it actually say one hundred billion dollars? Yeah, and it has all the zeros on it too. It's really cool. And it says here, just like our money, pay to the bearer on demand one hundred billion dollars on or before 31st December 2008 for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Issued 8th 1st of July 2008. Yeah, that's a bit. Do you know if you hold up to the light you should see two watermarks? And also a security band down the middle. Yeah one. Hey looks like a dildo. That's what I thought when I saw it. Or like a like a bong almost. It's weird yeah, and then there should be RBZ on there and then there should also be that black line down the middle. Yeah I got the black security line. You got the real deal. That's a real hundred billion dollars. Congratulations you win 100

24:01 dollars and I'm gonna blog this and and you know what I'm gonna put it in a permanent spot on the home page so every day I can be reminded of what our money will look like what the dollar will look like this is it this that's what it is this is this is what happens when you give your government a printing press this is what you get this is what you get my understanding is they're gonna change the name to the from the dollar to the peso Yeah, maybe. It doesn't matter. Who knows? Because actually the Amaro is still in play. Yeah, this has been going on for a long time. But it doesn't really matter what you call it. If it's based on nothing, then it's not worth anything. Right? Well, then send me your money if it's not worth anything. No, it's worth something now. Well, that's just what I said. That's all that counts is now.

CHAPTER 11 / 37 Discussion

Obama Cult of Personality and Media Control

Media commentators, including those on Charlie Rose, have begun using the term "cult of personality" to describe the public's fervor for Barack Obama. The staged nature of his acceptance speech and the heavy-handed "spin" managed by advisors like David Axelrod are cited as evidence of a highly manufactured image. Comparisons are made to the 1988 Living Color song "Cult of Personality," which explores the dangers of charismatic leadership.

barack obama· charlie rose· cult of personality· living color· david axelrod

25:00 Exactly. So right now I'm happy. Oh, I got sad again because I thought of two minutes from now. It's Obama is totally being seen as the president of the world. Yeah, that's interesting. Somebody was commenting on the fact that they've never seen an acceptance speech before where there wasn't, normally the acceptance speech, the guy's up there with his family and they're in a kind of a cozy room and they're accepting it to their... To their local... Their local hangout, yeah. And so he's doing it in front of a big audience with nobody around and it's the same lighting, it's another staged event.

25:40 They thought that was peculiar and then so apparently on Charlie Rose, now the media is starting to think of, they're actually using the term cult of personality. Oh, I played that song the other day on Daily Source Code. Living Color, remember that? Remember Living Color? Yeah. Not the TV show, John. The band. Yeah, the song. You remember the song? No, I don't. Then why are you saying yes if you don't remember the song? I remember the group. Okay, what did the lead singer look like? Because you're lying, you're full of shit. I don't remember. You would remember. If you remembered this group, you would remember. Do you look like one of these, you know, like... I can't remember these names. This goes back too far. Even I remember this. Well, yeah, because you were in the business to remember this. This was 19, I'm going to say, 90. You remember him because it was one of the first really hard-rocking groups that had a black guy fronting it, Corey Glover.

26:43 See, you don't remember. You don't remember. Hey, just listen to this. Giving education. Okay, remember the song? No. Okay. Play it. No, I'm not gonna play the whole thing. Well, play part of it. I just played part of it. Listen to the lyrics. Didn't you just hear it? I just it was like in the background. I could barely hear it. Oh wait a minute. That's not right You're supposed to it's supposed to be really loud. How come oh, I see here we go You know I'm saying

27:51 Oh, you know, now I vaguely remember that, yeah. You probably have the CD right next to your New Kids on the Block CD. Uh, yeah, yeah, right. I vaguely remember that song. It was a massive hit. They had one other song and that was it. I actually wonder where the guy is. He's gone. So anyway, yeah, cult of personality. Completely. Because that's what we're looking at. 100%. Yeah. I think we knew that from the get-go. Yeah, but it's so dangerous. Yeah, it tends to be. But you know, it usually becomes a big disappointment. The problem with cult of personality is that when you have... when your fans turn on you, it's pretty ugly.

28:39 Yes, it can get very ugly. But the really good ones... Look, if you've got the... All you really need is the media. You need the media in your pocket as much as possible. That's going to be interesting to see if the Obama administration can control the spin. Well, you know, they got some good people there. Axelrod and those characters. are pretty pretty uh and that yeah they're pretty nasty well if they're all in control of the spit it's all it's apparent already that one day the cult personality again that's got that big long hair he's a long-haired black man what wasn't that guy the singer on that oh yeah you finally googled him and now you're looking at a picture it took you a long time i can't google with this because we lose our connection you're googling

CHAPTER 12 / 37 Discussion

EU Green Economy and Federal Reserve Transparency

The European Union released a communication on "greening" the economy, mirroring the environmental rhetoric of the Obama-Biden platform. Simultaneously, Bloomberg News filed a Freedom of Information Act request against the Federal Reserve to uncover details regarding $1.5 trillion in loans made to financial institutions prior to the official bailout. The Federal Reserve denied the request, asserting its status as a private organization.

european union· federal reserve· bloomberg· bailout· transparency

29:29 I'm googling. I like that. You're so busted. I saw the European Union put out their October 29th communication and greenhouse has now become a verb. To greenhouse? No, to green the economy. Oh, to green the economy. Yeah. Oh, that's terrible. Yeah. In fact, if you look at their communication, it's pretty much you could put Obama Biden on it and you say, all right, it's the same thing. And more money going to the banks. Bloomberg, this was a fantasy, I'll find this link, Bloomberg I read today, they put a freedom of information request for all the money the Federal Reserve had lent to the financial industry prior to the bailout. So outside of the 700 billion.

30:20 And it turns out they have lent, in addition to the 700 billion, 1.5 trillion dollars to financial institutions. Bloomberg said, hey, we'd like to know what kind of securities have you received against that? Because that's the deal, they lend you the money and then these banks were already apparently before the bailout were handing over their worthless paper to the government as collateral or as purchase, I'm not quite sure which. And that's the whole point. And so Bloomberg said, hey, can we take a look at that because we'd like to know what all of our money is being securitized against. And the Federal Reserve said no.

CHAPTER 13 / 37 Discussion

Mayor Bloomberg and New York City Fiscal Crisis

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is criticized for seeking a term-limit extension while simultaneously proposing significant income tax hikes to address the city's bankruptcy. The city's financial distress is attributed to mismanagement of pension plans and overspending during Bloomberg's previous two terms. New York remains one of the few U.S. cities with a high local income tax.

michael bloomberg· new york city· income tax· term limits· pension plans

30:57 That's none of your business. None of your business. And by the way, we're a private organization. And by the way, we're a Jew. And your mama stinks. Na na na na na. That's outrageous, John. Well, what's outrageous is Bloomberg. First this guy talks him into letting him go for his... Well, I'm talking about Bloomberg, not Bloomberg the mayor. I'm talking about Bloomberg the news organization. Well, owned by Bloomberg, the mayor. I just want to make sure you knew that that's what I was saying. No, I thought you were talking about Bloomberg, the mayor. Okay, well tell us about Bloomberg, the mayor, the guy who wants to extend his term. He's like Bill O'Sconey in New York. Exactly. So first they extend, he talks everybody into this and so he goes and he gets his reelection. Then he says, okay, we're going to up the income tax percent for all you New Yorkers and we're going to do this, we're going to do that, and he just like slams it to them.

31:55 So did he... New York is one of the few cities in the United States where you have to pay an income tax to live there. Yeah. And the city wants to jerk it up to 15%? Or 10 at least. Well, he has to. He has to. Yeah, I know, the city's broke. It's completely broke. And now they're using the pension plan. Well, he's been in there as long as he has. How did he get broke? Whose fault is that? Well... I mean, who's been there for two terms? Yeah. They can't pay. Yeah. And so it goes.

CHAPTER 14 / 37 Discussion

Proposition 8 and Political Gloating

The passage of Proposition 8 in California, which re-banned gay marriage, has led to political recriminations against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for his perceived role in galvanizing the opposition. Media figures like Bill Maher are accused of "gloating" over the election results while continuing to attack Sarah Palin and John McCain. A critique of Maher's show highlights the potential for audio manipulation to make Republican audiences appear more hostile than they were.

proposition 8· gavin newsom· bill maher· gay marriage· california

32:33 So then we have our, you know, the crazy mayor we've got is Gavin Newsom. Newsom in San Francisco, yeah. That guy. He obviously wants to be president. Yeah, so what did he do this time? Oh, I mean, he's just essentially whining about the fact that Proposition 8 was passed. Even though it's largely his fault. Right, so we talked about this previously, I believe it was a week ago, Proposition 8 was to ban gay marriage in the state of California, correct? It was to re-ban gay marriage. It had been banned once before. But it wasn't unbanned? It was unbanned by the courts. And then the

33:24 Guys like Newsom are gloating about it, which is by the way what I'm seeing a lot of on the NRA Obama hell yeah a lot of that I mean this is what the Bill Maher thing I brought up even though it set you off into a offbeat direction that won't help your reputation much, but the They're gloating. They're just gloating about whoa you know and there's you know they're just then they're still pounding on Sarah Palin and McCain as though they Did like we're gonna have another election You know, let's just pile on. And the one thing that was interesting to me was the insincerity of it all. For example, on Mar's show, he showed the John McCain speech where he conceded. And there's some people in the audience booing.

34:11 you know, when he mentioned Obama. And so McCain told him to shut up and they did. And so Maher shows this, showing that the Republicans are a bunch of a-holes for booing Obama. And then he says, look what Kerry did. And then he shows Kerry giving his concession speech, you know, and he just shows who knows what part of it. And nobody says anything. In fact, the room is deadly silent. And I'm thinking, What a bunch of bull. This guy's like, he's been in broadcasting long enough to know that if you don't mic the audience, people could be booing and who's gonna know? Yeah. And it seemed to me that the Cary group wasn't, my audience wasn't mic'd. I did a thing once in Las Vegas where we had this huge audience.

CHAPTER 15 / 37 Discussion

Television Production Techniques and Audience Miking

A discussion on the technical aspects of television production reveals how audio engineers often close audience microphones during musical performances to ensure a clean "record" sound, even if it makes the crowd appear silent. Anecdotes from live shows in the Netherlands and Las Vegas illustrate the frustration of performers when their jokes or the audience's reactions are lost due to poor miking. Bill Maher is criticized for using these production realities to misrepresent political events.

television production· lip-syncing· duran duran· audio engineering· las vegas

34:49 I couldn't believe it. We had this huge audience and we were doing a live presentation and they didn't mic the audience. So I had some hilarious material and the audience was going crazy. It was really funny. And they would laugh and you'd have to pause for the laughter. When I was doing TV back in the early 80s in the Netherlands, we did a whole season live. And so you get in a whole different crew and it's intense to do a music show live. You've got acts and the acts, they all would lip-sync to their own track. uh... but what the sound technician did of course i didn't know this at the time until i watch the tape of the show and when i freaked out so we had a we had a studio audience you know i got a hundred and fifty kids and they'd stand in front of the stage in the speakers were booming and you know whoever whatever megastar would be up there it was like duran duran i think even at the time who wouldn't be able to sing live even if we ask them to on a tv show at least not

35:48 you'd never have the combination of sound technicians and talent to make that work. So they lip-synced. And it was a lot easier, just less gear, less cost done. It's still a pretty picture. And the audio engineer, the minute the band started, he closed the audience mics. So you're basically hearing the record, watching like a video clip, and you see all these kids going nuts in front of the stage and you didn't hear them at all. No room sound, no nothing. Completely idiotic. Oh, it is infuriating. Well, here's what happened in my situation. So we'd have, you say something funny, you'd wait for the audience to stop laughing and then you'd go back. So but since the audience wasn't mic'd and when you saw the tape,

36:26 on the, what they broadcast, it was like a bunch of guys up there saying stuff and then you'd say something funny and then there'd be this long pause of silence as though nobody was laughing. They might as well put a cricket soundtrack in the background. And you'd look like a bunch of fools. And so I went back and talked to the sound guy about what was the deal with not micing, oh it was too much work. See what you're talking about is too much work, and so I told him I wouldn't do it I wouldn't even go on again unless they you know fix that and they did then what and then there's too much work consisted of taking a You know mic and aiming at the audience and turning it up turning it up. Yeah, oh, man

37:04 So anyway, so I thought Marr was completely, you know, just an insincere jerk about this whole thing. But he's just, you can just see, he's just like going back to his very mean, he's just getting a mean kind of a, I mean he's becoming the kind of the grouchy old man that wants the kids off the lawn. Well, it's, I'm not quite sure where he stands on most things. That's a little confusing to me and I'll add to that that I cannot watch it over here. There's just no way to obtain it. Unless I guess I crawl through the two books. I'll make you a disc of this show and you can watch it. The only reasonable person on the show was this black woman from NPR who was making the commentary that, look, you guys are like beaten up, a dead whore, I mean, you're making yourself look like idiots. You know, let's just get on, you know, and why be so negative about, you know, winning? Yeah. She was actually quite reasonable about it. She saw the problem, you know, that was going to create.

CHAPTER 16 / 37 Discussion

Credit Card Bond Market Collapse and Monopoly Banking

The credit card bond market reportedly collapsed on Friday, signaling a potential tightening of credit lines for consumers and small businesses. This shift toward a cashless society is reflected in the new "Monopoly Electronic Banking" edition, where players use Visa-branded debit cards and a digital reader instead of paper money. Critics argue this removes the tangible concept of value and prepares children for a future of total electronic surveillance.

credit cards· bond market· capital one· monopoly· visa

37:59 I'm tired of all of them. I can't watch any of that. I just can't watch anyone. It's all so superficial and so full of crap while real things are going on. The credit card bond markets collapsed Friday. Did you know? No, tell me. Yep. No one's buying the bonds, so that's it. Credit cards will be closed down and I presume that credit lines will be tightened. I'm not quite sure how that works. I guess the way their contracts are written, they can do pretty much anything they want. So credit cards are now the next shock wave that will be hitting? I don't think anybody is not expecting that. Andrew Horowitz has been harping on getting out of Capital One for almost a year. Well, I'm not giving this as financial advice to people who invest, John. I'm telling this to normal folks who just listen to our show and don't live in cycles and reputations. Well, credit cards are bad.

38:59 Yeah, but people have financed everything on credit cards. Entire movies, entire start-ups are financed on credit cards. Where will Silicon Valley go? We'll have no more credit cards. We'll have no more credit cards, no more stories. I remember when I started the company on credit cards. Well, you know, our family has gone all cash. Yeah, ditto. But I've been that way for a long time. But you're talking cash as in absolutely zero plastic at all? Yeah, like cash. We go to the bank, take cash, you know, and buy things with cash. And it makes a difference the way you see it. It changes your spending habits because when you're actually putting cash down on the table, you think twice about it as opposed to just throwing a card up there. It's funny, I was talking about that very topic on the Daily Source Code.

39:54 where you know credit cards and even some of the smart card debit cards that store money on the chip itself money listen to me that set a three bits differently on the chip You know, you can't just look at it and say, oh I have 150 left or I have 50 left or 20 left or whatever. There's no indicator, there's no readout. You have to stick it into a card reader and then type your pin code and all that crap to see how much money you have left. And now Monopoly, someone left me pictures of the new box, Monopoly brought to you by Visa. You actually pay for your houses, your hotels and everything with your Visa credit card in the game.

40:36 What? Yep, there's no more money. What? You didn't know this? They had a huge launch in New York on I think the Today Show. They had a huge monopoly, you know, like 10, you know, like a hundred times scale monopoly game. Yeah, I'll send it to you. Actually go to drop.io slash daily source code and you'll see here it is. There's two pictures. First one is monopoly electronic banking. uses cards not cash to store your millions. That one may be fake. The second one I don't think is fake though. But I remember the Monopoly guy with a hat on, you know, he was walking around the Today Show and he said, oh no, everything's on credit cards now in the game. I find this hard to believe. No, it's true. Come on, man. I can't spell, apparently I can't spell daily.

CHAPTER 17 / 37 Discussion

Transition to a Cashless Society and Federal IDs

The move away from physical currency toward electronic debit systems is viewed as a precursor to a government-controlled financial ID system. A theoretical "Federal Reserve Card" could serve as both a payment method and a mandatory form of identification, allowing the state to "delete" individuals who misbehave. This trend is contrasted with the cash-based business models often favored by Chinese immigrant communities.

cashless society· federal reserve· debit cards· surveillance· identification

41:34 I love that keyboard you have such a it sounds like you're still using your Wang keyboard actually daily d-a-i-l-y source source code that's it drop I get a login it says that the law again no drop dot IO slash yeah yeah source code you sure that it's not saying login or uh you sure the URL is right I have drop.io daily source code and it says log into this drop. That's bullshit. I sent you a screenshot and now it showed up. I swear to God, it just popped up now. Okay, alright, shit happens. Obama was not the first black president. Let's see, zero coffee shops. You can just go to monopoly.com and here it is, I see it, I see it. Yeah, it's the real picture. It's the real picture from monopoly.com. It's not a Photoshop. You see that?

42:38 Yeah, it's ridiculous. No man, this is a device that... Yeah, it's got a pin reader! Yeah, it's like an ATM machine in the box. Is this what you want your children to learn? How to use electronic... There's no concept of trading something, of something for value. It's sticking a plastic into another plastic thing. If anything, it should be labeled porn. Monopoly ditches cash, goes plastic according to Engadget. Oh, this is ridiculous. This just ruined the game. I wonder how this little reader, they got this little reader it comes with, I wonder if that's... That's the bank! That's the bank! Can you read other cards in that thing? All the cards, yeah. I mean maybe we have a gizmo here that we can use it for. Read other cards? You mean like your own debit card? Yeah. I find myself, I do have a debit card. Debit card is really integrated here in the UK. And it's literally, if it's not in the bank, on that account, then it doesn't work.

43:43 And I deliberately buy the weirdest shit at the weirdest places just to fuck them up. You know, I'll buy a candy bar. And then I'll get like $20 from an ATM in San Francisco just to mess with them. Yeah, well you're probably going to end up on some list and they're going to just have all kinds of weird fees. Well, we're going to have fees for everything. That's the problem with this plastic shit. Yeah, it's and and have you heard the meme yet paper to plastic? I'm hearing it you wait. Well, if this is what you say is true about the whole credit card You know bond deal falling apart now they can't yeah, but that's the that's the credit card part here So here you want a conspiracy theory? Here's one for you or a theory not even conspiracy So yeah the credit card part the credit part falls apart. But so why wouldn't

44:44 A bank, the bank, Federal Reserve, the Treasury for all I care, what difference does it make? Why would they set up a computer system and say, okay, now you can get the official guaranteed bank, US Federal Savings and Loan Bank, you'll get a debit card issued. Oh wait, stop. It would actually be a debit card. You don't even have to go that far. Just have it a Federal Reserve credit card. There's Federal Reserve on it just like a dollar bill would have across the top. Yeah, and it has a little signature there from the Secretary of the Treasury. Right. So it looks like a miniature dollar. Yeah, and you could have your face on it instead of the President. Yeah, exactly. That's right.

CHAPTER 18 / 37 Discussion

UK National ID Cards and Privacy Concerns

UK Home Secretary Jackie Smith is actively promoting the rollout of national ID cards, starting with airport workers. Despite public skepticism, the government claims there is high demand for the cards. Privacy advocates worry that these "prototype" databases will eventually lead to a mandatory national identification system for all citizens, a move that is being resisted by those who prefer the anonymity of cash.

jackie smith· national id card· united kingdom· homeland security· privacy

45:28 That's perfect. United States and stuff, that little eagle holding the arrows and shit. Actually, the way they do it, by law you'd have to have your face on it, it'd be a form of identification in fact. Oh, of course, without a doubt, because it's your ID and your payment in one, and if you misbehave, they can delete you. You're gone. Your card does no longer work. You are an invalid. You know, it's possible. That actually makes a lot of sense. So they would do that. Jackie Smith, who is the Home Secretary in the United Kingdom, not a very well liked woman, is now coming out in interviews saying, oh boy, there's so much... they're handing out ID cards now and they're going to start with workers airside at one of the large airports, not quite sure which one.

46:19 Which arguably for, of course, Homeland Security is an important thing to have, good identification. But this is the prototype and entered into the prototype database of the national ID card. So she's handing them out and she's coming out in the press now and saying, wow, the demand has been so big, people are calling my office saying, oh, we want one too, everyone wants an ID card, we can't make them fast enough. She's literally saying that in the press. Like someone's gonna call up, oh can I please have my ID card? It's so cool. I want it. Well, you know the Americans have their Federal Reserve Bank ID card and it is kind of cool-looking. Look, you can even have your own face on it, Tommy. Well, I don't know how they get how far they're gonna get with this plastic to paper idea because I mean there's, well especially here on the West Coast where we have so many Chinese that refuse to use anything but cash.

47:15 and they run all their businesses on a cash basis. And then you have places like Peter Luger there in New York, which is a big giant restaurant that's very famous and they only take cash. So I tell you anything about the Chinese, you think you might want to follow their strategy? You are actually. Yeah, I already am. I've always thought the Chinese had something on the ball with that idea. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe and, not Zimbabwe, Rwanda and the Congo have dropped off the news map. Oops, that's done. Yeah, yeah I know. It's kind of interesting. There's been a couple of mentions here and there but it's not news anymore. Do you ever hear, do you ever go to our drop on NOA Agenda? I'm looking, no actually, well yeah I do. Well, not as much.

CHAPTER 19 / 37 Discussion

Radio Etiquette and the Disgust of Eating on Air

A discussion on the social taboos of eating while broadcasting highlights the visceral reaction many listeners have to "mouth sounds." This expands into a broader critique of public eating habits, such as people who use their tongues excessively or scrape their teeth on spoons. The segment concludes with a humorous debate over the proper way to hold a fork, contrasting American and British styles.

radio broadcasting· etiquette· eating habits· social norms· hygiene

48:12 Did you hear the guy do do you eating on air? I somebody sent me a link to it. It was funny Hey, I only eat on air once in a while. I didn't even hear it doesn't bother me at all. I don't hear it People get so big I get like you're you're eating. He's not supposed to be eating. That's disgusting I don't want to you know apparently many people find it disgusting to listen to Somebody eating. You know, there used to be a radio personality that would be, I forgot who he was, but he was local. And he would, this whole show was him eating. He'd just be eating during the entire, he was a DJ. And he'd just be eating the whole show every day. Hey, it's Fat Sam with you everybody. Hello, on KLSA, here in the Bay. How you doing?

49:01 And would he play records? Would he play records or not? Yeah, yeah, and then he'd be drinking something. You could hear him sipping on a glass of something or other, you know, drinking his coffee. And the whole show was like that. And you just think, this guy's just chewing away. But he'd be talking while chewing. It wasn't like he would, you know, swallow then talk. He would be talking while he had something in his mouth chewing. Well, you're a reasonably pleasant eater to look at, I'll say. There are some people you just, you're like, God damn. Oh yeah, there's some people, or the people, there's some people that they crunch up their fingers, or their cheeks get all puffy, or they just chew on one side. Or they chew weird. But there's a lot of, when I was at Cal, we always had to... I'm laughing, we're actually discussing this. Fantastic.

49:48 Well, have you ever seen it once in every once in a while, here's another thing, you go to a restaurant and there'll be like this, sometimes maybe a good looking woman. And then you watch her eating and you go, oh my God, no wonder she's still single. You've seen this, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, it's disgusting. But the one thing that's interesting about the woman who has, or guys sometimes, but there's always, the women are more fascinating because they do the weird stuff. And, or they like just chew with their front teeth and you can tell, you know, just, it's like a little swirl like. Those are the bulimic ones. Or scrape their teeth on the spoon. Have you ever seen that? Oh, here's another one. Scrape their front teeth on the spoon. That's weird. Here's the other one that's even, I think is grosser. It's the person

50:32 Again, because I usually watch guys II but you see these women who's they got a spoonful of some or a fork and Before putting it in their mouth their tongue comes completely out It's not a huge long tongues that come out like reptilian just makes you wonder oh And then the thing goes in and the tongue kind of wraps it up, you know, and it's easy to go, oh my God, why does a tongue have to come out like that just to put in some food? And it turns you off, man. You can't eat. You're just like, ah, I'll never, go ahead. Well, I'm going to say the one thing you have to agree with me on is when you see, you know, you're at a restaurant and you see somebody eating like that, where they have this weird characteristic, it's

51:15 You can't stop staring at him. No, of course not. And you know what you should do? If you go out to dinner, John, the next time, and it could be man or woman, but woman is maybe even better, and she has one of those disgusting habits, you know what you can do? Just lob a cruise missile at him. You just blow that bitch right out of the water. I'm John C. F. and Dvorak. Who the hell do you think you are to eat like that in front of me? I got a reputation. Well, the only thing you do that's weird, which we have discussed before, is you hold your fork incorrectly. And it is quite annoying. I'm used to it now because, you know, I love you. It's quite annoying. You're not holding your fork in the proper British sense of things. No, Emily Post prescribed that. My mama, rest her soul, my mama taught me how to eat properly.

CHAPTER 20 / 37 Discussion

Table Manners and the Proper Use of Utensils

The hosts debate the "proper" way to use a fork and spoon according to Emily Post's standards, including the rule of pushing soup away from oneself. One host is accused of holding a fork like a "tool and die instrument" or a "chainsaw," while the other defends the European style of keeping the fork in the left hand. This lighthearted argument explores how small social behaviors can become points of obsession between friends.

emily post· etiquette· table manners· fork usage· social decorum

52:06 and how to you know eating soup then you are pushing the spoon away from you and you tilt away from you not towards you away at no point may you ever drink from a soup bowl unless it has two handles on each side. Yeah, tell it to the Japanese. So, um... You're not Japanese. I'm just saying, tell it to the Japanese. Why don't you know that, agree with me, you hold your fork wrong. You hold it like a tool and die instrument. I hold it like an American. I don't keep the upside down fork where the thing is upside down and pointing toward China and kept in the one hand and never swapped back and forth. No, you're allowed to swap, you're supposed to swap according to Emily Post.

52:54 Well, I know but most Europeans don't know I'm not saying that they're proper I'm talking about you and I this is between us two and you hold your fork like you're stabbing someone to death And you jam it into your usually rare Whatever meat it is you eat and it's really it's like a psycho thing now my god there he goes again. Yeah Can't you just... and by the way, you can exert a lot more control in the proper manner. I need to show you the proper manner. This is just not... this is wrong. You mean you want me to do it the floppish way in which you do it? I would like you to see if there's any benefit. I believe you'll find my manner of holding the fork beneficial. Whereas when you have more food control,

53:40 There's a lot more you can do with the actual fork. You have it you you describe me as sitting there Here comes the chainsaw jabs it in again and then it's kind of like weird how it then turns you have to turn your whole arm to get it into your mouth because you can't point it properly because you're not using the tool the way it was meant to be implemented this is nonsense

54:16 I believe our audience will be the judge of that. One time I had a... something, it was just like something I needed to like really force the fork into this thing because it was tough or something. Bullshit! And your eyes bugged open because you're normally just looking at your plate gobbling things down, you're not paying much attention to me. And so you saw this... Because you make me nauseous when you're killing, you're murdering your food. You just bug-eyed, your hair stood up and you went, oh my god, what are you doing? And I said, this thing, you know, is it gonna slide off the plate if I don't do this? And then you went, didn't you, been preoccupied with it ever since. It was the first time we ever ate.

54:52 I saw it and I went, oh god, but I'm not rude, you know, it's like a first date. I'm not gonna mess with you. No, you're not rude, you mentioned it on the spot. What are you kidding me? It was the second date. So what are you doing with this fork? Maybe it was. Maybe it was the first date. I wasn't looking to get laid. I'm like, I gotta tell him because it'll just bug me. It's like someone has food on their cheek. You know, if you don't say it, you're a dick, because then you're just looking at the piece, like, fall off. Make that piece of... Well, you're... You may be an optimist. You know, I saw, you know, you see it every once in a while, and you say, well, maybe it'll just fall off, or you're gonna wipe the mouth... That's wrong, man. You just gotta say it, because you're wasting valuable time and space.

55:31 By waiting for food to fall off so I just had to say it I think it's a timing thing with the food on the face I think you can't just say it immediately like like you slob you dick. I can't believe that you just shoved that all over your face So you have to wait, there's a waiting period that's involved with calling people and telling them that they got a big chunk of food on their face. Is that based upon the conversation at hand or is that based upon actual seconds and or minutes? I love it the most when it happens in a meeting and the person who's speaking has something on their face. And I just start, I'm like, I wait, I don't say it anymore. Like, who's gonna say it first? Who's gonna say? Because with Ron, we've been in business so long that sometimes I'll say, dude, score a fricking tic-tac, you smell like death out of your beak. This is horrible. And he knows it. And I actually carry peppermints for the poor man.

CHAPTER 21 / 37 Discussion

Social Etiquette for Bad Breath and Food on Face

The "crumb alert" protocol is discussed, debating how many seconds one should wait before informing a colleague they have food on their face. The conversation also covers the challenge of "close talkers" and individuals with chronic bad breath caused by stomach acid issues. These social awkwardnesses are presented as common hurdles in professional and personal interactions.

social etiquette· bad breath· hygiene· close talkers· communication

54:52 I saw it and I went, oh god, but I'm not rude, you know, it's like a first date. I'm not gonna mess with you. No, you're not rude, you mentioned it on the spot. What are you kidding me? It was the second date. So what are you doing with this fork? Maybe it was. Maybe it was the first date. I wasn't looking to get laid. I'm like, I gotta tell him because it'll just bug me. It's like someone has food on their cheek. You know, if you don't say it, you're a dick, because then you're just looking at the piece, like, fall off. Make that piece of... Well, you're... You may be an optimist. You know, I saw, you know, you see it every once in a while, and you say, well, maybe it'll just fall off, or you're gonna wipe the mouth... That's wrong, man. You just gotta say it, because you're wasting valuable time and space.

55:31 By waiting for food to fall off so I just had to say it I think it's a timing thing with the food on the face I think you can't just say it immediately like like you slob you dick. I can't believe that you just shoved that all over your face So you have to wait, there's a waiting period that's involved with calling people and telling them that they got a big chunk of food on their face. Is that based upon the conversation at hand or is that based upon actual seconds and or minutes? I love it the most when it happens in a meeting and the person who's speaking has something on their face. And I just start, I'm like, I wait, I don't say it anymore. Like, who's gonna say it first? Who's gonna say? Because with Ron, we've been in business so long that sometimes I'll say, dude, score a fricking tic-tac, you smell like death out of your beak. This is horrible. And he knows it. And I actually carry peppermints for the poor man.

56:34 But other people, they won't say this, you know? They just sit in a whole meeting room for five minutes and everyone's sitting there like, they're not listening to what someone has to say. They're thinking, it better drop off, the crumb has to drop off, oh my god, I can't look, it's a crumb. Well, on the bad breath issue, you ever run into these guys that- Just give me your 30 seconds, your how many seconds for the brush. It's like there's the, uh... uh... big there's a there's different kinds of you know these guys with cigar breath and some other some sort of deep lung problem they've got so every so within about a two foot well there's a there's a winter doesn't close properly that's what i know a lot about this by chance but your that's your your sphincter as it's called in your throat you have another sphincter uh... and that just doesn't close properly and so basically your stomach acid is just kind of you know letting loose into the air out of your head

57:32 Is that right? Yeah. I never heard this. Oh, many people have this kind of problem and it's like this and so the worst ones are the ones who are close talkers. Oh, and they lean up right to you. Hey. That's why I never go to concerts. And you have to kind of turn your head because it's like, oh yeah, and hold your breath. It's just horrible. Yeah. But they have to be real close. And then if you back away, you know, the worst kind of close talkers is if you back off, like I don't want you this close to me when you're talking. Then they move over closer. And they move in. Yeah. They can't take a hint. How many seconds, John, before you have to tell someone they have a crumb on their face? I think go 15. 15. Okay, that's not too bad.

CHAPTER 22 / 37 Discussion

Cultural Differences in Audio Modulation and Shouting

Observations from the Middle East and Mexico suggest a cultural preference for over-modulated, distorted audio in radio and television broadcasts. The tendency for announcers to shout into microphones, even when unnecessary, is noted as a distinct regional characteristic. This technical "red-lining" is often perceived as a sign of energy or importance in those media markets.

middle east· audio engineering· modulation· cultural norms· broadcasting

58:15 Unless they're talking, but you don't interrupt them to say hey. You can do the motion thing where you push, you know, you look at him with an unctuous look and then you point at some part of your own face. I don't like that. And of course they always go to the wrong side. That's why, because they immediately go to the wrong side of the face. Exactly. I think we should have a code word for it. Crumb alert? We really need that. Crumb alert is not good enough. So when you're in the Middle East, by the way, everybody's a close talker. This is why I go to very few concerts and nightclubs. Because the people leaning into you either smell of A, puke, and the worst of course is women who smell like puke, B, alcohol,

59:06 See as you say cigars particularly backstage at at concerts because everyone yeah well used to be that way you can't smoke anywhere these days, but there's always the executives that are always smoking cigars it stinks and Because it's so noisy they have to come in close like and by the way when you are talking to someone at a concert And, of course, you come very close to their ear. Please, do not shout. It is sufficient to... You may even put your lips on my ear, as long as you speak in a normal voice. When you shout, you are making me deaf. And this happens... And that's why I don't go, because people always want to come up and say something to me. Like, you know, like a... Have you noticed, by the way, John, that... And you've been to the countries in the Middle East, right?

59:56 Yeah. And, but also, you get, if you look at Pakistan, but a lot of the Middle Eastern countries, why is it that their audio, when they have either a radio broadcast or a television broadcast, why is it always over-modulated? It's either, yeah, it's over-modulated and often sounds like they're in a bucket. So let's have two-punch. It's not just there but you run into that in Mexican I know they're always shouting. Why? But it's actually over-modulated. You've got a microphone, you don't need to shout. But it's actually over-modulated. I mean, it is technically in the red, you know, it's where it should not be because it's distorted. Is that just like, is that the sound? They like it? They think that the signal will reach further maybe if they shout louder?

CHAPTER 23 / 37 Discussion

Islamic Call to Prayer and High-Wattage Amplification

The traditional Islamic call to prayer has evolved to use massive 10,000-watt amplification systems, leading to a cacophony of distorted sound in cities with numerous mosques. An anecdote describes a plastic "mosque" alarm clock purchased in Iraq that plays the call to prayer, highlighting the intersection of ancient tradition and modern Chinese manufacturing.

islam· mosque· call to prayer· iraq· amplification

1:01:02 Well, they have, you know, throughout the Middle East, they have a call to prayer throughout the day from these large... From the mosques, the speakers all over the place. They have these spires that go way up and then they have them loaded. By the way, I wonder, I would like a Muslim to explain to me, because you're supposed to not change certain things after the Koran was written and all this other kind of stuff. and there's all these rules and regulations. Where is it in the Quran that you can use 10,000 watts of amplification in speakers? Because they used to go up there apparently and give the call to prayer. It's actually a very funny sound. I mean, it's not funny. It's just a funny, pleasant

1:01:44 It's something about, you know you're in the Middle East, let's put it that way, because they all start cranking up about the same time. And they all compete with each other. Somebody explained it to me that they, and they start loading up with amplifiers and speakers, and so they go up there, or they don't go up there anymore, they just get on the microphone and start, you know, chanting. And then the next guy down, the next mosque down the road, he starts, he tries to be louder because he wants, you know, to be heard over the other guy. And then they, so about, so there's a cacophony a number of times a day, five or six times a day, whatever. Usually, it just all happens at once and it's just everybody screaming at the top of their lungs in these speaker systems and it's totally distorted because they've got them turned up all the way. And I think it's a sound they've gotten used to. The most prized possession I have from my trip to Iraq during the war in 2003

1:02:36 And you see them around now because of course so many GIs have been in and out and you can buy these things almost everywhere, at every marketplace, every town. It's a plastic alarm clock and it is a, I'm going to say it's about three quarters of a foot long and it's a mosque. and you set the alarm and when the alarm goes, instead of the ring that we in the West might be used to, the lights pop on and you hear, woo-doo! And it's my favorite, my favorite trinket that I brought back from Iraq. Yeah, it's not bad enough that when you're in one of these cities with 500 mosques,

1:03:21 all cranking out the call for prayer at the same time as loud as they can that you'd have a clock to do it in five thousand. Made in China, I might point out. That makes sense. But they have, yeah, it's, anyway, it gets very noisy. But you know the fun is some of those guys can really there actually are some I've heard Some of these guys actually have very pleasant voices. It's very very melodic a lot of just screaming, but some of these guys Wow that's kind of cool. I should record that but you know it's echoey. It's distorted often yeah, the distortion bit just always kills me like yeah, no I just agree

CHAPTER 24 / 37 Discussion

iPhone Ocarina App and Flat Screen Price Drops

The "Ocarina" iPhone app allows users to play music by blowing into the microphone and using the touchscreen as virtual keys, demonstrating the platform's versatility. In consumer electronics news, 42-inch Panasonic plasma televisions have dropped in price to $699 at Costco, a massive decline from the $40,000 price tag seen a decade ago. This rapid commoditization of technology is also affecting the laptop market.

iphone· ocarina· panasonic· plasma tv· costco

1:04:05 I don't get it either. I don't know why they, you know, can't turn it down. I think that they like it. That they're like, hey, that sounds good. You know, the sound engineers go, hey man, dude, you had some awesome sound yesterday on your show. That was really cool. I'm telling you. That's what my thinking was when I, you know, because of these call for prayers all being distorted. Speaking of that, did you see this thing, the, oh, I want to say it's the Carina, and I've forgotten the name. It's an iPhone app. that is on the iPhone store and you hold the iPhone up with the glass touch screen side up, you hold it between your thumbs and your forefingers very much like you're getting ready to eat a sandwich and you blow into the microphone and then it has basically four keys, of course they're virtual, on top. Yeah, actually we blogged somebody doing stairway to heaven on this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Maybe I saw it on your site. Oh man, that thing is awesome!

1:05:05 Blowing on a microphone's not such a great idea. But the instrument... It looks, it's a real, it's a space age cool type instrument. I mean, it's, for me that was like, I don't know, it just, it blew me away. I'm like, wow, that's a really interesting instrument they've created there out of an iPhone. Yeah, it's amazing. That platform is just astonishing. So I went to Costco, talking about platforms, so I went to Costco yesterday to get something. For the paper. And so I go past the, you know, I'm always at, when you go to Costco, your first thing you do is you go and you look at all the flat screens and you go, hmm. And they have actually the 42-inch plasma from Panasonic on sale for 699 bucks. And I remember when the first 42-inch plasma was shown at a CES show, I don't know, 15 years ago or 10 years or whatever, some time back.

1:06:02 They were $40,000. Oh, I remember, yeah. This was maybe only five years ago. I think it was a while. I think we're underestimating the time frame. But it was $40,000 because you'd ask them, well, we only make a few. They're $40,000 a box. And these were the 42-inch because the original plasmas were only 42-inch and then they got bigger. So now I'm looking at the exact same technology, probably improved quite a bit for $699. I'm thinking, wow. I know. It's amazing. But anyway, so there's that. I still think a 50 is about the size I wouldn't mind having. Anyway, so I go around the corner and they have all these laptops for sale. And we just did a thing on Cranky Geeks complaining about how Apple is overpricing their laptops and in a down economy, it's gonna hurt the company. And I don't know what these things are selling for, the Apples, because they didn't have any there. But there was a credible

CHAPTER 26 / 37 Discussion

Cloud Computing and the Future of Mobile Platforms

The utility of Google Docs and cloud-based services is highlighted as a viable alternative for 90% of consumer computing needs. Despite Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's dismissal of open-source mobile platforms, the Android OS is positioned as a potential "killer app" platform similar to how Lotus 1-2-3 defined the early PC era. The shift toward mobile-first operating systems marks a new phase in the history of personal computing.

google docs· cloud computing· android· steve ballmer· lotus 1-2-3

1:09:00 Well, if it... my understanding is that the Android operating system is open source. Right. And which means it's transportable. That seems to me like a fantastic operating system for net... let's just call it net devices. It could be a netbook or anything. Just... I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could actually get done with the operating system. and take into account if you... well really anything I would do on a computer because of the integration with the Google services So, you know, I needed to create a Word document, you know, even though I know you're not a big fan of cloud computing, but I can see certainly... In fact, the other day, I don't use Google Docs very often, if at all, but I didn't have my computer with me. So I fired up a browser and opened up a Google Word doc and, you know, saved it and it was quite convenient for the point that I was using it, which is, you know, not like real office shared document type stuff, which is what office contains and links and integration, etc., but just to write something.

1:10:04 And I can see how the Android operating system would fulfill the needs of maybe as high as 90% of all computer users. You know, you take all the... well, consumer computer users, let's put it that way. Well, the thing is, you know, design... I mean, this isn't... they realize that this is a platform. So yeah, that could happen. I mean, we can transition this sort of thing. I mean, I wouldn't mind it, just as if I had a little netbook type thing that I carried around, this is the kind of stuff I would want to do. I really would, I don't want to, I saw what happened with Windows Smaller. Because I had that god awful smartphone for a day.

1:10:42 Which I gave back to Chris Cravens crying. I said, please don't make me do this again. So making windows smaller, literally smaller in execution space or whatever as well as display just doesn't work. You need something that's built from a different mindset and I think they've got something going there. I was impressed. Well good Steve Ballmer came out and said that it was a dead end and it was a they could never make any money Because it's an operating system. He doesn't want people to replace his operating system Apparently not. Maybe he should replace his operating system. That's what I'm thinking. But anyway, so the phone, yeah, I haven't heard anybody buying these phones. I mean, you know, I think the phone has potential and it may sneak up on Apple, but it's almost like a replay of the history of the computing business, almost like a fractal. We have like Apple coming out with the Apple II.

1:11:35 with a new device that is a, in this case, kind of a computer, a new type of computer, a new platform, the iPhone. And they kind of own the place for a while and then the PC mentality comes along, a little more open, less rigid, you don't have to sell through the Apple store, all the advantages, you just need one or two killer apps. Another was something that in the case of the Apple 2, it was dominated when it first came out with VisiCalc made the Apple 2 and started the personal computer revolution. And as soon as Lotus 1, 2, 3 showed up on the PC, the whole everything shifted. I had jazz. Those guys got fucked. There's jazz and symphony. Yeah, those guys got screwed, didn't they? Well, jazz was also done by Lotus. You're right.

CHAPTER 27 / 37 Discussion

Legacy Media Formats and Television Shading

The difficulty of transcoding legacy data is illustrated by the legal industry's long-standing reliance on WordPerfect 4.1. In television history, the transition from Vidicon tubes to CCD chips eliminated the problem of "burn-in" caused by bright lights. Older production roles, such as the "shader" who manually adjusted light levels for multiple cameras, have largely been replaced by automated digital systems.

wordperfect· vhs· television production· vidicon tubes· ccd

1:12:29 I remember when we took our company public in 1996, it was a huge problem because the entire legal and financial system would only work with WordPerfect 4.1. And it has to do with the formatting. And of course we were all on Windows 95 and Office 95 and the amount of time and subsequently money that was spent on transcoding documents from an office format to a word perfect format was hundreds of thousands I'm convinced. Could be transcoding is a problem that's never gonna go away I mean we have to do that with our data we're putting our stuff on like CDs and that's I mean I still have so I'd be everyone so I find some old CD oh I forgot I even had this it was a backup of something you put it in the machine and read it. I have tapes I have our wedding tapes I have

1:13:24 uh... many many television shows you know they were on the u.s. vhs or worse uh... you know i have some on you matter k i even have foreign two-inch in four inch bnc reels this is you can find players for many more and everyone's scrambling to get those old impacts as only few those and pics you know uh... before the measures the other two-inch uh... forehead machines are you sure i used to calibrate those they taught me how to do it So you put your tape on, you get your bars up, right? And you get your scope going, because you had to calibrate it on an oscilloscope. And then you actually had to kick the machine bottom left. Just a little, like, tap there, and then you started moving the knobs. And it worked. And that's how you calibrated them.

1:14:08 Do you like one of the last few guys that can do that? Yeah, and here's something I was talking about the guys at our studio at MeVeo headquarters the other day. They were like, you know, shining lights around and moving stuff and it was shining into the camera. And I said, you know, there was a day when if you did that, if you shone a light into the camera, you would probably have a camera operator come up to you and hit you in the face with a fist. Right down your throat. Because it would burn into the actual tubes. The Vidicon tubes. Yeah, and we had a guy whose job he was called the shader. Remember those? The shader? No, but I know what they did. Yeah, the shader would sit in the control room along with a vision mixer as they called it then and the director and the assistant director and the audio engineer and the tape ops or sometimes tape ops were in a separate compartment and the shader would have let's say you had a five or six camera shoot and you would have all of these almost like throttles on an airplane or a ship these big

1:15:05 controls and he would sit there and he would be continuously making the light level. He would be shading the cameras so that you didn't have one all of a sudden that was really light and the other one was really dark and also you know he would protect as much as he could all the other equipment from a big light burst back in the day. During that era, that's of course when they had a, you know, before we came up with CCD technology, which doesn't have this burden problem. Yeah, once it was chips, it was like, oh my gosh, we can, you know, we can do concerts and we could, you know, back in the day, you'd see, you can still probably rent old concerts where you see a camera move across the lights and then for, you know, at least 15 or 20 seconds, you'll still see the trails of the lights in the, in the video.

CHAPTER 28 / 37 Discussion

Television Wardrobe Restrictions and Illegal Colors

The old rule against wearing white on television was originally intended to prevent tube flare, though modern CCD cameras can handle it better. However, certain "illegal" reds still cause fuzzy edges or flares in digital video. A recent MTV Europe Music Awards performance by Kanye West, where he wore all white against a white floor, is cited as a modern example of wardrobe choices creating visual "floating head" issues.

kanye west· mtv awards· video engineering· wardrobe· color flare

1:15:48 And the tube, yeah. I know it's a real problem, but that's where the idea of you can't wear white shirts. That's right. And so you should, oh, you can't wear a white shirt. You have to wear a blue shirt. And people should know this. Most people still believe this is true, but in fact you can wear a white shirt. Well, let me just contradict you. It does change the aperture sometimes because a lot of the stuff is automated. Let me just jump in that for one second. We were watching the MTV European Music Awards two days ago. Kanye West, who always has to have some big production number, They put down to the north, their ballet floor, which was kind of in the center of the audience stage, was black the whole evening. They rolled out a white ballet floor. He came out completely dressed in white, except for a black tie, from head to toe, and he had white shoes on. He looked like a floating head. It was the funniest thing. Sometimes, I mean, if you're doing white on white, it doesn't work. I don't care what you say.

1:16:47 Yeah, no, I'm sure you can. I don't recommend people wear white. I'm just saying you can do it. But in the olden days, if you wore white, you'd burn out the tube. Yeah, yeah, and it would flare. The other problem was, you know, white and there's still the illegal colors that seem to have issues with even the CCDs are called illegal and there's a red. that you can't use because it flares. The camera can't focus on it and the problem with some of these reds is they have a... and you'll see this if you look at this cheap video. They actually call it a flare. It has a fuzzy edge. They call it a flare and it does still occur, usually on location shoots when the sun is coming from a weird angle and of course has all colors of it in the light spectrum.

1:17:32 and you get a flare and then you have to block it off somehow. But yeah, in the olden days, yeah you're right, these guys were not happy when you put a light in the camera. No, they would literally knock your teeth out because they were responsible for it. So that's our old, that ladies and gentlemen is our old time broadcasting anecdote. Well I've got plenty more. But it was fun because I literally trained... You were probably around when they still had three or four lenses on the camera and would twist them instead of zooming. Tell me it's not true. I wasn't on TV then. My wife was. Patricia was when she was 16.

CHAPTER 29 / 37 Discussion

Evolution of Color Television and Rotary Phones

The history of broadcasting is traced from the massive, clunky color cameras of the 1950s at WGN Chicago to the failed analog HDTV experiments of the 1980s. This technological nostalgia extends to Bakelite rotary phones and the lost culture of prank calling. The rapid pace of change has rendered many once-ubiquitous devices, like the car phone, completely obsolete.

wgn chicago· hdtv· bakelite· rotary phones· technology history

1:18:11 When I was a little kid in Chicago, I would go to WGN, I believe, and they, because they had an open studio with a, with a, with a kind of a gallery that you could go and watch. It was the first all-color station when they were making the transition from black and white to color. There's a station in Chicago. They went all color right away. 51 maybe? Well, I'm sorry? 1951, I think. No, no, it wasn't. No, it was later than that. It was much later than that. I don't think the color thing began until the mid-fifties at least. About 56, 57 is when it started. Anyway, so I would go in there as a little kid and I would just sit there and watch them do TV, but they had those old clunking, I mean, they had the first color cameras. Those things were huge and they had the big crazy lens. They didn't have the zoom lens yet, which has changed things a lot.

1:19:03 It's a throwback to when they first tried to do HDTV and if you went to the CES show when they were doing analog HDTV, which never caught on. I think the Japanese invested heavily into it and lost their pants. But they had the HDTV cameras that were for analog were unbelievable. They would look like a 70 millimeter kind of a, I mean, they're huge monstrous monstrosities and you could just see, oh man, these guys aren't gonna, nobody's going to HDTV if they're gonna have to buy these cameras. But it reminded me of these huge clunky color cameras that they used to use.

1:19:42 Anyway, there's so much that has changed so quickly and I've seen how some... Patricia's gone through most of the change pretty well because she always jokes herself saying that she's from the Bakelite phone era. Which of course you remember those John, Bakelite phones. I remember them, I had a Bakelite phone in my room. I still have one. Yeah sure, and with carbon. I mean I think they're collectible, they're just the coolest phone. Yeah, and they're carbon based. And of course it was rotary. Remember that when we had to turn a dial to connect to someone? Remember that John? No I don't, when was that? Remember prank phone calls and you just dial a number at random? That culture is gone man. It's gone.

CHAPTER 30 / 37 Discussion

Afghan War Motives and Government Drug Running

A debate continues regarding the true motives behind the war in Afghanistan, with claims that the coalition forces are overseeing a massive resurgence in the heroin trade. Comparisons are made to the Iran-Contra scandal, suggesting that government agencies have a history of involvement in international drug trafficking. The discussion challenges the official narrative of "justice" in the region.

afghanistan· taliban· heroin· drug running· iran-contra

1:20:24 Well, you can still dial phone numbers at random. Yeah, but people don't do it, do they? Because you can email people at random, you can text people at random. It's no fun. Our lives are too filled up with other shit. No time to play pranks. Unless, of course, you're calling Sarah Palin and pretending to be a foreign dignitary. Yeah, well, that was good for five minutes of attention. So, um, there's also a thing called caller ID and laws against prank calls. True, true. That's what I'm saying, man. The culture is gone. All the good stuff, all the fun stuff. We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun. Well, I guess that's... I guess we're running out of material. No, I... you know, I could talk... well, I'm still miffed that you say that I'm putting my reputation at stake by saying we shouldn't just throw bombs at people for no reason. No, I never said that.

1:21:20 I said that the fact that you're defending the Taliban, you're putting your reputation at stake. Here's the only thing I'm defending. The poppy fields were almost gone under the Taliban regime. When the coalition forces moved in, they moved back up to 120% capacity. That's all I'm saying. See any jets lately that crashed that had coke on board that have a government seal on the side? You should Google that. Yeah? Yeah, you should Google that. a jet crash filled with coke, but coke is not the same as heroin. That comes from a different part of the world. I'm sorry, you're right. We've got our hands all over that too. No, that's the heroin coming from Afghanistan. And the other flights are always coming from... There's a whole scheme for this, for this drug running. It's Iran-Contra, it's the same thing. So if anybody wants to see a good movie,

CHAPTER 31 / 37 Discussion

Cocaine Cowboys Documentary and Florida Drug History

The HBO documentary "Cocaine Cowboys" provides an in-depth look at the 1970s and 80s drug trade in Florida, featuring interviews with former traffickers. The film details the rise of Griselda Blanco, known as the "Cocaine Queen of Miami," and the sheer volume of narcotics flown into the country with minimal law enforcement interference. The documentary is praised for its gritty, first-hand accounts of the era that inspired "Miami Vice."

cocaine cowboys· hbo· griselda blanco· miami· drug trafficking

1:22:18 Check out, it's really fascinating actually, the movie, it's a documentary called Cocaine Cowboys. Oh, do tell. Oh, it was on HBO recently, I watched it, it was just like a jaw dropper because it tells the entire story of this. Is this the Nina Arizona thing? No, no, this is mostly about Florida. And including the era just before, I guess it was before Ronald Reagan during the Carter administration, you could just basically fly tons of cocaine into the country land and you know the cops were in on the deal and you could you know unload with no problem. There was no... Yeah, this is what Doc McGee, Bon Jovi's manager, was caught for and he had to do that free, that you know that benefit concert in Russia that I went to.

1:23:03 And because his air jet was flying shit into into Florida So it's a very fit, but they have a lot of the players that didn't get killed and then they talk about this crazy woman who was like Boy, this is frightening Horrible woman who was like the hot the the capo de capo of the whole scene down there at one point? Who was just a bloodthirsty person? and it's just a really interesting documentary. But two or three of the guys that were obviously heavy into it, they went to jail and they came out and they were narrating a lot of this. And their anecdotes are just fascinating because it was just...

1:23:43 One thing after another, and they also discussed the Miami Vice stories and how they were bull because this would never have been done that way. And with long descriptions of the mechanisms of, you know, so he could bring something in and I could call and no one could point the finger at you. It was very interesting. Griseldo Blanco, also known as La Madrina, The Godmother, The Black Widow, and The Cocaine Queen of Miami. Damn, her. Man, she looks gnarly. She looks like she could be on The Sopranos as a guy. She was a mean person.

1:24:22 and she disappeared. So anyway, if you follow all those lines, was there any mention of the Bush family in that? Because the Bush family definitely had planes, they had all kinds of stuff going on there during that time. There's a lot of good stuff in it, just watch it. But the Bushes I don't believe were mentioned. Okay. Would you burn that to a disc for me? If I play it again? Oh, you didn't record it? No. Oh, shit. I'll re... Well, I didn't... The reason I didn't record it is because I didn't catch the very beginning. So if he comes up again... So I can't get either my daughter, her boyfriend or my wife to watch Chris Rock with me, so I had to watch it alone. They weren't interested.

CHAPTER 32 / 37 Discussion

Chris Rock Political Comedy and Stand-up Specials

Chris Rock's recent comedy special is criticized for being overly preachy and political in its opening segments. The production's decision to cut between ten different global concert locations is viewed as a distraction that breaks the rhythm of the jokes. While the latter half of the special returned to Rock's classic observational humor, the political lecturing was seen as unnecessary for a comedian of his stature.

chris rock· stand-up comedy· political humor· hbo· comedy specials

1:25:03 Huh, what do you think? It was okay. What I told you earlier in the hallway the other day, I didn't like that they cut between ten different concerts around the world. Yeah, I thought it was lame. That's no good. Because it's very difficult. It's hard enough, you know, it's almost like turning the mic off during the audience reaction to the joke. Yeah. And he tells a joke and then they cut to a different audience reacting. That's wrong. It's the wrong rhythm. I didn't like that at all. Yeah, it seemed a little corny. I mean, what was the point? But obviously, the way he ended up, that was very funny. You know, the takeaway. Which basically, with all of Chris Rock's material is, women, you need to perform oral sex on us and ingest. That's basically the takeaway.

1:25:55 It was funny. Yeah, well once he got off the political stuff. That was not funny. I thought he was a little too political at the beginning and he was like preachy and I don't you know I don't watching a comic to be lectured to you know. Well it it was less of like humor about the current situation and more like like it you know like he was really trying to tell a story. It was unnecessary. He doesn't need to do that just tell some funny jokes. So anyway, the the other there was a couple other things you need to watch I'll try to get you some copies and I don't know about the cocaine Cowboys thing shows up again, which it should I'll See if I can get a cop we have to get some sling boxes between the two of us Yeah, and send with the code so we can look at each other's television sets well particularly so that you can record stuff That's really what's cool. If you can control my skybox or whatever I'm I'm gonna set it up right on my end

CHAPTER 33 / 37 Discussion

Slingbox Technology and International IPTV

The use of Slingbox technology allows users to remotely control and watch their home television sets from anywhere in the world, facilitating international viewing of Canadian or British TV. While the promise of IPTV is to make all global content accessible, the high cost of bandwidth and the need for "humongous pipes" to prevent buffering remain significant hurdles. This technical reality contradicts more optimistic views of free, high-definition global streaming.

slingbox· iptv· bandwidth· high definition· leo laporte

1:26:58 uh... when we move sober so beginning of the year i'll have it all set up i'll have a sliver of the name i'm gonna have one set up in washington because i like the canadian television shows a lot but they are just our has twenty two minutes is one of the best all of us i thought i'd love that show that's great and so much i did get that i'll hook up one here and then you can see the thing is because we're in different time frames you could actually watch my t v remotely when i'm sleeping And you could see what's on HBO or whatever I have. I have pretty much everything off the Dish network. and I set pay-per-view. And then you could, you know, I think it's, and I can, if I can do that, because you'll be sleeping, if I could control your set, you know, with that, because there's a remote control thing. Right, well, I'm giving you your own set, because I don't want to be watching my porn and all of a sudden John's like flipping the channels and shit. I don't think so. No, no, when you're up, you just disable that, I mean, there's no reason for, and by the way, I'm not usually up at five in the morning or, you know, when you'd be watching TV. That's when I'm watching porn.

1:28:00 Hey, you turn off the channel. Changing the channel. Don't be changing the channel. I'm giving you your own setup, dude. Okay, fine. I don't have a problem with that. I'm gonna make it right for you. I'm gonna make it right for you. This is the flip of switch. So, yeah, that's a good idea. I think people should just do that in general, you know, and kind of keep up with it, be a little more universal. That's what IPTV is supposed to give us. This is essentially, you know, a precursor to IPTV where I should be able to just go online and punch up, you know, what's going on on the English TV stations and get it right to my set immediately. I don't see why it's a big deal to do that.

1:28:39 and cost of the experience you can get a british tv on your computer and it'll be a small screen and you know you can but to stream all that shit in reasonable and we do we wanted a high-def right because we what we have the high-def tv set for its cost we had this exact same conversation on twit when i was last on it's not a cause you too much and it's a good eventually things and i know i know i eventually things come down it doesn't matter Things go down, things go up. Cost comes down, then oh, let's do HD, then all of a sudden the cost is up again. I know what this shit costs, man. This is... bandwidth is not free, Leo Laporte. Bandwidth is not free. Attention, attention. I think a standard definition's fine.

CHAPTER 34 / 37 Discussion

Computing History and Sir Clive Sinclair

A retrospective on early personal computers highlights the Sinclair ZX80 and the Commodore VIC-20 as foundational devices for a generation of programmers. Sir Clive Sinclair is remembered for his commitment to simplicity, famously quipping that he used an 8-bit microprocessor because he "couldn't find a 4-bit." Despite his success in computing, his foray into electric vehicles with the Sinclair C5 was a notable failure.

clive sinclair· zx80· vic-20· 8-bit computing· technology history

1:29:20 Even for standard definition, and then you want the experience to be you don't want any buffering when you when you switch channels So you need humongous pipes now? It's a Now you're not see you're the old man here. No. I'm not the old man. I'm being realistic about cost I'd love that you kidding me. I was true. I was streaming audio in 1993 on Sun Microsystems machines with the PCM codec on 56k modems. I built my first modem out of carbon, out of Bakelite phones actually and cardboard. I had an acoustic modem. I built myself on my VIC-20. On my VIC-20. And before that I was programming on my ZX80.

1:30:11 Most people don't even remember that one, the Sinclair. They knew the ZX81. I'm the ZX80, dude. We call him Z. Yeah, but I'm international. No, that's British. Well, it's South African too. As good as Ply Sinclair's computers were, man, that bike thing of his, that electric car, that sucked. Remember that? Well he was a one hit wonder from what I could tell. I met him a couple of times. He's a nice guy. I'm sure he is. But one of the best, one of the best lines, he had this interesting line somebody caught him, one of the writers I knew got him to follow a quote asking him, because he was into simplicity.

1:30:55 So, they asked him, so Clive, why are you using an 8-bit micro... there's a transition taking place between 8 and 16-bit computing. And so he says, Clive, why are you using an 8-bit microprocessor? And he said, because I couldn't find a 4-bit. That's funny. Ah, those were the days. I have his original calculator. Oh, the Sinclair calculator? Yeah, a little bitty thing with a weird kind of display. I have a lot of cool old things. I still have the ZX80 somewhere. I've got my VIC-20. This is the stuff Patricia hates. She's like, you keep schlepping all that shit. Yeah, that's my museum. When I die, then some kid will be like... If she dies, she'll throw it out. Along with my high school t-shirts and varsity jackets from college from the radio station.

CHAPTER 35 / 37 Discussion

Early Mobile Phone Technology and Social Changes

The evolution of mobile phones from "bricks" with puny batteries to modern Bluetooth-enabled devices has fundamentally changed public social behavior. Early car phones were expensive status symbols that required operator assistance, whereas today's constant "yakking" on cell phones is seen as a form of digital slavery. The segment reflects on the loss of privacy and the "Star Trek" reality of modern communication.

brick phones· car phones· bluetooth· social etiquette· mobile communication

1:31:51 My uniform from Iraq, my camouflage, my stamp collection. It's all gonna go. It's gonna throw it all out. I have my, uh, the first cell phone. One of those big giant bricks? Yeah, I got the big, uh, I got the big brick. The one that stands up? Yeah. I've been wanting to collect one of those. Yeah, it has a really puny battery in comparison to his size and it never lasted that long. Right, I would love to get one of those big stand-up bricks and then kind of retrofit it with a real cell phone inside and use it. It's weird because this one, here's what I did, this one had a connector on the back which was a standard RJ 145 jack or whatever for a car kit.

1:32:40 And I found out that if you plugged in the Bakelite phone handset, well actually that was not the Bakelite anymore, it was plastic, but just a regular handset, one of those black handsets that would be on the wall unit, or like a payphone, and you plug that into that, because it had the same kind of jack, you plugged it in, it would work. And so I would be in my car and I'd be talking on a regular phone, on a regular handset. It was cool. Yeah, well that's probably safer for you than putting that big device up against your ear. God knows what that thing is to your brain. Somewhere I still have my original, they called it a Mobile-a-phone, and I had this in 81.

1:33:19 and the mobile phone was essentially a four channel two-way radio with a huge wattage on it is like fifty watts or thirty watts or something you know reasonably strong and he had this mounted in your car and you have to call up and have to call up with your call sign my was uh... at the mobile operator and time uh... thirty four fourteen unit yet yeah eight thirty four fourteen and the mobile operator would dial the call and then you'd be talking to someone you'd have to say over How you doing? Good. Over. Duplex. I'm on the way home. Over. Yeah, that was the days of the mobile phone. Actually, that's one of the problems you have, you know, with mobile phones. They used to have these things before the cellular system was invented. These mobile phones, and they had high wattage, and people would buy these. These are very expensive. It's like thousands of dollars a month. Thousands, yeah. To have it in your car.

1:34:18 And they were never very popular. I mean, because they were so expensive and inconvenient. What was the point? In fact, they were frowned upon by most. Oh, what are you, so fucking important you need a cell phone, you need a car phone? A mobile phone. No, we called it a car phone. We called it a car phone. Right, a car phone. Yeah, no, and then what culturally changed now you can't get people off these damn phones. They're just yakking all day They're walking around you can go on the X City. There's like everybody's got a phone to their head and they're not talking to each other either They're everyone's zone. Oh, man. They've got the Bluetooth earpiece on and it's like a science fiction movie people walking down the street They're beaming in the checking in. I mean don't we realize that we are living in Star Trek?

CHAPTER 36 / 37 Discussion

Digital Slavery and Small Business Credits

The modern workforce is described as "good slaves," constantly jacked into Blackberries and laptops even during commutes. There is a call for the Obama administration to prioritize R&D credits and healthcare support for small businesses rather than just focusing on mortgage bailouts. The hope is that the new administration's policies will provide tangible relief to the entrepreneurs driving the economy.

blackberry· small business· r&d credits· barack obama· economic policy

1:35:02 It's kind of, I just don't, I'm not, you know, I don't think you need to be that plugged in. I don't think it's healthy. No, it can't be. But anyway, so people are yak, yak, yak, yakking constantly. And if they're not yakking, then they got the two earbuds in on their iPod and they got the sound cranked up so loud you can hear it across the street. And of course, they'll be deaf shortly. And, you know, and they're completely, you know, if you wanted to say something to somebody on the street, like, hey, watch out for that curb. Boom, down they go, because they're not listening. Oh yeah, the thing, I can't walk down the street not listening to the traffic. I consider it to be dangerous. And take the train, first class from Waterloo to Guilford.

1:35:45 and it's only one car, but no matter when you're traveling in this thing, but particularly going back like on the 730, it's filled with people, multiple, always they have a cell phone, a Blackberry, and a laptop, and they're on all three. Everyone's working, everyone's jacked in, you know, the phones are ringing all the time. It's disturbing. It's totally disturbing. It's like, what are you getting out of this? You know? And they used to have a guy that would come by and he had papers and stuff, right? They don't have that anymore. No one's buying papers. I buy it. I still buy the paper. Now the paper is actually more efficient than the laptop if you want to really plow through a lot of material. Hell yeah. It's lighter than the MacBook Air. Yeah. Except for the weekend edition of the Times. Yeah, actually the fact is that we're building in inefficiencies and liking it. And it's kind of disturbing. Thank you, ma'am. May I have another?

1:36:44 That's right. No, we are good slaves, John. That's what it is. We're good slaves. And we're ready. We're ready to be told what to do. Just send it to my BlackBerry, President Obama, President Elect Obama, and I'm ready to go. Just tell me. And I'm waiting for my small business credits. Yeah, there you go. That's what I'm waiting for. Well, I'm sure it's at the top of his agenda now. It's at the top of his agenda Credits R&D credits for small business creating jobs in America But doing all that providing health care doing all that the check check check ticks all my boxes I'm ready for my credit other people need help with a mortgage. I don't need that just send me my Mike my credit for the work We're doing as a small business. That's all I'm asking for then. I'll be a believer. Yeah, you'll get your credit Yeah on my tombstone

CHAPTER 37 / 37 Discussion

Show Outro and Fork Etiquette Challenge

The program concludes with a final humorous jab regarding fork etiquette and a promise to record a video of "proper" utensil utilization for the audience to judge. The hosts sign off from Surrey, England, and Northern Silicon Valley, indicating they will return next week to continue their analysis of world events. **qa_pairs:** - What is the primary disagreement regarding table manners? One host insists on the British/European style of fork usage, while the other defends a more "American" tool-like approach. - Where are the hosts located? Adam Curry is in Surrey, UK, and John C. Dvorak is in Northern Silicon Valley.

adam curry· john c. dvorak· fork etiquette· surrey· silicon valley

1:37:46 So I think, uh, while we're waiting for that, I think people are waiting for the show to end. Oh shit, okay. That's my cue. Hey John, let's bring that up another time again. That was kind of fun. Hello? Yeah, I'm in. I'm shocked. Why? Well, I don't know. I don't know if because I find that I'm I don't know if I'm shocked more by the lobbing guns at Iranians or the way you eat with your fork. I think the fork might actually have a slight lead. I'm gonna take a small movie of my eating and then we'll let the public decide. Yes, oh you like it? Thank you ma'am, may I have another? You want to be slapped around by our audience? They will tell you. I will take a small movie of my fork utilization. Yeah, with a pinky up or down?

1:38:49 In your ass, actually, is where I was thinking would be a good spot. Hey, John? Yes. I love you. Mean it. I really do. All right. Coming to you from the affluent suburb of Surrey in Guilford, where we use our utensils properly. My name's Adam Curry. And I'm John C. Dvorak. Coming at you from Stab City in the northern part of Silicon Valley. We'll talk to you again next week, unless something important happens. Right here on NO Agenda.