Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,
Speaker 2: my name is Noah.
Speaker 3: They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
Speaker 3: super producer Alexis code named Doc Holliday Jackson. Most importantly,
Speaker 3: you are here. That makes this the stuff they don't
Speaker 3: want you to know now. As you know, folks, we
Speaker 3: do a lot of episodes for this show, and one
Speaker 3: of the things that keeps us going is that once
Speaker 3: a week, once an evening, we get to hear from
Speaker 3: the best part of the show, which is you. So
Speaker 3: in between being in our podcast minds for the crazy
Speaker 3: episodes we do, we make space to hear from the
Speaker 3: luminaries of this show, which are to be fully transparent,
Speaker 3: not us, they are you. And recently, as we get rolling,
Speaker 3: recently we recorded a breaking news episode, an actual episode
Speaker 3: on the attempted assassination of a guy you might know
Speaker 3: from home Alone two. His name is Donald J. Trump
Speaker 3: and you know where the lobby was. That's for sure.
Speaker 3: He did he did, He had his finger on the
Speaker 3: pulse on that one, and we received something real quick
Speaker 3: that we wanted to address at the top. We got
Speaker 3: a letter from our friend we'll call Doctor J. And
Speaker 3: Doctor J said, hey, team, big fan of the podcast,
Speaker 3: excited to hear your takes on this meaning the attempted assassination,
Speaker 3: and said with love, Butler, Pennsylvania is now we're outside
Speaker 3: of Pittsburgh. I live here in Pittsburgh, I was yelling
Speaker 3: at the episode. Butler is a good six hours from Philadelphia,
Speaker 3: Pennsylvania's big state. We are here in Pittsburgh too. To
Speaker 3: answer your suburb question, I'd say people in Butler will
Speaker 3: tell you it's a suburb of Pittsburgh, and people in
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh would tell you it's not a suburb of Pittsburgh,
Speaker 3: which goes to our Daia have exurbs. Well, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3: like I was, you know what it was? It was.
Speaker 4: I think we did the episode like the next day.
Speaker 4: Everything was still very fresh. And I've never claimed to
Speaker 4: be particularly great at geography, but I just blurted out
Speaker 4: that it was a suburb of Philadelphia. Because when I
Speaker 4: think of Pennsylvania and I think of metro areas, I
Speaker 4: think of Philly, but of course there's also Pittsburgh, and
Speaker 4: there's of course other cities in Pennsylvania too, but yeah,
Speaker 4: six hours away from Philadelphia, this community would be.
Speaker 3: And with this, we have some folks traveling in the
Speaker 3: area in the near future. We've got some folks in
Speaker 3: Pennsylvania on the ground, We've got some folks heading to
Speaker 3: Ohio and wherever we are in this wide world, we
Speaker 3: are grateful to hear from you. As we dive in.
Speaker 3: We're going to hear from a monarch asterisk. We have
Speaker 3: not verified these bona fides we're going to. We're going
Speaker 3: to have a conversation about life and outer space before
Speaker 3: we do any of that. Have you ever felt the
Speaker 3: ads we're looking at you and we've returned with a
Speaker 3: message from you. Yes, you.
Speaker 4: In this case, the you and question is Charlie, and
Speaker 4: I think this is something that we've all probably thought
Speaker 4: about more and more over the past handful of years,
Speaker 4: and it is not necessarily a gender specific but let's
Speaker 4: quit beating around the bush.
Speaker 3: Let's jump right in. Charlie has this to say.
Speaker 4: Listening to listener mail and you guys talking about weight
Speaker 4: loss drugs made me think of one of my recent
Speaker 4: experiences with problematic targeted advertising. I struggle with mental health issues, depression,
Speaker 4: body dysmorphia, and I recently went through a serious eating disorder.
Speaker 4: My therapist recommended journaling, and to make it easier, I
Speaker 4: have been using my phone for my daily journal entries.
Speaker 4: The content of my journal entries is raw, unfiltered emotion
Speaker 4: regarding how I feel about myself, day to day challenges
Speaker 4: I had with self esteem, weight management ideas, etc. I noticed,
Speaker 4: on my most challenging days, I'll start getting hit with
Speaker 4: advertisements on social media that have the unrealistic body standards,
Speaker 4: like AI generated images of perfect women, underwear, ads with
Speaker 4: super in shape women, things that make me feel a
Speaker 4: little worse that I'm not perfect. Within twenty four hours
Speaker 4: of getting bombarded with these ads, I start getting ads
Speaker 4: for weight loss products and programs. I started to feel
Speaker 4: like it was intentionally targeting my insecurities, making me feel
Speaker 4: worse than trying to sell me the solution. Very strong
Speaker 4: double O seven villain vibes. I'll create the virus, then
Speaker 4: sell the only cure evil laughter. So I experimented with
Speaker 4: not using my phone and journaling with actual pen and paper,
Speaker 4: and after a few weeks my social media ads went
Speaker 4: back to random stuff based on other random things it
Speaker 4: thinks I'm interested in. I'm sure you guys have covered
Speaker 4: advertising scams, but this one experience with it I've had
Speaker 4: just really bothered me because I know how bad things
Speaker 4: have been for me. I know I'm not alone in
Speaker 4: struggling with these mental health challenges, and it has put
Speaker 4: me in some dark places and financial hardships to have
Speaker 4: my biggest issues exploited through some toxic targeted advertising designed
Speaker 4: to make me hate myself enough to drop thousands on
Speaker 4: the products that will fix me. Quotes I'm okay. I
Speaker 4: have a solid support system and huge thanks to my
Speaker 4: husband for trying to help me feel like a goddess
Speaker 4: even on my worst days. Not everyone has that support
Speaker 4: at home, and when targeted advertising exploits your biggest weakness,
Speaker 4: it can become deadly whoa.
Speaker 3: I mean for me personally, it hits close to home.
Speaker 4: And while I know we've you know, for decades, you know,
Speaker 4: talked about the unrealistic expectations the media puts out there
Speaker 4: are specifically for women, and I know that is very
Speaker 4: much a thing, and it is very much specifically targeted
Speaker 4: thing towards women. For selling beauty products and hair products
Speaker 4: and all of this kind of stuff. And I was
Speaker 4: just doing a little googling and trying to see if
Speaker 4: there are any recent studies about this stuff, and this
Speaker 4: article came up, Advertisers target Women's Insecurities from the Minnesota
Speaker 4: Daily Research suggests ways to capitalize on women's vulnerable moments.
Speaker 4: And then I was looking through it and it was
Speaker 4: talking about all of these like two percent of women
Speaker 4: describe themselves as beautiful, only two percent in a survey
Speaker 4: conducted by Global Polling for Strategy Want, when in sixty
Speaker 4: five percent of those same women agree that media and
Speaker 4: advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty. And I'm looking
Speaker 4: through this and I'm like, gosh, this is like speaking
Speaker 4: to the moment we're in right now. And I realize
Speaker 4: this was like a twenty year old article that wasn't
Speaker 4: even talking about Internet targeting. So this is how it was,
Speaker 4: how bad it was when they were just hitting you
Speaker 4: where you live on TV, on the radio.
Speaker 3: Now they're reading your damn journal entries.
Speaker 5: I mean, like, I mean, what the like.
Speaker 4: It's just I mean, I was blown away when I
Speaker 4: looked at the publication date.
Speaker 3: This was from twenty thirty.
Speaker 4: Sorry, not twenty years ago, ten ten years you know,
Speaker 4: a little more than ten years ago. But just the
Speaker 4: degree to which these things have become laser focused with
Speaker 4: the precision of a scalpel is just cutting away at
Speaker 4: your self esteem, you know. And I'm a dude, and I,
Speaker 4: you know, struggle with weight loss. And I have noticed,
Speaker 4: of late because maybe certain things that I've googled and
Speaker 4: trying to, you know, look up certain regiments or whatever, routines, exercise.
Speaker 3: Eating whatever.
Speaker 4: I'm getting hit with all these Instagram ads for like
Speaker 4: dude girdles, you know, like things to like hide a
Speaker 4: beer gut and like whatever, and all of these you know,
Speaker 4: different name it ozempic Manjora, whatever, now that they're becoming
Speaker 4: much more widely available through hymns and hers through mail order,
Speaker 4: now that it's a lot more accessible, and it cuts.
Speaker 2: Into me too.
Speaker 4: And I know I'm not saying that we're the same, Charlie,
Speaker 4: but I'm just saying that it is a thing that
Speaker 4: you know, because of how much you put out there
Speaker 4: about yourself, whether you realize it or not.
Speaker 3: I'm not even I'm not journaling in my phone.
Speaker 4: I write occasional dumb song lyrics and my notepad on
Speaker 4: my iPhone, but nothing like what you're talking about.
Speaker 3: I still get served with this stuff that really makes.
Speaker 4: Me kind of hate myself sometimes and it sucks, and
Speaker 4: it's so incredibly manipulative and insidious, and I think definitely
Speaker 4: don't journal in your phone ever. I would say, relegate
Speaker 4: that stuff to a pen and paper and path that
Speaker 4: you can walk away.
Speaker 3: Don't even read it out loud next to your phone.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, guys, I'm anxious about your thought because I
Speaker 4: know we've talked about is it paranoia to think that
Speaker 4: if we say something on the phone hears us all
Speaker 4: of a sudden it knows like I don't know.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, let me let me step back a second,
Speaker 3: and Noel, thank you for sharing sharing your experience with
Speaker 3: all of us, one that I imagine, most importantly will
Speaker 3: be common to many of our fellow conspiracy realists listening
Speaker 3: to to tonight's listener mail program. Charlie, most importantly, I
Speaker 3: want to thank you for your time writing in here.
Speaker 3: First off, social media and the advertising game overall will
Speaker 3: attempt to gaslight you, and those endeavors are somewhat successful.
Speaker 3: To the question that Nul raised here, the targeting works,
Speaker 3: but in in perhaps a couple different ways from what
Speaker 3: is commonly perceived or believed in the public sphere. The
Speaker 3: idea is more insidious than your phone's microphone hearing you.
Speaker 3: The idea is the following. If you are on a
Speaker 3: Wi Fi network right at a friend's house, it will
Speaker 3: conceivably possibly change the tenor of the ads you receive
Speaker 3: because there is access to the activity on that specific
Speaker 3: IP right, there's activity on that specific Wi Fi note
Speaker 3: And you will also perhaps notice the algorithms here are
Speaker 3: incredibly imperfect. But there's not a lot of what I
Speaker 3: would say supportive advertising. There's not a lot of add
Speaker 3: a boy, There's not a lot of hey, you're doing
Speaker 3: a great job. There is a lot of hey, here
Speaker 3: is a problem with you, and we would like your money.
Speaker 3: This is, unfortunately, the predatory nature of advertising, far before
Speaker 3: the advent of Internet connections. Yeah, I mean, that's why
Speaker 3: I was so blown away.
Speaker 4: That article is from twenty thirteen, and of course there's
Speaker 4: plenty of Internet connections, but just the ad targeting tech
Speaker 4: wasn't where it is today. And weirdly, the article didn't
Speaker 4: really even mention internet targeting. It was more talking about
Speaker 4: times of day that women are more likely to be
Speaker 4: thinking about their appearance. That's when things will will air.
Speaker 4: They will target those blocks of time. And just to
Speaker 4: think that as recently as ten years ago, the idea
Speaker 4: of when inter things broadcasting, which now just seems so
Speaker 4: quaint because it seems so much weren't personalized, individualistically targeted
Speaker 4: rather than you know, to you and your viewing experience,
Speaker 4: it's not going to be the same as somebody else's.
Speaker 3: I will note one thing that advertising is very good
Speaker 3: at is centering other people. Right, You'll you'll very unless
Speaker 3: there is a pr disaster, you'll very rarely get Nike saying,
Speaker 3: let's talk about us. Let's talk about like sticker Mule.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you guys saw this sticker you
Speaker 3: has put out a very tone deaf thing about in
Speaker 3: the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump. They want
Speaker 3: to also maybe sell some stickers and merche based on this.
Speaker 3: The thing about capitalism is capitalism is the system that
Speaker 3: has so far most effectively weaponized the ability of turning
Speaker 3: insecurity against the observer or the participant. Capitalism is the
Speaker 3: thing that here's a T shirt, or learns about a
Speaker 3: T shirt that says screw capitalism and then figures out
Speaker 3: how to better sell that T shirt, right, And the
Speaker 3: targeting advertising is I mean, I guess there are a few, Charlie.
Speaker 3: I guess there are a few legislative loose guide rails,
Speaker 3: but they're written with advertising interest right behind them. You know,
Speaker 3: like there's not a concerted effort, at least in the
Speaker 3: United States to protect vulnerable populations from being targeted in
Speaker 3: this way. And again, I'm really glad you shared this
Speaker 3: nool because it shows us just how much activity online
Speaker 3: is being monitored and weaponized against other people. And you know,
Speaker 3: not to sound conspiratorial or paranoid, perhaps a bit too
Speaker 3: late for me to say that, uh, you should keep
Speaker 3: pen and paper on these things. I thought your note
Speaker 3: about writing in notes on an internet connected phone was fascinating.
Speaker 2: Guys, doesn't it suck that we live in a system
Speaker 2: when we allow this system to break us each down individually, right,
Speaker 2: they bring it breaks us down on purpose to sell
Speaker 2: some stuff. It really does. And you know, I don't
Speaker 2: want to get too personal about it, but I think
Speaker 2: about watching ads. Just back when I would watch TV
Speaker 2: shows that had a bunch of ads in them, or
Speaker 2: if I was on YouTube and I was getting served
Speaker 2: a bunch of ads, or if I'm scrolling Instagram and
Speaker 2: you know, the the loud message is your penis doesn't work.
Speaker 3: Bro.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I know that's crass, but that's literally, Like, it's
Speaker 2: really interesting.
Speaker 4: It's a good breaking down on it, I mean, and
Speaker 4: it's something we've talked about. Well, the American Dream was
Speaker 4: a sales pitch from the start. So the idea of
Speaker 4: the deficiency, everything's aspirational. You're never good enough until you
Speaker 4: have this. You can't ever be the best you you
Speaker 4: can be unless you get this. This and this fascinating.
Speaker 5: But what does that do to us overall?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 2: I mean it's not good each individual person being completely
Speaker 2: broken down. I think about our conversations about cults. I
Speaker 2: think about our conversations, you know, about choosing to have
Speaker 2: the symbolic thing like a monetary system, and like there
Speaker 2: is one thing that can help you and it is this,
Speaker 2: and that one thing is the same thing that we
Speaker 2: are getting you to use to buy all of our
Speaker 2: stuff that we're breaking you down for.
Speaker 3: Right, Like, I get a lot of ads for subscription
Speaker 3: blood plans, which just seems untenable, you.
Speaker 2: Know, from a young from young people in the California area, like,
Speaker 2: we will give you out.
Speaker 3: I don't know about that, but I know yeah, wait
Speaker 3: what does that mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know what you mean. Oh the vampire, I
Speaker 2: see you.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: But the idea of targeting ads as well, like there
Speaker 3: are loose legislative guide rails for how old someone a
Speaker 3: human must be to interact online, right, what is it?
Speaker 3: Like the cutoff is for some social media platforms, it's
Speaker 3: like one must be thirteen year older or something like that.
Speaker 3: But I seem to recall that there were there were
Speaker 3: restrictions that, in theory, would prevent a young human child
Speaker 3: from say, getting an Instagram account or a TikTok account
Speaker 3: at the age of nine years old or something like that.
Speaker 3: Is that correct or was there any sand to that.
Speaker 3: I certainly feel like it's something that should be considered.
Speaker 4: And for me, that that that rabbit is already out
Speaker 4: of the hole. Is that the thing the batter's already
Speaker 4: have the bag? You know, the father of fifteen year
Speaker 4: old who's very connected internet speaking, but they have learned
Speaker 4: to self monitor, I think to a degree, And you
Speaker 4: get to a certain point where I think, I think
Speaker 4: the kids are more all right than we may think.
Speaker 4: But I do think there is something to be said
Speaker 4: about not shoving the iPad right in front of them
Speaker 4: when they're like five years old, just as like a babysitter,
Speaker 4: because then it becomes almost more of a parent than you,
Speaker 4: and then has more influence than you if you're not careful.
Speaker 4: And I just want to add Matt, I think your
Speaker 4: point is excellent and perfectly rendered. What I think these
Speaker 4: advertising tactics do is fill us up with holes inside
Speaker 4: that we can never truly fill. And that's what causes
Speaker 4: things like addiction. That's what causes things like dangerous behavior
Speaker 4: like thrilled seeking kind of behavior, risk taking. It's because
Speaker 4: we are filled, we are shot full of holes by
Speaker 4: these types of campaigns, and it's dangerous.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I saw it, guys.
Speaker 5: I saw a clip.
Speaker 2: It was just one of these random instant gram reels,
Speaker 2: but it was a clip from a documentary on food
Speaker 2: additives and specifically people whose job it is to create
Speaker 2: the flavor of a lemon. Right science, yes, yes, And
Speaker 2: there was a group of these people who were flavor scientists,
Speaker 2: and they're standing out in what appears to be an
Speaker 2: orchard or a vineyard, or something like that. I'm vaguely
Speaker 2: recalling it. And the person's interviewing them and just asking, well,
Speaker 2: so what are you really looking for when you were
Speaker 2: going to create a flavor, And one of the experts says,
Speaker 2: the absolute best thing that you're looking for is a
Speaker 2: burst of flavor that doesn't have a lasting effect. It's
Speaker 2: very quickly. It hits very quickly.
Speaker 3: It's like a that.
Speaker 2: But then the secondary another expert chimes in and he
Speaker 2: says the quiet part out loud. He says, yes, you
Speaker 2: you don't you want a short tail on it, so
Speaker 2: that you go back for another one.
Speaker 3: Chasing the dragon.
Speaker 2: And the interviewe said, as, oh, so you you're saying
Speaker 2: you want it to be addictive. That sounds like you
Speaker 2: want it to be addictive. And the the man who said, yeah,
Speaker 2: you don't want the long tail, he says, yeah, yes,
Speaker 2: actually absolutely addictive is a great word for it. And
Speaker 2: the first person who spoke who was talking about it
Speaker 2: in first yeah, yeah. They said, well, we want we
Speaker 2: want it to be craveable. You want it to be you.
Speaker 3: Knowle everybody please check out. UH wrote a ridiculous history
Speaker 3: episode on the history of artificial flavors flavoring, which may
Speaker 3: be worth the time we solve the banana conundrum. And uh,
Speaker 3: and the fruit stripe thing is very much on purpose. Also,
Speaker 3: juicy fruit is whiskey based.
Speaker 4: Just really yeah, it's chemical based. For damn sure, it's
Speaker 4: a weird one, but definitely check it out. But I
Speaker 4: think you're you're you're spot on, Ben, And all of
Speaker 4: this advertising stuff is a kind of a function of that.
Speaker 4: You're identifying a lack and then you're offering a solution,
Speaker 4: but it's not really a solution. It's a temporary solution
Speaker 4: you gotta buy more of and it only makes you
Speaker 4: feel good for a little bit, you know. And then
Speaker 4: there's a new thing that promise is better results, and
Speaker 4: it's that chasing the dragon that you're talking about, Ben,
Speaker 4: And I just want to say last thing and then
Speaker 4: we'll move on to to break in another least listener mail.
Speaker 4: I was looking on redded about this topic about you know,
Speaker 4: manipulative advertising, about you know, capitalizing on insecurities, and I'm
Speaker 4: on a post about this. Someone chimed in saying, my
Speaker 4: wife grew up in rural Vermont where they didn't have TV,
Speaker 4: internet or anything. And I swear that woman has zero
Speaker 4: sense of self loathing and it's awesome.
Speaker 2: So that's that's incredible, dude.
Speaker 4: It's just the same with that story about the the
Speaker 4: tribal folks that are now having all these trouble because.
Speaker 3: They got the Internet.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm just saying, you know, it's a tool,
Speaker 4: but it's like fire. It can warm you, warm your bones,
Speaker 4: but it can also burn your house down.
Speaker 3: So let's take a quick break and come back.
Speaker 2: And we've returned and we're jumping to the phone lines
Speaker 2: to hear from the King John. Now, word to the wise,
Speaker 2: this is two different voicemails that are smashed together into one.
Speaker 2: It's fairly long. Stick with it, take notes perhaps as
Speaker 2: we are going to and then we will return shortly.
Speaker 5: Here's King John.
Speaker 7: Hey, guys, this is King John. I got something that
Speaker 7: I know they don't want you to know. Do you
Speaker 7: know the doctors and have a conversation with your doctor
Speaker 7: about a prescribed healthcare plan that includes a very strict
Speaker 7: and very detailed diet alongside of a detailed and regimented
Speaker 7: exercise plan.
Speaker 6: If they write that down on the prescription, Dad, your
Speaker 6: insurance company was then I'm responsible for that treatment, which
Speaker 6: in this situation would include Kale Andrews twenty dollars a
Speaker 6: month your membership. The IRS has made this legal, like
Speaker 6: this is a completely legal thing. And for like all
Speaker 6: these years they've been screaming.
Speaker 7: You can do whatever you want, you can do whatever
Speaker 7: you want, and all that people.
Speaker 6: Have ever done, it's just say building shots the doctor.
Speaker 6: If you write that plam again, insurance company has to
Speaker 6: provide that care. Now, all of a sudden, the grocery
Speaker 6: builders got pay pot. What you need to look up
Speaker 6: is IRS publication five odes too, and it tells you
Speaker 6: right out of the gate you can learn about what
Speaker 6: medical expenses actually are. If you just keep scrolling down,
Speaker 6: you can see it actually says way possible. Then you
Speaker 6: clip on that and you start reading just fairly. The
Speaker 6: first thing that possibly eye is number one, you can
Speaker 6: include the costs of special food in medical expenses only
Speaker 6: if one the food doesn't satisfy normal nutrition, omeals the
Speaker 6: food elevate their treats the illness, or three the need
Speaker 6: for the food is substantiated by a physician.
Speaker 7: So again, the.
Speaker 6: Stuff they don't want you to know is that your
Speaker 6: insurance premiums can be paying for healthy food choice. They
Speaker 6: could be paying for your gym membership. The point is,
Speaker 6: go in there, say hey, bro, I want to eat tale,
Speaker 6: I don't want to eat chips. Help me write a
Speaker 6: detailed dietary plan. Tell me I need to go to
Speaker 6: the gym three times a week for thirty minutes a day.
Speaker 6: Tell me I need to spend five of those minutes
Speaker 6: a day on the treadmill. Right, write it down, and
Speaker 6: then you can start using hundreds of millions of dollars
Speaker 6: that are sitting there and accounts.
Speaker 8: For these kind of expenses.
Speaker 6: But either way, I'm done calling you guys. You guys,
Speaker 6: enjoy it. I love what you do.
Speaker 2: Thank you, tobyde Oh wow, King John, thank you so
Speaker 2: much for that information. Guys. This is very opening for
Speaker 2: me personally. I had no idea that this even was
Speaker 2: a thing until King John said this into our voicemail system.
Speaker 2: And I've gone down just a minor rabbit hole thus far.
Speaker 2: But I've definitely looked at that specific publication five h
Speaker 2: two that IRS dot gov has on its website. It's
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty three version that exists. You can find
Speaker 2: right now, and on page fourteen, guys, it says exactly
Speaker 2: what King John said that you can get basically through
Speaker 2: a prescription for food and exercise via a doctor. You
Speaker 2: can get your insurance company to pay for all that stuff, so.
Speaker 3: Long as one has the wherewithal to push against them
Speaker 3: if they attempt to reject it.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3: Oh also I want to real quick, King John, thank
Speaker 3: you you're my new favorite monarch.
Speaker 2: Hey, we generally don't like those round Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean yeah, not to make it about me, but
Speaker 3: that stance is pretty clear, King John for monarch.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting though, how like obscured it is though,
Speaker 4: because just this document, like a lot of the stuff
Speaker 4: that you're talking about is almost hiding in plain sight.
Speaker 4: Like you know, there is a section here about what
Speaker 4: medical expenses are includable, and there is a whole section
Speaker 4: where it says meals at a hospital are covered, but
Speaker 4: meals not part of impatient treatment are not covered. So
Speaker 4: you literally have to like get a medical practitioner to
Speaker 4: do you have to get diagnosed, usually with something to
Speaker 4: get insurance to cover it in the first place, like
Speaker 4: even mental health care.
Speaker 3: Well that's what John's saying, King John, excuse me, is saying,
Speaker 3: you know, essentially a doctor's note which insurance will respond
Speaker 3: to Is that correct, Matt, you're doing anything?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you're correct.
Speaker 2: It's just ah, this is an IRS document, right, which means,
Speaker 2: as you were saying, Ben, you gotta have find you know,
Speaker 2: some insurance company that is cool with the way this
Speaker 2: is worded. And wouldn't want to battle the words specifically
Speaker 2: in a court of law because.
Speaker 3: Of representation to keep them honest.
Speaker 2: Probably arbitration is how it would be. But it says
Speaker 2: you can't include the cost of diet food or beverages
Speaker 2: in medical expenses because the diet food and beverages substitute
Speaker 2: what is normally consumed to satisfy nutritional needs. And King
Speaker 2: John said this part you can include the cost of
Speaker 2: special food in medical expenses only if and then it
Speaker 2: lists three things and it doesn't say or. It says and,
Speaker 2: which is very important. So the food doesn't satisfy normal
Speaker 2: nutritional needs, the food alleviates or treats an illness, and
Speaker 2: the need for the food is substantial by a physician.
Speaker 2: That and is one of those things that I bet
Speaker 2: you could argue all day in court.
Speaker 3: That AND's doing a lot of work, right.
Speaker 2: Because it's not an and or Nope, it's an addition
Speaker 2: to exactly. But I man just hearing this from somebody
Speaker 2: who King John, you speak very confidently about this in
Speaker 2: a way that you know your stuff. I'd love to
Speaker 2: if you want to call back in and just give
Speaker 2: us just how you know this, even that would be great.
Speaker 2: An email would be great, That would be really really great.
Speaker 2: But there is something to this because business insiders talking
Speaker 2: about NPR has been talking about it for a while.
Speaker 2: They are saying that you can get a prescription for
Speaker 2: healthy foods for like a basically stuff that comes from
Speaker 2: a local farmer's market, from your doctor.
Speaker 3: You know what I love about this bet and what
Speaker 3: I love about this, King John, There's something that calls
Speaker 3: out to the act of this to me, the idea
Speaker 3: of food security right, which should which, by the way,
Speaker 3: low key. It doesn't make it to the news often,
Speaker 3: but low key food security is national security, which is
Speaker 3: why the European Union has all those crazy subsidies to
Speaker 3: make sure you can still grow food in the European Union.
Speaker 3: So the idea of combating food deserts this way is
Speaker 3: tremendous and it would be How amazing would it be
Speaker 3: where they're a positive just to finish this part, how
Speaker 3: amazing would it be were they're a positive conspiracy to
Speaker 3: empower people to fight against food deserts.
Speaker 4: I mean, I just remember when I was a lot younger,
Speaker 4: and it was a young parent, you know, and not
Speaker 4: established in a career and still kind of finishing college,
Speaker 4: and it was unexpected. I you know, that we were
Speaker 4: on government food assistance for a little while.
Speaker 3: And there's nothing wrong with that, No, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: It was how we did it for a time, and
Speaker 4: absolutely nothing wrong with it. But what I'm saying is
Speaker 4: in Georgia, or maybe it was specific to Athens, because
Speaker 4: Athletes is kind of a bit of a progressive little
Speaker 4: bubble in some In many ways, you could take your
Speaker 4: Wick points or whatever it was and get double their
Speaker 4: value at the Athens Farmers Market, which was a weekly
Speaker 4: fresh fruits and vegetables and meats, you know, different vendors
Speaker 4: from around the state. You'd get two for one for
Speaker 4: your dollar basically. And I think that was a really
Speaker 4: good program to encourage eating better, eating whole foods and
Speaker 4: fruits and vegetables and things like that. And I just
Speaker 4: wonder if there's anything like that, you know, going on anymore.
Speaker 2: Yes, it does appear that there are several programs. There's
Speaker 2: one that the Business Insider is talking about specifically in
Speaker 2: they're calling it Low Income Neighborhoods in twelve different states,
Speaker 2: including California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Minnesota where they
Speaker 2: had PACE. There were patients in all those states who
Speaker 2: had higher risk for cardiovascular problems and they were basically
Speaker 2: provided classes and then a fairly small amount of monthly
Speaker 2: money to specifically buy produce fruits and vegetables. And this
Speaker 2: is a study that was done basically to see if
Speaker 2: the fruits and vegetables actually played a role in those
Speaker 2: places that have food insecurity, right, where if you are
Speaker 2: using a program like WICK, or you're not using a
Speaker 2: program like WICK, what are the food choices?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: And then how how does that change somebody's overall health?
Speaker 2: It is a little weird. They found that the changes
Speaker 2: in diet that were provided by this program were only
Speaker 2: about half as effective as the primary medicines that would
Speaker 2: be prescribed for somebody who is at risk for cardiovascular
Speaker 2: disease or something like that. But still that's not too shabby,
Speaker 2: and it's not exactly related to what we're talking about here,
Speaker 2: but it is.
Speaker 5: It's something close.
Speaker 3: I would argue, with great respect to interject here that
Speaker 3: they are related in that they are preventative medicine. Nutrition
Speaker 3: is preventative medicine at its core. You know, not to
Speaker 3: quote stick Man too often, but stick if you're listening
Speaker 3: big fans, let your food be your medicine as right
Speaker 3: on that that respect, and the argument is here that
Speaker 3: it is simple. It is simple to empower people with
Speaker 3: access to preventative medicine phrased as both healthy food and
Speaker 3: phrased as what you're describing there, Matt, like the preventative
Speaker 3: you know, medications that are required to be prescribed by
Speaker 3: a doctor. Now will future historians look back and say
Speaker 3: it's an unnecessary series of hoops for someone to have
Speaker 3: to jump through just to get some food that doesn't
Speaker 3: hurt them later perhaps, but we'll have to wait until
Speaker 3: we're in the future to say that. What I really
Speaker 3: appreciate about King John your message here is that you
Speaker 3: are by by sending us this, and Matt, thank you
Speaker 3: for sharing this, we are empowering everybody listening. You know,
Speaker 3: we know it's a slog. Private insurance often tries to
Speaker 3: kill people with paperwork, and I would argue that is
Speaker 3: not hyperbole, not.
Speaker 2: To well, It's helped us learn about things like project
Speaker 2: open Hand, which is something I had never heard of before.
Speaker 2: Apparently there's one in Atlanta, guys. You can go to
Speaker 2: openhand Atlanta dot org to learn about this. But they
Speaker 2: are providing what is essentially or what they're calling food
Speaker 2: as medicine, so like specifically prepared foods to help people
Speaker 2: with certain maladies, whatever they're going through. It seems really interesting.
Speaker 2: You know, you can, I don't know you can argue
Speaker 2: the science behind nutrition as the most important thing and
Speaker 2: to be used as a medicine or.
Speaker 5: Herbs or all that other stuff.
Speaker 2: But it does seem like there is efficacy here when
Speaker 2: it comes to getting certain nutrition for certain maladies, right,
Speaker 2: certain vitamins and minerals that will play a part in,
Speaker 2: let's say, preventing heart disease or at least pushing it back.
Speaker 2: It's really interesting stuff. I want to learn more about them.
Speaker 2: I don't know enough yet as of this momach so
Speaker 2: I just found their website. But it's very very cool.
Speaker 2: Oh and guys, I think we have time for one
Speaker 2: more quick message. Our goodpal Brock Nests send us a
Speaker 2: quick message and it's just for us, I think, but
Speaker 2: let's go ahead and.
Speaker 8: Here got I can't put even nerve. Yeah, I'm listening
Speaker 8: to this podcast trying to forget about how I'm going
Speaker 8: to die, and then you remind me that everything I
Speaker 8: do is because I'm trying to distract myself from the
Speaker 8: fact that I'm going to die. What I would like
Speaker 8: to speak to the manager, By the way, it's the
Speaker 8: Brocknest Monster, and I'm totally kidding. A great day.
Speaker 5: Bye, here you go conversation.
Speaker 2: All right, while we take this quick break, we'll send
Speaker 2: the manager your way, brock Nest Monster.
Speaker 5: Okay, we'll be right back.
Speaker 3: And we have returned. Brock always good to hear from you.
Speaker 3: Fantatology that's the fancy word for the study of death.
Speaker 3: The book that we reference there is the denial of death.
Speaker 3: That is the theory proposed. Shout out to our pal
Speaker 3: Josh Clark, who is out Egypt. Wade now as you
Speaker 3: hear this, well, maybe back, but let me save you
Speaker 3: some time and say that the thesis of that is
Speaker 3: exactly as put in the earlier conversation. The the concept
Speaker 3: being that people generally do things that are recreational beyond
Speaker 3: reproductive or survival needs entirely to distract themselves from mortality.
Speaker 3: Speaking of segues, here here is a response we got
Speaker 3: from a good friend of ours out in the Netherlands
Speaker 3: talking about a situation that fascinates a lot of us
Speaker 3: here on the show and hopefully you as well, folks.
Speaker 3: Most importantly, our buddy Luke writes in regarding the concept
Speaker 3: of these mandatory speed limitters, which is a real thing.
Speaker 3: Let's just give you the long and short of it,
Speaker 3: Luke says, a Hi, guys, just wanted to point out
Speaker 3: some corrections in your most recent Strange News program, First Geography,
Speaker 3: you may have mixed up Ireland and Scotland. You mentioned
Speaker 3: that the new regulations regarding speed limits would be active
Speaker 3: if you just drive north enough from London. That is
Speaker 3: not the case. The island of Great Britain, which encompasses England,
Speaker 3: Wales and Scotland, would not be affected because the UK
Speaker 3: is no longer part of the EU. Pausing here for
Speaker 3: a second, because Matt, I think we talked through that
Speaker 3: a little bit.
Speaker 2: That might have been my bad. Maybe I said you
Speaker 2: drive north. Just so everybody is aware, Ireland is a
Speaker 2: whole separate thing from the UK.
Speaker 3: Well part of it.
Speaker 5: Well, well.
Speaker 2: Yes, but if you're looking at on a map, it
Speaker 2: is like a whole separate island essentially.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, geographically yes.
Speaker 2: Yes, drive there unless you drive onto a boat and
Speaker 2: then that boat drives across the water and does.
Speaker 3: That counts yes, of course, which what about a case
Speaker 3: ad you. So that's a great point, so Luke continues. Therefore,
Speaker 3: if you drive just north from London, you will not
Speaker 3: encounter cars that have the new speed limit regulations. It
Speaker 3: will only be active in the European Union. This includes,
Speaker 3: to our earlier point, the Republic of Ireland because it
Speaker 3: is an EU member, as well as Northern Ireland, which
Speaker 3: is not in the EU but has to comply with
Speaker 3: many EU regulations. Because to your note, Matt, it is
Speaker 3: on the same island. Yeah, it's like it's gonna look
Speaker 3: so funny in the future. Always say yeah, it's the
Speaker 3: same island, but not really. It's like Cyprus all over again,
Speaker 3: hopefully with less less bloody fallout. So Luke says, the
Speaker 3: Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland they share their customs area,
Speaker 3: they share the same roads, they share the same infrastructure.
Speaker 3: And then Luke says something that I think a lot
Speaker 3: of US will find valid. The United Kingdom made a
Speaker 3: really bad deal during Brexit regarding Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland
Speaker 3: has to basically follow a lot of EU regulations while
Speaker 3: the UK no longer has a say in those regulations
Speaker 3: and no longer receives EU subsidies in Northern Ireland, while
Speaker 3: also having to comply with EU standards and suggest a
Speaker 3: future episode on Northern Ireland, which fully is fascinating, I believe. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: let's do it. Let's do it. So it also in
Speaker 3: essence just to stop here, just have a restroom stop
Speaker 3: here or rest stop here as we call them the US.
Speaker 3: This is totally understandable. You have to do all the
Speaker 3: requirements of the EU, yet you don't get the perceived
Speaker 3: benefits of being in the EU. It's kind of like
Speaker 3: having to pay your dues to a YMCA and not
Speaker 3: ever getting to visit that YMCA.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's not a fun situation to be in.
Speaker 3: And I'm sure Brussels is very happy that a couple
Speaker 3: of Americans are referring to their great experiment as a YMCA. Secondly,
Speaker 3: our buddy gives us fascinating commentary in a way that
Speaker 3: was new to me about the state of automotive culture
Speaker 3: in the EU overall. And again this is a conspiracy
Speaker 3: realist from Amsterdam, a polyglot, as we'll find. So Luke says,
Speaker 3: the speed limit thing is not such a contentious issue
Speaker 3: here in the European Union because personal vehicle ownership is
Speaker 3: not closely associated with freedom. If you live in a
Speaker 3: city or even a suburb, like many Europeans do, personal
Speaker 3: vehicle ownership has actually become kind of rare. And get
Speaker 3: this guy's associated with a lack of freedom. Huh, right,
Speaker 3: so directly opposite of what many Americans think. Right but
Speaker 3: how though? But how but how luckily Luke's here for
Speaker 3: us and says, great question. Matt, says Luke, because owning
Speaker 3: a car means that it's usually the only only option
Speaker 3: you have available, whereas not owning a car means that
Speaker 3: you have usually a lot of options, for example, metro bus, walking,
Speaker 3: cycle trains, rental cars if you wish. The car ownership
Speaker 3: concept has become a kind of symbol for the lack
Speaker 3: of freedom with that twentieth century car centric infrastructure forces
Speaker 3: us into like we see when we visit US cities.
Speaker 3: So it goes back to the old philosophical problem of
Speaker 3: who is the prisoner? Right, It depends on which side
Speaker 3: of the bars you see yourself.
Speaker 2: But I have a hold on, hold on there, Luke.
Speaker 2: If you've got a car, does that mean you can't
Speaker 2: do those other things? You can't also have a bike
Speaker 2: or walk?
Speaker 3: I'm really glad you brought that up. I'm sorry I'm
Speaker 3: making like a a gene Roddenberry Willie Walker face. But yes, yes,
Speaker 3: it's a good question. It is because ostensibly having a
Speaker 3: car would consign so one to continual financial expenditures, right, obviously,
Speaker 3: But then it would not exclude one from utilizing those
Speaker 3: other resources. Just walk to places, right, or you'll just
Speaker 3: hop on your bike, you know. Luke continues and says,
Speaker 3: I personally don't know many people who own a car,
Speaker 3: and I wouldn't be able to name someone who bought
Speaker 3: one in the last five years. In my circle of acquaintances.
Speaker 3: The only people who will discuss speed limit regulation with
Speaker 3: me are on ironically, US ex patriots. Most of my
Speaker 3: fellow EU citizens wouldn't even know why to be upset
Speaker 3: about it. I don't know. I mean, it's a great
Speaker 3: question because it's a very different culture, right, Like if
Speaker 3: we were living in a large metro area of the
Speaker 3: European Union. Let me ask you this, would you guys
Speaker 3: own a car? I don't know now.
Speaker 4: I mean same with like New York City. I mean,
Speaker 4: it's almost like more trouble than it's worth. You have
Speaker 4: to house the car, you got to pay for a
Speaker 4: parting spot. It's just logistically very difficult unless you're needing
Speaker 4: it to go on a long trip. Just doesn't make
Speaker 4: any sense. For the most part. People can get by
Speaker 4: with renting a car if they need one for like
Speaker 4: a short term use for taking a road trip, But
Speaker 4: in an urban situation like that that has decent public transit,
Speaker 4: it's just way more trouble and expense than it's worth.
Speaker 2: I think my brain, I think my experience might be
Speaker 2: too bubbled here, Guys. I can't imagine not having a vehicle.
Speaker 2: I honestly can't, just because I've never lived like in
Speaker 2: a city, you know, in a very densely populated city area,
Speaker 2: like in an apartment or something where I do feel
Speaker 2: like everything's walkable or something. I'm just I've never had
Speaker 2: that experience. So to me, if I didn't have a car,
Speaker 2: I couldn't get groceries unless I, you know, did a
Speaker 2: series of public transit or something to where I.
Speaker 5: Could carry those groceries.
Speaker 2: I guess I've just you know, because of my experience,
Speaker 2: I cannot imagine not owning a vehicle.
Speaker 4: There are certainly people that move to the big city
Speaker 4: and share that perspective, and we'll hold onto their car
Speaker 4: they figure they feel that it's worth it. Or if
Speaker 4: you live in certain parts of like Brooklyn, say you
Speaker 4: can find street parking around up a place that you've
Speaker 4: that you're renting, but you gotta move it for street cleaning.
Speaker 4: There's all kinds of extra little things that you have
Speaker 4: to think about. It can get to a point where
Speaker 4: you're like, is it worth it? Because even if you're
Speaker 4: you know, if you're in Brooklyn or any part close
Speaker 4: to like a metro area like that, you can do
Speaker 4: your grocery shopping by walking down the street. And you
Speaker 4: can do it a little at a time, because why
Speaker 4: they got all those little bodegas.
Speaker 3: You know, you don't have to do the big shop.
Speaker 4: You just kind of shop for what you need when
Speaker 4: you need it, and just bring it in a sack,
Speaker 4: you know, up to up your stairs and there you go.
Speaker 3: The European Lucifer approaches you by your street parking and says,
Speaker 3: what do you carrying all those bricks for? Kevin, It
Speaker 3: is true that the Western Europe, as Luke says, basically,
Speaker 3: any small, medium or large town offers great or adequate
Speaker 3: public transit and has walkable, cyclable neighborhoods. To your point,
Speaker 3: and if you really need a car, says Luke, there's
Speaker 3: the opportunity to rent cars, maybe just for an hour
Speaker 3: or for a few days. And Luke says where they live,
Speaker 3: public transport providers have an integrated system where you can
Speaker 3: use buses, trains, ferries and subways, as well as rental
Speaker 3: bikes and rental cars should you need one with one
Speaker 3: card for all of the things. All of that's super cool.
Speaker 3: That's not a thing in the United States. Not no,
Speaker 3: and Luke says these are insummation. These are the reasons
Speaker 3: why the EU speed limit regulation hasn't had a lot
Speaker 3: of opposition in Western Europe. It doesn't impact as many
Speaker 3: people because car ownership rates are not that high to
Speaker 3: begin with, and the safety advantages of speed limit regulation
Speaker 3: outweigh theoretical disadvantages. Greetings from Amsterdam, Love your show, we're
Speaker 3: gonna call We're gonna call this conspiracy realist, Luke, and
Speaker 3: we're gonna Before we get to our closing act, I
Speaker 3: want to give a big shout out to a very
Speaker 3: like Netherlands Holland esque joke that Luke makes ending the
Speaker 3: letter with apologies for grammar mistakes. English is my fourth language.
Speaker 3: I'm brushings, brushing the shoulders. Yeah, and it was beautifully written.
Speaker 3: There were no grammar mistakes, Luke. Luke, you nailed it that,
Speaker 3: I said.
Speaker 4: I actually read that out loud to uh, to my
Speaker 4: my kid and their mom. I thought that was just
Speaker 4: a funny thing, very clever. It probably likely meant to
Speaker 4: be self deprecating. I don't think it was like a flex.
Speaker 4: I think it was genuine.
Speaker 3: I don't know, man, I've hung out in Amsterdam and
Speaker 3: that that's kind of vibe with the comedy, the comedy scene.
Speaker 3: Good will be beautiful people. Before we close this evening's
Speaker 3: listener mail started a thing a little while back called
Speaker 3: letters from Home, not pertinent news, not necessarily responses to stuff,
Speaker 3: just find how you doing a little bit of a
Speaker 3: prairie home Companion and the torch has been picked up collectively,
Speaker 3: so Noel, you found a letter from home that you
Speaker 3: would like to share, and I think we're all super
Speaker 3: on board with it. Just a quick one.
Speaker 4: And this is where we're gonna have to give a nickname,
Speaker 4: because this is an individual that I believe would want
Speaker 4: his name out there because he's a published author, Matt Ingwilson,
Speaker 4: and he had this to say. And yesterday strange news episode,
Speaker 4: you wondered what if absolutely everyone had all their passwords
Speaker 4: stolen at once. I couldn't resist emailing you to tell you.
Speaker 4: That's the exact setup of my novel, The Nihilisticicats, which
Speaker 4: is a really clever name. The characters also investigate other conspiracies,
Speaker 4: such as whether Wyoming exists and the suspiciously sequential numbering
Speaker 4: of city Street. I'll paste the description down below, more
Speaker 4: than happy to send you a copy if that sounds interesting.
Speaker 4: That does sound interesting, going to read a quick blast
Speaker 4: through of this synopsis.
Speaker 3: Web World has been hacked.
Speaker 4: The private information of every American posted to servers foreign
Speaker 4: and domestic, So the government makes a special one time
Speaker 4: offer start over with the identity of your choosing and
Speaker 4: get a spiffy neo ameraphone and clean SSN in return.
Speaker 3: I just thought that was really cool.
Speaker 4: Concept and it came up organically in our conversation, and Matt,
Speaker 4: I appreciate you writing in.
Speaker 3: And the Indie Reader.
Speaker 4: Called this novel over the top fun the best pop
Speaker 4: culture novel of twenty twenty four. So you can't find
Speaker 4: it on Amazon and anywhere you get ebooks or books
Speaker 4: of any kind. And yeah, I really hope that Matt
Speaker 4: said is a copy. I'm looking forward to reading it
Speaker 4: and that.
Speaker 3: It's as you know. I'm sure it's very important to
Speaker 3: me to support authors earning creative endeavors. So I have
Speaker 3: actually already start to scouting out a way to order
Speaker 3: your book. I want to support you and thank you.
Speaker 3: It's funny how many great authors and musicians we get
Speaker 3: writing in to say, hey, this thing you all explored
Speaker 3: is actually something that was on my mind as well,
Speaker 3: So thank you so much. This helps us know we're
Speaker 3: moving in the right direction. Speaking of moving, here is
Speaker 3: a letter from home from someone that we have not
Speaker 3: spoken with directly but am very proud of. I want
Speaker 3: to give a special shout out to our super producer,
Speaker 3: code named Doc Holliday, who looked a bit of skance
Speaker 3: at this at this name. We're going to hear from
Speaker 3: an astronaut named doctor Sean Proctor. That's right, doctor Proctor.
Speaker 3: Kind of like you know Marshall brain kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: So doctor Proctor is the oh, it's a good run.
Speaker 3: Is the first black woman to pilot a spaceship and
Speaker 3: the first person this is a true story to paint
Speaker 3: in space, to make art visual art in the painting
Speaker 3: medium in space. Awesome, awesome stuff, especially for those of
Speaker 3: us who you know, you see people change in the world.
Speaker 3: And one time I fell asleep trying to put on
Speaker 3: a pair of pants, So there's a lot of context
Speaker 3: in that one. I appreciate that. Look there, Matt, I
Speaker 3: thought it might be fun to read a little bit
Speaker 3: of doctor Proctor's real life Trip Advisor review of living
Speaker 3: in space. You're ready, okay, all right, So I'll just
Speaker 3: give you the headings and then we'll pick maybe one
Speaker 3: or two to read. So we've got location, sleep quality, ambiance, amenities, transportation, cleanliness,
Speaker 3: food rooms, views, recreational area, overall experience. If you had
Speaker 3: to choose one, if we each chose one, what would
Speaker 3: you want to hear first?
Speaker 2: How about recreation? What are we getting up to in space?
Speaker 3: Fantastic. Doctor Proctor finds recreational areas in space of five
Speaker 3: out of five and folks Yes, five is the highest
Speaker 3: rating in this particular trip Advisor review. Doctor Proctor says
Speaker 3: painting in space was a highlight of my life and
Speaker 3: easier than I imagined. I'm thankful to my crew for
Speaker 3: giving me the time and space to be able to
Speaker 3: complete from scratch a beautiful water painting of afro Gaya,
Speaker 3: Mother Earth surrounded by earthlight under a rising sun and
Speaker 3: a dragon capsule referring to dragons and space exploration. The
Speaker 3: hardest part was keeping myself stable. I was weaving and
Speaker 3: bobbing as I tried to paint. Still five to five
Speaker 3: good vacation sounds.
Speaker 5: Like dar I want to see that specialized water paint
Speaker 5: set up.
Speaker 3: I was thinking the same thing.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's like when you hear about how using the toilet works.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you make like a bubble of water and
Speaker 2: suspended just those little metal point things in.
Speaker 4: Or I guess so without the special gear, wouldn't you
Speaker 4: end up with blobs of paint kind of just like
Speaker 4: floating around blogging up your instruments.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when you end up with sort of a non
Speaker 3: consensual art project.
Speaker 4: Now that being said, there could be if you had
Speaker 4: a specialized room. You know all those kind of a
Speaker 4: little bit pretentious painters that suspend themselves in some sort
Speaker 4: of harness situation and just sort of, you know, drag
Speaker 4: the paintbrush across the of the giant canvas or splatter
Speaker 4: or whatever. What if you did that with zero gravity
Speaker 4: and we're able to kind of like throw paint and
Speaker 4: have it disperse in a zero gravity situation, that could
Speaker 4: yield some interesting results.
Speaker 3: The shadows of Pollock, right, and Noel, do you have
Speaker 3: one out of those things we outlined, do you know
Speaker 3: one that you want to hear about? A specific one? Again?
Speaker 3: There are locations, sleep quality, ambience, amenities, transportation.
Speaker 4: Oh well, I always make my travel arrangements based on ambiance.
Speaker 3: Ah, yes, yes, yes, yes, here we go. Ambiance good news.
Speaker 3: Five out of five. Doctor Proctor says. We spent our
Speaker 3: entire three days in space inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule,
Speaker 3: and the ambiance was serene. There is the constant hum
Speaker 3: of fans circulating airflow throughout the cabin, which acts as
Speaker 3: white noise. Because you can float, the entire volume of
Speaker 3: the capsule is available to claim is space you can occupy.
Speaker 3: Sounds pretty cozy, to be honest, not bad, it does.
Speaker 3: I'm I'm hearing some ellipses, Matt.
Speaker 2: There are. I have an issue sometimes with like certain
Speaker 2: sign waves, like standing waves with fans, like worrying and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. I've got a mental thing going on
Speaker 2: with some of that. And I wonder if astronauts keep
Speaker 2: specialized you know, hearing protection something like that that reduces
Speaker 2: certain frequencies when they're up there because of that constant
Speaker 2: hum m.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. I guess we'll have to
Speaker 3: get up there. You know. We were going to go
Speaker 3: on a road trip at some point, but maybe we
Speaker 3: should just go to space.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well is it clean though?
Speaker 1: Ah?
Speaker 3: Oh, nice one, Matt.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The one thing spoiler that is not a five to five.
Speaker 3: And doctor Proctor's trip Advisor review of a vacation in
Speaker 3: space is glenliness, which gets a four out of five.
Speaker 3: Still a great score, Still a great score, you know,
Speaker 3: and doctor Procter says the following, We did a great
Speaker 3: job of keeping our capsule tidy. There are storage bins
Speaker 3: for pretty much everything. The only issue was our water bottles.
Speaker 3: Each bottle has a tiny velcrow dot that used to
Speaker 3: stick to the wall of the capsule, but they get
Speaker 3: dislodged and they float around, which is such a small issue, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's better than the mountain dew bottles that have
Speaker 2: urine in them floating around.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 3: Oh, that was you were there.
Speaker 2: Yep, that's right.
Speaker 3: You know. It reminds me because it's it's such a
Speaker 3: nice letter from home. It also makes me think of
Speaker 3: the old joke, Oh God, Noel, you probably saw me
Speaker 3: do this one live, that there is a worst person
Speaker 3: of every profession somewhere out there in the world. Is
Speaker 3: the world's worst A yeah, it's gotta be.
Speaker 4: I mean, just it would have to be determined based
Speaker 4: on stats, you know what I mean, like, and it
Speaker 4: would probably wouldn't be instantly apparent, and they'd probably still
Speaker 4: be quite smart and have done very well in school
Speaker 4: and in general would be competent at their job.
Speaker 3: But if you put them side by side.
Speaker 4: Uh yeah, one of them is gonna come up as
Speaker 4: the worst, the world's worst.
Speaker 3: I think the way we joked about it was they're
Speaker 3: getting the news about the next launch and the crew,
Speaker 3: and then someone says, and we'll have Neili's mission specialist
Speaker 3: and then everybody in the room goes o meal to
Speaker 3: a guy who's always hammered at Applebee's.
Speaker 2: Chocolate two for you know whatever, guys.
Speaker 5: The website Inverse has a twenty sixteen article titled the
Speaker 5: ten worst Astronauts of All Time, and they name actual astronauts.
Speaker 3: Hey, and I did not write that one. To be clear,
Speaker 3: I would not in real life disparage the Great Mission
Speaker 3: to Space.
Speaker 5: They put Alan Shepherd on there is number eight.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Well, astronauts, give us your hot takes.
Speaker 3: We'll keep you anonymous if you wish, knowing that you
Speaker 3: exist in literal rarefied air. Give me a rim shot there.
Speaker 6: Thank you to.
Speaker 3: No, that's perfect. Let's get both of them because that
Speaker 3: was a horrible joke. Big big thanks to Radical Moderate,
Speaker 3: big big thanks to Julia, to King John, to author
Speaker 3: Matt ing Wilson, to Charlie, to doctor Proctor, of course,
Speaker 3: to everyone who tuned in. We greatly appreciate your time.
Speaker 3: Will be back with more explorations, past the street lights,
Speaker 3: past the edges of the known maps. We can't wait
Speaker 3: for you to join us. We try to be easy
Speaker 3: to find online.
Speaker 4: Sure find us on the internet, your social media hub
Speaker 4: of choice at the handle Conspiracy Stuff where we exist
Speaker 4: on Facebook where our Facebook group. Here's where it gets
Speaker 4: crazy you too, with video content coming at you on
Speaker 4: the regular at AXFKA, Twitter, on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3: However, we are conspiracy Stuff show b.
Speaker 2: Like King John and call one eight three three std
Speaker 2: WYTK when you call in, give yourself a cool nickname
Speaker 2: and let us know if we can use that name
Speaker 2: and your message on one of these listener mail episodes.
Speaker 2: If you got more to say I think can fit
Speaker 2: three minutes, why not instead shoot us a good old
Speaker 2: fashioned email.
Speaker 3: We are the entity that read every single piece of
Speaker 3: correspondence we receive. Be well aware of folks, but not scared.
Speaker 3: I just want you to know that sometimes the void
Speaker 3: writes back. Quick correction there, Radical Moderate. As you're hearing this,
Speaker 3: I mentioned your name, but I did not play your
Speaker 3: voicemail yet. So stay tuned next week and conspiracy Realist.
Speaker 3: You might be a part of next week's program Conspiracy
Speaker 3: at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2: Stuff They Don't Want You to Know is a production
Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio
Speaker 2: app Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,