SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
Dramas, please.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:13]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:20]
This is life
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:21]
with a twist of lemon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:25]
John, I am
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:27]
really
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:28]
really sorry.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:29]
I
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:30]
completely slipped up and forgot what we were doing tonight.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:35]
I forgive you, Stan. Just don't let it happen again.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:38]
So when you called me, I was I I just finished installing a ring doorbell,
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:44]
at my house, which is why I was totally not in the mindset of paying attention to my calendar,
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:50]
and subsequently I can here I am.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:53]
I can see some boxes behind you. Must be aftermath.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:57]
No. Those are actually separate projects. So the the ring box is
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:01]
considerably smaller.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:03]
Got it. I I had this it was bit of an adventure, so I thought that the frame around the door
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:08]
would have enough room to install the ring, but it did not. And so I needed to install it onto
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:14]
the con or excuse me, the brick face
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:17]
of my house.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:19]
And in order to do that, like, you can't just drill into it. Right? You need a masonry bit. You need a hammer drill. And I got out my hammer drill, and I had a lot of fun. And missus Lemon was really concerned at the the noise that it made on the block. So Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:34]
But Fun. It's installed.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:37]
Oh, that's good. Got further with your doorbell than we did with mine. Yeah. Well, I didn't have to wire mine up. The, the thing that's gonna be interesting is I'm not sure if this will actually be a home safety feature or if it'll just be something that my kids play with.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:53]
Probably the latter. Yeah. That's kinda what I'm saying. Seems pretty off the beaten path and
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:59]
safe.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:00]
Well and I have, like, what, three or four police officers on my block, let alone, like Right. Probably a dozen in my subdivision. So yeah, pretty safe, but I'll have it nonetheless.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:12]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:13]
And now you can see when you get packages instead of just letting them sit out there. Well, again, I sit right outside the door, so it's not usually a problem. But I I don't know. You know, it's it'll be interesting. I'm I'm intrigued by it. The app is pretty slick. I think they did a good job.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:27]
And, you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:29]
it's one other weird creepy way to
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:32]
monitor my home, I guess.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:35]
And is it it must be connected to the Internet because you can get notifications when you're away from the house. So Yeah. Where's where's all the data stored?
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:44]
In well okay. So there's two there's two bits to this. First of all, so you get a notification,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:49]
and then it connects to you, and you actually there's a camera on it. So you see ten eighty p, and then you can also talk to the individual
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:58]
that is waiting at the door.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:00]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:01]
there's a subscription service that will store video in the cloud. I am probably not going to pay for that. So it'll just stream to my phone, and then that's that. So there's no storage. Interesting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:11]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:12]
It's Ring. Ring is owned by Amazon,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:15]
I think. Right? Is that correct?
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:18]
I have no idea. I have to check. I feel like Ring has been bought up. Anyhow Daniel Sanchez is yelling at you because you're stupid and don't know this. Oh my gosh. No. I'm pretty sure it is because they gave me a free Echo Dot, which was kind of ironic since I don't use the Echo.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:34]
But
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:35]
You could though. You have one,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:37]
an original one. I have two Echo's not counting the new one that arrived.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:44]
What?
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:45]
Yeah. I've got I have a I had a dot in my master bedroom Ah. In addition to the main one on the Main Floor, all of which are collecting dust in a drawer, and now I have the new generation dot.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:55]
So, you know, what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:58]
Why do you have the new generation dot? They they literally gave it to me free with the ring. With the ring? Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:05]
So Well,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:06]
if you don't want them to collect dust, then you just wanna get rid of them. I know somebody who's pro Amazon Echo.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:12]
Alright. Well, for the small fee of $19.99 plus shipping and handling.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:19]
Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:20]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:21]
the boxes that you see behind me, John, are other projects. This is like project week. My kids are out of town with their grandparents.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:29]
I've got in in those boxes, I have a, piece of track lighting I'm gonna put up in the main room, and then there's also a grab bar for the,
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:37]
bathroom downstairs
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:38]
here. Those are the two immediate projects.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:41]
I I'm trying to think if I got anything else that I'm gonna do in the next two days. That might just be it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:47]
Sounds like
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:49]
being decently productive for a couple days being home.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:53]
I I enjoy having projects like this. The next one that I wanna tackle, I wanna install some more shelving shelving in my kids', closets.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:01]
It's funny. Their their bedrooms you know, like, you build a house with multiple bedrooms, you assume you're gonna have kids in some of them. All of the shelves are too tall for them to be able to reach.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:11]
So I'm gonna put it on another tier,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:14]
and then we can kinda do, you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:17]
important stuff on the bottom, plus this important stuff on the top.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:20]
Nice.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:22]
That sounds like not a project for the next couple days. Yeah. It might be. We'll see.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:27]
We'll see.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:29]
So anyhow, all this is to say, like, just explain why I was late getting on the podcast.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:34]
The the thing this is not what I intended to talk about. What I intended to talk about was to circle around to your thirtieth birthday because, John,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:44]
the celebration did not finish with the surprise party you told us about, did it?
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:49]
It did not,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:52]
which is crazy.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:53]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:56]
Saturday,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:57]
Saturday,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:58]
we were gonna have our good friends, the Sanchez's over. They're good friends because they've both given us five stars on iTunes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:06]
For lunch, beforehand,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:08]
Daniel Sanchez from Iowa wanted to go out and golf.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:12]
It was raining,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:14]
so he wanted to check out this virtual
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:17]
golf indoor thing at some bar, which was interesting.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:22]
I had two extra people show up there, friend from church and my boss, Josh McNary,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:28]
and we virtual golfed. I don't remember what course we played.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:32]
I was terrible as I am on the real golf course.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:36]
So that was that. Then we headed back, and
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:40]
I thought that,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:43]
Kristen was gonna be there. Daniel followed me home. We were gonna eat whatever my wife was making,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:48]
and that's when everything went crazy.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:53]
Do you wanna define what crazy is, John?
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:57]
So first things first, I pull into my driveway,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:01]
and there's a car blocking my spot where I would normally pull into the garage
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:06]
with an Illinois license plate, and it was blue. I didn't recognize the car.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:11]
So that was weird thing number one. So I pull off to the side of my driveway parked there. I walked back. I noticed a Tesla Model x, which I really didn't think anything of.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:22]
And then a little further down, I saw what I was pretty sure was my sister's minivan.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:28]
So that was weird.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:30]
And then Daniel gets out of his car, walks up, and comments on how nice the house is.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:36]
Then there's a big 30 with balloons in the front yard on one of my bushes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:42]
I walk into a wall of cell phones and people hiding behind a wall.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:48]
And, yeah, it was surprising.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:51]
Definitely faces there that I didn't expect to see.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:53]
Once I figured out what was happening, I expected the lemons to be there because lemons are good friends. So that wasn't overly surprising that you made the drive.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:02]
But Anna's grandparents were there, which was unexpected.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:05]
Our friend Nicole Simic from Higher Things Days was there, which I wouldn't have expected.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:12]
My family,
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:13]
Anna's family, well, Anna's parents, her sisters did not make it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:18]
Yeah. I think that's everybody who was there when I got there. So big surprise party.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:23]
I think we counted 32
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:25]
people who showed up all day, so pretty sizable
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:29]
and fun.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:30]
I thought it was an enjoyable party.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:32]
The,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:33]
good good company.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:35]
The the whole thing
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:37]
confirmed for me what I already knew, which is that you have really good taste in friends.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:42]
This just
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:43]
allowed me to realize that it wasn't just me that you have great test taste in friends with. I know. I have other friends, Stan. Isn't this amazing? Yeah. It was. So what was
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:52]
was crazy is, usually, I pick up on these kind of things,
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:57]
and Anna is notoriously bad at keeping,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:00]
things like this secret. Like, usually, I can guess what my Christmas gift is or something like that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:05]
But this, I had no idea. So that was awesome.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:09]
You knew. Apparently, you were getting nervous last week on the podcast when I was talking about stuff. My mom knew. I called her Friday night, and apparently, she was in Cedar Rapids.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:21]
So yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:22]
It, I we were all kind of debating whether or not you knew and we're playing it low key or not. Like, that was a big discussion point as we were setting up earlier in the day. And and I swore to them that I didn't think you knew because I felt like if you had, you would have shown your cards.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:40]
You think so? I think so. Yeah. I think if you had known, you would have somehow alluded to it or
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:46]
spilled the beans and crushed poor Anna's heart. But alas, you did not, and that's why I'm convinced you had no idea.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:54]
I did have no idea.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:55]
So my dad was not there at the beginning. He was driving in,
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:00]
and he brought my friend Andrew, stood up in the wedding,
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:04]
who lives in Irvine, California.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:07]
So that was probably the most surprising thing because who would make the trip from Irvine for a thirtieth birthday party? Now he was in town visiting family. Right? That's and so he cruised over?
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:18]
So he flew into Milwaukee because his family's there,
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:21]
but the whole premise, the whole reason he came over was for this. So Well, that was very kind. He just extended the trip since he was gonna be in the Midwest, so might as well see his parents and sister while he's around. I I like Andrew. I enjoy his company.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:36]
I enjoyed debating with him about grilled cheese and sandwiches
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:41]
and other important nuances of life. But
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:45]
there was one bit of conversation I had with Andrew at your party that was particularly important,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:52]
and dare I say life changing. Do you have any idea what that was?
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:58]
I have no idea. Was it the toilet paper conversation? No. It was not the toilet paper conversation.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:05]
Andrew and I saw eye to eye on that one, I think, the most part. So that one wasn't as Right. Controversial as some of the other ones. The sandwich one was pretty controversial.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:12]
This one had to do with bacon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:14]
So Alright. I I learned that Andrew and his wife, basically, on a Sunday will eat a whole package of bacon between the two of them.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:22]
I'm not judging. Little concerned about his longevity, but I'm not judging.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:26]
He
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:27]
he though brought up this device that he uses to make bacon,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:32]
the microwave bacon cooker, the Makin' Bacon microwave
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:36]
bacon rack.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:38]
Alright?
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:39]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:40]
when he said this, he described liking to eat his bacon folded in half, and I thought that that was the most bizarre thing I had ever heard. He said that he likes to eat it folded in half, but he also likes it, like, on the way to crunchy. Right? So, you know, when bacon gets to that point, you can't typically fold it. So I was like, well, how do you do that? And it turns out it is the original Makin' Bacon microwave bacon rack.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:07]
Alright. Which
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:08]
I promptly found on Amazon and for the,
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:13]
the premium price of $11.99.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:16]
I ordered one on the spot at your birthday party. It arrived, John, and I have
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:20]
I have some analysis to provide.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:23]
Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:24]
So so this is a trade I don't think Andrew listens. No. He's not, but you'll have to tag him on Facebook or something. So this is important, dear listener.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:33]
If you are human,
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:35]
then by virtue of being human, you love bacon.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:39]
And I think that Dax, who I just saw behind you, probably also loves bacon. Listen.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:44]
If you're walking and eat meat, you love bacon. Bacon is Right. One of the, like, top three food groups. It's up there with ice cream and potato chips.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:54]
So the the point being though,
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:57]
you know, the bacon method, which a lot of people rave about it, where you cook it in the oven,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:03]
you start the oven, you know, cold and heat it up, produces a pretty greasy bacon. Right? It
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:10]
it's good, but it's pretty greasy.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:12]
This original making bacon microwave bacon rack
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:15]
proposes to do the exact opposite. It makes non greasy bacon. It even claims to reduce fat up to 35%.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:23]
So here's the deal.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:25]
It's a tray,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:27]
and it has three, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:29]
tees that
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:31]
sit into it. Right? And you fold the bacon over each tea,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:35]
so it's it drapes Interesting. And you microwave it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:39]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:40]
the premise, right, is that the
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:42]
the the fat, the grease will drip off of the making bacon microwave bacon rack and Right. Thus
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:51]
produce a crispy
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:53]
yet not greasy piece of bacon
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:56]
and all in the microwave.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:58]
So here's the thing. You can also fit a ton of bacon on this thing. I mean, you look at those racks,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:04]
and you figure you can get at least three per rack. Right? Which means that you can cook nine pieces of bacon simultaneously
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:09]
in the microwave on the original making bacon microwave bacon rack.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:13]
And, John, I'll just tell you, it's beautiful. It is an absolutely fantastic
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:18]
piece of equipment,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:19]
and there will be a link on our website for all of our dear listeners to check out the original Makin Bacon microwave bacon rack because I think everybody should have one of these.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:29]
So it's listed as an Amazon's Choice product.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:34]
It only has four stars,
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:37]
which is interesting.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:39]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:40]
you think that the bacon turned out well? I do. I think it turned out fantastic. If you look at the 1,579
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:46]
customer views that have been posted to Amazon, you'll notice that they fall into a number of different camps. Some have had ones where the plastic bubbles.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:54]
Some have just not liked the fact that the bacon is not greasy, which is kinda silly when you stop and think about it because the original Makin' Bacon microwave bacon rack actually advertises itself as reducing fat up to 35%.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:07]
So I I don't know. I I looked at a lot of the reviews. I'm I'm comfortable with where it landed. I think,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:14]
you know, bacon can be a pretty controversial thing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:16]
When you dig into the reviews, you'll realize that, like, the joker who gave it three stars because he made turkey bacon, the and turkey bacon still tasted like crap.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:25]
Well, I mean, that's that's just a dumb review. I'm even expecting. Yeah. I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:30]
There was another guy I saw, was frustrated. I think he gave it two stars because the bacon was folded in half. It's like, come on, dude. Did you not look at the thing when you bought it? You know? Right. So I mean, you could probably, like, stretch the piece of bacon over all three of those things, and it wouldn't be folded in half.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:48]
I think that would defeat the purpose.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:51]
Don't you think? Grease would just sit on top, maybe? I I don't like, I don't know. I mean, you'd only be cooking one piece of bacon at a time. And I think one of the most advantageous aspects of Three. The original Makin' Bacon microwave bacon rack is that you can cook I just like saying that. Nine pieces at once. I do. I think it's a really, really great name.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:11]
Is it dishwasher safe?
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:13]
It is, John. So here's the thing. This is how Amazing. This is how Andrew got me kinda, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:19]
you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:20]
geared up for this. He basically
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:22]
was we were talking about paper towel, what makes good paper towel, whether or not you should get paper towel that tears in half, etcetera.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:30]
And,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:32]
in the course of this, we were talking about making bacon because that's, you know, an application where you may want a half slice or excuse me, a half sheet of paper towel.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:41]
And,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:43]
where this landed was, I mentioned that we have a bacon maker, if you will, but the plastic started to bubble. It's a pain to clean,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:52]
you know, but it's it goes in the microwave. So we're we're good to go. And he said, well, this one actually goes in the microwave too. And it's really easy to clean up because the bottom surface
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:02]
is flat. It's not,
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:04]
like, ribbed, which is what you'll see quite often. So yeah. Great.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:10]
It's great, John. You should get one. I think I know you're the cheapest friend I have, and I love you for it, but I think you should splurge and
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:17]
get a original making bacon microwave bacon rack.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:22]
Alright. It looks like frequently bought together, there's also a Nordic
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:27]
microwave two cavity egg poacher and a Nordic Ware microwave omelet pan, so you can make your whole breakfast in the microwave.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:36]
So have you ever tried one of these I this I would not call this an egg poacher. Have you ever tried one of these microwave
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:41]
egg thingies?
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:44]
So here's the thing that you have to know about me, Stan,
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:47]
is I did not have a microwave
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:50]
until we got married,
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:52]
and missus Kolmeyer
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:54]
insisted that we needed a microwave.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:57]
In the following year and a half, I was morally opposed to the microwave
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:02]
and never didn't use it at all. So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:05]
no, I have not ever cooked eggs in the microwave.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:08]
Well, okay. Alright. There's so much to unpack here. Why are you morally opposed
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:13]
to a microwave, John? Was. Okay. Well, why were you and what changed your mind?
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:19]
So generally, I don't reheat things. I'll just eat it cold because I think it tastes better.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:25]
What?
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:27]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:28]
Like reheated pizza tastes like crap.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:31]
Ugh. I mean, in the microwave, sure, but nobody reheats pizza in the microwave. At least no sane person. That's what I'm saying, man. Gosh, John. So if I if something needs to be reheated,
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:43]
then it's probably worth heating up the oven. What about, like, soup?
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:50]
I don't know that I've ever reheated soup in the microwave. Do you eat it cold then?
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:56]
No. In general, I don't like soup that much anyway or anything that you have to eat with a spoon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:03]
I oh, there's so much to unpack here, and there simply is not enough time in this episode. Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:09]
Let's let's take Things that I don't particularly care for, it's all texture based. So things that I have to eat with a spoon, I find difficult to eat and probably gets all in my beard.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:20]
I also do not like spaghetti noodles because they are insanely difficult to eat.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:26]
This is definitely user error, and soup only gets in your beard if you put it there. So what about your wife makes a delightful paprikash.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:34]
How do you heat that up? Because surely you don't eat that cold, do you?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:38]
I have.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:41]
I I feel like it would be better warm.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:45]
Yeah. It's pretty good both ways.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:48]
Okay. So to me, that's the kind of thing that I would heat up in the microwave. Like, that would be a good use of the microwave in my opinion.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:56]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:57]
I have done that too.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:59]
Generally,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:00]
if Anna and I are eating something together,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:04]
then we'll both use the microwave. If I'm just fending for myself at home for dinner, I won't use the microwave.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:11]
I just can't wrap my head around that. Do you have a toaster oven?
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:14]
I do not have a toaster oven. I have a toaster.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:17]
Okay. So this is why you don't like warming up your pizza.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:21]
The there are two acceptable ways to heat up a slice of cold or slice of of,
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:26]
leftover pizza. One is in a toaster oven.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:29]
Two is actually in your oven on the stone.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:36]
But you would just you just feather it cold.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:39]
I would just eat it cold if it's leftover. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:42]
Alright, John. So this all started because we're talking about microwaved eggs.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:47]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:48]
Which Which I've never had because I'm morally opposed to microwaves or was. I do use my microwave occasionally now. What do you use it for though? This that's what I wanna get to. Like what changed your mind
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:00]
that you like what did you put into the microwave that changed your mind that made you no longer morally opposed to it?
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:12]
I don't know.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:14]
It was there and it was convenient and one time missus Colmire asked if
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:20]
I wanted something warmed up, and that was it. It was probably chili or something like that. Something you eat with this Chili, which is a distant cousin of soup.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:28]
Alright. So moving on from the microwave, I'll just say this. I think that eggs in the microwave are a travesty. However, my daughter loves them
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:37]
and,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:38]
will scramble herself eggs in the microwave. And I'm just proud that she can feed herself. So Right. You know? And she can make a mean pot of coffee.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:47]
She can. She also knows how to make bacon, and I'm pretty sure that the original
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:53]
making bacon
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:54]
microwave bacon rack is going to blow her mind.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:58]
Nice.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:59]
Well, so far, we haven't talked about anything on the list.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:02]
No. No. No. So take it away, John, because you, you made the list this week. I didn't get around to writing my thing down. So I was editing the episode last week, and I wanted to follow-up on our Mailchimp email newsletter discussion
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:16]
and kinda take a higher level look at it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:20]
So we were talking about how people just use social media for what you use in RSS for,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:27]
and I think that's a bad idea.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:31]
Go on.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:32]
Because
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:33]
you don't control
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:35]
anything that you post on social media.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:38]
Facebook could buy Twitter and say that Twitter's going away
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:42]
as an extreme example, and then all your content would be gone.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:47]
Facebook could
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:49]
do something crazy and completely pivot how the site looks or functions like they have in the past, and all your data would be gone. I think you can download it. But still,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:59]
where are you gonna put it after that?
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:03]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:04]
lack of control on social media. So you need a place on the Internet that's your home that you own,
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:11]
that you control everything about.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:15]
So I don't disagree with you. I I do think that it's
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:20]
entirely unrealistic
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:21]
to think that either Facebook or Twitter would go away. Right? So I don't know that that Five
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:28]
years from now.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:30]
I mean, you're talking about multibillion dollar corporations.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:34]
Right? Like, everybody always says, well, what about Myspace? They disappeared. They never had the net cap or or the the footprint
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:42]
of these businesses.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:45]
What about Yahoo?
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:48]
I mean, Yahoo wasn't a social network. Right? Like, I I don't I I think it's a different camp. You could make an argument that their property Tumblr
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:57]
had attributes that were similar,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:00]
but even there, I I don't I don't think
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:03]
I I just don't think it's the same thing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:06]
Quite frankly, I don't even think Twitter is the same thing as Facebook.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:09]
Like Right. They're they're operating at a different scale,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:13]
significantly different scale.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:16]
Interesting.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:17]
So what if Facebook decides to
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:20]
completely innovate their product?
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:23]
But, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:24]
the introduction of News Feed.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:27]
But
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:28]
they're not so when they did News Feed, they did not get rid of content, which is kinda the premise of the the angle that you're coming at. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:37]
Partially, yes. For the Okay. For this discussion, yes. So I I I again, I do not think that innovation on the part of Facebook is somehow going to make your content go away.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:47]
K.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:49]
Fair enough.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:51]
Now
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:52]
if I post a picture on Facebook,
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:55]
who owns that picture?
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:58]
Oh,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:59]
my guess is if you read the terms of service with Facebook, they probably have rights to do whatever they want with it. Right? Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:07]
And and that's a problem. Right? But I think you make a choice, right, by volunteering
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:12]
up your content to them.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:15]
I
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:16]
again,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:17]
it's I agree. Way, though.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:20]
True.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:21]
On all counts.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:22]
But
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:24]
just because you voluntarily give it away, does that make it the right thing to do?
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:32]
Why do people use social media, John? Like, why why are our parents on Facebook?
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:39]
Community.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:40]
Community is because they
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:42]
yeah. There are people that they know that they want to keep in contact with, and it makes it easy. So I think when when people
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:50]
set aside
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:51]
their
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:52]
ownership
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:53]
of content,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:54]
right, their ownership of a photo that they've uploaded or whatever, they're doing that because they
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:00]
see the benefits in communicating with
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:03]
friends and family that they otherwise would not have communicated with. Right? So just as an example, one of our friends uploads a picture of a child after they've been born. They've just communicated it to a whole bunch of people. In the old days, we used to send an email. Back before that, we actually sent cards announcing the birth of a child. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:23]
to me, it's like the return
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:25]
on that investment outweighs
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:28]
the
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:29]
sacrifice you're making in the ownership of your content. At least, that's the way that I think most people view it. Right? So I
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:36]
you're you're making a trade off. I think for a lot of people, it's probably mostly conscious,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:41]
I think.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:42]
I don't know. Maybe I'm being too optimistic there. Yeah. At this point, I don't know if that's true. I think originally it was,
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:49]
but now it's gotten so big and permeated into
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:53]
all aspects of our society that I don't know if that's still the case.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:57]
So so what would you what would you suggest?
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:00]
What would I suggest? First of all,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:03]
I don't think I'm gonna be posting photos
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:05]
of my kids on the Internet.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:08]
On the Internet at all or just not on Facebook?
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:12]
On a publicly accessible Internet.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:15]
Okay. Alright. So you gotta I think you gotta qualify that. Right? Because if I post a photo on my Facebook, unless I explicitly tell it to make it public to the web,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:26]
it is not. It is contained only to the friends that I share it with.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:31]
Assuming
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:32]
that Facebook doesn't do anything else with it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:37]
I'm
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:38]
fairly certain that
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:41]
when you lock it down in that way, they don't. I think that would be such a nightmare for them.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:46]
I I can't imagine them them compromising that. I'm gonna have to read the current Facebook terms of use again. You totally should. I I think they probably have
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:55]
enough ownership to avoid any liability that they might incur, but I doubt that they're, like, basically stating that they're going to use it in their, you know, product marketing or whatever. Right. I think that that's probably illegal.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:08]
But
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:10]
okay.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:11]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:13]
I'm not gonna be posting pictures of my children
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:17]
on social networks
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:19]
or
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:20]
probably sending them through email
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:22]
or Okay. Well, define what a social network is, John, because, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:27]
social network in the
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:29]
broad sense of the term. So, like, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:34]
What about an iCloud
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:36]
album that you share with other people who have iCloud accounts?
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:41]
The and you do this via iMessages.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:46]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:48]
possibly if Apple remains as security focused as they have been. But in general, I kind of avoid sensitive information in iCloud too.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:56]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:57]
there's that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:59]
So how are you going to share pictures of said children with friends and family? Because you said you won't do it via email either. What are you gonna do? Like Encrypted it with g p g? Okay. Yeah. There we go. I'm I'm sure that that
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:12]
grandma Kolmeier is going to know how to, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:16]
decrypt using GPG.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:18]
I think that I would be okay sending them through iMessage.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:25]
Why why is iMessage superior to email? Just because of the the way that encryption works?
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:31]
Yeah. And it's more or less locked down to exactly who you're sending it to. Now
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:37]
the other problem is
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:39]
that can be shared by the end user,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:41]
which is another security flaw.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:44]
I mean, they could do that if you sent them a printed picture too, John.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:49]
Correct.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:50]
So I had this teacher in high school
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:53]
who's good friends with my sister.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:55]
And when his first kid was born,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:58]
she received pictures of this child
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:01]
in The US mail
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:03]
with the words
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:05]
not for distribution
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:06]
on it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:10]
Okay.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:12]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:14]
I don't know.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:15]
Maybe I just don't take pictures.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:17]
There you go. That's let's let's just we'll stick with that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:21]
Well, so
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:22]
come a full circle. You were you were talking about Mailchimp, and and remind me what your premise was because I think we are a little bit off topic.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:30]
We are. So my just listening to last week's episode, I was thinking that you really need these pieces of information that you can control.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:39]
Really, this came out of social media curating their algorithm so you don't actually see everything that you're subscribed to.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:46]
So, like, you could post something, and I could not see it unless I went directly to your page or things like that. So this was really,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:53]
trying to narrow down a piece of the web that you're in full control of.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:58]
And I think that starts with a website,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:01]
where you control the content, you control what people see on the home page, things like that. And then
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:08]
as far as distribution goes,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:10]
I think that an email list is the next best thing
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:14]
assuming that email
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:16]
people still use email.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:18]
Which is potentially a big if. I think this is the thing that that we touched on a little bit last week, and I continue to struggle with. Right? Like, I think the type of
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:27]
newsletter
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:28]
that I'm interested in
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:31]
is
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:32]
slowly dying.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:33]
And I think people use email less and less for something like that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:39]
So, you know, it is what it is, but I I I just think that's a reality. And so I wonder if the value of creating that kind of content for,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:50]
the casual blog, if you will, makes sense. I don't know. Maybe it does.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:56]
If you wanna be in full control.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:58]
If you wanna be Does in full
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:01]
missus Lemon never check her email?
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:04]
She she does. Yeah. Fairly regularly, but, not with the sort of religiosity
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:09]
that I do. And we have very different perspectives on, like, inbox zero and what email is used for. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:17]
Got it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:18]
I'm just trying to think of everybody who I know checks their email fairly regularly. I don't know if that's true for the generation graduating high school or not.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:30]
Yeah. I just don't know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:32]
It's you know, when the iPhone came out,
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:36]
the killer feature for me was the idea of having my email
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:39]
in my pocket
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:41]
and being able to get a push notification when push notifications came out that that email
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:46]
had been delivered. Like, that was the thing that was a game changer. That's funny because
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:51]
I don't think most people care about that aspect of their phones. I, in fact, I even know people that have iPhones that don't have email set up on their iPhones. Interesting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:01]
Yeah. And I can't I can't wrap my head around that, but that's Right. Like, that is there's a group of people that fit that dime.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:08]
So I just think there's there's a change at play,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:12]
and maybe I'm old. Maybe that's what it is. Right? Like, maybe it's just a a thing an aspect of being on the Internet for as long as I have.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:21]
Maybe something else. I'm not I'm not sure, but, it's something that I noodle on probably more than I should.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:27]
I just think that
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:29]
I guess that we kinda gave this up with TV. I think that,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:33]
basically having people
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:36]
dictate what's important by only talking about those things or in the case of social media, only putting things in your news feed that it thinks is relevant
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:44]
or,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:46]
confirms to a certain bias,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:47]
which I won't go as far as what other people say about this, which that's actually the next topic. So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:55]
but I I think that there's a problem there,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:59]
both personally and wanting to be informed, be an informed citizen.
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:07]
Probably that's the biggest thing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:09]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:11]
perhaps even more so from a marketing standpoint
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:16]
on being able to reach your target customers without somebody else policing it?
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:22]
I yeah. Control,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:24]
being able to
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:27]
make decisions about the things you consume. I think that's the thing we lost potentially with RSS. Right? Yep. And RSS went away. We talked a little bit about that last week.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:37]
I prefer Twitter over Facebook because I I can get my Twitter into a linear
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:44]
stream and consume it. And I've I've told you before, I'm a Twitter totalitarian
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:49]
or totalist,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:50]
whatever the word is. Completionist. And Completionist.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:54]
There we go. Twitter completionist.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:56]
And I I think that is in part why I like it. Right? I I also treat it more like an RSS feed in the way that I subscribe to people. I subscribe to
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:07]
accounts that are basically posting links for blog articles, and I clip them into my Safari reading list or pocket or whatever and enroll it there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:17]
I just don't know that that's most people. I think, like, that's there's a nerd element here that you and I have that probably
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:24]
is uncharacteristic
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:25]
of most consumers.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:27]
Yeah. So what's weird is,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:30]
everybody has
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:32]
come to express expect this personalized
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:35]
experience. You go to Amazon,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:37]
the whole front page is geared towards things that it thinks you'll be interested based on its machine learning,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:44]
your browsing history, and things like that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:47]
I
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:48]
don't actually use the front page of Amazon that much. Usually, I go to Amazon and use it like search engine. I'm looking for something specifically.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:55]
I don't just browse it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:57]
Facebook with its algorithm thinks it's gonna show you what you're gonna interact with most based on what it's learned about you.
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:04]
And those things,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:06]
I'm not really all in on it, but I can understand why people are
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:11]
because,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:12]
like, Google
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:14]
at some point, Google made the switch where it knew your location, and then it would give you these search results that are based on your location that you're searching from. And that's awesome. Because if I'm searching for best pizza in town, it's gonna know I'm in Cedar Rapids. So that doesn't really bug me as much as the other things. So I think it's just kind of a progression
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:37]
for this ultra personalized
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:39]
experience, especially on the Internet
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:41]
and probably moving outside of the Internet here shortly too.
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:46]
So this is a lead into
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:48]
I mean, you're talking about slant personalization,
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:50]
whatever you wanna call it. Right? An algorithm determining what you see.
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:54]
And this is,
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:56]
I think, related to this whole White House
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:59]
launching a tool, and I'm using my finger quotes as I say tool, which we'll get into. But do you do you wanna do you wanna tee this up? Because this was your this was your thing. Right. So I follow a couple of the writers
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:11]
and personalities from theverge.com,
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:14]
and they shared this on Twitter
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:17]
that the White House released this
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:20]
centric ship
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:21]
reporting
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:22]
tool,
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:23]
quote,
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:24]
unquote, where if you feel like you've been
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:28]
discriminated
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:29]
against by what you're posting on Facebook or Twitter and they take it down that you can go here and report this,
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:36]
corporation bias.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:39]
So they say tool.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:41]
I dig into it, try to figure out what this tool is,
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:45]
and it's a type form. Form. Yeah. It's a type form. It's a form.
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:49]
It's not even something they built.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:52]
It's not even, like, hosted on government servers. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:57]
Yeah. Which actually brings up a whole bunch of other aspects, but I'm I'm not gonna dig into that. So Anyways, so I I dug into this tool,
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:05]
and I started just trying to get as far as I could in it without actually having to give any information.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:10]
The first eight questions are all,
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:13]
about you. So your name, your phone number, your email address,
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:19]
things of this nature.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:20]
Finally, it will ask you for a screenshot of what you posted and the comment box about that, then you can report it. And,
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:30]
basically, they don't do anything with it is my guess.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:33]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:34]
what intrigues me about this, a bit like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:37]
you take a step back. Social networks have been
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:43]
chastised
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:44]
in the media for allowing,
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:48]
you know, terrorists,
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:50]
criminals,
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:51]
people who are just downright hateful. I'm thinking of, like, you know, white supremacists
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:56]
to be able to use their platforms.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:59]
Now these social networks
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:01]
are private companies.
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:03]
They can choose
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:05]
to
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:05]
allow
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:06]
certain people to use their platforms or not. Like, that's that's just they get to do that. Right? Because that's the the kind of country we live in.
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:15]
The accusation has been made that
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:18]
they these these platforms have censored people based upon
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:23]
political views that we would not consider
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:26]
to fall in that category of, like, terrorism,
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:28]
you know, extreme
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:30]
hate, like, white supremacy, that kind of thing. And and I think that's what the White House is trying to gather data on. Right. I it's just a weird way to do it. You know? I That's because
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:42]
I think that it is a mask.
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:46]
We are coming up agenda. That's what you mean. On election
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:49]
season, and this is a
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:51]
beautiful way
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:53]
to build a marketing list if the first thing you ask them is for their contact information.
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:59]
Ah, so you think this has nothing to do with the social media platforms, but this is basically they're they're gonna micro campaign or whatever. Right. So I I think that is the main focus. I think that it also beautifully plays into Trump's rhetoric that everybody's out to get the,
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:15]
Republican Party and these big corporations like Facebook are
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:20]
campaigning against it and censoring,
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:23]
the truth and promoting fake news.
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:26]
So I think it plays into his rhetoric there, very well and really
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:31]
kinda
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:33]
gets his base excited.
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:37]
And yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:40]
I think it's an interesting angle
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:42]
to
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:42]
suggest that they are basically building
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:45]
a a campaign list,
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:47]
like an email marketing campaign list
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:50]
for this. If that is true,
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:54]
it's also a little disconcerting because this is
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:57]
and it's misleading at that point.
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:59]
There was an interesting argument. I'm not gonna do this justice, but there was an interesting argument on the most recent episode of The Verge cast about this tool and legal precedent. Because when you make claims
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:10]
that, you know, Facebook or Twitter, right, are suppressing or banning accounts based upon a political slant. It it's you it's purely anecdotal. Right? Like, you you don't have any data to back that up.
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:22]
And I mean, go look at the Fox News engagement and the CNN engagement,
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:28]
and
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:29]
they're gonna
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:30]
basically show you
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:32]
that, hey. Both these people are being seen,
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:35]
two different slants,
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:37]
whatnot.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:39]
And yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:40]
So the argument on the verge cast was essentially that
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:44]
by filling out this form, whether or not it is good or valid
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:48]
or conclusive
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:50]
data, it is generating
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:51]
data that could be used on legal precedent. And I thought that was an interesting argument. I don't again, like, who knows? Right? Who knows what what this is gonna materialize to? I just me personally,
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:01]
had a really hard time taking it serious because it's just a form on type form. On type form. Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:08]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:10]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:11]
So that's crazy.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:13]
One of my favorite fantasy books is from the sword of truth series. The first book in that series is wizard's first rule.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:21]
And wizard's first rule is people are stupid.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:25]
They will believe
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:26]
anything
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:28]
because they believe it might be true or fear that it might be true.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:33]
That's paraphrased. But Alright. Well, that that was deep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:39]
I think that we see that playing out in our political spectrum here. So Yeah. I think that's fair. I don't wanna go any more into that because I'm afraid we'll lose our clean rating on iTunes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:47]
From
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:48]
here, from you.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:50]
Yeah. We'll see. Who knows? Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:53]
Last topic of the day. So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:55]
when did you get your laptop? Do you remember?
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:02]
I don't off the top of that head. Fall, wasn't it? It was early fall. It was in the fall. Yeah. I mean, we were recording at that point, so we're 46
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:10]
episodes in now.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:12]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:13]
And I got mine, I think,
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:16]
right about the time we started recording, because I don't think I ever recorded
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:22]
maybe I recorded on a different You did because the announcement we talked about the announcement in one of the early episodes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:28]
Okay. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:30]
that was less than a year ago, and that was
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:33]
a
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:34]
round of upgrades to the existing form factor of the MacBook Pro. And I at that time, I thought this was a significant upgrade. I felt like it it bumped the processor.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:43]
We got the quad core in the 13 inch all around.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:47]
I thought it was a really great upgrade. Now what what's fascinating about this is at the time,
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:52]
I think people were not necessarily expecting MacBook Pro updates because Apple had, like, lost its way with the MacBook Pro, and they were not updating it as often
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:02]
as they had been. In fact, the
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:05]
the first
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:07]
I don't even know what you call it. The first touch bar models,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:09]
there had been a really long window
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:12]
in
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:13]
updates.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:13]
Right? Like, there's just a huge gap.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:16]
So much to my surprise,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:18]
today,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:19]
Apple announced new MacBook Pros.
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:22]
Seriously?
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:23]
Yeah. I didn't see this?
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:25]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:26]
I was scratching my head because I thought to myself, I would like it was less than a year ago.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:31]
This to me is really comforting because it means it it it is literally just a speed bump. I shouldn't say it's just a speed bump. It's a spec bump. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:40]
The the body
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:41]
style has not changed. That will bother some people.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:45]
Other people like me
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:47]
don't care. I don't need the the body, the shape of my laptop to change every three years. Like, that I just it doesn't matter to me. At the end of the day, a keyboard is only gonna ever look like a keyboard,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:57]
and screen is just gonna be a piece of glass. Maybe the bezel gets smaller. I don't know. Whatever. Yeah. Please please don't change the keyboard.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:05]
Well, so the spec bump though to me is significant because that is, like, Apple taking their product line serious and just continue to make things better in small iterations.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:15]
So today's Correct. Spec bump, I thought was pretty significant. First of all, they went to Intel's eighth and ninth generation processors.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:23]
So it wasn't just like a clock speed bump. It was a new generation processor.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:27]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:28]
But the high end model actually features
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:31]
eight cores.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:33]
So we've got quad cores. The 15 inch that came out the same time we did had quad cores,
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:38]
and the new ones now have eight, which is, like, I don't know what do you do with that? Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:44]
Video.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:45]
That's what you do with that or game. I should I should back up. I think maybe the 15 inch has six core. I could I could be mistaken.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:51]
But the fact of the matter is,
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:54]
the,
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:56]
13 inch machines got a better quad core, and then there are six and eight core options on the 15 inch models.
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:04]
So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:05]
yeah, like, this this is just a significant upgrade.
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:08]
Supposedly, they've changed the material of the keyboard. I don't know what that means. I don't know if it matters,
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:14]
but it's just, again, another iteration on the keyboard
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:17]
that a lot of people don't like, I don't have a problem with. I don't know. I I I'm not sure if I've asked you recently. What do you think of the keyboard on the Touch Bar MacBooks?
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:28]
Yeah. So I only use it,
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:31]
if I'm at home or if I'm just using my laptop by itself somewhere, so a coffee shop or if I move it to a meeting.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:38]
I've had no problem with it. I do have a wireless
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:42]
keyboard that I use at work, just Logitech
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:45]
or whatever.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:46]
So it doesn't
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:48]
my keyboard doesn't get a ton of use. Most of it's on the Logitech at work.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:52]
But, yeah, I I enjoy it
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:57]
and I haven't had any problem.
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:00]
So as you as you recall, I had problems with my first my work MacBook
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:04]
Pro Right. And the new keyboard. Haven't had any with my personal.
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:08]
I I actually find it perfectly comfortable, like, that's a keyboard on a laptop, so it's not gonna be fantastic. But as far as laptop keyboards go, I think it's decent.
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:19]
And I see that as someone who uses a mechanical keyboard, a snooty mechanical keyboard every day
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:25]
at work, like, when I'm sitting at my desk. But I do use the keyboard on my personal laptop quite a bit. So I know there have been issues. Right? There have been, like, just failure conditions on these MacBook Pro keyboards.
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:37]
And I suspect that that's why they've changed
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:40]
the material.
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:41]
But again, like, I'm just happy that they continue to iterate this device.
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:46]
And if a new material on the keyboard reduces the failure conditions, then we should all be happy about that. Like, that's that's like this is a good thing for Apple to be spending time on.
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:58]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:00]
So I pulled up the press release, and the first image is
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:05]
Final Cut. So I think that the core processor is definitely playing into that,
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:11]
especially as we get more into virtual reality and other sorts of that, which is gonna take more computing power to render.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:19]
Yeah. And, you know, it's I think it's worth noting too, there's there's this awkward
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:24]
state of affairs in
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:26]
the MacBook lineup. And I say MacBook because I'm referring to the 12 inch, the Air,
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:32]
the MacBook
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:34]
without like, the 13 inch MacBook without touch bar, and then the Pro lines.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:39]
Right? And Right. These processors are only in the Pro machines, and I think that they
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:44]
they look more like pro machines now
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:47]
Yep. You know Absolutely. In their specs.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:49]
So I think this is good too
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:52]
for Apple. It creates, again, some clarity in their product line,
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:56]
and I
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:58]
I'm I'm just all around happy. I I really am. I thought I I didn't notice if there was any change in pricing. I think the 13 still starts at $17.99,
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:07]
and the 15 at $23.99.
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:09]
So as far as I know, no changes there. But
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:14]
I I was surprised
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:15]
can't I'm trying to remember. Like, I don't think the non touch bar 13 inch MacBook Pro
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:21]
has gotten an update
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:24]
in a long time. Like, I I couldn't put my finger on when that was. So that's interesting. I wonder if that laptop maybe is going to be short lived with the new Air.
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:33]
Time will tell.
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:35]
Yeah. I
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:38]
don't use the touch bar for any of its fancy features. I mean, I'll adjust volume on it, if I have to or screen brightness or things like that. I think I answered your FaceTime call with the handy answer button.
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:52]
But, otherwise,
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:53]
I don't use, like, contextual
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:55]
keys or anything like that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:58]
So You do use touch ID though. Right? Yes. All the time. Yep. Especially for LastPass.
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:05]
That's that's a killer feature. Yep. No doubt. So here's here's the other thing that I
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:11]
make extensive use of with the touch bar,
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:14]
the emoji picker.
SPEAKER_1 [00:50:17]
Really?
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:18]
Yep. I use it all the time. Every single day, tons of apps. I make extensive use of the emoji picker, and I'm not ashamed of that, John. You don't send me that many emojis, Stan. Usually, it's the, hard eyed one
SPEAKER_1 [00:50:32]
or blowing a kiss.
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:36]
You're making me blush, John.
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:41]
Alright, my friend. On that note Alright. Apple laptops,
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:45]
I think we should call it a week,
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:47]
and,
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:48]
until next time. Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:51]
Hopefully, no surprises between now and then. I I assure you that I am not driving back to Iowa.
SPEAKER_1 [00:50:57]
Well, thanks, Stan, I guess. There's ton ton construction
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:01]
and fantastic weather not
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:03]
made it a longer than usual drive. But to your listener, if you are if you've made it this far,
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:10]
thank you. Please don't forget to go to twistedlemonpod.com
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:14]
or twistedlemonpod
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:15]
on Facebook or Twitter,
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:17]
or most importantly,
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:19]
go to iTunes. Find Life of the Twisted Lemon. Fill out that five star review that you are just burning to fill out. Let us know, and I'll send you some stickers. And
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:27]
we'll read it down there.
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:29]
Oh.
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:30]
Next time, John. See you. Later.