Mindless Meanderings

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Trump, Elon, and some random stuff.
Hosted by:

- Jesse Fries

- Jamon Fries

https://mindlessmeanderings.com

Support our show.

(00:00:21) Introduction

(00:01:53) Furry News from Russia

(00:04:02) Elon Musk's Latest Tech Innovations

(00:11:02) Dell's Return to Office Policy

(00:13:27) California's Diesel Truck Regulations

(00:19:05) Trump's Legal Battles

(00:24:39) Health Benefits of Caffeine

(00:30:06) Lesbian Dating App Controversy

(00:36:15) Elon Musk as a Potential Oligarch

(00:40:39) Homegrown Food and Carbon Footprint

(00:45:26) Gender Identity Changing with Age

(00:51:09) Public Perception of Hitler

(00:57:26) Nobel Prize in Economics

(01:02:38) Osama bin Laden's Son Banned from France

(01:04:00) The Idiot's Apostrophe

https://www.mindlessmeanderings.com/episodepage/7

[00:00:21] Jesse Fries:

Good morning. It is Wednesday, October 16th, and we are live with episode number 7 of the mindless meanderings.   I'm Jesse Friese coming to you from Central Texas,   where it is a beautiful day. A lot colder than yesterday, like 20 degrees cooler, so that's nice.  

[00:00:41] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. And I'm Jamin Friese coming at you from the central part of the US here where we are in red flag warnings because it's been so freaking dry.  

[00:00:50] Jesse Fries:

Red flag warnings.  

[00:00:52] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. They they're expecting that there's good possibilities   of   of some prairie fires starting up.  

[00:00:59] Jesse Fries:

Okay. But I thought red flags were, like, for the coast. Like,   is that a new thing now in Kansas or something? Or No. It's,  

[00:01:09] Jamon Fries:

quite often been seen down in Texas and stuff like that too. Right. Red flag warnings.   That's that's what they're calling them. I don't I mean, I haven't seen that term since before this year, but early this year, I was seeing it as well.   But, yeah, we're in a we're in a,   here, we're in a prairie fire watch area right now, so we're not quite in that red flag warning.   But,   usually, the red flag warnings are associated with very hot temperature and very dry.   Right. So very easily can spark a fire. But, yeah. Who knows?  

[00:01:43] Jesse Fries:

That is weird. That is weird.   Yep. Yeah. Okay.   That's good to know. That is good to know.   Yeah. Let's see here. Let's start off with some   furry news.   I   Furry news. Oh. Furry news. I just saw this   this article,   that's coming out of Russia. And apparently, they're really upset that furries are invading Russia.  

[00:02:15] Jamon Fries:

Oh,  

[00:02:18] Jesse Fries:

god. And they blame it on a western plot.  

[00:02:27] Jamon Fries:

Oh, wow. That that's amusing.  

[00:02:29] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. So they're cracking down on children identifying as cats and other animals.   Yep.  

[00:02:38] Jamon Fries:

Well, you know, I can't really   blame him for that. If only we would have done something like that, you know,   tell tell the kids in elementary school, I'm sorry, but you're not a freaking dog.   Well,   you would think that it wouldn't need cracking down on because, well, it's self evident, I would think. But, you know Yeah. But but I mean, you know, the it's become so rampant now in Europe and the US here. I I've I've heard of schools that have actually put   kitty litter boxes out for children that thought that they were cats.  

[00:03:12] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. Yeah. I've I've heard the same stories, but   then there's always pushback saying that those stories are all fake. So I don't know   exactly what's going on. It wouldn't really fully surprise me, but,   I've never heard of anybody using one at least. So maybe it's just one of those things where they put a box and they pretend that they're gonna I think so. Yes. Yeah.  

[00:03:33] Jamon Fries:

They they basically I think they put a box there just so that the kid can say, yes. See, I'm a cat. I have a kitty litter box. Something.  

[00:03:42] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. But, yeah, it's a western blot, so gotta love that. Yep.  

[00:03:46] Jamon Fries:

Oh, absolutely.   Yeah.   That is hilarious.   I don't even know what to follow that up.   Gold. That's gold right there then. Yeah. That that it absolutely is. So have you heard about,   Elon,   going into tech news? Have you heard about the,   Optimus robot, the Tesla taxi, and the the new bus slash van that they've rolled out?  

[00:04:16] Jesse Fries:

Not really.  

[00:04:18] Jamon Fries:

Okay. They had a lot a pretty big launch party,   in Silicon Valley where   where they rolled out the Optimus robot.   Right. They're expecting   yeah. But in that same thing, they also rolled out the Tesla Taxi,   which is a vehicle that has no   no steering wheel, no anything.  

[00:04:40] Jesse Fries:

Oh, yeah. I think I heard something about that, but yeah. Uh-huh. And then they have a van,  

[00:04:47] Jamon Fries:

that's I think it's more like a bus because it can hold, like, 21 people in it. Holy.   And, I mean, it's just just it's just like this huge oblong thing   that just has seats all over inside. There's absolutely no no where for a driver to sit or anything like that. Again, just like the Tesla taxi, there's no steering wheel or anything.   So,   yeah, they rolled that out. Of course, you know, in on their own testing grounds and stuff, they operated flawlessly. But Of course. Of course.   We'll see how well they can they can adapt to that into the in the future in regular traffic and stuff.   But, yeah, those I thought those were pretty cool. Yeah. That's pretty cool.  

Regarding that with, you know, the the taxi and the van and the the Tesla cars and stuff like that, you know, they they rely heavily on AI operation   Mhmm. For driving them.   I heard something   extremely   interesting.   Cool. The from Nvidia, the the creator of Nvidia.   Uh-huh. He was he was being interviewed and talking talking to some people. And he said he was like, you know, normally, when somebody wants to build   a huge factory where where we're putting in, like, 100 of 1000 of our of our,   our chips and stuff like that to the of our   whatever they're called. The the, basically, you know, the the computer   brain for the   for the AI. Uh-huh. They're like, it usually takes about 3 years to plan and build it, and then it takes about a year to get everything hooked up inside.  

When Musk did it,   he placed an order for like 200,000   units,   which is larger than most of them have.   He built the building and plan and got the infrastructure all done within a year,   and it took them 19 days only   to set up all of the servers, all of the wiring, and all that other crap.   I mean, he he just had it planned to the t.  

[00:06:58] Jesse Fries:

That's pretty good. That is pretty good. Yeah.  

[00:07:01] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. So that's so that's where he's operating his AI out of now. So he's he's even in, he's even talking now about adding maybe another 200,000   units into the into the facility to to ramp up his AI capabilities for his cars and stuff like that. So,   I mean, he's definitely trying to fast track getting getting that stuff up and working.  

[00:07:25] Jesse Fries:

That's kinda cool. That is pretty cool. Yeah. Musk, he he knows to   he he has geniuses, but he he he seems to know how to   streamline things and get things actually done and everything like that. So,  

[00:07:41] Jamon Fries:

Yes. He absolutely does.  

[00:07:42] Jesse Fries:

And then he had this, what, huge booster that actually came back to the launch pad and they caught it. That was sweet. The Starship. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The  

[00:07:52] Jamon Fries:

but it it wasn't just the Starship that was cool about that day. Uh-huh. He all because   on the on the Starship booster,   he launched their shuttle, the one that they planned on on shut on moving everything to Mars and back.  

[00:08:07] Jesse Fries:

The capsule. Yeah.  

[00:08:08] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. The capsule.   And so we're testing that as well.   And you know how upon reentry,   basically everything loses communication because of the plasma field that builds up around the around the vehicle reentering?   Uh-huh. Because of Starlink,   they had   100%   communication   with the cameras   the whole way down. You're kidding.   No. That is awesome. That is awesome. I I watched I watched it. They what they were what they were what they were watching for was,   the last few tests that they've run, they've had some problems where   the shielding on the   on the flaps and the fins Uh-huh. Wasn't quite good enough, and so it was it was getting through in the places where it connects.  

Got it. And so so they were they were they had rebuffed everything, and and we were as and you could watch it as it was coming down.   1 out of the 3 started overheating, and you could start seeing the red glow on the side you're not supposed to see the red glow. Uh-huh. The other 3, there was nothing.   Just pure black,   which which means that   out outside of that one,   they they're able to fully control the vehicle   all the way down to landing.  

[00:09:28] Jesse Fries:

That is awesome. That really is And then they did a they flipped it they they did a flip  

[00:09:33] Jamon Fries:

on its way down Uh-huh. And soft landed into the Indian Ocean. It basically it landed with so little momentum that it we it didn't even fully submerge in the ocean.  

[00:09:44] Jesse Fries:

Wow. That's impressive.  

[00:09:45] Jamon Fries:

That is cool. Yeah. And what's even what's even cooler about that Uh-huh. Is that they set up buoys   right around the target area they wanted to land   Okay. And they could see it on all the buoys.   It went right in the middle.  

[00:10:02] Jesse Fries:

Nice.   Nice. Nice.   No. SpaceX is quite impressive. What they've been doing today, I'm like, the the I'm loving what they're doing. It's,  

[00:10:12] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. And then of the the video of them catching that rocket coming down. Oh, god. That was so awesome. It was. That really was really cool.  

[00:10:20] Jesse Fries:

I still watch it from time to time just because it's pretty cool. Yeah. Same here. Yep.  

[00:10:26] Jamon Fries:

It's   something that you'll never see ever again for the first time.  

[00:10:31] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.   Maybe with a different rocket, but then it's a different rocket. It's already been 2 months. So that's, it doesn't really matter. Yeah. Exactly.  

[00:10:38] Jamon Fries:

You know, it it it's like if if they would have been landing on one of their platforms with the landing gear, I'd be like, you've done doing that with Falcon 9 down for the last 3, 4 years. It's no big deal that you can do that. Yep. But with this, it had zero landing capability.   If that didn't catch it, it would have hit the ground and blew up.  

[00:10:58] Jesse Fries:

Exactly. That is crazy. That's pretty cool, though. I love it. Yeah. Let's see.   In other tech news,   apparently, Dell, you know, Dell Computers  

[00:11:09] Jamon Fries:

Yep.  

[00:11:10] Jesse Fries:

Here in my home or not hometown, but in my town of Round Rock,   they have,   they gave, like, a couple days notice,   that they were gonna return to 5 days   in office work.   So the parents had to figure everything out in a matter of a couple days.  

[00:11:29] Jamon Fries:

So they're no longer gonna be remote? They're good. They're good. Everyone has to be in the office now? Yep. Yep. Yep. That that that's how they've been I think there's I think they should I think everybody should do that.   To me,  

[00:11:42] Jesse Fries:

it generally, the only reason why they're doing it is because they have the infrastructure that they're paying for, and they don't want it to go to waste. To me Well, yeah. And and because overall, it's like   Carol, she works   she goes into the office twice a week.   But she gets just as much done, sometimes even more here at home because there's not so many distractions and things like that.   So I think   some may need to go into the office, but I'm not sure if all full time would actually be needed. You need to be closer that you can go in, of course. But  

[00:12:16] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. Well Yeah. I do. So so I I think if you work in if you work as a team on something, like, if you're like with Dell, you know, if if you're part of a team that's trying to design   new computer components or something like that or, you know, trying to find ingenious ways of putting things together.   It it's kind of like if you're working alone, you have 0 extra input from anyone else. Uh-huh. And so you may not think of some ideas.   Office managers and stuff like that, yeah, I don't they don't really need to go in or anything like that. Well, these were, like this really was for the sales team. It was so The sales team? Yeah. The sales team.  

[00:12:55] Jesse Fries:

So  

[00:12:56] Jamon Fries:

Sales teams are in office?  

[00:12:58] Jesse Fries:

Apparently.  

[00:13:00] Jamon Fries:

I it's   I I've I've never talked to a salesman that spends more than, like, an hour or 2 in the office. It's a good one anyway.  

[00:13:10] Jesse Fries:

Exactly.   Wow. Yeah.   Yeah. No. Didn't make much sense to me.  

[00:13:17] Jamon Fries:

Yep. Yep.  

[00:13:20] Jesse Fries:

Let's see here. Do you have any other tech or I got some more tech. No. That's all I've got for tech. Okay. Okay.   I just read about this,   diesel truck thing that's going on in   California.   So California,   their dealers,   like big rig   dealers and everything like that.   Per per California law,   they can only sell a diesel truck if they have sold a EV truck   at a one to one exchange.   Oh, wow. Exactly. Exactly.   But EV rigs cost   at least twice as much as a diesel. Oh, yeah. And that's even after a $40,000   tax credit from the Fed.  

[00:14:10] Jamon Fries:

Yep.   Also, as you mentioned, you buy you buy an EV truck   and you you're reliant   on the,   on the electric   hookup   connections across the across the country, which   are not to the point where they can really support  

[00:14:28] Jesse Fries:

a lot of trucks on the interstate right now. No. Exactly. And not only that, but EV the range on EV big rig, do you know what that is? Yeah.  

[00:14:37] Jamon Fries:

I I'm guessing it's no more than, like, a 100 or 200 miles. Yeah. It's a 150 miles.  

[00:14:43] Jesse Fries:

Yeah.   But, like, a diesel range is, like, a1000 to 1500.  

[00:14:48] Jamon Fries:

Oh, yeah. I could ease back when I was driving up the road, I easily drove halfway across the country without having to fuel up. Exactly. So you you've you've got a I had a pair of a 150 gallon tanks on my truck. Of course. Of course.  

[00:15:02] Jesse Fries:

But but, yeah, you have a large range, and then you can fill up. Yeah. It's not a  

[00:15:07] Jamon Fries:

that big takes a while to fill up, but, you know, you you can It that's actually surprising. It doesn't.   It took me no more than 10 minutes to fill to fill my truck up at any time. Oh, wow. That's not bad at all. That is not bad at all. Yeah. Their their pumps are insanely  

[00:15:22] Jesse Fries:

fast. Oh, yeah. I bet. I bet. Plus, you have bigger nozzles and everything like that. Yeah. Much much bigger nozzles and you're fueling both of them at the same time. Because you've you've got fuel nozzles on both sides of the truck. So Oh, okay. Okay. Makes sense. Makes sense. Yeah. But but yeah. So apparently, a lot of truckers in California, they're just keeping their old rigs.   Oh, yeah. Because it just doesn't make sense otherwise. And so they're, like, putting money into fixing the rigs instead of buying new rigs that are more fuel efficient.   And so actually, it's   probably causing more of an issue. But, yeah, it's, I   thought that was kind of funny, the   California and their one to one.  



[00:16:02] Jamon Fries:

You know, that's Well, you know, California   is kinda weird. You know? Like, did did you hear did you hear that, Elon Musk, that SpaceX was trying to get,   was trying to   increase their number of launches in California   by about a quarter. Right. Right. Right.   But the California government decided to say no   because they don't like the the things that he's been posting on x. I know. What kind of jackassery  

[00:16:33] Jesse Fries:

is that? You know? It's  

[00:16:34] Jamon Fries:

Yeah.   I I mean, going going   he's an individual.   Yeah. That that's one thing that really confuses me about a lot of this. You know? You   if I hear a lot of I see even here even on x, I see people talking about how,   Elon Musk bought Twitter because it was censoring people and stuff like that. Right. But then his views   are conservative,   so you're just as bad.   Uh-huh.   But he's not censoring the liberal views.  

[00:17:08] Jesse Fries:

Right. Exactly.   Exactly. So  

[00:17:11] Jamon Fries:

His personal views may be more conservative than yours,   but his personal views don't affect your ability to use the communication   tool that is X.  

[00:17:22] Jesse Fries:

Apparently, it does in their mind. But but then, you know, it it was like it was like, what? There was a story I read where   liberals are a bit weird, especially when it comes to this, to the point where it was   there was a story about how children   of liberals,   like,   really, really hate   Trump. Like, they call him Hitler and everything like this. Even though these little elementary kids don't know who Hitler is or anything like that. They're calling them Hitler and everything like that. And, you know, it's not reverse. It's like the conservative children don't just automatically hate,   Harris or Biden. They they they're more Yep.  

Yeah. It's a person, you know, but, yeah, these liberals are, like, going hardcore. It's crazy.   It is really crazy.  

[00:18:09] Jamon Fries:

Well, you know, ever ever since the littlest brother's girlfriend   told me that she thought all Republicans should be dead.   Wow. I've kinda, you know  

[00:18:23] Jesse Fries:

nothing surprises me with what they say or do. I know. That that that's a bit extreme. That's a bit extreme. Yeah. Yeah. But   but, you know, at least, you know, so there's some wins for the conservative side. Looks like, that Colorado cake baker, he won again in court.  

[00:18:39] Jamon Fries:

Of course, he did. He didn't do anything real fun.  

[00:18:43] Jesse Fries:

I know. I know. But, yeah, he he won again. So that that's good. That's good.   So it's and then we have Elon, you know, who is of course, he's not 100%   free speech. He doesn't like it when people talk bad about him and things like that. But, you know, this is everybody. But in general,   he's not so bad, I I think, personally, when it comes to Yeah. X and everything like that.  

[00:19:06] Jamon Fries:

Yep.   Well, talking about court cases, did you hear about the, Trump fraud case that went up to the appellate court?  

[00:19:15] Jesse Fries:

The New York one where he was convicted or something like that?  

[00:19:19] Jamon Fries:

The the one the one the one dealing with, the Mar a Lago evaluation where they wanted to fine him, like, 100 of 1,000,000 of dollars for for for defrauding   the bank.  

[00:19:30] Jesse Fries:

Oh, okay.  

[00:19:32] Jamon Fries:

Uh-huh. So that went that that went up to the appellate court   and didn't end so well for the for the people prosecuting.  

[00:19:42] Jesse Fries:

How so?  

[00:19:43] Jamon Fries:

Well, you know, the with the with when you when you go to an appellate court, there's 5 judges that are sitting Uh-huh. And you basically explain the merits of your case, and you basically prove to them that   this case should have even been be brought Right. Right. Up to the court.   So throughout this whole plot throughout this whole time, the the judges   just kept interrupting the the liberal lawyers since to ask questions. Uh-huh. One of the questions was, can you find me any in any   other time in history   where the person who took the loan was able to call the bank   and the bank say that they weren't defrauded.  



[00:20:22] Jesse Fries:

Uh-huh.  

[00:20:24] Jamon Fries:

They found one that's   partially fit Okay. In the entire history of the United States.   So then they asked, have you ever prosecuted   someone   for lying about the value of of their property   when it resulted in the entire loan being paid back with interest?   Right. They couldn't find one after 2 hours of searching.  

[00:20:46] Jesse Fries:

Wow.  

[00:20:47] Jamon Fries:

So then they're like, okay. So we'll give you another shot here.   Have you ever seen an attorney general   prosecute a case   where there was no damage to the public?   The person   the the person that you claim was defrauded   was there was no damage to them. Uh-huh.   And   the person that applied for the loan did not act in malice   when they took the loan.   Uh-huh. They searched for 6 hours and could not find a single case where where that had been brought up by a district attorney   or by the attorney general.  

[00:21:25] Jesse Fries:

Okay.  

[00:21:26] Jamon Fries:

So so it ended up   the judges then looked at the lawyers that had brought the case and said,   you all might need to be sanctioned for bringing this case in a malicious manner. Oh, wow. Wow. 1 judge said, I have come to believe that since a case like this has never been brought in the history of the United States,   let alone New York,   I believe that you not that you own I believe that you only filed the case   because the dependent the defendant was running for president,   which puts you a foul of not only multiple regulations   regarding the law,   but also runs you a foul of inter election interference.  



[00:22:10] Jesse Fries:

Wow.  

[00:22:11] Jamon Fries:

This was a judge's   decision on this matter.   Holy. The entire   closing arguments of the case   was not the Lib lawyers talking about, you know, this is why we brought the case.   They simply said,   we just hope   that the court would take into account   that lawyers need to be able to file these types of cases.   So please don't   sanction us.   What? Yeah. Their entire argument was begging not to be sanctioned.  

[00:22:49] Jesse Fries:

That is crazy.   No. Yeah.   They don't   lawyers, they don't need to file these cases just because they No. Because it's a bullshit case. Exact?   Wow.   Wow.   Yeah.   Yeah.  

[00:23:04] Jamon Fries:

Mhmm. Yeah. So so that that's that,   that turned out pretty well for Trump.  

[00:23:09] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. Yeah. Was that a final decision or just the the arguments?  

[00:23:13] Jamon Fries:

That that was, I believe the final decision came down that it would that the case was to be thrown out.  

[00:23:19] Jesse Fries:

Okay. Okay.  

[00:23:22] Jamon Fries:

So so all of the the fraud the the entire fraud that he was found guilty of has is completely going away.   The state had Cal New York will have to pay back every penny that Trump has given them.   Yeah. It's just a massive   hit.  

[00:23:41] Jesse Fries:

Okay. Yeah. I'll look into that. See   see if that was final or whatnot. I I don't see anything. That's weird.   But then the news has been so   let's not talk about Trump. Let's not give you good news,   or anything like that. It's been really crazy lately. But I'll I'll look into that. This seems, quite interesting. I'd like to know the full story. Yeah. I I don't I don't know for sure if that was the final case, if that was the final  

[00:24:06] Jamon Fries:

judgment. The   what I saw was just a person explaining   what had happened during the try during the during the trial in in the appellate court. Oh. So I so it didn't say that it was finalized or anything like that.   But, you know, just the fact that they spent their entire closing argument begging not to be sanctioned is just hilarious.  

[00:24:29] Jesse Fries:

That really is funny. That that's   it's really weird.   Yeah.   I like it, though. That's pretty nice, though. Oh, yeah. Absolutely.   Let's see. On to health news, apparently, a study finds that 2 caffeinated drinks,   especially coffee, they can reduce, your diabetes risk and heart attack risk.   So that's kinda cool. Really?   Yeah. Yeah. Do you drink coffee?  

[00:24:56] Jamon Fries:

No.   No. I drink coffee in a very good time. That's   your problem.   I guess I'll have to start by I well, I mean, I I own coffee. I've got a grinder. I've got coffee beans. I could Really? See? Yeah. It's,  

[00:25:13] Jesse Fries:

it says drinking several cups of caffeinated coffee and tea may protect against type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke,   in this new research.   Yeah. So Is it the caffeine then? Or is it something else in the coffee? Okay. It is the caffeine is what they say. Because they also put anti into that and everything like that. So maybe a Red Bull would do the same thing, you know, just  

[00:25:36] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. Drink drink a whole bunch of Mountain Dew. You got tons of caffeine there. Maybe not a whole bunch, David. May may may maybe Well, I mean, you know, there's a there there are the problems of the high fructose corn syrup causing gout and other A lot of times, I said acid health issues.   I mean, so maybe not drink so much of it. But, hey, at least you get the caffeine. That's good for you.   I'm drinking my health drink. It's killing me, but I'm drinking my health drink.  

[00:26:05] Jesse Fries:

Well,   yeah, life will kill you. But, but, yeah. Yeah.   At least coffee, you can monitor how much sugar and everything else you throw into it. But, yeah, they said about,   people that drank 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine a day had a lower risk   of,   cardio,  

[00:26:24] Jamon Fries:

disease and everything like that. So No. That's cool. So it kind of correlates with, red wine and stuff like that then because those have   that same basic kind of health  

[00:26:34] Jesse Fries:

Right. Health effect too, don't they? I believe so. I don't know. I keep   doctors   can never agree on this, and then you have the teetotalers in the scientific community who   wanna make us all   ditch our alcohol and everything like that. But Yep. Yep. It allows us to go on. That's what I say. Without alcohol It does. Yes. Absolutely.  

[00:26:57] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. But, apparently, coffee drinkers My my youth would have not have been as fun.  

[00:27:02] Jesse Fries:

My current life wouldn't be nearly as fun without alcohol either.   But, yeah, coffee drinkers apparently get the best out of it.  

[00:27:12] Jamon Fries:

Okay.  

[00:27:15] Jesse Fries:

But yeah. So I thought that was a bit embarrassing.  

[00:27:18] Jamon Fries:

I guess I'll have to start drinking coffee then because I used to drink quite a bit of coffee. Yeah. At least it says 2 to 3 cups a day.  

[00:27:25] Jesse Fries:

So it's not really all that much even. You know? So just, Yeah. No.   Yeah. I usually have about 2 cups. But  

[00:27:32] Jamon Fries:

I might use something I started doing not too long ago Uh-huh.   Where I I would,   you know, I I drink a lot of water. Right.   And so what I would do is I would I for some reason, I bought some instant coffee. I've never bought instant coffee before.   But I bought some instant coffee, and I'm like, okay. So I need to use this up, but I don't wanna heat water up. So I just I'd I'd fill a gallon jug with water   and put, like, 1 or 2 of the,   instant coffee tubes into the end of the water.   Mhmm. So I'd basically be drinking cool,   warm,   not not hot, not cold. Yeah. Just kinda room temperature coffee.  

I know. Yeah. I I kinda like that. It was it it was it tastes good. I love the taste of coffee. Yeah. Yeah.  

[00:28:22] Jesse Fries:

So do I. So do I. It's a lovely taste. I also I also like tea.  

[00:28:27] Jamon Fries:

However,   unfortunately,   90% of the decent tea is uncaffeinated   now.  

[00:28:34] Jesse Fries:

Really?  

[00:28:35] Jamon Fries:

Yeah.   It's it's tough.   If you if you   the the brand that I usually get is, like, Celestial Seasonings for tea. Uh-huh. And, because they they have a lot of flavored teas like Bengal spice tea and fruit teas and stuff like that,   which is  

[00:28:53] Jesse Fries:

a a lot of it is green tea. So that's why it's decaffeinated because green tea doesn't have caffeine in it if I remember correctly. No. It does. It's just not as, it's not as concentrated. It does have caffeine. Okay. Because they don't add caffeine to the the black tea. Right. So Yeah.  

[00:29:10] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. I I didn't know if the different green tea leaf didn't have caffeine versus the black tea leaf. No. They do. Something does. Yep. Okay.   But for some reason, every single piece every single tea that they sell other than, like, one   is noncaffeinated.   It's decaffeinated.  

[00:29:30] Jesse Fries:

That doesn't sound good at all.  

[00:29:32] Jamon Fries:

No. Not at all. I mean, it tastes good, but it doesn't have the caffeine, so it kinda  

[00:29:38] Jesse Fries:

eliminates that. Yeah. So you can't use that for this purpose at least. Yeah. Yep. Yep.   Okay. Let's see. Oh, I have one little bit more tech news.   Just one. It's kind of a funny story.   So apparently,   some lesbians were   sick and tired   of   trans men or trans women,   being in on their social dating apps and everything like that. Yeah. Yeah. And so a company,   came up with one that uses facial recognition to exclude,   trans women.  

[00:30:18] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. It it wasn't I knew it wouldn't be too long before parts of the LGBT community would start going against the other parts. I mean,   the the   the from the very beginning of it, the the homosexual   people never got along with the bi people because the bi went both ways, and they didn't like that concept.   Now with the transgenders   now with the transgenders,   I mean,   the gay people don't wanna do a a gay woman does not wanna date a dude   that transitioned into a woman. Right. Exactly. I mean, they're they're just not interested in that.  

[00:30:57] Jesse Fries:

Yep. Yep. Apparently, this app is called LeApp. So l apostrophe app. Uh-huh.   Yep. So Yep. Make it French and it sounds good, of course. Exactly. It might even be French. I don't know.   Yeah.   The story doesn't say where it's from. But,   Okay. Okay. Well, CEO is It's Yeah.  

[00:31:19] Jamon Fries:

It's not too surprising that that would happen. I mean, that's   you can never   throw   a whole   bunch of different types of people into one organization   and expect there to be any form of   solidarity  

[00:31:36] Jesse Fries:

amongst everyone. It's just not possible to happen. Exactly. Yep. It's like,   not even sure what   oh, man. Hold on. I think I may have forgotten to do something.   I forgot to do something. Yep.   I messed this up. Yep. I messed this up. What did I forget to do? I forgot to go live.   That's a problem, Eric. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. Let let   me   okay. Now we're live. Okay. Sorry, everybody. You missed half the show.   I forgot to go live.   Sorry about that. If anybody is listening,   well, we'll just continue where we where we left off anyway. Well, I mean, you know, quite honestly, the it's 11 o'clock now, which is when we generally start going live anyways. So It is. It is. But I but I posted on a Yeah. On social media that we're going live at 10:30 and, well   yeah.  

Yeah.  

[00:32:40] Jamon Fries:

Fucking under professionalism. I don't know. I know. Goddamn it.  

[00:32:44] Jesse Fries:

What can you do? I can't be perfect 100% of the time.   Yeah. Yeah.   Well, guys, you missed you missed,   guys, you missed talk about furries in Russia. You missed the Elon talk and a bit of Trump   and, some lesbian action going on. So, yeah, you you missed quite a bit. But,   beyond that, let's get back into it.   Do you have anything else there? Got another,  

[00:33:08] Jamon Fries:

got another thing about Elon Musk. Okay.   So   do you know how   people start calling people different things   just because it sounds   bad?  

[00:33:23] Jesse Fries:

Right.  

[00:33:24] Jamon Fries:

Well, politico.com   is now saying that Elon Musk   is going to be the 1st and newest oligarch   in the US.  

[00:33:34] Jesse Fries:

Okay.   Okay. That's  

[00:33:36] Jamon Fries:

The reasoning for that is because   Trump is going to have him help out in the government   Right. While he's still running his businesses.   So they believe that that that Elon Musk is going to   be able to   give himself all sorts of sweetheart deals and stuff like that,   make sure that the FAA can't stop him from doing anything,   basically make it so that he can do anything that he wants to without any repercussion.   And Do you know what do you know what part of the government Trump wants to put it into?  

[00:34:13] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. Just like monitoring, like   like,   how it's ran and getting rid of people and things like that, right, if they suck and whatnot?  

[00:34:21] Jamon Fries:

He he wants to start a new department.   Right. It'll be the department of government efficiency.  

[00:34:27] Jesse Fries:

Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. That's it. Yep. I mean,  

[00:34:32] Jamon Fries:

you know,   sure, you'll have some sway over   you know, he he might have some sway over.   Well, he he won't because all he's doing is reporting to Trump   when he writes, and then Trump will have to do everything.  

[00:34:47] Jesse Fries:

See, this is what Trump says, but   I don't think Elon has time for this. And I'm not even sure if he'd want it. You know? It's, he's he's he's he's openly said that he's willing that he wants to do it.   I also heard one thing about this. Elon Musk is all in on this, I think. You're right. But I also heard that he didn't wanna be part of the cabinet. But if you're a secretary of a department, that means you're part of the cabinet.  

[00:35:11] Jamon Fries:

I don't think he wants to be the secretary of the department. I think he wants to be more of a,  

[00:35:19] Jesse Fries:

a czar?  

[00:35:20] Jamon Fries:

Like the term they use? No. No. No. No. Collaborator with them to he wants to work with them,   but not actually be part of it. Oh, okay. Okay. Well,  

[00:35:31] Jesse Fries:

that's different.   I would say he's an oligarch, but then we have other oligarchs like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Yeah. We've had oligarchs. We've had oligarchs sit in this country for so long.   Exactly.  

[00:35:44] Jamon Fries:

There is no business. There is no multibillionaire   out there that doesn't  

[00:35:50] Jesse Fries:

have some in that doesn't have influence over what the government does. Exactly. They give money to all the politicians. They just have Yeah. Groups and everything like this. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah.  

[00:36:01] Jamon Fries:

They all get away with whatever they wanna do. So what's the big deal? Of course. But the the the media hates  

[00:36:08] Jesse Fries:

Elon Musk now. So what can Mhmm. What can Of course. Yep. Yep.  

[00:36:14] Jamon Fries:

And then Now let's see. Oh. You heard   go ahead. What? No. You.   Okay.   Have you heard which, what RFK is planning?   What Trump and him are planning on doing?  

[00:36:27] Jesse Fries:

Not precisely.   No. Okay.  

[00:36:30] Jamon Fries:

So   he is going to be entering into the department of agriculture.  

[00:36:35] Jesse Fries:

Uh-huh.  

[00:36:36] Jamon Fries:

And he's his one of his plans is to get rid of   a lot of the pesticides and stuff like that that are legal here in the US, but nowhere else in the world   Okay. Because of how dangerous they are.   He's planning on   working with smaller farms so that the small family farms can start thriving and surviving again. Oh, yeah.   He basically,   I I don't think it's gonna get to the point of where it's all organic or anything like that, but he wants to lead towards that. And his the main reason for for doing that   is   a couple of things.   They found that,   you know, the nutrients in the food we eat now Uh-huh. Is so much less than the nutrients in that same food, like, 30 years ago.  

And that's because the quality of the land has been has been declining because of all the pesticides   and all of and everything else that gets put into on the land. And the the way that they till and stuff like that, it loses basically all of its moisture.   So I mean, just the the land itself is is having problems.  

[00:37:46] Jesse Fries:

Well, right. Right. That's why they, like,   do rotate cropping and whatnot. So  

[00:37:52] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. And but that's so that's what so because the result of that is that the nutritional value in a lot of the food is not nearly as high as it used to be. The nutritional value in a lot of the food is not nearly as high as it used to be. And so he so he plans on working with a lot of the the farmers and   stuff like that to try to   reenrich the land and to try to,   there there's areas where where there's small farmers   are literally taking back deserts   by by with the with these practices. They're turning deserts into farmland again. Oh, that's cool. That's cool. Yeah.   So so he so he wants to work real heavy on that.  

He's also talking about getting   he doesn't want to get rid of all of the vaccines.   I I was kind of so shocked by this, but here in the US,   a child is given about 20 about  

[00:38:44] Jesse Fries:

2 times the vaccines that they are anywhere in Europe or anywhere else in the world. Oh, yeah. They get so many. My 2 kids, holy hell. It's crazy how many they Yeah.  

[00:38:54] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. So he's so he's wanting to so he's wanting to work with,   work with people to he doesn't wanna get rid of all the vaccines, but he wants to make it so that everybody knows   how efficient these vaccines are, you know, how good they are, if there's any mass of downsides to the vaccines, and then allow the parents to choose which ones they get and don't get, I think, basically. Okay. Makes sense. So that's that's kinda cool too.   Yeah. Just there's so much about food that   you you look at it's hilarious. Look. You you look at, like, the the serial twit that Trix.  

[00:39:30] Jesse Fries:

Uh-huh.  

[00:39:31] Jamon Fries:

They just launched a new Trix for Australia.  

[00:39:34] Jesse Fries:

Uh-huh.  

[00:39:37] Jamon Fries:

If you look at the ingredient list between what's sold in the US and what they're selling in Australia now,   there are so many food   colorings and dyes and stuff like that in the US food that's not at all present in anywhere else. Yeah. No. Yeah. It's,  

[00:39:57] Jesse Fries:

it is a common theme.   I see this theme all over the place.   I I hear how bad it   might be, but I I don't know. Yeah. It's,  

[00:40:07] Jamon Fries:

well, you know, they they keep saying that it that it may cause cancer. It may cause this. It may cause  

[00:40:14] Jesse Fries:

cancer. Everything can cause that. Exactly. Exactly.  

[00:40:18] Jamon Fries:

So   but, you know, if you in my opinion, if you can replace a food coloring dye that's made with petrochemicals   with a food coloring dye that's made from, say, plants,   I think I'd rather have the food coloring dye from plants than the petrochemicals.  

[00:40:36] Jesse Fries:

No. I understand that. I understand that. Just my personal opinion.   On another food note, apparently, the, the University of Michigan, they did a study to look at the the carbon footprint   of homegrown food.   You know, those backyard gardens. Right? Yep.   Apparently, you shouldn't do it. Apparently, it's bad. So bad to have a garden.   So   What? Yeah. It says the carbon footprint of homegrown foods, AKA gardens,   is 5 times greater than, produce from conventional agriculture practices.   So basically, just leave it to the farmers. Don't do it your self because you're just killing the planet is what   the basic   theme of this is, except for 2 types of food. There's 2 foods, that you can grow in a garden, they say, which is better for it. Okay.  

Tomatoes and asparagus.   So one, everybody eats, and then the other one is, like, half the population won't even touch it. So, you know  

[00:41:37] Jamon Fries:

So, basically, what they're saying is that they haven't perfected   the,   the commercial   growth of tomatoes and and,   and asparagus yet, so it's still good to grow them in the in your home farm. But once we've got that perfected,   you then you shouldn't even do that. No. It's actually about the transportation  

[00:41:59] Jesse Fries:

costs of those   two things because a lot of the times it's like most tomatoes   here in the United States come from Mexico.   And   or South America and things like that. And so because of that, it's the same thing. It's, it's the transportation   costs,   or CO2 from the transportation that actually makes it higher for to come from agriculture farms instead of,   from your backyard.  

[00:42:27] Jamon Fries:

Okay. So the question so I guess the question that I have   is   what carbon   would be produced   by your backyard garden?  

[00:42:38] Jesse Fries:

It's,  

[00:42:39] Jamon Fries:

like, the materials is used. Carbon dioxide is fuel.  

[00:42:43] Jesse Fries:

Plant beds. Raising up plant beds. That's bad. Don't you know?   Not having,   having inefficient   composting   is bad.   It's all these things they say.   So Oh my god.   Yep. Yep. Raise beds, gardens, baths.  

[00:43:05] Jamon Fries:

Yep.   If only the food didn't taste so much better. I know. I know. You know? So it's,  

[00:43:14] Jesse Fries:

you know, so all these homesteaders,   you you know, these this homestead movement, you know, they they they should just stop it and   go back to buying from the grocery store.   Yeah.  

[00:43:25] Jamon Fries:

Go back to buying shit that's loaded with pesticides   and all   this other stuff.  

[00:43:31] Jesse Fries:

Exactly.   Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So  

[00:43:34] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. I I personally remember   live when we lived up in Woodbury.   Uh-huh. You know, that garden that my mom had out back, the raspberries   and the strawberries,   they tasted so much better than anything you could buy at the at the store. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Those raspberry bushes were awesome. They really were. They were. Yes.  

[00:43:55] Jesse Fries:

And then the apples in, East chain, those are pretty tasty too. Yep. Yep. Yep. They absolutely were.   Well, here at, Mindless Meanderings, we are a value for value   model for how we make money off this. This means you are producers of the show, and you can help us with all aspects of the show.   This has been described as time, talent, and treasure or treasure.   And you could help out by doing art or jingles for the show. You can also send us ideas and information for topics that we cover.   You can email me at jesse@mindlesscdot   com, or you can email,   Jamon here at jamon@mindlessmeanderings.com.  

But most importantly, we need the treasure. Money will ensure that we can continue bringing you our mindless meanderings.   Just donate however much you think this podcast was worth to you. Could be 300, could be a dollar. Just send us what you feel this podcast was worth to you. Any amount helps, and if it keeps us spouting our mindless meanderings, that will be great. When you donate, you can also send a short email that we will read on air. You can donate through our website, mindlessmeanderings.com   or through your favorite podcast app.  

When you do donate Treasure, we will list you as a producer of the show. Since we are just starting out, whoever donates at least $100   will be listed as an executive producer, and the rest will be listed as associate   producers. So please help us out so that we can keep up our mindless meanderings.   And speaking of mindless meanderings,   apparently,   they did a study to figure out,   like,   how trans kids how often they actually, like, go back to their original,   gender.   Yeah.   And apparently, it's quite,   a shift.   So   most kids outgrow out of their desire to change sex.  

It's like if you wanna be the opposite sex, if you're, like, age 11,   it's,   it can be up to about   looks like around 12%, 13%.   But by the time you get to be 25, it's down to, like,   maybe 3%, if that.   So, yeah,   it's a it's a huge drop off. 16, it's even a lot less than 11. But 11, that's kinda like when puberty starts.   Things are going crazy in your body.   Yep.   Yeah.   It is a confusing time. I think we've well,   all adults have been through it. So not except for maybe Yeah.   1 or 2 here that happens because   some sort of biological thing. But yeah. So I thought that was kinda interesting.  

[00:46:42] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. Well, I mean, it makes a lot of sense. I mean,   the the younger kids, they   they go through these phases where,   you know, their best friend is a girl, so they think they should be a girl too, you know, that type of thing. I mean, it it has nothing.   Now I I okay. I can't say it has nothing.   The the chance of it being something   neurological   where you just feel like you're in the wrong body   Right. Is so minuscule   that it barely even even   fits into a percentage   type thing. Right. You know, it's like 0.0   some percent.   Mhmm.  

So,   yeah, it just   kids have always wanted to dress up.   Do you know the the   now some do, some do, some don't. But, I mean, there have always been young boys   that were fascinated by their mom's shoes, you know, the high heels.   So they put them on and walk around in them. They'd be they were fanc fascinated by just the different styles of clothing that that   that the different genders would wear. So they would dress up in them. Now there were also a lot of ones where the mother or the sisters, usually not brothers,   thought, oh, she, he's so cute. What would he look like dressed up as a girl?  

Yep. I know lots of people who had older sisters   that would run-in   terror trying to get away from the clothes that they wanted them to put on.  

[00:48:20] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. Yeah.   Yeah.   I could see that. I could see that. So it's Good thing we only have brothers. That's just a natural part yeah. No kidding.  

[00:48:28] Jamon Fries:

That's just a natural part of growing up.   So, you know, I mean,   it it makes absolutely no it doesn't surprise me at all that by the time they hit 20 or so, you know, the percentage of them that actually feel that that same way is so minuscule.  

[00:48:43] Jesse Fries:

Oh, yeah. Oh, another poll here. This one kind of shifting topics, but this one's about Hitler. So this is another fun one. Oh. Fun one. Yeah.  

[00:48:52] Jamon Fries:

So are we talking about Trump or are we talking about actual Hitler? Actual Hitler. Apparently they did a study.  

[00:48:58] Jesse Fries:

They did this they they took a poll to see whether or not people   thought that Hitler had some good ideas or if he was evil and had no redeeming features   or they weren't sure about it. So   apparently, in general,   the whole population, about 11%,   said he had some good ideas.   12% didn't know, and then 77%   said,   that he was completely evil, no redeeming features.   Apparently,   when you go through this, it's kinda interesting. Apparently,   gen z or people 18 to 29,   they skew   a bit differently. Because in regular population, it's about 11%. So roughly what?   10% of the population, 1 in 10.  

But for them, it's,   like, 21%   think that he had some good ideas. So it's, like, 1 in 5.   Almost double what the regular population is, think that he had it, that he actually had a good idea.   And 20%   are unsure.   Only 59%   of, like, that generation say that he was just completely evil.   So things have shifted.   Yeah. If you go up to, like, if you go up to, like,   50 to 64   years of old years of age, it's, like, 7% said he had some good ideas. 86%   said no.   Yeah. Yeah. And then even though the ones that actually lived through World War 2, 88%   said he had no redeeming   characteristics.  

Yep.   And then they even broke it down into, like, Republican and Democrat.   This is kind of funny. 13% of Republicans said that he had some good ideas.   14%   of Democrats said he had some good ideas.   So, technically   now statistically, you know, that's probably within the margin of error. But just for this, more Democrats think that Hitler had better had some good ideas versus Republicans.   Now that is kind of funny.  

[00:51:03] Jamon Fries:

That really is. Yeah.   You know, the   the further the further away you are from something, the   the more people are going to be like, well, I mean, he couldn't have been that bad. No. Exactly.  

[00:51:20] Jesse Fries:

Exactly. You know, it was just like that, historian that,   said that Churchill was the villain.   I can't remember what that guy's name was. But he said the Churchill was a villain. You you know, it   so we're getting further and further away,   from Hitler. So, yeah, some people start   talking this sort of nonsense.   But what was funny is that right after that story came out, I was listening to a podcast out of the BBC.   Mhmm. And in it, this historian, she actually worked at, Churchill's home and everything like that. Okay. And she was a curator there. And so she knows all the inner workings and everything like that. And the things that she said,   you could even see how the other guy came to that same point of view. Because she she said that hit that Churchill,   when he went to Germany at one point in time, he never met Hitler. But when he went to Germany, he goes,   this is war. This is gonna be war. This is even before World War 2 started or anything like that. He just knew that Germany was on a war footing, plain and simple. He felt it, and so he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that England would be okay and that Germany would be stopped.  

So this guy was saying that Churchill was trying to stop Germany no matter what. Well, he was, but   for   just to me, not nefarious reasons. You know? This guy just put nefarious reasons in there instead of just him being somebody that lived through World War 1  

[00:52:52] Jamon Fries:

and knowing what things were gonna be, and so he just wanted to make sure that England would be fine. You know? So Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it the the writing was on the wall for anybody that paid attention before World War 2 started. I mean, the   the just the the   reparations   and everything else like that, all the all of the stuff that they did to Germany at the after the end of World War 1. Uh-huh. I mean, it got to the point where Germany had a choice to make. We either go to war and fight again,   or we just crumble and die.  



[00:53:25] Jesse Fries:

Exactly.   Exactly.  

[00:53:27] Jamon Fries:

So, I mean, you know, the writing was all the was on the wall for anybody that went there and paid attention.   And I I think it's that speaks very highly of Churchill   that he saw that and was like, no. We need to do something about this right now.  

[00:53:42] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. No. I I I I I agree with you. I agree with you. I'm Mhmm. Pro Churchill.   So it's Yeah. Yeah. Really. Yeah. It's a  

[00:53:52] Jamon Fries:

yeah. Yeah. It just made sense. He he was he wasn't the perfect man, but he was a good man.  

[00:53:57] Jesse Fries:

Yep. Exactly.   Exactly.  

[00:54:00] Jamon Fries:

He was what they needed for the time especially. I think that was that was the biggest thing is   if it we if he if it would have been someone other than Churchill with his personality with the way that he was,   I think that a little things would be extremely different now.  

[00:54:15] Jesse Fries:

Oh, completely. Apparently, he thought that he was in place for a reason.   Yeah. But he's not the only leader that actually thought that. It was like, our own founding father, George Washington, actually thought that he was destined   for greatness and everything like that because he was able to survive so many scrapes,   without a scratch.   Like, one time he was, like, riding through a battle with, some Native Americans,   and they shot at him, and his coat was riddled with bullet holes, but not a one touched him.  

[00:54:51] Jamon Fries:

Oh, damn.  

[00:54:52] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. So   it's   it's crazy. So so, you know, some people just believe that they are destined and possibly they are. I am not gonna   second guess that, but, yeah, some people really have this idea. You know? Hitler may have heard that George Washington.  

[00:55:08] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. He might have.   For, you know, George George Washington,   the the   coat bloated,   brittle bullets is actually   very amusing.   Uh-huh. Because if you think about the types of guns that they had back then Oh, completely. Yep. Yep. I mean, there there was absolutely no control over where that bullet went. Yep. Yep. Exactly.   Exactly. Point and pull the trigger and hope it goes somewhere near. So the fact that nothing touched him with just that kind of randomness   is pretty cool.   It really is. If it were even more modern guns, I don't think that would have happened.  

[00:55:45] Jesse Fries:

You you never know. You never know. I I maybe it's what was it? Possible that it might have, but Well, I heard this thing where I can't remember if it was a TV show or I was just reading something.   But it said that with infantry,   their chance of actually hitting somebody, like oh, I was reading a book.   It was a Jack Reacher book, so I don't know if it's accurate or not. But in it Right. He was saying that,   infantry, it's about for every 1500   shots, they will actually kill somebody.   1500   rounds of ammunition it takes to kill 1 person. Modern weaponry? Yes. Yeah.   Modern weaponry.  

Yeah. This is just with infantry. I'm sure this isn't counting seals or anything like that that can actually shoot straight. Yeah.   No offense to my infantry, but   but yeah. So the it's like 1500,   per   one person killed.   Isn't that crazy?  

[00:56:48] Jamon Fries:

Well, I mean, it's actually not that surprising   because if you think about it, 90 90% of what the of their shooting is suppression fire.   It's trying to keep make sure that everybody's keeping their heads down so that they're not shooting at you.  

[00:57:02] Jesse Fries:

So True. That makes sense.  

[00:57:04] Jamon Fries:

That that that throws a huge a huge impact into those numbers as well. Well, you just had to make sense. Come on, Jamen. What are you trying to do?   I always do that. You know me. I always try to make sense of something.  

[00:57:17] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. I always like the joke. That's what I go for.   Yep.   Let's see here. Is definitely good. But It is. It is. I I like the joke. Yeah. Yep. So, Lizzie, should we talk more about global   warming sort of stuff policy, or, do you wanna learn about some Nobel Prize   stuff?   Oh, let's go with the Nobel Prize stuff. Okay. So, some 3 guys, they won the Nobel Prize,   in Economics.   Okay.   And, basically, they got it for writing a book that, explained why some nations are rich and others are poor.   Apparently, in this, they argued that strong democratic institutions lead to innovation   investments.  

And so this explains why some are poor, some are not.   And it has to be strong institutions. So you the people have to believe in the laws and everything like that. Corruption has to be cracked down on and things like that. Yeah.   But one thing they can't figure out is China. They they can't really understand why China because because part of the whole thing is democratic.   Right. But they they they just can't figure out China,   which to me cracks me up, you know, because China, they went to a market based economy. So   and they invest heavily.  



[00:58:40] Jamon Fries:

So Oh, yeah. Yeah.   Yeah. I I think it I think it has more to do with,   with,   capitalism   than with with democracy   because there there's a lot of country out countries out there that are democracies   that aren't very capitalist,   and they're not doing so well.  

[00:59:03] Jesse Fries:

Right. Right. Right. But then, you know, pure capitalism, it's not   I I think there's a middle ground. I think there's a middle ground. It can't be completely,   capitalist, and it can't be completely   driven by the government on what can be made and everything like that. People actually   have to be able to give input, and the market has to be obeyed   at some levels.  

[00:59:28] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. Well, I mean, so like with the example of China, I mean, up until   they had their   awakening and decided to allow a little bit of free market in there,   everything was state run. The state decided how much they were gonna produce. The state would decide what each factory was gonna produce.   You know? There there was absolutely nothing that was that was up to free market,   and that obviously was not working for them because, I mean, they were just extremely in bad shape. Oh, yeah. But another another thing about the about China is a lot of their economy is actually fake.   Mhmm.  

They have entire   cities   where there is not a single person living in that city, but yet there's, like,   hundreds of of   tall apartment buildings and stuff like that that are all empty. They're not even fully done.   They they they've just built the they've just built the   outlying structure,   the main walls.   You can still see all the way through these apartment complexes.   Yet people are buying them   and selling them   as if it were regular free trade,   for for for houses.   Now the reason for that is because of their culture, because the,   with the what ever since their one child policy, you know, there there are so many men   versus women in China.  



[01:00:57] Jesse Fries:

Right.  

[01:00:58] Jamon Fries:

So in order to be able to get married, you have to own a home.  

[01:01:03] Jesse Fries:

Right.  

[01:01:04] Jamon Fries:

Sometimes   2 homes   depending on depending on the family of the of the woman.   And so they go to these cities, they buy these apartments that have absolutely no structure,   and that's their home. That's the home that they buy so that they can get married.  

[01:01:24] Jesse Fries:

Makes sense. Makes sense.  

[01:01:26] Jamon Fries:

I it does, but it to to me, it kind of   screams that it's a somewhat fake economy.  

[01:01:33] Jesse Fries:

I I can see how part of that is.   Yeah. I I I just looked up the ghost cities. It this one picture, it's just a whole bunch of mansions,   like, without any roads. It's just dirt in between the mansions and they're European in style.   It's crazy looking.   It's kinda cool looking, but also  

[01:01:52] Jamon Fries:

crazy. Oh, yeah. There goes there are a lot of ghost cities in China.  

[01:01:57] Jesse Fries:

Yeah.   That's kinda cool.   Yeah. Yeah. It's,   China. It's a but but the   the economy is growing.   So it's,   it's it's probably a Yeah. They probably need to do more. But, yeah, it's, it's an interesting   situation. But, yeah, this economist said that it just doesn't   he hasn't figured out China yet.   So I thought that was kind of funny.  

[01:02:24] Jamon Fries:

Well, I mean, you know, when when you look at China, it's   it's kind of   got a   I mean, in a way,   it almost balances   the free trade   or the, capitalist system   and   not democratic system, democratic system, of course, because it's China, so it's the communist system.   But they found a decent balance in there.   The only the only problem that that you ever run into with that balance   is when, say, a,   one of the owners of the large companies   said something that's not quite positive about China, then they suddenly disappear for, like, 2 years and come back completely brainwashed.  

[01:03:10] Jesse Fries:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.  

[01:03:12] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. But there's So, I mean, that that's one of the downsides to that, but,   they they they do have a they do have a the fairly decent balance over there   with, with their   politic, with the government, and the businesses.   So Mhmm. Yeah.   Yeah. Well, let's see. Personally, I never wanna do business there, but Yeah.  

[01:03:34] Jesse Fries:

Who knows? I I'm always up for a challenge. Okay. So,   let's see here. Just to end it off real quick, I saw that Osama bin Laden's son was banned from France,   because he did a terror tweet. He was, like, praising his father,   and France didn't like that so much.   Yeah. Yeah. Amazing how that works. Yeah. And then on the funny note, just to end it on a kind of a humorous note. So in Germany,   I don't know how much you remember from your German classes in high school,   but they wouldn't have like apostrophes for like saying,   like, Joe's crapshock. They wouldn't have an apostrophe between the s and Joe. It would just be j o e s. Right? Well,   apparently,   English is starting to invade German.  

And to the point where   people are, the official rules are being relaxed, and they're starting to add,   what what do they call it? The idiot's   apostrophe   is what they call it.   So they're adding the idiot's apostrophe,   to,   names, like Rosie's bar has an apostrophe now or Katie's   kiosk.  

[01:04:54] Jamon Fries:

I love that name. The idiot's apostrophe.  

[01:04:57] Jesse Fries:

That's right. That's right. Yeah. It it it it really works out. You know? And I guess for the Germans, it makes sense. You know, to us, we'd be we would have been,   pronouncing it,   Rosas   bar or Catas bar.   We need that apostrophe, but the Germans don't. But,   apparently, they're starting to use it because   English is just everywhere nowadays.  

[01:05:21] Jamon Fries:

Yeah. That it is.   But I don't see that changing anytime soon.  

[01:05:27] Jesse Fries:

Nope. Nope. It'll just get more and more and more. And,  

[01:05:30] Jamon Fries:

I mean, it never ever since it's become the international language of flight.   You know, if if you're a pilot, you have to be able to speak English no matter what country you're going to. Yep. Ever since that happened, English is really   it's become the only   language that's becoming that that may become universal.  

[01:05:49] Jesse Fries:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. We are the lingua franca, which the French hate.   Yep.   And so on that note,   thank you for joining us for,   episode 7 of the Mindless Meanderings podcast. I'm Jesse Fries.  

[01:06:05] Jamon Fries:

And I'm Jamin Fries.  

[01:06:07] Jesse Fries:

You guys have a great day.