Talking about topics that you didn't know you needed to know, and some you did!!
Hosted by:
- Jamon Fries
https://mindlessmeanderings.com
(00:00:19) Introduction
(00:02:24) Red Hot Chili Peppers and Conspiracy Theories
(00:08:10) Political Stupidity and Gerrymandering
(00:17:18) Texas Politics and Democratic Maneuverings
(00:27:24) National News: Crime and Federalization
(00:35:31) Washington DC Representation Debate
(00:45:43) Business and Economic Updates
(00:51:55) Legal News: Free Speech and Epstein
(00:56:49) Health and Vaccine Policies
(01:00:22) Tech Innovations and School Safety
(01:03:31) Robotaxis and Regulatory Challenges
(01:09:34) AI and Internet Traffic
(01:14:59) Truck Sizes and Market Changes
(01:16:58) Zoo in Denmark: A Unique Pet Solution
Good afternoon, everybody. It is Thursday, August 7, and we are live with episode number 51 of the Mindless Meanderings. I'm Jesse Fries, and my kids actually know who their teachers are now for the next year. So there's that.
[00:00:39] Unknown:
That's a good thing. And I'm Jamin Fries. And, you know, I really wish that I could stop talking about the weather, but they've just put us under another heat advisory.
[00:00:51] Unknown:
For for how hot?
[00:00:53] Unknown:
Today's high is 93. Tomorrow is 96, and it goes through tomorrow.
[00:01:00] Unknown:
But you're in it now at 93?
[00:01:07] Unknown:
Yes. I mean, come on now. This is August. August, Kansas. Upper nineties in in in August in Kansas is the norm.
[00:01:17] Unknown:
It is the norm. Always has been, you know, for the Yes. Jesus, past thirty years. Yeah. Yes. At least, if not, pray forever. Yeah. Mhmm. Wow. Wow. Yeah. I mean They're they're really getting stupid with these things. I swear to God. They really are. We got a so
[00:01:34] Unknown:
supposedly, possibly a high of 96 tomorrow. Uh-huh. But then we dropped down into the upper eighties again. We have spent more time in the upper eighties in July and August, which is insane.
[00:01:49] Unknown:
Right. Right. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean,
[00:01:53] Unknown:
less than a week ago, we were having highs in the upper seventies.
[00:01:59] Unknown:
Yeah. That's pretty sweet. That's, that's, I know. It was awesome. Yeah. No. It's actually been a pretty cool summer overall.
[00:02:06] Unknown:
So been. Yeah.
[00:02:08] Unknown:
The first part was a bit warm up north, but when we were traveling in nineties and so for them, it was a bit rough. But Yeah. I don't know. For us, down here in Texas, it's been nice. Kansas sounds nice. Yeah. So Mhmm.
[00:02:25] Unknown:
But yeah. I mean Uh-huh. Yeah. The the other the the only other thing that I had to that I I was contemplating talking about the weather, but but there was another thing that I found very interesting that I didn't quite look everything up on. So I was looking it up as I was doing that. Uh-huh. You remember the Red Hot Chili Peppers song Californication? Yeah. Written in 1998? Uh-huh. Do you do you remember what the second line of the lyrics was? No. That a girl from Sweden would I can't remember the exact lines. But basically, they predicted Greta Thunberg.
In 1998, they wrote about a girl in sweet in Sweden who was gonna become who was gonna do something to become popular or something. I mean, I I shit. Why can't I remember the name of that song now? And little girls
[00:03:31] Unknown:
from Sweden dream of silver screen quote quotation. Yeah. If you want these kids to dream, it's Californication. I I think that's a bit of a stretch.
[00:03:49] Unknown:
Well, no. I I know. I like, I The reason I brought that up is a little last night, I I was I was looking through x and there was this guy that that posted that, basically took, like, five of the different lines out of Red Hot Chili Peppers Uh-huh. And put it with what's going on now. The the first line, the Chinese spies, the Jesus Christ. When when they were talking. I mean, well, of course, they were gonna write about Chinese spies back then. Everyone was talking about Chinese spies back then. They're still talking about them. I mean, that's just the way it was. Well, we spy on everybody. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and and then they they said that he predicted, Thunberg.
And then the, you know, the current, the current mad conspiracy theory thing about space, how it's all filmed underwater and everything like that. Uh-huh.
[00:04:49] Unknown:
They What I haven't heard that one. I have not heard that one. You haven't heard that one? No. Sounds stupid.
[00:04:57] Unknown:
Yeah. They they they take photos for they they takes photos that are supposedly from space Uh-huh. And they say that you can see air bubbles in them. Oh, Jesus Christ.
[00:05:10] Unknown:
Sure.
[00:05:11] Unknown:
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. They they they say that, you know, they they they they point out the fact that they have basically parts of the, parts of the ISS underwater. Uh-huh. And so you see this proves that they're filming it all underwater. There's no actual space space walks. There's no astronauts in space. And I'm sitting there like, well, okay. So are they supposed to go up there and for the very first time they actually ever touch the the thing, they they're gonna be doing it in a spacewalk? Yeah. Yeah. I know. How insane would that be? Yeah. No.
[00:05:54] Unknown:
I okay. You you just have to think about it logically, people. What would be the purpose of faking that?
[00:06:05] Unknown:
I it's Well, it it's the it's the whole idea that the red these are flat earthers.
[00:06:10] Unknown:
No. I understand. I understand. But Yeah. The the logic is in there. It's like it's like I I could see a logic behind the the stupid, moon landing, conspiracy theory because it was a rush. We were racing against, the Soviet Union. Oh, yeah. So Yeah. So you wanna try to be there first, and so maybe you might fake it to show that you made it there first. So to me, that's a that's a logical reason. I I still find it crap, but it it there's actually some logic there. The whole idea that we're faking a space station, it it just Yeah. For what reason? We're not in competition against anybody in No. We're not. No. You know? And it is a multinational thing. So, you know, Russia included. So it's Yeah.
[00:06:59] Unknown:
But, so so they they point they point out a a line in the song that sucks about how, how all of the the space exploration will be filmed in Hollywood. Uh-huh. And I know that what that line is talking about is, you know, we're not really that interested in space ever since we went to the moon. So
[00:07:27] Unknown:
anything talking about space like sprite exploration is gonna be some movie that's that's produced somewhere. Well, it it could have been also like a hint back to the moon landing conspiracy theory. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. You know, Kubrick was, they say it was shooting that and everything like that. So, you know, it's like so okay. Fine. But still, it's going back to
[00:07:49] Unknown:
the past. It's not Yeah. But but they're trying to link that to the current conspiracy theories about everything shot in all video shot in space is actually done in a swimming swimming pool somewhere.
[00:08:03] Unknown:
People are stupid. That's all I'm saying. People are stupid. Uh-huh. Wow. Okay. Well, I I guess onto political stupidity, the whole gerrymandering thing looks like, that's going again. Still going on. Birth. Let's see. What is it? My attorney general, Ken Paxton, he's seeking a court order to have Texas Democrats who left the state removed from office. So he's doing that, and he's actually taking it to court. So he's actually asking the court because he had the opinion saying that you could remove him, and now he's gonna test the opinion. Actually, he's gonna take it to court. Makes sense. You can actually do it. Yep. So we'll see how that goes. I think that was gonna go to court here soon.
But yeah. So that's interesting there. Mhmm.
[00:09:02] Unknown:
Was there Yeah. I've I've seen I've I've seen quite a few interviews with the with the, Democratic governors. Right. Right. Where they're going off railing about the about how how dare they gerrymander their districts, and then the interviewer starts talking about the districts in their own states, and they just kinda shut up.
[00:09:24] Unknown:
No. Yeah. Yeah. It's like I saw what it was, like, for Massachusetts. It was like, okay. So at least a third of your population is Republican, and there is not a single Republican seat. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Even in the western part, you know, where the more country area, which would be more Republican. You know? So it's like, you know, it's like Vermont and, New Hampshire and everything like that. They they have, like, what, one or two, seats. Mhmm. So it's kinda like going, okay. Fine. You you know? But once you get the big population like Massachusetts, you know, it's Oh, yeah. Yeah. You would think at least one would be there. But, yeah, it's, but with that, apparently, I I saw there's this one news story where basically Trump his whole push is to completely redefine, everything.
Basic Okay. Power back into Congress from Republicans. So his push is to actually make this happen across the board Oh, yeah. Pretty much everywhere.
[00:10:28] Unknown:
As it should be.
[00:10:32] Unknown:
I I I'm not gonna say it should be or shouldn't be. But it's it's an interesting idea, you know, trying to get the power away from the cities and everything like that. So, you know, it's And also the illegals and everything like that, they have more population with illegals. And so Trump wants to only count
[00:10:52] Unknown:
Yep. He's, citizens or legal. Out there now that that only people with legal status should can be counted in the census. He's ordered them to do a new census now. Yeah. Yeah. So it should it's interesting. It is interesting what's going on. You know, it's,
[00:11:09] Unknown:
yeah. They say they're gonna fix the maps. And, okay. I think they I think they say they could they think that they can pick up, like, 41 seats or 42 seats, which would just dominate. It would just the house would just be red. That's all it would be. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So this is gonna this is this will be a fight. This is gonna be a long drawn off fight, I think. Yeah.
[00:11:36] Unknown:
I I can definitely see that that fight coming. Yep. Yep. Was it you that I talked to that said I think it was last the last show that that talked about how should just do it, like, by county or something like that?
[00:11:50] Unknown:
Something like that. No. Maybe maybe not necessarily county because of populations. Right. Right. At least just basic Yeah. Like shapes, you know? No. Yes.
[00:12:00] Unknown:
We don't want to see 150 sizes or anything like that.
[00:12:05] Unknown:
Exactly. Or or like a little trail that just follows, like, I 35 up or something like that. You know, just just getting rid of
[00:12:13] Unknown:
Yep.
[00:12:16] Unknown:
Yeah. No. Just just make it simple. Make it a simple map. You know, chunks. You know? And, yeah. Then the representatives would actually have to think about everybody. So Mhmm.
[00:12:26] Unknown:
Not just one side or another. I think one of the best ways to do that, honestly, would be do a census that only I mean, if you want to I I can see a point of doing a census that includes illegals.
[00:12:42] Unknown:
Uh-huh.
[00:12:44] Unknown:
But you should do a census for only people that can vote too. For people that are here legally that can legally vote and stuff like that?
[00:12:57] Unknown:
Right. Right. But given given that our when our constitution was written, it was written based off the just the population. Men, women, poor landowners, whatnot. And the only people that could vote were landowners.
[00:13:19] Unknown:
Right. So No. I I completely I completely get what you're saying there. Yeah. But that's no longer the case. Now as long as you're a citizen, you can vote. It don't matter. Well, unless you've committed a felony or or in prison or You're 18, you know. 18. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:13:39] Unknown:
Yeah. But so the to me, that that that still shows. You you just take whole population. It's not counting the illegals. It's I understand the idea, but it could also lead to problems because you there's so many things that are based off of it.
[00:13:56] Unknown:
Well, no. See, that that's my that's my point though, is that what you should do is you should have a census that's purely for redistricting. And then have a census I mean, you can do it all at the same time, of course. You know, you just Right. You just have them answer the question, are you here legal? Are you can can you vote? And you just separate it out so that for things like districting, which is purely about it's purely about choosing representatives in the government, which should be a stricter criteria than the general census, which would be for everything else, you know, to to make sure that the that the infrastructure can handle that the amount of people to make sure that, you know, that that the basic needs are met. No. I understand. But I I I don't think
[00:14:53] Unknown:
I I I just disagree with that because you also throw in the three fifths and everything like that into that, and that went towards, representation and everything like that as well. So because of that, I I don't think so. I really don't. Because it could be argued that the slaves were citizens. They just couldn't vote. But it could also be argued that they weren't citizens and so on and so forth. It it was, the The United States has never done that sort of thing. So I I I just I just don't agree with that really. It's something that I don't think needs to happen.
It's, yeah. Personally.
[00:15:38] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. It's just my personal thought on the matter. I mean, I it could very easily change tomorrow if I read something that could convince me. Oh, yeah. No. I understand. I understand. Yeah. But, I I just I just feel that there should be some difference differential.
[00:15:58] Unknown:
I I I could I no. I can understand. I it it seems it it doesn't seem like a bad idea. Don't get me wrong. But I just don't think I I I I just don't think it's needed. You know? That's just how I view it. Mhmm. So yep. Let's see here. Yeah. There's more maneuverings going on with this whole thing here in Texas. Beto, if you remember him, Beto O'Rourke, he he ran for president there for once. He's run for governor a couple times. He's run for senator, a few times. He always loses. He's just a big loser, basically. Everybody loved him. They thought, oh, he could win this or that or that and never happened.
Yeah. But Yeah. Apparently, he's the one that flew all the people out. It was his plane that flew all the Democrats out. Right? And he's paying for them to stay in these hotels and everything like that or his package. Not necessarily him, but his package. Right. Right. Yeah. So now, the the attorney general wants to go after him. He's being investigated for, corruption and whatnot because of it. So yeah. Yeah.
[00:17:16] Unknown:
Damn. Yeah. Yep. Wow.
[00:17:18] Unknown:
Yep. And the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, he wants to remove the House Democratic, caucus chair. So the head of the Democratic caucus, he wants to kick him out, remove him. So, yeah, it's it's just craziness. It is good old politics. Let's see how this goes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
[00:17:40] Unknown:
Gotta love politics.
[00:17:42] Unknown:
You do. You do. Let's see here. Anything else of the only thing else that I have for, like, government news is, apparently, the state department, they want for some countries, the good they may require some travelers to post a $15,000 tourism bond, visa bond. So, basically, if you wanna come to The United States, you have to pay the government, the US government, $15,000. That is refundable to you if you don't stay. Once you go back, then you can get your $15,000 back. They're already doing that with, like, 250 k. Dollars now for everybody. Yeah. Right?
That that that's what I'm thinking too. It's like, really, dude, you know, it's it it it it is. That that's what I say. That's what I say too. I think it's freaking ridiculous.
[00:18:43] Unknown:
Are they trying to destroy tourism in The United States?
[00:18:47] Unknown:
Apparently, they are. Apparently.
[00:18:49] Unknown:
Because 99% of the people that travel here couldn't afford to put that much money down. Well, right. But it's only for certain countries. It's only for certain countries, and it's basically Yeah.
[00:19:00] Unknown:
You're like Haiti, you know, where they really can't afford it. It's basically Yeah. It's it's basically
[00:19:05] Unknown:
banning, but not banning all at the same time. You know? It's saying you're welcome to come here as long as you give up all of your life and existence anywhere else on the planet. No. Exactly. Be able to afford to get here. Yeah. You gotta sell your house at home in order to to take a vacation here.
[00:19:24] Unknown:
Yeah. No. The the congress also passed something like this. It was a $250, Visa integrity fee that they put on it. It was in the big beautiful bill. Okay. And so, basically, people have to pay a $250, refundable. Once your visa expires, you can get it back if you don't, come into The United States, like, illegally. If you don't overstay. If you go by what the visa says, you'll get your money back. So when you go back home, you'll get your money back basically. No. Once the visa expires, and these visas, some of these values are for, like, ten years.
[00:20:03] Unknown:
Wait. So even if you don't stay that long and you go back home, you still have to wait the full ten years? You get the visa.
[00:20:10] Unknown:
If you get the visa, you have to pay that automatically. Otherwise, the visa is no good. Right. Right. And yeah. So as long as the visa is good, you won't get that money back. So if it's like a ten year visa, you'll have to wait ten years to get your $250
[00:20:27] Unknown:
So like if if you if you come here for work, you get the visa, you get a work visa. Right. You pay the $250. Uh-huh. You lose your job, so you have to go back home. Is it then refunded right away because your Visa would be gone because you no longer have a job here?
[00:20:45] Unknown:
Possibly. Possibly. I I don't know the full Or would they have to wait the full term of the dispute? Still trying to figure it out, fully.
[00:20:52] Unknown:
But yeah. Yeah. It's Yeah. It's just like it's like, okay. 2 r 50. It's The you know you know what that sounds like? Uh-huh. And you know what that sounds like? It sounds like adding another freaking bureaucratic nightmare.
[00:21:06] Unknown:
Basically. Yeah. Yeah. Which is what our government does, you know.
[00:21:10] Unknown:
Yes. But I mean, the one of the reasons that we put Trump into office this time around was because we wanted him to get rid of the bureaucracy.
[00:21:19] Unknown:
Yeah. But this only They just added another one. Well, right. But this only affects,
[00:21:25] Unknown:
foreigners. So really Yeah. I I don't care about that. Bureaucracy is bureaucracy.
[00:21:32] Unknown:
No. I I understand. I understand. I'm just saying in the grand scheme of things, it's a good okay. It doesn't affect my
[00:21:40] Unknown:
pocketbook, so who cares?
[00:21:42] Unknown:
Right. But it it it actually does affect my pocketbook because I'll have to pay that for my, like, mother-in-law and whatnot. You know? Or her to come and everything like that, you know, or my brother-in-law, you know? It's, if they can't afford to pay it, you know, with it, yeah, it's all craziness. So let's see. What else do we got? Oh, apparently, Denver want is looking to see how people would feel about having a nuclear reactor put in at the Denver Airport. Just one of those mini nukes. Okay.
[00:22:26] Unknown:
Yep. So they wanna break themselves off the power grid just in case?
[00:22:31] Unknown:
Well, they're they're already doing they already have, like, a big solar field and everything like that. Okay. So they're they're trying to go green, and so they thought that this would be a good step along that way. Oh, yeah. No. I mean, it's the perfect step along that way. That's what I'm thinking. That's what I'm thinking. It's the greenest energy that there is. Yeah. Yeah. The news article that I read about it, it was just people complaining about it. By the way, I I I don't think it's a bad idea. So Yeah. No. No.
[00:23:01] Unknown:
No. The the only downside to nuclear to nuclear power is the is the, the radioactive waste that it produces. Well
[00:23:17] Unknown:
yeah. But
[00:23:19] Unknown:
you you know, a very, very, very large reactor takes a long time to build up a decent amount of that nuclear waste. Those small little power plants, they're not gonna produce much.
[00:23:33] Unknown:
No. They won't. They won't. So yeah. And then you you move it off-site. It's just what Yeah. It's okay. It's not that big of a You move it to Texas. I don't know. Canada put it on our border, so we should put it on their border. So, seriously, they they put it, like, on, like what is it? Like, Huron, I think. They actually yeah. They're putting it right on Lake Huron. So it's like right? Yeah. Yeah. So because of all the different land that they have. Let's put it on Lake Huron, you know, with the Great Lakes. Yeah. Makes sense. Right?
[00:24:15] Unknown:
You you you know, I I have a much better idea of what to do with it. Mhmm. Shoot it up into space and put it on the on a trajectory to escape Earth's gravity. There's an abbreviation up there. It's not gonna matter.
[00:24:31] Unknown:
As it's going up, there there is failure in these things. So No. And then and then you get a radioactive cloud. Yeah. I don't think that's a good idea. I really don't think that's a good idea. Just say it. Maybe if there's a space elevator for to do it. Maybe if there's a space elevator. But beyond that, no. No. No. Yeah. Big cannon or something. You know? Oh, big cannon. That's funny, dude. Let's see here. Looks like, India is still gonna buy Russian oil. So that's good. Yeah. I guess. That doesn't surprise me in any way. That's just yeah. Trump put on a tariff on him, though. A 50 percent tariff because of that, though. Yep. But India is just playing its game that it's always played. It's always been neutral. Oh, yeah. During the entire cold war, it was neutral. It didn't pick one side or the other. It goes, well, Russia's just right there off our back door, and, well, you're The United States. We don't care. That's your you guys fight. That's not a me guy fight. You know? So Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
[00:25:38] Unknown:
Yeah. We're also we've also put a 50% tariff on Brazil.
[00:25:43] Unknown:
Right. Right. Because of Bolsonaro. Yeah. So yeah. Because the Supreme Court, decided to go after Trump's friend. And Yep.
[00:25:56] Unknown:
We even we even we even went so far
[00:25:59] Unknown:
as freezing that judge's assets in The United States. I I know. It's like, okay, dude. Okay. Sure. You know, it's,
[00:26:09] Unknown:
You you know, he doesn't have to follow the same principles and rules that we have here in The United States. There are some countries where the courts are the power of the of everything. I mean, our country is kinda starting to get there. There's always been argument about that, but, yeah. It's yeah. No. It well, yeah. I mean, but I mean, the the the where the the government where the the court has the power to shut down whatever the government's doing. Thankfully, the Supreme Court has said that they can't do that so much now. Right. Right. But they don't have that in Brazil. That's not part of their laws. They don't have a constitution.
[00:26:49] Unknown:
Is Bolsonaro even in Brazil, or is he up here? Do you know?
[00:26:53] Unknown:
I don't know anymore.
[00:26:55] Unknown:
Oh, good. Because because, you know, just just leave the country. You know? Just live in exile. This is what people did when the government didn't like him anymore. It's just what happens. Yeah. You you know, that that's stupid as well. It it I find that. It just makes no sense to me. It's like, okay. No. It doesn't. Whatever.
[00:27:18] Unknown:
Yeah. It it's very strange.
[00:27:20] Unknown:
It really is strange. Let's see here. What do you got,
[00:27:28] Unknown:
for national news? Well, we can go on to some national news. Uh-huh. So the first article that I came across, it was, I I just had one thing that I was questioning and I haven't really looked it up that much to find out. I just ran across this late last night and I didn't wanna not sleep last night, so I didn't look it up. So the ex doge staffer, nicknamed Big Balls. Do you remember him? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He, was got savagely beaten by, like, 10 kids that supposedly were attempting to carjack a car.
[00:28:11] Unknown:
Okay. Okay.
[00:28:14] Unknown:
Uh-huh. Now, I mean, I don't know what else is going on there, but it usually doesn't take 10 people to carjack a car.
[00:28:27] Unknown:
You never know.
[00:28:30] Unknown:
Kids are stupid. Yeah. Yeah. They are. I don't I don't know. But I mean, it the only reason that they that they say that it was a carjacking was because when they were across the street, they yelled, let's go let's go take that car.
[00:28:45] Unknown:
Oh, okay. Yep. Well
[00:28:48] Unknown:
So It seemed yeah. Yeah. But after this, and this is the part I'm not quite sure of, after this all happened, Trump started talking about federalizing DC.
[00:29:00] Unknown:
Right. Right. Right.
[00:29:03] Unknown:
Does the president have the power to federalize DC? I don't know that because it's not part of any state.
[00:29:12] Unknown:
Right. Right. It I really don't know if he does or not, but, technically, the government there is just at the behest of the federal government.
[00:29:23] Unknown:
Yeah. So
[00:29:25] Unknown:
but I don't know exactly the rules that, apply to it. It it might be possible.
[00:29:30] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm sure somebody could. I just don't know if it would be the I I don't know which one of the three branches or if the three branches would have to get together and come to an accumulated decision to federalize it or something. I I don't know. It just
[00:29:44] Unknown:
Well, I don't think it'd be the Supreme Court no matter what, except for Probably not. Just to see whether or not it is constitutional.
[00:29:52] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:29:53] Unknown:
Beyond that, I don't know if it's legislature and or, the president. Yeah. I really don't know on that one. Technically, it's just a federal it's federal, anyways. Yes. You know, it's a district. Yeah. That's all it is. It's not the state. Well, you know, the the one thing that's all the one thing that's always kind of
[00:30:15] Unknown:
gotten to me a little bit. Mhmm. Especially since I started hearing talks about how, they wanted to have their own representation in Congress and all this other stuff. Yep. Washington DC was never meant to be a place where people actually lived.
[00:30:36] Unknown:
Well, right. Right. But there are always gonna be people that live there.
[00:30:42] Unknown:
Well, I mean, that that's that's part that's part of the thing, though, is that I don't think that there's that there that it that that was the intention. I the the intention was for the people to live in the states around it.
[00:30:56] Unknown:
But you have to live close enough to work, especially back in the day. Cars now might make it feasible, but back in the day, there there was Yeah. I don't know. There's there's no other way to do it. You had to live there, you know, at least temporarily, like the representatives
[00:31:13] Unknown:
and everything. Well, yeah. Yeah. All representatives and stuff, but they would all have they all have would have temporary residents. Right. But then they would also need to have, their their main headquarters.
[00:31:23] Unknown:
Exactly.
[00:31:23] Unknown:
They all have to be there as well. And so it's just it just builds into this. See, no matter what, you're gonna Well, I I did I did some research. I did a little bit of research into it back when I was thinking about it. Uh-huh. And the one thing that I found out was that the reason that actually the largest reason that there's a a permanent population there is because right after slavery was abolished, a lot of the former slaves decided to move to Washington DC so that because they thought that they would be the protected there the most. Okay. And so that's what started a permanent permanent population there.
Now the this throws in a quandary because every every citizen in The United States has to be represented by someone in the government. But well, are there supposed to be anyways?
[00:32:28] Unknown:
No. No. Not necessarily. It's it's it's the states. That that's the constitution is about the states. It's not about the population not in the states.
[00:32:41] Unknown:
Right. Right. Okay. So it's like territories and everything like that. I I worded it wrong. But so the every state has to have its has to have its representation in in in in in congress. Correct.
[00:32:56] Unknown:
At least two sides of the state.
[00:32:57] Unknown:
In Washington DC do not reside in any state.
[00:33:02] Unknown:
Correct.
[00:33:03] Unknown:
Correct. Therefore, they do not, according to the constitution, have representation.
[00:33:13] Unknown:
No. Yeah. That's why the they've for the call to get them representation is actually there's been a call to make it a
[00:33:21] Unknown:
state. Yeah. Which would completely defeat the entire purpose of what of why they separated it.
[00:33:27] Unknown:
Correct. Correct. It would be. Yeah. Yeah. They would be placed outside the,
[00:33:32] Unknown:
yeah. They they didn't want one state to be able to say to control
[00:33:35] Unknown:
the federal government. No. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
[00:33:40] Unknown:
Yeah. So the the thought of making us a state is just to me just completely would be unconstitutional.
[00:33:48] Unknown:
Well, right. Right. Well, you know, Democrats want it because of the there was a vote. Oh, yeah. You know? So Yep. Mhmm.
[00:33:56] Unknown:
And so yeah. I I don't know. That's that's just always kind of been on the back of my mind as to how do we handle that kind of situation.
[00:34:07] Unknown:
Oh, got it. Got it. No. It's I I I think the way with I think it's easier to you you can basically federalize Washington DC. I think you could get rid of the mayor. I think you could get rid of the council. Mhmm. And, basically, you just federalize it. Yeah. I I think it is possible. I wouldn't see why not. Yeah. Because, generally, the Washington DC always has to it always has to ask the government, for permission to do whatever it wants to do, basically.
[00:34:42] Unknown:
The government has to do certain things. And it it even has to ask the federal government for money to do everything that they do, don't they, basically? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So
[00:34:50] Unknown:
They have their own budget themselves. Yeah. Yeah. They they they really don't they they they allow them to have their mayor and everything like that. But in general, no. It's a yeah. So I think it could be done. And I think Trump's just tired of the crime, especially in the Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And, with the DC, you could actually do something about it. Mhmm. All the other cities, well, they're
[00:35:18] Unknown:
they basically just run by their their one run by their states and by the mayors of their cities. So Yeah. Yeah. The fed the federal government can do it. No. Nothing. Nothing. But, yeah. They might be able to do something about that. But yeah. Yeah. I'd I'd I'd I don't know if I'd like the if I like the idea or not. I mean, it I I think it needs to be done at least temporarily, probably. Mhmm. Right. Right. Just kinda clean everything up and then go from there. Yeah. Makes sense. It makes sense. Because there's been a lot of bad shit going on in that area now. Like Oh, yeah. Yeah. Speaking
[00:35:55] Unknown:
of bad shit or bad shit, apparently, Robert Mueller is, actually having he has had memory issues for quite some time, actually. He's actually in a memory care facility right now.
[00:36:08] Unknown:
Wow.
[00:36:10] Unknown:
And, apparently, there's reports that while he was looking into Trump about the Russian collusion, you know, how he said there was no proof that there's Russian collusion? Apparently, during that whole process, you know, they drug that out, like, for way too long just to keep Oh, yeah. Trump down. But, basically, people are saying that he wasn't fully there during that whole process. So it's like, does he even remember doing that? You you know? Did did it's like Biden again. It's like, did he actually have any power over this? Did they just pick him because he was like a Republican per se? And then just his brain was gone. And so, you know, poor guy to him. Don't get me wrong. But, yeah, it was Yeah. No. Absolutely. Abusing this guy because of his memory, and they knew they could just do whatever they wanted and keep it going forever and forever.
Yeah.
[00:36:59] Unknown:
Honestly, unfortunately, I have to say it wouldn't surprise me.
[00:37:03] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. It it wouldn't surprise me either. You don't know? So it it it's, actually quite sad. You know? Yeah. It really is. But, yeah. So that there's that. And then let's see here. Anything. Oh, Superman? What's happening with Superman here, Jaden?
[00:37:26] Unknown:
Yeah. So you you have you heard about the, huge push that, that ICE is doing to try to recruit another 10,000 people? Yeah. Like, 50 k bonuses and whatnot. 50 k bonuses? I've heard some rumor of student debt going away.
[00:37:43] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:37:45] Unknown:
So, hey. You know, there's a way to pay your student debt, Jess. What's going on? Nice.
[00:37:52] Unknown:
You know, maybe I'm not sure if they want me. You know? I once applied for a government job, and, I I think I'm too free thinking. You know? I I I don't I'm not a very good rule follower. I question too much. I'm a skeptic. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. I don't think that's gonna ever happen for me. Yeah. But so so,
[00:38:14] Unknown:
so Dean Cain, he was, he had made a joke about joining ICE and stuff like that. Uh-huh. But when because they they were looking and it it got, Jesse Waters on Fox News. He got into he got to talking about it and hyped it up and it became a thing. I mean, it it went viral almost. Uh-huh. And so Dean Cain just decided to go with it. So he signed up. He's now what he's now one of the, 50,000 people that have no. 80,000 people that have applied for this, for the 10,000 jobs.
[00:38:50] Unknown:
Yeah. Wonder if they'll give him his Superman logo that he can wear. Superman.
[00:38:57] Unknown:
That would be awesome.
[00:38:58] Unknown:
It would be it would be. They'll party He he just for a a show, you know. Look at Oh, yeah. Yeah. For publicity, if nothing else. Exactly. But,
[00:39:07] Unknown:
so, Jesse Waters was interviewing after after he made this decision and actually applied. And he's like, so if you make it in, everyone wants to know, are you gonna wear a mask? And he's like, well, my parents want me to. My family wants me to. But, no, everybody knows my face.
[00:39:35] Unknown:
And they shouldn't be wearing masks anyways. I'm just saying. We've already had this discussion.
[00:39:42] Unknown:
That we have. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:39:44] Unknown:
Let's see here. What else do I, Oh, apparently, somebody tested charcoal, you know, cooking charcoal. Yeah. And, apparently, none of it, like, none of it matches what's on the label. Really? Yeah. It it it some always all of it has at least some contamination of different woods, in it. So if it says oak, it might have other wood in it. Sometimes even and if it says, like, 100% American made, it's not American wood a lot of times. It's like South American wood or something like that. They just burned it here. If that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then the weight is always off, they say, to the point where some of them actually are breaking laws, like, labeling federal laws. Yeah. Some of them are breaking those. Yeah. So it's been. So if you, grill like I do, you know, either you need to do it yourself or just don't care. And I I think I'll just go with the don't care. But, yeah, it's kinda crazy. Yeah. The well, you either do it yourself,
[00:40:55] Unknown:
know the exact source of it, like buy locally from people that you know are making the charcoal.
[00:41:00] Unknown:
Right. Right.
[00:41:02] Unknown:
Or just don't care. Yeah. Yeah. Those are those are the three. Yeah. I decided to go with the don't care. Yes. As long as they're not put can't putting chemicals into it that when it goes in when it turns into smoke, it puts something in the meat that'll kill you,
[00:41:16] Unknown:
I'm good with it. Yeah. That was still wood. So Yeah. I don't know. The wood I get, there's actually rocks in it. So I like Is there really? Yeah. Yeah. Because I just I I I just get, just lump charcoal, you know, just I I don't get the crust the the, what are the The briquettes or anything. Yeah. I don't get the briquettes. Yeah. It's it's just wood, basically. Yeah. Charcoal wood is what it is. Okay. So, yeah, sometimes there's rocks in it, and then I have to dig out the rocks. Yeah. Let's see here. International news.
Apparently, Afghanistan children are, have malnutrition because we no longer are sending money over there for that. So Okay. Yep. Yep. Yep. So, yeah, that's really about it for that. So, but also but on a funny note, in Spain, there's this family. Right? They they they they they're at the airport, and it was this couple with two kids. And they're getting on the flight, and then their 10 year old kid there was something wrong with the the documents for the 10 year old kid. And so the parents decide just to leave the 10 year old behind, get on the flight with the other kid, and just abandon the child at Oh, good. Yeah.
A 10 year old Wow. Right? Damn. Uh-huh. It's like that kid must have been a dick. I'm just it's for his parents just to leave him. You know? It's the crazy And you thought it was bad when mom and dad left you at the convenience store that one time. Well yeah. Yeah. But at least that time, it was, like, supposedly an accident, they say. You know? I'm still not sure if you very clear. Actually not even technically, I'm not sure if you're actually my family. You know? I'm just saying. You you know?
[00:43:13] Unknown:
Maybe the other a different family picked me up and left me. I don't know. I'm just It could be. I don't know. I don't I don't remember much of you from that young.
[00:43:27] Unknown:
But yeah. It's just leaving your 10 year old. Can you
[00:43:31] Unknown:
you actually go through it. Yeah. I know. That's Just
[00:43:35] Unknown:
yeah. Yeah. I thought that was a little Wow. Yeah. Poor kid. You know? But Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's also funny. You know? Just yeah. Yeah. We don't like you. Go away. Yeah. I I've I've often heard of of leaving
[00:43:51] Unknown:
of accidentally leaving kids places. Yeah. That that's one thing. That happens all the time. Yeah. But,
[00:43:59] Unknown:
I consciously My wife, she was left on a bus. In the airport because it would slow you down. Yeah. Yeah. My wife is left on a bus. Yeah. So That's cruel. It is. It is. Let's see here. Well, let's quickly, let everybody know we are a Valley for Valley podcast here at Mindless Meanderings. So if you could help us out, with ideas, with money, anything that can help defray the cost and help make the show better, because we do wanna make it better. If you have ideas of what we could do, like, maybe segments. If you have a segment you'd want us to always do or something like that once a week or something, just let us know. And maybe we can adapt some of those ideas into the show, because it's just the two of us trying to do our best while doing other things.
So please help us out. You can email me ideas@jesseatminusc.com, or you can email jamon@minusmeanderings.com. And all complaints just go straight to jamon. He's the complaint department. So I don't think he's got one complaint yet. But, you know No. Not yet. Not yet. Yeah. Get on that, Pete. Complain. You know? Just over 5PM. But, yeah, you can go to mindlessmeanderings.com, and our show notes, once I actually get those done, you they can be found at, mindlessc.com. But, yeah, any way you can help us out, there's a funding link in, your in the podcast app.
It says support us, and it's also on the website, mindlessmechanics.com. So please help us out any which way you can. We take PayPal. And if you wanna send us a check, maybe we can get you an address to send that to. But just let us know. Okeydoke. Let's move on to business. Let's see. It looks like Ford is planning a model t moment. They're gonna announce a battery EV thing on August 11. They're calling it a model t moment. I'm not not really sure exactly what they mean by that. Yeah.
[00:46:03] Unknown:
And the only the only thing that I could think of that would be a model t movement for EV would be a brand new type of battery that weighed a lot less and held its charge longer.
[00:46:15] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. And made it, cheap. It would have to be, like Yeah. Because the great thing about the Multi is that And it wasn't designed. Everybody yeah. And and it was as everybody could afford it, you know, or most people could. So and he made sure that his employees could afford it as well. So Yes. Absolutely.
[00:46:33] Unknown:
Yeah. So model t moment for EVs, it would have to be about the battery. I can't imagine anything else.
[00:46:40] Unknown:
Yeah. So, yeah, that's gonna be just in a few days. So Okay. In four days, they will announce that. So we'll we'll see what it is.
[00:46:51] Unknown:
Been seeing everywhere about, Howard Stern's show being canceled.
[00:46:55] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. It just didn't have ratings anymore, and it was on Oh, yeah. I know. It was on series for twenty years.
[00:47:01] Unknown:
Yeah. And they were still paying them, like, 100 thou I think making what? Like, 100,000 a year or something like that? Probably more than that. I don't know. The thing the article I read just said a 100,000. It didn't say a year a month. A $100,000,000 contract. A 100,000,000?
[00:47:21] Unknown:
Right. Right. Okay. And that was for a few years. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. A 100,000. That's yeah. So Yeah. But he's made his money. Right. You know? Yeah. It's,
[00:47:35] Unknown:
he's getting old. No. It's just it's just like, Colbert, you know. The it just wasn't there. There's there was nothing worth continuing paying him for. Well, right. And also, who who really listens to Sirius?
[00:47:51] Unknown:
Yeah. Seriously. Who does? I I you you know, you get it free in your car for the first six months, and then that's it. You know? It's like and then you have your phone and everything like that that can play all the music you want anyway. So The only people that I ever knew
[00:48:08] Unknown:
that actually paid for Sirius was truck drivers.
[00:48:15] Unknown:
Right. But nowadays is that even needed because you No. No. No. Music app, you you get your podcast, you can get everything, you know, you don't Yeah. No. Now now you've, especially with,
[00:48:27] Unknown:
with, Starlink, you just put a dish on your truck and you've got Internet everywhere you go. You know, you don't have to worry about anything.
[00:48:36] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. So yep. Yep. Yep.
[00:48:40] Unknown:
Yep. Back in late nineties, early two thousand, that was, you know, serious was a big thing for truck drivers. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Because it was because up until then, it was, okay. I can get this radio station for twenty minutes, and then I have to find a new one. And now I can get keep this one for half an hour, and then I gotta find a new one. Yeah. It was very annoying.
[00:49:07] Unknown:
No. Serious. Back then was great. Now it's like Yeah. Whatever. Yep. Looks like, somebody at GM, they've made the Chevy Silverado EV go the longest drive on a single charge. So Okay. Yeah. It went, like, 1,000 some odd miles. Let's see. Let's see how far did it 1,059.2 miles, without recharging. They did this on a distance? No. They they they did this on their, track that they have, their testing track.
[00:49:43] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:49:44] Unknown:
But, see, the thing is is that that's great and all, but you go 20 to 25 miles an hour the whole time. Oh, god. So it's like Yeah. No. No. It's a useless thing to know. You know? It's like, okay. It absolutely is. Relations if you really
[00:50:01] Unknown:
find, but it's kinda useless. Just say it. Yeah. Ain't nobody gonna use it in that manner.
[00:50:07] Unknown:
Well well, some idiots do. Some people try maybe not that bad, but some people really try to eke out as much gas or power as you can out of these things. Yeah. And they're annoying on the road, and they need to get off the road. You know? It's but yeah. So, yeah, overall to me, though, it's like going, okay. Congratulations. Mhmm.
[00:50:30] Unknown:
Yeah. I I still remember learning when I was learning how to drive, mom kept telling me, you gotta go about 50 mile 50 to 55 mile per hour. That's just it's the fastest you should ever drive a vehicle. Because you save fuel by driving
[00:50:47] Unknown:
slow. She also drives with two feet. So I'm just saying.
[00:50:55] Unknown:
Yes. Yes. I I have never been able to to figure out how she handles that, but
[00:51:01] Unknown:
my feet are also a lot bigger than hers are. Yeah. I I I don't understand it either. You know? It's, but, you know, she's driven this long like that. Oh, yeah. Even though she blames us for the brakes going weird all the time, even though I never had a problem with that. So who's Yeah. No. I never had a problem with my brakes either. So who could have caused that?
[00:51:24] Unknown:
I'm saying. But dad really mom.
[00:51:29] Unknown:
Dad rarely ever drove her car.
[00:51:31] Unknown:
That is true.
[00:51:33] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah.
[00:51:35] Unknown:
Well And then, of course, you know, we just blame it on the oldest.
[00:51:39] Unknown:
Yeah. We can always just blame him. Even though he wasn't driving too, it happened even happened even after he was out of the house. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
[00:51:45] Unknown:
Yeah. There's only one person to blame. We know who it is. What's that? Your your wheels out of alignment? Must have been the oldest brother.
[00:51:54] Unknown:
Let's see here. Let's go with, legal. Looks like, Elon Musk and ex, sued California because they they had a lot to where you you had you couldn't do a AI parody Okay. Without, like, saying, oh, it's a parody and everything like that. And so a judge struck that down saying, well, it's free speech. Of course, you can. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see if that gets appealed, by some or not. But yeah. So it is a win for free speech, which is always a good thing. Absolutely.
[00:52:33] Unknown:
And there's some news on the Epstein front. Uh-huh. So you remember how they were talking how they were wanting to talk to Maxwell and get some information from her and all that other good stuff? Right. Right. Well, she spent a couple of days with, with one of the district attorneys. Uh-huh. Well, not district attorneys. With one of the Attorneys. Like, yeah, with one of one of the DOJ's attorneys. Right. And as soon as they got done talking with her, Congress came out with a list of people to subpoena for hearings.
[00:53:16] Unknown:
Fun.
[00:53:17] Unknown:
Fun. These include the former attorney generals going all the way back to Obama. Uh-huh. All the way up through up up of course, not the current attorney general, but all the way up to the current up to the the former attorney general. Okay. Okay. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have been subpoenaed.
[00:53:43] Unknown:
Whew. Doggy. Okay.
[00:53:45] Unknown:
And there's a pretty good list of others as well from what I've heard.
[00:53:51] Unknown:
That's Yeah.
[00:53:53] Unknown:
Basically and there are a lot of people, and it sounds like they may be releasing a list of the people that she named since they don't have a client list according to them.
[00:54:12] Unknown:
Okay. Okay. So that'd be something.
[00:54:17] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:54:20] Unknown:
That that that's that's good. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. I I I think, unfortunately, this is gonna stick to Trump no matter what, though. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Deal with her so that she wouldn't say his name and everything like that. Yep. You know? So Yeah. We'll see how that goes. But yeah. That it's we can get some truth about that, if we can actually throw some pedophiles in jail, sounds like a good thing to me.
[00:54:41] Unknown:
Yeah. No. Absolutely. The the the problem that I have with it is, you know, they're not gonna get anything. You know, the senate hearing that they're putting up there, I I saw a thing on x. There's gonna be two sentences that they say. The first one is gonna be, I don't know. And the second one will be, on advisory of counsel, I plead the fifth.
[00:55:10] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. The the the well, there's also the, not to my best recollection.
[00:55:16] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. That is actually good, legal speaker right there because Yeah. That that's that's probably what what they were gonna what they actually would say instead of I don't know. But, yeah.
[00:55:28] Unknown:
Yeah. Fun fun.
[00:55:31] Unknown:
Let's see. So who knows where every anything's gonna go, but at least we'll know some names because whoever they bring in Right. Has something to do with something, got named by Maxwell.
[00:55:43] Unknown:
Okay. Yeah. I I think it's a step in the right direction at least. So Yep. Oh, okay. Let's see what else we got. RFK Junior, he basically cut, $500,000,000 funding for mRNAs and basically will not allow m an mRNA vaccines to be used for respiratory diseases. Okay. Nice. Yeah. So basically, like, COVID and things like that. He says Yeah. They still work, plain and simple. They've worked and pretty much everybody knows that they don't work. So he is getting rid of those. So I think that's very good thing. It it it's he's still allowing, like, the cancer ones and things like that. Right. And for things that aren't respiratory tract. But, in this article, it was like, he was talking about how we're basically the virus, the mRNA, it it it just picked one aspect of the disease, like that one spike protein.
And then it just kept redoing that even though the disease had mutated beyond that. And they just kept using that same thing over and over again. So it just basically became useless. Yeah. Which we all saw, you know. So Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Mhmm. Yeah. It's 22 mRNA vaccine contracts. He's just, gonna save $500,000,000 just under $500,000,000 of taxpayers' money is what they say. So mhmm. Very cool. Yep. Yep. He's actually doing something that people like to know. It it it takes time. You sometimes you have to give these people time.
[00:57:29] Unknown:
Absolutely. Well, I mean, you know, that that's the one thing I've never really understood is, you know, everybody's I I started hearing start people getting up in arms and complaining that things hadn't changed yet
[00:57:44] Unknown:
Mhmm.
[00:57:46] Unknown:
After three months.
[00:57:48] Unknown:
Yep. Yep.
[00:57:50] Unknown:
Yeah. After three months in office, I mean, sure, he can do some executive orders, but he hasn't even had time to make any changes in the different departments or anything like that. No. It takes time. It does take time. Yeah.
[00:58:04] Unknown:
So
[00:58:06] Unknown:
yeah. Thankfully, the government does not move at lightning speed. It moves at snail speed.
[00:58:12] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Overall, it's for the it's for the benefit, the thing. Yes. Yes. So otherwise It absolutely is. Mhmm. Oh, yeah. What do we have in tech, Jamin? I'm taking a few questions. Well, I've got a few interesting stories.
[00:58:27] Unknown:
Let's go with the serious one first. Uh-huh. There is a company based in Texas that is to combat school shooters Uh-huh. And stuff like that. They are selling well, they're more renting the services of putting drones in locked containers in different areas of the school. Okay. This will this these drones will be able to, to take down a shooter
[00:59:07] Unknown:
Mhmm.
[00:59:08] Unknown:
With non lethal means, of course.
[00:59:11] Unknown:
Okay. So taser?
[00:59:14] Unknown:
Tasers or something along those lines. Yeah. Okay. They they didn't this this article didn't get into that too much. Okay. But they'll be able to take down the shooters with non with non lethal means within five seconds of them getting so far with with all the tests that they've done, within five seconds of getting notification from the school that an event is happening, their drones are up in the air. Okay. They can respond to the shooter. They can locate and respond to the shooter within sixty seconds.
[00:59:51] Unknown:
Not bad. Not bad.
[00:59:54] Unknown:
And these drones can also be used to assist the police. Okay. They will they they instead of having a police clearing a room or instead of having a teacher, an armed teacher in the areas that allow that to clear the room, the drones will go in and clear the rooms, take it take down anyone that's that needs to be taken down so that the police can then go in and handle it. Oh, okay. So it makes it a lot safer for for the police to do this stuff. They they they showed some videos of it and it was pretty cool, you know, because in in a school, you know, you have doors where the doors are closed and Right. Drones can't open doors very well. Uh-huh. But they designed the drone so that it could fly at high speeds and punch through the windows Interesting. And still fly.
Interesting. Yeah. It it would discombobulate it for a little bit, but it very quickly would get would get the its ability back, its mobility back, and it could then take out someone in in the classroom.
[01:01:05] Unknown:
Interesting. Interesting.
[01:01:08] Unknown:
So I mean, I it's it's a pretty cool it's a pretty cool idea. I mean, because Yeah. Standard schools to shooter situation is you call the cops, they don't get there until after everything's already done. Sometimes. Yeah. Most of the time.
[01:01:26] Unknown:
Not Uvalde. That was one big mess up. Yeah. Yeah.
[01:01:31] Unknown:
But the majority of the school shootings that have happened are done within two minutes. Two, three minutes usually. Completely. Completely. And so with this, the drones, they can take it out. They can get out there and take someone out almost as soon as it starts.
[01:01:49] Unknown:
Yeah. No. If it saves lives, that is cool. Yeah. Absolutely.
[01:01:53] Unknown:
And the awesome thing about this is so they're gonna have the schools renting the drones as well as the service. So basically, a subscription charge. Uh-huh. It's gonna cost on average about $4 per student for the month or for the year or something like that. For a month, that that gets pricey. Yeah. It could be for the year. It's they were saying something like it wasn't gonna cost more than a couple $100. Oh, interesting. Now I don't know time frame on that or anything like that. I mean, they didn't get that in-depth into detail. They're still just in the very early testing phase of this. Well, it's an interesting idea. Let's see, if we could save some lives. Yeah. It's being tested in Florida and Texas right now. So Yep. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yep. And then there's some interesting stories.
[01:02:52] Unknown:
Uh-huh.
[01:02:54] Unknown:
Have you heard about Zoox? No. Okay. Zoox is a robotaxi that's designed by Google.
[01:03:04] Unknown:
Okay.
[01:03:05] Unknown:
It has absolutely zero,
[01:03:11] Unknown:
vehicle control ability. Oh, yeah. I've seen that. Yeah. I didn't realize what it was. Yeah. I've seen those things. Yeah. Yeah.
[01:03:22] Unknown:
So for the longest time now, they have said that they have that there's I did not know this, but there is a law in the books in in the, in the National Highway and Transportation Safety Commission
[01:03:35] Unknown:
Uh-huh.
[01:03:37] Unknown:
That says that every vehicle has to have, the has to have the method of acceleration and deceleration and a steering wheel in the vehicle accessible. Right. So every this is why, Tesla's robotaxis all still have steering wheels and gas pedals. Uh-huh. This is why, Venmo is like that. This is why all of them are like that. Okay. Because that law is in the books. Right. Zoox, for the longest time now, has said that they have filed and been approved to not have those when they're testing. Uh-huh. Well, the NHTA, the National Highway Transportation doesn't have anything on file.
[01:04:32] Unknown:
Oops.
[01:04:34] Unknown:
So they started investigating Zeux.
[01:04:37] Unknown:
Uh-huh.
[01:04:40] Unknown:
Now all of a sudden, Zoox starts working with them on a method of fast tracking permission Uh-huh. And suddenly the investigation into why they hadn't why they didn't have those application permits in in their files went away.
[01:05:03] Unknown:
So a little bit of shadiness going on.
[01:05:05] Unknown:
Yeah. So basically, they're saying, well, you know, you were breaking the law, but you got money. You're from Google. So we're gonna let this slide now that we've got this, law that in the books. We're just gonna say retroactively that you had those permissions.
[01:05:25] Unknown:
Oh, it's not Google. It's Amazon, actually. Oh, it's Amazon. Okay. Sorry.
[01:05:32] Unknown:
I knew I knew it was one of the big ones. Yeah. Yeah. No. That that's,
[01:05:37] Unknown:
that seems I I yeah. Shady.
[01:05:41] Unknown:
Yeah. Just just a little shady.
[01:05:44] Unknown:
It's it's just like it's just like all these other ones. Like, like, Uber and what? How they started, you know? Oh, yeah. They they they start by screwing the laws. They didn't care about the laws of different cities. They just, went and Yeah. Somehow the cities go okay. I I seriously don't know how they actually won that out, lawyers and whatnot. But, yeah, it was Yeah. They they said screw you. We're we're not we're we're gonna make our own rules. We're gonna break all the laws. And so Yeah. Because at at that time, there were a lot of laws
[01:06:12] Unknown:
about taxis. Nope. You had to you had to have your your drivers had to have a have had to have a taxi permit. Yeah. Vehicles had to have special permits.
[01:06:25] Unknown:
Yep. Yep.
[01:06:26] Unknown:
The rent insurance, everything like that. Yep. And then Uber came in and just ignored all of it, and so it was a lot cheaper than taxis.
[01:06:33] Unknown:
Yep. Now now it's not.
[01:06:36] Unknown:
No. Now it's more expensive than taxis. Yeah. I Where you can find a taxi anymore. Yeah. No. It's like we,
[01:06:43] Unknown:
when we were in New York this year, I didn't use Uber or anything like that, but, they have a app, for taxis that it it's just the same thing as Uber app, but it's actually bonded licensed taxis. So I'm good. Right. And and it was cheaper. It was actually cheaper. So I'm like, good. Yeah. And no search price. So it's like yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[01:07:13] Unknown:
Then the the last tech news I have is, some people have been saying that and Google is now vehemently denying it. Uh-huh. So, you know, in a search engine, you've got that AI part up top that tells you basically everything that you wanna know about the information you're searching for. Right. Google is claiming that the AI search feature has absolutely zero impact on website traffic. I don't know. I I see I I read what that from that top part says. I don't go to looking through the websites. Generally not. Because I know it's already scanned all 5,000 of them to find the information for me. Uh-huh. Yep. So why would I go individually to see which one it got what information from?
[01:08:14] Unknown:
Yeah. As long as it seems good information, I'm good to know. It's, yeah. No. It's I I agree. And Google's Google's saying that Google's I think Google's saying that because they rely on ads Oh, yeah. All these websites use Google. Yep. And so they don't want to to me, it's you're you're killing the horse, Google. You're killing your Oh, yeah. Customers with this. Yeah. It it's quite funny. You know. Yeah. Those websites have advertisers
[01:08:45] Unknown:
on them, and that's and they go to they they pay the the they pay the advertisers by how many people go to their website.
[01:08:53] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. And they know how many people go to their websites.
[01:08:57] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. And since everybody's just reading the Google AI shit,
[01:09:02] Unknown:
nobody's going to their websites anymore. It just scrubs the data from their websites. Yeah. Yeah. No. I I find it yeah. It it it it still is growing pains. Yep. Yeah. I that that's that's messed up.
[01:09:21] Unknown:
Yeah. So there's no reasonable per reasonable person that would think that Google is that that that AI search is not driving views away from the websites.
[01:09:31] Unknown:
No. Completely. Completely. Yep. I have some AI news here. Okay. So, apparently, we have a slur for robots now in AI. Mhmm. We have a slur we can use. Okay. Uh-huh. Clanker. You just call the robot a clanker. Yeah. C l a n k e r. It's from Star Wars. Star Wars, they have this slur towards robots, and they just call them a clanker because they're clanking around.
[01:10:00] Unknown:
Okay.
[01:10:01] Unknown:
Yeah. So, apparently, now NBC has this whole story about, how it's a slur for the AI age. Oh, shit. Yeah. And it talks about how how how it even goes to kinda, like, how it's bad and whatnot. It's like, hey. Who cares? Why why? It's Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we have so so we have a slur now for it. You know? Those damn clackers. Nice. Yep. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Whose feelings get hurt apparently or something. I don't know. Yeah.
[01:10:39] Unknown:
Well, I mean, you wouldn't you wouldn't have a slur against something if its feelings weren't gonna get hurt.
[01:10:44] Unknown:
Yeah. No kidding. No kidding.
[01:10:47] Unknown:
Oh, wow. Yeah. That's that's
[01:10:50] Unknown:
Right. So I I saw this one TikTok, before the last story. I saw this one TikTok, and it was saying how, like, old, like, Chevy Silverados are basically the size of, like, the midsize trucks now, like, Canyon and whatnot. Okay. And I checked this out, and it it's actually right. It's like a a '85 Silverado. Right? Mhmm. It had a wheelbase of a 117 inches.
[01:11:21] Unknown:
Damn. And Pretty fair wheelbase. Yeah. And,
[01:11:26] Unknown:
current Chevy Colorado has a wheelbase of a 126 inches. So it's actually more than that. The overall length of a Silverado was in between a 191 inches, for a six bed truck and 212 inches for a eight bed truck. Thank you. For for Colorado, it's, the length is 212 inches. Yeah. The width of a Chevy Silverado was 65 inches. 65.8 inches. The width of, the Chevy Colorado is 84 inches with mirrors. Oh. Right. Yeah. So Yeah. And then you also look at, like, the price of it. So, '85 Chevy Silverado, it started at at, like, $6.99 5. So basically $7,000.
Right? Okay. Back in '85. In today's money, that's 21,000. Okay. A Chevy Colorado starts at around 31,000. Yeah. But when you add in all the new features, safety, tech, everything like that, that's demanded by the government and just Mhmm. They throw in this thing. Yeah. That's the extra $10,000 right there. Oh, yeah. Big time. Yeah. Definitely. So, basically, a Silverado of 85 is basically just a Chevy Colorado. And then if you compare that to, like, a Chevy Silverado of today, it's like, the width is, like, 80 inches to 89 inches versus 65 inches. Yep.
Or, like, the length is, 232 inches or 251 inches versus a 191. You know? Yeah. And the wheelbase is a 146 inches versus a 117. Yeah. Yeah. So these silver routing and then you went and people a lot of people complain about how much trucks cost nowadays. You know? They Right. Easily start, they start at, like, 37 to 40,000, but that's just for, like, a very base model. Right. Yeah. If you want anything, it's easily gonna get up into 50 to $75,000. Mhmm. And so, yeah, that that's why. It's because we're it's a much bigger truck. So if you want the same size of truck as you had back in the eighties, you go with a Colorado or a Canyon, apparently. I found that interesting. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. I just found that interesting.
[01:13:59] Unknown:
Don't know why. Yeah. I I had done some research once. I'd that was when mom and dad were thinking about putting a garage on the house that they're building.
[01:14:07] Unknown:
Uh-huh.
[01:14:09] Unknown:
I'd I, mom wanted me to know how big of a garage they they should build. Right. And so, you know, they seem to really enjoy the truck that they're driving now. Right. And so I figured, you know, if they if they were gonna want another vehicle, they may choose to have it to go with another truck. Mhmm. And so I I just went and I found the biggest dimensions of all of the trucks out there. Right. The overall length of the biggest one is 252 inches. Uh-huh. Width is 90. Yep. So, yeah. That's, significantly larger than than what they were in '85.
[01:14:54] Unknown:
Yeah. Huge difference. It's crazy. And then you it's like you get like, like the s 10, you know, just that short little, you know, compact truck. That that that was like a perfect truck for just tooling around the city. You know? You did Oh, yeah. Yeah. This huge, behemoth. You know? And this is where I think that slate truck, the yeah. Where you can it just starts at around 20,000, which is what the Silverado started. Well Yeah. With inflation, that's about where the Silverado started. Right. Right. Yeah. Back in the eighties. So Yep. That's a good price point. Makes sense to me. I personally, I like my Dodge Dakota. Yeah. No. It's, yeah. That's a small one. Right? It's a nice very small truck. Yeah. Yeah. What size what's that? What year is that?
[01:15:43] Unknown:
February.
[01:15:44] Unknown:
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When they still made them. Yeah. They don't make Dakotas anymore, unfortunately. No. They don't. They don't.
[01:15:52] Unknown:
It's really tough to find a small pickup truck nowadays.
[01:15:55] Unknown:
It's almost impossible. Yeah. So some people, have started importing, the small little, commercial trucks from Japan Okay. With, like, just a flatbed on the back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some of them aren't street legal in The United States, so states are having to, adjust it. But, basically, even with after transporting it here, it's cheaper to go that route than, go with, one of these
[01:16:23] Unknown:
big monster trucks. If you only need a small truck, you know, if if you if I only need to something to put a lawnmower into Yep. Yep. I'm not gonna buy a big monstrosity of a truck for $80,000.
[01:16:40] Unknown:
Right? Exactly. Exactly.
[01:16:43] Unknown:
And if I have to, I'll buy a small hatchback if they still make those anymore. I can't get my lawnmower to stay in it.
[01:16:51] Unknown:
Yep. Yep. Yeah. Well, with that, let's get to the last story. So Alrighty. If you have a pet and you wanna get rid of the pet, the a zoo in Denmark will take it. So they'll take your guinea pigs or rabbits or chickens, even small horses. They'll take them. And then they're gonna feed them to the to the predators.
[01:17:18] Unknown:
Oh, you know?
[01:17:21] Unknown:
It's the Alborg Zoo, apparently. So it's, yeah. Yeah. They'll feed it to, like, the European lynx and, whatnot. So if you don't love your pet, if your pet is annoying, you can ship it off overseas and have an animal eat your pet. Just like nature intended people.
[01:17:45] Unknown:
Yeah. Well, you know, I've heard so many parents say that the animal was state with went out to the farm. Now they can safely and legitimately say they sent it to the zoo.
[01:18:06] Unknown:
And with that, thank you for joining us for, episode 51 of the Mindless Meanderings podcast. I'm Jesse Fries. And I'm Jamin Fries. And we will see you on Monday.
Introduction
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Conspiracy Theories
Political Stupidity and Gerrymandering
Texas Politics and Democratic Maneuverings
National News: Crime and Federalization
Washington DC Representation Debate
Business and Economic Updates
Legal News: Free Speech and Epstein
Health and Vaccine Policies
Tech Innovations and School Safety
Robotaxis and Regulatory Challenges
AI and Internet Traffic
Truck Sizes and Market Changes
Zoo in Denmark: A Unique Pet Solution