August 27, 2026 • 66 mins
Ms. Squared writes in with a fascinating tale of sleeper agents and the Fort Orange Club. Vegan Bookworm weighs in on AI companies and destructive book scanning. CODENAME: Box Boy chats music. MissMegolas hips the guys to a phenomenal Gandalf-themed protest, and Psycubnaut introduces the gang to the idea of 'Devil Corp'. Tune in for all this and more in this week's listener mail segment.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello and welcome back to the show. My name is Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
My name is Noel.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer, Dillard, the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you
are you, you are here. That makes this the stuff
they don't want you to know. If you're tuning in
to our listener mail program, the evening of publishes, welcome
to August 27th, 2026. What better way guys to commemorate
(00:53):
this momentous occasion than than to return to some rutabagas.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yum, yum, dig them up.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
If you're on the road this weekend, it's mandatory that
you stop at Baggy's. Baggy's is the largest truck stop,
gas station, gift shop, food market in the world. Come
on down and meet Baggy Buffalo, our half rutabaga, half
buffalo mascot. Oh, free me from my physical prison. We've
got joke shirts for millennials, joke shirts for Gen Z,
(01:21):
religious pillows for grandma, camo for your brother-in-law, 3,400 bathroom stalls,
rutabaga taffy, and no Mountain Dew. Oh yeah, and we
also have gas. So make sure to stop at exit
493 and see us at Baggy's. The gas station across
the road from us should just freaking give up already.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
It's sad that they even try.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Oh, why was I cursed to be a root vegetable
and a large bovine?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Poetry.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Poetry.
Speaker 6 (01:51):
I have to say, the moment you introduced the chimera
that is this mascot, I was picturing all the failed
attempts at putting these two things together and just them
laying on a slab somewhere going, kill me.
Speaker 7 (02:05):
Cursed existence.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Kill me. Yes.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
100%.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
But then you got there. You got there immediately is
what I'm getting at. Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I was thinking about all of those. Local gas stations
with beavers on their logos that have just been, you know,
they've fallen to the Buc-ee's attorneys.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Oh, have they?
Speaker 6 (02:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
They're dropping like flies? Buc-ee's. Oh, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
There's a whole John Oliver segment on Buc-ee's and how
they've just destroyed so many companies.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
It's nuts, man.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But they do pay a fair living wage.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (02:38):
It's like the car wash manager makes six figures.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It really does.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
They've got it on a big old sandwich board right
outside of every location.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I don't know if I wear it ironically.
Speaker 6 (02:47):
Or out of love, but I have a whole Buc-ee's
swim costume suit and tie-dyed tank top, and I wear
it proudly.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
And folks, I can confirm that that is true. And
I think we all, until we get sued by Buc-ee's,
I think we all enjoy it because it is such
a thoroughly American thing. institution up there with MLMs, which
is something we're going to talk about today, as well as, well,
(03:18):
Gandalf is thoroughly not American.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And SAPs.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
And SAPs.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Saps for the saps.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Yes, saps for the saps, as we said. This is
a cool thematic connection to our episode that will be
coming out around this time on a guy called David J. Rush,
we talked a lot just recently about espionage and spies.
And I think after a word from our sponsors, we're
(03:47):
going to get into something super cool and a nice
follow-up to that story.
Speaker 6 (03:57):
And we have returned with a doozy of a message
from our pal Ms.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Squared to their friends. Guys, did you know there's a Ms. Mets?
There's Mr. Mets, who's the baseball-headed guy, and he has
a wife, sort of like Ms.
Speaker 6 (04:12):
Pac-Man. And they hang out together. I went to a
Mets game the other day. I'd never been before. And
it was a thing to behold.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Mascotting.
Speaker 8 (04:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I love mascots.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You know, I've never been to a Mets game.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, I hadn't either.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
And I asked my girlfriend, like, do you think that
guy does well?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And she goes, yeah, I'm sure he makes six figures,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh, just like the Buc-ee's folks? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Just like him.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
I think the guy that plays Mr. Matt, he's a
little bit more of a one-off guy.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
He's the guy. Whereas the Buc-ee's is sort of like,
you know, the mall Santa. Okay. Got it. So anyway,
this is a fascinating email from Ms. Squared. I'm sorry
to have gotten off track already. Here we go.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Hi, y'all.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
Finally outing myself as a real person. We're not going
to do that, though. But you did it to us,
and we appreciate your trust. But we're not going to
out you to the public.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I'm a longtime listener and caller in her, Ms. Squared.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
The nickname came from my time working at the local
Boys and Girls Club, where I was the second redacted
to be hired as a teacher. I listened to your
sleeper agent episode from last April, and it reminded me
of how I genuinely believe that I, in the past,
met a Russian sleeper agent. As I've brought up before,
I live in the Cap District of New York, which
(05:23):
is about a three-hour drive from New York City. The
fact that you mentioned yonkers as a hotbed of sleepers
had me raising my eyebrows. I once met this guy,
reportedly my age, who claimed to be from a nearby
town at an Orthodox Christian young adults group. This group
also had a priest who openly worked for Lockheed Martin
(05:44):
at a time in his life and discussed military shenanigans
whenever the U.S.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Was mad at Israel.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Openly? I like the caveat, by the way, of openly
worked for Lockheed Martin.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
I do.
Speaker 6 (05:56):
Yeah, no, a priest, a former Lockheed Martin priest, who, again,
discussed openly military shenanigans whenever the U.S.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Is beefing with Israel. So this is the vibe here
off the bat. So an odd one.
Speaker 6 (06:10):
I have several friends who grew up in the town
he claimed to be from and would have graduated high
school with him, but have never heard of him at all.
This isn't a huge town, so that's a bit weird.
He was also obsessed with Russia. This was about the
time Ukraine was being invaded.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Okay, pretty recent, relatively speaking. So an extremely unpopular take.
I mean, obsessed, all caps.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
I cannot emphasize how much this guy absolutely glazed Russia.
He claimed to be in a master's program for teaching,
but wore a Rolex and dressed in three-piece suits. He
also worked as a busboy for a very old and
shadowy Albany club. called the Fort Orange Club.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Guys.
Speaker 8 (06:56):
He claimed.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Can we just pause here and say, was his name
David Rush? I'm just kidding.
Speaker 6 (07:04):
Teases upon teases, guys. Don't think so, but you never know.
I think, no, this is a little too recent for
that to have been the case, but do check out
that episode coming up.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
It's a fascinating exploration of a real odd dude who.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
Made some serious waves within the CIA in a very
weird way.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Anyway, shadowy Albany club, guys. We'll come back to that.
Called the Fort Orange Club. He claimed he had a
mail-order bride coming from Russia.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
He was like 28, but claimed to live with his
parents as well. How are you getting a mail-order bride,
and where did the Rolex come from, bro?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Rolexes, guys. David Rush.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
It's a go-to currency of spycraft, man.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
It would seem so. It would seem so. He has
since vanished, a poof, and I have no idea what
happened to him. All in all, an extremely all-caps shady character.
I live in a location with a high amount of
industrial presence, both civilian and military. The town he claimed
he was from is a suburb of Schenectady, of General
Electric fame. Ford Orange Club is also how someone would
(08:11):
schmooze with the people so rich and powerful that they
can pay to be invisibled. Anyway, maybe I'm making up
connections that aren't there, but I also grew up in
a sleepy suburban town where the Chinese mafia has been
openly implicated in murders. So I find myself drawn to
all things odd in places where odd shouldn't exist. I'm
(08:32):
sure I'll call in another time with more lore. My
dog is added here too, because sure.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Be well. Yeah, the dog was on copy. I'm not
sure what they meant by that, but I love the idea.
Speaker 6 (08:45):
And then a quote at the bottom. I think this
is just their signature file. For who knows if you
came to the kingdom for such a time as this.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
No, that's not part of the signature file. That is
meant for us. With love and peace redacted as of today, a.k.a.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Ms.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Squared. So many fun layers to this email. So many
things to unpack.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
Guys, I guess when I initially think about sleeper agents,
I sometimes think of the whole Manchurian candidate idea of
like someone who is deployed, you know, through some sort
of psychological shenanigans. But I mean, we think about the
idea of sleeper cells, for example, like with terrorist groups who,
you know, live in the United States in apartments and
(09:30):
then they're activated and the idea of this compartmentalization so
that it's hard to get to the root of where
all of the different tentacles of the octopus actually exist.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Of course, this can be something.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
That we would deploy, you know, as the United States
through CIA operatives who maybe are living abroad and then
are deployed, you know, into action. So I know the
Manchurian candidate thing is sort of more like the really
extreme sci-fi version of this, but we are talking more
like the Americans, right? The TV series about Russian sleeper agents.
living as, you know, nuclear families that then are deployed
(10:04):
to do their bidding of their masters.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah, think of it like deep cover, right? So a
true sleeper agent, there are real sleeper agents, could... conceivably
live an entire life never being activated. That would be
exceedingly rare as well, just depending on what they're doing.
But to what I think was your original question there, Noel,
(10:28):
and to your excellent letter there, Ms. Squared, a sleeper
agent is going to ideally be someone who is unremarkable
in their given demographic and field. So there are places
where it would be unusual for you not to have
a fancy watch, right? Therefore, you would need one to
(10:51):
blend in. But then there are places where that would
be way too flashy. You know, you would be too suspicious. Like,
forget all the James Bond stuff, folks. As we've said
time and time again, a real sleeper agent or a
real person doing spying and tradecraft, you want them unremarkable. Like,
(11:13):
the same way you don't want a a horse jockey
or an astronaut to be too tall. You want them
to be again, like the Honda civic of the car fleet.
Speaker 8 (11:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
I always imagine it's someone who prior to being activated
by the numbers station broadcast is like, you know, and
someone with just a regular name, perhaps an assumed name,
but it's not their real name. They'll tell you, uh,
All kinds of stories, right? Kind of like our Rush
fellow that we keep mentioning here. But also wants to
(11:48):
know a lot more about you than they'll tell you
about themselves.
Speaker 8 (11:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And, I mean, they've got a backstory. They've got it
rehearsed down to a T.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
They know all the things that they might be asked
that would potentially verify who they are. In the event
that they were quizzed about their backstory. But to your point, Matt,
they are much more interested in the most....
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Innocuous way possible, getting information from others.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
They're also great to talk to as well. Very good
at conversation. Usually when somebody says, oh, that person's a
great conversationalist, they mean that person is naturally, politely curious
enough about me. You don't have to listen to me
monologue about myself. Tell me About, wow, you work in engineering?
(12:35):
You work at a nuclear plant? Dude, that is fascinating.
What's that like?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
What are the codes?
Speaker 6 (12:43):
Yeah, what a great way to disarm somebody. But then
you also have to strike that balance where you don't.
Depending on who you're talking to, you don't want to
come off as quite too thirsty for information. So you
have to really do a little delicate dance. But to
all of your points, both of your points, guys, it
does feel like that if this dude were a Russian
sleeper agent, he's.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Doing a pretty bad job.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
You wouldn't openly want to come off as being obsessed
with Russia if you were a Russian sleeper agent.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
What if he was a sleeper agent for Ukraine?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
A sleeper sleeper agent.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
The open Russia thing. As, yeah, he wants to find
others who are all about Russia.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Interesting. Interesting. It's a good point.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Yeah, like a trap or bait. That could happen too.
That does happen sometimes. And often, this will be interesting
to you, but often in that approach we just described,
you're going to see community organizations, right? We're the friends
of so-and-so, right? That's part of why the FBI wouldn't
(13:44):
so ham in the past investigating like vegan groups and socialists.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Dude, can we, speaking of those connections, man, can we
please talk about the Fort orange club?
Speaker 6 (13:56):
Are you kidding me? That's what we're here for. I mean,
you know, all of this stuff about the sleeper agents
is very interesting. And this does seem like a shady character, uh,
or at the very least, maybe a little braggadocious, a
little bit of an oddball, not quite sure, uh, about
the sleeper agent side of it, but the connection to
this place called the Fort orange club, um.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Even as a busboy, pretty interesting.
Speaker 6 (14:17):
Matt, you're always talking about your time at a relatively
exclusive driving club or a racket club here in the
suburbs of Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
This Fort Orange Club is a.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Storied organization that has significant ties to the political machinations
of New York. It is located directly next to the
state capitol in Albany. And it has had numerous controversies
over the years, including, of course, being founded as a
(14:49):
men's and whites only organization.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Women were excluded for a very, very, very long time.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
And they've tried to undergo a bit of a PR
makeover over the years, like a lot of these kind
of old storied boys clubs have.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
But a lot of.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
These more messy kind of connections do still exist. remain
as much as they'd like to kind of, you know,
wash them out of their history. It was started by
a dude who may be my favorite name in all of,
you know, historical shady figures.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Erastus Corning Jr.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
As a society to include only the most prominent citizens
of Albany.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
And it was founded in 1880.
Speaker 6 (15:37):
And the club was located, is located at 110 Washington Avenue,
just about a block from the Capitol. The Fort Orange
Club wasn't just a place to schmooze and socialize and eat.
It really did function for many, many, many years as
a place for politicians and lawyers and doctors and businessmen
(15:59):
and prominent, powerful members of the Albany establishment to to
have informal.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Meetings, you know, backroom deals.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
This is like the literal, you know, kind of proto
idea of what a backroom, smoky backroom where the real
deals happen. There's an article in 2015 in the Times
Union that described the old club this way, quite bluntly,
in fact. Deals were cut, social pedigrees were confirmed, networks
(16:28):
were built, and legislation was hashed out. So it becomes
kind of one of those like almost extra governmental type entities.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Oh, yeah. Well, and just speaking– look, I'm going to
talk about myself. Hey, congratulations to everybody. You get to
hear about me.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I want to.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
You've got real deal experience with this kind of stuff
on maybe a smaller scale. But like it's– this is
just like a kind of blown up, blown out version
of what you experienced.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I'm curious, Ben.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I would say my experience is very similar to our
potential sleeper agent here. Uh, while the club I worked
for was established seven years after the, this club, uh,
it was still 1887 when it was established in Atlanta, Georgia,
the Piedmont driving club, formerly known as the gentlemen's driving club.
And that's how it was founded. Uh, I believe a
(17:20):
man named James Kingsbury, uh, Kingsbury was a part of that. Uh,
I served many a ultra-wealthy spouse out by the pool.
That's what I did. I wasn't a busboy, but I
was definitely part of the help. And it is very interesting,
the conversations that you can just kind of walk past
as you're taking some white wine to a lady not
(17:43):
really watching her kids by the pool. It is very interesting,
the side conversations you will hear while working inside a
ballroom as a server. That you just, again, happen to
come across. And I do wonder if there is something
to that level, the help within a prestigious organization such
(18:05):
as this, where those deals, as you're saying, are going down,
or just those informal conversations about where investments will be made.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
100%.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Matt.
Speaker 6 (18:14):
And I mentioned Erastus Corning. He was a merchant, an
iron and railroad magnate, an incredibly influential figure in the
architecture of New York's Central Railroad. He was the very
first president in 1853. This is the kind of person
that is like so first to market in the industrialization
(18:35):
of this country. That's the kind of like legacy power.
That just gets passed down and starts to resemble something
along the lines of like, you know, royalty. He was
the mayor of Albany from 1834 to 1837. And then
again in 1838, he was a U.S. representative and he
established his various members of his family as crucial civic
(19:00):
leaders and Democratic power brokers. We're talking about Parker Corning,
another U.S. rep, Edwin Corning, wealthy businessman, Albany County Democratic chairman.
Erastus Corning II. The political machine structure was very similar
to the whole boss tweed political machine of Chicago. And
that's the one that gets talked about a lot. But
(19:22):
a lot of this is kind of new to me.
And I've not really heard this person's name before. But
they had this kind of boss model, almost like organized crime,
that was controlling the machinations of the party Apparatuses, including poll.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Workers who got nominated, all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
So I just propose that whether it's specific to the
Fort Orange Club or a little bit more just about
New Yorkers. political machine, I think this might be the
stuff of episode.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Agreed.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Hey, there's also a Corning New York that's named after
Arrest is Corning where they make Corning glass that's in
your iPhone screen.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
There you go.
Speaker 6 (20:03):
What?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Are you serious?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
That's some supply chain stuff right there.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
But the chain goes from 1880 all the way there?
Like to now?
Speaker 8 (20:12):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Good God. Yes, dude. It's unbelievable. I mean, it is believable.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
But the ballot control, we're talking about like control over
the Democratic primaries when the Democratic Party meant something a
little different than it does today. Close relationship with governors
and other legislative leaders. They had this image of promoting
civic infrastructure improvements and all of this kind of like
(20:43):
masquerading behind advocacy and fundraising and community boosters and things
like that. But it really was all just kind of
insular cronyism. and ultimately significant resistance to any kind of
reform while creating a public image. I mean, it's the
(21:04):
kind of stuff that I think would be really useful
to parse out and sort of compare to what we're
seeing happening again in national government.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I just found through the Kenan Research Center at the
Atlanta History Center Repository, information from the 1921 ballroom construction
at the Piedmont driving club that we can go look
at right now. Sorry, just finding extra things.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
No, no, no, no. This is good.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
We can even talk more about that. I mean, maybe
it is just a matter of like private clubs. Is
this more of the topic of the episode? Maybe it's
more of a list kind of thing in the same
way that, you know, secret societies function in the same
way that, I mean, none of it is particularly remarkable.
We are just talking about access that has cut off
to anyone but the elite and And it's like once again, guys,
(21:51):
it's this whole idea of like it's not like there's
some kind of conspiracy to control the– to guide the
tide of civilization and all that stuff. It's literally just
that these golf courses and private clubs and secret societies,
that's where the rich people can have these off-the-books conversations
that lead to the laws being made. You don't need
(22:15):
a conspiracy exactly. It's just about access. It's just about, like,
the people that are brokering the power being able to
kind of talk privately and then make these sort of
off-the-books deals that then filter down to the way business
is done in Washington or state capitals.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Dang, Ben, I feel like we did that one already,
but I think maybe we just talked about it that
time when we had a secret guest on. Remember that
time when.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
What are you talking about, though? The book and snake, right?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah, but I think we... But I think that's all
we've actually done on that.
Speaker 6 (22:48):
No, it was secret societies and fraternities specifically. And a
lot of the secret societies tied to some of these
elite Ivy League universities.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
And this is no different. It's just kind of what
happens once you graduate.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
But you also go back and you also do your
skull and bones meetings as well. It's fascinating stuff and
I think worth a further look.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Miss squared. Thank you so much because we, I guys,
I agree. I think we have to do an episode
inside the hidden world of private clubs and look at
some of the most elite ones, because like you were saying, Matt,
that is where a lot of deals get made. And I,
I didn't tell you guys, but I got really close to,
(23:32):
to joining a very strange like world net international network of, of,
private clubs, it's a story for that episode, for sure.
But we'd also love to hear from you, fellow conspiracy realists,
about your weirdest experience in a private club or the
(23:53):
most elite private clubs you've been to. Extra points, by
the way. Extra made-up internet points for anybody who has
made it into some of those top-crust or upper-crust gentlemen's
clubs of London and Europe.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Ben, question.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
If you had joined that elite club, would you be
able to tell us?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Yeah, that one, yes. You would also be able to
tell because I would probably be broke from the fees.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Well, you'd be rocking their monocle that they give everybody who.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Joins, probably. Guys, this is also news to me.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
I just was curious in an area in Queens where.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I split my time often.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
There is a club called the Forest Hills Driving Club.
That's like, you know, racquet club rather, I think is
what it's called. And, you know, you play tennis there.
It's connected to Forest Hills Stadium. Like it's near, I think,
where they do the U.S.
Speaker 8 (24:55):
Open.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I had no idea. This is not in my wheelhouse
at all.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
But like you not only do you have to pay
dues that can be upwards of, you know, Tens of
thousands of dollars, sometimes a month. You also have to
pay like an application fee that can be double that.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
That's like a one time thing. And I think this
club in Forest Hills is probably.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
On the lower end of the kinds of fee structures
that we're talking about with these types of organizations. So,
I mean, the barrier to entry.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Is high.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Not to mention that I think specifically for this club,
there is some kind of process of being nominated by members.
And we know that that's true with a lot of elite, like,
you know, Beverly Hills type clubs. And oftentimes it is
that the barrier to entry is just can you afford
the dues? But this is much more than that.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So let's put a pin in that one.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
Thanks for being open to checking this out further as
a whole episode. And a huge thanks to you, Ms. Squared,
for hipping us to Your story and also this organization
that I don't think any of us had much of
an idea about.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Let's take a quick break. We'll hear a word from
our sponsor and then we'll come back with more messages
from you.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
And we've returned. And the first part of this segment
is going to be all about music. And as we
are recording on Friday, August 21st, we have to give
two quick shout outs to folks who create music. that
mean a lot to us, I believe. They certainly mean
a lot to me. Serge Tonkian, happy birthday to you, sir.
Thank you for writing some of the most rocking and
(26:26):
intriguing and hard-hitting lyrics that have ever existed. And also,
happy birthday to Mr. Bo Burnham, who, again, he won't
get out of my head, you guys. I can't get
Bo Burnham's songs out of my head, and they keep
playing over and over, and the existential crisis and threat
that they represent won't cease. So, congratulations to To you, Mr. Burnham,
(26:47):
for doing that to me. You guys want to say
anything about them?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I'm going to move on to the next part.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
No, please.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
No, no.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Love that guy. Love his COVID content.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
So dark, but also somehow was like a bright spot
in that dark time.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
It's hard to even describe.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Inside, I think is what it was called.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Really?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Well, you know what? Screw it. I'm just going to
read this part. Hopefully you don't sue us. And I
want to leave this world better than I found it.
I fear that comedy won't help and the fear is
not unfounded. Should I stop trying to be funny? Should
I give away my money? No. Just when you think
about the crisis we face and then that's kind of
(27:32):
the stance of humanity for the people who have all
the money. The thought of giving it away to help
everybody else?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
What? Imagine that.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Here we go. We're going to hear from somebody who
called in going by codename BoxBoy.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Here we go. Hey, fellas.
Speaker 9 (27:51):
This is codename BoxBoy calling from Virginia again. I was
just finishing up your second part on the USS Liberty
on my way to work, and it made me think
of a very specific song. And I know you guys
are music lovers, so I figured I would put you
guys on. The song's called Everything's Fine, also known as
(28:12):
the Nuke Song. by a guy named Ro Capra. That's R-O-E-K-A-P-A-R-A.
Especially the stuff y'all were talking about at the end
of the episode about indoctrination and all that stuff. This
song really hits all of that on the head and
is a great song, but a little saddening given our
(28:33):
present times. But yeah, I think you guys would really
like the song. That whole album by him is fantastic,
so give him a listen.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Thank you so much. box boy for putting us onto
that song. We've got it queued up and I think
we can get away with playing a teeny tiny bit
of it. And then you can listen to the rest
of the song on your own and please support any
artists that we mentioned or talk about on the show.
You know, we're usually not going to play music, right?
Cause we can't do that guys. But we do write,
(29:04):
we do recommend and encourage you to listen on your own.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Heck yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So here is a quick sampling of, of everything's fine okay.
Speaker 8 (29:14):
I think that's all we need to hear holy crap
thank you so much on that one.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
Yeah and uh and i can't wait to hear the
rest of that.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Song so also thank Matt, thank you so much on
that one. Yeah. And, uh, I can't wait to hear
the rest of that song. So also thank you so
much to code name box boy. Also for the sick nickname.
That's pretty great.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Oh, heck yeah. Uh, box boy, by the way, has
written in with several other nicknames and we might, we
might recognize him if we go through the, uh, the
old voicemail catalog that we've got going on here. So, uh,
cheers to you.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Box boy.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Oh, and I've listened to that whole song, guys. It
is a banger. So definitely check it out.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Also check out All the Food is Poison by Tim
and Eric, because that also seems to be pretty apropos
to what's going on in the country right now.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Remind me of that one. What is that?
Speaker 6 (30:14):
All the food is poison. All the food is poison.
And then they just name a bunch of food and say,
it's poison.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Hot dogs. Poison.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Tacos.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
They're poison.
Speaker 9 (30:28):
Oh, God.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 6 (30:30):
Have we followed any of these stories, guys, about all
of the recalls and, you know, E. coli outbreaks and
not just the diarrhea lettuce, but like oats, I think,
or oatmeal?
Speaker 3 (30:41):
There's been a ton.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Assume everything. If you are listening to this and you're saying, man,
my night is just going too well. I'm feeling too
jubilant and chipper. Then check out the list that has
been circulating. It's a massive, like, encyclopedic. list of all
the stuff that has been verified or suspected of being contaminated.
(31:06):
It's a great year for contaminated food.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Dudes, we just got a voicemail in yesterday about this
very thing. I have not listened to it. It appears
to be about 30 seconds. I have no idea who
this is from. Let's listen to it real quick.
Speaker 8 (31:23):
Why is nobody talking about the fact that Iran is
waging warfare? And the only way that they can beat
us on our food and water supply. How many more
recalls need to happen before we realize the truth? They
are attacking us where we are most vulnerable. Our big, fat,
(31:46):
overweight guts. And our burnt-up buttholes.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
But now.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
What?
Speaker 4 (31:55):
It's not right.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
Okay i like the cut of this guy's jib though
i have to argue uh i think it's much more
likely that the gutting of the fda and all of
the different agencies that like you know the scientists that
check on this stuff is a little more responsible than iran.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Or i'm not gonna take russia out of the mix
here uh Burnt up butthole collar. Oh, man. Yeah, that's
I mean, it is a point I think could be
a great episode in the future for us to look
into the just the proliferation of contaminated foods here. It'll
(32:37):
be another feel good hit with your conspiracy pals up
there with microplastics.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
But with more burnt up buttholes.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Yeah. Stuff they don't want you to know. Now with 10%
more burnt up buttholes.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
We have no idea who you are. You did not
leave a name or anything. So shout out to you,
anonymous person warning us about those things that we cannot verify.
Speaker 8 (33:08):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Let's go on to the next one. Guys, we talked. Oh, gosh. Ben,
I want to say it was you that brought it
to us. We talked about books being destroyed by anthropic
and other AI companies in an attempt to more, um, uh,
to have a faster way of scanning those books and
ingesting them into their LLMs.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
We got to destroy them. It's part of the process.
Speaker 10 (33:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Because it's easier to remove the spines, uh, and then
have them scanned through like a automated scanning machine. Uh,
this story, uh, Ruffled a lot of feathers, especially for
some used bookstore owners who learned that they were getting
massive requests or orders of books from companies that turned
(33:55):
out to be sometimes fronts for AI operations.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Well, we've got a little message here from somebody who
has some experience in the old scanning books in for
archival purposes and things like that. And, oh, you know, libraries.
So let's hear from them, hear what they have to say,
and then talk about it.
Speaker 11 (34:13):
Hey, guys, this is the vegan bookworm. Man, I haven't
felt this fear in a while. But when I heard
about all those books getting destroyed, man, it kind of
bummed me out. For my job, I used to work
with the library. One of the things I did was
I would source book scanners for them. And it's not
like you have to have a person there with a
(34:35):
camera doing each one. Even if you want to preserve
the book, there's automatic book scanners. I'm sure they don't
do it as quickly. But they can do it pretty quick.
Because I'd buy these and would use them for very
expensive old books. And they can do a page in
less than a second automatically. I realized, you know, that's slow.
(34:58):
But if all you're caring about is getting the text
off it, there's got to be even quicker ways. Anyways,
kind of bummed me out.
Speaker 10 (35:06):
Bummed me out even more because it's all about efficiency
or doing it quickly, not that they have to destroy
the books. Anyways, I'm going to go buy some more
books and make my book pile even bigger.
Speaker 9 (35:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Well, that's the thing, Matt.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
We are moving towards a post-hard copy society, and all
of the big companies are moving in that direction. Video
game consoles are going to be manufactured without disk drives,
or they already are. Laptops, all the new Apple MacBooks
don't have disk drives anymore. Physical media, whether it be
physical forms of digital media or hard copies— there's a
(35:46):
certain sentiment within these companies that this is the way
of the future and that anything other than that is
sort of holding on to the past in some sort
of desperate attempt to fight change.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Oh, the relics of the past.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
We know those are red-level relics, those books, especially the
ones with spines, the ones that you can still open
and read. Silo reference?
Speaker 9 (36:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
You love that show, man. I really got to check
it out.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Also to that point about the idea of fighting change,
that's interesting to me because digitization ultimately removes control of information, right,
in a way that can't happen with a physical book.
So it is going to be a very interesting time.
Speaker 6 (36:31):
I mean, I guess the reality is, if you really
want to look at both sides of it, that hoarding
of physical media, there is a finite, there's a cap
to that. It's only so much space to like stack
up books. And I just, I'm curious if this sentiment
is going to trickle down. I think I mentioned this
when we talked about the, the, the story to the
library of Congress, where it's like, is it going to
(36:52):
all of a sudden become a thing we just don't
do anymore, you know, because it's, it's a waste of
space or it's all about kind of who's guiding the
agenda and who decides what is and isn't important.
Speaker 9 (37:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Pretty soon you'll have to be the head of IT
or their shadow to read a physical book. Oh, my God. Again,
you're welcome, silo reference. Oh, it looks, Dylan says CD
sales were way up last year.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
That's the thing, though. There's a backlash against this kind
of thing.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Always.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Always.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Do we have a source for that, or is that
just something we can use the old search when you
find it?
Speaker 3 (37:24):
It's probably the record.
Speaker 6 (37:25):
There's like a company, like SoundScan and things like that. But,
of course, vinyl is way up, too. But the kids
love CDs, man. Gen Z and Gen Alpha, they really
love CDs almost more than vinyl.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Here's a source. According to a mid-year report by an
outfit called Luminate, U.S. CD sales jumped 16% in the
first half of the year, reaching 16.3 million units. Also,
vinyl went up 2.4%. Vinyl's been going up for years.
Speaker 6 (37:59):
CDs, I think, is getting reassessed. Which is interesting because
it truly is lower quality.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
In many ways.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
16-bit, there's a limit to the fidelity of a compact disc.
And there's something about vinyl that is inherent to the
whole ritualization, the large format art.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
So I'm curious.
Speaker 6 (38:20):
Because also these kids, they really love old handheld video
game consoles. Like Nintendo DSs are really popular right now.
Kids are taking really lo-fi photographs on old DSs. And
my kid really wanted a crappy old school digital camera,
not even a DSLR. One of those little pixel looking ones,
you know, with the flat little guys.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
So there's, yeah, it's all being reassessed.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Well, you know, the 10 to 11 year olds in
my world are all about those Polaroids. Oh, yeah. Not
named Polaroid, you know, but the instant pictures.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Instax, Instamax, all that stuff, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (38:56):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Well, just to stay on the stream for a second, guys,
I did find some things about large format scanners that
Vegan Bookworm was mentioning there that he sourced for at
least one library. We just wanted to see what kind
of price point are we looking at, what kind of
specs are we looking at. So you can jump to largeformatscanners.com. Yes,
(39:17):
there is a website for that. And you can find
all kinds of things from a company called BookTech. There's
also one called SMA that you can find. Just to
give you guys... a view into this, the BookTech 5V3
can scan at speeds of 0.8 seconds. So you get
(39:38):
a whole scan less than a second at 150 dpi.
Each one costs around $ 15, 000. And So if you're a
company that's getting billions and billions and billions pumped in,
I imagine you could have a nice little setup of
those babies.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
So, Matt, we're talking about the higher resolution than, say,
a photocopier. Because we know that you can stack paper
and it'll just zoop, zoop, zoop, zoop, zoop, zoop, like
just shoot it through. But it's a similar mechanism probably,
but at a higher resolution.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yes, and it's designed to have a book laid out.
And here's the problem. Unfortunately, you'd need one of those
pesky humans to turn the pages to scan this thing in.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Correctly.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
So I guess that one's out.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Not an option.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Well, there's also a BookTech 5 V1A-C35. Guys, this one
can handle those extra thick older books. You know the
ones like the tomes?
Speaker 8 (40:30):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Maybe the historical archives.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
The tomes.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 8 (40:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
The grimoires.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Perhaps a Necronomicon. Who knows what you get your hands on?
These are going to cost you around $ 64, 000. And oops,
this one needs a human too. Never mind. Throw that
guy out.
Speaker 6 (40:46):
Isn't that funny, though, that we still don't have a
robot that can turn the pages of a book of
varying sizes and then flip it over?
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Maybe we do. We do. Maybe we do.
Speaker 4 (40:53):
We do.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
I found one.
Speaker 4 (40:55):
Not specifically, but civilization.
Speaker 8 (40:57):
Fair, fair, fair.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
We humans have created the technology, the SMA RoboScan V2.
It has a scan speed, however, of two seconds per
page at 300 DPI, though. Hey, double the resolution.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
I don't care about the resolution. Just give me the words.
Speaker 6 (41:14):
Just feed the AI models. We haven't even gotten to that.
That's really the point. They're not trying to archive stuff.
They're scanning this stuff to feed their models irrespective of
what the actual original content is with no real desire
to preserve it. They're just uploading it to the cloud
to feed their AI algorithms or whatever you want to
call it, machine learning.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
And then it's not even about archiving and preserving.
Speaker 8 (41:37):
Right?
Speaker 3 (41:38):
It's about training.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
It's weird to imagine that it's a brain. And once
that brain has ingested that material, there's no longer a
need for it because that brain is the only thing
that matters anymore because that brain is going.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
To save us.
Speaker 6 (41:53):
But my question to you guys is, is there a
dual purpose? Like if you've ingested it into the AI thing,
can you have it regurgitate the actual stuff? Like can
you just say, I want to just read this thing?
Or is it– I don't even know how you would
go about that because if we're talking about obscure literature,
it's not like there's an index, a searchable– you know
what I mean?
Speaker 3 (42:13):
They're not making it searchable for us.
Speaker 6 (42:15):
It's just a means to feeding more data sets into
these systems rather than something that we can benefit from
and find the original works and rediscover works of the past, right?
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:30):
It's an interesting question. It ultimately will go down to,
I mean, legislative action would take a really long time here,
but it would ultimately first go down to the decision
of the private companies that are doing this, how much
access they want to grant, what that access looks like,
how it works. When we're trying to be positive about this, folks,
(42:55):
one thing that is fascinating is that in a very
real way, We are making The Library of Babel, which
is a phenomenal short story by a guy named Jorge
Luis Borges. It's super short. Borges is a very weird writer,
but it's this fictional world where there's a huge library
(43:21):
of all possible worlds. all possible books that could be
something like 400 or 410 pages long. And somebody is
even designing a searchable digital version of that. You can,
you can look it up, type in a number of characters,
you know, play with your own name if you want,
and you will find your name somewhere in that tome. So, um,
(43:45):
hopefully it'll probably also go down to profit, right? But hopefully, uh,
the public good of having all this available will be
a nice add-on, even if only a side effect, of
this massive rush to keep LLM models from deteriorating. Because
(44:08):
that's really what it is. They're eating their own tail.
It's ouroboristic now.
Speaker 3 (44:15):
Well, and just to describe their goal here, it is to.
Speaker 6 (44:20):
seek high quality long form human generated text to train
their models because the web we talked about this I
think when we discussed this originally is a lot of
it is already AI generated so you know it's like
to your point Ben about a snake eating its own
tail or a copy of a copy of a copy
(44:41):
they need human generated stuff that they can guarantee is
human generated the only way to do that is to
find it in old books but It would seem here
the goal is expressly to train the models and not
to make these accessible in any way.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
Yeah, you have to be optimistic to hope that the
public good will be allowed to be prioritized there.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Again, you're going to have to learn the codes to
the vault, get in there, and then you can access
the archives. And unless you're Bernard Holland or his appointed shadow,
it's going to.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Be really tough.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Okay, I think that's it for this section. We'll be
right back with more messages from you.
Speaker 4 (45:27):
And we have returned with some quick ones that we
think you'll enjoy, and we certainly enjoyed them. And guys,
I also think this could lead us potentially to an
episode in the future. First, we're going to hear from
Miss Megolas. And that's a brilliant name, MM. And we'll
(45:47):
see why in a second. This is very short, but
it tickled us. We all remember Peter Thiel from earlier, right?
Speaker 3 (45:56):
Yeah, Antichrist guy.
Speaker 6 (45:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:59):
He's got a thing. He's got a thing. One of
his things is Antichrist. One of them is Palantir. And
in our two-chapter series on Pete, we uncovered a lot
of his... personal motivations. We uncovered a lot of the
controversy surrounding him and why he has so many critics
(46:20):
and how he got so much money. A lot of
people don't like Palantir. Just to be honest, that's the
most objective way to put it. There's no end or
shortage of criticism. And as we know, after we recorded
that two-part episode, Pete moved to Buenos Aires. in Argentina.
(46:44):
It had nothing to do with our episode, but it
was a big move from him. And it's also, by
the way, being accompanied by some fascinating investments, so much
so that we might have to do an update in
the future. But anyway, before we get to that dark
and disturbing stuff, we got to shout out you, MM,
(47:04):
for sending us the following. You said, today's strange news
is brought to you by a group of Gandalfs protesting
outside Peter Thiel's house in Buenos Aires. I mean, it's
about time. And you have linked us to a Telegraph
article that we'll share a bit of here regarding the
(47:26):
Gandalf protests. I think for a group term, For Gandalf's?
Speaker 3 (47:32):
I was about to say.
Speaker 4 (47:33):
The gaggle?
Speaker 3 (47:34):
I think of the gaggle.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
Get out of my head. I think of the gaggle
of Gandalf's.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
The gaggle of Gandalf's, baby.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah. I love it.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
So there's this gaggle of Gandalf's.
Speaker 4 (47:42):
What about Santa's? What would be a group of Santa's?
Speaker 3 (47:44):
A sleeper?
Speaker 6 (47:44):
Yeah, because it's giving SantaCon vibes for some reason.
Speaker 8 (47:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:47):
Check out our episode on SantaCon, which is surprisingly controversial.
That's on our Sister Show Ridiculous.
Speaker 8 (47:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:55):
Well, I don't think either of us were. prepared for
what we uncovered there. So, big thanks to the Telegraph.
The demonstrators are carrying banners reading, You shall not pass!
over in front of Pete's house in Argentina. They had
(48:17):
gathered earlier this month to highlight Mr. Thiel's recent 1%
stake purchase in one of the largest oil companies in
all of Argentina. So 1% sounds like not that much
until you realize how big Vista actually is. There's a
(48:42):
great website that originally reported this, InfoCielo. Do check them out.
They said the protesters call themselves the Gandalfs of the South.
They have not made public who they are or what
their demands were. But the pictures alone are fascinating. Talk
(49:03):
about sleeper agents, you guys. These dudes have beards, but
they're using beards like face coverings. And then there are
a couple of them who are wearing sunglasses. So it's
it's the most ridiculous disguise. And I, I gotta tell you,
I think this is a great way to protest. If
(49:25):
you can make a protest fun, you get more attention
for your cause. You know what I mean?
Speaker 8 (49:30):
Great. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
Can you imagine all the flock cameras and, like downtown Atlanta,
if there's just a bunch of different Gandalfs in different
places doing all kinds of shenanigans and there's like, Oh God,
we got another Gandalf.
Speaker 4 (49:43):
We've got a code Gandalf, code Gandalf, nip it in
the bud. This one's shaping up to be a gaggle. Uh,
so we, it's also, it's also a way to, um,
probably break the system for, uh, don't do this folks.
Don't try this at home, but having a bunch of
people who are roughly the same size wearing the same costume, uh,
(50:03):
If they don't have cell phones, they can be tracked on.
That is a very clever way to spread some discord.
Speaker 6 (50:11):
Have we talked about, I mean, it's just a subject,
but just to pivot to the flock really quickly, that
you can totally wreck those things just by shining a
laser pointer at them.
Speaker 4 (50:20):
I hear green lasers are good for that.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
Oh, I haven't heard that.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
Big shout out, by the way, to you.
Speaker 3 (50:24):
It'll fry them. It'll fry that little sensor or whatever.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
Big shout out to you, by the way.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
Don't do that, but just saying.
Speaker 7 (50:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (50:32):
Big shout out, by the way, also to our Spotify comments,
which we've been reading and may feature in a future
listener mail program. Guys, that's where I learned about the
green laser was in response to our flock camera episode.
And it was a green laser, apparently.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
That's the one that'll kill the flock cameras?
Speaker 4 (50:54):
Yeah, I haven't looked too far into it, but it was.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Got it.
Speaker 6 (50:57):
Maybe I heard that, too. I think I read something
about that, too. And for some reason, I did not
clock the green versus the red.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
There's just one other flock thing that's happening that, guys,
I think it's just rumors and people commenting and posting
videos online, and it won't amount to much. But there
are rumors that this Halloween, there will be a movement
of some sort in the U.S.
Speaker 4 (51:19):
To.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
go about while fully costumed, such as maybe in a
Gandalf costume, to go around and cut down the flock cameras,
like to literally cut the aluminum that's holding them up,
which I don't know. That seems like something that you
shouldn't do, but it seems like something that could happen.
Speaker 4 (51:42):
And hypothetically, just as a thought experiment, It might be
helpful to check out our episodes on how to protest.
And again, hypothetically, in certain situations, it's great to not
have your phone on your person.
Speaker 3 (52:02):
Also, it's good to don't have it be unlockable with
your face. A hundred percent. Like at the very least.
Speaker 6 (52:09):
Use your face, you know, if you want to, if
you want to do that, you can for like certain
apps within your phone. But don't but have to make
it where you can unlock the phone unless you use
like a pretty robust password that you have to physically enter. Oh,
and Ben, I just wanted I was so curious. You
mentioned the green laser versus the red laser. And I
just did a little digging. Green and blue lasers are
(52:30):
higher energy. they generate higher energy than red ones, and
they can destroy a sensor much more significantly, whereas a
red one, a standard cheap red laser pointer, might just
cause some dead pixels or temporarily cause an outage, but
it might not actually fry the sensor, but a blue
(52:51):
or green laser would.
Speaker 4 (52:54):
And we also have to mention, I feel like we
always have to mention this, when we're talking about flock,
people who are getting flock out of their neighborhood or
out of their communities or even governments who say that
they're removing flock, you need to keep an eye on
them past those headlines because often flock of the brand
(53:17):
is being removed, but another brand that does the exact
same thing is being implemented. The other company, the Pepsi
to the Coke here would be something like Axon. So
don't think, You know, don't think removing one brand of
soda from the shelf means there's no more soda in
the store. That is a very strange comparison, but we
(53:37):
are keeping it. Also, I want to shout you out, Matt,
for sharing the video you can see on Facebook about
the gaggle of Gandalf's dancing around, clapping. It looks like
a great time. It looks like a rainbow gathering. You know,
they've got some tambourines in the mix.
Speaker 3 (53:56):
Yeah. I love a rainbow gathering.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
Way more clothes. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (54:01):
With more clothing and probably fewer, I won't say no drugs,
but probably fewer drugs.
Speaker 3 (54:08):
Didn't we talk about how the rainbow gathering is kind
of a cult?
Speaker 4 (54:12):
It's very, oh, dude, for this Invisible America series I've
been obsessing over, it's definitely an episode of that because
people live off the grid and just travel everywhere. Totally.
It's very open.
Speaker 6 (54:24):
It's been a long time since we've talked about it,
but I feel like it's come up in episodes of yesteryear.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
I look forward to revisiting.
Speaker 4 (54:31):
Absolutely. We also want to shout out you, Tennessee. Can
you tell us a little bit about this breaking news
from Knoxville?
Speaker 6 (54:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (54:43):
East Tennessee commissioner suggests hanging flock CEO is the headline.
Speaker 4 (54:47):
That's just some pretty.
Speaker 7 (54:49):
Aggressive language from a public official. Actually, it's from Kingsport.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
Hanging?
Speaker 3 (54:54):
Lynching?
Speaker 4 (54:55):
Oh, no, it's from Kingsport. Commissioner Joe Carr.
Speaker 5 (54:58):
It's from Kingsport, yeah.
Speaker 4 (54:59):
That's a little close to home for us, Tennessee.
Speaker 6 (55:03):
Well, related, at least in terms of the escalation of
the flock story, I believe for the first time, Trump.
Speaker 3 (55:09):
Was asked about it.
Speaker 6 (55:11):
And he said that they're looking into it, whatever that means.
Speaker 4 (55:16):
Oh, good. Good.
Speaker 6 (55:17):
Just asking about the prevalence of the cameras and the
controversy and all of that.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
He sounded like he thought they were great.
Speaker 4 (55:23):
Also looking into making the Street of Hormuz a U.S. territory.
We can't thank you enough again, Ms. Magalus. I know
we got derailed on this one, but please do check
out our previous episodes on Flock and on, more importantly,
on Peter Thiel. Everybody needs to know more about this
guy and needs to know more about Palantir. You might say,
(55:47):
why were these protesters dressed up like Gandalf? The answer
is simple, because Palantir is a reference to the Lord
of the Rings in the most strange, paradoxical, tone-deaf way.
Speaker 3 (56:00):
Well, and we've talked about how Elon does that, too.
Speaker 6 (56:03):
He's referenced quite often a particular work of science fiction
where he clearly kind of missed the point of the dystopia.
Speaker 3 (56:11):
That it was actually describing.
Speaker 8 (56:12):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4 (56:13):
Yeah, it's like the... It's like the old internet joke
where a startup tech CEO says, we've invented the puppy
barbecue atomic machine from that famous sci-fi novel. Never invent
the puppy barbecue atomic machine. You can buy stock now.
Speaker 6 (56:35):
And it was the Foundation series, by the way, Isaac Asimov,
that Elon Musk is always mentioning, which I really... It's
sort of like a utopian dystopia kind of a series.
Speaker 4 (56:45):
Yeah. The first book is absolutely a banger. Please do
check it out and tell us your thoughts on psycho history,
which is increasingly becoming a real discipline in the waking world.
Speaker 8 (56:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (56:58):
Time for one more message from you guys. We're hearing
from a guy, someone with a really cool nickname. Psycho,
not Psy cub, not good morning. Gentlemen says psych up, not,
you guys are huge at getting me through my mundane
government eight to five job. That being said, I've been
(57:18):
working my way through your catalog and just listened to
the multi-level marketing classic episode. I just wanted to know
if you guys have ever heard of this specific flavor
of MLM or multi-level marketing, the devil core, C-O-R-P, the
devil core. Go on. I love it.
Speaker 2 (57:39):
Is this like, A proper noun or a type?
Speaker 4 (57:43):
It's a type, Matt. It's really interesting. So psychopnot, you say, unfortunately,
I know firsthand about these because I was part of
one for the better part of a year. And my girlfriend,
now wife, congratulations, psychopnot, was also in there for about
two years. Their practices are extremely shady. If I remember correctly,
(58:07):
there are three main parent companies for most devil cores.
I can't remember the other two, but the one I
was under was Credico, which is a rabbit hole all
its own. How these things are legal, beat me here, Dylan,
I have no f * * * ing idea. We
were W-2 employees, but we made so much less than
minimum wage. All travel and supplies were on our own dime,
(58:30):
and we were required to take business trips once a month, again,
on our dime. All the classic promises of owning your
own business, building a future where you do finally reach
the owner level, etc., etc. They lure you in because
you are selling charity subscriptions. So I felt like I
was genuinely helping the world. We had planned to sue
(58:53):
them once we realized the scope of the situation. But,
of course, we were required to sign a mutual arbitration
agreement before being hired. So this was not an option.
I've got so much more I could get into. I'll
happily reply with any questions you have. I think it's
a topic worth exploring if it hasn't been explored yet.
Feel free to use my name and message on air.
(59:15):
Love what you guys are doing. Thanks and have a
great one. Psychobnot. First question, man. What's the origin of
that cool nickname? What is Psychobnot? What do you guys
think it is? Is it like a maybe bear astronaut?
Speaker 2 (59:34):
Oh, I was thinking, yeah, I was thinking scouts for
some reason, but you.
Speaker 4 (59:39):
Might be onto something there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll have
to let us know, Psych, if not. We do have
questions for you here for sure. Let's get into, real
briefly as we're wrapping up, let's talk a little bit
about the difference between devil cores and MLM. Okay, so
(01:00:02):
a multi-level marketing scheme, as we know from our previous episode,
is it de-emphasizes the product itself and it prioritizes you
as a member of an MLM getting other people, recruiting
other people to work for you. The question here is,
(01:00:27):
what is the difference between a devil cord and MLM?
Because they, they seem to be largely the same guys.
And I think like none of us have heard of
devil cores.
Speaker 8 (01:00:38):
Before, right?
Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
No, it's, it sounds like a genre of metal.
Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
It does. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Yeah. Uh, it reminds me of the disinfo logo. Do
you guys remember the disinfo books?
Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
Uh, I love those.
Speaker 4 (01:00:52):
Uh, so, I think we're on the money here. A
devil core is a genre of MLM, kind of like
a maze is a genre of puzzles. So MLMs will
have you sell a product. And then again, like we said,
they'll have you recruit a team to sell that product
for you. You can make a commission from selling whatever
(01:01:13):
the thing is, you know, toothbrushes or shoe horns, I guess.
I don't know what the, you know, whatever. or encyclopedias,
but your real money in an MLM comes from recruiting
people and getting a cut of whatever they sell. The
issue seems to be that a devil core is like
(01:01:34):
this with way more emphasis on the recruitment part, and
they're often going to mislead you when you get hired.
So you're going to think that you are in Going
into like a legitimate sales job and then you have
to sign that arbitration agreement, you will have to work
(01:01:56):
with aggressive goals and metrics for direct sales. And none
of these companies, by the way, call themselves devil core,
like how a lot of splinter religious groups don't call
themselves cults. It's easier to define it in terms of
tactics like bait and switch, job posting, commission only, high pressure,
(01:02:19):
and the promise of ownership.
Speaker 8 (01:02:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:02:24):
I don't know if we're sold. But this may be
an episode for us in the future because things like
MLMs and devil cores seem to thrive. in challenging economic times.
You know what I mean? It's no secret that the
job market is incredibly hostile to a lot of people.
(01:02:47):
A lot of people are losing their jobs to automation
and increasingly searching for some sort of gainful employment. So
this promise, false as it may turn out to be,
can seem like a lifesaver to people who really need
some help. To me, that's one of the most despicable
things about these operations.
Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
Agreed. Very predatory.
Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
And we're not going to start an MLM or Devil Corps.
I don't even think we've started a cult yet, but
we do have a crew of fascinating, amazing conspiracy realist,
and we are so grateful to get to hang out
with you every week in our listener mail program, strange
news program, in our episodes. Big, big thanks to Miss Megalus.
(01:03:36):
Big thanks to Psychobnot. Expect to hear from us. Please
tell us about your name. Big thanks to Codename Boxboy,
Vegan Bookworm, Miss Squared, and everybody who wrote in or
called or sent us an email. It makes our evening
to hear from you And if you are listening and
you haven't contacted us yet, why not make tonight the night?
(01:03:57):
There are several ways to find us.
Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
Tonight's the night, baby.
Speaker 6 (01:04:01):
You can do so by reaching out to the handle
Conspiracy Stuff or Conspiracy Stuff Show on your social media
platform of choice.
Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
And then there's more ways.
Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Hey, how do you guys know that you're getting really old?
I'll tell you how I figured out recently. When you
see Colin Hanks... Son of Tom from a little show
called Roswell. I don't know if you guys ever saw
that show Roswell. It was pretty big back in the
day based on Roswell.
Speaker 4 (01:04:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
A little bit? No, I'm not aware of the existence
of it. It was not my jam, but I do,
I'm aware of it. I didn't know Colin Hanks was
in that.
Speaker 4 (01:04:34):
He's no Chet Hanks.
Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Chet Hanks is a whole other thing.
Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
He's a whole other Hanks.
Speaker 3 (01:04:41):
White boy summer.
Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
He's got his own thing going. But just to see
Colin show up in the silo. Hey, it's the last
plug for the silo. Not paid, not sponsored. But to
see him show up as a Peter Thiel character, you know,
like legitimately, and he looks the part as an older.
Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
He's a fine actor.
Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
He is, but just to see his face and to
see how he has aged... And then after finishing an
episode and then going in the mirror and looking into
it and going, oh, God.
Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
Stop it. A fine wine, Matt. A fine wine.
Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
Call us and tell us about how you know you've
aged and any of the other things we've talked about today.
Our number is 1-833-STD-WYTK. If you do call in, it
might show up in one of our listener mail episodes,
just like this one. If you want to send us
an email, we are.
Speaker 4 (01:05:31):
The entities that read each piece of correspondence we receive.
Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the void writes back.
We cannot wait to have weird conversations with you. Please
send us pictures of your pets. Please give us the weirdest... Okay,
this is a pitch, folks. Please give us the weirdest
low-stakes conspiracy you can imagine. So something that is not
(01:05:56):
a presidential assassination. Something that's not a secret government psychic program.
But something like, why are sandwiches square and bologna is round?
You know, we think that's going to.
Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
Got one for you guys. Got one for you guys.
Parking meters. Just going to leave that there.
Speaker 4 (01:06:11):
Yeah. Yes. Hot dogs and hot dog buns in different amounts.
We are surrounded by small, low-stakes conspiracies, and this is
going to be a palate-cleansing episode for us. We can't
wait for you to be part of it. So join up.
Conspiracy at iHeartRadio.com.
Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello and welcome back to the show. My name is Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
My name is Noel.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer, Dillard, the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you
are you, you are here. That makes this the stuff
they don't want you to know. If you're tuning in
to our listener mail program, the evening of publishes, welcome
to August 27th, 2026. What better way guys to commemorate
(00:53):
this momentous occasion than than to return to some rutabagas.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yum, yum, dig them up.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
If you're on the road this weekend, it's mandatory that
you stop at Baggy's. Baggy's is the largest truck stop,
gas station, gift shop, food market in the world. Come
on down and meet Baggy Buffalo, our half rutabaga, half
buffalo mascot. Oh, free me from my physical prison. We've
got joke shirts for millennials, joke shirts for Gen Z,
(01:21):
religious pillows for grandma, camo for your brother-in-law, 3,400 bathroom stalls,
rutabaga taffy, and no Mountain Dew. Oh yeah, and we
also have gas. So make sure to stop at exit
493 and see us at Baggy's. The gas station across
the road from us should just freaking give up already.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
It's sad that they even try.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Oh, why was I cursed to be a root vegetable
and a large bovine?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Poetry.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Poetry.
Speaker 6 (01:51):
I have to say, the moment you introduced the chimera
that is this mascot, I was picturing all the failed
attempts at putting these two things together and just them
laying on a slab somewhere going, kill me.
Speaker 7 (02:05):
Cursed existence.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Kill me. Yes.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
100%.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
But then you got there. You got there immediately is
what I'm getting at. Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I was thinking about all of those. Local gas stations
with beavers on their logos that have just been, you know,
they've fallen to the Buc-ee's attorneys.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Oh, have they?
Speaker 6 (02:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
They're dropping like flies? Buc-ee's. Oh, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
There's a whole John Oliver segment on Buc-ee's and how
they've just destroyed so many companies.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
It's nuts, man.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But they do pay a fair living wage.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (02:38):
It's like the car wash manager makes six figures.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It really does.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
They've got it on a big old sandwich board right
outside of every location.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I don't know if I wear it ironically.
Speaker 6 (02:47):
Or out of love, but I have a whole Buc-ee's
swim costume suit and tie-dyed tank top, and I wear
it proudly.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
And folks, I can confirm that that is true. And
I think we all, until we get sued by Buc-ee's,
I think we all enjoy it because it is such
a thoroughly American thing. institution up there with MLMs, which
is something we're going to talk about today, as well as, well,
(03:18):
Gandalf is thoroughly not American.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And SAPs.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
And SAPs.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Saps for the saps.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Yes, saps for the saps, as we said. This is
a cool thematic connection to our episode that will be
coming out around this time on a guy called David J. Rush,
we talked a lot just recently about espionage and spies.
And I think after a word from our sponsors, we're
(03:47):
going to get into something super cool and a nice
follow-up to that story.
Speaker 6 (03:57):
And we have returned with a doozy of a message
from our pal Ms.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Squared to their friends. Guys, did you know there's a Ms. Mets?
There's Mr. Mets, who's the baseball-headed guy, and he has
a wife, sort of like Ms.
Speaker 6 (04:12):
Pac-Man. And they hang out together. I went to a
Mets game the other day. I'd never been before. And
it was a thing to behold.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Mascotting.
Speaker 8 (04:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I love mascots.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You know, I've never been to a Mets game.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, I hadn't either.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
And I asked my girlfriend, like, do you think that
guy does well?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And she goes, yeah, I'm sure he makes six figures,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh, just like the Buc-ee's folks? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Just like him.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
I think the guy that plays Mr. Matt, he's a
little bit more of a one-off guy.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
He's the guy. Whereas the Buc-ee's is sort of like,
you know, the mall Santa. Okay. Got it. So anyway,
this is a fascinating email from Ms. Squared. I'm sorry
to have gotten off track already. Here we go.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Hi, y'all.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
Finally outing myself as a real person. We're not going
to do that, though. But you did it to us,
and we appreciate your trust. But we're not going to
out you to the public.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I'm a longtime listener and caller in her, Ms. Squared.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
The nickname came from my time working at the local
Boys and Girls Club, where I was the second redacted
to be hired as a teacher. I listened to your
sleeper agent episode from last April, and it reminded me
of how I genuinely believe that I, in the past,
met a Russian sleeper agent. As I've brought up before,
I live in the Cap District of New York, which
(05:23):
is about a three-hour drive from New York City. The
fact that you mentioned yonkers as a hotbed of sleepers
had me raising my eyebrows. I once met this guy,
reportedly my age, who claimed to be from a nearby
town at an Orthodox Christian young adults group. This group
also had a priest who openly worked for Lockheed Martin
(05:44):
at a time in his life and discussed military shenanigans
whenever the U.S.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Was mad at Israel.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Openly? I like the caveat, by the way, of openly
worked for Lockheed Martin.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
I do.
Speaker 6 (05:56):
Yeah, no, a priest, a former Lockheed Martin priest, who, again,
discussed openly military shenanigans whenever the U.S.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Is beefing with Israel. So this is the vibe here
off the bat. So an odd one.
Speaker 6 (06:10):
I have several friends who grew up in the town
he claimed to be from and would have graduated high
school with him, but have never heard of him at all.
This isn't a huge town, so that's a bit weird.
He was also obsessed with Russia. This was about the
time Ukraine was being invaded.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Okay, pretty recent, relatively speaking. So an extremely unpopular take.
I mean, obsessed, all caps.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
I cannot emphasize how much this guy absolutely glazed Russia.
He claimed to be in a master's program for teaching,
but wore a Rolex and dressed in three-piece suits. He
also worked as a busboy for a very old and
shadowy Albany club. called the Fort Orange Club.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Guys.
Speaker 8 (06:56):
He claimed.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Can we just pause here and say, was his name
David Rush? I'm just kidding.
Speaker 6 (07:04):
Teases upon teases, guys. Don't think so, but you never know.
I think, no, this is a little too recent for
that to have been the case, but do check out
that episode coming up.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
It's a fascinating exploration of a real odd dude who.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
Made some serious waves within the CIA in a very
weird way.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Anyway, shadowy Albany club, guys. We'll come back to that.
Called the Fort Orange Club. He claimed he had a
mail-order bride coming from Russia.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
He was like 28, but claimed to live with his
parents as well. How are you getting a mail-order bride,
and where did the Rolex come from, bro?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Rolexes, guys. David Rush.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
It's a go-to currency of spycraft, man.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
It would seem so. It would seem so. He has
since vanished, a poof, and I have no idea what
happened to him. All in all, an extremely all-caps shady character.
I live in a location with a high amount of
industrial presence, both civilian and military. The town he claimed
he was from is a suburb of Schenectady, of General
Electric fame. Ford Orange Club is also how someone would
(08:11):
schmooze with the people so rich and powerful that they
can pay to be invisibled. Anyway, maybe I'm making up
connections that aren't there, but I also grew up in
a sleepy suburban town where the Chinese mafia has been
openly implicated in murders. So I find myself drawn to
all things odd in places where odd shouldn't exist. I'm
(08:32):
sure I'll call in another time with more lore. My
dog is added here too, because sure.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Be well. Yeah, the dog was on copy. I'm not
sure what they meant by that, but I love the idea.
Speaker 6 (08:45):
And then a quote at the bottom. I think this
is just their signature file. For who knows if you
came to the kingdom for such a time as this.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
No, that's not part of the signature file. That is
meant for us. With love and peace redacted as of today, a.k.a.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Ms.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Squared. So many fun layers to this email. So many
things to unpack.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
Guys, I guess when I initially think about sleeper agents,
I sometimes think of the whole Manchurian candidate idea of
like someone who is deployed, you know, through some sort
of psychological shenanigans. But I mean, we think about the
idea of sleeper cells, for example, like with terrorist groups who,
you know, live in the United States in apartments and
(09:30):
then they're activated and the idea of this compartmentalization so
that it's hard to get to the root of where
all of the different tentacles of the octopus actually exist.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Of course, this can be something.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
That we would deploy, you know, as the United States
through CIA operatives who maybe are living abroad and then
are deployed, you know, into action. So I know the
Manchurian candidate thing is sort of more like the really
extreme sci-fi version of this, but we are talking more
like the Americans, right? The TV series about Russian sleeper agents.
living as, you know, nuclear families that then are deployed
(10:04):
to do their bidding of their masters.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah, think of it like deep cover, right? So a
true sleeper agent, there are real sleeper agents, could... conceivably
live an entire life never being activated. That would be
exceedingly rare as well, just depending on what they're doing.
But to what I think was your original question there, Noel,
(10:28):
and to your excellent letter there, Ms. Squared, a sleeper
agent is going to ideally be someone who is unremarkable
in their given demographic and field. So there are places
where it would be unusual for you not to have
a fancy watch, right? Therefore, you would need one to
(10:51):
blend in. But then there are places where that would
be way too flashy. You know, you would be too suspicious. Like,
forget all the James Bond stuff, folks. As we've said
time and time again, a real sleeper agent or a
real person doing spying and tradecraft, you want them unremarkable. Like,
(11:13):
the same way you don't want a a horse jockey
or an astronaut to be too tall. You want them
to be again, like the Honda civic of the car fleet.
Speaker 8 (11:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
I always imagine it's someone who prior to being activated
by the numbers station broadcast is like, you know, and
someone with just a regular name, perhaps an assumed name,
but it's not their real name. They'll tell you, uh,
All kinds of stories, right? Kind of like our Rush
fellow that we keep mentioning here. But also wants to
(11:48):
know a lot more about you than they'll tell you
about themselves.
Speaker 8 (11:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And, I mean, they've got a backstory. They've got it
rehearsed down to a T.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
They know all the things that they might be asked
that would potentially verify who they are. In the event
that they were quizzed about their backstory. But to your point, Matt,
they are much more interested in the most....
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Innocuous way possible, getting information from others.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
They're also great to talk to as well. Very good
at conversation. Usually when somebody says, oh, that person's a
great conversationalist, they mean that person is naturally, politely curious
enough about me. You don't have to listen to me
monologue about myself. Tell me About, wow, you work in engineering?
(12:35):
You work at a nuclear plant? Dude, that is fascinating.
What's that like?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
What are the codes?
Speaker 6 (12:43):
Yeah, what a great way to disarm somebody. But then
you also have to strike that balance where you don't.
Depending on who you're talking to, you don't want to
come off as quite too thirsty for information. So you
have to really do a little delicate dance. But to
all of your points, both of your points, guys, it
does feel like that if this dude were a Russian
sleeper agent, he's.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Doing a pretty bad job.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
You wouldn't openly want to come off as being obsessed
with Russia if you were a Russian sleeper agent.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
What if he was a sleeper agent for Ukraine?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
A sleeper sleeper agent.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
The open Russia thing. As, yeah, he wants to find
others who are all about Russia.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Interesting. Interesting. It's a good point.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Yeah, like a trap or bait. That could happen too.
That does happen sometimes. And often, this will be interesting
to you, but often in that approach we just described,
you're going to see community organizations, right? We're the friends
of so-and-so, right? That's part of why the FBI wouldn't
(13:44):
so ham in the past investigating like vegan groups and socialists.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Dude, can we, speaking of those connections, man, can we
please talk about the Fort orange club?
Speaker 6 (13:56):
Are you kidding me? That's what we're here for. I mean,
you know, all of this stuff about the sleeper agents
is very interesting. And this does seem like a shady character, uh,
or at the very least, maybe a little braggadocious, a
little bit of an oddball, not quite sure, uh, about
the sleeper agent side of it, but the connection to
this place called the Fort orange club, um.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Even as a busboy, pretty interesting.
Speaker 6 (14:17):
Matt, you're always talking about your time at a relatively
exclusive driving club or a racket club here in the
suburbs of Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
This Fort Orange Club is a.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Storied organization that has significant ties to the political machinations
of New York. It is located directly next to the
state capitol in Albany. And it has had numerous controversies
over the years, including, of course, being founded as a
(14:49):
men's and whites only organization.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Women were excluded for a very, very, very long time.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
And they've tried to undergo a bit of a PR
makeover over the years, like a lot of these kind
of old storied boys clubs have.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
But a lot of.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
These more messy kind of connections do still exist. remain
as much as they'd like to kind of, you know,
wash them out of their history. It was started by
a dude who may be my favorite name in all of,
you know, historical shady figures.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Erastus Corning Jr.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
As a society to include only the most prominent citizens
of Albany.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
And it was founded in 1880.
Speaker 6 (15:37):
And the club was located, is located at 110 Washington Avenue,
just about a block from the Capitol. The Fort Orange
Club wasn't just a place to schmooze and socialize and eat.
It really did function for many, many, many years as
a place for politicians and lawyers and doctors and businessmen
(15:59):
and prominent, powerful members of the Albany establishment to to
have informal.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Meetings, you know, backroom deals.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
This is like the literal, you know, kind of proto
idea of what a backroom, smoky backroom where the real
deals happen. There's an article in 2015 in the Times
Union that described the old club this way, quite bluntly,
in fact. Deals were cut, social pedigrees were confirmed, networks
(16:28):
were built, and legislation was hashed out. So it becomes
kind of one of those like almost extra governmental type entities.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Oh, yeah. Well, and just speaking– look, I'm going to
talk about myself. Hey, congratulations to everybody. You get to
hear about me.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I want to.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
You've got real deal experience with this kind of stuff
on maybe a smaller scale. But like it's– this is
just like a kind of blown up, blown out version
of what you experienced.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I'm curious, Ben.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I would say my experience is very similar to our
potential sleeper agent here. Uh, while the club I worked
for was established seven years after the, this club, uh,
it was still 1887 when it was established in Atlanta, Georgia,
the Piedmont driving club, formerly known as the gentlemen's driving club.
And that's how it was founded. Uh, I believe a
(17:20):
man named James Kingsbury, uh, Kingsbury was a part of that. Uh,
I served many a ultra-wealthy spouse out by the pool.
That's what I did. I wasn't a busboy, but I
was definitely part of the help. And it is very interesting,
the conversations that you can just kind of walk past
as you're taking some white wine to a lady not
(17:43):
really watching her kids by the pool. It is very interesting,
the side conversations you will hear while working inside a
ballroom as a server. That you just, again, happen to
come across. And I do wonder if there is something
to that level, the help within a prestigious organization such
(18:05):
as this, where those deals, as you're saying, are going down,
or just those informal conversations about where investments will be made.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
100%.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Matt.
Speaker 6 (18:14):
And I mentioned Erastus Corning. He was a merchant, an
iron and railroad magnate, an incredibly influential figure in the
architecture of New York's Central Railroad. He was the very
first president in 1853. This is the kind of person
that is like so first to market in the industrialization
(18:35):
of this country. That's the kind of like legacy power.
That just gets passed down and starts to resemble something
along the lines of like, you know, royalty. He was
the mayor of Albany from 1834 to 1837. And then
again in 1838, he was a U.S. representative and he
established his various members of his family as crucial civic
(19:00):
leaders and Democratic power brokers. We're talking about Parker Corning,
another U.S. rep, Edwin Corning, wealthy businessman, Albany County Democratic chairman.
Erastus Corning II. The political machine structure was very similar
to the whole boss tweed political machine of Chicago. And
that's the one that gets talked about a lot. But
(19:22):
a lot of this is kind of new to me.
And I've not really heard this person's name before. But
they had this kind of boss model, almost like organized crime,
that was controlling the machinations of the party Apparatuses, including poll.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Workers who got nominated, all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
So I just propose that whether it's specific to the
Fort Orange Club or a little bit more just about
New Yorkers. political machine, I think this might be the
stuff of episode.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Agreed.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Hey, there's also a Corning New York that's named after
Arrest is Corning where they make Corning glass that's in
your iPhone screen.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
There you go.
Speaker 6 (20:03):
What?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Are you serious?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
That's some supply chain stuff right there.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
But the chain goes from 1880 all the way there?
Like to now?
Speaker 8 (20:12):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Good God. Yes, dude. It's unbelievable. I mean, it is believable.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
But the ballot control, we're talking about like control over
the Democratic primaries when the Democratic Party meant something a
little different than it does today. Close relationship with governors
and other legislative leaders. They had this image of promoting
civic infrastructure improvements and all of this kind of like
(20:43):
masquerading behind advocacy and fundraising and community boosters and things
like that. But it really was all just kind of
insular cronyism. and ultimately significant resistance to any kind of
reform while creating a public image. I mean, it's the
(21:04):
kind of stuff that I think would be really useful
to parse out and sort of compare to what we're
seeing happening again in national government.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I just found through the Kenan Research Center at the
Atlanta History Center Repository, information from the 1921 ballroom construction
at the Piedmont driving club that we can go look
at right now. Sorry, just finding extra things.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
No, no, no, no. This is good.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
We can even talk more about that. I mean, maybe
it is just a matter of like private clubs. Is
this more of the topic of the episode? Maybe it's
more of a list kind of thing in the same
way that, you know, secret societies function in the same
way that, I mean, none of it is particularly remarkable.
We are just talking about access that has cut off
to anyone but the elite and And it's like once again, guys,
(21:51):
it's this whole idea of like it's not like there's
some kind of conspiracy to control the– to guide the
tide of civilization and all that stuff. It's literally just
that these golf courses and private clubs and secret societies,
that's where the rich people can have these off-the-books conversations
that lead to the laws being made. You don't need
(22:15):
a conspiracy exactly. It's just about access. It's just about, like,
the people that are brokering the power being able to
kind of talk privately and then make these sort of
off-the-books deals that then filter down to the way business
is done in Washington or state capitals.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Dang, Ben, I feel like we did that one already,
but I think maybe we just talked about it that
time when we had a secret guest on. Remember that
time when.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
What are you talking about, though? The book and snake, right?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah, but I think we... But I think that's all
we've actually done on that.
Speaker 6 (22:48):
No, it was secret societies and fraternities specifically. And a
lot of the secret societies tied to some of these
elite Ivy League universities.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
And this is no different. It's just kind of what
happens once you graduate.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
But you also go back and you also do your
skull and bones meetings as well. It's fascinating stuff and
I think worth a further look.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Miss squared. Thank you so much because we, I guys,
I agree. I think we have to do an episode
inside the hidden world of private clubs and look at
some of the most elite ones, because like you were saying, Matt,
that is where a lot of deals get made. And I,
I didn't tell you guys, but I got really close to,
(23:32):
to joining a very strange like world net international network of, of,
private clubs, it's a story for that episode, for sure.
But we'd also love to hear from you, fellow conspiracy realists,
about your weirdest experience in a private club or the
(23:53):
most elite private clubs you've been to. Extra points, by
the way. Extra made-up internet points for anybody who has
made it into some of those top-crust or upper-crust gentlemen's
clubs of London and Europe.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Ben, question.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
If you had joined that elite club, would you be
able to tell us?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Yeah, that one, yes. You would also be able to
tell because I would probably be broke from the fees.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Well, you'd be rocking their monocle that they give everybody who.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Joins, probably. Guys, this is also news to me.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
I just was curious in an area in Queens where.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I split my time often.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
There is a club called the Forest Hills Driving Club.
That's like, you know, racquet club rather, I think is
what it's called. And, you know, you play tennis there.
It's connected to Forest Hills Stadium. Like it's near, I think,
where they do the U.S.
Speaker 8 (24:55):
Open.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I had no idea. This is not in my wheelhouse
at all.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
But like you not only do you have to pay
dues that can be upwards of, you know, Tens of
thousands of dollars, sometimes a month. You also have to
pay like an application fee that can be double that.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
That's like a one time thing. And I think this
club in Forest Hills is probably.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
On the lower end of the kinds of fee structures
that we're talking about with these types of organizations. So,
I mean, the barrier to entry.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Is high.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Not to mention that I think specifically for this club,
there is some kind of process of being nominated by members.
And we know that that's true with a lot of elite, like,
you know, Beverly Hills type clubs. And oftentimes it is
that the barrier to entry is just can you afford
the dues? But this is much more than that.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So let's put a pin in that one.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
Thanks for being open to checking this out further as
a whole episode. And a huge thanks to you, Ms. Squared,
for hipping us to Your story and also this organization
that I don't think any of us had much of
an idea about.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Let's take a quick break. We'll hear a word from
our sponsor and then we'll come back with more messages
from you.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
And we've returned. And the first part of this segment
is going to be all about music. And as we
are recording on Friday, August 21st, we have to give
two quick shout outs to folks who create music. that
mean a lot to us, I believe. They certainly mean
a lot to me. Serge Tonkian, happy birthday to you, sir.
Thank you for writing some of the most rocking and
(26:26):
intriguing and hard-hitting lyrics that have ever existed. And also,
happy birthday to Mr. Bo Burnham, who, again, he won't
get out of my head, you guys. I can't get
Bo Burnham's songs out of my head, and they keep
playing over and over, and the existential crisis and threat
that they represent won't cease. So, congratulations to To you, Mr. Burnham,
(26:47):
for doing that to me. You guys want to say
anything about them?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I'm going to move on to the next part.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
No, please.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
No, no.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Love that guy. Love his COVID content.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
So dark, but also somehow was like a bright spot
in that dark time.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
It's hard to even describe.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Inside, I think is what it was called.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Really?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Well, you know what? Screw it. I'm just going to
read this part. Hopefully you don't sue us. And I
want to leave this world better than I found it.
I fear that comedy won't help and the fear is
not unfounded. Should I stop trying to be funny? Should
I give away my money? No. Just when you think
about the crisis we face and then that's kind of
(27:32):
the stance of humanity for the people who have all
the money. The thought of giving it away to help
everybody else?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
What? Imagine that.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Here we go. We're going to hear from somebody who
called in going by codename BoxBoy.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Here we go. Hey, fellas.
Speaker 9 (27:51):
This is codename BoxBoy calling from Virginia again. I was
just finishing up your second part on the USS Liberty
on my way to work, and it made me think
of a very specific song. And I know you guys
are music lovers, so I figured I would put you
guys on. The song's called Everything's Fine, also known as
(28:12):
the Nuke Song. by a guy named Ro Capra. That's R-O-E-K-A-P-A-R-A.
Especially the stuff y'all were talking about at the end
of the episode about indoctrination and all that stuff. This
song really hits all of that on the head and
is a great song, but a little saddening given our
(28:33):
present times. But yeah, I think you guys would really
like the song. That whole album by him is fantastic,
so give him a listen.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Thank you so much. box boy for putting us onto
that song. We've got it queued up and I think
we can get away with playing a teeny tiny bit
of it. And then you can listen to the rest
of the song on your own and please support any
artists that we mentioned or talk about on the show.
You know, we're usually not going to play music, right?
Cause we can't do that guys. But we do write,
(29:04):
we do recommend and encourage you to listen on your own.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Heck yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So here is a quick sampling of, of everything's fine okay.
Speaker 8 (29:14):
I think that's all we need to hear holy crap
thank you so much on that one.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
Yeah and uh and i can't wait to hear the
rest of that.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Song so also thank Matt, thank you so much on
that one. Yeah. And, uh, I can't wait to hear
the rest of that song. So also thank you so
much to code name box boy. Also for the sick nickname.
That's pretty great.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Oh, heck yeah. Uh, box boy, by the way, has
written in with several other nicknames and we might, we
might recognize him if we go through the, uh, the
old voicemail catalog that we've got going on here. So, uh,
cheers to you.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Box boy.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Oh, and I've listened to that whole song, guys. It
is a banger. So definitely check it out.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Also check out All the Food is Poison by Tim
and Eric, because that also seems to be pretty apropos
to what's going on in the country right now.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Remind me of that one. What is that?
Speaker 6 (30:14):
All the food is poison. All the food is poison.
And then they just name a bunch of food and say,
it's poison.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Hot dogs. Poison.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Tacos.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
They're poison.
Speaker 9 (30:28):
Oh, God.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 6 (30:30):
Have we followed any of these stories, guys, about all
of the recalls and, you know, E. coli outbreaks and
not just the diarrhea lettuce, but like oats, I think,
or oatmeal?
Speaker 3 (30:41):
There's been a ton.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Assume everything. If you are listening to this and you're saying, man,
my night is just going too well. I'm feeling too
jubilant and chipper. Then check out the list that has
been circulating. It's a massive, like, encyclopedic. list of all
the stuff that has been verified or suspected of being contaminated.
(31:06):
It's a great year for contaminated food.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Dudes, we just got a voicemail in yesterday about this
very thing. I have not listened to it. It appears
to be about 30 seconds. I have no idea who
this is from. Let's listen to it real quick.
Speaker 8 (31:23):
Why is nobody talking about the fact that Iran is
waging warfare? And the only way that they can beat
us on our food and water supply. How many more
recalls need to happen before we realize the truth? They
are attacking us where we are most vulnerable. Our big, fat,
(31:46):
overweight guts. And our burnt-up buttholes.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
But now.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
What?
Speaker 4 (31:55):
It's not right.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
Okay i like the cut of this guy's jib though
i have to argue uh i think it's much more
likely that the gutting of the fda and all of
the different agencies that like you know the scientists that
check on this stuff is a little more responsible than iran.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Or i'm not gonna take russia out of the mix
here uh Burnt up butthole collar. Oh, man. Yeah, that's
I mean, it is a point I think could be
a great episode in the future for us to look
into the just the proliferation of contaminated foods here. It'll
(32:37):
be another feel good hit with your conspiracy pals up
there with microplastics.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
But with more burnt up buttholes.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Yeah. Stuff they don't want you to know. Now with 10%
more burnt up buttholes.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
We have no idea who you are. You did not
leave a name or anything. So shout out to you,
anonymous person warning us about those things that we cannot verify.
Speaker 8 (33:08):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Let's go on to the next one. Guys, we talked. Oh, gosh. Ben,
I want to say it was you that brought it
to us. We talked about books being destroyed by anthropic
and other AI companies in an attempt to more, um, uh,
to have a faster way of scanning those books and
ingesting them into their LLMs.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
We got to destroy them. It's part of the process.
Speaker 10 (33:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Because it's easier to remove the spines, uh, and then
have them scanned through like a automated scanning machine. Uh,
this story, uh, Ruffled a lot of feathers, especially for
some used bookstore owners who learned that they were getting
massive requests or orders of books from companies that turned
(33:55):
out to be sometimes fronts for AI operations.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Well, we've got a little message here from somebody who
has some experience in the old scanning books in for
archival purposes and things like that. And, oh, you know, libraries.
So let's hear from them, hear what they have to say,
and then talk about it.
Speaker 11 (34:13):
Hey, guys, this is the vegan bookworm. Man, I haven't
felt this fear in a while. But when I heard
about all those books getting destroyed, man, it kind of
bummed me out. For my job, I used to work
with the library. One of the things I did was
I would source book scanners for them. And it's not
like you have to have a person there with a
(34:35):
camera doing each one. Even if you want to preserve
the book, there's automatic book scanners. I'm sure they don't
do it as quickly. But they can do it pretty quick.
Because I'd buy these and would use them for very
expensive old books. And they can do a page in
less than a second automatically. I realized, you know, that's slow.
(34:58):
But if all you're caring about is getting the text
off it, there's got to be even quicker ways. Anyways,
kind of bummed me out.
Speaker 10 (35:06):
Bummed me out even more because it's all about efficiency
or doing it quickly, not that they have to destroy
the books. Anyways, I'm going to go buy some more
books and make my book pile even bigger.
Speaker 9 (35:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Well, that's the thing, Matt.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
We are moving towards a post-hard copy society, and all
of the big companies are moving in that direction. Video
game consoles are going to be manufactured without disk drives,
or they already are. Laptops, all the new Apple MacBooks
don't have disk drives anymore. Physical media, whether it be
physical forms of digital media or hard copies— there's a
(35:46):
certain sentiment within these companies that this is the way
of the future and that anything other than that is
sort of holding on to the past in some sort
of desperate attempt to fight change.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Oh, the relics of the past.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
We know those are red-level relics, those books, especially the
ones with spines, the ones that you can still open
and read. Silo reference?
Speaker 9 (36:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
You love that show, man. I really got to check
it out.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Also to that point about the idea of fighting change,
that's interesting to me because digitization ultimately removes control of information, right,
in a way that can't happen with a physical book.
So it is going to be a very interesting time.
Speaker 6 (36:31):
I mean, I guess the reality is, if you really
want to look at both sides of it, that hoarding
of physical media, there is a finite, there's a cap
to that. It's only so much space to like stack
up books. And I just, I'm curious if this sentiment
is going to trickle down. I think I mentioned this
when we talked about the, the, the story to the
library of Congress, where it's like, is it going to
(36:52):
all of a sudden become a thing we just don't
do anymore, you know, because it's, it's a waste of
space or it's all about kind of who's guiding the
agenda and who decides what is and isn't important.
Speaker 9 (37:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Pretty soon you'll have to be the head of IT
or their shadow to read a physical book. Oh, my God. Again,
you're welcome, silo reference. Oh, it looks, Dylan says CD
sales were way up last year.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
That's the thing, though. There's a backlash against this kind
of thing.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Always.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Always.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Do we have a source for that, or is that
just something we can use the old search when you
find it?
Speaker 3 (37:24):
It's probably the record.
Speaker 6 (37:25):
There's like a company, like SoundScan and things like that. But,
of course, vinyl is way up, too. But the kids
love CDs, man. Gen Z and Gen Alpha, they really
love CDs almost more than vinyl.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Here's a source. According to a mid-year report by an
outfit called Luminate, U.S. CD sales jumped 16% in the
first half of the year, reaching 16.3 million units. Also,
vinyl went up 2.4%. Vinyl's been going up for years.
Speaker 6 (37:59):
CDs, I think, is getting reassessed. Which is interesting because
it truly is lower quality.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
In many ways.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
16-bit, there's a limit to the fidelity of a compact disc.
And there's something about vinyl that is inherent to the
whole ritualization, the large format art.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
So I'm curious.
Speaker 6 (38:20):
Because also these kids, they really love old handheld video
game consoles. Like Nintendo DSs are really popular right now.
Kids are taking really lo-fi photographs on old DSs. And
my kid really wanted a crappy old school digital camera,
not even a DSLR. One of those little pixel looking ones,
you know, with the flat little guys.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
So there's, yeah, it's all being reassessed.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Well, you know, the 10 to 11 year olds in
my world are all about those Polaroids. Oh, yeah. Not
named Polaroid, you know, but the instant pictures.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Instax, Instamax, all that stuff, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (38:56):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Well, just to stay on the stream for a second, guys,
I did find some things about large format scanners that
Vegan Bookworm was mentioning there that he sourced for at
least one library. We just wanted to see what kind
of price point are we looking at, what kind of
specs are we looking at. So you can jump to largeformatscanners.com. Yes,
(39:17):
there is a website for that. And you can find
all kinds of things from a company called BookTech. There's
also one called SMA that you can find. Just to
give you guys... a view into this, the BookTech 5V3
can scan at speeds of 0.8 seconds. So you get
(39:38):
a whole scan less than a second at 150 dpi.
Each one costs around $ 15, 000. And So if you're a
company that's getting billions and billions and billions pumped in,
I imagine you could have a nice little setup of
those babies.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
So, Matt, we're talking about the higher resolution than, say,
a photocopier. Because we know that you can stack paper
and it'll just zoop, zoop, zoop, zoop, zoop, zoop, like
just shoot it through. But it's a similar mechanism probably,
but at a higher resolution.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yes, and it's designed to have a book laid out.
And here's the problem. Unfortunately, you'd need one of those
pesky humans to turn the pages to scan this thing in.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Correctly.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
So I guess that one's out.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Not an option.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Well, there's also a BookTech 5 V1A-C35. Guys, this one
can handle those extra thick older books. You know the
ones like the tomes?
Speaker 8 (40:30):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Maybe the historical archives.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
The tomes.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 8 (40:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
The grimoires.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Perhaps a Necronomicon. Who knows what you get your hands on?
These are going to cost you around $ 64, 000. And oops,
this one needs a human too. Never mind. Throw that
guy out.
Speaker 6 (40:46):
Isn't that funny, though, that we still don't have a
robot that can turn the pages of a book of
varying sizes and then flip it over?
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Maybe we do. We do. Maybe we do.
Speaker 4 (40:53):
We do.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
I found one.
Speaker 4 (40:55):
Not specifically, but civilization.
Speaker 8 (40:57):
Fair, fair, fair.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
We humans have created the technology, the SMA RoboScan V2.
It has a scan speed, however, of two seconds per
page at 300 DPI, though. Hey, double the resolution.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
I don't care about the resolution. Just give me the words.
Speaker 6 (41:14):
Just feed the AI models. We haven't even gotten to that.
That's really the point. They're not trying to archive stuff.
They're scanning this stuff to feed their models irrespective of
what the actual original content is with no real desire
to preserve it. They're just uploading it to the cloud
to feed their AI algorithms or whatever you want to
call it, machine learning.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
And then it's not even about archiving and preserving.
Speaker 8 (41:37):
Right?
Speaker 3 (41:38):
It's about training.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
It's weird to imagine that it's a brain. And once
that brain has ingested that material, there's no longer a
need for it because that brain is the only thing
that matters anymore because that brain is going.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
To save us.
Speaker 6 (41:53):
But my question to you guys is, is there a
dual purpose? Like if you've ingested it into the AI thing,
can you have it regurgitate the actual stuff? Like can
you just say, I want to just read this thing?
Or is it– I don't even know how you would
go about that because if we're talking about obscure literature,
it's not like there's an index, a searchable– you know
what I mean?
Speaker 3 (42:13):
They're not making it searchable for us.
Speaker 6 (42:15):
It's just a means to feeding more data sets into
these systems rather than something that we can benefit from
and find the original works and rediscover works of the past, right?
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:30):
It's an interesting question. It ultimately will go down to,
I mean, legislative action would take a really long time here,
but it would ultimately first go down to the decision
of the private companies that are doing this, how much
access they want to grant, what that access looks like,
how it works. When we're trying to be positive about this, folks,
(42:55):
one thing that is fascinating is that in a very
real way, We are making The Library of Babel, which
is a phenomenal short story by a guy named Jorge
Luis Borges. It's super short. Borges is a very weird writer,
but it's this fictional world where there's a huge library
(43:21):
of all possible worlds. all possible books that could be
something like 400 or 410 pages long. And somebody is
even designing a searchable digital version of that. You can,
you can look it up, type in a number of characters,
you know, play with your own name if you want,
and you will find your name somewhere in that tome. So, um,
(43:45):
hopefully it'll probably also go down to profit, right? But hopefully, uh,
the public good of having all this available will be
a nice add-on, even if only a side effect, of
this massive rush to keep LLM models from deteriorating. Because
(44:08):
that's really what it is. They're eating their own tail.
It's ouroboristic now.
Speaker 3 (44:15):
Well, and just to describe their goal here, it is to.
Speaker 6 (44:20):
seek high quality long form human generated text to train
their models because the web we talked about this I
think when we discussed this originally is a lot of
it is already AI generated so you know it's like
to your point Ben about a snake eating its own
tail or a copy of a copy of a copy
(44:41):
they need human generated stuff that they can guarantee is
human generated the only way to do that is to
find it in old books but It would seem here
the goal is expressly to train the models and not
to make these accessible in any way.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
Yeah, you have to be optimistic to hope that the
public good will be allowed to be prioritized there.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Again, you're going to have to learn the codes to
the vault, get in there, and then you can access
the archives. And unless you're Bernard Holland or his appointed shadow,
it's going to.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Be really tough.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Okay, I think that's it for this section. We'll be
right back with more messages from you.
Speaker 4 (45:27):
And we have returned with some quick ones that we
think you'll enjoy, and we certainly enjoyed them. And guys,
I also think this could lead us potentially to an
episode in the future. First, we're going to hear from
Miss Megolas. And that's a brilliant name, MM. And we'll
(45:47):
see why in a second. This is very short, but
it tickled us. We all remember Peter Thiel from earlier, right?
Speaker 3 (45:56):
Yeah, Antichrist guy.
Speaker 6 (45:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:59):
He's got a thing. He's got a thing. One of
his things is Antichrist. One of them is Palantir. And
in our two-chapter series on Pete, we uncovered a lot
of his... personal motivations. We uncovered a lot of the
controversy surrounding him and why he has so many critics
(46:20):
and how he got so much money. A lot of
people don't like Palantir. Just to be honest, that's the
most objective way to put it. There's no end or
shortage of criticism. And as we know, after we recorded
that two-part episode, Pete moved to Buenos Aires. in Argentina.
(46:44):
It had nothing to do with our episode, but it
was a big move from him. And it's also, by
the way, being accompanied by some fascinating investments, so much
so that we might have to do an update in
the future. But anyway, before we get to that dark
and disturbing stuff, we got to shout out you, MM,
(47:04):
for sending us the following. You said, today's strange news
is brought to you by a group of Gandalfs protesting
outside Peter Thiel's house in Buenos Aires. I mean, it's
about time. And you have linked us to a Telegraph
article that we'll share a bit of here regarding the
(47:26):
Gandalf protests. I think for a group term, For Gandalf's?
Speaker 3 (47:32):
I was about to say.
Speaker 4 (47:33):
The gaggle?
Speaker 3 (47:34):
I think of the gaggle.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
Get out of my head. I think of the gaggle
of Gandalf's.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
The gaggle of Gandalf's, baby.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah. I love it.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
So there's this gaggle of Gandalf's.
Speaker 4 (47:42):
What about Santa's? What would be a group of Santa's?
Speaker 3 (47:44):
A sleeper?
Speaker 6 (47:44):
Yeah, because it's giving SantaCon vibes for some reason.
Speaker 8 (47:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:47):
Check out our episode on SantaCon, which is surprisingly controversial.
That's on our Sister Show Ridiculous.
Speaker 8 (47:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:55):
Well, I don't think either of us were. prepared for
what we uncovered there. So, big thanks to the Telegraph.
The demonstrators are carrying banners reading, You shall not pass!
over in front of Pete's house in Argentina. They had
(48:17):
gathered earlier this month to highlight Mr. Thiel's recent 1%
stake purchase in one of the largest oil companies in
all of Argentina. So 1% sounds like not that much
until you realize how big Vista actually is. There's a
(48:42):
great website that originally reported this, InfoCielo. Do check them out.
They said the protesters call themselves the Gandalfs of the South.
They have not made public who they are or what
their demands were. But the pictures alone are fascinating. Talk
(49:03):
about sleeper agents, you guys. These dudes have beards, but
they're using beards like face coverings. And then there are
a couple of them who are wearing sunglasses. So it's
it's the most ridiculous disguise. And I, I gotta tell you,
I think this is a great way to protest. If
(49:25):
you can make a protest fun, you get more attention
for your cause. You know what I mean?
Speaker 8 (49:30):
Great. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
Can you imagine all the flock cameras and, like downtown Atlanta,
if there's just a bunch of different Gandalfs in different
places doing all kinds of shenanigans and there's like, Oh God,
we got another Gandalf.
Speaker 4 (49:43):
We've got a code Gandalf, code Gandalf, nip it in
the bud. This one's shaping up to be a gaggle. Uh,
so we, it's also, it's also a way to, um,
probably break the system for, uh, don't do this folks.
Don't try this at home, but having a bunch of
people who are roughly the same size wearing the same costume, uh,
(50:03):
If they don't have cell phones, they can be tracked on.
That is a very clever way to spread some discord.
Speaker 6 (50:11):
Have we talked about, I mean, it's just a subject,
but just to pivot to the flock really quickly, that
you can totally wreck those things just by shining a
laser pointer at them.
Speaker 4 (50:20):
I hear green lasers are good for that.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
Oh, I haven't heard that.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
Big shout out, by the way, to you.
Speaker 3 (50:24):
It'll fry them. It'll fry that little sensor or whatever.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
Big shout out to you, by the way.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
Don't do that, but just saying.
Speaker 7 (50:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (50:32):
Big shout out, by the way, also to our Spotify comments,
which we've been reading and may feature in a future
listener mail program. Guys, that's where I learned about the
green laser was in response to our flock camera episode.
And it was a green laser, apparently.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
That's the one that'll kill the flock cameras?
Speaker 4 (50:54):
Yeah, I haven't looked too far into it, but it was.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Got it.
Speaker 6 (50:57):
Maybe I heard that, too. I think I read something
about that, too. And for some reason, I did not
clock the green versus the red.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
There's just one other flock thing that's happening that, guys,
I think it's just rumors and people commenting and posting
videos online, and it won't amount to much. But there
are rumors that this Halloween, there will be a movement
of some sort in the U.S.
Speaker 4 (51:19):
To.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
go about while fully costumed, such as maybe in a
Gandalf costume, to go around and cut down the flock cameras,
like to literally cut the aluminum that's holding them up,
which I don't know. That seems like something that you
shouldn't do, but it seems like something that could happen.
Speaker 4 (51:42):
And hypothetically, just as a thought experiment, It might be
helpful to check out our episodes on how to protest.
And again, hypothetically, in certain situations, it's great to not
have your phone on your person.
Speaker 3 (52:02):
Also, it's good to don't have it be unlockable with
your face. A hundred percent. Like at the very least.
Speaker 6 (52:09):
Use your face, you know, if you want to, if
you want to do that, you can for like certain
apps within your phone. But don't but have to make
it where you can unlock the phone unless you use
like a pretty robust password that you have to physically enter. Oh,
and Ben, I just wanted I was so curious. You
mentioned the green laser versus the red laser. And I
just did a little digging. Green and blue lasers are
(52:30):
higher energy. they generate higher energy than red ones, and
they can destroy a sensor much more significantly, whereas a
red one, a standard cheap red laser pointer, might just
cause some dead pixels or temporarily cause an outage, but
it might not actually fry the sensor, but a blue
(52:51):
or green laser would.
Speaker 4 (52:54):
And we also have to mention, I feel like we
always have to mention this, when we're talking about flock,
people who are getting flock out of their neighborhood or
out of their communities or even governments who say that
they're removing flock, you need to keep an eye on
them past those headlines because often flock of the brand
(53:17):
is being removed, but another brand that does the exact
same thing is being implemented. The other company, the Pepsi
to the Coke here would be something like Axon. So
don't think, You know, don't think removing one brand of
soda from the shelf means there's no more soda in
the store. That is a very strange comparison, but we
(53:37):
are keeping it. Also, I want to shout you out, Matt,
for sharing the video you can see on Facebook about
the gaggle of Gandalf's dancing around, clapping. It looks like
a great time. It looks like a rainbow gathering. You know,
they've got some tambourines in the mix.
Speaker 3 (53:56):
Yeah. I love a rainbow gathering.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
Way more clothes. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (54:01):
With more clothing and probably fewer, I won't say no drugs,
but probably fewer drugs.
Speaker 3 (54:08):
Didn't we talk about how the rainbow gathering is kind
of a cult?
Speaker 4 (54:12):
It's very, oh, dude, for this Invisible America series I've
been obsessing over, it's definitely an episode of that because
people live off the grid and just travel everywhere. Totally.
It's very open.
Speaker 6 (54:24):
It's been a long time since we've talked about it,
but I feel like it's come up in episodes of yesteryear.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
I look forward to revisiting.
Speaker 4 (54:31):
Absolutely. We also want to shout out you, Tennessee. Can
you tell us a little bit about this breaking news
from Knoxville?
Speaker 6 (54:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (54:43):
East Tennessee commissioner suggests hanging flock CEO is the headline.
Speaker 4 (54:47):
That's just some pretty.
Speaker 7 (54:49):
Aggressive language from a public official. Actually, it's from Kingsport.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
Hanging?
Speaker 3 (54:54):
Lynching?
Speaker 4 (54:55):
Oh, no, it's from Kingsport. Commissioner Joe Carr.
Speaker 5 (54:58):
It's from Kingsport, yeah.
Speaker 4 (54:59):
That's a little close to home for us, Tennessee.
Speaker 6 (55:03):
Well, related, at least in terms of the escalation of
the flock story, I believe for the first time, Trump.
Speaker 3 (55:09):
Was asked about it.
Speaker 6 (55:11):
And he said that they're looking into it, whatever that means.
Speaker 4 (55:16):
Oh, good. Good.
Speaker 6 (55:17):
Just asking about the prevalence of the cameras and the
controversy and all of that.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
He sounded like he thought they were great.
Speaker 4 (55:23):
Also looking into making the Street of Hormuz a U.S. territory.
We can't thank you enough again, Ms. Magalus. I know
we got derailed on this one, but please do check
out our previous episodes on Flock and on, more importantly,
on Peter Thiel. Everybody needs to know more about this
guy and needs to know more about Palantir. You might say,
(55:47):
why were these protesters dressed up like Gandalf? The answer
is simple, because Palantir is a reference to the Lord
of the Rings in the most strange, paradoxical, tone-deaf way.
Speaker 3 (56:00):
Well, and we've talked about how Elon does that, too.
Speaker 6 (56:03):
He's referenced quite often a particular work of science fiction
where he clearly kind of missed the point of the dystopia.
Speaker 3 (56:11):
That it was actually describing.
Speaker 8 (56:12):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4 (56:13):
Yeah, it's like the... It's like the old internet joke
where a startup tech CEO says, we've invented the puppy
barbecue atomic machine from that famous sci-fi novel. Never invent
the puppy barbecue atomic machine. You can buy stock now.
Speaker 6 (56:35):
And it was the Foundation series, by the way, Isaac Asimov,
that Elon Musk is always mentioning, which I really... It's
sort of like a utopian dystopia kind of a series.
Speaker 4 (56:45):
Yeah. The first book is absolutely a banger. Please do
check it out and tell us your thoughts on psycho history,
which is increasingly becoming a real discipline in the waking world.
Speaker 8 (56:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (56:58):
Time for one more message from you guys. We're hearing
from a guy, someone with a really cool nickname. Psycho,
not Psy cub, not good morning. Gentlemen says psych up, not,
you guys are huge at getting me through my mundane
government eight to five job. That being said, I've been
(57:18):
working my way through your catalog and just listened to
the multi-level marketing classic episode. I just wanted to know
if you guys have ever heard of this specific flavor
of MLM or multi-level marketing, the devil core, C-O-R-P, the
devil core. Go on. I love it.
Speaker 2 (57:39):
Is this like, A proper noun or a type?
Speaker 4 (57:43):
It's a type, Matt. It's really interesting. So psychopnot, you say, unfortunately,
I know firsthand about these because I was part of
one for the better part of a year. And my girlfriend,
now wife, congratulations, psychopnot, was also in there for about
two years. Their practices are extremely shady. If I remember correctly,
(58:07):
there are three main parent companies for most devil cores.
I can't remember the other two, but the one I
was under was Credico, which is a rabbit hole all
its own. How these things are legal, beat me here, Dylan,
I have no f * * * ing idea. We
were W-2 employees, but we made so much less than
minimum wage. All travel and supplies were on our own dime,
(58:30):
and we were required to take business trips once a month, again,
on our dime. All the classic promises of owning your
own business, building a future where you do finally reach
the owner level, etc., etc. They lure you in because
you are selling charity subscriptions. So I felt like I
was genuinely helping the world. We had planned to sue
(58:53):
them once we realized the scope of the situation. But,
of course, we were required to sign a mutual arbitration
agreement before being hired. So this was not an option.
I've got so much more I could get into. I'll
happily reply with any questions you have. I think it's
a topic worth exploring if it hasn't been explored yet.
Feel free to use my name and message on air.
(59:15):
Love what you guys are doing. Thanks and have a
great one. Psychobnot. First question, man. What's the origin of
that cool nickname? What is Psychobnot? What do you guys
think it is? Is it like a maybe bear astronaut?
Speaker 2 (59:34):
Oh, I was thinking, yeah, I was thinking scouts for
some reason, but you.
Speaker 4 (59:39):
Might be onto something there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll have
to let us know, Psych, if not. We do have
questions for you here for sure. Let's get into, real
briefly as we're wrapping up, let's talk a little bit
about the difference between devil cores and MLM. Okay, so
(01:00:02):
a multi-level marketing scheme, as we know from our previous episode,
is it de-emphasizes the product itself and it prioritizes you
as a member of an MLM getting other people, recruiting
other people to work for you. The question here is,
(01:00:27):
what is the difference between a devil cord and MLM?
Because they, they seem to be largely the same guys.
And I think like none of us have heard of
devil cores.
Speaker 8 (01:00:38):
Before, right?
Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
No, it's, it sounds like a genre of metal.
Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
It does. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Yeah. Uh, it reminds me of the disinfo logo. Do
you guys remember the disinfo books?
Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
Uh, I love those.
Speaker 4 (01:00:52):
Uh, so, I think we're on the money here. A
devil core is a genre of MLM, kind of like
a maze is a genre of puzzles. So MLMs will
have you sell a product. And then again, like we said,
they'll have you recruit a team to sell that product
for you. You can make a commission from selling whatever
(01:01:13):
the thing is, you know, toothbrushes or shoe horns, I guess.
I don't know what the, you know, whatever. or encyclopedias,
but your real money in an MLM comes from recruiting
people and getting a cut of whatever they sell. The
issue seems to be that a devil core is like
(01:01:34):
this with way more emphasis on the recruitment part, and
they're often going to mislead you when you get hired.
So you're going to think that you are in Going
into like a legitimate sales job and then you have
to sign that arbitration agreement, you will have to work
(01:01:56):
with aggressive goals and metrics for direct sales. And none
of these companies, by the way, call themselves devil core,
like how a lot of splinter religious groups don't call
themselves cults. It's easier to define it in terms of
tactics like bait and switch, job posting, commission only, high pressure,
(01:02:19):
and the promise of ownership.
Speaker 8 (01:02:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:02:24):
I don't know if we're sold. But this may be
an episode for us in the future because things like
MLMs and devil cores seem to thrive. in challenging economic times.
You know what I mean? It's no secret that the
job market is incredibly hostile to a lot of people.
(01:02:47):
A lot of people are losing their jobs to automation
and increasingly searching for some sort of gainful employment. So
this promise, false as it may turn out to be,
can seem like a lifesaver to people who really need
some help. To me, that's one of the most despicable
things about these operations.
Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
Agreed. Very predatory.
Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
And we're not going to start an MLM or Devil Corps.
I don't even think we've started a cult yet, but
we do have a crew of fascinating, amazing conspiracy realist,
and we are so grateful to get to hang out
with you every week in our listener mail program, strange
news program, in our episodes. Big, big thanks to Miss Megalus.
(01:03:36):
Big thanks to Psychobnot. Expect to hear from us. Please
tell us about your name. Big thanks to Codename Boxboy,
Vegan Bookworm, Miss Squared, and everybody who wrote in or
called or sent us an email. It makes our evening
to hear from you And if you are listening and
you haven't contacted us yet, why not make tonight the night?
(01:03:57):
There are several ways to find us.
Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
Tonight's the night, baby.
Speaker 6 (01:04:01):
You can do so by reaching out to the handle
Conspiracy Stuff or Conspiracy Stuff Show on your social media
platform of choice.
Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
And then there's more ways.
Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Hey, how do you guys know that you're getting really old?
I'll tell you how I figured out recently. When you
see Colin Hanks... Son of Tom from a little show
called Roswell. I don't know if you guys ever saw
that show Roswell. It was pretty big back in the
day based on Roswell.
Speaker 4 (01:04:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
A little bit? No, I'm not aware of the existence
of it. It was not my jam, but I do,
I'm aware of it. I didn't know Colin Hanks was
in that.
Speaker 4 (01:04:34):
He's no Chet Hanks.
Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Chet Hanks is a whole other thing.
Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
He's a whole other Hanks.
Speaker 3 (01:04:41):
White boy summer.
Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
He's got his own thing going. But just to see
Colin show up in the silo. Hey, it's the last
plug for the silo. Not paid, not sponsored. But to
see him show up as a Peter Thiel character, you know,
like legitimately, and he looks the part as an older.
Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
He's a fine actor.
Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
He is, but just to see his face and to
see how he has aged... And then after finishing an
episode and then going in the mirror and looking into
it and going, oh, God.
Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
Stop it. A fine wine, Matt. A fine wine.
Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
Call us and tell us about how you know you've
aged and any of the other things we've talked about today.
Our number is 1-833-STD-WYTK. If you do call in, it
might show up in one of our listener mail episodes,
just like this one. If you want to send us
an email, we are.
Speaker 4 (01:05:31):
The entities that read each piece of correspondence we receive.
Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the void writes back.
We cannot wait to have weird conversations with you. Please
send us pictures of your pets. Please give us the weirdest... Okay,
this is a pitch, folks. Please give us the weirdest
low-stakes conspiracy you can imagine. So something that is not
(01:05:56):
a presidential assassination. Something that's not a secret government psychic program.
But something like, why are sandwiches square and bologna is round?
You know, we think that's going to.
Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
Got one for you guys. Got one for you guys.
Parking meters. Just going to leave that there.
Speaker 4 (01:06:11):
Yeah. Yes. Hot dogs and hot dog buns in different amounts.
We are surrounded by small, low-stakes conspiracies, and this is
going to be a palate-cleansing episode for us. We can't
wait for you to be part of it. So join up.
Conspiracy at iHeartRadio.com.
Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know News
Hosts And Creators
Matt Frederick
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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