Intense heat endangers Italy's cheese banks (which are apparently a thing). Congress weighs whether to ban people from betting on wildfires. ICE plans to roll out electric shock gloves. In the UK, Greggs brings in 'robocops' to deter shoplifters. Oh! And scientists are using AI to design new, real-life viruses. Tune in for all this and more in this week's strange news segment.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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,
my name is Noah.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer Max the Free Trade Williams. Most importantly, you
are you. You are here. That makes this the stuff
they don't want you to know. If you are tuning
in to our strange news program, the evening to publish
is Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, one and all. To August seventeenth,
(00:53):
twenty twenty six. We're still at it, guys. We've been
roman round. We are on the road, some of us
we're going to be on the road in the future.
And before we continue, we want to let you know
that we're going on the high seas.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah, that's kind of like being on the road, but
like you know, floating, floating.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So we're going.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
We don't need roads.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, we don't need the roads unless they're wet. That
is true. From October second to the seventh, we will
be returning to Virgin Voyages and get this, folks. We're
not going alone.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
No no, no, no, no, no, we sure aren't. We've
got the whole Stuff crew. The cruise is called the
Stuff at Sea Voyage. It's come on, guys. That means stuff.
Mom never told you stuff. They don't want you to know.
That's us and the big dogs. That's right, Jay and
c Stuff. You should know. They'll be there on the ship.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
And Silent Bob will not be there.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Universe. We have not confirmed whether they will be there. Yeah,
we don't want to over promise, but we can promise this.
You were going to have an awesome time. We are
super excited. We're bringing freight train along and we'll have
exclusive hangouts. We can't wait for you to join us.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
You'll hear a little bit more about this, but again,
don't forget October two through the seventh leave in New York,
back down to the Caribbean and then back up.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
The part of the reason that we're able to do this, guys,
is because we did not take out a Parmesan loan.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Jean Parmesan.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Italian.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Yes, okay, so jeez, it's a good ye let me
tell you about it. Keeps for ages and then a
little mold on and just scrape it on off.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
It's totally fun.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's good because cheese is a weird thing, you know.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Well, and then I'm getting I think I'm getting what
you're getting at as a big old wheel of parmesiano
resiana big money.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
There we go. We're gonna pause for a word from
our sponsors, and we'll tell you why we got suddenly
into cheese loans. And we have returned so one of
our first stories today, which published on August eleventh, quite recently,
(03:34):
we're recording on Wednesday, August twelfth. For the most part,
this news broke. We know, the heat has been nuts
and bonkers in so many parts of the world right now,
especially in the United States, the south southern part where
we are based, there have been record breaking heat waves,
(03:55):
and this is true the world over. Italy is no exception.
Extreme heat has strained Italy's cheese banks, where Parmegiado backs
farm loans lots of Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, but I thought that was my first question about yes.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yes, yes, it reminds me a lot of Canada's maple reserves.
Yeah that you know, have so much money tied in
with them from an investment standpoint.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
And to that same point, guys, are there cheese cartels?
As we know, there are maple syrup cartels.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
It's Italy, man, there's always a cartel for everything. Yeah,
there's like a vestment cartel. There's what about gelato? I'm
sure there are a minute gelato cartels.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Dude. Wasn't there an ice cream cartel story recently out
of Japan?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
What was there?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Was?
Speaker 4 (04:44):
It was yours Ben, you brought it to the table.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
It was something about like an ice cream monopoly and
there was some kind of like a foul play going
on with price fixing during the hot summer months.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Oh, I absolutely believe that that would happen. I'm let's
do it live. We're looking up ice cream cartel Japan
just to check it.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
Japan Real ice cream giants and cartel investigations, six companies,
different country's perfect related, yes, related in organized cribe, which
is inherently conspiratorial.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
We're going back to Italy where again, thank you, uh
Italian conspiracy realist. We're sorry that we said everything in
Italy is related to a cartel, and we're mainly sorry
because that is correct. So the heat I think we're
(05:39):
sorry that it is correct. The summer heat waves in
northern Italy have knocked out or just delivered chaos to
warehouses where regional lenders store aging parmesan cheese as collateral
for money they advanced to dare farmers. So if you
(06:01):
are a dairy farmer and you were, you know, ultimately
involved in the cheese trade in Italy, as odd as
it sounds, cheese can be that finished product can be
your collateral. And it makes me think of a future
episode maybe where we talk about the weirdest stuff used
(06:22):
as security in loans. I mean here in the United States, right,
we usually think of assets money somebody already has, or
a physical asset like a very nice house or a
very nice vehicle. I didn't know we could get away
with cheese. We're talking like three hundred million euros here.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Well, I mean, you know, I just literally got our
Google results are something for the books usually, but this
one was can you invest in cheese futures? And the
answer is of course yes. Especially when it comes to
think about the idea of aging or any kind of
product that requires aging, there is a certain timeline that
(07:05):
goes into it before it is viable to sell, and
so that makes a lot of sense for kind of
thinking about like the future availability of these types of
products and assets in terms of like when they become liquid.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I guess absolutely when they mature as well, because we
know that parmesan wheels can sometimes mature for three years,
and every hot summer will begin to mess with that process.
Once temperatures in this area get over like forty degrees celsius.
(07:38):
Cows also feel the heat, just like cubans, they lie down,
they eat less. This can cut the yield of milk,
which will be compounded by the fact that the milk
quality and quantity will also degrade. So everybody who is
playing with cheese futures, as Noel said, please be careful
(08:02):
and we wish you luck. I just can't believe it. Man,
every time you think the world can't get a little
more ridiculous, you learn about multi million dollar cheese loan industries.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
You know, well, Ben, I was wondering if you could
also invest in wine futures, because I imagine if you've
got a bunch of cheese futures, you might want a
nice glass.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
A pairing, yeah, a future's pairing, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And you know I always imagined, you know, folks that
rich folks have wine cellars. Look, that's just that's a
that's an unfair thing in my mind. But I imagine
once you're a wealthy person, you get a wine cellar
just kind of comes with the mansion. But but you
can also invest in wine as it is being produced.
(08:49):
I guess, so three purchasing wine.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
It's a future, yeah, Jesus. Also, let me show you
guys this. I know we're audio for a strange news segment.
This is the most expensive kind of grape I've ever encountered.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Looks like an olive, doesn't it. It looks like a
black cherry.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And these are these things are like
a little place I'm at now. They gave us a
wine glass full of grapes which were apparently like forty
bucks US dollars.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Are they little?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's like ten grapes, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Are they seated?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
One kind is seated?
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Okay, I'm picturing it having a pit again like a cherry.
There's also some places in Japan, I believe, where you
can buy a single strawberry that's like fifty dollars or
something like that. We have they import them to Arawan,
I think is where you get them here in the States.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
But they are I believe they originate in Japan and
apparently they're great. Are they fifty dollars? Great? Who's to satto?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
No?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Man, I don't know, Like how much would you pay
for a mellet in? Folks? Let us know about that. Anyway,
This is a funny dip your toes in and story.
And obviously wish the best for not just the people
in northern Italy, not just the cheesemongers and cheesemakers and
the farmers, but everybody who is dealing with this deteriorating climate.
(10:22):
And there's a reason, guys, there's a method to the
madness for talking about futures and the gambling, right speculation.
We briefly mentioned, and I can't remember whether it was
an episode or listener mail or strange news, we briefly
mentioned the idea of prediction markets or online gambling and
(10:48):
the proliferation of wildfires, especially in these United States. Hopefully
this is good news. This comes to us from Ours Technica.
On August fish, twenty twenty six, US senators have written
to something called the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and they're
(11:11):
they're asking this agency to crack down on prediction markets
that quote offer contracts for individuals to bet on wildfires.
We could already see the conspiracy to play, right, like
why not start the fire after you bet on it?
Speaker 5 (11:29):
I mean it goes hand in hand with like people
that have access to insider trading information or like would
you hear that that one story about the president's teleprompter operator,
who is who is betting on keywords that we're going
to show up in his speeches because you know, obviously
he knew what they were. I mean, there's so many
issues and concerns and fraud, you know, opportunities that come
(11:53):
with these like willy nilly bet on anything markets.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
It's it's a.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Real I don't know, man, it's a real bag of badgers. Like,
I just don't see how regulation is going.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
To catch up anytime soon, right, because technology always outpaces legislation.
As we said, legislation is always reactive. The document that
the senators are writing here specifically, oh, you can read
this online, by the way. We'll give you the link
here in a second. The document that the senators created
(12:24):
or their assistance, most likely it specifically refers to holly
market poly market back in January of twenty twenty five
was allowing bets on wildfires in Los Angeles, and then
there were other sites that were specifically mentioned as taking
(12:44):
bets specifically exclusively on California wildfires and just to put
a plane. We can see the conspiracy afoot. If you
are a very bad actor, if you are a total
trash person who never listened to Smoky the Bear, then
(13:04):
you could lay a bed on a fire and theoretically
create that fire yourself. This is an infernal version of
insider trading, is it not?
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Infernal?
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Is definitely the appropriate term, like the fires of Hell.
I just kind of wonder, like, you know, do you
see a version of regulation of these types of betting
markets where it becomes illegal to bet on anything inherently
catastrophic or negative? Or is that a free speech issue
(13:38):
at a certain point where does the line exist in
like what we should be able to bet on, Because
I mean, I just remember, like when we were younger,
before these things came around, like it was hard to
find a place to bet on just about anything, and
like you know, you betting bookmakers and all of that.
You had to kind of go to the back rooms,
(13:58):
you know, the under around kind of off the beaten
path kind of betting places to bet on certain things,
right that they weren't like regular out in the open
kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Yeah, it's a matter of scale, right, like who's that real?
Who's that real jerk? Who who bills himself as running
the world's most extreme haunted house. In our episode on
yeah that's it, thank you forget? Yeah, yeah, he's super
helps Yeah. And in that exploration, which I believe was
(14:33):
an episode, we talked about the strong suspicion that the
guy is making money by having people do off books
betting in Vegas.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
And streaming cam you know, cam's footage of all of
these folks literally being put through the paces of the
kind of stuff that the human psyche and body can
withstand mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
What do you guys think is going to happen with this?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I think polymarket is going to continue incentivizing arsonists and
military intelligence, secret leakers and all the folks that you
know want to make a bet.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
And then agree with you can.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Make money, man, And right now it's you know, it
was stopped. Wasn't polymarket turned off for a while in
the US? And then I want to say the current
administration kind of got it going again. I think the
Biden administration like put the kabash on it for a
moment and they were going to wind down operations, and
then they brought it back out. But I think I
can't remember. Maybe it's just been operating the whole time.
(15:31):
And I'm it's just crazy that it's even possible that
this could happen. Ben and the incentive, the incentivizing for
folks to do something wrong that's unexpected so that they
can have a giant windfall.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Well, it just feels like there's no room.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
And we could make a similar argument about betting on
the death of prominent people.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Out or the outcome of wars, or the assassination of
politicians or whatever it might be.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
I mean, when doesn't it seem there's like any.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Room for moralizing these types of situations when the only
operating principle would play is profit. Like like, it just
seems like we're moving further and further away from there
being any reining end of these types of base impulses
based on like what's the right thing to do? When
when I mean, I'm not trying to be you know,
like too pat about it, but it just feels like
(16:25):
when this profit is the only thing people care about,
you're eventually gonna end up with like you know, the
Hunger Games or like you know, the Running Man.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
That that is the future predicted in sci fi that
I think we're heading towards.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Ben, Doesn't it remind you of our discussions about the lottery,
just about how desperate a lot of people are to
have some kind of help when it comes to money
that doesn't require working another like a third job or
a fourth job, where you could actually do something to
help your situation or your family situation. That that that thing,
(16:56):
that shiny thing out there becomes so important because it's
it might happen, even if it's the tiniest chance.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Well, the odds are so stacked against you.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
I mean they're they're they're designed for the investors, not
for the individual.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
It reminds me of dumb and dumber. So you're saying
there's a chance the most cynical way to the most
cynical and accurate way.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
One of my old professors used to characterize the lottery
as is a tax on people for being bad at math.
That is, that is ultimately it, I mean cast a
penny into the fountain if you wish, but don't expect
for a ton of coins to all of a sudden
erupt from that fountain back at you. We're gonna deliver
(17:39):
on this. Go check out Murkley dot Senate dot gov,
M E R K L E Y dot Sendate dot
gov for more information. That's the official statement. Uh, there
are a couple of other things we're gonna get to
real quick, guys. You know viruses, do you guys remember
viruses from earlier, like physical not computer virus? I got you? Yeah, yeah, okay,
(18:02):
that I remember. Yeah, we we uh, we are interested
in viruses right as a civilization and one thing that
is generating a lot of heat. You're going to hear
more about this later, folks. So that's why it's strange
news is uh the following. Some very smart people have
(18:25):
begun using what we call artificial intelligence or automation to
design brand new viruses. So goodbye old doddering humans dumbly
fumbling at gain of function. Now we've got something way
better that does it way faster. What could go wrong?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So?
Speaker 5 (18:46):
But I mean the only reason presumably to design a
virus is to weaponize it, right, Like, there's no good viruses.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
That's interesting because one of the one of one of
the good things, one of the good things would be
uh predictive model. So if we can design new viruses
or new you know, iterations, mixtapes, spinoffs thereof, then we
could in theory as a civilization, predict viruses that may
(19:17):
evolve in the wild, and then from there create treatments
or solutions to those. It is a turning point. But
obviously people are worried.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Well, I mean, you know a lot of the hubbub
or scuttle butt around COVID was that they were trying
to do something along those lines and then it went
awry and there was like a lab leak.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yes, the thing I've seen about this ben is that
they're creating a specific type of virus that's not even
it's not even really a virus. And it's confusing because
the house is being reported. We're calling these things bacteria phases,
which which I guess they only attack bacteria, which could
(20:00):
be a crazy good thing because it could be essentially
a new type of antibacterial remedy.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Right sure, yeah, Because phage means eater of right, so
bacteria phage eats the bacteria It's something that maybe an
episode in the future for us, because there is noble intent,
right and I love the point you're making that about
this be misreported so far as you can see in
(20:31):
the ongoing news, you can see that this process created
sixteen novel virus models that are created solely to infect bacteria,
not to infect other life forms like you know, this
show's favorite, probably the human being. Check out James Gallagher,
(20:52):
writing for BBC artificial intelligence used to design brand new viruses.
Tell us what you think again, Alfred E. Newman from
Mad Magazine, what me worry? Come on, well, we could
possibly go rog An FBI agent has stolen a million
(21:12):
dollars in cryptocurrency. ICE's new detention center contracts declare state
laws shall not apply. We'll see how that works out.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
We'll be right back, and we're back with more dystopian
tales of the future.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
This time we've got RoboCop. It's happening, guys.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Oh maybe not exactly, but something along the lines of
a RoboCop, at least a type of RoboCop specifically guarding convenience.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Stores in the UK.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
There's a I guess, a chain of corner shops, as
they call them in.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
The UK called Greggs with two g's.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
The Telegraph reports Gregs brings in robocops to deter shoplifters,
high tech security devices of the latest weapon in retailer's
war on soaring crime. It is what they refer to
as a high street retailer, one of many of these
in the UK installing RoboCop devices in stores in order
(22:22):
to tackle the rising tide of petty crime shoplifting and
they refer to shoplifting and antisocial behavior being on the
rise in the UK and sorry. Gregs is in fact
a bakery chain and they have installed a device called
a Safer Pod which essentially provides chest level closed circuit
(22:43):
TV cameras, one hundred and twenty decibel sirens as well
as flashing lights and as monitored twenty four to seven
by security guards in a branch in Brixton in South London.
This company, a Safer Group, markets the these devices with
the claim.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
We make offenders think twice.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Earlier this year, the company scrapped some self service displays
as well as implementing locks on fridges in some of
the stores that had particularly high levels of crime, and
introduced what they referred to as Fortress stores in London
and Birmingham and Nottingham that have anti theft counters which
(23:26):
would address help address the stealing concerns as well as
threats to staff. It is something that I've noticed guys like,
especially like in you know, larger metro areas, like in
New York for example, Like if you go to a
CVS or a Woolgreens, nearly everything or Target, nearly everything
is locked up behind glass and it is the worst,
(23:48):
you know, not to be.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Like, ohs, that's an inconvenience.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
You know, these problems that we have, but it is
kind of rough because a lot of times you'll be
in these places and you got to hit a button
and then someone has to come and you know, let
you get your not not even justice, the type of
meds that could be you know, flipped around and turned
into the mash.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Shampoo, a tube of toothpaste.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
You gotta wait for a person in these already incredibly
understaffed stores. So I mean, shoplifting clearly is a concern,
and it would appear that it is even more so
a concern over there in the UK. And there's a
quote here in this piece from a gentleman who lives
near one of the gregs in Brixton that s implemented
these measures, saying that he's seen thieves blatantly clearing shells
(24:31):
and throwing objects, including coins, at staff members. He says,
I've seen idiotic members of the public hurling abuse and
objects at staff. We have to invest significantly in policing
crime hotspots, tagging and controlling habitual offenders, and clamping down
on the very visible problem of drug addicts who fuel
a lot of these crime waves. After all, these Safer
(24:52):
pause will only work if the understaffed police are able
to turn up in time and the CCTV is used
to prosecute offenders. A spokesperson for the Safer group, Jamie Gainford,
who is cast classified as a crime prevention specialist, said
that folk our core focus is to provide technology solutions
that give business owners peace of mind, create a safer
(25:15):
environment for staff, helps local communities feel secure, and significantly
eases the burden on police forces. Guys, I guess the
reason I brought this up is because it does start
to you know, I can see the benefit.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Of these It's not like they're shooting people with tasers.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
You see a RoboCop thing I think it's a bit
of a click baity headline if I'm being honest, and
you imagine that there is some perhaps you know, subduing
qualities to these these these bots or these devices, or
you know, some way of them making sort of an
executive decision as to how to treat, you know, perpetrators.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
It does appear that it's a little.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
Bit more of like an advanced surveillance kind of implementation
for these shops specifically tied to or targeted at retail.
But it does begin to kind of dip into that
slippery slope argument that we start to see with things
like shot Spotter and uh and you know, flock cameras
(26:09):
and all of that stuff, Like, is this just another
example of a piece of technology that's rolled out for
one purpose with the best of intentions and then has
the uh, you know, mission creep kind of possibility down
the line.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. Like it's it's a
it's it's something where there is always going to be
dual use. Right. It starts as an opt in because
you as a consumer can choose to go to these locations,
these retail stores. How ubiquitous will this become with an
(26:45):
economy of scale, will we arrive at a point where
that is unavoidable at any store? It's it reminds me too,
you guys, of what we often call hostile architecture in
urban play. Like if you ever walk by benches in
sparks that have spikes or less intrusively, they have a
(27:09):
bench that could seat three people, but now there are
metal U shapes dividing where the butts go entirely to
keep people from from reclining on those benches. I would
argue that after a certain threshold, this kind of surveillance
gets very close to hostile architecture. I mean a lot
(27:32):
of people have told me they feel like criminals when
they go to their local Dwayne Reed or their CVS
or what have you, and they say, wow, you don't
trust me to pick up a bottle of shampoo and
walk fifteen feet to the counter.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
And it's tricky though, And I'm with you, and I mean,
that's you know, coming from folks like you or I
or Matt or you know, Max, who are not you know,
we're not going to go in there and try to
swipe wiper or no swiping. But it would appear that
shoplifting in the UK is absolutely out of control. Apparently
(28:09):
it's risen by one hundred and thirty three percent in
the past five years according to data from the House
of Commons Library, but fewer than one fifth of offenses
result in any kind of charge. So it does kind
of pose the question too, like is this a band
aid band aids to a much larger problem of understaffing
police forces and legislation the ability.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
To prosecute these types of offenses.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
I mean, there's a stat in this telegraph piece, which
is by Madeline Ross by the way, that I found
very interesting.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Let's see.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Yeah, they refer to the country's one hundred and four
most prolific shoplifters, like they know who, they know who
they are, having committed more than four thousand offenses in
the last two years.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
So there are like serial shoplifters out there.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Because I guess I think of shoplifting guys as a
bit of a crime of opportunity, but it would appear
that in the UK this is almost something much more,
you know, resembling organized crime.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Okay, or like a career like Fagan and his friend
or pick up And I've got to ask Matt, I
didn't meet the roll over on this because I was
I'm just so I'm fascinated also by the way that
shoplifting is addressed. But what how would you feel if
(29:36):
you walked into a store with your family and you
saw one of these creepy little guys.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Well, first of all, I didn't realize they're completely immobile.
In my head when we were talking about it, it
was one of those little cop robot things that we
talked about years ago that you know, patrol really slowly
around precincts and other sensitive places like a food It
(30:03):
looks like a fancy bin with some black and yellow
caution tape on it, and it just kind of sits
there and watches everything. I don't know that I would
feel any way about it, because, as you said, we
are not the type of people that are going to
walk in there and attempt to shoplift something because we
have money. And that doesn't mean we're rich, but it
means we have money to go into a store and
(30:25):
buy any of the things that we generally need or want.
But you know, when we think about shoppling, we're talking
about organized crime here potentially, But guys, we know shoplifting
and petty crime rises with inequality. We know this.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I love that right. It reminds me of the most
deathline from his classic album Black On both sides. Some
steal for sport, but most steal to eat, or some
steal for sport, but more steel to eat. So shoplifting
is often not a crime for uh. It is sometimes
a recreational crime, huonistic crime. But folks, if we're being
(31:03):
absolutely objective, many people are shoplifting because they need food
to eat or you know, a lot of things that
are shoplifted across the Western world are supplies for babies.
You're stealing like quote unquote stealing diapers, and you're doing
(31:23):
that because you have a child you have to provide for.
So I love that point about exercising empathy. A lot
of people who might be coldly called serial shoplifters by
those in power are people who are doing their best
to survive and don't wake up every morning wanting to
commit a crime. That's a beautiful point.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
And to your point, Matt, I think you're using the
bit term bin as in the UK parlance like it
does almost appear like a rather large trash receptacle, like
the kind you might see at an airport that has
sort of a slot in the middle, you know, where
you have to kind of push the thing through. But
then it has these very British yellow and black checkers
(32:08):
on the side, which kind of are almost like have
the sense of like the kind of thing you'd see
around a Bobby's you know, hat or whatever. So it
is kind of dressed up to look like a little
bit like a if a trash can were a cop,
you know, right, yeah, very exactly like the like the
like the robot guys in Doctor Who. So the criticisms
(32:28):
do tend towards what you're saying ben this idea of
preemptively you know, profiling or making shoppers feel uncomfortable. Then
there's of course the argument of effectiveness versus the perception
of it. And it would appear that the whole motto
of this company, Safer Pod, is like making shoplifters think
twice by seeing one of these in a place.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
You know.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
They even say when it comes to like locking up
your bike, just make your bike the least easy to steal,
you know. So sometimes they don't even have to deploy
the flashing and the you know, siren or all of
that stuff. But I guess I could also see this
as a step towards the ones that do act a
little more like a dollc and scoot around and shoot
you with a taser. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, right now they just admit a high, high pitched
frequency noise.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Ah, just drop to.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Your knees, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah, exactly what was the thing that doalks would say
when they say something it sounded kind of like an alarm,
they would be like it was a very should that.
I'm seeing parallels with Flock guys.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Exterminate you will be exterminated.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
That's it. Uh, yeah, I'm seeing I'm seeing some Flock
stuff going on here. Because they are safer. The company
offers all these different kinds of pods with all kinds
of different stuff on them and different sensors and CCTV
cameras that are pointed in many a direction. They've also
got the exact same kind of thing that Flock offers.
(33:57):
For like that they that Flock operates in home depots
and lows here in the US where you park it
in the parking lot, and it's got just it looks
like too many CCTV cameras, like the old school ones
that are really pointy and they're just looking at everything
and just watching everything, which does make me think it's
that security theater thing, you know, to some extent, right,
(34:19):
But it's also I think it's about evidence capture, like
real time evidence capture, so you could actually prosecute someone
if you're coming at it from a prevention standpoint, because
one of the biggest problems is do you have clear
footage of the perpetrator that you're trying to prosecute.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
And what's interesting about that is Target, the department store
very popular here in the United States, already has a
system like this which is less visible.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
I didn't know that until recently Ben that they're they're
kind of have infamous and the irony of their name
of course right that they're they're known by some for
having these very invasive.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
Of security measures.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yes, one of the biggest, and I think I mentioned
this a few years ago because it's been going on
for quite some time, one of the biggest non non
individual consumer facing revenue streams for Target is their surveillance
and security apparatus arms. So next time you're in a Target,
(35:23):
and this is not the cast dispersion on this department store,
but next time you're in there, if you don't, if
you want to get freaked out, look at the ceiling
and see the grid of cameras and do know that
target employees or loss prevention, whatever you want to call them,
they're typically not told to get somebody the first time
(35:45):
they shoplift something. At least that's my understanding. They, like
you were saying, Matt, collect evidence. They just don't have
a visible kiosk doing it. They collect evidence and then
once you get past a certain algorithmic threshold, whether that
be value or frequency of shoplifting, then you get caught
and boom, all the evidence is already there. You have
(36:08):
a file, you have a folder. This is the reality
we live in, folks, this is what's going to happen.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
Well, Ben, to that point, you got to wonder if
the reason that they're having a hard time prosecuting folks
in the UK is because, you know, a one off shoplifting,
you know, arrest isn't really going to make a mark.
And in terms of like the bigger picture and that
they have these you know, serial shoplifters that they're obviously
(36:36):
tracking for them to have data on them, and that
maybe these devices would be a path towards eliminating some
of the you know, repeat offenders and maybe giving them
the information that they need in order to make some
you know, close some cases.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
But I guess I don't know, not to be too.
Speaker 5 (36:53):
Doom and gloom about it, but it does feel like
the beginning of a normalization of this kind of thing
that could then spill into other sectors pretty quickly.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
It's license plate reading technology. It's the same stuff that
we talked about with flock right, and some of it
is flocked some of its other companies at the moment,
by the way, Yeah, the moment you pull into one
of these parking lots, your license plate is being tracked.
Then you're outside of the store, your face, your body
is being watched. And then you're inside the store you're
(37:24):
putting stuff into your jacket or your pants or how
do you do that, whatever you do. Yes, when you
walk out of the store, you're being watched getting into
a vehicle and driving away. And it's from a law
enforcement standpoint or a loss prevention standpoint, it's a pretty
(37:45):
damn good system.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Yeah. Also, by the way, we've got to mention this
as a quick aside, and I don't want to derail
us here. Noel, but I hope we all saw the
news that a lot of those license plate reading outfits. Right,
like we talked about Flock. We have a two part
episode about Flock. Their Flock is getting eliminated from some places,
(38:11):
and another company doing pretty much the same thing. Axon
is coming back in and you don't see as many
headlines about it. And now those license plate readers are
gaining the capability to tie into your phone number if
the phone number is associated with the with the LP
So it's it's turtles of mass surveillance all the way down.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
I completely agree, guys.
Speaker 5 (38:38):
Well as always, I've surprised myself with how much conversation
this yielded, So I'm gonna cut this next one short.
We just mentioned this is such a I don't know.
This reminded me of the without too many spoilers. Really
the plot of the movie Long Legs, which.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
I know was a little divisive. I quite enjoyed it.
Some people.
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Results varied, but Australian police investigated a mysterious suitcase after
five finding what they believed to be human remains inside.
Turns out, however, that it was just a very elaborate
and convincing let's call it a comfort doll, and it
(39:14):
actually had like bruises and stuff like as part of
the you know, the way it was styled, So it
really did throw investigators for a bit.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
Of a loop.
Speaker 5 (39:26):
A roadside suitcase in Australia sparked a disturbing police investigation
after witnesses believed to contain human remains. What officers discovered
inside initially appeared serious enough to trigger a forensic examination.
New South Wales police were calls to a road in
the village of Olan at around twelve to fifty pm
on August the ninth. Members of the public had reported
(39:46):
finding what looked like human remains inside a suitcase. Officers
arrived expecting a potentially grim discovery. Instead, the investigation took
an unexpected turn when forensic testing revealed that the supposed
remains were actually in extreme lifelike doll. I just think
it's fascinating that this escalated to the point that a
lab tech had to, like, you know, really examined this
(40:09):
thing up close.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
These things have come a long way, is what I'm.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
Saying, and it's a definitely a creepy story. There was
a tweet here Australian Police launched a murder investigation after
a suitcase containing what appeared to be a woman's body
was found roadside. However, forensic examination revealed that it was
actually a very, very very lifelike doll.
Speaker 4 (40:29):
And it's a good day.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
The truth emerged, it said in this AOTF piece. The
truth emerged. The following morning, police confirmed there had been
no death and no human remains inside the suitcase.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
I'm disturbed, but I've disturbed by the fact though that
from what you're saying here, it sounds to us like
the the doll itself or the product was purposely designed
to have bruises already audit like distressed furniture or fancy gene.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
Well, and that is some people's kink, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
It.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
You know, no no judgment here if that's the thing
that that you know, individuals are into. But it also
can be a very slippery slope where those kinds of
consensual acts can pass very quickly into abuse and obsession
and you know, things like that, So just be careful.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Everybody should look up the Quibi series Dummy. If you
haven't ever heard of that, create.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
About you Quibby or the series dummy.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Dummy is the series quibi is the I think failed
thing that doesn't exist anymore. Yeah, but it's called dummy
is by Cody Heller. It's very funny.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
Will do guys, that's my time. Let's take a quick break.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
We'll hear a word from our sponsor and then return
with today's last bit of strange news.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
And we've returned. All right, guys, here we go AP News,
Ryan J. Foley, August eleventh, twenty twenty six. We're going
to read some verbatim stuff from this and then have
a little chitty chat. Here we go. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement plans to spend up to twenty million dollars to
purchase thousands of quote conductive distraction and de escalation devices
(42:25):
unquote for officers and agents by March. This is according
to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.
These devices, guys, are known as the glove or G
period L period O period V period E period which
stands for generated low output Voltage Emitter. They're manufactured by
(42:47):
Compliant Technologies. Hear that again, Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington,
Kentucky Compliance, all of which are American Dreams raging AAST machine.
They have been used in recent years by some jails
and police departments compliant technologies. The folks who manufacture these
(43:08):
things say the devices function as a normal pair of
patrol gloves until officers press a little switch to activate
their electrical mode. Do we understand what we're talking about here, guys.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Yeah, Matt, those are These are shot gloves. And it's
like the news just broke about Ice, I think with these,
but I swear to God, I remember reading about something similar.
Maybe it was a conversation with Robert Evans from behind
the Bastards about less than lethal technology. But these are
(43:44):
shot gloves, right. Is the idea that you, as the
authority or officers seeking compliance, can put your hands on
somebody and their regular gloves until you decide it's time
for a little zipity's appeny, do yes?
Speaker 2 (44:00):
The gloves, according to AP News here, must be applied
directly to someone's skin to deliver a pain stimulus that
typically helps an officer gain compliance within seconds. According to
the company, sounds fun, sounds great, sounds exciting. M Let's
go to John Peters, president of the Institute for the
(44:21):
Prevention of in Custody Deaths. He said he believed ICE's
plan to purchase would likely be the largest from the
company to date. He said he could envision ice officers
using the gloves to help remove uncooperative subjects from cars
and houses and in and out of detention facilities. He says,
quote for smaller officers or weaker officers or older officers,
(44:44):
I think it has a great advantage because it can
produce faster takedowns and shorten confrontations.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
So if you suck at your job, we're giving you
shot gloves.
Speaker 4 (44:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
If you're small, weak and out of shape, don't worry.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, but put it on somebody who's big and beefy,
and now you've got a real problem because they can
shock you while they're picking you up and throw you.
And here here's one of the best parts. Guys. Even
if you're an officer assisting the shock officer or shock trooper,
let's say you could you don't have to wear the
gloves and you can still touch the subject and you
(45:22):
won't get shocked.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
Wow, what wonder trooper from is that a game?
Speaker 2 (45:26):
Is there as a nazis anyway?
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yeah? Sorry, these are to be to be clear though,
we have to say this, Matt. To my understanding, these
are not as strong as tasers. It doesn't make them better,
but they're not. These are not, like I almost said,
handheld tasers. But tasers are handheld. You guys know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
They cause electrical pain. That is what they are designed
to do. They will distract you enough to potentially make
you comply with the orders such as put your hands
behind your back, get on the ground, those kinds of things,
get out of the vehicle, put that baby down, you
know that kind of thing. Supporters guys, according to AP News,
(46:14):
say the devices are generally used in specific jail and
transport situations rather than broadly to patrol the streets. They've
been used to subdue violent suspects who are refusing to
get into squad cars and inmates who are harming themselves
and threatening officers. That's according to Compliant Technologies. The makers
of the shot gloves or the Glove System, John Peters,
(46:38):
who we mentioned earlier, said he expected the devices to
be misused by a small number of employees. As with
other policing technologies, they get misused sometimes, but he said
they're unlikely to cause injuries. He said it would be
important for ICE to have robust policing policies and training
in place when deploying the glove systems.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Though, like ants, whether someone has hard arrhythmia.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
Then that is next ready, Okay, Yeah. According to the manufacturer,
to use the device, officers must complete a course and
be re certified every two years after they have been
initially certified to use the CTG DASH five G l
o VE generated low output Voltage Emitter system. If you
(47:28):
want to take a look at this on your own,
you can search for Acquisition Planning Forecast System. Then we've
mentioned this before on the show, the Acquisition Planning Forecast System,
which is the contract system the contracts that they generally
don't want you to know about or think about. But
it's out there. You could find it APFS. Look it up.
(47:49):
The number is F two zero two six zero seven
four five two four.
Speaker 4 (47:56):
Good luck rolls off.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
It really does. You can look it up. And here's
the best part, you guys. You can go to Compliant
Technologies dot net, slash the dash glove and check these
babies out. Oh, would you guys mind looking along with
me for a second, just so we can have a
little chitty chat about these dudes Compliance tech.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
I'd also love to learn if we can buy these.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
I don't think so, but Ben, if you can work
your magic, I would love to see them.
Speaker 5 (48:31):
But guys, think about the way tasers were initially. That
was like, you know, it's the way all that kind
of like tech that's designed for law enforcement initially is
only available to them, but then gradually, you know, bleeds
out into consumer markets. So I could see that, especially
at being non lethal. I don't know, man, it's giving
power glove. It's giving power glove.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
A little bit, walk us through it.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Man, it looks like winter gloves to me, like some
pretty hefty winter gloves. But it's got like the.
Speaker 5 (49:02):
Animated background though, dude, it's just like just like a
purple and blue electricity.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
It's got big wrist at the top of the wrist
where I assume the battery packs are. And also to
your point there, what's interesting is unlike some other similar
I hesitate to call them innovations, but unlike some similar inventions,
this doesn't have the telltale like plastic stuff at the
(49:31):
top of the palm or any small spikes or anything
like you said, Matt. These look like bulky.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
Gloves exactly, but it is giving as you said, Ben,
big wrist energy and if I know ice officers want
one thing, it's big wrist energy. That's why they signed up.
So if you take a look at the user manual
of the Gen four and Gen five gloves system, you
can find that on the website that we told you
to go to. You can see where on the palms
(50:01):
of the hands there are one to three four different
places where at least two have to make contact with
somebody in order to apply the shock to you. And
they do have a you know, pretty standard battery that
you plug in and charge up to make sure your
(50:22):
gloves can shock the absolute shit out of whatever grandmother
happens to be non compliant. You can make her comply
it real quick with these guys. Again, Compliant Technologies does
not consider this to be a weapon due to the
low electrical current that flows through it from the battery
that's in there. Here's we talked about this before about
(50:47):
needing to be touching skin, but in the owner's Manual
User Manual it says Compliant Technologies products will not stimulate
through clothing, hair, metal, plastics, or fur, but only stimulate
human skin exclusively on the epidermis. That's good that they
exclusively the epidermis. I don't know where else you're gonna
(51:08):
stimulate the stimulate the skin. Sorry, that's funny to me.
But here's the other thing.
Speaker 4 (51:15):
Meaning skin right, yeah, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:19):
Which is also by the way, not to be that
guy on the subreddit or something, but that means it
could affect similar organisms if you hit their skin. Yes,
but finding that.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
Out it is very tough. It says to stimulate let's
say a dog that has thick fur, it says, however,
if that dog is wet, according to the user manual,
or if let's say your thin clothing like your shirt
or your thin blouse, is soaked, it will function through
that because the water becomes a way for the electricity
(51:53):
to travel.
Speaker 3 (51:54):
When I have vented these gloves, I wanted to fight
against the world's two great evils and wet.
Speaker 4 (52:01):
Dogs and wet dogs men a menace, just.
Speaker 2 (52:05):
The idea that these folks are gonna be walking around
with these taser gloves. They're not taser gloves, with these
minor shock gloves for compliance and also covering their faces
and wearing body armor and protecting themselves in such a
way and their identities. But still given this type of
power where if somebody, no matter how big they are,
(52:27):
if they are not literally complying with the you know,
the yelling perhaps of an officer, they can use this
power against that person and tame them, and you know
like that.
Speaker 4 (52:40):
And some are some folks might argue, well, it's better
than shooting them in the face.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
Well, sure, sure, absolutely better than that. Not arguing that
shooting is better this is just creepy. Here here's what
they say. Compliant technology states the glove shall not this
is in all caps, be deployed for any of the
following verbal defiance or belligerence. Come on now, punishment, torture
(53:09):
or horseplay. Really important, you don't use it.
Speaker 4 (53:12):
No horsing around the pool, guys.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah. It also states avoid using the glove against certain
portions of the population, including the elderly, small children, oops,
sometimes pregnant women, oh god, or the severely handicapped. That's
what it says, the severely h Wow.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
And so how would you know somebody is pregnant? Sure,
with their you know, if they're part way through the
first trimester.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
Yep, Yeah, that's a that's a concern. There's one other
thing you find in the user manual on page eighteen
of twenty four. It says the glove suggested ROE levels continued,
and it has a little picture of a person. Will
generate a picture of a person, and it shows users
of the glove system where to touch people on their knee,
(54:03):
their foot, their upper thigh, their hand, their wrist, their shoulders.
But do not touch anyone with a glove system on
the chest area, the neck area, or the head area.
Can you guess.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
Why because of the way the nervous system works.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
I think you're right, Ben, I think that's exactly what
it is. Because people have died with tasers, as we've
talked about and made an whole episode with a person
who spent years researching the taser system and those less
than lethal electric shock specific non weapons that are out there.
But he here's the other thing. They recommend fifteen seconds
(54:42):
of shock to make somebody compliant. Let's say they grab
your wrist or something. They recommend fifteen seconds, but it
doesn't have to only be fifteen seconds, and the officer
can make the decision to be more than fifteen seconds.
The officer can choose to continually shock somebody or maybe
not realize that they're continuing to shock someone because guess what,
(55:04):
You've got these giant, thick gloves on and you're grabbing
on to somebody. What happens if they lose consciousness? There's
just my god, there's so many things to this, guys, and.
Speaker 3 (55:14):
You're still carrying people right in some cases. And also
despite first off, if anybody with a modicum of experience
knows that the instruction manuals are so often ignored for
pretty much everything but lego sets. So another question here, Matt,
(55:34):
would be what happens when multiple authorities self appointed or whatever,
multiple authorities rocking a pair of these gloves put their
hands on the same person at the same time. Right now,
where are we upping the voltage? It doesn't sound like
there's any kind of mechanism here that will prevent gloves
(55:58):
from having an acree effect or aggregate effect.
Speaker 2 (56:03):
Yeah, I don't know what happens if four officers with
gloves have their hands on you. I genuinely don't know,
and I couldn't tell you. I don't know if it
is a force multiplied effect. Roe, by the way, is
rules of engagement in the force continuum? Yeah, what a
fun term to throw in there. That's it for me, guys.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
And these are things that we will see more of
in the news as it continues. That's why we do
strange news. Fellow conspiracy realist, thank you so much for
tuning in. We cannot wait to hear your thoughts on
these and other stories that you'd like for us to
get to in the future. How can I tell you,
(56:47):
guys what you should get to in the future. Well,
there are several ways to contact.
Speaker 4 (56:52):
Us, sure are.
Speaker 5 (56:53):
A couple of them are the handles Conspiracy Stuff and
Conspiracy Stuff Show, which you can use to find us
on social media.
Speaker 2 (57:00):
Our phone number is one eight three three std WYTK
call it. It's a voicemail system. It's super easy. You'll
figure it out if you want to email us.
Speaker 3 (57:09):
We are the entities the read each piece of correspondence
we received the well aware You's I'm afraid sometimes the
void rights back. Why was military GPS jamming active at
the time of a medical plane crash in New Mexico?
Right us, We'll tell you conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (57:46):
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,
my name is Noah.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer Max the Free Trade Williams. Most importantly, you
are you. You are here. That makes this the stuff
they don't want you to know. If you are tuning
in to our strange news program, the evening to publish
is Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, one and all. To August seventeenth,
(00:53):
twenty twenty six. We're still at it, guys. We've been
roman round. We are on the road, some of us
we're going to be on the road in the future.
And before we continue, we want to let you know
that we're going on the high seas.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah, that's kind of like being on the road, but
like you know, floating, floating.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So we're going.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
We don't need roads.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, we don't need the roads unless they're wet. That
is true. From October second to the seventh, we will
be returning to Virgin Voyages and get this, folks. We're
not going alone.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
No no, no, no, no, no, we sure aren't. We've
got the whole Stuff crew. The cruise is called the
Stuff at Sea Voyage. It's come on, guys. That means stuff.
Mom never told you stuff. They don't want you to know.
That's us and the big dogs. That's right, Jay and
c Stuff. You should know. They'll be there on the ship.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
And Silent Bob will not be there.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Universe. We have not confirmed whether they will be there. Yeah,
we don't want to over promise, but we can promise this.
You were going to have an awesome time. We are
super excited. We're bringing freight train along and we'll have
exclusive hangouts. We can't wait for you to join us.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
You'll hear a little bit more about this, but again,
don't forget October two through the seventh leave in New York,
back down to the Caribbean and then back up.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
The part of the reason that we're able to do this, guys,
is because we did not take out a Parmesan loan.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Jean Parmesan.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Italian.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Yes, okay, so jeez, it's a good ye let me
tell you about it. Keeps for ages and then a
little mold on and just scrape it on off.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
It's totally fun.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's good because cheese is a weird thing, you know.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Well, and then I'm getting I think I'm getting what
you're getting at as a big old wheel of parmesiano
resiana big money.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
There we go. We're gonna pause for a word from
our sponsors, and we'll tell you why we got suddenly
into cheese loans. And we have returned so one of
our first stories today, which published on August eleventh, quite recently,
(03:34):
we're recording on Wednesday, August twelfth. For the most part,
this news broke. We know, the heat has been nuts
and bonkers in so many parts of the world right now,
especially in the United States, the south southern part where
we are based, there have been record breaking heat waves,
(03:55):
and this is true the world over. Italy is no exception.
Extreme heat has strained Italy's cheese banks, where Parmegiado backs
farm loans lots of Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, but I thought that was my first question about yes.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yes, yes, it reminds me a lot of Canada's maple reserves.
Yeah that you know, have so much money tied in
with them from an investment standpoint.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
And to that same point, guys, are there cheese cartels?
As we know, there are maple syrup cartels.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
It's Italy, man, there's always a cartel for everything. Yeah,
there's like a vestment cartel. There's what about gelato? I'm
sure there are a minute gelato cartels.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Dude. Wasn't there an ice cream cartel story recently out
of Japan?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
What was there?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Was?
Speaker 4 (04:44):
It was yours Ben, you brought it to the table.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
It was something about like an ice cream monopoly and
there was some kind of like a foul play going
on with price fixing during the hot summer months.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Oh, I absolutely believe that that would happen. I'm let's
do it live. We're looking up ice cream cartel Japan
just to check it.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
Japan Real ice cream giants and cartel investigations, six companies,
different country's perfect related, yes, related in organized cribe, which
is inherently conspiratorial.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
We're going back to Italy where again, thank you, uh
Italian conspiracy realist. We're sorry that we said everything in
Italy is related to a cartel, and we're mainly sorry
because that is correct. So the heat I think we're
(05:39):
sorry that it is correct. The summer heat waves in
northern Italy have knocked out or just delivered chaos to
warehouses where regional lenders store aging parmesan cheese as collateral
for money they advanced to dare farmers. So if you
(06:01):
are a dairy farmer and you were, you know, ultimately
involved in the cheese trade in Italy, as odd as
it sounds, cheese can be that finished product can be
your collateral. And it makes me think of a future
episode maybe where we talk about the weirdest stuff used
(06:22):
as security in loans. I mean here in the United States, right,
we usually think of assets money somebody already has, or
a physical asset like a very nice house or a
very nice vehicle. I didn't know we could get away
with cheese. We're talking like three hundred million euros here.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Well, I mean, you know, I just literally got our
Google results are something for the books usually, but this
one was can you invest in cheese futures? And the
answer is of course yes. Especially when it comes to
think about the idea of aging or any kind of
product that requires aging, there is a certain timeline that
(07:05):
goes into it before it is viable to sell, and
so that makes a lot of sense for kind of
thinking about like the future availability of these types of
products and assets in terms of like when they become liquid.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I guess absolutely when they mature as well, because we
know that parmesan wheels can sometimes mature for three years,
and every hot summer will begin to mess with that process.
Once temperatures in this area get over like forty degrees celsius.
(07:38):
Cows also feel the heat, just like cubans, they lie down,
they eat less. This can cut the yield of milk,
which will be compounded by the fact that the milk
quality and quantity will also degrade. So everybody who is
playing with cheese futures, as Noel said, please be careful
(08:02):
and we wish you luck. I just can't believe it. Man,
every time you think the world can't get a little
more ridiculous, you learn about multi million dollar cheese loan industries.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
You know, well, Ben, I was wondering if you could
also invest in wine futures, because I imagine if you've
got a bunch of cheese futures, you might want a
nice glass.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
A pairing, yeah, a future's pairing, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And you know I always imagined, you know, folks that
rich folks have wine cellars. Look, that's just that's a
that's an unfair thing in my mind. But I imagine
once you're a wealthy person, you get a wine cellar
just kind of comes with the mansion. But but you
can also invest in wine as it is being produced.
(08:49):
I guess, so three purchasing wine.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
It's a future, yeah, Jesus. Also, let me show you
guys this. I know we're audio for a strange news segment.
This is the most expensive kind of grape I've ever encountered.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Looks like an olive, doesn't it. It looks like a
black cherry.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And these are these things are like
a little place I'm at now. They gave us a
wine glass full of grapes which were apparently like forty
bucks US dollars.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Are they little?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's like ten grapes, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Are they seated?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
One kind is seated?
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Okay, I'm picturing it having a pit again like a cherry.
There's also some places in Japan, I believe, where you
can buy a single strawberry that's like fifty dollars or
something like that. We have they import them to Arawan,
I think is where you get them here in the States.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
But they are I believe they originate in Japan and
apparently they're great. Are they fifty dollars? Great? Who's to satto?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
No?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Man, I don't know, Like how much would you pay
for a mellet in? Folks? Let us know about that. Anyway,
This is a funny dip your toes in and story.
And obviously wish the best for not just the people
in northern Italy, not just the cheesemongers and cheesemakers and
the farmers, but everybody who is dealing with this deteriorating climate.
(10:22):
And there's a reason, guys, there's a method to the
madness for talking about futures and the gambling, right speculation.
We briefly mentioned, and I can't remember whether it was
an episode or listener mail or strange news, we briefly
mentioned the idea of prediction markets or online gambling and
(10:48):
the proliferation of wildfires, especially in these United States. Hopefully
this is good news. This comes to us from Ours Technica.
On August fish, twenty twenty six, US senators have written
to something called the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and they're
(11:11):
they're asking this agency to crack down on prediction markets
that quote offer contracts for individuals to bet on wildfires.
We could already see the conspiracy to play, right, like
why not start the fire after you bet on it?
Speaker 5 (11:29):
I mean it goes hand in hand with like people
that have access to insider trading information or like would
you hear that that one story about the president's teleprompter operator,
who is who is betting on keywords that we're going
to show up in his speeches because you know, obviously
he knew what they were. I mean, there's so many
issues and concerns and fraud, you know, opportunities that come
(11:53):
with these like willy nilly bet on anything markets.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
It's it's a.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Real I don't know, man, it's a real bag of badgers. Like,
I just don't see how regulation is going.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
To catch up anytime soon, right, because technology always outpaces legislation.
As we said, legislation is always reactive. The document that
the senators are writing here specifically, oh, you can read
this online, by the way. We'll give you the link
here in a second. The document that the senators created
(12:24):
or their assistance, most likely it specifically refers to holly
market poly market back in January of twenty twenty five
was allowing bets on wildfires in Los Angeles, and then
there were other sites that were specifically mentioned as taking
(12:44):
bets specifically exclusively on California wildfires and just to put
a plane. We can see the conspiracy afoot. If you
are a very bad actor, if you are a total
trash person who never listened to Smoky the Bear, then
(13:04):
you could lay a bed on a fire and theoretically
create that fire yourself. This is an infernal version of
insider trading, is it not?
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Infernal?
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Is definitely the appropriate term, like the fires of Hell.
I just kind of wonder, like, you know, do you
see a version of regulation of these types of betting
markets where it becomes illegal to bet on anything inherently
catastrophic or negative? Or is that a free speech issue
(13:38):
at a certain point where does the line exist in
like what we should be able to bet on, Because
I mean, I just remember, like when we were younger,
before these things came around, like it was hard to
find a place to bet on just about anything, and
like you know, you betting bookmakers and all of that.
You had to kind of go to the back rooms,
(13:58):
you know, the under around kind of off the beaten
path kind of betting places to bet on certain things,
right that they weren't like regular out in the open
kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Yeah, it's a matter of scale, right, like who's that real?
Who's that real jerk? Who who bills himself as running
the world's most extreme haunted house. In our episode on
yeah that's it, thank you forget? Yeah, yeah, he's super
helps Yeah. And in that exploration, which I believe was
(14:33):
an episode, we talked about the strong suspicion that the
guy is making money by having people do off books
betting in Vegas.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
And streaming cam you know, cam's footage of all of
these folks literally being put through the paces of the
kind of stuff that the human psyche and body can
withstand mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
What do you guys think is going to happen with this?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I think polymarket is going to continue incentivizing arsonists and
military intelligence, secret leakers and all the folks that you
know want to make a bet.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
And then agree with you can.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Make money, man, And right now it's you know, it
was stopped. Wasn't polymarket turned off for a while in
the US? And then I want to say the current
administration kind of got it going again. I think the
Biden administration like put the kabash on it for a
moment and they were going to wind down operations, and
then they brought it back out. But I think I
can't remember. Maybe it's just been operating the whole time.
(15:31):
And I'm it's just crazy that it's even possible that
this could happen. Ben and the incentive, the incentivizing for
folks to do something wrong that's unexpected so that they
can have a giant windfall.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Well, it just feels like there's no room.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
And we could make a similar argument about betting on
the death of prominent people.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Out or the outcome of wars, or the assassination of
politicians or whatever it might be.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
I mean, when doesn't it seem there's like any.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Room for moralizing these types of situations when the only
operating principle would play is profit. Like like, it just
seems like we're moving further and further away from there
being any reining end of these types of base impulses
based on like what's the right thing to do? When
when I mean, I'm not trying to be you know,
like too pat about it, but it just feels like
(16:25):
when this profit is the only thing people care about,
you're eventually gonna end up with like you know, the
Hunger Games or like you know, the Running Man.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
That that is the future predicted in sci fi that
I think we're heading towards.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Ben, Doesn't it remind you of our discussions about the lottery,
just about how desperate a lot of people are to
have some kind of help when it comes to money
that doesn't require working another like a third job or
a fourth job, where you could actually do something to
help your situation or your family situation. That that that thing,
(16:56):
that shiny thing out there becomes so important because it's
it might happen, even if it's the tiniest chance.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Well, the odds are so stacked against you.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
I mean they're they're they're designed for the investors, not
for the individual.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
It reminds me of dumb and dumber. So you're saying
there's a chance the most cynical way to the most
cynical and accurate way.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
One of my old professors used to characterize the lottery
as is a tax on people for being bad at math.
That is, that is ultimately it, I mean cast a
penny into the fountain if you wish, but don't expect
for a ton of coins to all of a sudden
erupt from that fountain back at you. We're gonna deliver
(17:39):
on this. Go check out Murkley dot Senate dot gov,
M E R K L E Y dot Sendate dot
gov for more information. That's the official statement. Uh, there
are a couple of other things we're gonna get to
real quick, guys. You know viruses, do you guys remember
viruses from earlier, like physical not computer virus? I got you? Yeah, yeah, okay,
(18:02):
that I remember. Yeah, we we uh, we are interested
in viruses right as a civilization and one thing that
is generating a lot of heat. You're going to hear
more about this later, folks. So that's why it's strange
news is uh the following. Some very smart people have
(18:25):
begun using what we call artificial intelligence or automation to
design brand new viruses. So goodbye old doddering humans dumbly
fumbling at gain of function. Now we've got something way
better that does it way faster. What could go wrong?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So?
Speaker 5 (18:46):
But I mean the only reason presumably to design a
virus is to weaponize it, right, Like, there's no good viruses.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
That's interesting because one of the one of one of
the good things, one of the good things would be
uh predictive model. So if we can design new viruses
or new you know, iterations, mixtapes, spinoffs thereof, then we
could in theory as a civilization, predict viruses that may
(19:17):
evolve in the wild, and then from there create treatments
or solutions to those. It is a turning point. But
obviously people are worried.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Well, I mean, you know a lot of the hubbub
or scuttle butt around COVID was that they were trying
to do something along those lines and then it went
awry and there was like a lab leak.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yes, the thing I've seen about this ben is that
they're creating a specific type of virus that's not even
it's not even really a virus. And it's confusing because
the house is being reported. We're calling these things bacteria phases,
which which I guess they only attack bacteria, which could
(20:00):
be a crazy good thing because it could be essentially
a new type of antibacterial remedy.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Right sure, yeah, Because phage means eater of right, so
bacteria phage eats the bacteria It's something that maybe an
episode in the future for us, because there is noble intent,
right and I love the point you're making that about
this be misreported so far as you can see in
(20:31):
the ongoing news, you can see that this process created
sixteen novel virus models that are created solely to infect bacteria,
not to infect other life forms like you know, this
show's favorite, probably the human being. Check out James Gallagher,
(20:52):
writing for BBC artificial intelligence used to design brand new viruses.
Tell us what you think again, Alfred E. Newman from
Mad Magazine, what me worry? Come on, well, we could
possibly go rog An FBI agent has stolen a million
(21:12):
dollars in cryptocurrency. ICE's new detention center contracts declare state
laws shall not apply. We'll see how that works out.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
We'll be right back, and we're back with more dystopian
tales of the future.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
This time we've got RoboCop. It's happening, guys.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Oh maybe not exactly, but something along the lines of
a RoboCop, at least a type of RoboCop specifically guarding convenience.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Stores in the UK.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
There's a I guess, a chain of corner shops, as
they call them in.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
The UK called Greggs with two g's.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
The Telegraph reports Gregs brings in robocops to deter shoplifters,
high tech security devices of the latest weapon in retailer's
war on soaring crime. It is what they refer to
as a high street retailer, one of many of these
in the UK installing RoboCop devices in stores in order
(22:22):
to tackle the rising tide of petty crime shoplifting and
they refer to shoplifting and antisocial behavior being on the
rise in the UK and sorry. Gregs is in fact
a bakery chain and they have installed a device called
a Safer Pod which essentially provides chest level closed circuit
(22:43):
TV cameras, one hundred and twenty decibel sirens as well
as flashing lights and as monitored twenty four to seven
by security guards in a branch in Brixton in South London.
This company, a Safer Group, markets the these devices with
the claim.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
We make offenders think twice.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Earlier this year, the company scrapped some self service displays
as well as implementing locks on fridges in some of
the stores that had particularly high levels of crime, and
introduced what they referred to as Fortress stores in London
and Birmingham and Nottingham that have anti theft counters which
(23:26):
would address help address the stealing concerns as well as
threats to staff. It is something that I've noticed guys like,
especially like in you know, larger metro areas, like in
New York for example, Like if you go to a
CVS or a Woolgreens, nearly everything or Target, nearly everything
is locked up behind glass and it is the worst,
(23:48):
you know, not to be.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Like, ohs, that's an inconvenience.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
You know, these problems that we have, but it is
kind of rough because a lot of times you'll be
in these places and you got to hit a button
and then someone has to come and you know, let
you get your not not even justice, the type of
meds that could be you know, flipped around and turned
into the mash.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Shampoo, a tube of toothpaste.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
You gotta wait for a person in these already incredibly
understaffed stores. So I mean, shoplifting clearly is a concern,
and it would appear that it is even more so
a concern over there in the UK. And there's a
quote here in this piece from a gentleman who lives
near one of the gregs in Brixton that s implemented
these measures, saying that he's seen thieves blatantly clearing shells
(24:31):
and throwing objects, including coins, at staff members. He says,
I've seen idiotic members of the public hurling abuse and
objects at staff. We have to invest significantly in policing
crime hotspots, tagging and controlling habitual offenders, and clamping down
on the very visible problem of drug addicts who fuel
a lot of these crime waves. After all, these Safer
(24:52):
pause will only work if the understaffed police are able
to turn up in time and the CCTV is used
to prosecute offenders. A spokesperson for the Safer group, Jamie Gainford,
who is cast classified as a crime prevention specialist, said
that folk our core focus is to provide technology solutions
that give business owners peace of mind, create a safer
(25:15):
environment for staff, helps local communities feel secure, and significantly
eases the burden on police forces. Guys, I guess the
reason I brought this up is because it does start
to you know, I can see the benefit.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Of these It's not like they're shooting people with tasers.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
You see a RoboCop thing I think it's a bit
of a click baity headline if I'm being honest, and
you imagine that there is some perhaps you know, subduing
qualities to these these these bots or these devices, or
you know, some way of them making sort of an
executive decision as to how to treat, you know, perpetrators.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
It does appear that it's a little.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
Bit more of like an advanced surveillance kind of implementation
for these shops specifically tied to or targeted at retail.
But it does begin to kind of dip into that
slippery slope argument that we start to see with things
like shot Spotter and uh and you know, flock cameras
(26:09):
and all of that stuff, Like, is this just another
example of a piece of technology that's rolled out for
one purpose with the best of intentions and then has
the uh, you know, mission creep kind of possibility down
the line.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. Like it's it's a
it's it's something where there is always going to be
dual use. Right. It starts as an opt in because
you as a consumer can choose to go to these locations,
these retail stores. How ubiquitous will this become with an
(26:45):
economy of scale, will we arrive at a point where
that is unavoidable at any store? It's it reminds me too,
you guys, of what we often call hostile architecture in
urban play. Like if you ever walk by benches in
sparks that have spikes or less intrusively, they have a
(27:09):
bench that could seat three people, but now there are
metal U shapes dividing where the butts go entirely to
keep people from from reclining on those benches. I would
argue that after a certain threshold, this kind of surveillance
gets very close to hostile architecture. I mean a lot
(27:32):
of people have told me they feel like criminals when
they go to their local Dwayne Reed or their CVS
or what have you, and they say, wow, you don't
trust me to pick up a bottle of shampoo and
walk fifteen feet to the counter.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
And it's tricky though, And I'm with you, and I mean,
that's you know, coming from folks like you or I
or Matt or you know, Max, who are not you know,
we're not going to go in there and try to
swipe wiper or no swiping. But it would appear that
shoplifting in the UK is absolutely out of control. Apparently
(28:09):
it's risen by one hundred and thirty three percent in
the past five years according to data from the House
of Commons Library, but fewer than one fifth of offenses
result in any kind of charge. So it does kind
of pose the question too, like is this a band
aid band aids to a much larger problem of understaffing
police forces and legislation the ability.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
To prosecute these types of offenses.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
I mean, there's a stat in this telegraph piece, which
is by Madeline Ross by the way, that I found
very interesting.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Let's see.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Yeah, they refer to the country's one hundred and four
most prolific shoplifters, like they know who, they know who
they are, having committed more than four thousand offenses in
the last two years.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
So there are like serial shoplifters out there.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Because I guess I think of shoplifting guys as a
bit of a crime of opportunity, but it would appear
that in the UK this is almost something much more,
you know, resembling organized crime.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Okay, or like a career like Fagan and his friend
or pick up And I've got to ask Matt, I
didn't meet the roll over on this because I was
I'm just so I'm fascinated also by the way that
shoplifting is addressed. But what how would you feel if
(29:36):
you walked into a store with your family and you
saw one of these creepy little guys.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Well, first of all, I didn't realize they're completely immobile.
In my head when we were talking about it, it
was one of those little cop robot things that we
talked about years ago that you know, patrol really slowly
around precincts and other sensitive places like a food It
(30:03):
looks like a fancy bin with some black and yellow
caution tape on it, and it just kind of sits
there and watches everything. I don't know that I would
feel any way about it, because, as you said, we
are not the type of people that are going to
walk in there and attempt to shoplift something because we
have money. And that doesn't mean we're rich, but it
means we have money to go into a store and
(30:25):
buy any of the things that we generally need or want.
But you know, when we think about shoppling, we're talking
about organized crime here potentially, But guys, we know shoplifting
and petty crime rises with inequality. We know this.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I love that right. It reminds me of the most
deathline from his classic album Black On both sides. Some
steal for sport, but most steal to eat, or some
steal for sport, but more steel to eat. So shoplifting
is often not a crime for uh. It is sometimes
a recreational crime, huonistic crime. But folks, if we're being
(31:03):
absolutely objective, many people are shoplifting because they need food
to eat or you know, a lot of things that
are shoplifted across the Western world are supplies for babies.
You're stealing like quote unquote stealing diapers, and you're doing
(31:23):
that because you have a child you have to provide for.
So I love that point about exercising empathy. A lot
of people who might be coldly called serial shoplifters by
those in power are people who are doing their best
to survive and don't wake up every morning wanting to
commit a crime. That's a beautiful point.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
And to your point, Matt, I think you're using the
bit term bin as in the UK parlance like it
does almost appear like a rather large trash receptacle, like
the kind you might see at an airport that has
sort of a slot in the middle, you know, where
you have to kind of push the thing through. But
then it has these very British yellow and black checkers
(32:08):
on the side, which kind of are almost like have
the sense of like the kind of thing you'd see
around a Bobby's you know, hat or whatever. So it
is kind of dressed up to look like a little
bit like a if a trash can were a cop,
you know, right, yeah, very exactly like the like the
like the robot guys in Doctor Who. So the criticisms
(32:28):
do tend towards what you're saying ben this idea of
preemptively you know, profiling or making shoppers feel uncomfortable. Then
there's of course the argument of effectiveness versus the perception
of it. And it would appear that the whole motto
of this company, Safer Pod, is like making shoplifters think
twice by seeing one of these in a place.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
You know.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
They even say when it comes to like locking up
your bike, just make your bike the least easy to steal,
you know. So sometimes they don't even have to deploy
the flashing and the you know, siren or all of
that stuff. But I guess I could also see this
as a step towards the ones that do act a
little more like a dollc and scoot around and shoot
you with a taser. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, right now they just admit a high, high pitched
frequency noise.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Ah, just drop to.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Your knees, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah, exactly what was the thing that doalks would say
when they say something it sounded kind of like an alarm,
they would be like it was a very should that.
I'm seeing parallels with Flock guys.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Exterminate you will be exterminated.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
That's it. Uh, yeah, I'm seeing I'm seeing some Flock
stuff going on here. Because they are safer. The company
offers all these different kinds of pods with all kinds
of different stuff on them and different sensors and CCTV
cameras that are pointed in many a direction. They've also
got the exact same kind of thing that Flock offers.
(33:57):
For like that they that Flock operates in home depots
and lows here in the US where you park it
in the parking lot, and it's got just it looks
like too many CCTV cameras, like the old school ones
that are really pointy and they're just looking at everything
and just watching everything, which does make me think it's
that security theater thing, you know, to some extent, right,
(34:19):
But it's also I think it's about evidence capture, like
real time evidence capture, so you could actually prosecute someone
if you're coming at it from a prevention standpoint, because
one of the biggest problems is do you have clear
footage of the perpetrator that you're trying to prosecute.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
And what's interesting about that is Target, the department store
very popular here in the United States, already has a
system like this which is less visible.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
I didn't know that until recently Ben that they're they're
kind of have infamous and the irony of their name
of course right that they're they're known by some for
having these very invasive.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
Of security measures.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yes, one of the biggest, and I think I mentioned
this a few years ago because it's been going on
for quite some time, one of the biggest non non
individual consumer facing revenue streams for Target is their surveillance
and security apparatus arms. So next time you're in a Target,
(35:23):
and this is not the cast dispersion on this department store,
but next time you're in there, if you don't, if
you want to get freaked out, look at the ceiling
and see the grid of cameras and do know that
target employees or loss prevention, whatever you want to call them,
they're typically not told to get somebody the first time
(35:45):
they shoplift something. At least that's my understanding. They, like
you were saying, Matt, collect evidence. They just don't have
a visible kiosk doing it. They collect evidence and then
once you get past a certain algorithmic threshold, whether that
be value or frequency of shoplifting, then you get caught
and boom, all the evidence is already there. You have
(36:08):
a file, you have a folder. This is the reality
we live in, folks, this is what's going to happen.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
Well, Ben, to that point, you got to wonder if
the reason that they're having a hard time prosecuting folks
in the UK is because, you know, a one off shoplifting,
you know, arrest isn't really going to make a mark.
And in terms of like the bigger picture and that
they have these you know, serial shoplifters that they're obviously
(36:36):
tracking for them to have data on them, and that
maybe these devices would be a path towards eliminating some
of the you know, repeat offenders and maybe giving them
the information that they need in order to make some
you know, close some cases.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
But I guess I don't know, not to be too.
Speaker 5 (36:53):
Doom and gloom about it, but it does feel like
the beginning of a normalization of this kind of thing
that could then spill into other sectors pretty quickly.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
It's license plate reading technology. It's the same stuff that
we talked about with flock right, and some of it
is flocked some of its other companies at the moment,
by the way, Yeah, the moment you pull into one
of these parking lots, your license plate is being tracked.
Then you're outside of the store, your face, your body
is being watched. And then you're inside the store you're
(37:24):
putting stuff into your jacket or your pants or how
do you do that, whatever you do. Yes, when you
walk out of the store, you're being watched getting into
a vehicle and driving away. And it's from a law
enforcement standpoint or a loss prevention standpoint, it's a pretty
(37:45):
damn good system.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Yeah. Also, by the way, we've got to mention this
as a quick aside, and I don't want to derail
us here. Noel, but I hope we all saw the
news that a lot of those license plate reading outfits. Right,
like we talked about Flock. We have a two part
episode about Flock. Their Flock is getting eliminated from some places,
(38:11):
and another company doing pretty much the same thing. Axon
is coming back in and you don't see as many
headlines about it. And now those license plate readers are
gaining the capability to tie into your phone number if
the phone number is associated with the with the LP
So it's it's turtles of mass surveillance all the way down.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
I completely agree, guys.
Speaker 5 (38:38):
Well as always, I've surprised myself with how much conversation
this yielded, So I'm gonna cut this next one short.
We just mentioned this is such a I don't know.
This reminded me of the without too many spoilers. Really
the plot of the movie Long Legs, which.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
I know was a little divisive. I quite enjoyed it.
Some people.
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Results varied, but Australian police investigated a mysterious suitcase after
five finding what they believed to be human remains inside.
Turns out, however, that it was just a very elaborate
and convincing let's call it a comfort doll, and it
(39:14):
actually had like bruises and stuff like as part of
the you know, the way it was styled, So it
really did throw investigators for a bit.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
Of a loop.
Speaker 5 (39:26):
A roadside suitcase in Australia sparked a disturbing police investigation
after witnesses believed to contain human remains. What officers discovered
inside initially appeared serious enough to trigger a forensic examination.
New South Wales police were calls to a road in
the village of Olan at around twelve to fifty pm
on August the ninth. Members of the public had reported
(39:46):
finding what looked like human remains inside a suitcase. Officers
arrived expecting a potentially grim discovery. Instead, the investigation took
an unexpected turn when forensic testing revealed that the supposed
remains were actually in extreme lifelike doll. I just think
it's fascinating that this escalated to the point that a
lab tech had to, like, you know, really examined this
(40:09):
thing up close.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
These things have come a long way, is what I'm.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
Saying, and it's a definitely a creepy story. There was
a tweet here Australian Police launched a murder investigation after
a suitcase containing what appeared to be a woman's body
was found roadside. However, forensic examination revealed that it was
actually a very, very very lifelike doll.
Speaker 4 (40:29):
And it's a good day.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
The truth emerged, it said in this AOTF piece. The
truth emerged. The following morning, police confirmed there had been
no death and no human remains inside the suitcase.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
I'm disturbed, but I've disturbed by the fact though that
from what you're saying here, it sounds to us like
the the doll itself or the product was purposely designed
to have bruises already audit like distressed furniture or fancy gene.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
Well, and that is some people's kink, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
It.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
You know, no no judgment here if that's the thing
that that you know, individuals are into. But it also
can be a very slippery slope where those kinds of
consensual acts can pass very quickly into abuse and obsession
and you know, things like that, So just be careful.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Everybody should look up the Quibi series Dummy. If you
haven't ever heard of that, create.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
About you Quibby or the series dummy.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Dummy is the series quibi is the I think failed
thing that doesn't exist anymore. Yeah, but it's called dummy
is by Cody Heller. It's very funny.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
Will do guys, that's my time. Let's take a quick break.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
We'll hear a word from our sponsor and then return
with today's last bit of strange news.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
And we've returned. All right, guys, here we go AP News,
Ryan J. Foley, August eleventh, twenty twenty six. We're going
to read some verbatim stuff from this and then have
a little chitty chat. Here we go. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement plans to spend up to twenty million dollars to
purchase thousands of quote conductive distraction and de escalation devices
(42:25):
unquote for officers and agents by March. This is according
to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.
These devices, guys, are known as the glove or G
period L period O period V period E period which
stands for generated low output Voltage Emitter. They're manufactured by
(42:47):
Compliant Technologies. Hear that again, Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington,
Kentucky Compliance, all of which are American Dreams raging AAST machine.
They have been used in recent years by some jails
and police departments compliant technologies. The folks who manufacture these
(43:08):
things say the devices function as a normal pair of
patrol gloves until officers press a little switch to activate
their electrical mode. Do we understand what we're talking about here, guys.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Yeah, Matt, those are These are shot gloves. And it's
like the news just broke about Ice, I think with these,
but I swear to God, I remember reading about something similar.
Maybe it was a conversation with Robert Evans from behind
the Bastards about less than lethal technology. But these are
(43:44):
shot gloves, right. Is the idea that you, as the
authority or officers seeking compliance, can put your hands on
somebody and their regular gloves until you decide it's time
for a little zipity's appeny, do yes?
Speaker 2 (44:00):
The gloves, according to AP News here, must be applied
directly to someone's skin to deliver a pain stimulus that
typically helps an officer gain compliance within seconds. According to
the company, sounds fun, sounds great, sounds exciting. M Let's
go to John Peters, president of the Institute for the
(44:21):
Prevention of in Custody Deaths. He said he believed ICE's
plan to purchase would likely be the largest from the
company to date. He said he could envision ice officers
using the gloves to help remove uncooperative subjects from cars
and houses and in and out of detention facilities. He says,
quote for smaller officers or weaker officers or older officers,
(44:44):
I think it has a great advantage because it can
produce faster takedowns and shorten confrontations.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
So if you suck at your job, we're giving you
shot gloves.
Speaker 4 (44:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
If you're small, weak and out of shape, don't worry.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, but put it on somebody who's big and beefy,
and now you've got a real problem because they can
shock you while they're picking you up and throw you.
And here here's one of the best parts. Guys. Even
if you're an officer assisting the shock officer or shock trooper,
let's say you could you don't have to wear the
gloves and you can still touch the subject and you
(45:22):
won't get shocked.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
Wow, what wonder trooper from is that a game?
Speaker 2 (45:26):
Is there as a nazis anyway?
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yeah? Sorry, these are to be to be clear though,
we have to say this, Matt. To my understanding, these
are not as strong as tasers. It doesn't make them better,
but they're not. These are not, like I almost said,
handheld tasers. But tasers are handheld. You guys know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
They cause electrical pain. That is what they are designed
to do. They will distract you enough to potentially make
you comply with the orders such as put your hands
behind your back, get on the ground, those kinds of things,
get out of the vehicle, put that baby down, you
know that kind of thing. Supporters guys, according to AP News,
(46:14):
say the devices are generally used in specific jail and
transport situations rather than broadly to patrol the streets. They've
been used to subdue violent suspects who are refusing to
get into squad cars and inmates who are harming themselves
and threatening officers. That's according to Compliant Technologies. The makers
of the shot gloves or the Glove System, John Peters,
(46:38):
who we mentioned earlier, said he expected the devices to
be misused by a small number of employees. As with
other policing technologies, they get misused sometimes, but he said
they're unlikely to cause injuries. He said it would be
important for ICE to have robust policing policies and training
in place when deploying the glove systems.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Though, like ants, whether someone has hard arrhythmia.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
Then that is next ready, Okay, Yeah. According to the manufacturer,
to use the device, officers must complete a course and
be re certified every two years after they have been
initially certified to use the CTG DASH five G l
o VE generated low output Voltage Emitter system. If you
(47:28):
want to take a look at this on your own,
you can search for Acquisition Planning Forecast System. Then we've
mentioned this before on the show, the Acquisition Planning Forecast System,
which is the contract system the contracts that they generally
don't want you to know about or think about. But
it's out there. You could find it APFS. Look it up.
(47:49):
The number is F two zero two six zero seven
four five two four.
Speaker 4 (47:56):
Good luck rolls off.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
It really does. You can look it up. And here's
the best part, you guys. You can go to Compliant
Technologies dot net, slash the dash glove and check these
babies out. Oh, would you guys mind looking along with
me for a second, just so we can have a
little chitty chat about these dudes Compliance tech.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
I'd also love to learn if we can buy these.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
I don't think so, but Ben, if you can work
your magic, I would love to see them.
Speaker 5 (48:31):
But guys, think about the way tasers were initially. That
was like, you know, it's the way all that kind
of like tech that's designed for law enforcement initially is
only available to them, but then gradually, you know, bleeds
out into consumer markets. So I could see that, especially
at being non lethal. I don't know, man, it's giving
power glove. It's giving power glove.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
A little bit, walk us through it.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Man, it looks like winter gloves to me, like some
pretty hefty winter gloves. But it's got like the.
Speaker 5 (49:02):
Animated background though, dude, it's just like just like a
purple and blue electricity.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
It's got big wrist at the top of the wrist
where I assume the battery packs are. And also to
your point there, what's interesting is unlike some other similar
I hesitate to call them innovations, but unlike some similar inventions,
this doesn't have the telltale like plastic stuff at the
(49:31):
top of the palm or any small spikes or anything
like you said, Matt. These look like bulky.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
Gloves exactly, but it is giving as you said, Ben,
big wrist energy and if I know ice officers want
one thing, it's big wrist energy. That's why they signed up.
So if you take a look at the user manual
of the Gen four and Gen five gloves system, you
can find that on the website that we told you
to go to. You can see where on the palms
(50:01):
of the hands there are one to three four different
places where at least two have to make contact with
somebody in order to apply the shock to you. And
they do have a you know, pretty standard battery that
you plug in and charge up to make sure your
(50:22):
gloves can shock the absolute shit out of whatever grandmother
happens to be non compliant. You can make her comply
it real quick with these guys. Again, Compliant Technologies does
not consider this to be a weapon due to the
low electrical current that flows through it from the battery
that's in there. Here's we talked about this before about
(50:47):
needing to be touching skin, but in the owner's Manual
User Manual it says Compliant Technologies products will not stimulate
through clothing, hair, metal, plastics, or fur, but only stimulate
human skin exclusively on the epidermis. That's good that they
exclusively the epidermis. I don't know where else you're gonna
(51:08):
stimulate the stimulate the skin. Sorry, that's funny to me.
But here's the other thing.
Speaker 4 (51:15):
Meaning skin right, yeah, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:19):
Which is also by the way, not to be that
guy on the subreddit or something, but that means it
could affect similar organisms if you hit their skin. Yes,
but finding that.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
Out it is very tough. It says to stimulate let's
say a dog that has thick fur, it says, however,
if that dog is wet, according to the user manual,
or if let's say your thin clothing like your shirt
or your thin blouse, is soaked, it will function through
that because the water becomes a way for the electricity
(51:53):
to travel.
Speaker 3 (51:54):
When I have vented these gloves, I wanted to fight
against the world's two great evils and wet.
Speaker 4 (52:01):
Dogs and wet dogs men a menace, just.
Speaker 2 (52:05):
The idea that these folks are gonna be walking around
with these taser gloves. They're not taser gloves, with these
minor shock gloves for compliance and also covering their faces
and wearing body armor and protecting themselves in such a
way and their identities. But still given this type of
power where if somebody, no matter how big they are,
(52:27):
if they are not literally complying with the you know,
the yelling perhaps of an officer, they can use this
power against that person and tame them, and you know
like that.
Speaker 4 (52:40):
And some are some folks might argue, well, it's better
than shooting them in the face.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
Well, sure, sure, absolutely better than that. Not arguing that
shooting is better this is just creepy. Here here's what
they say. Compliant technology states the glove shall not this
is in all caps, be deployed for any of the
following verbal defiance or belligerence. Come on now, punishment, torture
(53:09):
or horseplay. Really important, you don't use it.
Speaker 4 (53:12):
No horsing around the pool, guys.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah. It also states avoid using the glove against certain
portions of the population, including the elderly, small children, oops,
sometimes pregnant women, oh god, or the severely handicapped. That's
what it says, the severely h Wow.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
And so how would you know somebody is pregnant? Sure,
with their you know, if they're part way through the
first trimester.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
Yep, Yeah, that's a that's a concern. There's one other
thing you find in the user manual on page eighteen
of twenty four. It says the glove suggested ROE levels continued,
and it has a little picture of a person. Will
generate a picture of a person, and it shows users
of the glove system where to touch people on their knee,
(54:03):
their foot, their upper thigh, their hand, their wrist, their shoulders.
But do not touch anyone with a glove system on
the chest area, the neck area, or the head area.
Can you guess.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
Why because of the way the nervous system works.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
I think you're right, Ben, I think that's exactly what
it is. Because people have died with tasers, as we've
talked about and made an whole episode with a person
who spent years researching the taser system and those less
than lethal electric shock specific non weapons that are out there.
But he here's the other thing. They recommend fifteen seconds
(54:42):
of shock to make somebody compliant. Let's say they grab
your wrist or something. They recommend fifteen seconds, but it
doesn't have to only be fifteen seconds, and the officer
can make the decision to be more than fifteen seconds.
The officer can choose to continually shock somebody or maybe
not realize that they're continuing to shock someone because guess what,
(55:04):
You've got these giant, thick gloves on and you're grabbing
on to somebody. What happens if they lose consciousness? There's
just my god, there's so many things to this, guys, and.
Speaker 3 (55:14):
You're still carrying people right in some cases. And also
despite first off, if anybody with a modicum of experience
knows that the instruction manuals are so often ignored for
pretty much everything but lego sets. So another question here, Matt,
(55:34):
would be what happens when multiple authorities self appointed or whatever,
multiple authorities rocking a pair of these gloves put their
hands on the same person at the same time. Right now,
where are we upping the voltage? It doesn't sound like
there's any kind of mechanism here that will prevent gloves
(55:58):
from having an acree effect or aggregate effect.
Speaker 2 (56:03):
Yeah, I don't know what happens if four officers with
gloves have their hands on you. I genuinely don't know,
and I couldn't tell you. I don't know if it
is a force multiplied effect. Roe, by the way, is
rules of engagement in the force continuum? Yeah, what a
fun term to throw in there. That's it for me, guys.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
And these are things that we will see more of
in the news as it continues. That's why we do
strange news. Fellow conspiracy realist, thank you so much for
tuning in. We cannot wait to hear your thoughts on
these and other stories that you'd like for us to
get to in the future. How can I tell you,
(56:47):
guys what you should get to in the future. Well,
there are several ways to contact.
Speaker 4 (56:52):
Us, sure are.
Speaker 5 (56:53):
A couple of them are the handles Conspiracy Stuff and
Conspiracy Stuff Show, which you can use to find us
on social media.
Speaker 2 (57:00):
Our phone number is one eight three three std WYTK
call it. It's a voicemail system. It's super easy. You'll
figure it out if you want to email us.
Speaker 3 (57:09):
We are the entities the read each piece of correspondence
we received the well aware You's I'm afraid sometimes the
void rights back. Why was military GPS jamming active at
the time of a medical plane crash in New Mexico?
Right us, We'll tell you conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (57:46):
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
Show Links
RSSStoreAboutLive ShowsPopular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com